SOME RECENT NEWS OF INTEREST

At the AGM on Monday 8th December the captains for next year were announced:

1st XI Paul Yates
2nd XI Simon Moulson
3rd XI Tony Richmond

Chairman Mark Yates thanked last year's second team captain John Coates and commended the team's highest ever league finish.  Mark also outlined the plans for special events to celebrate the centenary of the club.  More details here later................

 

Some people will do anything for a game of cricket.  After the wettest summer for many years in the UK, Shireshead third team player, Kev Buckley (formerly of Galgate and Torrisholme) has resorted to Wellington in New Zealand in search of a new cricket career.  He made his debut for the Wellington Collegian Thundergods on Saturday against Tulsi North City 1.  Playing in a two day match played over consecutive weekends the mousetachioed bowler took 2-10 off four overs, bowling in a severe wind (was it as bad as the 20/20 v Westgate?).  The over ambitious opening batsman tried to “moose” Kev’s third ball and it reputedly hit all three, whilst the number four tried the same and it would have hit all three had he not covered them with his pads.  Unfortunately number 10 Kev made a duck, but he reports his team are in a strong position going into week 2.

 Tulsi North City I — 83   Thundergods  — 181

 UPDATE Kev Buckley's side bowled their opposition out for 35 on Saturday to win by an innings and a lot. Kev's wizardry was not required.  It inspires a thought or two: we are always encouraged to follow Antipodean methods which may be ok for the top echelons, but.......... Kev's game started at 12.30 and finished at 1.15pm.  In the WCL it would be difficult to get the same team out two week's running, but imagine travelling to Coniston or Kirkby-in-Furness for a 45 minute game.  People would quickly lose interest.
 

The mention of Kirkby-in-Furness is not just random.  The informative Heysham site tells us that K-I-F 2nd XI have been admitted to Division 5 of the WCL.  so, five divisions again, and we can assume Shireshead thirds will be in Division 4.  For more on the league meeting , see http://www.heyshamcricketclub.com/?q=node/339


Apparently our first team have won the Fair Play Trophy (is there a trophy?) The league table is also on the Heysham site, but for convenience it is shown here.
1. Shireshead - 86.07%
2. Silverdale - 85.27%
3. Westgate - 85.00%
4. Arnside - 84.68%
5. Milnthorpe - 84.66%
6. Windermere - 84.33%
7. Sedgwick - 84.00%
8. Burneside - 82.66%
8. Kirkby - 82.66%
10.Ambleside - 82.50%
11.Heysham - 80.35%
12.Warton - 79.12%

Less satisfactorily for the second team, the Div 2 Fair Play league was:
1. Bolton le Sands - 89.44%
2. Warton A - 86.87%
3. Milnthorpe A - 86.11%
3. Ibis - 86.11%
5. Trimpell - 85.62%
6. Cartmel - 85.00%
6. Moor Hospital - 85.00%
8. Westgate A - 84.09%
9. Galgate - 83.12%
10.Bare - 81.25%
11.Shireshead A - 80.83%
12.Netherfield - 76.60%
Unsurprisingly the "tables" have generated some chat.

***On a more serious note we hope and pray for the safety of Parth Pamnani who played a few games for the second team last season.  Parth was in Lancaster studying for his MBA and when last heard of had returned to his position as a manager at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai.
WE ARE PLEASED TO HEAR FROM GRAHAM RAND THAT PARTH IS OK, AND IS RETURNING TO A JOB IN LONDON.

The Heysham website is as good as anywhere to visit on the web for rumours about developments in Westmorland league cricket during the long winter.   However the recent postings suggesting the league's best all rounder Peter Wilson has hung up his boots seem rather far fetched.  The man himself, under his pen name of maverick, has suggested he may become an umpire.  One detects a tongue firmly in cheek! For more detail, visit  http://www.heyshamcricketclub.com/?q=forum

 

FROM TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR'S CRICKET BOX [1986]
How did the practice of tossing to select which team
 bats first evolve? It is a question often asked. More important, what advice should be given to the young cricketer called in to take part in this most difficult of tasks? Let us see if we can shed some light on both fronts.

The practice of tossing up, or tossing off as it was previously called, began in the early years of last century as a way to avoid the arguments and confrontations that regularly occurred at the start of a match. Often both teams would signal their intent to take the field and would not be dissuaded from this end by the other side's protestations. There would then follow a prolonged period of argument, with both captains refusing to give way on the issue and adamant in their determination to bat first – or last whichever was the more attractive.

Occasionally, and with horrific results, both teams would elect to bat and four batsmen would then take to the field and no bowlers. Or worse still, twenty players would find themselves in fielding positions on the pitch with two opening bowlers at opposite ends of the ground preparing to let fly at each other.

It was clear to all that some process of deter­mining the correct order of innings should be found before serious carnage resulted and to this end the authorities considered a large number of worthy suggestions. Straws were used for a short period, as too were playing cards, and even, in one case, a dramatic car race around the edge of the field. The practice of who could hold his breath the longest was used on one occasion only. Both captains were proud men and only after the interval on the second day was it revealed that rather than let their team down both had tragically died of asphyxiation. The memorial poem 'There's a Breathless Hush in the Close Tonight' is well known.
There's more in the book — published by Stanley Paul [ISBN 0-09163890-9]