Wednesday 4th July
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It has taken two days for
any one to work it out, but the fixtures Secretary John Murray is fined for
spelling Westward Ho! on the tour itinerary as Westwood.
This, after fifteen years of touring the area.
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Hanno once again blots
his copybook. After yesterdays fine,
he is again selected to open the batting and once again, thinking that he will
not be opening, is late.
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For once the Ducklings
have been honoured with a full afternoon match against Braunton.
Their skipper, Leo, is celebrating 50 years at the club and asked that
the Ducklings game be considered one of two celebratory matches for him.
This is probably an unworthy thought but with the amount of clubs touring
in North Devon, Leo could easily have a ‘special’ game against all of the
touring sides and if everyone got him a small token of his 50 years, an engraved
glass in the Ducklings case, Leo would never need to buy another memento again.
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 Sadly
the result on the pitch is also a celebration for Leo.
While he did not make much in the way of runs and was criminally dropped
by Kevin Schofield (or was it sentiment making sure Leo was not out for a duck
on his special day?) - the total posted by the Ducklings was never going to
challenge Braunton and they cruised home helped in part by their young
Australian player who was dropped by Hanno early on and then proceeded to spank
the bowling around, including Gonzo whose good habits from the day before
vanished in a puff of red mist and swearing.
The Ducklings display with the bat was certainly not one to be
remembered, Dave Tribe the teams star batsman contributed a measly 10 while
Sheelagh was so impressed with Hilly’s batting she decided to watch Wimbledon
on TV instead.
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Clive Worrell also
managed to earn himself the tour duck from a relieved Steve Abbott.
His horrible cross bat slog earned him the duck and also gave him an
opportunity to heavily fine everyone who tried to spirit the duck away from him
over the next 24 hours.
A word from our lawyers here. The publishers of
the Ducklings tour diary wish to apologize unreservedly to Mr, Clive
Worrell for calling his shot "a cross bat slog" and accept that
his stroke was in fact a miss-timed one day improvisation.
The publishers wish to apologize for any embarrassment this may have caused
him.
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| That evening the adage
‘the old ones are the best’ was proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Gonzo, who had proved on tour that he was an ideal candidate for any
japes going, now fell for the oldest trick in the book.
At the hotel bar late in the evening, he proceeded to get extremely drunk
and exhibited all the signs of a massive hangover the next morning.
A pity really as the Vodka he had been drinking all evening was really
water. Meanwhile Hilly
had been sniggering along with all the others in the bar while Gonzo was being
stitched up. He only found out the
next morning that all his whiskey and cokes had no whiskey in them!
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back to index page Thursday
5th July |
