Sunday 28 July 2013

Same Old Story

Shipwrecks once again fell short in a run chase, in their latest away encounter at Dalton (a.k.a. HMSS KCC) on Thursday, ending up a bowler short when Peter Harrison's car caused problems. Possibly a lift to port on Mike Service's new motorbike would have been a better option.

On a pleasant evening, Alastair MacEwan lost the toss and was asked to field against a Dalton crew who had retained hostages Richardson and R. McBride of Dumfries 1st XI from last season's superteam.  In spite of a couple of early fours, MacEwan himself soon broke through to dismiss Umar and Barnard.  Meanwhile Rory Dean had Lee well caught by Worthington at long leg to put Dalton under initial pressure.

For a while Richardson and McBride looked a little unsteady but Shipwrecks could not capitalise and both eventually sailed on to maximums. Sarosh came on to take two quick wickets but the returning openers survived to add useful runs and the innings closed on 124 - 8.

Some erratic bowling by Sharma (20 extras overall) meant Shipwrecks were well up with the run rate after five overs but Sid Oates was bowled by caught and bowled Richardson, who also bowled Mike Service. McCuaig thought he might have got a bump ball when he half volleyed to McBride and the turning point of
Jim Worthington in the Thai Orchid
the game came when Geoff Dean got the semaphore wrong and called offspring Rory for a 'walk the plank' single and had no chance of making his own ground when sent back.

The rest of the batting did not manage much of a fight apart from Jim Worthington, who played some nice shots in his 21 not out, supported by the reborn McCuaig, to earn the Man of the Match Award, which was duly celebrated in the "Thai Orchid".

Once again the Shipwrecks got within range of victory but fell short due to lack of shortage of trained sailors - and of course it's handy to have a couple of National League players in your crew if you can hire them.

Scores: Dalton 124 - 8 (McBride 30 n.o., Duncan 30 n.o., Richardson 25 n.o. ; Sarosh 2-24, MacEwan 2-28) : Shipwrecks 109 -9 (Worthington 21 n.o., R.Dean 16 ; McBride 4-14, Richardson 3-9)

Thursday 18 July 2013

Shipwrecks Just Short

Last Wednesday the Shipwrecks again put in a reasonable watch but without result when they encountered the Healthpros, the local Hospital Ship so far yet to be taken into NHS special measures.  The Kingholm had meanwhile been transformed into a dry dock with no remaining sign of the marine conditions and plantlife prevalent for the last 12 months.

Ali McEwan and Rory Dean restricted the early batsmen nicely, claiming two wickets apiece and the Shipwrecks' chances were looking good when several of their doctors decided to run themselves out rather than face the onslaught.  However a late flourish led by Williams plus the normal accumulation of wides and byes meant that the surgeons reached a respectable 78 all out in the penultimate over.

Unfortunately, the Shipwrecks took on a good deal of water early in their innings, partly due to some shipshape bowling by Doig, Fawad and Fahad.  For the 'Wrecks, Jim 'Boy' Worthington and Mike 'Senior' Service started badly, trying to renegotiate a single in the first over, which caused Service's premature run out when he looked to be in good touch.  Then Oates and both Deans were out without adding significantly to the score and  Shipwrecks were still looking for fifty plus runs after eight overs.

Sid Barbour - MoM
This was clearly where the game was lost as Colin Taylor and Sid Barbour gradually built up a partnership that brought Shipwrecks tantalisingly in sight of a surprising victory.  But neither batsmen could penetrate the thick grass cuttings around the boundary, and when Barbour was out in the nineteenth over, Ali McEwan was faced with the task of hitting three sixes to get home. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't to be and Shipwrecks fell short by ten runs.

Man of the Match (apart from Geoff Dean and 'run out') in a good-natured game was Sid Barbour for his all round contribution.

Scores: Healthpros 78 all out (Williams 16 n.o. ; R. Dean 2-7, McEwan 2-8) : Shipwrecks 68 - 6 (Barbour 18, Taylor 15 n.o.)

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Shipwrecks Confined To Port... Scottish Cricket Sunk?

Even hardened sailors could not face the weather this Tuesday, when consistent rain caused the cancellation of what would have been a fine naval display between Shipwrecks and Kirkmahoe - and a cricket game we might have had some chance of winning.

And so another Scottish cricket season trickles on, as both midweek and weekend teams find it ever harder to persuade players to turn out for fixtures that are likely to be cancelled for the weather.  The last players to have experienced playing much cricket at state schools before the changes to Teachers' terms and conditions in the eighties will just about be coming up for retirement and younger recruits have a vast array of different sports to chose from*, quite apart from rugby and football, which increasingly encroach on what was the cricket season.

As a result, the signs are that many clubs are struggling to put teams out and the standards of play are declining.  The main focus of Cricket Scotland (latest web headline: "Rain halts Scottish run chase") seems to be to put out increasing bureaucratic exercises for clubs to complete, so that one wonders if it could ever be possible to start up a new club and get into one of the Leagues without a five year development plan produced by a management consultant.

Ultimately though, there are two main problems hampering cricket in Scotland - the weather and the fact that current forms of the game are too long to attract young people hung up on instant gratification. Until someone looks seriously at shorter, indoor forms of the game, my fear is that the decline will continue.

Except of course for a small number of elite clubs in the central belt and one or two outposts with hundreds of members paying £££s each in subscriptions, who will be able during climate change to go on playing occasional and cancelling many fixtures with each other until the money runs out.  Will they at some point turn, look around at what is happening to smaller clubs and lower leagues and start to get worried?

Note: This sudden switch to editorial rant mode does not necessarily reflect the views of The Shipwrecks plc or its umbrella organisation, The Ship Inn.

*They won't however have the chance to see much cricket unless they can get Sky Sports.