Keith "runs out of energy" through not eating enough tea at Valley End
Scorecard
The last time I visited Valley End their 1st XI were in Div1 of the Fullers League and they had just started work on a3rd/ 4th Xi ground just across the road from the main ground . Five successive promotions followed. The price of this success was to be huge. The cricket bureaucrats turned up with their tape measures and deemed the main ground to be too small for 1st team cricket. So the 3rdX1 ground is in the process of becoming their first team ground. I paid a short visit before the game. The ground has two port-a-cabins, new covers and three massive sightscreens at each end which would make Joe Ewen look like a dwarf. The ground has a large grass bank at one end which reminded me of Arundel, without the charm (there is the constant drone of traffic from the nearby M3). The club are trying to raise £800,000 for a large new pavilion that can cater for disabled cricket. They are an excellent, well run club with plenty of ambition to provide first class facilities whilst maintaining their local community spirit
The old first team ground is idyllic, surrounded by trees with a good wicket, sightscreens and covers. It is by a country mile the best ground the 4th xi will play on this season. Last year was the best 4th team game of the season with fifty and five wickets from Clarky earning the Clark family another visit to La Cloche. Unaccountable Clarky decided that this year he would rather hit a little white ball around Hampton Court rather than don the whites. Shame on him. [Harsh but fair - Ed]
Not sure who won the toss but The Wick fielded first for the fourth time in a row. Ollie King and the skipper Phil Linter had this week's opposition in the same sort of trouble that they had last week's - Valley End in 28 for 6 in no time at all. The highlight was a good catch by Kirk Laight running backward in the covers. Valley End rallied but were all out for an under par 68 off 31 overs with Kirk and The Chairman cleaning up at the end with two wickets apiece (it was so slow that at one point The Chairman considered that he had taken the wrong option and umpiring the 2nd XI would have been more exciting).
Tea was not taken; much to the disgust of The Chairman who was feeling decidedly peckish after his "exertions". Young Dominic Jones, the most stylish batsman on view all day, was soon taken at slip off Andrew Freeman, a useful young bowler who moved it both ways all be it at a gentle pace. James Lloyd soon followed but with Phil Miles, Rob Swaine and Max Talman, who was very tidy behind the stumps, all making double figure The Wick at 47-3 were cruising to their fourth victory on the trot. 47-3 soon becomes 52-8 however, but Kirk and Ollie King saw the team reach their target, much to the relief of The Chairman who was next in. Valley End took thie defeat in good spirits, not for them the histrionics and excessive appealing you see with many sides. So 18 wickets fell for 137 runs from nearly 56 overs. Poor batting by both teams. Perhaps Mr Clark was not so daft after all. [Debateable - Clark is rumoured to have threatened suicide after recording a 95 in the Monthly Medal - Ed].
Tea was taken and was fine although I cannot give marks as most of the plates were empty by the time I had got to it, as I was chatting to their President whose name is also Keith . Keith, who seemed to have been involved with the club for a fair portion of its 118 year history, thanked me for the glowing report of Valley End CC made by Wickman in 2012. There was nothing from my visit this season that would prevent me from endorsing that report. Valley End are a friendly, well run club who play cricket in the right way and the right spirit. We wish them well this season [apart from in the return fixture - naturally - Ed] and in their desire for a new pavilion.
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