Shipwrecks Steam Ahead

Shipwrecks outpaced a strong Healthpros crew in a highscoring game at Kingholm 2 on Thursday night, in defiance of continuing poor visibility and a damp outfield.

Short of Davey Fallas (missed boat at Stranraer) and Donald McCuaig (on boat to Isle of Man), Shipwrecks cleverly argued for the fixture to be relocated from bouncy Kingholm 1, only to find that the K2 boundary line is by now almost completely invisible. This led to a later debate as to the whereabouts of the team's boundary and semaphore flags, which are by various accounts a) lost forever in Davy Jones' locker b) safely dry docked in St Michael's shed or c) in someone's garage (to be continued).

Good fortune was with us as Shipwrecks won the toss and elected to bat.

Jim Worthington was first to go, edging Dave Strachan to gully in the third over, after which Mike Service ignored the 'steady as you go' call from Dean at the other end and slashed round a straight one.  But Chris Lumb, who had been allowed an extra tot to celebrate the end of his exams, then launched into the attack with great gusto, particularly favouring Fraser Strachan's short stuff.  By the time he retired for 27, the score had passed fifty in only seven overs.

Sid Oates swings again

The ball continued to sail off the bat when Alex Taylor took over the shift, but the the longest hit of the night came from Dean, who hit a one bounce six off the towpath into the river before he holed out for 24. Skipper Alastair McEwen was out first ball, but the later batsmen managed to continue progress, albeit at a reduced rate of knots even when Taylor was bowled for 23.  Sid Oates in particular produced a fine little cameo near the end as Shipwrecks reached 120 - 7.

What followed from Shipwrecks was a mixture of sublime and ridiculous.  Chis Lumb struggled to find the right line, but in between bowled Dave Hill and Ian McLelland.  Between more wides, Jim Worthington and Alex Taylor both took fine catches to help McEwen towards a four wicket haul.  But once an erratic Colin Taylor got the key wicket of Faisal to an excellent catch by Mike Lumb standing up, Shipwrecks appeared to slacken sail, as if expecting to coast home to an easy victory.

MoM Chris Lumb

Several takeable chances were dropped, particularly off Dave Strachan and it was only when the doctors looked like they might have some chance of staging a victory operation, helped by the change to a pink ball, that the tide turned. Fielding to his own bowling in the dying overs, Chris Lumb threw down the wicket from a sitting position and Sid Oates took an impressive and much-celebrated catch, diving forward full length to deprive Matt Williams of his maximum.

Mention should be made in despatches of Mike Lumb's excellent wicketkeeping, throwing himself around the quarterdeck to intercept the volley of wides, but the Scottish Qualifications Authority Man of the Match Award went to son Chris for his tonesetting innings, two wickets and excellent run out.

Scores: Shipwrecks 120 - 7 (C. Lumb 27 n.o., Dean 24, A. Taylor 23, Oates 11 ; Faisal 2-14, D. Strachan 2-20) : Healthpros 101 all out (D. Strachan 25 n.o., Williams 23 ; McEwen 4-22 C. Lumb 2-21)

Attention All Seafarers!

To improve team morale and diet, The Ship Inn will be laying on sandwiches and hard tack after all forthcoming fixtures at the Kingholm. N.b. Buy your own Porky Scratchings!

Overconfident Shipwrecks Miss The Boat

A full roll call of Shipwrecks managed to lose against eight man Lockerbie outfit at Kingholm 2 on Thursday, mistakenly thinking that fair winds would blow them to victory without undue effort on their part and going down by a paltry three runs.

Lockerbie won what proved to be a crucial toss and elected to bat, thereby avoiding the gloomy conditions that made the flagrant pink ball hard to spot on the radar later on.

Opening spells from nippy Chris Lumb and Skipper Alastair McEwan were reasonable enough but wickets were slow to fall. A long, wet outfield made the boundary hard to find, but Shipwrecks compensated by sitting deep, allowing easy singles and not covering obvious gaps, and the Lockerbie batsmen grew accustomed to the unvarying attack.

Although Mike Lumb delivered five accurate overs replacing McEwan at the Pavilion End, there was no-one to come back at the far end once Colin Taylor lost his length, and Davey Fallas was left to deliver two overs for 14 at the death as Andy Veitch worked the shorter legside boundary late on.

Perhaps underestimating the difficulty of reaching Lockerbie's 85 on a slow outfield, Shipwrecks relegated key batsmen down the order and struggled to make progress after the opening few overs. Sid Oates was again run out after a bright start - this time by a combination of ineffective calling and a sharp throw from young Daniel Veitch at point. A match changing moment then occurred as Geoff Dean was cut apart by a freakish delivery from Gracie that moved in unpredictably from well outside off stump to bowl him off his pads.

Chris Lumb made considerable amends, forcing the ball square and straight and twice finding the boundary before retiring on 25. But Mike Service was bowled early and, when Jim Worthington was caught for 10 of in the fifteenth over, Mike Lumb and Alex Taylor still needed 35 off the last five with pacy Liam Rogerson

The man most likely to...

yet to return to the attack.

What followed was a creditable effort, but Lockerbie skipper Veitch craftily thwarted Shipwrecks' need for big boundaries by double manning the wide long on area off his own bowling.  Shipwrecks fell short by just three runs. Meanwhile the man most likely to hoist a couple of big ones amidships (Davey Fallas) spectated from the boundary.

As with the Spanish Armada better commitment and guile had triumphed against superior force and numbers and the defeated could only drift back to the Ship Inn to discuss what might have been.

Scores: Lockerbie 85 - 3 : Shipwrecks 82 - 4 (C. Lumb 25 n.o., A Taylor 18 n.o., M. Lumb 13 n.o.)

Buoyant Shipwrecks Afloat Again

Shipwrecks pushed the boat out on Thursday night after a convincing 58 run victory against a youthful Dumfries Colts at Nunholm to achieve their first victory in the new Dumfries Midweek League (Division 2).

This year's crew has been fortified by the welcome return of Quartermaster Mike Lumb and the recruitment of salty old sea dog Davey Fallas plus talented Officer Cadet Chris Lumb.

Batting first on the artificial deck, Shipwrecks' innings did not set sail in the best fashion.  After completing a ten mile training run immediately before sailing, Sid Oates was unable to manage 20 yards when called for a sharp single by Mike Lumb and departed without facing in the first over. Sensible batting from Lumb against McCutcheon and Sam Thornton and controlled aggression from Dean got the innings underway, until Lumb misunderstood a clear call of wait and was himself run out for 14.

After a promising start, Chris Lumb played over a rare straight one for 11, but Davey Fallas got off to his usual swashbuckling fashion, flicking one of his pads to square leg for 4. It was full steam ahead until Dean reached his retirement.  Taylor and Fallas kept the momentum up until Fallas also retired on 27, narrowly missing a straight maximum with his last strike.

Chris Lumb plays a nice shot through the covers

The innings finished with an impressive cameo from Skipper Ali McEwan (7 not out), who needed no time to adjust to the pace of the returning McCutcheon and Shipwrecks closed on 134 - 3.

In reply the Colts found the pace and accuracy of Chris Lumb hard to deal with, as did Lumb Sr. who was scuppered by one canonball amidships behind the stumps. Meanwhile McEwan bowled Wishart and had Dunbar caught by Taylor at mid-off. But the key blow was then delivered by Sarosh, who distracted McCutcheon with a couple of deliberate wides before serving him up a straight one which he obligingly lobbed to Jim Worthington, who took a good catch in the deep to cast the Colts innings adrift after six overs.

After Sarosh also bowled Ben Thornton, there was a skirmish  resistance from Walker and Sam Thornton until Fallas struck three times in his last over in failing light to finish a good-spirited game with the Colts on 76 - 7.

In spite of Fallas' impressive statistics with bat and ball the Captain Morgan's Sailor of the Match Award went to Sarosh (see left) for vitally dismissing the home team's key player.

Scores: Shipwrecks 134 - 3 (Fallas 27 ret., Dean 25 ret., Taylor 15 n.o., M. Lumb 14, C.Lumb 11) : Dumfries Colts 76 - 7 (S. Thornton 23 n.o., Walker 18 ; Fallas 3 - 18, McEwan 2-12, Sarosh 2-20).

Remaining Fixtures

After last week's rainoff following a series of nasty squalls and poor visibility in the Irish Sea, you might like advance notice that our remaining fixtures are as follows:

Date	Opposition	Location
15th May	Dumfries Colts	Nunholm
22nd May	Lockerbie	K2
29th May	Healthpros (Away)	K2
5th June	J Walker & Son	K1
11th June	Kingholm Meadow (Cup)	K2
18th June	Kirkmahoe Annandale Insurance (Cup)	Nunholm
3rd July	Burgh Boys (Away)	K2
10th July	Dumfries Colts	K2
17th July	Lockerbie	Lockerbie
24th July	Healthpros (Home)	K2
31st July	J Walker & Son	K2
6th & 7th August	Cup and Plate Round 2
13th & 14th August	Cup and Plate Semi Finals

Weekly post-mortems will be held in The Ship Inn as usual.

First Fixture

Our first game is on Thursday 8th May against Burgh Boys at Kingholm 2.

It looks like I'm supposed to be sorting the team out, so please let me know your availability as I don't have numbers for most players.  Mike Service and Geoff are definitely NOT playing.