End of season frolics at Ashby

There was an end of season air about proceedings at Ashby. Maybe this was created by the noise (sorry, music) coming from the tents beyond the boundary at the town end, which brought back memories of the Scarborough cricket festival. Sadly, there were no objections from any batsman, probably because the umpire admitted he would not be able to give any caught behinds as he could not hear the snicks.
On winning the toss, Joe wisely inserted the opposition; Ash got an early wicket thanks to a miraculous slip catch by Toony, and Ben supported him well at the Railway end. Two wickets in two balls left Ashby 74-3 after 19, and Niffy at least on level terms.
Brooks and the overseas, Dylan Labuschagne (is that name familiar?) then shared in a 4th wicket partnership of 163, which some Ashby cogniscenti believed to be a club record. Happily Ben Taylor returned to take two well deserved wickets, and left a target of 258.
At this point, Ashby introduced their secret weapon. Tea. The tea ladies had decided to produce a large number of home made cakes which could only reduce the speed of running between wickets of the side batting second.
Though Joe Hawker departed early, Ed and Ben Martin (on first team debut) shared an excellent 2nd wicket partnership of 80, with Ben straight driving particularly well, and Ed's maiden 50 for the first team being a great reward for his growing confidence over the second half of the summer. There were some blows by Ash, but Perkins right arm slows and Labuschagne's chinamen bought the remaining wickets, by which time the band was rocking around the clock in the gathering gloom, and those watching could escape hypothermia