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Miracles do happen!   You are here: Home » Blogs Detail

16th July 2012

Neil Dutton

Insert ALT The sun did come out!
On Friday, the BBC described the local weather forecast for the Maghull area as "showery". To call it showery would be a vast understatement. The last recorded instance of a shower of this magnitude saw Noah embark on a sea trip with two of every creature. I visited our Parkhaven ground (where our Sundays match was due to be played) and was staggered by the amount of water on the pitch and outfield. "I've never seen it this wet" I said to the ferryman as he took me from the outfield to the middle. I was under no doubt that I would be making a phonecall to our opponents the next day to advise them to find something meaningful to do with their sunday.
 
Saturday dawned bright, dry and warm. So warm in fact that I managed to achieve sunburnt arms and my second sunglasses tan of the season. Parkhaven was not playable that day, leading to the 4th XI match being called off. But if the weather held, it may be playable for Sunday. I awoke Sunday to very warm sun, and at 10am arrived at the Haven with Chall in tow. The outfield was wet, but no worse than we'd played on this ground before (there are two ponds at one end of the ground, and the place can get boggy.) We inspected the square, and it seemed OK. With this in mind, Chall Parky Cozie and Smigger became groundsmen for the day.
 
By 1:45, the ground was playable. I could barely believe it.
 
The match itself was a slight thriller. We were bowled out for 110, thanks to 28 from 90 balls for the ever improving Macauley Lawrenson and a first ever six from Dave Cunningham. Our opponents, Southport and Birkdale, had matched our score for the loss of four wickets, when suddenly they paniced. They lost 3 wickets for ZERO runs, giving us some small hope that, in the over and a half remaining, we could salvage an incredible tie.
 
We couldn't.
 
Next week, with weather looking better (why did I say that...) we will travel to Newton-le-Willows, a ground I have only played at once and on which occasion I produced my finest ever fielding performance. I hope the 5ths will enjoy a remarkable 3RD GAME IN A ROW, and enjoy our visit to the home of Rick Astley.
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