RAINY DAY IN THE LAKES

By Brian Sanderson,

On Sunday morning myself and the family and Brian Senior set out to Netherfield in Kendal where Cumberland were playing Shropshire.The scorecard called them Swhropshire.On the way to the ground it had been rainy however the forecast was it should clear.However when we arrived it started to rain and did not start until 12.15.

The first person I saw was Glynn Pearon who was assessing the umpires.There were two other officials assessing the assessers.It was like something out of Gilbert and Sullivan opera.

When they statred Shropshire were asked to bat first. The captain Ed Foster was one of the openers.He has played for Worcester,Leicster,British University, Loughborough and M.C.C. So he had plenty of experience and scored a good 71.

We went into Kendal for lunch to return to find Shropshire 148 for 4.Then Tony Cox and Anthony Parker started to hit the ball on to the main road. They scored 4 six,s and 14 fours.
They brought the Shropshire total up to 286 for 6 in the fifty overs.

During the break we watched Netherfield seconds against Cleator in the John Scott Cup.They were playing on the second pitch on top of the bank. It is the first official match we both had seen on this pitch.Cleator reached 169 for 9 with 49 wides.

Before Cumberland could start the innings it started to rain so the umpires decided not to start. On the other pitch Netherfield started there innings.The umpires in the second match decided to play in the rain.

We decided to leave at 4.15 as there seem to be no prospect of play in the next few hours.

Netherfield seconds won their match by 7 wickets and moved on to the next round.Cumberland were asked to score 119 in 15 overs.They scored 122 for 4 and so they moved on to the next round. Shropshire were already through.

On the way back we thought of calling at Burley who were playing York however it was raining heavy so did not call in. York had scored over 400 in fifty overs and Burley were bowled out cheaply.One of the York players was Bob Procter grandson playing his fist fisrt team match.