Willow and Leather

In the previous report on TCC’s matches this summer, our team had 4 league matches to play and were perilously near the bottom of the league.

On 15 August, at Hollinsend Methodists, TCC made their highest score of the season, 164-8, with George Brown hitting 44 and Mike Sayers 31*. But it still wasn’t enough, with the home side passing that total with 6 overs to spare.

Back at Tideswell, the bottom team Sheffield Collegiate 2nds were the visitors on 22 Aug. This was one to win. After tea the rain set in, though, and the middle became a lake. Match abandoned.

Next up was a trip to Hathersage 2nds on 29 Aug. Tideswell batted first and made a rather vulnerable-looking 102 (Mike Sayers 34, Chris Pashley 18, Pete Nash 17). The tea interval must have done more to refresh the bowlers than the home batsmen, though, as Richard Taylor (5-25) and Rohan Patel (4-26) saw Hathersage out for 75 in under 25 overs.

This was a boost, but the last match was on 5 September, at Tideswell, v promotion-chasing Richmond CC, last seen leaving Tideswell on 1 August in a disgruntled mood after rain had stopped the game with them seeking an easy win. You’d think they would have come back and shown us how it ought to have been. Batting first, they were all out in 36 overs for just 72. Richard Taylor (7-21) and Greg Taylor (3-12) took advantage of a bowler’s wicket – but still there was the matter of Tideswell getting 73 on this strip of damp grass. Five wickets went down, until Chris Pashley (15*) and Rohan Patel (18*), age difference around 45 years, got together to end it in Tideswell’s favour.

The Division 5 final table looks like this:

That’s it for 2015. Tideswell are not Division 5’s worst team in the Peak District – the numbers don’t lie.