Another Engine Failure

Fortunes can change suddenly at sea and so it was that the Shipwrecks' Batting, which purred so sweetly at Lockerbie last week, fell victim to a major engine room failure against the Healthpros at Kingholm 2 on Thursday.

After a heavy downpour on the Solway Coast, prospects of play seemed dubious.  At the pitch inspection the Healthpros, who only had six players present, were convinced that the deck was unplayable, whereas the Shipwrecks, who had ten, were certain that it was. Play eventually got underway around 6.45 pm, by which time the Healthpros had also multiplied to ten including women and children.

Vice Skipper Donald McCuaig won the toss for Shipwrecks and elected to bat.

After the storm and before the deluge - Strachan to Oates

A reasonable launch produced 17 runs off three overs, but Mike Service and Sid Oates were then caught in successive overs from Williams and Fraser Strachan, who injected some pace into the Healthpros' attack.

Good wicketkeepers are a vital part of any equipage, as was soon proved when Lawrie stood up to stump Geoff Dean, whose back leg was still rehearsing the hornpipe. Colin Taylor then called McCuaig for a foolish run and Derek Rankine also fell victim to a Lawrie stumping after advancing far down the afterdeck.

From then on it was survival mode as Taylor battened down the hatches and the remaining crew battled the elements. The only highlights were a four for Mike Lumb and Danny McBryde finally getting a couple with his ludicrous backhand shot as the Shipwrecks could only salvage 67 for 8 from the wreckage (Extras 19).

However Derek Rankine quickly bowled Lawrie and dismissed Sue Strachan with a painful played-on next ball. When Taylor bowled Wilson in the second over to make it 4 for 3 with runs hard to come by, another turnaround looked on the cards.

But three boundaries from David Strachan and a solid supporting innings from Williams more or less put the Healthpros out of sight. Wickets from Andy Cameron, Taylor and Geoff "Shiver me Timbers" Dean kept hopes alive until the Doctors' last original batting pair politely terminated the consultation.

A disappointing battle for the mariners - but at least one that maintained the tension right through.

Shipwrecks Man of the Match was Extras - hard luck again on Derek "Shabba" Rankine for his excellent bowling.

Scores: Shipwrecks 67 – 8 (D. Strachan 2-5, Williams 2-13, Mutthiah 2-17) : Healthpros 68 – 7 (D. Strachan 26 ret, Williams 16 n.o. ; Rankine 2-6, Taylor 2-10)

Every Man Does His Duty

10-man Shipwrecks outmanoeuvred Lockerbie with an excellent away victory on Thursday after an encounter featuring slightly weakened crews on both sides.

After a brief squall that livened up the pitch, returning skipper Alasdair McEwan won the toss and chose to bat.  After a quiet first over, Sid Oates and Danny McBryde, who hit three successive 4s, avoided the calm waters, accelerating to 30-2 by the time Oates was bowled off the first ball of the fifth over - possibly the best start Shipwrecks have had all season.

Called up almost simultaeneously, Davey Fallas and Mike "Senior" Service were soon in full attacking mode, both retiring on 25, Service having improved noticeably his charting of the fuller delivery. With the score already approaching 100, Jason Hall followed on at only slightly reduced revs and it was only unfortunate that his retiral coincided with an exhausted Taylor's run out. But once again, the tail (Jim Worthington and Mike Lumb) wagged and the ship's cat was smiling on a total of 144 after the 20 overs.

On the resumption of hostilities however, there was a feel of deja vu from previous humiliations as Carpenter and Ross Crawford plundered runs all over the place as the ageing argonauts again fumbled in the field. After five overs, Lockerbie were well ahead of the required rate, but at this point fortunes changed.

Mike Lumb Celebrates
His Three Dismissals

Looking to nail a last boundary, Carpenter missed and was bowled by Hall and McEwan responded by taking an excellent return catch to eliminate Crawford in his last over. McEwan was replaced by Colin Taylor, who sought to exploit a sporty breeze off the dogger bank.  In his first over he had Gracie neatly stumped down the leg side by Lumb.  In his second he crucially had Andy Veitch brilliantly taken by Worthington at mid off on the drive, then got one to move off the deck to have Stephenson caught behind by Lumb. After a neat run out by Danny McBryde to remove Dawson, Taylor struck again to bowl Rogerson with a curve ball before Lumb completed his third dismissal and Taylor's five-for when he took another good catch off Harris.

The Lockerbie innings had effectively been torn asunder and Fallas and Worthington picked up the last couple of wickets, dismissing the home side for 95 at the start of the last over.

Overall this was also an excellent performance in the batting and eventually the fielding departments. To avoid more painful pictures of Taylor, Skipper McEwan announce that the Man of The Match Award should be shared by the whole team as everyone had contributed to an excellent win.

Today's result by some accounts means that Shipwrecks have also outflanked Lockerbie at the top of the Division 2 League Table, so that they are now in serious danger of being promoted beyond their level of competence. Hopefully there will be some sort of nautical disaster  or seafaring catastrophe to help them avert this fate.

Scores: Shipwrecks 144 - 7 (Fallas 25 ret, Service 25 ret, Hall 25 ret, McBryde 13, Oates 10, Taylor 10 ; Gracie 2-36) : Lockerbie 95 all out (Carpenter 23, R. Crawford 12 ; Taylor 5-10)

A Happy Crew

Shipwrecks Run Out Of Steam

The Shipwrecks went down in a catamaran-style League and Cup Double at Kingholm 2 on Thursday, in what however turned out to be a close and well-contested skirmish. Unfortunately holidays etc had deprived the Sailors of four key players, most notably bowlers Cameron and Skipper McEwan.

Captain Lieutenant McCuaig standing in lost the toss and was thankful to be invited to bat as several of the team only made it out of their bunks in the nick of time.  As is often the case with large ocean-going vessels, the openers were slow to haul away from dock, but Sid Oates and Jim Worthington hung around for seven overs and batted quite well, also benefitting from the large number of wides on offer to take the score to 28 for the first wicket.

After Oates decided it was time for a howk, McCuaig started his captain's innings with a nice straight four but, when Worthington picked out the wrong fielder (Forsyth) with a drive and the Skipper was also caught to make it 59-3, the effort began to go a little awry.  Hall was adjudged lbw to one that might have been drifting to port and Peter Cooper fired his first ball straight to Sam Thornley who did really well to cling on.

Mike Service batted well but could only manage one four before he was also caught off the Colts' pro Forsyth.  Possibly taking over the wheel a little late, Davey Fallas provided the usual flurry of activity on deck but was restricted to 16 not out, which plus the usual scratching around at the end of innings and a nice four from Lumb, moved the final acore on to 98-9 after a last ball run out.

As the dull weather improved marginally, makeshift opening bowlers Taylor and Hall did a reasonable job of battening down the hatches in the first eight overs and between them accounted for openers Gordon and Currie. Lewis was smartly run out by Cooper and it looked like the sea gods might be favouring the Shipwrecks when, in his last over, Hall accidentally diverted a well-struck ball to run a stranded S. Thornley out at the bowler's end.

However, Forsyth made the expected maximum with ease after one narrow squeak and a third run out (yes three in the same innings!) by Taylor may have been a tactical error as the victim was the youngest cabin boy on the pitch, T. Currie, who was defending solidly but showed little sign of being able to reach the boundary rope.

When Davey Fallas bowled Keith Walker for a duck, the odds were still acceptable with only two wickets needed for victory, but the 'Wrecks were now out of established bowlers and, in spite of one respectable over from Worthington,  the Colts eventually had a clear run in to the finish line in the 19th over.

Scores: Shipwrecks 98 – 9 (Fallas 16 n.o., Service 14 n.o., Oates 10 ; K. Walker 3-18) : Dumfries Colts 99-8 (Forsyth 26 ret, Gordon 17, R. Thornley 12 n.o.)

Shipwrecks Weather The Storm

Shipwrecks got underway again with a second victory over Burgh Boys at Kingholm 2 on Thursday, their first game for three weeks.

A pause in the cup schedule had been compounded by a misreading of the tide charts, so that the 'Wrecks and Dumfries Colts were expecting to play each other on different days.  To be fair the Midweek League Fixture list stated that the game should have been played on Wednesday 25th June (which was a Thursday) - so the mix-up was to be understood.

This Thursday's teams gathered under the trees shortly after 6.00 p.m. as a southerly gale blew swept across the Kingholm from the Azores.  Fainter hearts would have headed for port, but a brief interlude in the downpour allowed play to commence at approximately 6.40, after Vice Captain Donald McCuaig rather hesitantly opted to bat.

This had the advantage that most of the team were still in hiding when the downpour resumed, but those on deck fared less well and in a fit of bravado, Shipwrecks lost Oates, Service, McCuaig, Dean and McBryde for a paltry 28.

After the Rain - Team Conference

Fortunately these had been made at the double so Davey Fallas and Derek Rankine were able to consolidate with a more selective approach but continued the required amount of big hits.  With not too much help from the lower order excepting Connor, Shipwrecks just managed to survive the voyage, and when Rankine brought up his retirement off the very last ball of the innings, the total had raced on to 121 - 9.

By now the sun stood fair in the sky, but it was always hard to see how this total could be reached using a ball that had gone from slippery to soaked and on an outfield still throwing up plumes of spray.

Early overs were uneventful until McCuaig turned to spin and Davey Fallas soon captured Edgar caught and bowled.  BB Skipper Collingwood was then surprised by a nifty throw by Service to be run out while still feathering his paddle.  Key moments then occurred when Rankine bowled S. Flack for 13 and F. Flack, on 10, edged to short third man, effectively ending the Burgh Boys' fire power.

Taylor - Naffest Selfie?

Fallas picked up two further wickets before old hand Colin Taylor was teleported back 25 years to eliminate B. Flack with a surprisingly sharp catch off his second ball.  Taylor went on to capture the wickets of various still arriving Burgh Boys, ending with the returning V. Collingwood, who was nicely taken by Cameron at wide slip to conclude the innings in the nineteenth over.

Taylor claimed the Man of the Match with  his 4-10 and also the Naffest Selfie Of The Season So Far Award.

Scores:  Shipwrecks 121 – 9 (Fallas 27 ret, Rankine 25 ret, Connor 10 ; F. Flack 3-20, V. Collingwood 2-15, A. Collingwood 2-17) : Burgh Boys 68 all out (S. Flack 13, A Carmichael 10 ; C Taylor 4-10, D Fallas 3-22)