Tour "Unlikely" - Dean

The proposed tour of Cumbria now seems 'unlikely to go ahead', according to a recent semaphore message from Fleet Commander Geoff Dean. Pitches in Cumbria are reportedly just as waterlogged as some of the ones we have played on and in over here.

Noggin the Nog

The myth of the "Shipwrecks Tour" now lays claim to be one of the longest-standing and best-loved seafaring stories in the oral tradition, along with "The Oddyssey" and "The Saga of Noggin The Nog." It is lovingly retold in "The Ship Inn" every year around July or August time, along with accounts of heroic deeds undertaken on the foreign fields of Threlkeld, Great Broughton and Baggrow.

In fact the last Shipwrecks tour to take place was around 2005, since when the age profile of the team has made the voyage to Cumbria increasingly hazardous and the prospect of two forty over games in a weekend virtually unthinkable.

It is probably best then that the old stories are now by tradition laid to rest in Davey Jones locker each year as soon as English Premiership season gets underway.

Er...That's It

Last week's exciting battle with Annan was unsurprisingly washed out by a particular heavy downpour, putting an end to the Midweek action for the season as we have no further part in the cup competitions.

So all craft can be placed in dry dock for repainting and equipment repaired for another year - unless of course the annual rumour of an end of season tour comes to fruition.  Top secret plans of the Admiralty to mount a John Paul Jones style of attack on the coast of Cumbria have been leaked extensively and they may yet be put into force - assuming our undercover agent in Cumbria (Liz Dickie) can come up with two poor quality pub teams for us to play against.

Watch this space...

Fielding Positions

It has come to the belated attention of the bridge that some crew members who are not from a nautical background have had a little difficulty understanding the seafaring charts that are commonly used during the game of cricket.

This is an important health and safety issue as navigational errors could lead to collisions endangering both life and property and, more importantly, dropped catches.

It would therefore be appreciated if all those on watch duty during the Annan game on Wednesday could study the following scientific diagram to gain at least an approximate idea of the course they should be steering:-

Obviously the above illustration assumes a right handed batsman and a prevailing westerly wind.  In the case of a left handed batsman, the legside of course becomes the offside (and vice versa) and all the fielding positions become reversed along a vertical axis. 

Hopefully this information will be of future assistance to all those in peril on the sea.

P.s. Whatever happened to backward short leg, long leg and cover point?

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)

Irving Meadow Swamped

The Shipwrecks took on close rivals and fellow Midweek League founder members Irving Meadow at Kingholm Marshes last Wednesday, where K2 was carrying enough water in parts of the outfield to float a toy sailing boat.

Unsure what would be a good total on a swamp, Captain Taylor (Sr) was happy to  lose the toss and let Meadow do the calculations.  Gregory Robinson and Andy Cameron opened the bowling to an umbrella field, which as expected proved difficult to breach..  The only problem was that, after Cameron bowled Irving, no wickets were falling.

That was until Rory Dean came on with another excellent spell, getting Bryden caught at square leg, then claiming two wickets in two balls with a dubious lbw and a nasty one that reared off a length to catch the handle of Dylan Muir's bat.

Alex Taylor calculates his batting average

Meanwhile Sandy McNay bowled Bellwood, who appeared to be targetting the MacLeod Pavilion on the distant horizon with a massive swipe, and Dean bowled Wharton to claim his fourth wicket.  There was even a another run out in what was an alert overall fielding performance as Irving Meadow were all out for 64.

Unfortunately Mike Service's stumps were shattered by Wharton's third delivery and Colin Taylor joined Sandy McNay to shore up the defences.  Eight overs later the score reached 10 and the waiting batsmen were starting to look jittery.  The oldsters upped the pace, but neither could get out, McNay in particular being dropped on three occasions.  Eventually Taylor edged one to the 'keeper to allow the entry of son Alex, who appeared to have an urgent appointment and lost no time in laying into the bowling.

One particularly massive six stood out among the ensuing boundaries and, in the end, Shipwrecks got home with overs to spare.

Scores: Irving Meadow 64 all out (Bryden ??, Moss 16 n.o. ; R.Dean 4-11) : Shipwrecks 65 -2 (McNay 25 n.o., A. Taylor 20 n.o.)

Shipwrecks Win in the Wet

The Shipwrecks took on the Healthpros at the Kingholm last Tuesday in typically dreary July conditions and emerged damp but victorious.

Skipper Taylor, having listened to the Shipping Forecast on BBC Long Wave, invited the opposition to bat first in the hope of scuttling the doctors before the storms closed in.  In fact a rather lame opening few overs meant Healthpros survived 17.1 overs and it took an excellent spell of  3-13 by Rory Dean and some tight late bowling to restrict the score to 68 all out.

Meanwhile the return of Mike Lumb behind the stumps and some more good throwing by Gregory Robinson produced three excellent run outs - another landmark in the annals of a club that rarely runs anyone out.

Man of Match - Rory Dean

Steady rain duly set in during the changeover to make even 68 a tricky chase on the developing merse at Kingholm 2.  The tactic was to get on with it and 20 was added before Sandy McNay was run out and Geoff Dean, realising it was weather for ducks, duly got one. Then Mike Service hoisted one straight up in the air and the whole battle plan look set to backfire.

Alex Taylor and Rory Dean were left with the difficult task of eeking out the rest of the runs in increasingly dire conditions against some accurate bowling.  They showed some resolution in doing this and by the time Taylor younger was lbw to one that kept very low, Taylor senior and Man of the Match Dean  just needed to milk a few extras to get the ship home safely.

Credit however should be given to the Healthpros for playing on in conditions which, if asked for their professional judgement, could perhaps have lead to a major outbreak of influenza.

Scores: Healthpros 68 all out (Choudry 18 ; R. Dean 3-13) : Shipwrecks 70 - 3 (R.Dean, 23 n.o., A. Taylor 16)

Not Enough at Nunholm

Our latest voyage of discovery to Port Nunholm again ended in defeat last Thursday when we failed to hold off CC Colts/Annandale Insurance (does anyone know who?) in the home strait.

Skipper Colin Taylor decided to bat first on winning the toss against a mixed looking CC Insurance line up. Sandy McNay and Mike Service made a reasonable enough start until the latter holed early out but disaster then struck.  Possibly mistaking Chris McBride for Tom the Cabin Boy, key batter Geoff Dean attempted to swipe his second delivery, a googly, to leg - only to be hit right in front of the mainmast on the back foot.

McCuaig hits a single to off

McCuaig and McNay, who has been in vintage form with the bat hung around for a fair while until McNay claimed his maximum and Alex Taylor was finally ready to take the wicket.  The score then started to accelerate as Taylor swatted his way to 25 but batting was  not without problems against some very mixed bowling on a wet outfield.  In the event Rory Dean was the only other batsman to seriously trouble the scorers, playing some nice looking shots through the offside.

Typically, Nunholm introduced late arrival and would-be county cricketer Niall Alexander to bowl two overs at the end and Dean and Ian Whitby did well to avoid conceding another wicket as Shipwrecks foundered to 110 at the halfway stage.

The bowling turned out like the batting i.e. somewhat mixed and certainly proved that Reetz, who was dropped early at short mid-wicket, is strongest outside his leg stump. Once McBride followed him to the maximum, it always looked like the target was reachable.  One bright spot was that Alexander was caught C. Taylor b. M. Robinson for not too many and there was a minor celebration when birthday boy Gregory Robinson claimed his first wicketkeeping victim by running out Trefor Williams.

A late attempt to stifle the singles with an umbrella field at least drew out the finish until the end of the nineteenth over but the truth was that Shipwrecks neither batted nor bowled well enough to deserve victory.

Scores: Shipwrecks 110 - 5 (A. Taylor 25 n.o., S. McNay 25 n.o, R Dean 19 n.o) : Annandale Colts 114 - 3.