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Oldbury on Severn versus Tortworth   Sunday 14th May 2006

New fencing and a perfect looking batting wicket greeted Tortworth to the first game of the season at Oldbury. However, a drying wicket produced some uneven bounce that made batting very difficult. Either that, or the batsmen were just more rusty than the bowlers. Nigel Hopkins looked at the strip and decided he'd bat if he won the toss. Like a goldfish with a two-second memory, he won the toss and decided to field. What a good decision it was! Tortworth struggled from the outset with impressive bowling from Tom May and Derek Garrett. Fearing that Mark Russell would drop as many catches as he did in the trials the week before, the bowlers decided to aim for the stumps and it worked! Wickets tumbled, runs were hard to come by, and the new fence worked well. Russell didn't disappoint with a classic fumble, but made amends later with a well taken catch so as not to be outdone by his Dad who fooled the batsmen with a miss-field and then throew down the wickets for a run out. With wickets shared amongst the bowlers, a target of 90 looked easy, especially after a steady start between the Russells. With 30 on the board, the first wicket fell and then others soon followed, until Ian Knapp steadied the ship. But would he run out of partners, and would the spectators fall asleep? With 10 runs in as many overs, wickets continued at the other end, and then Knapp was bowled for 28. Enter Pete Ford, or not quite. In a league game, he would have been timed out three times over. Do I need the a pee? Yes, no, yes. Where's my box? Here, there, where? Who will look after my beer? Someone joked, don't worry Pete, it won't have time to get cold! How right they were. Eventually he arrived at the crease to bring about the biggest cheer of the day - bowled for a golden duck, the first of the year and sure to feature in end of season awards. Nigel Hopkins scored his first runs of his Oldbury season striking a four for victory with 3 wickets and 3 overs to spare. The rain held off for drinks afterwards - but it hasn't stopped since! Welcome to the new cricket season.

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