Moseley beat Walsall Health by 10 runs.

Two heroic batting partnerships bookending The Elf response couldn’t prevent the home side slipping to a narrow defeat against an impressive Moseley outfit.

Rich Fell (sporting a Rachel Gorton-esque hangover after a stag do) and Ian Chuck put on a fantastic stand early on which was mirrored by a brilliant late stab by Gary Fitzpatrick and Nathan Martin.

Fielding first in gruelling heat, The Elf found themselves facing a formidable opening pair of Tom Caeser and Mike Ralph, with the later in particular playing some devastating shots on his way to his match winning knock of 87.

Although Caeser survived the plummest of plum LBWs off the bowling of Davies in the third over, the opening pair carved out an impressive start, getting to 74 before Caesar holed out to the safe hands of Rob Hewlitt on the boundary for 36.

But with Ralph smashing the runs at the one end, The Fitmen were happy to let a series of partners play supporting roles.

Simon Howarth hit 13 – including two brutal boundaries – before he was trapped LBW by Dave Stephens in the 23rd over before Taz Yousaf added another nine before Matt Wright added to his growing list of scalps with a clean bowled wicket.

Ralph finally saw his demise when Tony Forrester pulled off a brilliant catch off his own bowling to remove the danger man for a brilliant 87 and the same bowler got Adrian Martin for 14 after a good catch in the deep by Chuck.

Fitzpatrick claimed a catch behind the stumps to end a brilliant boundary-laden cameo by Sunny Singh for 19 off the bowling of Martin and then Tom Davies saw off Guy Brentnall and Ian Nutt (both for ducks) to leave The Elf with a challenging target of 204.

The Elf’s response took an early blow when Hewlitt fell clean to Brentnall, but this paved the way for the partnership of Chuck (who undoubtedly produced his best performance for The Elf with the bat on his way to 36) and Fell (who flailed away in the midst of a psychedelic hangover to get a brilliant 44).

The pressure of chasing the Fitmen total was perhaps too much as Chuck was run out after 18 overs, signalling the arrival of Fitzpatrick at the crease for an innings that saw The Elf, against all odds, knocking on the door of victory.

Fell was caught out for 44, windmilling a shot off the bowling of Adrian Martin, before Mat Danks (4), Stuart ‘Where’s Me Wallet?’ Slater (5) and Dave Stephens (10) chipped in to move The Elf towards the total.

But it was the late partnership of Fitzpatrick and Martin that saw the fireworks, taking The Elf from 139-5 after 32 overs to requiring 15 off the last over to snatch an unlikely victory.

Sadly, the pressure told and Ralph was brought in to see the job through for The Fitmen, taking the wicket of Martin for a mouth-watering 30 and provide the visitors with a deserved 10 run victory.

Batting		Runs
Chuck, I	run out	34
Hewlitt, R	b Brentnall	1
Fell, R	c b Martin	44
Fitzpatrick, G	Not out	44
Danks, M	b Martin	4
Slater, S	c b Fay	5
Stephens, D	c b Fay	10
Martin, N	b Ralph	30
Davies, T	Not out	0
Forrester, T	did not bat
Wright, M	did not bat
Extras		20
Walsall Health		194

Bowling	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Martin, N	8	1	26	1
Stephens, D	8	0	35	2
Davies, T	4.3	0	28	2
Chuck, I	8	0	45	0
Forrester, T	5	0	30	2
Wright, M	5	0	30	2

 

Man of the match: Gary Fitzpatrick

Top bat: Well…. both Rich and Fitz scored 44 but Nathan got 30 off 19 balls. Pick the bones out of that one.

Top bowler: Welsh Tom

Rachel Hangover Rating: 9.5 – a brilliant effort. The poor girl was in some glam place the night before, was vomiting all over the shop and everything. Brilliant work.