Matt Oliver. He's not a bad lad. A
cricketer of some distinction. Jollies everyone along. best joker in the
changing room. buys everyone beers. No, honestly. Ah well, having got
that out of the way, prepare for the character assassination.
Matt joined WECC after the recruitment
campaign which, up until then, had been wholly successful in avoiding
him. He's a good batsman who'll do an excellent of staying at the
crease up to half an hour for both his runs. He'll get out if he's got
the runs, though. What is true though is that Matt is a bit of a joker
in the pile. Shamley Green was the venue during his inaugural year
(1993) with the club for one of THE remarks of the season. Our
changing room had a lavatory off it with a few handrails to assist the
less mobile amongst ourselves. That's right, the bowlers after a
couple of overs. Anyway, he looked in at tea-time and said "Have you
seen this? It's like a sexual gymnasium in there!" which -
unsurprisingly - left all present in helpless fits of laughter.
He
can bowl a bit too, although exactly what bit of what he actually bowls has never been
stated. A couple of steps and here he is at the crease like he's never
been away, and indeed he never has, allowing everyone else to field
the ball
for him. But enough of the bad balls, he's seen the doctor who
nearly gave him the all-clear. Matt makes a good change bowler, spinning the ball quite alarmingly
and altering the pace of the innings at a
stoke. Exactly, the batsman has a stroke as Matt takes his wicket and
the game comes to a standstill.
He's taken wickets as well to turn a game in our favour by
getting out the good batsman.
In
fact, if we were to say Matt turns a good one out, we wouldn't be
entirely wrong, would we?
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