Stork News

On a hot afternoon FCC 1st XI made their way to church Lane for their first fixture against Aston Manor.

The toss was lost and The storks were asked to bat first on a wicket which was ‘up and down.’ Still, better than a wet one in mid April. Franks and Copson got us off to a solid start before Copson, who was starting to hit the ball very well was brilliantly caught and bowled by opening bowler Yahya Khan. Franks was out the same way a couple of overs later bringing Sam and Azza ‘pops’ Blackmore to the crease. As they looked to steady the ship, Sam got out to a short ball he hooked a day in advance. Liam didn’t offer much support and departed for single figures and at 50-4, we were in trouble. Some exquisite stroke play from Blackmore raced us along to 90 off 18 before senior citizen Waq was adjudged lbw.

Making his first team debut was a spritely Steven Fairhurst, who can be best described as a determined fighter who was patient and set about the task of rebuilding. While Blackmore was uninhibited in his stroke play, Steve took his time to settle in and accumulate his runs, making sure we suffered no further setbacks. From 90-5 in the 20th over, to 190-6 in the next 22 overs was what proved to be the match winning stand in the end. Aaron played a fine knock which included every orthodox shot in the book but his first poor execution led to his demise on 99; a deserved 100 was not to be.

Steve now took the aggressor role, or tried to but Brendan was in an unforgiving mood. He smashed his second ball for 4 and soon followed this up with a monstrous six which hit the roof of a five story council estate. Unfortunately, no more blows as he missed a straight one bringing double duck H to the crease. He too scored a quick fire 15* but ran out of partners at the other end after Fairy hit one to long off for a well constructed 46.

The second half did not start as we wanted as Aston manor raced along to 80 without losing any wickets off the first 15 overs.

This all changed when Brendan was introduced into the attack. He took the first 4 wickets to fall whilst only giving away 7 runs. At 87-4, Manor were on the ropes. The situation got worse as skelding removed the stubborn number 6 while Brendan decided to complete his 5fer at the other end. The score around 110-6. By this time it is fair to say he was taking in air faster than he was letting it out. An irritating stand between numbers 8&9 was beginning to develop. Have a blow Bren as old man sayed came on.

Sayed removed two in two balls to leave Manor teetering at 165-8 but yet another stubborn partnership began to develop. Brendan came on for his second spell and turned 5-24 into 6-24. Zohaib khan, who had taken 5 wickets earlier now managed scored a 50 to take them to 197 before he lost concentration and skied one to Sam, who took the chance and the victory was completed.

24 points in the bag.

Players above 35 contributed 185 with the bat and took 8 wickets with the ball. A case of senior citizens coming to the party.

Water Orton will be our guests this coming Saturday at Fillongley. Please come and support us if you are not playing.