Unfortunately the Forty Club from the UK tended to be considerably older than the name suggests. However to fund a lengthy tour it probably does mean a player closer to retirement.
Having been informed that one of their players was very keen to play proper cricket (no retirement at 50) as he had scored 147 centuries during his career, (he was intending to increase this tallyl) I won the toss and asked the Forty Club to bat. Troels Nielsen opened the bowling and after six overs had taken 2/0. During the fourth over our keeper Joe Bennett suddenly recognised their opener and yelled out “Andy Meads, well I never. I remember bowling you out when I was 17.” This player turned out to be the century maker.
Any Willower who has played with Joe Bennett can imagine how he interfered with this player’s concentration. He was eventually bowled by Bob Masefield with a wrongun for 1 5 after Bob had stated he would never score a century if he was bowling to him.
At 50/7 after 30 avers, the captain was forced to bowl himself to try to ease the pressure. They eventually made 110/9 a disappointing score on an excellent wicket.
Peter Devlin who cares for the wicket at the Willows continued his batting form making 50 not out off 62 balls. Troels Nielsen batting at four scored a quickfire 28 not out off 18 balls making him the Player of the Day.
After 21 over the game concluded with wides contributing 21 to the tally. The Forty Club with 45 people on the tour enjoyed the game and were very appreciative of the efforts of the Club in organising the tour for them.
Umpires: P Clark & T McLisky