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Sat. 12th May 2007
1st XI (156/8) vs Pinner (245/8)
Drawn
(Home)
The first league game of the season and an unknown
opposition. We won the toss and elected to field
with the weather looking dubious but hoping to put
the oppo under pressure on a damp surface. Sadly
the weather played against us as the pitch played
well and the bowlers struggled with the wet ball.
Their openers put on a good partnership taking advantage
of the loose balls, although they never got away.
We lost 30 minutes to the rain and on the resumption
took a couple of quick wickets with the introduction
of skipper Tharic. Unfortunately, we missed a chance
to get their other opener which would have given
us some strong momentum and they managed to up the
run rate and we missed further chances as they got
to 245/8 off their full allotment of overs. Nigel
Bagley deserves a mention for bowling 20 overs and
keeping things relatively tight and Tharic was the
pick of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets.
We felt that with a strong batting line up we had
a strong chance on a good pitch, which had taken
the rain very well. Ali Wilson and Jeremy Anderson
opened up and whilst Ali looked a little out of touch
they saw off the opening overs. Unfortunately Pinner
didn’t serve up too many early pies and they
benefited from the dry ball we didn’t get.
However, Jeremy was looking untroubled when he missed
a full toss which clipped his leg stump with the
score in the 20s. Two more wickets followed as Kamran
Khan also missed a full-toss and Tharic, after stroking
a couple of cracking 4s, top-edged a hook. The good
news was that none of the wickets were caused by
the pitch but we were in a position where we needed
to rebuild. R. Kaupugeekina (‘Sandy’)
joined Ali and put on 40-odd with little trouble.
Just as the rebuild was gaining momentum Sandy lost
his wicket, caught at slip off the spinner. Faisal
Mohammed took up the running, however, and
again we looked untroubled. With four wickets down
and 120 needed off 16 overs the run-chase, while
looking tough, particularly with darkness descending,
did look a possibility if we could have a couple
of big overs. Ali decided to go after their slow
left-armer only to pick out the man on the long cow
boundary to perfection falling for 67. Again this
was followed by a few quick wickets. With a few overs
to go Faisal also went for a well played 36 but Robin
McKeown and Chris Bennett saw out the last overs
with relative ease.
Not a great performance first-up although this Pinner
outfit will do well this year. Not much to improve
on except the bowling, fielding and batting!
AW
2nd XI (115) vs Pinner (116/2)
Lost
(Away)
Well, let me start by thanking all the Stevenage
and Yeovil football fans for making our journey to
Pinner a complete nightmare, and welcome back Wembley
stadium and all the transport problems it will bring.
Congratulations also to Dave Crank for arriving at
a match earlier than ever before and doing the toss
for me, although he was left no option but to bat
so therefore no blame shall be laid on him whatsoever.
Our team’s main problem was that their 94-year
old opening bowler was not treated to the punishment
he deserved early on and got himself into a nice
groove whereby he dismissed 7 of our talented batting
line-up for almost exactly half of our paltry 115.
If only he had conceeded .5 more. Credit where credit
is due though, well done Stewart Trotter for staying
off the booze for the 3 days leading up to the game
and top scoring with 34 (he ran 26 of them – impressive!),
yours truly chipped-in with 19 and Messrs James Carnegie
and Chris Hanning completed our dig with a last wicket
stand of 18 valuable runs. Commiserations to the
3 batsmen who failed to score, especially Mark Campbel,l
who was given LBW off the middle of the bat (one
doth not protest of course as it is a game for gentlemen).
The bowling and fielding side of things I will not
dwell on too long, as their batsmen didn't dilly-dally
either. They knocked the runs off in 25.3 overs (you
do the math) for the loss of 2, thanks to a splendiferous
catch at mid-on by Mr Crank moving swiftly to his
left off the blistering pace of Campbell (12.3/3/35-1)
and, would you believe it, Trotter closing his legs
and pulling a face just in time at point to take
a the other catch off the debutant Mr Dave Gillman.
Thanks to all involved and let’s just hope ‘The
Home Of Cricket’ will be a better hunting ground
for us this week.
KH
3rd X1 (156) vs Highgate (157/4)
Lost
(Home – 10pts)
The start of the day did not bode well, with rain
on and off all night and a message from Chris Bennett
that the Square would not take much more. I visited
at around 9am and had to agree. Chris felt that if
the rain stayed off and the wind continued we would
have a chance. The weather stayed alright and we
were able to start on time. Highgate won the toss,
which did not suprise anyone, and we were asked to
bat. V/c John Freestone and Chris Fletcher opened,
only for Chris to get a First-Baller against his
old club, trying to guide a half-tracker through
the slips instead of by his own admission belting
it. Colin Williams came in and looked in good form
until he was caught for 12. Richard Johnson joined
John at 35/3 and they steadied the innings putting
on around 50. (I cannot confirm this as the book
is a mess.) John was eventually out for 24, Richard
started to play some really good shots and eventually
was out for 61. John Mc Mullan continued where
he left off from last season, scoring a steady 23.
We were eventually out for 156, probably 25-30 too
short. At tea we worked out Highgate would get around
35 overs probably 5 more if Victor and I bowled a
lot of them .
I opened with Osanda Yapa and myself, but Osanda
showed he had not bowled for a while and went for
35 from 3. Victor Wick came on and both he and I
proved difficult to get away. We had them 79 /4 when
Crawford joined Petter. They needed nearly 7 an over
and Petter started to play some big shots off of
Victor. He was fortunate as most went into the air.
It came down to Highgate needing about 5 per over
when the following occurred:
Crawford, who had been trying to pull everything
bowled to him, got hold of a short delivery from
Victor and the ball hit Tony Wick, fielding on the
legside, in the right eye. He collapsed in agony
and mayhem ensued with players looking for ice and
the first-aid kit . An ambulance was called but took
a while to arrive. During this period I’d like
to say thanks to Colin and Carol for their sound
advice about eye injuries. Victor went with Tony
to hospital (the London at Whitechapel). Highgate
won the game after a 40-min delay, the proceedings
being finished in total silence. Thee were more important
things to think about. Afterwards the Highgate players
were really concearned about Tony. I phoned their
Skipper Simon on Sunday with an update.
Tony was due to have an operation on Tuesday. All
of you who have come to know him well please keep
in touch while he recovers. I personally would like
to see him back as soon as possible, if for nothing
more than a drink initially.
DC
4th XI (35/3) vs Southgate (DNB)
Match
Abandoned (Away – 7pts)
My first fixture in charge could nearly
have been as disastrous as the weather. Having won
the toss I elected to bat and by the end of the 2nd
over we had achieved the princely score of one run
for the loss of two wickets, with openers Shalim
Salam and Les Clarke both back in the hutch. Manan
Banker and Asif Aziz steadied the ship somewhat,
putting on 20-odd for the third wicket before Aziz
was run-out under foolish circumstances. I strode
to the wicket, played a couple of lovely shots and
then we all ran off as the heavens opened. Our score
was now 35/3 and that was how it remained. After
a couple of pitch inspections and an early tea, the
opposition skipper and myself agreed to abandon the
fixture, on the eminently sensible grounds that the
wicket now resembled a WWI battlefield. On a final
note, I’d like to thank my predecessor Amit
Bose for all his hard work these past 6/7 years as
the founding skipper of the Saturday 4s; I hope I
can keep up the good work.
NW
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