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A hastily arranged game against friendly specialists Mallards took place at Heaton on a glorious August evening. CCC were put into bat and coasted to 97-5 off 14 overs, with Derek, Simon E. and Roger amongst the runs. Once again CCC's bowling and fielding was not as good as it should have been (though Dave Graham excelled with 3-5), with a few loose overs and a couple of farcical pieces of ground fielding. The game was essentially lost in the middle of the innings though, with Mallards greater exploitation of one very short boundary. The winning runs were hit by CCC turncoat Tim Hall, who, guesting for his other team, and despite being renowned for his bowling (he took 2-19 in this match), glided the final ball of the penultimate over majestically through the mid wicket gap to take Mallards to 98-8: "I just waited for the ball to come onto the bat," said Hall, "the timing was perfect and I just eased it gently, bisecting John and George in the field with a neat flick of the wrists." Hall went on to try to talk about his bowling too, but your reporter had to go to the pub instead.
So, three consecutive days in action for CCC, leaving most players feeling as stiff as Graeme Smith, though with considerably less to show for it.
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