Diabolical Plot Foils Shipwrecks

Shipwrecks were surprised to find themselves facing the might of Ashleigh Construction (St Michael's CC) last Wednesday on a K1 pitch that at the weekend had looked like it was ready for a visit from an ocean liner.  But a surprise spell of sunshine saw off the wading birds as the Kingholm conveniently returned to its usual merselike state and was pronounced fit for play.

Old seadog Colin Taylor won the toss and decided to bat, hoping the opposition, who included two professional sailors from exotic climes, would mess things up chasing a modest total. 

Unfortunately Rory Dean was bowled early by a quick one from South African bowler Bridgens and Taylor was soon  run out when he thought McNay had cut one past Kiwi pro Faust, only to see the ball bounce up slowly in the estuary mud, allowing Faust to recover and throw down the stumps sharply at the batsman's end. 

Geoff Dean made steady progress for a while until he played one in the air to Faust, Mike Lumb had no better luck than Taylor taking on Bridgens' arm and Sandy McNay was as usual astonished to be trapped lbw.

Batting lower down this week, Mike Service took some revenge on Faust by hoisting his off spinners amidships for a colourful 18 and annoying the bowler so much that he attempted to pin Saints' young wicket keeper to the sightscreen with a lightning faster delivery. But the tailenders were consigned fairly cheaply to Davy Jones' locker by Brockwell's pace as Shipwrecks sank to to 69 all out in the eighteenth over.

At this point Faust apparently sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a free pizza if he managed to score a maximum 30 runs off the first over.  If Shipwrecks had been aware of this evil plan they would have course have frustrated it e.g. by bowling 70 successive wides but Gregory Robinson's accuracy was just what Faust needed and his dastardly plan succeeded off the last ball of the first over.

The home side obviously decided that the best experience for their junior players was to observe this display from the headland rather than take any part in it and it was left to two of their weekenders to pick off the remaining 39 runs.  Shipwrecks annoyingly dropped a series of catchable chances, notably off Andy Cameron, but it made little difference to the end result.

In spite of this reverse, the latest edition of the league tables shows Shipwrecks in fifth place and in remote danger of sneaking into the end of season playoffs:

 

 Scores: Shipwrecks 69 all out (Service 18, Dean 13) : Ashleigh Construction 70 - 0 (Faust 30 ret)