Well until training time it was all gloom and despondency around Cymru Gurgitaters CG. A six Thumping league defeat of the season on Friday, was followed yesterday by a pasting in the Friendly Cup which means I've probably missed out on the Super Six, although my rivals for third in the group also got a stuffing so I'll have to wait and see if my NRR is good enough to see me through. No money in the bank, Fitness fatigued, morale pessimistic, several players spotted heading for their garages with lengths of hosepipe in hand!
But then, just like when you're standing at the bus stop in the pssiing rain, and you find a ciggie nestling in the corner of a packet you thought was empty, something turned up to raise my flagging spirits.
Four training pops! Unexpectedly, but not particularly thrillingly, Bewers has popped to Comp Cons - Curiously a fortnight after I took his fielding net away! Then I find that Haldane's marathon stand at Comp Bat has finally been broken, after no less than 16 weeks, so I've listed him on the transfer market for £150k, a bit optimistic, but not out of the ball-park for an 18yo Resp Bat, with Med Stam and Conc. Plus, with Woe WK and bowl , as an Estate Agent would say, there's scope for improvement to convert him into a kind'a batting second-string allrounder, whether that be WK or bowling,which would drastically improve his Conc too I guess. He's joined on the market by Gavin Partridge, 20yo Low Resp Bat, and V.High Feeb bowl - Probably only a week or so away from Med, but I ditched his bowling training when Mullins replaced him as B5. The major drawback with him is his Abs Stam, which I never seemed to have space to get around to sorting out - So he's up for £90K, again a bit hopeful, but not ridiculously so. Besides, when you're £59k overdrawn, you need to be a little bit hopeful!
But, then came the real cherry on the cake, the moment when you find that not only is your girlfriend's fit mother up for it, but that neither of them appear to have any objection to the possibility of a threesome either! I clicked on to Doug Greening's Page and discovered that not only had he popped to Woe Conc after one week…He'd also reached Strong bat!!! - And whilst I'm not complaining in the slightest, it's got to be some kind'a mistake. He's listed with wages of £942, and his previous manager told me that he'd been having two batting nets all season, and that he'd popped to Prof four or five weeks ago. That would tally with the wages, and make him at the very most halfway up Prof, yet somehow he's jumped to Strong already!
But now to more sober matters! My capitulation on Friday, to a team I bowled out for 150 earlier in the season I might add, means that there's now a gap of eight points between me and fourth place, and a further two to third. So with no realistic hope of automatic survival, attention must turn to readying myself for the impending playoff. I currently have a 3/6 split, the same as the sixth-placed team, but I have an NRR advantage of around 10 over them. My intention from now on is to TIE every match, and get my team fitness up to something respectable before the playoff, and if I can be certain that Urwenda in Sixth are also going to lose, I may also rest several of my first team. I know that what the Lord giveth with one hand he taketh away with the other, and that even though my fitness will be on the way up, my morale is going to nose-dive - But then again I can control my fitness, whereas I don't appear to have any say whatsoever in turning my morale around! But what I'm wondering is whether there is any advantage in finishing fifth rather than sixth, in terms of your playoff opponents?
Oh BTW, just had the E-mail through from the bloke who organises our friendly cup, and apparently I've made it through to the Super Six stage, with 1.57 NRR, versus -3.39 for my rivals. TBH, I wouldn't have been too disappointed if I'd missed out, as my season from now on is all about one game.
Later, Trev
