Sat 12th August 1st Xl v Garforth at home

The Givaway

The return match with Garforth should have brought us back to winning ways, but once again we managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Reg was back at the helm for one week before he vanished to the Atlantic, and as usual he lost the toss. On a hot summers day with a fast outfield and 'good' batting strip most of us were quite content to find a bit of grass and lie out.

Also returning to the side were George Hornby who had, as usual, changed race as a result of his Greek Sojourn and Hammy (somewhat pinker). George was seen comparing tans with Marlene at one stage, though we're not too sure who had the biggest white bits.

Reg, back opening with Lacky, was soon in flow until he lobbed a full toss back to the bowler in the sixth over. Young Shack then followed quickly and though both Ruley and Herman looked promising for a while, both fell in their early teens. (Apparently they've been falling ever since.) Lacky continued to hold his end up (!!) and thankfully George showed that he had had Jackie bowling to him on the beach, as he picked up his form from where he had left off.

The Garforth spin bowler Ahmed had decided that he wasn't one at some stage in the season and as he began to take wickets with his 'fastish medium pace' it was clear why. Thankfully both Smiler and the newly christened 'Bimble' Hannam kept George company for decent spells and at the end of fifty overs George remained undefeated for an excellent 39.

The total of 177 should have made for a competitive match and tactics were discussed by both sides over another of Sue Lawrence's excellent teas.

The second innings started with Garforth's tactics paying off immediately. Whatever we had given Mr Ahmed in his tea we should be taking the same, as Lacky's first three balls went for 4, 6 and 6. His second over went the same way with another 14 being scored off successive balls. A shell-shocked Lacky was immediately taken off, but Young Shack faired no better going for 16 off his first over!

The result of all this carnage was one of the fastest 50's ever scored at Tong. Ahmed had smashed his way to a half century off only 18 balls and thirteen scoring shots.

Thankfully his hitting out brought about his downfall as he was caught by Lacky trying to hit Dazzer to Farnley. This early barrage though had given all the Garforth batsmen confidence and each one came out with a similar 'free-swing' attitude. Only Annabelle Croft Woodhall was able to slow down the strike rate and, though it hurts to say it, he bowled and excellent 10 over spell, taking a brace of wickets in the process.

Garforth cantered in winning with almost 20 overs to spare and we were left to lick our wounds in the 'Hound'.