Big hitters & deadly bowlers: Thorpes Joinery take to the cricket pitch
Two mixed teams from both our office and factory departments swapped oak for willow, and took to the cricket pitch on a sunny Friday afternoon in South Leicestershire, producing a game that drew such remarks as “I think cricket is the real winner here” and “can you believe that is his first time playing cricket?”
Team building and wicket tumbling
Team building can be quite the corporate buzzword, conjuring up images of drizzly weekend trips on a nearby lake, whilst getting remarkably frustrated at your co-worker’s complete inability to build a life raft out of an old barrel and some string.
Fortunately, that’s not our idea of a good time, rather, we descended upon the wonderfully picturesque Langtons Cricket Club for a game billed as a casual day out and an excuse to have a couple of beers with colleagues in the sun - but, would it play out like this?
Competitive, us? Never.
Friendly competition can only be a good thing, there is nothing quite like taking some bragging rights into work on a Monday morning with embellished tales of your exploits to build some relationships at work.
Despite there being just one currently active cricketer out of our 20-ish players, there was plenty of willingness to make up for a slight lack of experience, meaning that both teams served up a game with moments of genuine quality and plenty of entertainment.
Not a bad spot for a game of cricket
Team “Blue” captained by Jack Bellamy, won the toss and elected to bowl. Each side would bowl 10x10 ball overs, with each player having one over each, at least this was the plan, but Nye Dicken, in his first-ever game of cricket, seemed to want to wrap the game up early - taking a hat-trick. A remarkable achievement really, especially given he then followed it up with two more wickets. There was some excellent fielding on display too, Archie Willis hared about like a man possessed, Iain Hastings proved an immovable object on the boundary stoping more than one four-bound effort and Rich Moore was deft behind the wickets. It all looked to be a bit one-sided at this point!
Fortunately, Team “Black” managed to recover from this veritable onslaught, with Joe Pickering, Chris Whittle and Scott Imlay all scoring well. Karolina Dziakowicz kept the scoreboard ticking over with a number of quick singles, featuring her utterly unique running style, whilst Rich Watts did a great job of making sure everyone had their pads on after his Golden Duck (out first ball for you non-cricket aficionados).
Cricket was the real winner, obviously.
Despite some excellent bowling, Jack Bellamy, in particular, impressing with his searing pace, and Simon Hobart bringing a delightful turn out of the ball, Team Blue could not restrict their opponent’s run rate, as they went on to set an intimidating score from their 10 overs.
In response, we were treated to a swashbuckling display in the Blue Team’s innings. Led ably by the effervescent Quaid Rimmington, who took home the accolade for shot of the day with a glorious heave to cow corner, and he was well backed up by Rich Moore, Archie Willis and Tom Clarke.
Sadly they fell just short of the target, largely thanks to some hugely restrictive bowling, with Ross Matthews, Reece Wilson and the enthusiastic Karolina keeping the rate down to a minimum, ably supported by some committed fielding.
The winners were toasted at the local pub after, with tales of performances embellished almost immediately, and we have to thank Sarah Singh and her partner Dee, who scored and umpired the game exceptionally well despite being used to watching proper cricket.
See you again in the summer!
