It was a slightly new look side against Totternhoe on Tuesday. It looked a decent side on paper but what would it be like on threadbare carpet the punters wondered ? With regular skipper Simon W. released to parenting duties and Tim Spencer at a mysterious meeting with a man about a dog, a crash on the M1 meant that virtually everyone was late and we wondered if this was to be an omen for the night ahead. Fortunately none of the opposition was named Damien. For the Colts there was no usual captain to toss up, no Timmy Squared plus traffic backed up like a storm drain at a Burger Bar in Billericay. Things didn't improve for one shy, retiring opener who shall remain nameless to protect his identity. Having scored 6 off a first ball long hop, he blocked the second, guided the third past point (if there'd been a point and what was the point anyway ?) before he was cruelly run out off the side wall, backing up and after the ball had flicked off the distal phalanx of the left hand little finger of the bowler on the way through. The empty hall went silent (well, it had been pretty silent from the start) as our man trooped off. It was fair to say that the bat reached the door yards before he did. Name that player........
Anyway, from a poor beginning things looked up faster than a dwarf with a stiff neck doing a reverse-bungee. Dave. W, Neil B. and Andy all notched 25's and only Mike Howard of the Glen will know how he failed to notch his first retired 25 also. By only just over halfway we had 100 on the board with considerable help from the opposition. One doesn't wish to be unkind but there were enough wides to fill the next 3 series of "Celebrity Fat Camp". There were off-side wides, leg-side wides, wide trousers, wide angle lenses and probably several wide receivers if we'd looked hard enough. In fact, we only ended up on 175-2 on the basis that so many deliveries were restricted to wides that nobody could do anything with. Some of them made Harmison's first ball of the 2006 Ashes Down Under look like an unplayable Jaffa (which in a way it was as Justin Langer got nowhere near it). If the Dambusters' radar had functioned in WWII the same way as that of the Tott's bowlers then it might be fair to say that there would be a few more original dams left intact on German rivers these days and the "Tirpitz" would still be upright in a Norwegian fjord.
Confidence was high as we ran back on after the break and Mike of the Glen and Dave from the Dales soon set the standard. With a new-ish ball that felt less like a 6 week old apple left in the bottom of an Ocado delivery bin than usual, it was possible to make the ball kick up off the deck and there was plenty of playing and missing as Totternhoe started nervously. Dave got a wicket courtesy of a good grab by Neil as the ball was whacked straight at him and Dave then bowled the Tott's best player as he cunningly held one back a bit prompting a bottom edge on to the stumps. By this time the score was almost going backwards and there were even calls for Andy to be given a bowl. Murph resisted all this, shrewd captain that he is and the main threat then came from Neil's tweakers. Neil took 2 catches off his own bowling (shame Simon wasn't there to see how it's done) and with 2 simple run outs the job was done with the Tott's all out for 36 and well beaten.
Man of the Match is tricky. Murph shunned the award as unworthy of him or his captaincy. Dave, Mike, Neil and Andy all had good evenings but the MoM goes to the scorer on the balcony for keeping track of the extras in our innings. He may not be Bill Frindall but his counting was solid enough on the day to suggest that he would be a good appointment as Harry Redknapp's tax man (allegedly).
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Tues 20 Nov 1900 v Final CC
So this was to be a major clash of title contenders, Final CC were second to Redbourn and also disputing their bonus points which would actually have put them top. Both Redbourn and Final had both played two more games than us though. Whatever the points situation, we had to win. We had a strong side out after a little last minute potential dropout that wasn’t.
Anyway on the match report; I won the toss again and invited the opposition to bat. Spence and Haggis Mike opened the bowling and both bowled superbly. What a change a match can make for Mike, who’s bowling was much more like we all know he can bowl. According to Graeme, they should have been 0 for 1 after the first ball, when his impassioned appeal for a stumping was ignored by their caged umpire, who no doubt wasn’t actually watching. Well the first wicket proper did not take long to fall, when one of their openers clipped nicely to square leg only for the ball to come back neatly to Graeme who completed the run out. Graeme then surpassed himself again with a superb caught behind. In addition to losing wickets, they were not scoring runs, so after the opening spell from Tim & Mike of 6 overs, they only 40 odd and this had already included nearly 20 from their best batsman. I then finally removed their remaining opener who had struggled to a grand total of 7, when he clipped a full toss straight back to me. The last three wickets fell to run outs in a bit of a blur, a mix of pressure from good bowling and fielding but also some appalling running. This left them 70 all out, with nearly 3 overs to bowl. Poor Murph didn’t even get a bowl after his heroics last week.
Given Murph’s lack of a bowl, he opened with Graeme and we made good progress towards our low target, Graeme in particular batting well, retiring after only the 4th over. Mike H then joined Murph and got us to within 5 of our target when he went for flat bat tennis shot eyeing up the 10 zone, sadly it just caught the top net and fell gently back to the bowler. Next ball and they were on a hat-trick when Murph wandered across his stumps, as he is wont, but missed and lost his leg stump. This left me to call on Neil to quickly pull on his pads to see us home to victory in the 8th over. The match was all over in 45 minutes, quiet a thrashing given we were expecting a tough game.
Man of the match goes to Graeme for 25 runs, a catch behind, a stumping that nearly was and three assists on the run outs, although both Spence and Mike H bowled very well too.
Anyway on the match report; I won the toss again and invited the opposition to bat. Spence and Haggis Mike opened the bowling and both bowled superbly. What a change a match can make for Mike, who’s bowling was much more like we all know he can bowl. According to Graeme, they should have been 0 for 1 after the first ball, when his impassioned appeal for a stumping was ignored by their caged umpire, who no doubt wasn’t actually watching. Well the first wicket proper did not take long to fall, when one of their openers clipped nicely to square leg only for the ball to come back neatly to Graeme who completed the run out. Graeme then surpassed himself again with a superb caught behind. In addition to losing wickets, they were not scoring runs, so after the opening spell from Tim & Mike of 6 overs, they only 40 odd and this had already included nearly 20 from their best batsman. I then finally removed their remaining opener who had struggled to a grand total of 7, when he clipped a full toss straight back to me. The last three wickets fell to run outs in a bit of a blur, a mix of pressure from good bowling and fielding but also some appalling running. This left them 70 all out, with nearly 3 overs to bowl. Poor Murph didn’t even get a bowl after his heroics last week.
Given Murph’s lack of a bowl, he opened with Graeme and we made good progress towards our low target, Graeme in particular batting well, retiring after only the 4th over. Mike H then joined Murph and got us to within 5 of our target when he went for flat bat tennis shot eyeing up the 10 zone, sadly it just caught the top net and fell gently back to the bowler. Next ball and they were on a hat-trick when Murph wandered across his stumps, as he is wont, but missed and lost his leg stump. This left me to call on Neil to quickly pull on his pads to see us home to victory in the 8th over. The match was all over in 45 minutes, quiet a thrashing given we were expecting a tough game.
Man of the match goes to Graeme for 25 runs, a catch behind, a stumping that nearly was and three assists on the run outs, although both Spence and Mike H bowled very well too.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tues 13 Nov v Flamstead: Match report
I had a feeling that things might not go well last night. It all started with a phone call from Tim M. He claimed his car was in service, but he had also had a few pints at lunch and then more after work. So I was the taxi service (;(
The match started well enough with my winning the toss and I invited Flamstead to bat. Dave opened the bowling and this was a fine first over apart from one wide, which Graeme missed too, adding 7 to the total. John Callender followed and I sure he would admit, he did not have a great night, his radar was definitely turned off. Dave followed up with two fine more overs. However, after 5 overs and a considerable number of extras, Flamstead were off to a roaring start climbing to 60 when their first batsman retired. This was contrasted heavily with their other opener who only scored his first run in the 5th over! After this over, the scoring rate started to drop. Tim M started the 6th over and bowled very well without luck. I then took our first wicket in the 7th over with a poor short delivery that John Callender safely pocketed. The 8th over from Tim M was a revelation and the Flamstead innings fell apart. He bowled their opener who had still only scored 2 after all this time, then immediately bowled their number 4. Sadly he could not conjure up a hat-trick as this ball was a rank long hop. However, two balls later, he yorked their number 5. Three wickets in an over, a record I think for us. To further insult Tim, on the advice of Dave, I removed him from the attack to let him bowl the last over. Next over, I got rid of their number 3 via a fantastic catch from Graeme standing up off a thick inside edge. John Cowan completed the innings by bowling their last man in the penultimate over. This left Tim high and dry and not required for the last over. Flamstead were 96 all out, quite a collapse from 71 for no wicket and no run outs, which must also be a record.
Batting was bit of a procession, particularly as Dave and Graeme started well putting on 50, with Dave retiring just ahead of Graeme. We then had a mini collapse with John Callender pushing tamely to short mid off and I ran out the London Olympics sprint hopeful, John Cowan. I then attempted a pick up off my legs but changed my mind and offered a very gentle catch to the leg side off the side wall. This left us at 60 odd for 3, but Dave and Tim M saw us home safely with three overs to spare.
Another excellent win and full bonus points again. This closes the gap on Redbourn, but they are now played 6 won 5 and still representing a threat. We need to win against Final CC who are currently third next week.
Graeme suggested we should introduce a man of the match award for each game. There were a number of good performances last night: Dave unbeaten on 30 odd and three good overs at low cost, Graeme another unbeaten 25 and a fantastic catch. However, Tim M gets the award for his three wickets in an over and being not out at the finish. He should go out drinking more often!
The match started well enough with my winning the toss and I invited Flamstead to bat. Dave opened the bowling and this was a fine first over apart from one wide, which Graeme missed too, adding 7 to the total. John Callender followed and I sure he would admit, he did not have a great night, his radar was definitely turned off. Dave followed up with two fine more overs. However, after 5 overs and a considerable number of extras, Flamstead were off to a roaring start climbing to 60 when their first batsman retired. This was contrasted heavily with their other opener who only scored his first run in the 5th over! After this over, the scoring rate started to drop. Tim M started the 6th over and bowled very well without luck. I then took our first wicket in the 7th over with a poor short delivery that John Callender safely pocketed. The 8th over from Tim M was a revelation and the Flamstead innings fell apart. He bowled their opener who had still only scored 2 after all this time, then immediately bowled their number 4. Sadly he could not conjure up a hat-trick as this ball was a rank long hop. However, two balls later, he yorked their number 5. Three wickets in an over, a record I think for us. To further insult Tim, on the advice of Dave, I removed him from the attack to let him bowl the last over. Next over, I got rid of their number 3 via a fantastic catch from Graeme standing up off a thick inside edge. John Cowan completed the innings by bowling their last man in the penultimate over. This left Tim high and dry and not required for the last over. Flamstead were 96 all out, quite a collapse from 71 for no wicket and no run outs, which must also be a record.
Batting was bit of a procession, particularly as Dave and Graeme started well putting on 50, with Dave retiring just ahead of Graeme. We then had a mini collapse with John Callender pushing tamely to short mid off and I ran out the London Olympics sprint hopeful, John Cowan. I then attempted a pick up off my legs but changed my mind and offered a very gentle catch to the leg side off the side wall. This left us at 60 odd for 3, but Dave and Tim M saw us home safely with three overs to spare.
Another excellent win and full bonus points again. This closes the gap on Redbourn, but they are now played 6 won 5 and still representing a threat. We need to win against Final CC who are currently third next week.
Graeme suggested we should introduce a man of the match award for each game. There were a number of good performances last night: Dave unbeaten on 30 odd and three good overs at low cost, Graeme another unbeaten 25 and a fantastic catch. However, Tim M gets the award for his three wickets in an over and being not out at the finish. He should go out drinking more often!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)