Bemmi 2s Slip Up At “Satans Garden”& Some Suspect Groundkeeping Makes Life Difficult

Another beautiful wicket & outfield(NOT) on a day which was supposed to rain throughout ( as it had the night before) & the Bedminster 2s players showed up with absolutely no motivation or intention of playing any decent cricket at bohemians (renamed “Satan’s Garden”)

Having bowled first it was to be clear blue skies much to the dismay of the Benmi team who had all played the rain card for most of the wee bit although there were dark clouds in the distance the game started promptly.

Having won the toss Bemmi started poorly and let the most average openers get off to a flying start on an abrasive and difficult batting deck which seemed to be doing absolutely nothing, (probably due to the areas the front line bowlers bowled in).
After a display of half trackers at one end and half volleys at the other top bowlers Drissell and the Ginger thunder Hares were both given a swift Kit Kat, bringing 1st team star Mason down the hill and Club hero Carter on up the Hill into the Gail force wind. Neither faired much better. Bemmi were poor and lethargic in the field, walking to positions with no intention to put bodies on the line on an uncomfortable and bobbly outfield, catches were dropped, fielding errors were a plenty and poor bowling had left the captain contemplating what to do. He went to spin in the 20th over and although the first few overs were tight from Filer and Randhawa the breakthrough wasn't coming and with bad balls every over, Bohs had a 150+ opening partnership and were attacking the short boundary hitting with the strong winds behind them. After 18 further overs “The Greek” had seen enough, refusing to go back to his front line superstars he brought himself on & was rewarded immediately with 4 wickets as he stopped the overconfident bo’s who were in disbelief that this was the team they were embarrassed by earlier in the season. From looking like 300 + and getting a massive total on the day they ended up with 245-4 from 45 overs witg their opener scoring his maiden ton at the age of 40 to the dismay of all self proclaimed batsman on the day.

In the end a very chaseable Total .....

Teas were fantastic as were the facilities (NOT) and It was a ugly reminder to why Bemmi 2s need to be playing at a better level next year.

Batting 2nd Bemmi started aggressively but the captain unnerved by the shocking pitch which had started to show the demons (our bowlers had not found earlier), unusually gave his wicket away cheaply and for the first time this year wickets began to tumble as the pitch started to show it's true nature. Chop-ons and a 2 paced death trap meant that Bemmi struggled to build partnerships and were thankful for a strike of luck and lightening as the rain finally decided to turn up, (late just like Omar).
It came at 94-4 from 19 with Shean hitting the ball sweetly, the rain then blasted away for the next 2 hours with Bo’s doing everything possible to play for 6 more balls and maximum points by removing covers in the rain and having covers wheels on a length but still begging to return for the final 6 balls to constitute a game & thanks to some amazing (yet unnecessary) sportsmanship from lunatic Captain Tryfonos Bemmi were back out at 8pm in the dark playing a 6 over game and needing 44 to win with with wickets in hand. Unfortunately our chase summed up our day & within 8 balls both 5 and 6 Omar & Shean were out making the Boh’s 7th and 8th bowlers look like Broad and Anderson, closely followed by Carter and Mason, Drissell,Hares & Filer so in short a distinctly poor opposition ended up smashing Bemmi 2s and inflicting only the second loss in 11 weeks. Yes a proper bottle job to lose by 12 runs with an over to spare as the Bohemians celebrations began as if they had won the league in what seemed to be the biggest win in their clubs history with not a glint of recognition for the Bemmi boys willingness to return in quite shocking conditions.(Very poor)

The Bedminster lads packed bags immediately and were grateful to have left the ground and facilities with no intention of ever coming back in the future and with several players closely contemplating retirement.

The only positive of the day was Phil Hughes exhibition in top order batting and his most professional attitude all day (especially in the warm ups), It was a true honour to play with such a top lad and role model to the rest of the Bemmi youngsters who have carried us to the top of the league (where we remain 30 points clear at the top) and looking forward to a game at Brislington where the skipper a former Brislington player would like to seal a place in the division above with a much better performance.

Roll on Briz ....
#superstarPhilhughesforthe1s