Week 9

Nine weeks have passed, half way through the season, and I don’t think I have even mentioned Sorty.

Having been dropped to the 2^nd XI and his position in the 1^st XI taken by young George Pike, Mark was looking forward to the trip to Dunster, spending a long time at the crease and getting some runs under his belt.

So what happened? First ball, Mark was delivered a nice juicy longhop outside of off stump which he duly despatched right down the throat of point; off Mark trudged back to the changing rooms, out first ball. Earlier, Mark caught an absolute skyer, only to step over the boundary rope and thus six runs to the batsman.

And to rub a bit more salt into the wound, Mark’s replacement in the 1^st XI, George, was involved in a match winning ninth wicket partnership with Matt Coombes which steered the 1^st XI to victory. A great bit of hindsight by 1^st XI skipper Ryan Gamblin me thinks!

Shay Keohane was in the runs again for the 2^nd XI. Shay was due leave early as he had to work that evening, so Carl sent him in as opener, and he played in the style of a pinch hitter, smashing the attack all round the park. During the innings it came to my attention that Shay was trying to get out, so he could get to work. Nice knock though Shay.

Looking at the scorebook after the game, the Dunster scorer (who was doing two scorebooks) credited all Shay’s runs to Sorty, which made Mark a bit happier. It is even on the League’s website that Mark hit all the runs. I am sure Carl will remedy the situation for the Stowey archives.

So it is halfway through the season, which I find quite unbelievable, where has that time gone? Anyway, so how are Stowey doing thus far this season?

Let’s start with the 1^st XI. Handily placed in Division Two with a game in hand over the teams above them, having won five out of their eight games played, which includes two cancellations and only the one defeat against Timberscombe.

They are also in the quarter-finals of the West Somerset League Cup, the furthest they have been for some seasons now, usually Stowey are first round specialists!

The 2^nd XI have picked up three victories in the games they have played (the league table on the website is wrong). There has been a lot of encouraging performances throughout and some pretty scary ones thrown in for good measure. With North Curry running away with the league, the runners-up spot will be between Stoke Saints, Dunster and Bishops Hull, Stowey will battle it out for the mid table positions, all of which Stowey will face during the second half of the season.

Right, that’s it for now. I would just like to mention that no one was hurt in my dropping of four full cider bottles on Saturday evening. It was upsetting at first seeing all that cider run down the drain, but alas an emergency supply was found, tins of Thatchers this time, and my night was a bit more of a happier one.