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Thursday 3rd May - it was the night before tour |
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The story of the 2007 tour began as Paul Gaught, who had organised three fixtures with vigour, arrived home from a thrashing at the hands of Treasury
on the day before tour at around midnight. Anyway, his little answer machine was flashing and unfortunately there was a message from Moreton-in-Marsh CC saying the hadn't raised enough players
and the game was off. There had been no prior indication of this (because if there was we could have leant them a few players, played less-a-side or whatever). Gaught went to sleep a broken man,
even more so than usual. |
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Friday 4th May - Not Moreton-in-Marsh CC |
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While travelling to the beautiful Cotswolds players were contacted and told to meet at the hotel rather the ground. Unfortunately Neil was uncontactable
but it probably didn't take him too long to realise the game was off. Now the Superstars had a free evening and although obviously we considered a trip to the theatre, a museum visit or a trip to the gym
to prepare for the weekend's endeavours the consensus seemed to be a trip to the pubs of Cheltenham. A surprising choice but one that seemed to work. Well until the next morning anyway..... So we
left the Travelodge booked by Barry (after previous years it was interesting to note the hotel has a sauna and a pool) for the bright lights of glamorous Cheltenham. The rest is a blur, but I remember
the words "Five pound blind" and Steve Carter handing over money, mainly to Phil Patten and that the "quick walk into town" ate into an hour of good drinking time. Players of Brighton and Hove Albion
FC stayed over before their game at Cheltenham the next day. |
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Saturday 5th May - Guiting Power CC |
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With the extra drinking time last night there were some sore heads on Saturday morning. But after breakfast, some relaxing walks past GCHQ the team were virtually
all ready for a game Guiting Power's beautiful ground, with wonderful views of the Cotswolds. |
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I say virtually as relative young buck Gaught had over indulged but like a professional made it clear to the captain by falling asleep in Barry's car on the way
to the ground. "At least that will give me some time to sober up, as Barry can’t open with me now" thought the naive Gaught. Barry lost the toss, was asked to bat and clearly felt a heavily hungover, half
asleep Gaught was a better opening option than the other players available to him - possibly a fair point. Gaught was inevitably out for a hapless duck, in fact I've rarely had less hap than that. Because of
Friday's fixture fiasco Guiting had very kindly allowed us to play with 13 players with rolling sobs but even with this advantage we struggled to a respectable but uninspiring total of 194 for 7 which included
fifties for captain Gigg and McBarron. Matt Conway chipped in with a useful 30. |
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Despite good efforts from Matt (3-25) and Phil McBarron (2-5) but assisted by Steve Meyler pushing one over by a six Guiting Power eased to the total, with
two hard hitting batsmen doing the hard yards. Post match drinks in the Hollow Bottom, with much horse racing memorabilia on the walls, were very much enjoyed and it was a shame when we left for Cheltenham
and further drinking and cards. By the time we arrived back at the hotel there was a wedding in full swing, i shall avoid making jokes at the bride's expense, as she was much bigger than me. |
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Sunday 6th May - Redmarley CC |
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Superstars rose on the Sunday knowing a winning tour was now unachievable but hoped parity and respectability would be restored (on the pitch at least, in general
life these had both been given up years ago) with a visit to Redmarley. Redmarley seemed a more professional outfit, including possibly the greatest thing in the world - a remote controlled electronic
scoreboard - step aside sliced bread there's a new great invention in town. |
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We bowled first on an overcast day and kept them under control. One batsman was unfortunately badly hurt when he top-edged a slow delivery into his face,
while Simon possibly over celebrated a wicket of one of their middle order batsmen - although the batsman didn't seem too bothered, possibly because he was so happy to have just received a telegram from the Queen.
For some reason it was quite a niggly game and certainly not what we are used to from Superstars. Redmarley made 178 all out, with Simon Gundry taking 4-29, Neil Priest 2-17 and James Martin 2-23. |
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Superstars chased the target with four players- Walker, Meyler, Gaught and Conway - making 20 but not reaching 30 and it was left to Jason Marchant to take the glory
of hitting the winning four. Benedict Conway was probably right to find the sightscreen more interesting than the game though in tough consitions! We stayed for a couple of drinks at the lovely pavilion and then
headed back to the hotel. With it being a Sunday most opted for staying in the hotel for drinks as the pubs wouldn't be open late. Also to add to the amusement the main room in the hotel was hosting the
Cheltenham FC end of season bash. They'd done pretty well that season so the alcohol was flowing freely. Manager John Ward looked very smart in his red bow tie and DJ while the players and their WAGs
quickly descended into an episode of 'Footballers Wives' (for younger readers read The Only Way is Essex but with more money, more football and less class) with cries of "He's not worth it" and allegations of "being caught
offside" filling the air. Once Steve Carter had recovered a small proportion of his lost earnings from the previous two evenings everyone agreed it was time to hit the hay and finish another successful tour. |
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