The sun was shining on the Britannic Ground in Moseley as summer finally arrived and the Warwickshire Taverners tournament sparked into life.
Cobbetts secured an opening victory by beating Williams De Broe. The highlight of the match was a spectacular one handed catch taken by Simon Skidmore running 20 yards to his left. David Price also returned stunning figures of four for 12 in his two overs.
The Lord’s Taverners made it two wins from two in beating twice finalists Phoenix Group. The Lord’s Taverners set a competitive total of 150 for six in the face of some tight bowling.
Committed fielding and some accurate bowling ensured that the Phoenix Group left themselves too much to do in the final overs.
There was mild controversy at the conclusion of the Shakeapears match against KPMG. In an apparent attempt to see big hitting Chris Lloyd-Smith return to the crease there was a mix up with both batsman ending up in the middle of the pitch.
The decision was taken by the fielding side to send the ball to the umpires end to run out the opening batsman rather than the tail ender and with the bails not being removed the batsman was given ‘retired out’.
Monday, 21 May: Williams De Broe 130-9 (Long 38*, David Price 4-12 and Simon Skidmore 2-6) lost to Cobbetts 131-3 (Darryl Shorthouse 35 retired, Miles 2-22) by 7 wickets.
Tuesday, 22 May: Lord’s Taverners 150-6 (David Foster 37 retired and John Jabobs 2-8) beat Phoenix Group 131-5 (Philip Thomas 38 retired, David Price 1-6) by 29 runs.
Wednesday, 23 May: Bigwood 143-6 (Mike Comley 36 retired) lost to GVA Grimley 148-3 off 12 overs (James Gibson 39 retired).
Thursday, 24 May: KPMG 167-4 (Easter 35 retired) beat Shakespeares 125 all out (Chris Lloyd Smith 37 not out, Ben Tarry 2-17) by 42 runs.
