I can't describe how pleased I am that I was disciplined enough to write my report immediately after the day's play, foregoing the delights of the big bin containing ice and beer. I have always found that you play much better if you don't drink the night before a game, and always volunteer to help Deke with the breakfast as early as possible in the morning. This approach always worked for me, and any Mystic who cares to scan the averages will see my claims borne out. Youngsters take heed!
I'm fairly sure that we had two opponents, which is one more than usual, and seems a bit unfair. If somebody had filled in the score-sheet properly, to include the exact time of the recorded dismissals, I could work out whether we played Gargunnock or Innellan first! However, as I took a wicket against Gargunnock, I shall start there first.
One of the saddest moments in the game was Windy being clean bowled. I have always enjoyed watching this graceful player practise his art, but on this occasion he was felled by some apparently poor advice from one of his own team. Either James or Ollie (judging by the team sheet) warned my hero that the ball was keeping low, and advised him to play forward. Now, Windy is a suspiscious fellow, and assumed that the advice was a dastardly trick, and therefore decided to play every ball (regardless of length) on the back foot. Needless to say, when the ball did in fact keep low, Windy was playing a different ball altogether, and ended up out. Sad indeed.
On a much happier note, Chris Squire took two excellent catches, his first, in fact, for the club. The second of his victims was called Whaley. Not only that, but he didn't make any runs either. Cricket can be a very crule game. I must also mention the skills of Matt Cook. At one stage our foes were 69 for three, but our good old fellow soon changed all that with a highly impressive spell of bowling, achieving figures of 3-2-4-3. Who says he is rubbish and never does any washing up? Anyway, if I have read Jim's figures correctly, we won that game, so hurrah for us. "We'll win 'cos we're Mystical."
What about the other game? I hear you cry. Where are your orange-penned notes, Jim? I cry. Ernie was our top scorer in this game with a flamboyant 67 off 53 balls There is, however, one question I am burning to ask: Ernie, why did you run yourself out, almost deliberately, when you knew I was in the best form of my career, and could easily have made 10 off the last few balls with the wind behind me? Our top man with the ball was Jim, who bagged four wickets from only three overs, conceding a very economical eight runs. The same fellow also won the Mystic Moment trophy by losing the ball in short clover (we've all done it). Anyway, we won this game as well, so it was a good start to the tour, I would suggest.
Neil Hadley
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