Such is the shortness of the 2020 season that, having used our allocated space in July to give an update on the revised fixture list, we now find ourselves in August with just two and a bit weeks of the season to go. Alas, t’will soon to be too dark for us to play in the evenings.
Our season began at The Mill with a local derby ( most of our games are) against the serfs and villains of Plymtree, mostly the latter really . The Millers batted first and the highlights were the return to health and runs for Mark Hammett and his new eyes and after two years
of watching on from the sidelines it was great to have Skipper Si Kittow back on the field and biffing the ball as only he can . In response to the Millers 134-6, the Plyms fell short on 97-9 . Man of the match was Shane Tout with 25 retired and taking 2-9 – prompting calls of “Bowling Shane”, bet no one’s ever heard that on a cricket pitch before!
After a Friday evening defeat to our friends from Clyst Hydon , we then left the parish for an arduous trip across Woodbury Common to play Lympstone CC at an ………..archery club………..yes you read that right. Lympstone batted first on the artificial and posted a respectable 101-6, without ever quite hitting the bullseye (archery club- bullseye? bad joke, I know) The Millers reached victory with a superb sixth wicket stand from Ben Peters and Shane Tout.
Defeat to The Sunsets followed before the Kittow brothers led us to a hard fought win over Nynehead, each retiring with 25 scored.
No doubting the highlight of the season to date though and that came when we travelled up Tale Lane to the return leg with the Clyst boys. After conceding 140-4 , we weren’t hugely optimistic about the chase but an excellent opening partnership of over 50 between the ever reliable Jason Wood and the unusually available Ralph Cook, we pushed on with that man Tout again seeing us over the line with a lovely array of strokes. I couldn’t help noticing the different styles of athlete in our squad on this evening. We had “the glider” Cook, who runs with minimal effort and enormous grace, covering the ground in no time, we had Kittow Junior, 
for whom every step seems to take huge effort when he’s walking but who fires down the wicket when he’s running and then there was the Hammett, which normally involves he or I not reaching the other end in time. Ought to add that the writer, who, if he were a racehorse, would be a definite “non runner”, is by far the worst of the lot!
As usual we have been blessed by the presence of our Chef (Eduardo is legendary in local cricket circles, as is his customary Carlsberg – Yes just the one Janet) and our playwright Umpire, thank you, John.
Fingers crossed the weather holds for a couple more weeks !
Up The Millers! Jon TMCC
