Thursday, September 30

Well 2 days to go and alls fine! Its my last day in work so I'm off to the pub tonight to get wasted! Anyway COME ON heres to Married life!

Cotters
on paper whites look v. strong, but who can predict the rag tags? I look forward to the return of the jedi!
Teams:

WHITES

Scott
Mike J
Paul
Ashley
Pearcy

RAG TAGS

Kieran
Mike A
Matt A
Craig
Russ

Wednesday, September 29

Many congrats Clive and a superb effort from Mozzer too! Richly deserved.

Big Bird - what a way to end the season and third in the league bowling is fantastic stuff! Looking at the 4 batsmen's averages and the respective league standings I think shows 2 things -

1. we all could have done a lot better (we all have the potential to be (or have previously been) averaging 40+) and
2. what a poor season it's been all round for batsmen in the league if you can get in the top few with an average of 30!

Well done all!
Morning all

Update for football.

Definitely not available from last week - Dickie P & The Hud.
Available again after missing last week - Me & Paul

Not sure about the following - can the individuals or people in the know advise me re:

Matt Cotton (2 days before the wedding...Hmmmmm??)
Russell Brooks
Matt Ablett

I can be contacted on:

Work - 01204 397421
Mobile - 07799 868141 (office hours)
Home - 01706 826417

Thanks for your help - I will post the final teams (hopefully tonight/tomorrow AM)

Scott.

Tuesday, September 28

Final league tables and averages now been published. Congrats to 2nd XI who confirmed their runners-up spot with a margin for 3 points. Also congrats to those individuals who featured in the league averages.
Div One Batting
Nellie Butterworth 6th - ave 29.55
Russ Brooks 9th - ave 27.73
Keiran Coe 20th - ave 23.64
Paul Meehan 22nd - ave 23.50

Div One Bowling
Russ Brooks 3rd - ave 9.42
Paul Meehan 6th - ave 10.04

Div One Wicket-keeping
Clive Brooks - winner (lets party)

Div Four Batting
Mike Ainscoe 12th - ave 25.80
M Jones 15th - ave 20.25

Div Four Bowling
Steve Moriarty - winner - ave 5.65

Div Four Wicket-keeping
Mike Jones - no where in sight !!

Well done chaps - see you at the league dinner

Sunday, September 26

Greetings all, back after a nice week down Stratford way.

Raring to go for Thursday footy - if required??

Good to see that Osama recovered from the Edinburgh do, looking forward to the weddding next weekend, should be a blinder.

Friday, September 24

combination of our bad shooting, white's good goalkeeping and wobbly legs all-round! Still a good sweaty workout though!
Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 22

Teams for Thursday

WHITES

Ashley
Mike J
Pearcy
Craig (free transfer)
Russell

RAG TAGS

Kieran
Dickie P
Mike A
Matt Cotton
Nick H

Enjoy.
Good Morning Fellas!

Just about recovered from the weekend of Shandy drinking! Just like to say thanks for everyone who turned up and to all the well wishers. Had an absolutely fantastic weekend which was almost spoilt by a pint of Wkd Irn Bru, whisky, gin, vodka, bacardi and various other shots.

Cheers to cdo who new my dress size!! How did you know, it was a perfect fit! I think i'm on 50% of all mobile phones in Edinburgh. All I can say is that wearing a dress is very liberating!


calling all diggers! bodies required at Crompton Meadows to fettle drains, square, pavillion, trees - please consult Clive for technical terminology for END OF SEASON GROUNDWORK. People will be down Saturday and Sunday so please make your availability known to Clive - or just turn up!

Friday, September 17

well done the whites. I thought your biggest improvement was in your marking - big effort from you all which closed us out/down.

Thursday, September 16

Oh my word, this is spooky. I rarely remember any dreams but this morning I woke up and remembered that I'd turned on the TV and seen New Zealand playing Australia in a one day international and being bowled out for about 92. The Aussies then knocked them off for 2 with Gilchrist batting through. Until about 30 mins ago I didn't realise the two teams were playing today.

As I type this, New Zealand are 90-7 ...
Mike - yes of course you can use my comments!

Come on you whites!

Wednesday, September 15

Gents

Teams as last week apart from Craig replacing Danny.

Dickie, don't forget I am making my own way there.
I'd appreciate any pics on disk/CD for the newsletter. I've already put mine into the current newsletter which is 'at the printers', including an 'attractive' front cover. Hope to have a newsletter post-race night/league night pre-xmas.
Paul - could I use your 'Thanks' comments in the next newsletter along the lines of 'captain's comments'?? AND of course any other comments/observations on the season from ANYONE.
write yours and I'll key them in or post as word docs to mainscoe@yahoo.co.uk
Cheers. Good luck for the weekend Cotters. Look forward to hearing.....
Yes that will be fine - but bear in mind I'm off work from Friday and not back in work for a fortnight ... so can do poorer quality scans at home first.
Cheers paul

It will be a cultured weekend were going to visit the castle and be in bed for 7.30 prompt (am that is!)

COME ON!!!!!!!
Looking forward to footy tomorrow night - is the rampant Jedi returning to action? Also hoping to see the pics from Sat night, they shoud be belters. Would like to get a few so I can scan them in for the site.

Matt Cotton - if I don't see you before, have a fantastic time in Edinburgh. Really wish I could join you, but I'll be wending my way to Stratford with the family for a week's break, including some culture at the theatre on Monday! I guess the only cultures you lot will be seeing will be in the Edinburgh equivalent of behind Bolton Street station ;-)

Tuesday, September 14

And there was I thinking Nelly had disappeared behind Bolton St Station because of his interest in Steam Trains!!!
just heard Nelly B was in character right to the end - being sick BEFORE eating his curry! Good work, fella!
Rich

I spoke to Chris last night, he was playing football last week and got kicked in his calf. As a result its burst and has had to have a week off work. He's going to see the doctors tomorrow and see what they say. He's not been able to walk for a week but he says its feeling better.

Has anyone tried the cricket game its well hard! My best score is 160 odd

Monday, September 13

Richard

Oh yes it was....
Newsletter to be delivered to printers on Thursday chaps! will include some 'viking' pictures, although Richard - you need to get some scanned onto some sort of disk for me to use in the next news please!!!
Chaps, I have updated the Stick Cricketlink on the left - there's a new and much improved version available! Much more stylish and you can even get caught and bowled, just as if Big Bird's bowling at you! Plus you can register and keep track of your stats!
Chaps, thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours out and all the shouts of "Odin" down Totty Rd. The best part of the evening? Seeing all the smiles in every pub as the Vikings walked in - no aggro, no nonsense, just lots of good humour and enjoyment. Top effort.

Best costume? Matt C, closely followed by Nick Hud and CDO, with Jedi walking away with "campest Viking" title - although he did try and remedy that by chatting up someone 10 yrs older than himself in one of the early pubs!

A fantastic end to the season, pity about the rain at the match though, it would have been even better to end with 5 points!
Fantastic night! Sore head in the morning though!

Saturday the activities finish at 5.30 so we should be back at the hotel for 6ish. So a quick sss then power drinking onwards!

I'll give someone a call to make arrangements to meet

COME ON!
where did everyone go? Last thing I remember was being saved by Rob Holt with toilet paper in the Robert Peel -then waking up 4.30am with one piece missing from the pizza on me belly in me front room!

Sunday, September 12

Great effort last night lads. Had a really enjoyable evening rounded off with a nice curry with Russ, Nellie & Nick.
Just come back from a thrilling Calverley Cup final at Greenmount. Chasing 148 ao, Catholic Club were reduced to 47 for 7 then some big hitting from Mo and some proding around by captain H they got to 148-8 in the last over. Third ball ELPM claimed a wicket and last man for Rochdale played out last 3 balls to make it a tie and RCC won by virtue of losing 1 less wicket.

Friday, September 10

Well it's not a great day to be a bowler ... if you're American. After containing New Zealand to 205-3 in the first 40 overs, the Yanks astonishingly got smashed for 142 in the last 10, including 95 off the last 4!!! Whoops.

Not a bad start for England v Zimbabwe either. 102-2 off 16, with Solanki again leading the way. Vaughan and Tresco both blazed for a few balls, but it's now up to Strauss and Solanki to set the platform for the main man to come in and clear half of Birmingham!

Rain, stay away, I want to end the season with a proper game!
Team for Saturday, meet 12.30pm at ground:

Doc P (c), Cliff, Bird, Osama, Dickie P, CDO, Micky Jones, Scunners, The Hud, Nelly Butt and either Chadders or young Jedi (tbc)
Whats the team for tomorrow and what time are we meeting at the ground 12.30 or 1.00?

Thursday, September 9

ODIN ODIN ODIN ODIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, it might be a good idea ahead of time to prepare your unique Viking name with which to be identified.

examples:

Dickieborg the Softhanded
Cottersthud the Crimpbeard
Skundric the Unaware

Viking name anthology

Yours in Thor's service,
Docmund the Berserker
Viking warning: Those who have paid in to fines not turning up in Viking attire on Sat. evening will be fined; those who have not paid in will be requested to divvy up; those who have not paid in and do not resemble Nogin the Nog - the fear of Odin be with you!
7.00pm meet at the robin - thence to t'Dungeon and so on and so forth. In the event of bad weather we must attempt to be sober-ish for this start time so as to prevent an unlevel playing field. Allowed: cameras. Not allowed - slow drinking and late sequential arrival at pub.
Looks like we're back up and running - received an apologetic email from Blogger support about yestersay's downtime.

Wednesday, September 8

Scott - are you 100% sure of M.Ainscoe's availability?
Scott

Sorry bud but i'm going to have to cry off for thursday because i've got my Wedding Rehearsal that night.

10 Days til Edinburgh COME ON!!!!!!!!!
Last night's committee meeting was somewhat enlivened by the show in the corner, which certainly kept the CDO and Bird entertained ...

Attendees: Bird, Cliff, myself, CDO, Scoop, Dickie P and Mozzer

Items of interest to all - tickets are now available for the two end of year bashes. For anyone who wants to go and celebrate the 2nds fantastic season and see Mozzer collect up to 3 trophies the NMCL dinner is on Friday 29 October at the Elizabethan Suite (Town Hall). Let's make sure we have a good club turnout.

The following night, Saturday October 30, is our big fund raiser and celebratory night of the year, the race night/presentation evening. Once again we'll be celebrating the events of the year, making money for the club, listening to Derek's jokes about Sheikh Loomba and watching the Brooks boys collect about a gazillion quid in race prizes. Not to mention the speeches! Greenmount have pulled out all the stops to provide us with the venue FREE of charge, which is fantastic news, so let's try and get 100 people along for what is sure to be another superb club night.

Other news items to pass on: the Committee would formally like to thank and congratulate all players and officials this year in what has been another great season for the club, with the 2nds leading the way and the 1sts building on last year's outstanding efforts. More silverware for the club and a very exciting year in prospect next term.

Other than that, the usual behind the scenes discussions of grants, mowers, equipment, renovations and so on. Cliff or the CDO will pick up anything else I'm sure ...

Tuesday, September 7

Teams for Thursday night

WHITES

Scott
Paul
Mike J
Ashley
Pearcy

RAG TAGS

Kieran
Dickie P
Mike A
Matt C
The Hud
So.....Steve Moriarty's been playing with Evil Stig has he?...........
Following prior revelations about certain members of the club, including Big Bird's hairdressing exploits and Matt Cotton's fraternity days, a quick search of the Internet has turned up all manner of oddities.

For example, did you know that Mozzer is a big fan of post-punk resurgence music? (sounds more like a MR Ainscoe thing to me)

Staying on a musical theme, why not check out Big Joe Louis and His Blues Kings - the drummer may be quite familiar! niiiiiiiiiice

and finally, esther, nuclear physicist Mark Chadwick apparently wants his staff to "work like dogs". A bit out of kilter with his normally-relaxed Bondi Barbie persona there ...

Most peculiar goings on. Our ump on Saturday (don't know his name) said he'd had a call at 12 o'clock to say that F&H 1's weren't playing and that he'd had to race over to us!!! ...and of course the EV boys were a bit put out as they'd had to be their 1's recently due to that Asian wedding thing....awaiting more clarification...this is keeping me awake at night...

Monday, September 6

Let me try and clear a few matters up

Fothergill's II's were playing Rochdale away and at 1pm the league sec (kkkkeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr) demanded they come back to Fothergills and play as a 1st XI. Didn't go down too well in the Rochdale camp I believe.

When teams are on level points, normally league placings are usually determined on the number of 5 point wins, NOT alphabetical or how the results went against those on level points. However, don't quote me on this for end of season placings.
If the first is the case then it is congratulations to our 2nd team. Promotion will be secured as long as no teams drop out of the divisions before start of next season, so a decision will not be made immediately by the league.
Hope this clears up any confusion.
The Fothergills situation is weird - we were told at the game on Sat that the Fothergills game was a walkover for Robbies b/c F couldn't raise a team, yet they clearly did so ... according to the NMCL results page:

FOTHERGILL & HARVEY 78 a.o. V ROBINSONS 79 - 6
What a strange old revrse world we live in. Fothergills can't raise a 1st team on Sat while their 3rd team scores 258 on Sun. I think there's only one winner in this situation and they're sitting in second place in Div 4.........
Mike,

I am sure Cliff can clarify, but it is my understanding that if teams finish level on points, the team with most 5 point wins is placed higher - in which case you guys have finished 2nd ... and therefore promoted???? Can anyone confirm that?

Shame in some ways about Dalians losing to Catholics - BUT it does mean we can have a crack at 2nd place. ELPM always a bit of a thorn in our side, but with a party atmosphere in place it could be an entertaining spectacle.

Can we do selection at the committee meeting tomorrow - shouldn't take too long??

Can I just say very well done to all the 1st team boys - and indeed all those who have filled in over the season. 3rd place (at worst) is a terrific achievement for a side that's regularly been missing players, particularly in the big games. Well done to all of you. There have been a number of outstanding performances this year, capped off with Nelly's 6 for on Saturday and some dogged batting on a very tricky pitch. There have been more individual match winners this year than I can recall.
AND...in Div 4 Fothergills beat/thrashed Darcy....COME ON THE 2's.
Can someone explain what that means in terms of the league????
sounds like a good game - RCC v R. Its going to the wire! Come on Totty take 2nd!-

Sunday, September 5

For all you committee folk. A further reminder that Committee Meeting this Tuesday at 8pm at Dungeon.

Played in a friendly today - finger seems okay.

Friday, September 3

Can someone get Mike his medication please....
In the style of Peter Kay:

Superior fitness??!!! SUPERIOR?????......FITNESS?????
Clinical finishing?!?!?!? CLINICAL???!!......FINISHING!?!?!
Come you rag tags!

I'm going to go straight to the ground so what time is kick off?
First blood to the Rag Tags - a hard fought victory

I feel your superior fitness level and clinical finishing made the difference.

For our part I cannot believe that we managed to find the keeper and even miss those bloody huge goals as many times as we did!!!!

Excellent first match.
Well I must say that was the best first game of the new footy season that we've had - very close all the way, some good football, and only 1 or 2 in it all the way until the end when Jedi - clearly fitter than everyone of our team put together - knocked in a good final two goals to seal our fate. Considering most of us haven't played in 6 months, a very good workout indeed, and Mr Ainscoe and Young Jedi are far too fit for their own good.

Well done the rag tags but we'll be back!!

Meanwhile, let's now focus on a good Saturday, securing a confirmed 3rd place for the 1sts and getting the 2s promoted!
ooooooooooooo one scabby win and look who's dishing out the coaching - I could mention many negatives about last night, but, in the attempt to develop team spirit will merely mention Matt's Bush-like speech in my car - "There's no I in Team...."
(Bush - some people think I have a swagger - in Texas that is called walking).
So Abbers has improved 300%?? Good God!! When he starts looking up he'll improve another 300%!!
Nows not the time to gloat - cos the whites will come back strong next time and we'll never play as well as that again!
Its been a long time since something that I've really looked forward to has over-delivered - hope it continues same.
Q. If Matt Ablett has improved 300% at football, why can he not improve at Cricket?

Thursday, September 2

i tell you my knee is a tad sore, but the old stick cricket is keeping my spirts up and softening the blow of missing the end of season run in and i get to watch a bit of england v india.
all the best to the "fiversiders", i hope none of you injury your knees!!
laters
Come you rag tags! Use the cotters spirit and beat them whites!
I don't know what I'm looking forward to most ...

Scott v Clive or getting Dickie to fall for that "inside out" turn down the left ;-)

Just had a very intriguing text from an unnamed member of the rag tags saying he's going to "get us". Get us with the usual long balls from the back right channel perhaps!

Here's to being knackered by 10 past 9 and completely screwed for the weekend!

ta for confirming, Matt. The Coe taxi shall be calling 8.30pm, 8.35 at chez-Ainscoe (or t'other way round). Please bring tactics on how to break down the mighty whites with what looks like our only commodity - topless poultry.
well - that looks fair - fairly one sided that is! The rag tags should be trying to sign a replacement for the goal-filler Mozzmaester General. I do not think the 'night of no goals' is to be repeated (maybe for the other side, though!). Matt Ablett - are you out there? If so please confirm to me that you are playing and want a lift.
Doesn't time fly.... Welcome again to another season of 5-a-side all out warfare.

Looking to be a bit closer to the numbers this year with the intention that we play with even numbers each week but with no more than 12. In exceptional circumstances this may mean that some weeks demand will exceed the 12. In the pursuit of fairness the people who played the previous week will always have the option for the following week with any vacancies then filled by people who have supported the football over the past 3 years. This decision will be entirely at my discretion (as I spend the time on the phone each week).

I do expect the above to be the exception and hope you all understand my rationale??

Anyway, on to tonight's teams...

THE WHITES

Scott P
Ashley P
Doc P
Mike J
Pearcy (Nick & Ashleys mate who filled in last year a few times)

THE RAGTAGS

Kieran C
Dickie P
Young Jedi
Mike Ainscoe
Clive (headless chick) Brooks

Let battle commence - see you all tonight.

Scott.
We are the cheeky whites,
we are the cheeky whites,
you are the chickenheads
you are the chickenheads

(or headless chicken, in one case!)

Wednesday, September 1

... and there you go, a 50 for Solanki, a swift start from Tresco, 40odd unbeaten from Strauss and a magnificent cameo from Freddie (including three sixes in 25 balls) to wrap it up. England win with 17 overs to spare!
He's at it again!

Hat-trick for Harmison in the one day opener against India, the visitors 170 all out! Come on you whites!