Aaah, the West Bridgford Ians. Not so long ago (well I say not so long, it was about 14 years...which says a lot about my age), we literally played them every day. A usual week would look like this:-

Sunday - Newark Alliance vs West Bridgfordians
Monday - U13s at West Bridgfordians
Tuesday - U11s vs West Bridgfordians
Wednesday - pop to Iceland in West Bridgford to buy some 2L Barr’s Raspberryade* (*may not resemble real raspberries) for just 49p. Bargain, even if did leave a sticky sheen on your teeth.
Thursday - U15s v West Bridgfordians
Friday - day off. Everyone needs a day off. Even the Ians.
Saturday - 1s at West Bridgfordians, 2s at home to West Bridgfordians.

You get the picture...I vividly remember a committee meeting where we discussed leaving the Sunday league so as not to have to play yet another game against them - not that we disliked them you see, we were just bored of playing them. (We eventually did move to the GMCA, where we now play teams that have slightly beguiling names - like British Shoe Foundation - which ask more questions than necessary...Who runs the British Shoe Foundation? Has it been impacted by Brexit? Is it anything like the British Heart Foundation?

Anyway, I digress. After 3 weeks away we were back at Butt Field and a winning toss saw us have a bowl first. James and Taylor opening, Shep once again wearing a headband which seems de rigeur for our juniors.

The first six overs set the tone. We never really looked like taking lots of wickets and the batters played well, but they never really got motoring.

Then Josh Flood and Lewis Warner got going. Flood with one and Lewis with three and some superb back-up bowing from George Denham saw the Ians finish on 141, a total we were all happy to chase. It has to be said, the Butt was not at its best today, and batting was challenging, made harder by a slow outfield and steady light drizzle.

Tea came and I took a lot of stick for a plain bagel, with no filling. I love the chewy texture, OK? Umpire Nigel informed me he was going home for a bit, and it literally must have been to see a man about a dog as he returned with one about 20 minutes later.
Everyone had a dog today, Liz had her two wolfhounds, Chan had the two dogs that look like they’ve been put through a shrink ray...

After Nigel had returned, and my wife had dropped my lad off at Butt Field (as she said, he was there to ‘Watch me run myself out again’) we got batting, Sam making the cardinal error of not getting forward at the Butt to return to the lined box early doors. Lewis came in and we put on 40 before an lbw decision brought in Josh Flood. The two lads started slowly but picked up the pace and did well to keep the run rate from climbing. We were always needing 7 an over but the odd boundary, including Warner train tracking a ma-Hoosive 6, kept us honest and in the game.

Josh Flood was run out for 40 trying to get a 2 when in truth his turning circle meant he had run 2.5 runs, and Lewis was also run out going for a very unselfish 3. It was great to watch the lads learn as they played and Flood snr and Stu at this point only needed 13 from 12 to make it 2 wins out of 2 at Butt Field.

The Ians were a good lot and I’m sure - now - we are looking forward to the return fixture.!