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.

Shipwrecks Back On Course?

Geoff Dean took over the captaincy for the last couple of weeks in June, while Captain Taylor was away in Austria looking for fresh talent.

Unfortunately, this period coincided with a further downturn in our fortunes, namely League and Cup encounters at Dalton, who have filled their team with various stowaways, privateers and mercenaries, presumably in attempt to claim buried treasure at the end of season.

In the two clear defeats that resulted, we did however put up a good performance in the cup game, when both Robinsons bowled some decent deliveries and Mike Lumb rediscovered his wicket keeping gloves.  So it actually took the Dalton Allstars seventeen overs to reach our modest total of 53. Apparently however, the talking point of the game was a rare beamer from Sandy McNay which at least left some mark on the opposition

This week the 'Wrecks steamed back up the League, but only because Kirkmahoe could only muster four players on the night and conceded the fixture.

The succeeding knockabout pairs game was won by Alex Taylor and Andy Cameron and, as well as providing much needed practice, served to demonstrate the current level of fitness of the crew, some of whom could be found indulging in beer and porky scratchings in The Ship Inn after the game.