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A number of guest
supporting the tour as well as The XI themselves departed for North
Norfolk on the promise of fine weather, fun cricket and well kept ales
on the morning of Thursday 26th May 2005. I am delighted to
confirm that apart from some questionable navigating en route, we were
not disappointed!
Arriving at lunchtime (depending upon the quality of the navigation)
the touring party checked into the Lenwade Country House Hotel in Great
Witchingham,
immediately taking up position in the bar to watch England begin the
anticipated demolition in their first test at Lord's.
After a
particularly friendly welcome from the especially talented bar staff,
and of course one or two liveners, we enjoyed some much needed lunch
before heading off down the drive to the Clubhouse and Bar where the
cricket ground was placed within the hotel grounds. Jack Frost XI
enjoyed a very traditional warm up!
Jack Frost XI v Gt
Witchingham
As a result of the warm up play started a little later than
anticipated, with the opposition getting off to a blistering start,
scoring at more than 7.5 an over for the first 10 overs. The
athleticism of the Jack Frost XI, coupled with some fine F&G by
some of our Senior Pros, including 'Stormin' Norman Gray et le renard
argenté (aka Nigel 'foxy' Fowler), together with some acrobatic
catching and deflecting in the field ensured the opposition were
restricted to 197 by the close of their innings.
In reply the
skipper of The XI on the day, Paul Lack, employed a masterstroke by
opening our innings with Dom Bryan partnering one of Jack Frost XI's
newest members, Clive 'Hookie' Hook. Whilst Mr Bryan struggled to
find form beyond the bar (0), 'Hookie' played some lovely strokes to
reach 23 in double quick time. With Hookie supported by one of
The XI's most able players Mike 'nice car' Chase, The XI enjoyed a
start that perhaps surpassed the opposition as we scored at an
expansive 8 an over for our first 10 overs!
As the lunchtime
libation wore off and the roasting temperatures began to tell Jack
Frost XI lost another wicket or two, to make way for Neil 'Youth
Policy' Baker, who demonstrated great fortitude whilst embarking on a
classic dismantling of the opposition's bowling attack, picking up
where Hookie and Chasey had left off! After a short while he was
joined by Al 'didn't get a wicket all tour' Crowhurst, putting on 89
together before Neil finally fell, jug shy, on 93. Al was joined
at the wicket by David 'Dorothy' Dandridge, who hit the winning runs
(on the legside shockingly enough) with more than an over to spare to
record a Jack Frost XI win!
Tour Leader, David
'The Chair' Lipop, was good enough to act as official scorer for this
game, for which we are all grateful.
We then adjourned
for our first evening on tour, the highlight of which was a formal
dinner with jazz - 'nice'!
It was an evening full of fun and frivolity which went on until 'sun
up' for more than half the tourists, with Dorothy in particular putting
a great deal of time, money and effort into rehearsing for the
following night's conversations! He was ably supported by
Geoffray 'no LBWs until August' Last, as they depleted the supply of
Babysham the bar had especially ordered in.
Many thanks to the
Chairman for organising the dinner and presenting the awards with such
aplomb!
Jack Frost XI v Aldborough
As one might well expect the following morning breakfast was not
enjoyed in full by all of the Tourists, no doubt due to the barman's
remarkable efforts the night before. All however did put in an
appearance for the interesting tour of the countryside to Aldborough
taking in Blickling Hall, one of England's great Jacobean houses.
Upon arrival at
Aldborough another fairly orthodox training session commenced at a
lovely hostelry blessed with arguably the best ale of the tour, The Old
Red Lion. An
excellent light lunch was served and skipper for the day 'nice car'
Chase was dispatched to survey the picturesque ground, reconoitre the
wicket, win the toss, and come up with his game plan whilst the rest of
the team began finding their feet again, with further light
training.
Aldborough started
their innings against two of the batting heroes of the previous match,
'Youth Policy' Baker and Al 'didn't get a
wicket all tour' Crowhurst. Initial conditions, dictated perhaps
by the training, lent rather towards the home team until 'Youth
Policy' Baker picked up a
wicket in the most unexpected way. Garnering an edge from one of
the left handed opening pair 'nice car' Chase snaffled up a sharp
chance to his right at fifth
slip (not gully - despite what he claims) as the batsman didn't ever
really control the shot, well bowled arguably without due reward at
that point. This perked up The XI who were perhaps starting to
wilt in the roasting temperature.
'Youth Policy'
Baker made way for 'Stormin' Norman
Gray at the Red Lion end. 'Stormin' built on his F&G in the
first game taking a wicket maiden in his last over before making way
pour le renard argenté who gave Geoffray more exercise in two
overs than he would normally expect in the course of a tour. Al 'didn't
get a wicket all tour' Crowhurst having toiled
into the wind for 10 overs, gave way to John 'Diplomatic Corps'
Croysdill who took only a few moments to scent the batsman's
weaknesses. 'Diplomatic Corps'
finished with 3-33 having surprised Aldborough
into only posting 229-5 dec.
The XI's reply
began with two batsmen who had scored 1 between them on tour, and 'The
Chair' had an excuse as he was scoring in the first game.....the first
12 runs of the innings notably coming in extras, with the next eight
from the edge of Graham's shiny new blade. Before long 'Youth
Policy' Baker joined 'The Chair' who proceeded to run him out, 'nice
car' Chase then joined 'The Chair' and did the same
to him..... at which point the skipper was joined by le
renard argenté who failed to trouble the scorer (Jim 'smoky'
Jeffries) at all. It was at this point that Al 'didn't
get a wicket all tour' Crowhurst joined the skipper for an exhibition
of batting which finished with all Aldborough's fielders being posted
on the boundary. A great skipper's knock by 'nice car' more than
ably supported by 'didn't get a
wicket all tour' which put on the
runs at almost two a ball. Jack Frost XI had required well over
10 an over to win when they started their partnership and for the whole
of their partnership this rate was exceeded with some clean hitting
that had the crowd entranced. Finally, when the rest of the team
thought the improbable was indeed possible they both holed out and the
last couple of tightly bowled overs to new batsmen ensured the draw was
the fair result.
Many thanks to Jim
'Smoky' Jeffries for scoring and to Dave 'Fish' Salmon for keeping the
telegraph/ales ticking over.
Following the game
an exquisite meal was taken in Cromer (The Mary Rose Fish and Chip
Restaurant) with the highlight being Hookie and Chasey's romantic
stroll on the pier. A superb piece of navigation enabled us to
return to Lenwade swiftly where another evening of fun and frivolity
ensued. The remaining tourists welcomed those who had just
arrived for golf until the first
light was seen in the sky. Which gave
Dorothy ample time to perfect his previous evening's conversations much
to our amusement.
A.Crowhurst
& G.Fowler
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