Greys Green (A) – 6.9.14

RUASCC 187-7 (35 overs)

Greenhalf 58 not out, Karthee 39, Eagle 32

Greys Green 80-8 (35 overs)

Withers 5-34, Waqar 3-18

RUASCC won by 107 runs

Part 1 – The Five Wicket Haul

Playing cricket at Greys Green is just so full of loveliness it’s easy to forget there are other parts of the world where wars are being fought, forests are being destroyed and people are listening to albums by U2.  Everyone’s so polite to each other; good batting and bowling are praised by both sides and little kids who’d like to bowl are given the chance to take a grown-up wicket.  Perfect surroundings, great weather - it’s a little bit like being on set in the Truman Show (I mean the nice bit before the director tries to drown him).

As far as RUASCC’s batting was concerned the politeness extended just as far as Zia taking guard outside his crease to a spinner and getting stumped, but not quite as far as Greenhalf who mercilessly pounded his old clubmates over the road on his way to a first fifty in muhumble mumble years.  He was joined in a stand of 80 by Karthee who looked assured at number five and posted his highest score for the club.

Of course there’s no room for courtesy between RUASCC’s front-line bowlers this year.  Separated at the top of the leader board by just two wickets going into the final few games, Waqar and Withers have declared the race to be very much on, my friend, very on indeed.

First blood to Withers this week – and a little bit more besides.  In a 14-over spell Withers clean bowled the top five batsmen effectively ending the contest.  It’s fair to say he needed a good deal of help from the pitch which had a soft spot just short of a length, but no more help than, say, Waqar had at Mortimer when he took 5-6 on a chocolate blancmange.  Withers’ first five-wicket haul since June 2013 briefly put him ahead of his rival, but Waqar hit back with three (lower order) wickets of his own to level things up again before the close.

Despite the efforts of Skilliter (34) Greys never looked like threatening the target - indeed they were more than a hundred runs short with their last pair at the crease when the overs ran out.

Part 2 – The Personal Best

I managed to disappoint everyone (except Waqar) by withdrawing from the Theale game for no better reason than I was due to run the Maidenhead Half Marathon on Sunday morning.  I maintained that to do both properly would be difficult, despite Dr Ashman’s assurances that it was perfectly possible logistically to get from the finish line to the other side of Reading in less than an hour.

The Good Doctor recounted the story of a friend who got hammered the night before a race, felt a little unwell after half a mile so took a break to be sick at the side of the road, then proceeded to finish the course in his best ever time.  By comparison I feel like I was somehow cheating by going home to eat pasta.

Because when you think about it, anyone can set a personal best over 13.1 miles when they’ve spent the last three months training for it, when they’ve been careful about what they eat, abstained from alcohol and meticulously prepared their race-day schedule, clothing and nutrition.  It takes a special kind of athlete to do it when they’re still shit-faced at the starting gun.  I am not that kind of athlete.

Anyone who’s been within earshot of me in the last six months knows that I am training for my first full marathon (in Bournemouth, October 5^th) and that cricket this summer has been tacked on to my training schedule.  As well as just proving to myself that I can get round the course I have another reason for running the marathon: I am trying to raise money for a local charity, BIBS, who support the work of Buscot Ward, the premature baby unit at the Royal Berks.  I have some good friends who spent a lot of time there, hoping that their 1lb baby would survive another night.  Well, Henry is now a healthy six-year-old, and he owes his life to the care he received on Buscot.

BIBS are raising money for their “Saving Tiny Lives” incubator appeal and would greatly appreciate any donations which can be made in the following ways:

Online:  https://www.justgiving.com/keiwit/

Via SMS:  Text KWBM79 followed by the amount you wish to donate, e.g. KWBM79 £5 to 70070

Having said all that, I don’t really like children that much.  Mostly it’s the proving-it-to-myself thing.

Just in case you were wondering I did indeed set a new PB in Maidenhead (1:37:46) while Waqar moved two wickets ahead of me again in RUASCC’s defeat at Theale & Tilehurst.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Greenhalf.

RUASCC Team:  J. Singh, Eagle (capt), Zia, Dip (wkt), Karthee, Greenhalf, Main, Waqar, Withers, Ashman