Not long left of the season now.
Made the most of a dry August Bank Holiday to visit a couple of grounds amidst the finery of South East Cornwall.
Not exactly the grade Nasser & KP would be interested in but I was in the mood to take what was on offer, no problem whatsoever.
DULOE v ROCHE OLD BOYS 3rds
First up an early afternoon jaunt for a Division 5 East encounter at The Recreation Ground, Duloe:
Duloe batted first & walloped 252-8 off their allotted 40 overs
Roche Old Boys 3rds crumbled to 76 all out in 17.3 overs
Weather: Mainly dull and a little chilly, 4 layers on this afternoon.
Attendance: About half a dozen, seems most folk went to the Vintage Tractor Rally?
Bring Your Own Chair Necessity? Definitely.
Facilities: Nice looking ranch style wooden pavilion. Appropriate scoreboard. Also the attraction of a directly adjacent skate park for those who bring their own board, didn't see any old timers blitzing the curves this particular afternoon.
Location: Nestles off the main road between Liskeard & the seaside resort of Looe. Just around the bend from the stone circle sign in the direction of Looe.
Match: I know Roche are called 'Old Boys' but there were some rather young faces in the line up for this one. It's Division 5, it provides what it says on the tin. One cannot expect prime quality cricket. I was none the less just happy to see two eager sides purely doing their best. Duloe are top of the division and you can see why, that's a hell of a good total off 40 overs.
MENHENIOT LOOE 2nds v WADEBRIDGE 3rds
Next up was my main match of the day. A Division 4 East fixture between Menheniot Looe 2nds and bottom of the league Wadebridge 3rds. Proper grass roots stuff.
Menheniot Looe batted first & sped to 236-5 off the 40 overs
Wadebridge fell well short, 151-9 from 35.1 overs. Unfortunately one player couldn't bat due to injury.
Weather: Pretty much the same as at the Duloe ground (above).
Attendance: A good few in the pavilion & dotted around, not bad really, it wasn't first team 11's playing.
Bring Your Own Chair Necessity?: It would be beneficial regards getting the view that best suited you, however, there are 9 benches apportioned around the pitch and a few more on the pavilion patio, so you could get by without a chair.
Facilities: Nice sizeable pavilion with a wall laden scoreboard attached. Its clearly visible from around the ground. There is a lovely charismatic older scoreboard on the ground no longer in use, splendidly adorned with a few surrounding benches and colourful foliage. I possibly drove in the wrong entrance to the ground, it's signposted on the gate before you reach the village from the A38 direction. It was accessible but there is plentiful better parking if you go through the village and take the lane towards the Primary School. You end up just behind the pavilion, importantly you're also out of reach of the big 6 hitters, still pumped up from watching the previous evenings 'Hundred Final' on the TV (a competition I personally have little time for).
Location: (See above, facilities) Menheniot is a few miles east of Liskeard, you can get to it off the A38, a couple of miles past the Railway Station, or, if it suits you better, off the Liskeard to Callington road, take the turn off at Merrymeet.
Match: I found this a good standard of cricket and I stayed longer than initially planned. Some fine batting from Menheniot, and Wadebridge do look rather smart in their classy kit with all the player names on the back. There was a good mix of knowledgeable older heads and aspiring youthful players amidst both sides which was pleasing to note. There was certainly some decent cricket to see.
