Fun in the sunOnce again, glorious sunshine greeted everybody at Crewe ASi's annual 6-a-side cricket tournament. The six teams taking part were split into into two groups of three.Unfortunately, the ASi side failed to reach the latter stages and were knocked out even before England had lost the fourth test against Australia.A few new players were in the ASi squad, all of whom made a name for themselves in some way.In the first game a steady batting display from Danny Colclough and Steve Baddeley kept the score ticking over to set Sandbach Travelling Alex a reasonable target of 45 from 5 overs.However the day started to get worse thereafter.Mike Baddeley opened the bowling and with one over gone, the target had almost been halved.Unfortunately Rob Macdonald (still awake at this point) and Steve McCallion failed to stem the flow of runs and Sandbach won the game with ease.
Sweeping team changes for the second game with a few newcomers to the growing squad included.Elliot Bishop bamboozled the batsman with his spin for the first ball of the innings, but then proceeded to bamboozle the fielders as to which part of the boundary the next balls were going to be thrashed.Andy Kinsman struck a good line and length and managed to take a wicket, as did Steve Challoner.A change in Wicket Keeper this year did not improve things as amazingly we found someone who appears to be a worse keeper than Andrew Dobson, who had declared himself unavailable for this tournament.Steve Baddeley once again gave the batsmen some problems and saving the best till last Steve “Boom Boom” Wilson bowled the last over getting a wicket but still a target of some 70 odd runs was posted.However the batting deteriorated in the second game, with nobody reaching double figures.Martin was run out, though was still challenging this decision as his gloves, bat and pads were thrown in disgust.Fortunately he kept his box to himself.Elliot and Steve were top scorers with 6 and 7 respectively but nobody else really failed to trouble the scorer, Dave Slack ,which helped him out, due to him hitting the big 50 (age not runs) and a little respite in his writing arm was well received.
So the Crewe ASi team were out, but there was still lots of cricket to watch – and with the bar being open still lots of fun and games to be had.The final was contested between Ideal Standard and Sandbach Travelling Alex, and unlike Headingly, came down to the last ball! Still requiring five runs, a fairy tale "six" off this ball and the trophy was Ideal Standards! Unfortunately, it wasn't to be and Sandbach retained their trophy!
The winning team
However, unlike last year, Sandbach couldn't retain their single wicket title. With beer to be won, Crewe ASi found new resolve, securing a sudden death bowl-off with Ideal Standard. This time though, Ideal did prevail. Some slight consolation after an excellent day's cricket.
The day was not just about cricket though, a raffle, golf putting game and BBQ, all helping raise finds for our current adopted charity CLIMB*. Sincere thanks to everyone who donated prizes for the raffle, anybody who bought tickets, and all those that helped out on the day.Perhaps 2010 will be the year for Crewe ASi to win this tournament. Who knows? Stranger things have happened!!
* Based in Crewe, CLIMB is a national organisation working on behalf of children, young people and families affected by metabolic disease. The demand for their services continues to grow. Many children who at one time would have been undiagnosed are now known to have been suffering from a metabolic disease. As medical science and knowledge advances, this trend is likely to continue - there will be more families needing their support, more children relying upon them to help find cures.
