TOTTY'S BIG DAY OUT SAVES THE WEEKEND
The return of Totty's Big Day Out on Sunday July 3rd was tremendous. Months of hard work and organisation paid off in stunning fashion with well over 5,000 revellers descending on the Meadows for a terrific afternoon. Good music, great company, and an amazing effort from the army of volunteers, family, stallholders, the bands and their crews, the many organisations who lent their support and time to the day and everyone who showed up to have a great time. There are plenty of photos and comments on social media to enjoy, and a few pics courtesy of KC are shown below.
Personal highlights include Mick "I make the Rules" Proops sterling work at the road closure ("But it's my birthday" ... "Happy birthday, now turn around!"), Sam Collins and the invisible VIP entry list on the back of his hand, and Ry Marsh's hangover skin tone moving from white to off-white to ivory to beige to white again through the day. There was a whole load of amusing interactions with the attendees, not least the lady who insisted she'd had such a good time that we should be given an extra 2 quid on departure ("that's very generous thanks, but it's actually a fiver to leave!"). Terrific work everyone.
All of this seemed light years away when Friday's T20 clash with local rivals ELPM had to be abandoned with the ground unfit for play. That pretty much summed up the weekend's cricket, which didn't go especially well! The firsts were knocked off the top of the table following a grotty day at Deane and Derby. Having been put into bat, the firsts struggled to 102 all out with nobody able to pass 20. Despite a real struggle with the bat, the Totts boys would still have been confident of pulling off a famous victory, especially having reduced the home side to 30-4 early on. Lenny and Burnsy toiled hard but a stubborn fifth wicket partnership mixing defence with the odd mighty heave took the game away and resulted in a four wicket defeat.
The firsts return to the Meadows next weekend for a very important double header, including a cup semi final on Sunday which will hopefully not be quite as tense as last week's quarter final!
The seconds were looking to bounce back from a poor defeat at Egerton in a home clash to neighbours Brooksbottom. This was another fractious affair, with tempers worsening through the day thanks to some decidedly average pitch-scuffing antics, bad language and a couple of refusals to walk. KC had to go off injured halfway through Brox innings; this nicely summed up a listless display with around a dozen catches or chances missed and poor Nick Taylor seeing at least four go down off his bowling. Young Jack Schofield filled in for KC in the field and did a good job - thanks pal! Bradders and Awais picked up 7 wickets and the Doc kept it tight in his 14 overs, but those dropped catches proved very costly and allowed the visitors to get to 175 when a score around 100 would have been a better reflection on events. Still, that's the way it goes.
Totts reply never really got going. The Doc got past a shaky start to crack a solid 46, but only Donny of the rest got to double figures as the innings tottered to just 93 all out. A couple of shaky LBWs for Watty and Bird didn't help, but this was a pretty poor effort despite the pitch showing some wear and tear. One of those days. There was an amusing moment when, for possibly the only time ever, the game was delayed with Dickie P *digging a trench* behind the bowlers arm. It really could only have been improved by filling it with petrol and setting the bloody thing on fire.
The weekend is however perhaps best summed up by my own personal reflections that I arrived at Crompton Meadows at around 11.15am on Saturday just as Dickie P was lighting a fire, and left somewhere close to 9pm on Sunday with another bonfire raging. That lad really does enjoy an inferno!
To view scorecards from all our games, view the TSJ fixtures and results on CricHQ or check out our fixtures page.
