Team Spirit

I was able to switch off from work and the computer totally today. I didn't set the alarm and my body allowed me to catch up on a bit of sleep. I took a run on the moor before heading over to the cricket and it was only when I got home that I fully realised how humid it was. I couldn't stop sweating. Not experienced that in quite a while.

The second team were at home today against Calverley and the firsts away to Rawdon. After seeing the seconds start well with the bat I headed over to Rawdon, which is quite a drag uphill towards Leeds. The ground pretty much sits at the top of the hill, high above the Aire valley. When I'm cycling between matches I always feel an incentive to go as quickly as possible, feeling like I might be missing something important. I arrived in a bit less than 30 minutes. I doubt you could drive it that quickly with all the Saturday traffic that was around. And my timing was perfect. I arrived just as Forrest was walking out to bat at 112-5.

He never looked entirely comfortable at the crease today but nudged and occasionally bludgeoned his way to 24, playing something of a supporting role before holing out to a full-blooded drive down the ground, his best timed shot of the day but unfortunately not the best placed. The innings was soon wrapped up after that, for 181, with just a couple of overs left. At that point I left to race back down to Ben Rhydding where I caught the last three overs of the second team's innings.

Some lusty strokeplay got us within sight of 200 (and another batting bonus point) but we then lost our big hitter and Roam suffered a moment of madness to get bowled coming down the wicket with a huge heave of the bat and playing all around a straight one. On 199 we lost a man to a direct hit when trying to scamper the single we needed off the penultimate ball of the innings. It was amazing how much tension built over just one run and one point, but we did finally get the run we needed off the very last ball. This picture was taken amidst all the frantic activity of that last over.

Roam picked up a couple of wickets in his opening spell, both clean bowled. That opened up the batting for the other bowlers to keep chipping away and a win never really seemed in much doubt. Some quite violent hitting from one of the opposition's lower order batsmen just slightly threatened to spoil the party but Roam brought himself back on to pick up his wicket and give his team a resounding victory. He was so pumped. They were all so pumped. The team spirit is amazing and I'm so proud of my lad for fostering that. You can see it in this photograph.

I doubted I could cycle back quick enough to see the end of the first team game. There was no news until I got home and looked at the live scorecard which is published on the internet. They lost by one wicket. Gutted. I didn't find out until later how gutting that defeat was for the lads. A simple catch was dropped off Forrest's bowling which would have won us the match. You wouldn't wish that on anyone. They were all so desperately disappointed, for themselves, but also for the poor lad who missed the catch. Cricket is such a cruel sport.

It was a late night as, of course, England played Italy in the World Cup. We may not have got anything out of our opening game but I took pleasure from watching us lose with some style. I think we can say that the future is brighter than it's been for a long while. It was a very entertaining match to watch. We continue to live in hope. The match against Uruguay is going to be huge!