The tossers
Where it all began
It's just before 6pm on Saturday the 6th August 2005. In the verdant suburbs of Birmingham, Harmison has castled Clarke with a peach of a slower ball, the Aussies are eight down and needing another (unlikely) 107 to steal the second test. CPR is administered to an ashes cadaver and the greatest of tests, sucking sweat from the palms of cricket followers countrywide, nears its wonderful conclusion. Those in the know said nothing of its like had ever been seen on 22 yards of closely mown turf before. Rubbish.
One hundred miles south on Clapham Common at exactly the same time Joiner has spooned a dolly to Hodgson for a duck and at 38-8 the Old Grumblers innings could go either way. Flannery swats an audacious 40, and with half the same again in wides The Owztwats need to overhaul Nelson to claim the ad-hoc contest. With two to win off the last ball, Lee is run out coming back for a frantic second The Old Grumblers have won it*. In the pub afterwards it was all agreed we'd had considerably more fun than watching Vaughan's lot put us through the mill on telly. With unjustifiable optimism we consider there's the basis of a reasonable wandering side and thus The Old Grumblers was formed and incorporated under the laws of vagrant cricket.
Our institution has grown modestly since 2005, we beefed up the ranks with a few refugees from club cricket and once every few weeks in summer we hit the road, mostly the Home Counties, occasionally further afield, now and again foreign soil. Our tale is that of the often chronicled cricketing parody, where a group of technically flawed and strategically witless thirty/fourtysomethings look to revive a skill never possessed. The cricket is taken seriously to a point, the thrill of scratching the odd victory is priceless and, along with the cold lager at stumps, keeps us coming back for more.
2010 will be our sixth season and the fixture list is filling up fast so if you fancy a pop at the OGs drop us a line. We're not that old and we don't Grumble....much.
* Subsequent analysis of the rules reveals the game was tied, in hindsight the excessive gloating by the ‘victors’ was uncalled for, but deliciously enjoyed nonetheless. Ignorance of the rules remains the hallmark of many playing Grumblers.