A red weather warning accompanied the Woodpeckers on their quest for a (X)th victory of the season in a charming, yet largely breeze-less pitch with wooded surround.

11 punctual peckers met at the Bell Inn with adjoining chalet, as spectacularly spotted by an otherwise absent Snax, before Pob won the toss to send the Peckers into the field.

Limousine on debut devours a sani in front of a happy Murphy

Spinach & Bagpuss were both deliberate and unremitting in their approach with the hosts spluttering to a suffocating 11-2 after seven overs; the opening pair both sent packing for zip. Le Chat and his umpteen pints the day before at Greasey’s Shoesfest (collecting a staggering £8k) all congregating to deliver an unplayable ball which pitched outside leg and jagged back toclaim the very top of leg stump for ball of the day. Spinach had previously found the edge which carried through to Pippin who took comfortably.

Spinny mantained the pressure by trapping No. 4 D Tunstall in front for 5 and ended a brilliant spell 2-13 before the first change. Mapuddah into the attack. If it wasn’t clear from his foggy fielding, the 18 runs off of his first and only over confirmed that there had indeed been a mix-up in his cigarette case back at the pub. This should have been obvious almost immediately when Snax got into the wrong car from the Bell Inn. Butternut didn’t do much better (15) including a beamer sailing over both bat and keep for four. Net session booked in for both.

Sandwiched between this was a very handsome over from the Grease Man, clean bowling A. Crawford, oppo skip and No. 3 for just 13. Seamingly he and Cat had both beaten the head-aches well-earned from Shoesfest the day before in which Greasy pulled in a whopping £8k for his pub.

Murph took his first wicket for the Peckers -and a very tidy spell all bowled off the wrong foot

A disorientated Mapuddah and the debut lads Shabby and Limo

The sun in no mood to relent beat down upon the Peckers as Outwood started to build with the help of Saffer import De Beer cutting through a now dizzying field like a diamond, pushing the home side to 147-5 after 27 overs. The excuse of high heat offering little consolation to Pobsy who saw a nick through to keeper Pippin put down and four balls miss-fielded in his first over including one which found the rope through three - separate - fielders. Cat, Greaser and Butternut’s detached fielding gave skip the fire in his belly to take 2 wickets including dismissing young Harry Crawford for 45.

At 152-6 with 5 overs of the innings to come, Pirate stepped up with two overs of beautifully flighted offies, going for 9 and almost creating a half-chance for C&B. An excitable and light-footed jig half way down the track in response would have suggested the chance were far more clear cut. Good spell overall and could have stayed on.

Grease made up for his earlier mishap in the field with a catch in the covers off of Pobsy to make it 157-7. The Jeweller (De Beer) took advantage of the now wearying Woodpeckers and drove his side to an above par 207-7. An innings which had everything drew to a close. Stand-out performances from H Crawford (45) and K De Beer (74*) helped the hosts to recover from 45-4 to reach a very defendable 207.

Pirate and Bagpuss were sent out with a required run rate of 6 and started well. Pirate fell in the fifth over playing on to his own stumps from a ball available to hit.

Pippin into the fold after a good show behind the stumps played sensibly alongside Bagpuss bringing the Peckers to 69-1 off of 14 overs. No nine lives for the Cat on this day as he fell for 39, furthering his case for future opening berths along the way.

Greasy up to the plate and saw the ball well with early boundaries and continued to build strongly with Pippin providing great stability, both working hard in getting ahead of the run rate.

Pippin slain on 39, unfortunate to miss out on a half-century but batted determinedly with some sumptuous cut shots to achieve his highest score for the Peckers and put on 86 with Greasy.

Butternut next in managed a boundary and a single to depart for 5 after a chipping a catch to the grateful and widely electric Outwood field.

Murph in now and tasked with looking after his average in order to protect the strong but frail-looking start, clipped two off his hip for four before being fooled by the slower ball and made to walk after an LBW decision.The middle order collapse now gaining momentum, the Peckers were relying heavily on big hitter Grease who clocked in his first pecker half-century making 53 off of 39 balls (8 4s, 1 6), before succumbing to the Saffer with 28 needed in the 7 overs left to play.

Greasy and Pippin delighted after putting on 78 and both registering PBs for the Peckers

The Limousine produced an effective cover-whack for four before losing his middle stump on the next ball and was given his marching orders for the second time in 16 hours after a run-in at Fabric with a man (bouncer) about a horse (tranquilliser).

Pob, unable to quell what was now a landslide, fell for 4 chipping to mid-off so it was now up to Snax and Spinach to get the chase back on track.

With bat and batter as high as each other, Mapuddah missed a low straight one and handed the poison chalice over to new pecker Shabbi with only 12 runs needed from 18 deliveries. A batting performance every bit as permeable as his fielding led to the bails flying and with them the result. 3 hours of badminton the day previous and a sore wrist the culprits.

It was a game won by Outwood in the middle order as there was an epic Peckers collapse losing 8 wickets for 39 runs. It was also heavily influenced for a consecutive year by an Outwood overseas Saffer pro (K De Beer 74* & 2-14 off 7).

As the evening brought in a cooler breeze both sides shared a beer over absent friends. Outwood’s Phil Alexander died 5 years ago to the day and will be remembered for his enthusiasm and the fun he brought to the games. Tom Saxty sadly passed last week, playing for both Withyham and the Peckers and will be remembered for his great work behind the stumps and being a great guy on and off the pitch.

All in all, a game which got away from the Peckers in a season full of close encounters. Fielding mishaps and wayward batting proving too strong a counterweight for a terrific bowling attack. Outwood 207-7 beat Woodpeckers 196 all out by 11 runs. A brilliant innings by Greasy and unplayable spell of Spinach Swing bowling great highlights.

https://woodpeckers.play-cricket.com/website/results/5087167