Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

So I was playing golf on cricket tour, and one of my tee shots hit the chapel roof, bounced off and landed four yards away from the pin, so glad I walked in that pile of dog doings earlier!!!

Just got back from a great cricket tour to Torquay, was due to play two games, but unfortunately the weather intervened, and we only managed a game against Budleigh (very posh place) Salterton, who managed to scrape home by a couple of wickets! Nice club house, cheap booze, plenty of tea and a massive TV to watch England play against Ireland.

So apart from the one game of cricket, what else happened on tour, well I have the fines book next to me, will give you a few random miss-doings, but no names:

• Cheating at golf, told his playing partner the wrong hole to aim for!
• Unable to toss properly
• Falling asleep in the pub
• Batting like a Charlie
• Waiting for a 12 year old girl to come out of the changing room
• Hitting a four through the slips, the went gardening to make it look like a good shot
• For snitching on left handed drinkers
• Standing in the nude in public and showing his **** in front of two OAP’s
• Having the wrong meal
• Constant texting and face-booking his girlfriend Ellie
• Second ball duck, first duck on tour, only duck on tour
• Being beige
• Three days late and then taking photos of someone on the toilet

I could go on, but as I said, these are just random fines I literally picked out of the little red book.

Thank you to every tourist who made it a wonderful tour, I am sure more things will come out of the woodwork over the next few weeks / months etc. Would also like to thank Ashley for organizing the tour, great organizer, where to next year? Anybody have any suggestion?

The fines collected, a grand sum of £95.45 (don’t know where the odd 5p came from), will go to a worthy charity, would just like to thank Jack, Sorty and Mikey for contributing 75% of the fine money.

So only one person guessed who the secret snitch was, not even his room mate guessed it was Sorty, done a grand job, was his great chance to get his own back, however for his constant moaning, pointing and wanting a KFC, think it may of back fired on him, oh well, he may learn, but I doubt it.

What a roller-coaster ride that T20 finals day was on Saturday, who would of predicted that both semi-finals would end up in a one-over eliminator, apparently one bookie gave odds of 10,000-1 that it would happen, I’m no so sure they will give these odds again.

It was such a disappointment that Somerset were runners-up for the third season in a row, I can barely type these words knowing that we are the best side in the country in the shorten version of the game and lose out in the final once more. You’ve done us proud Somerset; let’s go and win the CB40 and win the last three County Championship games to make it a wonderful season.

The only good thing which has come of The Set losing in the final is that I did back them at the start of the season each-way to win all three competitions and by reaching the final yesterday I start to earn some monies from William Hill. Unfortunately my planned holiday to Barbados will have to go on hold for the time being; it is now either Benidorm or Bognor now!

Right, it is 15.57, time for my Sunday roast; normal service will be resumed next week (depending on my hangover!)

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement - on a Tuesday!

Yes, a Sunday Supplement on a Tuesday, why may you ask, well went to a very good music festival; it was so good Monday was just a blur!!!

I see England have now been confirmed the number one Test team in the world after completing a white wash against India, only Australia, South Africa and India have held that mantle. Well played England, have been waiting for this all my life and I now believe they will be at that number one spot for some time to come.

I still maintain that the West Indies side of the 70’s and early 80’s was the best team I have witnessed playing Test cricket: Holding, Roberts, Croft, Marshall, Garner, Walsh Ambrose; as for that batsmen, Haynes, Greenidge, Richards, Lloyd, Dujon, Richardson, Kallicharran.

I could go on with names, dates, victories, broken bones etc. But one thing which will always stand out for me is Malcolm Marshall, he was so quick at one game I couldn’t even see the ball, and the wicket-keeper was standing about 10 yards away from the boundary and he was still taking the ball at head high, wow!

The end of the season is now getting nearer and Over Stowey are having a break from league cricket this weekend as the club is on tour, in South Devon, well Torquay to be precise.

Two games of cricket on the Thursday and Friday, followed by a free day on Saturday (it could get messy that day). With a 20 strong squad travelling down, plus some supporters, should be a quiet weekend away.

Torquay always brings back some great memories of tours gone by, with our first ever tour taking place in 1992 when we first visited the English Riviera. Les Biffen (who likes a drink with his friends ….but not the whole of Marldon!), arranged our first tour, and also a 20 strong squad went down the M5. The cricket was fun, the evenings were funnier, and the mornings were one to forget – that’s if we ever got to bed.

The tour of 1996 will always be well remembered by the Club as a whole, as we went overseas for the first time (the other being the Isle of Wight and possibly Cornwall). It wasn’t the fact that we went overseas, is was the fact that opposition had a guest playing for them, a certain Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall brought the teas along for good measure!

Mick has a great love for the game, but our Dave Richardson got him out for a duck, plus he didn’t bowl very well either which was followed by a few rock n roll expletives! The whole episode made not only the local press, but the nationals as well; have even found the story on the internet somewhere.

Every Over Stowey cricketer who have been on any tour will have their favourite memory, but for those who went to France that year, that will always be special.

So Torquay here we come, fines have now been finalised, tour shirts printed, mini bus arranged, just need to unpack from the weekend and pack again for this weekend – shall I bother?

Best of luck to Somerset on Saturday in the T20 finals day, we shall be routing for you in some bar in Torquay I expect, and all the best for Wednesday when I know I’ll be in Bungle’s Bar watching them play Gloucester in the CB40.

Right, 10.57, time for a pint (things don’t change in the week you know), and I hope to be blogging on Sunday if I can!

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

England run riot in Birmingham during the week, and Cook’s bat was on fire! No we are not talking about the riots and looting, England have made it to the top of the world, by becoming the number one Test team.

After the third day of the third Test at Edgbaston the result was never in doubt, as England had a commanding lead, thanks to Alastair Cook’s 294, as they piled on a massive 710 runs for just the lost of seven wickets, leaving India a mammoth task just to draw the game.

Two unfortunate dismissals on day four set up victory for England. The first when Rahul Dravid edged his bootlace and was given out caught behind; secondly Sachin Tendulkar was run out backing up – will he ever get his 100^th hundred? England go on to win by an inning and 242 runs and rightly claim the number one Test team status.

I would like to know the thought process of the England selectors in picking Ravi Bopara, apart from three centuries against a poor West Indies side, he has not had one score over 50 for England in his 11 Test matches. Surely England have given him enough chances, and with only a score of seven in this Test match, it just makes me wonder what goes on in those selection meetings. Something to do with Graham Gooch and Essex?

There are a few notable facts about the third Test: this was England’s third highest Test score, 903-7 being the highest against Australia. Cook, with is 294, becomes England’s sixth highest score in an individual innings, with Sir Len Hutton leading the way with 364, again against Australia.

Also, there was a king pair (and we are not talking Kelly Brook here – that’s a nice pair!). Virender Sehwag, after travelling 4,000 miles to play in the third Test, faces only two balls in two inning, and was out both times. Seems like a wasted journey to me! The last king pair in a Test, well it had to be an Aussie, Ryan Harris in the second Ashes Test in the winter.

England deserve to be called number one in the world in my mind, with eight series victories (including this one) out of the last nine, the only blip, if you can call it a blip, was a drawn series in South Africa. Is this the greatest ever England team? Now that is open to debate.

The last time England lost a series was in 2008/9, when they lost to the West Indies, but there was that debacle with Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores. Since then wins there have been series wins over the Aussies (twice), Bangladesh (twice), West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and now India.

With a trip to the sub-continent in the winter and South Africa visit these shores in 2012; our number one status will surely be challenged. The Proteas boast a very strong bowling attack with the likes of Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, plus the batting of AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, tougher tasks lie ahead for England.

Revenge is in the air for Somerset, as they have drawn Hampshire in the T20 semi-final. Hants beat the Set in last years final of the last ball, when all Somerset had to do is whip of the bails, oh well. The quarter-final last week against Notts was compelling to say the least, with four overs to go, the Set need 12 an over, that’s two a ball, and then came Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler, whack-a-day cricket and the Set march on to the semis – what an afternoon we had at Bungle’s Bar!

Notts play Somerset at Taunton this week, are they looking for revenge, with a floodlit CB40 game on Sunday and a County Championship game starting later in the week.

Keen Somerset supporters, like myself, would have had one eye on the Durham v Hampshire County Championship match being played this past week. Durham needed a win to cement their place at the top of the championship, plus Hampshire was looking for their first win in the County Championship. However the rain intervened and there were only a handful of overs bowled on the first two days. Hampshire batted all day on the third day and a draw seemed favourite. With both sides looking for any kind of victory, the two captains got together to contrive a result. A false declaration, followed by two forfeited innings, a run chase was set up on day four. Hampshire bowled out Durham, hurrah, and the County Championship is again blown wide open.

Both Over Stowey sides were in action on Saturday. The 1^st XI took on near neighbours Cannington and ran out comfortable winners by four wickets with loads of overs to spare. Phil Simms smashed his way to 67, before he was out in unfortunate circumstances, the ball being clearly above waist height and no ball should have been called. However, this did not distract Stowey as they steam rolled to victory.

The 2^nd XI was not so fortunate, as they went down by 26 runs against Fitzhead a much better performance with the bat than last week.

Now with cricket tour just around the corner it’s tempting to do some reminiscing, but surely what goes on tour stays on tour! The club first went on tour in 1992, when Stowey visited Torquay. There has been plenty of laughter and silliness since then, with some cricket thrown in for good measure.

This year’s itinerary has been arranged, with a game against Budleigh Salterton and Cornwood on the Thursday and Friday respectively and then a day of leisure around Torquay on the Saturday, watching Somerset in the T20 finals in some dodgy bar I expect. I have been given the mantle, again, of fines master, so watch out, especially the tour virgins! The good thing about being fines master is that I can’t fine myself, and anyone challenging that rule will be over ruled by the fines master and will be fined themselves!

With great regret and disappointment to you all there will be no Sunday Supplement next Sunday as I’m going to a music festival, but watch out in the week. However, the following Sunday I plan to do one on tour from our hotel in Torquay (Fawlty Towers), so watch this space, as it will be the Hangover from Hell Sunday Supplement!

Ok, its 10.57, time for pint and some tour practice!

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

The Spirit of Cricket has been bounded about the media this week, at first I thought they were talking about the ghost of WG Grace; instead, it was the Ian Bell incident at the Trent Bridge Test against India.

So much has been said about the Bell run out, it is difficult to know where everyone stands on this issue, including myself. The biggest fact is that the ball wasn’t Dead. Bell must off thought the ball hit the boundary and it would have been Dead, there was no signal from the umpire, so it couldn’t off been Dead. Bell was out of his ground and he was run out; followed by a correct decision from the umpires to give him out.

Now the next thing to consider is the timing of the dismissal, right on tea. If it happened the over before, I’m sure Bell would have not left his crease until the ball was returned to the wicket-keeper or the umpires while they checked if the ball had crossed the boundary ropes, the ball would have been considered Dead and he could then leave his crease.

With me so far…..? So what happened in that Indian dressing room during tea, not much eating of cucumber sandwiches I expect! MS Dhoni saying it didn’t feel right, the Indian team talking about it, plus the interference of some top brass from the England camp resulted in Dhoni giving Bell a reprieve, and out he came after tea.

Bell admits he made a mistake, a schoolboy error in fact! As for Dhoni, he claimed he done it for the Spirit of the Game, risking a fierce reaction from the Indian media (if you think our media is bad, have a look at some of the Indian papers, you can be hero to zero quicker than it takes me to drink a pint of Thatchers!).

When I was learning the game of cricket when I was a youngster, the main thing I was always told was to never leave your crease while batting (Law 29), as some other spotty kid could quite easily swipe of your bails (not nice for a young boy!), and you don’t get another chance. And while learning the laws of the game recently, knowing about when the ball was Dead (Law 23) was always drummed into you. Perhaps Bell should read the Laws of Cricket, and a matter of fact I wonder how many cricketers have actually read the rules, including first class players, not many I expect, in fact I would say it’s less than 1%.

So what exactly is the Spirit of Cricket?  Well the MCC remains responsible for the Laws of Cricket. However, it has long believed that the game should be played in accordance with its traditional 'spirit', as well as within its Laws. In the late 1990s, two distinguished MCC members (and ex-England captains), Ted Dexter and Lord (Colin) Cowdrey, sought to enshrine the 'Spirit of Cricket' in the game's Laws. This would remind players of their responsibility for ensuring that cricket is always played in a truly sportsmanlike manner.

So a bowler always appealing when the ball strikes the pad, is this within the Spirit of the Game? A batsmen who does not walk when he clearly edges the ball, again is this within the Spirit of the Game?

I have been in a couple of incidents myself when the Spirit of the Game could have been questioned. Notably I once ran out a non-striking batsman, while he was backing up and I was coming in to bowl. He was half way down the pitch and I was in my run up, so I felt I had every right to throw down the wicket, I did, appealed and the umpire gave him out, correctly (Law 42). This was at a six-a-side competition at Cannington, there is more to the story than just this paragraph, the upshot of it all was that it is now folklore in Stowey, and the non-striker I ran out has never spoken to me since, apart from a heated exchange on the boundary shortly after!

Did I break the Spirit of the Game? It’s in the rules and there is no such thing as giving a warning.

That’s enough about that, something more serious now; can Somerset actually win the County Championship? Three in a row now! Somerset was staring down a barrel at 93-7 against Sussex, with Monty at one stage bowling seven overs, of which six were maidens, for three wickets and only one run conceded. But he didn’t get young Jos Buttler, who scored a ton and turned the game on its head. With The Fonz taking ten wickets in the match and Somerset winning by a canter, it now looks like another nail biting finish to the season.

Now with the T20 quarter-final against Nottinghamshire today, plus a semi-final in the CB40 just a few wins away, hold on for a fast ride – do I dare look at my betting slip and work out how much?

Over Stowey didn’t have the greatest of days yesterday, with over 13 players unavailable, both sides didn’t quite get the result they anticipated. I got the call up at about midday on Saturday, so must have been really short, or desperate as someone said to me. I worked it out, I must be 37^th on the pecking order of selection, and I do hear sometimes that the selection committee even overlook position 37 and ask someone from the youth side to play! You can tell I haven’t played for a few years, as I absolutely ache this morning, all I done was walk from fine leg to fine leg, face four balls (not out though, thanks to a juggler of a wicket-keeper), and umpired for 20 overs, certainly got my £5’s worth.

Great to see Rhys Satchell bagging six wickets yesterday, a jug of cider  when you are ready please Rhys, plus Mr Sortwell still owes one…. I bet he gets lager just to spite me!

Right, it’s nearly 10.57 and time for a pint. The tour is only a few weeks away!!!!!