#25 Win a race
The last thing I won was a little slab of white marble adorned with a plastic cricket emblem and a bit of engraved shiny gold effect metal. The prize for nudging a boundary off the pads in the Denbighshire Cup some 27 years ago. I’d love to explain how those runs finished a century innings after hours toiling at the crease, but it would be a story of fantasy. The fact of it was that I’d nervously approached the stumps only the ball before and with only two more bowls of the red corky thing to come the destiny of the Denbighshire Cup was to lie firmly on the shoulders of batsman #11. Oh dear!
The story should have ended in disappointment for both me and my team mates, but as the oppositions prized bowler steamed in quicker than a Stevenson Steam Engine, I stood upright and mustered as much courage as my quivering frame would allow. The ball thundered down the pitch with the velocity of a jet fighter setting off tremors as it bounced mid-wicket before gathering pace. Bat pulled back in anticipation I unleashed the recoil of my backswing and set the willow in motion. In my mind the ball hit the bat centrally at a trajectory that meant a boundary of six would surely ensue…in reality the the ball glanced off the outside of the left pad I had frantically buckled up only a few moments before. My disappointment at failing to spot the ball bouncing over the rope in the distance was soon overshadowed as the team rushed towards me in a mixture of flailing arms and exuberant smiles with the ball hitting the boundary behind the dejected wicket keeper. Surely not! Yes the Denbighshire Cup was on its way home .
So, it’s fair to say it’s been a while in coming, but now it’s time to go and be a winner again. There is a plan and hopefully all will become apparent soon. The trophy cabinet is dusted off and maybe just maybe it is time to make another addition. Time will tell.