22nd August 2004
Old Almondburians 177 for 8 (40 Overs) Atkinson 59, R Taylor 41; Rothery 3 for 15, E Crossland 2 for 35
Almondbury Casuals 162 all out (37.3 overs) S Bullett 46, W Ward 22, E Crossland 22; T Slack 3 for 11, J Mansell 3 for 41, T Taylor 2 for 29
Jeans tea steals the show!
The cricket took second place to the social event of the season as a whole team of Casuals greats from the past enjoyed themselves at Thongsbridge. Many were accompanied by their better halves, who had obviously come along to ensure that their spouses got home safely after a day in the sun drinking, chatting and generally ignoring the cricket on the field. A wise choice, but not a difficult one when there was a Jean Jagger tea on offer.
The Old Almondburians, keen to demonstrate that nepotism lives on, featured two Father and Son combinations. The Taylors and the Slacks both made important contributions to the overall team effort, with Taylor senior (Richard) in fine form with the bat and Slack senior (T) matching his performance with the ball. The Almondburians score of 177 looked distinctly beatable before tea was taken, indeed, with Simon Bullett going well for the Casuals it looked good for the home side for some time after. However, the weight of expectation brought on by the watching senior Casuals, not to mention the additional weight brought on by overeating at Jean’s table, was too much to bear for the middle and lower order and the innings meekly subsided. At least the result served to enable the ‘oldies’ to recount tales of how ‘it would never have happened in our day’ – mainly because they would have been in the pub by 7.00pm! Now that’s a tactic we could do well to re-visit.
Overall, a good day and definitely our most successful ‘Seniors’ event ever. Special thanks to Jean for her superb catering and to Ken for not dropping any of the laden trays on the way into the tea room.
The Tea Eating Team:
David Pedley, Guy Overton, Derek Bamforth, Ralph Sutcliffe, Arthur Hutchinson, Paul Wood, Jack Wade, Roger Kaye, Andy Shires, Ray McGill, Jim Netherwood
Almondbury Casuals Cricket Club 