Today we head off to Evesham to play the Worcestershire Over 50s.   Evesham is a market town in the county of Worcestershire. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the flood plain of the River Avon. The town centre, situated within a meander of the river, is regularly subject to flooding.
The 2007 floods were the most severe in recorded history . The town was founded around an 8th-century abbey. During the 13th century, one of the two main battles of England's Second Barons' War took place near the town, marking the victory of Prince Edward who later became King Edward I.

We had hoped to have a tour of the historic sites around town but unfortunately arrived too late and had to make our way directly to the cricket ground.   Its my turn for a spell on the sidelines today so I will busy myself with umpiring as the local club has only supplied one umpire.

The opposition won the toss and put us in to bat on a multi-coloured wicket. After losing Gill early, Jimmy and John both go on to retirement scores - unfortunately retiring at almost the same time.   This brought two new batsmen in and we lost our momentum.   We were 1/45 off the first 10 overs but only added another 59 runs in the next 20 overs.   A flurry of activity in the last couple of overs, with Vinnie making a good 26 off 35 balls, saw us reach a defendable total of 7/153 .

After another good feed, I wander over to the banks of the Avon River which runs right past the ground.   There are several guys pole-fishing and I watch how he uses a small slingshot to send a half-dozen maggots out into the water near where his baited hook is waiting. Our boys take to the field with immediate success. Ron bowled the opener and should have had a second in the same over, only to see Murray spill the catch at 1st slip. The batsman went on to make a further 18 runs.   Constant wickets reduced the home side to 7/85 before a rear-guard action saw them add 32 runs for the 8th wicket.   Thirty-three more runs needed when the last pair came together and with their number 7 batsman playing very sensibly for 44no it looked like they may get there.   Vinnie eventually managed to entice the number 11 to spoon a full-toss straight to Paul Thomas at mid-on and we had won the game by 9 runs.   The bowlers all contributed - Bob Phillips the best with 3/20 off his 7 overs.   There were 5 LBWs given (3 from my end) but the only controversial one was from their umpire who gave out their opener (only 3 short of retiring) when he clearly hit the ball into his pads.   The batsman was not happy and suggested to the gathering fielders that perhaps they should recall him. In typically Aussie-style he was politely told where the showers were and what he should do when he gets there.

After another good feed and few ales - and a few more stories told - we head back to our digs and another cleansing ale before slipping upstairs to bed.