Peace and Quiet, A Game of Cricket and The Salad Challenge

Posted on September 20, 2009

The Bray boys arrived to an amazing piece of good fortune. Due to an earlier football related 'incident', skipper Josh Peacock had lost his voice and was unable to speak for the whole day! A game of cricket with him involved has never been so quiet!!! Losing the toss again he was duly asked to field on a warm September day.

Mixed bowling from openers Roff and Flecknell got Gaddesden off to a good start. 1st change Coughtrey, had to leave the field when attempting a caught and bowled and whilst he missed 1 over, Bray removed both openers. 1 genuine wicket and 1 retired hurt!

Runs were still flowing aplenty, despite Jones' 4 wickets which included 2 stumpings and a catch for keeper Norris. Quite who was giving the instructions throughout the day was unclear, but the person next to skipper Peacock at any particular time had to be vocal.

Death bowlers Barker and Kerins were given some treatment as the visitors racked up an impressive 248-4 off 40 overs (yes Jones did get all the wickets but he's probably text you and told you this before you've got around to reading this). Despite this, Barker was still first in the queue for tea. Openers Roff and Peacock got Bray off to a decent start, but when both fell in quick succession, it was hoped Flecknell and Norris could make big inroads into the huge total. It was all going so well until Flecknell needlessly got himself out stumped and when McDermid fell next ball, drinks had to be taken as next batsman Kerins was the umpire!!

Needing 160 odd off 20 overs, Norris and Kerins put on 72 and gave the Bray real hope before Norris allowed a long hop to creep up his bat through to the keeper and Kerins was caught in the deep by a diving 70 year old!

Some hitting from last pair Jones and Peacock snr ensured Bray got up to a respectable 194 all out with 1 over to go.

Short of cash, Jake Barker, renowned for his tea eating was then offered a challenge. Several members would put up some cash if he could eat a large bowl of salad (he has never before eaten anything good for him). This challenge was readily accepted and he said it would be easy. 1 hour later, and after several false attempts to puke, he finally succeeded. Munching on a Mars bar 'to take away the taste' he quoted "he'd rather run 20 miles than do that again!"

And how much was in the pot? £7.20 to be exact. It is not known who put the 20p in, but Coughtrey was in the building.....

-- Football Card Winner

Scorecard

• Result: Great Gaddesden CC - 1st XI Won by 54 runs
• Date: Sun 20th Sep 2009 @ 13:00
• Ground: The Rye Gardens
• Type: Friendly
• Scoring: Standard
• Toss: Great Gaddesden CC - 1st XI won the toss and decided to bat
• Highlights: Crawley 98*, Andy Norris 51, Ian Jones 4-39

Source: Eaton Bray Cricket Club