Dinting CC v Old Glossop CC

OLD GLOSSOP 170-8 VS DINTING 174-1

By Andy (Andrew) King

For some, this always keenly anticipated local derby started on Friday.

“Put the goddam cover on you mothers!” came the cry from those who say, yet do not do. But with storm force winds whipping down from Bleaklow – maybe Yellowslacks to be fair – bringing with them rain, hail, and yes folks – sleet! – you would have found El Presidente, Curator Mansbridge and yours truly sheltering in the wooden hut gazing out forlornly as Saturday’s uncovered wicket just got wetter and wetter.

Wetter than a haddock’s wet bits in fact!(Copyright Ben Elton – or Richard Curtis).

Ten pairs of hands would have struggled to get the Coleman handkerchief in place in such foul conditions, never mind the three that were available.

Furiously squeegying between the never ending battering of showers, we soaked up an estimated 40 gallons ( I kid you not) of precipitation, but you can only do so much – as the legendary cricket lover and occasional seafood chef Rick Stein possibly once remarked – so we headed home hoping that the next downpour would be the last. (Copyright my assistant, Lynn).

It wasn’t.

Cut to 8.30 am Saturday morning. The sun is out, the sky is blue, there’s not a cloud to spoil the view, and it’s not raining in my heart. Peggy Sue, I love you…sorry, lost it for a moment there……

Dinting’s ground resembles a Louisiana swamp.

Our hearts sank as we trudged out to the middle. But!! But!! The track was still “damp” as my hero Stephen Fry would definitely have said if pushed , but undeniably drier than the rest of the ground, so maybe our toiling the previous day had not been in vain.

With 5 hours to the commencement of play the race was on to get the track playable. Sod the outfield, the players would just have to deal with that, wouldn’t they.

The final cut and roll took place at 11.00am with my friend Michael casting his expert eye over proceedings but the roller brought up even more juice than expected and it would have been preferable to have another 3 or 4 hours for it to bake under the sun. But it wasn’t to be.

Home for breakfast and a nifty heartstarter (Copyright Keith Floyd), hoping that on return the weather gods would have done their work and things would have dried up nicely.

Well they did to a degree, but it was still most definitely an insertion day – ooh Matron!! – and a low scoring game was expected, much to the frustration of the treasurer (me) as a bumper bank holiday crowd was expected, and well, as you know, we could do with the bar takings, couldn’t we.

Skipper Danny Brightmore duly won the toss and invited the visitors to have first dig.

Nicholson and Wright opened up for OG and seemed to be making light of the tricky batting conditions until in the fourth over Wright edged a good leg cutter from Ped Seville to Harwick at first slip. In the very same over Nicholson then mis-timed an attempted pull and was neatly caught by Brightmore at mid-off. 13-2 and the predicted low score was looking likely.

James and Eyre slowly took the innings forward without really getting on top of matters when with the score on 31 the former skied one off Coleman and was pouched by Elliott. 31-3.

Old Glossop captain Matt Woodcock now strode to the crease. Last season his brutal innings almost won the game by itself on this ground, so the early capture of his wicket was viewed as key to Dinting’s success on the day

With a change of bowling it was actually Danny Eyre who attempted to take control of the game however, going full tilt after Bryan Thompson in only his first over. This was briefly successful until he played a rather ugly waft and was snaffled behind by Gaz Gerrard. He wasn’t happy with the decision, but the reaction of the fielders and the umpire seemed pretty conclusive from where I was sat, a mere 70 yards away. 50-4.

Woodcock and McGrail now at the crease, and if these two could be got rid of cheaply then the match was surely Dinting’s. Personally I think that in this OG side that both of these batsmen should be higher up the order, but then again I’m just an old has-been who knows nothing aren’t I.

They put on a steady but impressive 57 run partnership, taking advantage in particular of some rather ordinary offerings from Thompson, whilst being tied down somewhat more impressively by the ageless Harwick at the Lane end.

“Those two are taking the game away from us!” lamented the Dinting Chairman Of Selectors, doing his finest Eeyore impersonation, and within minutes of him being shouted down by the far more educated punters around him, was duly proved wrong as the returning Coleman knocked over McGrail’s leg pole (not a great shot Martin was it) and the very next over Woodcock spooned one to mid-wicket where the alledgedly hungover Thompson neatly plucked it out of the air with just one hand.

109-6 and some sage in the crowd (me) pronounced that unless Lenny Allsopp put in a shift OG would struggle to get 150.

Well, my namesake came and went for a brief 4 but then the veterans Allsopp and Dwyer pushed things on nicely with the occasional boundary until Dwyer was neatly stumped off a nice slow one from Glenda. 139-8.

Lenny then took a shine to the tiring Coleman, and with the last over from him being smashed for 20 the innings closed on a potentially (at this stage) challenging 170.
Indeed former DCC skipper Andrew Logan was adamant that batting second on these tacky wickets spelt danger.

. Get back on that bike Logie and put some suncream on.

Raised eyebrows amongst the regulars as the home skipper requests the heavy roller during the tea interval. Curator Mansbridge was giving Roger Moore’s best efforts a run for it’s (his? theirs? I should have concentrated more at school really) eyebrow technique – this is going nowhere. Next paragraph please….

With uncertainty as to how the track would perform in the second innings Dinting opted to open up with the talent, experience and cynicism of Harwick and Wilson. (Spend a night with them and you’ll know what I mean) It worked a treat …

Less than 23 overs later 168 was on the board and a stunning ten wicket victory was about to be posted in the old memory bank when dear old Glenn got himself caught behind for 82. Bald tosser.

All I will say is that Adam and Greg attacked some very ordinary bowling entertainingly/brutally/clinically/ (delete as appropriate) . It felt good. It felt right.

Six games in and top of the league again. We’ve got a fine squad and silverware is certainly a possibility. Sixteen left though. I feel it’s right to point out “so far, so good” but it’s May - not September. Could there be a bigger game in this league this season than away at Hawk next week?

Start the car Geoffrey…

Bodycheck Man of the match.? There’s only one candidate for me. I hope you agree.

Step forward John Mansbridge.