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If the Cowfolk are doing it, this is where it’s at…
More Walking
Punky is going walking again, this time meeting at The Plough at 10:30am on Saturday.
Feel free to join in. Keep an eye on the Messageboard for more details.
Midweek Results
08/09/2011
The Saturday As beat Ashley Res 1-0.
07/09/2011
The Suburbans drew 1-1 with Ridings High.
06/09/2011
The Saturday Bs lost 0-1 against Clifton Rocket Res.
04/09/2011
A match report has emerged from the haze that was the Cricket Team’s trip to Buckfastleigh. DCi reports thus:
Skipper for the day DC1 turns up for the match to find thatthe opposition have poisoned his team with real ale the night before. They weregiven Gaol Ale and Yellowhammer apparently. Jeff slept in a church porch.Wayner was in a state of disorientation, unsure about what he could rememberand what he had merely imagined. Arran was reading the same page of the SundayMirror for at least 45 minutes. Nelly required an extended effort ofmouth-to-mouth resuscitation to get him on his legs. Stroddy looked more orless with it, as did his mate Ben. Our team of 8 was made up by Ollie, whomight have been Stroddy’s sister’s boyfriend. Or something. (more…)
The End Of Cricket
03/09/2011
The Football season has started and Gareth reports the following on facebook.
The Suburbans opened the season with a 2-0 win, although I’m reliably informed “it could have been a lot more”.
The Downs A team drew 3-3 with Torpedo Res (who finished 2nd last year and beat us 2-0 last game of the season), including a 50 yard screamer from Stephen Williams
And the Downs B’s came from 2 goals down to grab a late 3-3 draw themselves.
There are some mid-week games this week with the Bs playing on Tuesday 6th and the As playing on Thursday 8th, both kick off at 6-15pm. The Suburbans also have a home match on Tuesday night and so why not drop into Bristol West Indies for a pint.
The cricket teams have now played their last games of the season. The Saturday Team’s last match ended in a defeat by only 3 run s to Midsomer Norton. With Bath having one game yet to play the Saturdays will finish either 3rd or 4th in their division. TT reports thus:
How far are you prepared to go to get a run? 22 yards? And how would you like to get there? An amble, a gentle stroll, a jog, a canter, a sprint, a horizontal dive that nearly dislocates your shoulder? All these options and more are open to a batsman in the game of cricket, but rightly or wrongly, probably wrongly, the former is more likely to be chosen at the start of an innings, the latter at the end.
Apparently It Is All Walking
Punky has posted this on the website messageboard:
well hello again
Had brief meeting last night in plough – a few people there and we needed to dispel the rumour that the walking group was not some glorified pub crawl!!
We are going to start off gently – meet at 1100 at the Plough , drive to the countryside and do a 6 and half to 7 mile walk around Castle Combe area – and in complete contradiction to what i said before – there are 2 pubs en route,
anybody interested in joining the group send us an email or give us a bell –
07908875384 / 0117 9520707 – we aim to go out probably at least once a fortnight and we will be up for suggestions for walks in the future
We also could do with a name ( do not want to be called ramblers) so again any suggestions gratefully received – i shall expect the usual witticisms from certain individuals )
Over and out
Football Match Of The Century?
Notice of the Cowboys Football Match of the Century (or just since we won the GFA Cup)
Ultra Casual Cowboys v Easton Cowboys Casuals
Sunday 2nd October – AXA – k.o. probably 10.30 or 11 a.m.
Please come along and support your favourite oldsters battle it out.
We hope to do some sort of event, probably at the Plough, to celebrate afterwards. Maybe food, DJs etc. Possible a club/ tournament fundraiser.
People to help organise this would be great, contact Chas if you are interested.
The End Is Nigh
27/08/2011
The Saturday Team were crushed (Cowboys all out for 59, and lost by 10 wickets) by Keynsham, TT reports thus:
The young scorer who accompanied the top of the table Keynsham 3rd XI was quite forthright in explaining the make-up of his team (not to suggest that they were all wearing mascara): Apparently, some of them usually played for the 2nd XI but “hadn’t been doing very well” and had been demoted, thereby altering the appearance of the side that the Cowboys had managed to beat back in June.
Still, the Cowboys had a new addition too, welcoming back Gary for the first time this season, to significantly enhance an already pukka team playing their penultimate game of the season and still in with a chance of promotion from Division 3.
Torrential rain the previous night had left the wicket at the Fry’s ground like an undercooked chocolate sponge. Winning the toss was paramount. Losing it was unfortunate.
Ev and Justin opened the batting and kept the ball out for the first few overs, grabbing a single now and then until Ev lost his off stump. The following over, Ben lost his leg stump and when Alan went to a faint edge in the next one, 17-3 wasn’t a good place to be.
After ten overs, Gary and Justin had pushed on to a healthier 30-3, the former masterfully lashing the ball to the boundary several times but then Justin fell and RichG entered stage left. A promising partnership ensued, Gary riding his luck in being dropped two or three times, although bizarrely, it was his good fortune that led to Garner’s downfall, when a catch that everybody assumed would be taken was labouriously dropped, by which time Garner at the non-striker’s end had turned to stare at the trees, out of his ground and was run out from behind. Not so much a Cider Moment as a Mogadon Moment. (more…)
Punky Is Walking
Those of you that remember Vic Reeves’ Big Night out will know that it is “not all walking” but it appears that at least some of it is.
Punky has left a message on the website’s message board saying:
a few us good cowfolk have recently been doing a bit of walking or talking about going walking and are interested in setting up a Cowfolks Hikers/Walking Group – to this end there will be a sort of meeting/gathering on thuRsday (1st Sept) night in the plough for anybody who may be interested – Oops at 1930
Anybody welcome to pop along and make suggestions and bring along ideas
Full Club BGM
Notice of the Full Club BGM – Tuesday 20 September 2011 – Hawks Gym – 7.30-9
Please come along to this important meeting and have your say in the running of the club. Come along and get involved. The more, the merrier.
Please let me have any agenda items in advance of the meeting.
This will be an important one as we will be discussing us hosting another tournament in 2012 or 2013.
We also need to elect a new Chair as Jess O has stood down after years of leading our great club.
Just a reminder to say that I think we need at least 2 people from each team to attend.
Some Turn And Fight Others Run Away
13/08/2011
The Saturday Team beat Wrington C.C. 2nd XI, TT reports thus:
The Saturday bunch headed out past Bristol Airport to Wrington. For those unfamiliar with this particular North Somerset parish, a quick look at a Wikipedia entry from last year, allegedly written by a Cowboy who was absent from the match this weekend, would have told you the following:
“Although a lovely village, Wrington cricket ground can be susceptible to it’s own little micro climate and suffers from showers and floods and all types of weather and geological conditions, although earthquake and volcano have not occurred in the last few seasons, they are arguably the only reasons left to postpone games. These events normally happen at times of crunch matches and when promotion hopes are high. sometimes they only occur against formidable opposition. they are very localised events, cricket continues most saturdays and sundays in a lot of the surrounding area without a whiff of bad weather, flood poverty or pestilence. My advice to the visitor is to watch your cricket at another village ground if you’re after a fair days cricket, if you’re a travelling cricket team to have your whits and wellies about you as they’ll be up to all shenanigans on and off the field. umbrellas at dawn!”
The doors to both dressing rooms were plastered with freshly printed sheets of paper detailing the nuances of acceptable and unacceptable sporting language, gesture and behaviour, adding to the tension inherited from previous encounters and Wikipedia hacking, although in reality, there were no problems for those who didn’t go looking or question umpires’ decisions.
After Joe lost the toss, the Cowboys found themselves batting first on a slightly damp and pockmarked wicket, under a slate grey sky. DaveB and Ev faced the new ball and worked hard at keeping out the opening attack, negotiating the variable swing and bounce and finding it difficult to hit the ball off the square. In fact, it was one of the slowest starts to an innings all season and after ten overs there were only fifteen runs on the board. More importantly, there had been no damage from the opening salvo. Oh! Dave’s out, caught forcing the pace.
Kalu joined Ev in the middle and after initial caution, the runs started to flow more easily. Ev was then bowled by the first change bowler, bringing BenP to the wicket and together the unbeaten pair from last week built a steadily accelerating partnership, running well and finding the boundary with pleasing regularity. After putting on more than fifty, it all ended in tears when Ben was run out for twenty.
Iggy was caught early on, one of some thirty – or more – catching opportunities presented by both sides throughout the afternoon, much less than half of which (mostly the difficult ones) were taken. Alan came in and provided the perfect foil for Kalu, both looking in cracking form as they welded another partnership against a slightly thin bowling attack, before Kalu was bowled for thirty.
With five wickets down the run rate was now a healthy three an over, climbing rapidly as Ange took full advantage of the balls remaining, finding the middle of the bat and clouting a top score of 34 in quick time as Alan stroked stylishly from the other end. After Ange was bowled, Rog was run out cheaply trying to scamper and maintain the positive momentum against an opposition who by now were snapping at their own heels. Garner went in to hold Alan’s hand for a brief while until the end and the well paced collective innings concluded after 40 overs on an above par 166-7 with Alan 26 not out.
After a good though perhaps tactically heavy tea, which wasn’t as your correspondent initially suspected laced with ketamine, the Cowboys took to the field, Alan in a fetching / fineable orange ‘Mani’ hat. Swifts flew inches above the ground, darting about successfully catching insects, utterly unlike the fielding display soon to unfold.
Although one of the regular opposition opening pair (the leading run scorer in the division) was absent, the other, their skipper (also highly productive this season) wasn’t. Budge and Garner opened the bowling and apart from rare exceptions kept things tight but couldn’t make a breakthrough. That’s the trouble with bowling well and making the ball swing. It wasn’t until Ev replaced Budge that the young opener was out caught.
>> Note to self: Data absent
>> Insert Appendix detailing all catches taken and dropped; go easy on Rog and Iggy, praise the skipper.
>> Those who didn’t stay in The Plough until closing time will be less likely to be suffering amnesia.
Replacing Garner, your correspondent forgot to let go of his first delivery then noticed that he could have run out the non-striker by yards. He didn’t, more concerned with the possibility that he’d forgotten how to bowl. He was soon taught an early lesson by having a reasonably good ball clattered to cow corner, where the Friesian spectators chewed. (Other non bovine spectators included Jeff and SteveO – the latter may have some photographic plates of the occasion.)
Not long after, the pinioned new batsman messed up a drive and Budge had a second, tastier catch. He plucked a third after Rog overcame initial radar difficulties and the batsman favoured the aerial route. Kalu beguiled with flight and accidental googlies, earning respect from batsmen falling behind with their run rate and prompting the fall of the next wicket, when Garner swooped to pouch a rebound from Iggy’s slippery hands, and in so doing was a worthy winner of the Cider Moment.
The opposition skipper remained, steadily accumulating, reaching his half century as his partners came and went. The Cowboys’ skipper rotated the six bowlers expertly, showing a fine head for mathematics. Field positioning was crucial, as was Ange’s diving behind the stumps. Alan took a great catch on the long-on boundary, where he appeared little more than an orange dot in the fading light by the hedgerow.
Wrington, bar their captain, were crumbling, despite all the dropped catches, yet they weren’t out of the game. Unperturbed by the ability to swing the ball, your correspondent bowled straight and hit the stumps. Budge’s fourth catch off Ev at long-off was sublime, as the batsman threatened to chase a run a ball for the last few overs, then, achieving some kind of poetic justice, Ev aptly bowled the batsman who’d previously bowled him.
In the dusk, from some distance, the scoreboard was deceptive and it was unnerving to discover that 38 overs gone was actually 36. Their captain was looking like carrying his bat and possibly capable of achieving their target as Rog sought to contain him, but in the 38th over Ben made no mistake with a fine diving catch and he was dismissed for 73. Not even unexpected localised seismic activity could save Wrington now: Game over, victory by 20 runs.
Budge’s catching and captaincy won him an equal share of the Man of the Match vote with the embedded hack who acquired a small clutch of wickets.
14/08/2011
The Sunday 1st Team were blown out by Old Bristolians and played a friendly against Knowle instead. Neil reports thus:
To clear up any confusion, yesterday we were blown out by Old Bristolians but we ended up playing a friendly against the mighty Knowle CC at their place. Their wicket was quite a bit firmer than the squidgy Winford wicket. A great 25 overs-per-side game saw us bat 1st and make 178 for 6 (Justin 45, me 46, Duncan not out 36 and some great pinch hitting from Wilki, Ben Salt, Pitcher, Angelo and Mackie). In reply Knowle won the match with 5 balls to spare with their 1st teamers Ellis 91 no and Haynes 59 no seeing them home. We caught 2 and dropped possibly only 1 could be considered a chance ( ‘hammered’ (his words) at Justin in close). I have texted their bloke to see if they want the result up on the website, not sure if this is possible or desirable but for posterity’s sake?
They certainly saved us from a day of absolute frustration. Some of their play was absolutely amazing and it was a joy to face the bowling of Haynes (51 no remember) who bowled 4 overs of fast swinging bowling for which we scored no runs off the bat and only 1 no ball and 1 wide. Didn’t get a wicket though so there.
As it was such a good day, we have managed a great bit of schmoozing with the league secretary and have hopefully made friends with a very good club. Pre season and other friendlies beckon in the future I reckon.
The Sunday 2nd Team were beaten by Stratton-On-The Foss.
The Smell Of Stale Urine
Before commencing with this weeks results round up I should point out that the title of this posting has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Well, OK I was listening Coldplay by accident last night and was reminded that a Gallagher or two referred to them as music for bed wetters. So disconcerted was I that I had listened to Coldplay, even if it was an unpleasant accident, I promptly pissed in my pants and have been stewing in my own foulings ever since.
29/08/2011
The friendly team lost to Long Ashton by a few wickets.
Ev and ‘Lil Lilly had been driving home from Cornwall when he had a blow out on the M5 just outside Taunton. No, this was not a slap up meal with all the trimmings and a free stoop of diethylene glycol enhanced vino, the tyre on his car exploded. From this point on every decision the traumatised Ev made was a stinker. First he picked Grove who only scored 1, second despite all the other cars getting to Long Ashton with ease Ev found a route that required sitting in standing traffic for half an hour. Third he opened the batting with DC2 who broke a knuckle but manfully completed the game bowling at the death. Fourth he ran out our most steady batsman, fifth he ran out our hardest hitting batsman… and so it went on. (more…)