NVC vs Woodhouses
National Village Cup Last 16
We met our match in Manchester on Sunday against a very good Woodhouses side. Given the sodden outfield the home side had done very well to get the game on, but the wicket was wet so it was going to be hard to get runs. An important toss was lost and we were put in against some very accurate bowling. After a slow start, Tom Barber, Aaron Blackmore and Chris Moore fell in quick succession and it was left to Phil Hammond to hold things together with an excellent 50 plus. The tail managed to use up the overs and get us to 129. That score might have given us just a sniff given that we had bowled out the league leaders for less on a better wicket the previous day but in the end Woodhouses reached the target for the loss of just 4 wickets with ten overs to spare. In truth they outperformed us in all departments and there can be no doubting that they deserve to go through to a quarter final against Shipley Hall. We will be following their progress and wish them all the best in their quest for the cup.
We had terrific support with 40 on the coach and others going by car and despite the result it was a memorable day out. Our cheerful driver took us for an interesting tour of East Lancashire which included a U-turn on a main road at one point as we looked for the ground (no-one had directions or a map). Woodhouses Village is only 5 miles from the centre of Manchester. It’s a small community surrounded by green belt land, with the green belt land surrounded by Manchester. Michael Atherton played his youth cricket there, and his brother Chris still does, very well. He was man of the match today.
Plenty of beer was consumed after the game. The locals were very hospitable and pleased that we play the game in the right spirit. By all accounts that wasn’t the case with the last lot they played. Hopefully we will play each other again, maybe in the cup or maybe in a friendly. Soon though, because we all spotted a little lad bowling on the outfield after the game who won’t be very nice to face in a few years time!
Here are some photos, the draw for the cup and a report from the Woodhouses site.
Fillongley at Woodhouses – a set on Flickr
http://www.thewisdencricketer.com/userfiles/nvc/national_draw_2008.xls