Notes of the Weekend.

FRIDAY
Everyone travelled at their own pace, 8 of us going via New Road to watch Warwickshire beat Worcestershire. It was a draw.
No sign of HMS Minstrel. It's been cut up and removed.
Darts match at the Three Horseshoes proved interesting. Most of Sully stayed away and some locals decided to hog the dart board all night with the longest game of killer known to man. Therefore we decided to claim the darts based on the number of players that turned up. An 11-4 win.
As I didn't stay at the hotel this year, I can only report second hand stories of the evenings. Prosser complained about cost of minibus taxi (no surprise there)and then after returning to Barry
something happened to/by/because of him. I think it was of an intimate nature but no details were forthcoming on Saturday. Lots of Fishers had a family Indian takeaway and then kept each other awake by snoring and post-curry bottom burping. I presume something like this happened at the hotel as well.

SATURDAY

Not many made breakfast. Hannon went for jog!! Managed about 50 yards before stopping for a fag and walking back. Morgan went for a walk along the front, a feat he repeated later at Sully (see below). Lots of toilets were put through their paces and lavatory brushes used to their full capacity. Most people met up in the Ship to wait for the late Doyle boys. Match supposed to start at 2.30. Doyles arrived at 3.30 because of a bike race on the motorway! (Well the that's my memory of their excuse). Toss done over the phone and Sully elected to bat.

THE MATCH.

SULLY 208-5 in 30 overs
MINSTREL 44 all out in 17.1 overs.
Minstrel lost by 164 runs.

Innings of Sully Centurions 3rd XI.

At one stage we had them worried. A wicket for Hannon (his first and last of the season)had them at 2-1. Then it all went its usual downhill way as rapidly as normal (22-2, 81-3 etc.)
Most people seem to agree that the champagne moment was Fisher running quite a long way to attempt to catch a skied shot only to collide with a stationary Jones. Jones got up quite quickly but Fisher didn't. (Needless to say this, I suppose, but neither caught the ball.) Fisher retired hurt and, according to some, acquired a limp. X-rays on Monday have shown a cracked rib and torn intercostal muscles but nothing wrong with his leg. Jones took over the gloves and, boringly, collided with no-one.

TEA
Lovely grub again and lots of ale in the fridge. No shock of £1.00 a can this time (cheers, Mick).
The wine circle didn't really happen with just Morgan's sherry-like stuff and a bottle of red being the only two bottles opened. Morgan went for another seaside stroll.

Innings of Minstrel Taverners.

It didn't start well and then sort of got worse.
Fall of wickets:
1-2 (Jezbollah 0)
2-2 (Tom 0)
2-3 (Hannon 0)
2-4 (Hawkeye 0)
Quite a long wait for the next wicket because Morgan was still on his perambulations and was nearly timed out.
7-5 (Morgan 0)
7-6 (Jig 0)
James then hit the first runs off the bat.
16-7 (James 8)
31-8 (Jones 5). At one stage it looked as if Jones was going to carry his bat for 0
31-9 (Rob 5)
44 all out (Prosser 0, Fisher 12*)

After the match.

Hannon went for a paddle and lost his shoes so had to wear his cricket boots all night.
A few more drinks and then off to Sully Constitutional Club. No miserable barmaid this year. Taxis back to the hotel where more ale was forced on us. Fisher went for a lie down for half an hour and emerged two hours later. Landlord shut earlier than last year, but was as cheery as before. In other words he wasn't very cheery. Loud singing, mainly by a brandied Rob, wasn't appreciated but at least he didn't ban it. Some couldn't get into the the Acropolis because they didn't have proper shirts on. This is a bit like the Fox having a dress code!

SUNDAY

I have received no reports of bed wetting or soiling. Everyone went home. The Fishers went via Symond's Yat where they thought everyone else was going to be but they weren't there. I think this was a ploy to lose the boring old one.
LATEST. Everyone else DID go to Symond's Yat, but left before the Fishers got there: (Probably saw them coming).

OVERALL
A good weekend, crap cricket from Minstrel and a nice welcome from our hosts again.

Previous tours:
Bicester
1998 and 1999 Isle of Wight
2000 Gibraltar
2001 Sully Centurions (Cardiff-ish)
(nb Notes on these tours will appear at a future date on the Archives website [see link] when someone can remember what happened)
2002 Winchester - see Archives via Links page
2003 Sully Centurions -see Archives via Links page