By Ross Kneller

Thursday Evening the 4th June 2009 is an evening that Saints A best forget. The 11 men that graced KGV field came off knowing that with a little more application they would certainly have been victorious. I say 11 but arguably a certain Mr Kneller could always question his presence (as his performance would suggest).

Optimists strolled out to bat propped up by the Marathon Man- Andy Biggins. His golden “Zac Morris” like locks were not enough to distract him as he carried his side to a respectable 150 ish. It is fair to note that on his way to 70 not out he was dropped 3 times. Notably no saint’s fielder (not even Brockee directly under where the ball landed) could get a hand to a skied effort that bounced all but 3 yards from the wicket!!!

To note if it were not for some tidy bowling, from MiniMart and his shorter partner in crime Badger, Saints could have been looking at a slightly higher total to chase. One must also note that if it had not been for the lack less efforts of a certain Kneller and Saints could have been looking at a lower total. After demonstrating that he was seeing the ball like a marble even T.Megson took a liking to the “very part time” filthy off spin that Ross subjected the KGV gantry to.

The reply got off to a catastrophic start with Badger running out his fellow opening partner (aka Spencer boss of the Marathon Man Zach Morris) before he had even faced a ball. One can only imagine the ribbing he got from Zach on Friday morning. More wickets fell short and far between with many fearing a murderous thrashing. However the fantastic efforts of Brocky (contact lenses now firmly in) and RV brought Saints to within 20 runs of their target and thus all in all the thrashing that had once been on the cards at 40 odd for 6 was narrowly avoided.

One other important item to note is the delight of Mr Kneller to see young J.Kendall go for 20 runs of his one and only over. After all that had been said and done someone had managed to have a worse night than the semi professional!!