THE Bank Holiday weekend combined with the start of the half-term holiday resulted in something of a player shortage at Llanarth but after an emergency call to arms the club was able to field two full sides.

This did mean however that the seconds contained a number of casual players as well as a selection of dads, lads and even a girlfriend! When one of these went down ill in the morning a last ditch phone call half an hour before the scheduled start produced another recruit to fill the gap.

With the wet weather of Friday continuing into Saturday morning it would have been all too easy to call off the game and avoid the probable defeat by a Sudbrook side who were keen to play and clearly had a strong team. However, in the firm belief that playing is more important than winning, groundsman Peter Francis who doubles as club chairman made the effort to cut and roll the pitch between the showers and captain Keith Spencer negotiated a delayed start and convinced a slightly incredulous team to turn up.

By 2pm the rain had stopped and whilst the outfield was wet and the pitch a bit damp despite the covers, the captains decided to give it a go. Sudbrook won the toss and unsurprisingly asked Llanarth to bat first.

A quick look around the dressing room confirmed the captain’s thoughts that opening batsmen were in short supply and he had little option than to lead the way himself. The other opener Tony Vines was playing his first game in a couple of seasons but showed no signs of rustiness as he smashed away a head high full toss in the first over. A couple more boundaries followed before he mistimed another blow and was caught for an entertaining if all too brief innings of 15. Still an opening partnership of 25 in four overs wasn’t a bad start. Dave Griffiths playing his first game of the season looked solid until he flashed at a ball outside the off stump and walked off having got the slightest of touches to be caught behind. When the third wicket fell on 53 a period of consolidation was required and the captain found an able partner in Seth Butler. The pair batted sensibly for 15 overs putting together a partnership of 58 and taking the score to 111 before Seth was finally out caught when trying to increase the run rate. Dan Moseley replaced Seth and was off the mark immediately. Playing some neat shots and running well he contributed to a stand of 18 with the captain before Spencer was finally out for 66 bowled in the 33rd over of the reduced 35 over game having a wild swing across the line. Matthew Binmore added a few more and the innings closed on 136 for eight with Oneal Wallace finishing with the wonderful figures of five for 17 off his four overs.

The scratch team had batted their overs and posted a respectable score but it was soon put into perspective by the Sudbrook openers Burgess and Lund. They took advantage of some loose bowling and the score rattled along far faster than the required rate. The captain switched the bowlers and changed the field but there was nothing he could do to stem the flow of runs. Richard Lund in particular was very severe on the bowling. Cutting and pulling strongly he was equally adept at hitting straight and used his feet very well to get down the pitch and hit the ball back past the bowler. In no time the target was reached and with Lund on 89 and Burgess 46 both undefeated they completed an easy 10 wicket win.

The three batting bonus points earned by the home team may seem scant reward for the effort involved in preparing the pitch and getting a side together to honour the fixture and “Get the game on” but as the Sudbrook captain remarked “We would have come to Llanarth just for the tea!”