Zed's Diary
Follow our new 3rd Team skipper on his journey onwards and upwards. From humble beginnings with the A Team, Zed has now assumed charge of the 3rds. With the 2nd team captaincy next in his sights Zed continues his journey to the top.

Accrington 3rd 11 v Bacup 3rd 11 15th May
Bacup 86 Accrington 87-8

The day was going to be warm to say the least and you could tell on the looks of the 'Vietnam veterans' in the Accrington team, that it was going to be a day of trials and tribulations with regard to physical exertions. They walked into the ground each armed to the teeth with a lighter, a packet of 20 mayfair, several bottles of liquids, bandages and muscular alleviation sprays. The Bacup team walked into the Accrington ground with looks of amazement and shock, they gave the impression that they were in some sort of a a utopia type environment (yeah I now its only Accy.................. but they are from Bacup). Coming to Accrington is the equivalent of a release from a Baghdad prison and going to an all expenses paid Caribbean cruise for these guys.

Anyway moving swiftly back onto the cricket I lost the toss and the Bacup captain decided to bat. We had a quick wicket, the temperamental Saggy bowling their opening batsmen. Then began a period of consolidation for the Bacup batsmen as they carried the score to 44-1 off 18 overs. The pitch looked very slow paced, so I decided to bring young Matt Donnelly into the attack and straight away he made a breakthrough with his very first ball. a looping swinging full toss! He began to go through their batting line up like Immy goes through pies and Saggy goes through tantrums. He bowled with great variation and guile to say the least! The loop, the flight, the drift, the little in ducker they were all in there in his spell and at times even his flighted deliveries were so cunningly disguised that the pitch didn't know that the ball was spinning! His figures were brilliant on a memorable day for him (7-16 off 8.2 overs).....Well done and well deserved. It would be interesting to note the last time a spin bowler took 7 wickets for Accrington at any level.

Matty might be a bit young to understand this, but very soon in the post he'll be receiving a letter from the Labour Government as they still have a vacancy for a new 'spin' doctor to take Mr Campbell's place so dad Mick watch out! Bacup after a solid start were all out for 86. It was a good all round effort from all the lads in the field and the other bowlers who kept a tight line.

Our batting started in typical fashion,with a collapse of wickets. Within the space of 8 overs we were reduced to 30-4 and then 53-7 off 15 and what looked like a straight forward simple run chase turned out to be a nerve jangling 'uphill battle' to reach the target. I went for another duck and with my current batting form being so bad ......every time I walk into a Chinese take away and look up at the menu I scare myself thinking why my picture is not up there next to the fried duck dish! However all was well in the end as Dave Hargreaves and Immy hit there way towards the target....when Immy's batting, it's like watching Nelly the Elephant in a ballerina outfit as he does more body rotational spins after hitting ball than 'Billy Elliott'....He did once boast that him and J-Lo have similar backsides...I think his might be a bit hairier.......well I don't about that, Latino women tend to have hairy asses....Well the ones that Waheed has met in Manchester anyway!... getting away from the subject matter here, back to the cricket. Immy lost his wicket after scoring 10 and we needed another 10 to win with two wickets left and at this stage could have gone either way but the man of the moment Dave managed to carry us there with an aggressive unbeaten 34.

A lucky escape for us and a batting performance that might need addressing and looking into, but a wins a win and we walked away with a maximum of 5 points and our first win. Well done Matty, Dave and J-Lo