Sunday 5th September 2004 would be the final home game of the season for Huncote CC. As is customary with the holiest day of the week, the Spearheads were in action. This time against the little known Humberstone Gentlemen. The Gents were short of a player so, being the sportsman that he is, Dave Horstcraft decided to help by representing Humberstone. On a day that was uncharacteristically hot/sweaty/humid, the Spearheads skipper, the ever-present Pete Kirby, lost the toss and was put into bat. He would lead the team out by opening the batting along with Director Of Cricket, Brian Driver.

Unfortunately this terrifying partnership would not bare the fruits we all expected. For it was Driver, who got a reasonably low bounce that saw the bails go whistling through the air, that fell for a solitary run off the bowling of Hall. New man at the crease, James W Swann.

As previously mentioned, Dave H was playing for the Gents and he would prove to be a crucial signing in the fall of the next wicket. As Cook ran in to bowl to Kirby, Dave H was fielding at point with a steely look of determination in his eyes, and would you believe it....PK picked him out. Still a fairly difficult catch to take, but Dave had a desire that burned deep within him and was illustrated with a comical lap around the wicket as he sent the Spearhead captain trudging back to the pavilion. With the Spearheads looking in a spot of bother, the task of rebuilding the crumbling foundations on which the innings lay was down to Mitch Hubbard and the aforementioned James Swann. Four 4's and a towering 6 from the latter would prove to be vital as he went on to top score with 32 (actually extra's was 38 but I'm not being fussy). Hubbard batted well also and went on to grind out a brilliant 20.

This was where the good news ended for Huncote. After Hubbard fell (caught Cox bowled Bech), James Swann went on record as saying "I'll chance my arm now coz we've still got plenty of batting left" as he gazed at the warriors that would follow him in. A collapse would be an understatement for what happened next. Adcock got 6 before dragging on off the spin-bowling of Parker. Brewin hit his first ball for 4 and then missed a straight one and was clean bowled. Scrimshire got 6 of the streakiest runs you'll ever see before being given out plum LBW (no complaints from me) by Wilkshire.

But then Max 'Power' Swords strided to the crease. This guy had been regarded as a kind of talisman for Huncote, so the adoring fans were not panicking just yet. Then....it happened. It was still Wilkshire's first over so his arm was still a bit tight and this was clearly indicated by the amount of width he gave in his first delivery to Swords. The crowd breathed a huge sigh of relief when they thought that this would be given as a wide. But then.......disaster struck As if he was being possessed by an Ancient evil or demonic force, the usually cool, calm and infallible Swords took a swing at it! "Nooooooooooo!" gasped the visibly shocked crowd as the ball glided into the hands of Burgess, gifting Wilkshire a hat-trick ball and Swords a golden duck. The Huncote faithful were devastated, down-trodden and some might say upset at this floundering display of batting. Carl Sommer, Aaron Randall and Frazer Hubbard were the remaining three batsmen, who continued the disastrous innings by picking up 2 runs between them leaving the Spearhead vice-captain on 0 not out. Innings closed on 115a.o. after 29.1 overs.

Moral was low at tea. 2 batsmen made it into double figures and the rest fell to terrible shot selection. The only hope the Spearheads had was that the gents had not won a game in over a year.

The retaliation to the dismal batting performance was spearheaded (forgive the pun) by the opening bowlers, F Hubbard and M Adcock. Hubbard displayed the kind of steely determination that was not evident in the first innings. 8 overs, 5 maidens, 6 runs for 0 wickets gave the Spearheads hope. Brilliant/Awe inspiring bowling from Frazer I think we all agree. Adcock had more success in terms of wickets when Hall cut a wide(ish) one to Scrimshire at point. Adcock completed 4 overs and was replaced by up-and-coming superstar Aaron Randall who maintained the tight bowling started by Hubbard and Adcock by conceding a meer 9 runs from his 4 overs. Carl 'Twiggy' Sommer was the next bowling change. Economical bowling and ferocious wicket taking is what we have come to expect from Twiggy and he didn't fail to deliver. He bowled Cox and Parker as well as having Mitch Hubbard take a good catch at mid-off. 3-18 off 7 overs was not a bad days bowling at all by young Carl. The run rate was never electrifying, and should never have been anyway in accordance with the target they were chasing.

'Muttiah' Swords was next to bowl and really didn't get any luck whatsoever. No wickets for 30 just compounded the misery which Max sustained on that blistering afternoon. Is he a mere shell of the superstar he once was? I doubt it! All i can say on the matter is....watch out Collingtree. The job of bowling at the death fell to two people. The swing of James Swann and the spin of Jason Scrimshire is all that stood in the way of Humberstone on their hunt for victory. It was going to be close. Then came a passage of play that i like to call: "When Cricket met Baseball" and I leave it to the words of PK to describe this highly entertaining manifestation. One guy played a shot to Aaron Randal at mid on, the batsmen went for a suicidal run and then both appeared to stop mid way. Randal threw the ball to Swanny the bowler, whilst Brewin was shouting "keeper, keeper", so instead of taking the bails of at his end as the bloke was coming back, Swanny turned and threw the ball to Brewin.

Now both blokes start running back to the keepers end, Brewin took the bails off, running the batter(s) out by miles, but then threw the ball back to Swanny. Then both batters turned and started running towards Swanny, who took the bails off again!! Both guys were run out at both ends and the fielders were all on the floor crying with laughter!!

Swann and Scrimshire kept the runs to a minimum leaving Humberstone the task of 13 runs off 2 overs with 2 wickets in hand. Twiggy had been given the call to bowl the penultimate over (a wise decision) but this was over-ruled by General Adcock who insisted it would be better experience for Scrimshire to bowl it. 4 runs off 3 balls did little to justify this decision. But then a quicker off-spinner found the batsmen, D Cook, stranded down the wicket when Brewin was happy to oblige and take the stumping. 2 balls later it was all over when Burgess was caught, off the bowling of Scrimshire, by Pete Kirby. HUNCOTE WON BY 8 RUNS. A highly entertaining and thrilling encounter that both teams seemed to enjoy, which was portrayed in the Slow Man race where everyone had a good laugh. 1 game left....bring on the Crusaders!!!

 Man of the Match- James Swann

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