Bath 4th XI vs Bristol Lions match report
12 July 2021
Match report - 10th July Bristol Lions
The annual trip to Dunkerton for the Bristol Lions away leg is always eventful, and as was mentioned on Saturday is one that skip looks to miss.
The day started badly with a WhatsApp message from Jake at 12.30pm.
‘I’m lost’
‘Where are you?’ (hoping his answer wasn’t Chippenham)
‘In the car park’
Now in normal situations, this wouldn’t be an issue, but at Dunkerton, the ‘car park’ is an un-mown meadow, and the reason poor Jake was lost was because once he jumped out of his car, he couldn’t see over the grass. Think Stuart Little.
Panic over, we strolled over to check out the wicket, noting that the only thing missing was grass, as it consisted of a combination of dandelions, moss, mud and a puddle.
At the toss, with no obvious threat of rain, it was decided that we would play 30 overs and start at 1.30 to give the ground a bit of time to improve. We won the toss and decided to bowl on the basis that the wicket couldn’t possibly get any worse.
The pitch doesn’t really affect the way the Lions bat, it’s sort of a series of dot balls then a whack for six, dot, dot wicket, regardless of the quality or speed of the delivery.
They then proceeded to bat in the aforementioned style, getting to 60 for 9. Then the ‘Sniper from Brownsword’ came out and on recognising him as the chap who tried to kill his dad, Fred went for retaliation with an exocet of a full toss that thudded into his unprotected hip. Like a dog stung by a wasp he retaliated with some lusty blows that got them to 94 all out, which was going to be a tricky chase.
Tough bowling conditions as it was so wet, sticky, slippy, you name it, but the seam attack of CB, Chloe, Fred, Toby and newcomer Joe Heywood bowled with discipline and a smile to keep the total down.
Phil Eayres wanted in on the act, offering a few words of encouragement before T and Josh went out to bat, with the promise of a jug for the impossible shot on that wicket, a cover drive for 4. T loves a free beer and eventually got his reward along with a gutsy 35, and Josh continued his run of good form eventually hitting the winning runs with a pull for 6 that brought up another 50.
