What a weekend this could have been, need I mention, if only, but well played Croatia, a country with a population of just four million, remember they did have the mid-field of Barcelona and Real Madrid, so they were going to be no pushovers as it proved.
I think we ought to re-name the bottom end of our wonderful City of Bath’s shopping area as “Gareth Southgate” instead of just Southgate, with maybe a statue of him carved in Bath Stone depicting a Roman Centurion with shield and spear in hand. Add him alongside the others in the Roman Baths or maybe at “Twerton Park” the home of Bath City F.C. with a few other Bath City legends, Kim and Tony Book, Glynn Broom, Alan Skirton, Colin Tavener and of course Paul Gover, all the aforementioned carved in granite of course. Just a thought?
Andy Boyce put on the Captains armband as Toby Patrick (injury) and Jake Dyer (holiday) were unavailable. An all-round balanced side of bowlers and batsman at his disposal, added with two excellent cover fielders in Cain Robinson and Liam Mycroft, Captain Boyce could marshal his troops in his plan for victory.
Boyce joyfully won the toss and elected to bat on a sun-drenched wicket and an outfield that was lightning fast to a well struck delivery.
Jon Fair and Boyce opened the innings. Fair was determined to pace his game, as by his own standards he has underachieved with the number of runs to his name this season, so building an innings was the team game plan for him.
Swindon varied their attack to stem the flow of runs, and at times with some success, but the Hospitals batsmen still were averaging 6 runs per over. Boyce was the first to go scoring 41 from a partnership of 59 with Jon fair. Div Puri came in at number 3 and played the anchor role as Fair began to open his shoulders. Fair reached his 50 then onto 66 (11x4s) when he was bowled by Mildenhall thus ensuring a partnership of 93 with Puri that laid the foundation for final onslaught. Hospitals were 152 for 2 from 31 overs with 14 overs and plenty of wickets remaining. Henry Haydon with a quick fire 13 and Div Puri 32 saw Stuart Webb-Martin and Rory Cadbury come together at the crease and the pair bludgeoned the Swindon attack. Webb-Martin finally out for 50 on the penultimate ball of the innings having hit 4x6s & 4x4s in the process. Rory Cadbury was left 44 not out as the pair had put on 80 runs in 8 overs taking the Hospital total to 275 for 5 wickets from their 45 overs.
Tea was taken as well as a refreshing cold drink. Jackie Hatcher along with daughter-in-law Lou had performed miracles in the home kitchen, overseen by Mike “Hollywood” Hatcher (apparently), as the Victoria Sponge, Lemon Drizzle and Chocolate Cake took centre stage. The Swindon side thought Christmas had come early and they had to be prised away from the cakes and sausage rolls, and yes, I had one of everything.
The Swindon batsman to be fair, were no match on the day for the well-orchestrated bowling attack of the Hospitals X1. Andy Boyce chose to leave the cover area unprotected to encourage the batsman to drive at the ball as he placed 4 slips and a gully ready to catch a missed timed drive. The ploy worked, and the two openers were dispatched in the first and second overs. Inter-changing the attack saw wickets fall at regular intervals, and although a spirited response by a few of the Swindon younger element, they were all out for 110 in the 29th over.
Final figures of Stuart Webb-Martin (6-0-35-1) an accurate spell from Matt Tomes-Smith (5-1-10-1) and Dan Hatcher (6-0-31-0), at his best Jon Fair (7-2-11-3) and finishing the game off, Rory Cadbury (3-0-9-3) and Rhys Redman (2.1-1-1-2) ensuring a Hospital victory by 165 runs.