There’s a lot to be said for lazy Sunday afternoons, and our comfortable win against Appleby at Culgaith today was very much like that.

It started with the toss which the skipper didn’t lose (for once) because there was no toss. Instead the friendly and informal prematch chat between the 2 skippers resulted in a gentleman’s agreement. We wanted to bowl on what looked like a puddin’ and for some reason they wanted to bat…

Keen Steve picked up where he left off last week with the new ball and was miserly. His 7 overs went for 11, but it was Luke West from the other end who threatened and got the breakthrough, caught behind by his brother – who quite rightly got a clip round the ear for not mentioning sooner than late August that he could keep wicket!!!

Big Jacob Mac and Charlie Hutch both bowled ok and got 1 each, whereas Marcus Tiff bowled very well for nowt. All the while the runs ebbed and flowed and the fielders generally weren’t troubled on this lazy Sunday afternoon…

Then Zach came on to bowl and things got interesting. A properly ugly full bunger got whallopped to backward square where Keen Steve casually parried and juggled. As we all picked our jaws up off the floor, he wandered over wondering what all the fuss was about. As cool as a cucumber…

Halliday and Luke West were then brought on to finish things off with the threat that if they didn’t, the skipper would bring himself on for the last over, and nobody wanted that – least of all the skipper! They duly obliged and finished with 3 apiece. Another good catch by Cam West and 2 beauties from Stan Mac at deep wide mid on left them all out for 113, a straight forward chase – or so we thought…

The tea was spot on. Simple fresh sarnies and a nice array of cakes and biccies, perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Hayes and Halliday started the reply and put some bad balls away well before Hayes holed out. The opposition’s decision to bat first then started to make more sense, because once they got their field right and stopped bowling pies, the runs soon dried up. Batting suddenly looked harder. Halliday and Hutch eventually went after painstakingly patient innings. Cam West chuntered a lot with frustration because he had to put up with singles in between sporadic sixes. Stanly Mac stuttered as did big brother Jacob. Then just at the point where those of us on the sidelines became aware of some tightening of sphincters, both Cam and Jacob found some boundaries and this late surge broke the back of it. Cam nonchalantly hooked a beautiful six off the returning opening bowler and then promptly turned the face (on a wet track) next ball to give a leading edge – out for a match winning 44. Marcus and Jacob saw off the remaining runs with little effort and our job was done.

A big thank you to our adoring fans who made the journey and especially to Frank who ended up umpiring the second half.

And also a shout out to young Josh Bellas from Appleby whose batting (56) and bowling was a man of the match performance, albeit in a losing side.

So there it was, a few tinnies with the opposition followed by a leisurely drive home and we were back in Carlisle with the full 8 well before 8! Just a lazy Sunday afternoon…