Sunday 13th May 2012 -  (NDL) Bideford 1st XI vs Sandford - Away

More innovations this week. The stars have aligned, Saturn was rising in Capricorn and a black cat walked under a ladder - all this happened, true, so I can now bring you photo evidence of the magic that is a cricket tea!

Before I re-count tales of Sandford's tea, I must provide a bit of background. Back when I was a nipper playing senior cricket for the first time, I remember having a Sandford tea and it was good, very good. I've had the good fortune to play there a few more times over the years and the teas have always been good - perhaps not Hatherleigh good, but good. Suffice to say, batting second at Sandford (despite chasing a big score) has some benefits.

So feast your eyes over this:

Looking good? Well, yes, not bad was my verdict. Overall there was a good selection of sandwiches on both white and brown bread, my selection being 1 cheese and pickle, 2 egg with a hint of mustard, but ham and a couple of other options were there as well. A good cake selection - you can see the jam sponge (very nice), the fruit cake and the fruit bread buttered and jam and before the chocolate lovers get concerned, there was a taste coco/chocolate flat cake thing, but that has been hidden under the sponge. - So that was my selection. Good, taste, excellent sponge, but perhaps lacked a little sparkle (or meat! As most of you are thinking.) But great aspect about the tea overall was that what I had was only about a third of what was on offer. Quiche, sausages, pizza, crisps, biscuits and more. So a very good spread of food and quantity wise I can only score 10/10.  The answer to why there was such a spread. No it was not that their Overseas player and opening batsmen like a bit of cake, nor was there a special occasion of formal visitors doing inspections (to my knowledge), it was that all the spectators who were grumbling on the boundary that the quality of bowling was not up to their usual Premier league standard came up for tea, each contributing £3 for what was left. A handy little sideline may I say and it was good to have crowd watching even if they did not realise that only one of the clubs playing could raise two teams on the day. I'm also sure that coming up to 30 overs into our innings, at 150+ without the loss of a wicket, the batting was of sufficient quality and was equal to their usual Premier league standard!

* subject to change if my recollection is wrong if I'm corrected, or can't add up correctly!