Moorland Cairn

I've had to be working today, preparing for a workshop next week, but I took a break this afternoon to walk down to Ilkley Cricket Club which was hosting the league cup final between Ben Rhydding (the team my sons play for - with No.1 son 12th man, sadly not quite getting the nod for selection) and Collingham. The match was first due to be played 3 weeks ago but that was washed out by a thunderstorm and a deluge of rain just minutes before the start. It was rescheduled for a week ago, when I was away, but rain curtailed that too, leaving us to score some 70 runs off the final 15 overs today, with 5 wickets left. We remained the underdogs, with Collingham at the top of the league, but we still had a sniff of a chance.

Well, that little sniff was as good as snuffed out with the fall of 4 quick wickets. We still had 45 runs to score off the final 7 overs with the last pair at the crease. But these two batsmen, young Red and Alex, kept plugging away, hitting the odd boundary and, with the field set back, stealing a single off almost every ball. The rate was going up but not by much. Then Alex appeared to suffer a hamstring injury and needed a runner. This was actually a stroke of luck, for Alex is possibly the slowest man in the team between the wickets. We brought on Laurie, possibly the fastest runner in the entire league. The opposition captain could in theory have objected, but they were totally confident of victory, which still seemed a formality, and he was happy to let it go.

But with Laurie now at the wicket, the singles to the deep now became twos and the pressure started to build amongst the fielding side. Rain had started to fall now too, making the ground very slippery and fielding more difficult. There were a few mistakes. Tension was rising. The runs kept coming. Ten were needed off the final over and we started to believe that the impossible could actually come to pass. Each of the first three balls went for a manically run two. Just four runs were needed off the last three balls. The next ball only brought a single, and then the same for the penultimate delivery. Two runs required off the final ball. A competition spread out over the whole season, a final spread over three Sundays, all brought down to one single delivery, faced by a teenager. I think every neutral observer wanted Red to strike the ball to the boundary. I had butterflies in my stomach like I haven't felt for years. This was a visceral experience.

The ball was bowled and in a blur of motion we all looked to see where it had gone. Not very far was the answer. The batsmen scurried a single but that was it. The dream result was not to be. We had lost my one single, solitary, measly run. I felt devastated for the lads. They wanted this so much. It meant so much to the club. It wasn't to be, but they can sure hold their heads high tonight. It was one hell of an achievement to get so tantalisingly close. I tell you. This game is like no other.

I feel a bit wrecked after that emotional experience. I went for a run on the moor to try to chill out a little bit but I'm still rather spaced out. It hasn't helped that I've not made good progress today with the things that need to be done for work. Every little job seems to be taking me much longer than it should.

I'm posting this image tonight as a counterpoint to all the excitement and frustration of earlier in the afternoon. I need to focus on being calm right now. Finally, thanks for the great feedback to my emergency chimney pots. You're all so generous!