North Wales Tour 2018 Day Three

As the heat wave continued Bury breezed in to Colwyn Bay looking for a clean sweep , which one has to say was a stark turnaround from last year where we lost all three games. So no pressure on skipper elect Dom who achieved his first goal won the toss and decide to bat, not sure next year’s skipper will have the same good fortune looking at Bury’s final score. Into the fray came strong arms (Popeye)Ramsay jnr and Greenhalgh senr , not too sure how many balls Ramsay lasted it was short and sweet perhaps he was yearning to get back to see Olive Oyl , anyway off he left with his tail behind his legs, big bro Jacob managed a wry smile on passing to join Greenhalgh at the crease, two balls later Mark’s lack of good fortune in a Bury shirt continued and he met a similar fate, he feathered one to the keeper and off he popped, enter Smalley having come for the day from down the A55 to join the touring party, four balls later he met the same fate as Mark Greenhalgh and snicked off. 11/3 not quite the start we had in mind, cries from the balcony “T20”!! were still scowled upon from manager and skipper who had full faith as GG was next to the wicket, Gary and Jacob set about rebuilding the innings and that’s exactly what they did, Jacob was again impressive with his ground shots and kept the scoreboard ticking over punishing anything short and bringing Gary to applaud in the same vein as myself last night with a “shot of the day” his well timed extra cover drive was straight out of the top draw. Jacob reached another 50 and was in full flow, GG showed his class backing him up playing sensibly latching onto anything loose, score board now repaired and a 130 run partnership was in the book and Bury were back on course. GG plied on the misery for the home side and compiled a magnificent score just missing out on his hundred (98), enter skipper Dom he too joined in on the act and after another circumspect start he piled into the Bay bowlers and reached 50 in no time, Raza came into bat for the first time in three days and got the only ball that turned, chopping it onto his stumps , Lee Halliwell got his first tour runs at the death and we finished on a very healthy 271. Gorgeous tea was devoured and the southern fried chicken strips went down well with the tourists , subo enquired where the gorgeous chips originated from as she was well and truly into the fast food one presumes looking for any signs of a possible kebab, we were duly informed they weren’t Asda’s not Morrison’s not Tesco’s nor Aldi’s but Lidl’s frozen then deep fried , and we left somehow hoping Mrs Smith would take the plunge on the deep fat fryer. For further details go to https://www.change.org/start-a-petition. Those runs on the board and the lethal combination of southern fried chicken strips for tea had somehow fried skipper Dom’s brain and a plan of action was hatched regards who was umpiring and at what strategic times people would be relived of duties and it would all flow into place and Wayne you don’t need to worry you can rest we’ve sorted it. So field is set batsman at the crease , Halliwell has his run up sorted Dom assumes the umpires position and were ready to go , Smalley then counts fielders , Raza interjects too and its all decided we only have 10 , wait Gary’s in the deck chair making a call bemused by the fact he’s required as his slot wasn’t to start yet. The last time he had heard his name chanted like that was when we got back to the club from winning HC Smith Cup , Gary ! Gary ! Gary ! Was the cry. The early breakthrough came and skipper gained control or had he, Gus’s second appeal for LBW on the pro prompted him to raise his finger and then the deathly silence was met and off he went , the keeper gathered the ball from fine leg and we went again. Scoring was relatively easy to come by and boundaries flowed, a full complement of bowlers were used Gus Lee Smalley Raza Josh Lou Jacob and somehow although we chipped in with the odd wicket, the score went rattling at some pace 100/150/200, undoubtedly the best batting track we had played on , by then Dom had the field spread eagled and conducted the orchestra from the boundary initiating instructions through Raza, by the time I had re took umpiring duties Dom approached me with the “could get tight this” lose this and you’ll go down in history was my reply, it seemed to have the desired effect and he brought back Gus and Smalley to strangle it and they didn’t let him down , 40 was needed off was it 4 over’s or was it 5 was the question, the official umpires knew the Bay scorers had accidently gone one in front and were in control of proceedings , Raza was trying to explain to Aaron and Mark G, you can imagine how that went and more panic enthused , Aaron by now has had the mathematics explained to him and when there was two over’s to go he shouted “ last over boys”. Obviously Aaron’s continual attempts to claim just one catch on tour had clearly frazzled his brain. All’s well that ends well and Bay finished 16 runs short of the target, skipper quiet rightly took the plaudits and 3/3 it was. Game was played in the right spirit the lads were magnificent in representing the club throughout the three days a great time was had by all, myself and Mr Bean arrived safely back home around 11:30 and another tour was done.