1998 Cricket Tour of West Sussex - Day 2

Day Two - Tuesday 4th August

After the heavy drizzle of the day before we were surprised to wake up with more or less clear skies and fortunately it was to stay that way for the rest of the week.

Day Two saw the arrival of Paul "Rambo" Reynolds who had flown in especially from Dublin.

Unhappy with the accommodation arrangements at the "King's Arms", those members of the tour party who had stayed there decided to leave in search of new B & B accommodation.

Unfortunately none was to be found, so they spent the rest of the week sleeping on the floor of the other player's rooms in the "Queen's Arms".

Hung over anyone?

Once we had recovered from the previous late night drinking session we left to go to Henfield, the furthest of our four fixtures, on what is reputed (sometimes) to be the oldest ground in England.

Captain for the day was Rob Fowler who by coincidence was also "Dead Ants" caller and "Dodgy Bat" user. Some people have all the fun!

And the game of cricket commenced...

We again batted first and all hoped for a more exciting match on this picturesque cricket ground. Mark Williams and Paul Reynolds opened the batting and put on 82 for the first wicket, with "Rambo" the first to go, caught in the slips for 30 from 31 balls.

Next to go was "Willow" with major jug avoidance, bowled for 49 from 52 balls. Runs were added steadily after that as wickets began to fall, until the arrival of Paul Tovey at the crease at No 8 to hit a stylish and effortless 50 from 42 balls.

Cricket Tour Shock

The real shock came with the last pair of Craig Scully and Rob Fowler. Craig having scored 114 the previous day against Warnham was expected to add significantly to that total, but was out 6th ball for a meagre 1.

Everyone thought that this failure could only be blamed on the drink, but it wasn't until after the match that we realised it was part of a master plan to conserve his energy ready for what was to be a mammoth bowling effort.

The Sodbury Graceless XI innings eventually closed on 211 all out after 37.5 overs.

In search of a first victory

Clive Reynolds and Craig Scully opened the bowling, but were both taken off after 12 overs for failing to take any wickets. Dave Reynolds and George Blakemore replaced them and although George managed to take a couple of wickets they both got carted all around the ground (obviously it wasn't a spinners wicket!).

The return of Craig Scully into the Sodbury attack coincided with the commencement of the 20 overs from 6.30pm and brought immediate rewards as a mini collapse insued as Craig claimed all four top order batsmen and ended with final match figures of 15-2-39-5.

Unfortunately this was not enough to win the match. Even the gamble of asking Clappy to bowl a couple of overs failed to dislodge the stubborn batsmen and Henfield were well short of the Graceless total when the game ended on 174-8 having faced 7 more overs.

Note in Scorebook - Day Two

"AS FAR AS WE ARE CONCERNED THE SODBURY GRACELESS XI WON BY 37 RUNS"

After a hot day's cricket we got back to the Queen's Head and drank heavily. However there was some unfinished business and when Rob Fowler called Dead Ants in the middle of a busy pub everyone fell to the floor. It was the unfortunate Dave Reynolds who failed to respond quickly enough and would be 'on it' the following day.

Fines

Fines of the day were:-

First to chunder on tour
Being flat out on the first night
Gibbering rubbish in sleep
Chatting up the landlord
Fashion offences
Angry head
Having a bath
Speech problems
Unfounded homosexual claims
Irrelevant African plant reference
Turning into father
Wearing a sponsored shirt
Laziness
Toys out of cot
Going home to see mum
Balancing pint on lazy lob
Discussing Mecca
Lateness

As day two ended the lasting memory would be the exhibitionism of Craig Scully.

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