2006 SEASON
Click on 3 icons for match reports
|
|
FIXTURE |
RESULT |
|
|
Syresham (A) |
L 112 all out* / 113-3 3 |
|
|
Radway (H) |
W 142-5* / 143-6 3 |
|
|
Fenny
Compton (A) |
L 33 all out* / 34-2 3 |
|
|
Hinton in
the Hedges (H) |
W 206-4* / 100 all out 3 |
|
|
Woodford Halse (A) |
D rained off 3 |
|
|
Preston
Capes (H) |
W 189-8* / 91 all out 3 |
|
|
|
L 286 all out*/ 176-4 3 |
|
|
Culworth (H) @ Culworth |
W 94 all out / 80 all out 3 |
|
|
Sibford (A) |
L 158 all out /121 all out 3 |
|
01 Jul 06 |
Syresham (H) |
L 211 all out /142 all out 3 |
|
|
Radway (A) |
L 194-8* / 195-5 3 |
|
|
Fenny
Compton (H) @ Fenny |
L 130-7* / 131-2 3 |
|
|
Hinton in
the Hedges (A) |
D rained off 3 |
|
|
Woodford Halse (H) |
W 153-4 / 151 all out* 3 |
|
|
Preston
Capes (A) |
L 159-7 * / 162-6 |
|
|
|
L 73 all out* / 74-2 3 |
|
|
Culworth (A) |
W 127-4 / 121-8* 3 |
|
|
Sibford (H) |
W 150 all
out*/110 all out 3 |
Sunday 10 September
Friendly BODICOTE 282-7 beat BROUGHTON & NN 277
all out by 3 wickets
A couple of late
withdrawals saw BCC take on Broughton initially with 9 men (George joined in later).Under
a hot sun, BCC struggled to plug the gaps, but started
reasonably Ok thanks to DC 1-21 and a fired up Inzamam
1-38 (off 8 overs,definitely his best ever spell). At
63-3 things could certainly have been worse, and indeed did become so, as
inevitably Stuart Walton tucked into the change bowling to score 51 (at least
his fourth consecutive 50+ against us). He was outscored at the other end by
Parsons who slammed 86. Sam Allen then had Stuart well caught by his old man on
the long on boundary, before Dave came on and removed him with a caught and
bowled. B &NN were well past 200 at this point, but Dave reeled them in
bowling a bemused Neil Mepham with a ball stunning in
its lack of pace or indeed movement. With Woodah
steaming in at the other end (2-33), Dave completed what he thinks may be a
career defining 3-37. 277-9 was a tall order with Roger and Porger
both back in the hutch at 30-2, but the Barbarian stood tall (fridge/packing
case tall according to Stuart) and smote 44, and Dave dispatched the bowling
all round the ground for a fine 62, departing at 148-4.Woody and Stuart then
put on 41, before Stu was out for 19, bringing Sam
Allen (age 13) to the crease. Sam looks to be a chip of the old block, and was
completely unfased in putting on 80 for the 6th wicket,
scoring 16, including a lovely 6 off his legs (hmmm).Alexander Smith(1*) then
joined his slightly more
experienced colleague, the task of scoring 8 off the last two overs not proving onerous, with the winning hit a six into
the lane with 4 balls to spare, leaving a knackered Woody on 88* (50th 50), and
another remarkable win in the bag, even better than last year when only 273 was
chased down. Collective rigor mortis then set in for the over 40s in the bar.
Saturday 26 August
BODICOTE 150 all out (20 pts) beat SIBFORD 102 all out (6 pts) by 40 runs
So this was fortunately
not do or die and one or two good batting displays and
some tight bowling meant we finish on a winning note.
Heavy overnight rain had
messed up the Barlow/Cronin belter they had prepared
and Bodicote got off to a slow start against some
accurate bowling from the visitors. Inzy fell first for 5 and Andrew followed a ball later, well
caught behind for 9 – 15-2 off 10. Dave and Polly took the score up to 44
before the Skip was bowled by a killer shooter that jagged back from outside leg
to slam into the base of his stumps – a truly unplayable ball. Polly was
in good form, enjoying his time away from domesticity and when George was out
for 1 another 42 runs had been added with Polly having brought up his second
successive 50. At 85-4 and loads of batting to come the inevitable happened
– a collapse to 99-8, with Polly out for 56 his fellow old Bloxhamists Craig and Dan bagging ducks (Craig’s a
golden) and Stuart making one. The ninth wicket pairing of Dave C and Deano added a quick 34 with DC hitting three 6s in his 26
and Dean took the score up to 150 before being out for 28 with 2.5 overs to go.
Defending 150 Bodicote would need early wickets and when the prolific Wilby edged Dan to Stanno behind
the stumps off the first ball of the innings, the perfect start looked to have
been achieved. Sadly the usually reliable Stanno
dropped the chance. This looked costly as Sibford
moved onto 33 inside 6 overs before Dan bowled Wilby for 16 just as the rains came. The teams came off and
it looked settled in however the clouds sort of circled rounds Kingsfield and surprisingly the teams were out again within
10 minutes and no overs lost. Dan completed the over
and took his second wicket having Sibford’s No
3 caught by Andrew. 33-2 soon became 41-3 as Dan picked up his third wicket
courtesy of a great snaffle by Porge at first slip.
Skipper Dave brought Barlow and DC into the attack and they kept things tight
with the latter reeling off five consecutive maidens. They reduced Sibford from 67-3 to 70-6 between the 19th and
26th overs with DC taking one wicket and
the Chair two, including a very late arrival of the one ball a season that
spins past the edge of the batsman and clips off stump (OK if you don’t
agree then write the match reports!). Sibford moved
onto 96-6 with 10 overs to go to put the game in the
balance before a wicket each for the Chair and DC (who was bowling the faster?)
cut them back to 96-8. The tail added little and at 103-8 skipper Allen, in his
last act at the helm, brought on Inzy to keep things
interesting. He induced a run out before Barlow took his fourth wicket to end
proceedings and see Bodicote go above Sibford into sixth place with a playing record of Pl 18 W 7
D 2 L 9. The Chair noted his record as Pl 10 W 2 L 8 and when not playing Pl 8
W 5 D 2 L 1!
Saturday 19 August
BODICOTE 127-4
(20 pts) beat CULWORTH 121-8 (3 pts)
by 6 wickets
So the time-honoured drop avoiding sixth win was
finally achieved and means that we can enjoy the last game of the season
against Sibford. We were beyond flirting with
relegation more like giving it a good humping so the 20 points earned proved
vital.
Skipper Cronin was faced with one of our more serious
availability crises with Woodruff, Allen, Buckingham, Newman on holiday and
Barlow and Stanno working. However Polly decided that
the jewellery shops of the South of England could do without him for a weekend
and Irv also made himself
available. Despite this we still needed to call on a debutant who hadn’t
played for years – Mark Munoz, who became the first BCC player with a Z
in his name since the great PZ Kovacs c1985-1993. Even more surprising than
picking an unknown, untried player who hadn’t played for years Dave
called up 2nd XI skip Symmo.
As it turned out Culworth
also had selection problems and they relied on Chris Bateman (34) and Richard
Harper (24) for the bulk of their runs, these two veterans being two of a very
small number of players in the league who have been playing longer than the
Chair, who made his debut at Culworth in 1975. Most
of Bodicote’s bowlers kept it tight and scoring
was not helped by a wet outfield – it was
surprising the game went uninterrupted from the weather as many were called off
or played to reduced overs. Dan Smith took 2-11 and Si Hawken 2-29 with Dean the pick
of the bowlers taking 3-16 despite the skipper describing his bowling as
“Pies”, harsh words but if anyone knows what a pie looks like it
would surely be Dave. He himself went 1-47 off 10 and even let Symo have a couple of uneventful overs.
In reply Bodicote soon lost
opener Smiths R and S. Craig hit a quick 17 but when out at 33-3 things did not
look great. However George and Polly soon put Bodicote
on track with some big hitting. They added 88 levelling the scores before
George was out going for a six to bring up his 50. His
44 was however a great effort. Polly did bring his 50 up, moving onto 54*, with
a six to secure a six wicket win with overs to
spare.
So well done team for winning, especially as Preston
Capes played and thrashed Hinton, and well done Skipper Cronin for his first
win at the helm.
Saturday 12 August
BODICOTE
73 all out (1 pt) lost to LEAMINGTON
KHALSA 74-2 (20 pts) by 8 wickets
A pretty miserable performance with the only consolation
that Preston Capes did not make up a huge amount of ground on us as they lost
nearly as heavily too.
Captain
Crona had assembled a reasonably strong side for
mid-August. It was good to see Dan Smith back no doubt at the peak of his game
after a 3 ½ week cricket tour with Bloxham School in
South Africa. Sadly there was one fact slightly wrong in our understanding of
his sojourn – it was a rugby tour, still useful to get him back for the
last three games nonetheless. Dave won
the toss and batted. Chairman Barlow had decided to counter Khalsa’s
big hitting style with a big boundary but unfortunately he couldn’t get
the line maker up onto the scout hut roof.
Wigger opened with Stanno
and the Wig soon scored a 4, by dribbling one into the tree. 13 had been added
without too many alarms before Mark played all round one and an over later Stanno did the same – 13 for 2. Woody and Porge moved the score on 29 before Woody was trapped by a
quick rising delivery, caught behind. Dan Smith soon followed then Dean, then
George (for a comparatively huge 16), then the Skip furious at an LBW decision
from a left arm over bowler on the bottom end of the 1 in 4 sloping strip at
the top of the square. Stu and Barlow bagged ducks to
leave the score 66-9. Whilst all around had failed Inzy, who batted 6, stood firm, peppering the third man
region. He blew the balls faced/runs scored sweep into oblivion with 16,
including one rasping cover drive 4. Sadly he too succumbed to leave the score
a paltry 73 all out. Khalsa are not top without good
reason, they bowled and fielded well but this was a pathetic capitulation.
Bucks
picked up an early wicket and again bowled accurately. Dan Smith also looked
sharp and with a total to defend will hopefully come into his own and Dean took
a second wicket to earn the team their one bonus point. Skipper Dave ended
proceedings on a lighter note with Inzy and Porge bowling in tandem and remarkably the Khalsa batsmen treated them with a good deal of respect or
perhaps they just couldn’t believe what they were being served up.
Saturday 5 August
PRESTON CAPES 162-6 (20 pts) beat BODICOTE 159-7
(6 pts) by 4 wickets.
So Bodicote
breathed life into the relegation dogfight with a loss at second bottom Preston
Capes who now are just 24 points behind us.
Runs came from Stanno
37, Craig Irvine 24 and Woody 30 NO. However skipper Cronin’s assessment
was that we couldn’t raise the tempo when required. With bowling
resources thin Bucks was again the pick of the bowlers (or so his text said)
with 3-39 and Stanno bowled well too but
BODICOTE
153-4 (20 pts) beat WOODFORD HALSE
151 all out (5 pts) by 6 wickets
A win at last!
Bucks was the pick of the
bowlers (or so his text said) with 3-33. DC took 3-32 and Bhav
and Phil two each. Stanno made 29 and Dave Allen a
rapid 64 NO to see the total reached with 9 overs to
spare.
HINTON IN THE HEDGES (10 pts) drew with BODICOTE (10 pts) – no play rain
Ü
It poured down at about
Saturday 15 July
BODICOTE 130-7
(3 pts) lost to FENNY COMPTON 131-2
(20 points) by 8 wickets
So with Kings Field not available, courtesy of the Bodfest, a trip back to Fenny scene of our humiliating 33
not out earlier in the season. Although we performed better than that it was
another loss and just one more bonus point than the May debacle.
Fenny won the toss and stuck us in. Dave would no
doubt have batted first as bowling resources were limited. Inzy
and Woody opened up with the former disappointing those who had him down for a
single figure time at the wicket and he scored 6 as did Woody. Dave struggled
to 8 and George bagged a blob with a looped up catch to mid off which is
proving his speciality. So in the face of some accurate bowling and some
movement off the pitch we were 28-4 off 17 and in danger of repeating the
famous 33. Dean however joined the fray and his quick fire 17 helped improve
the run rate before he fell with the score on 64 after 25 overs.
Bodicote had welcomed cyber player Craig Irvine back
for his second game of the season and he was looking to improve on the 70 (nett) he had scored in the Rye Hill Open earlier that day.
Stuart joined him and the two added 50 without ever cutting loose before Craig
was run out for 49 in the 37th over. Bucks struggled at the rarified position of 8 and only managed a single before
Barlow took 5 off the last 3 balls to move the score up to 130. Stuart finished
on 23 no with three great fours and plenty of attempted ones! Some early
movement in the wicket notwithstanding this was far short of what was required
particularly with Big Si, Phil and DC absent.
Bodicote needed early wickets but sadly couldn’t get
the breakthrough. Dean almost pulled off a wonder catch off Barlow at backward
point and then saw an attempted pull shot off his bowling just clear Pat
Knight’s head at square leg. However apart from a few balls beating the
bat that was as good as it got. Barlow bowled tightly but never looked like
taking wickets and was replaced by Porger who
surprised Welsby with a straight one to pick up an
LBW to make it 65-1 off 18. “One becomes two” Craig exhorted and he
was right. Dr Bucks who had come on for Dean, and bowled well on his return to
the firsts, cooked up a cunning plan to remove Harris and saw him caught at
short mid wicket by the skip. Dean narrowly failed to run out Deeley soon after but he and Derek Maries
then took control easing Fenny to a win with overs to
spare.
So 4 Ls in
the results column tells it’s own story. This
report is written before the other results are known but Saturday’s game
at Hinton has become a big 40 pointer!
Saturday 8 July
BODICOTE
194-8 (6 points) lost to RADWAY 195-5 (20 points) by 5 wickets
One
to file in the games we should have won category.
With
skipper Dave Allen unfit after his World Cup injury (see Discussion Forum for
details) Inzy’s earned a recall. Stanno was also unavailable so when Bodicote
were inserted skipper DC sent in Wigger to open with Inzy. These two somewhat surprisingly gave Bodicote their best start of the season. Wigger hit some lovely shots through mid wicket and Inzy even hit the ball. The two had added 41 in 10 overs before Radway brought on
slow bowler Douthwaite and he accounted for Inzy for 8, not, surprisingly when he attempted a reverse
sweep slog, but bowling him a ball later. Wigger fell
in the next over for a good 30 and the good start evaporated. George hit a big
four before lobbing an easy c&b back to Douthwaite and Dean was then caught sweeping. 41-0 had
become 46-4. Woody and DC set about repairing the innings and took the score
slowly up to 71 in the 25th when Woody became Douthwaite’s
fourth victim soon followed by Phil bowled for 1. Douthwaite
had now taken 5-16 (this must be what opposition teams feel like when Barlow
takes wickets) but Cronin decided to hit him out of the attack and did so
taking 22 off the next over. Dave made his 50 just before Stu
fell for 2 and Bodicote were on 107-7 off 31. Barlow
scratched around to put the score on 115 with 5 overs
to go and then all hell broke lose as Dave went ballistic. He hit 9 of the next
over and then 30, including 4 sixes off the next. 14 came from the next with
Barlow finding his range too before DC moved onto his ton with another huge six
taking 18 off the penultimate over. Barlow took ten off the last before being
run out off the last ball for 21 with the score on 194 with 79 off the last
five overs. Dave finished on a magnificent 110 all
out including 11 sixes and more lost balls than the Bodicote
Open
Bodicote took an early wicket when Douthwaite was bowled by a beauty from Simon however Radway made good progress keeping up with run rate despite some
good bowling from Phil. Dean was brought into the attack and bowled Pick for 30
but besides that suffered an off day with his three overs
going for 38. Barlow replaced Phil and made up for dropping No 4 Rutherford
when he had him caught at long off by Big Si for 29.
DC had Hibberd caught behind for 1 and them Douthwaite junior who had opened and batted well for 49 was
caught by Dave of the Chair. With 59 needed off 11 things looked good but Barnes and Haydon scored
well. The crucial over came with 33 needed off 6. Dave’s first ball, a
high full toss was swung away to deep square by Haydon
with Wigger underneath it to. Sadly Mark not only
failed to catch it he knocked it over for 6 and dislocated his finger in the
process. Two balls later Haydon was dropped again by
Dean at long off and this was effectively game over. Radway reached their target with 10 balls to spare after a
good six wicket partnership added 60 but Bodicote
will be disappointed with the bowling resources available not to have done
better. Three losses on the trot, down to third from bottom, Fenny away again
next week with DC, Big Si and Phil not available
things need to improve.
Saturday 1 July
BODICOTE 142 all out (7 points) lost to SYRESHAM 211 all out (20 points) by 69 runs
Another bizarre day in the history
of
Syresham’s batsmen came out firing and were quickly
notching up boundaries off Dave and Phil although Dave did pick up an early
wicket when Collins drilled a full toss to Wigger at
mid on.
Bodicote’s response was in almost direct
contrast to Syresham’s quick scoring. After 13
tight but not earth shattering overs the score stood
at 7-3 with Inzy, Stanno
and George all out, the latter then going home for an extended sulk. Woody got
runs above overs with two fours in the 14th
over and the rate increased gradually as he made 27. Wigger
made 5 before a second extended drinks break at 28 overs
with the score on 62-5, to listen to
BODICOTE 121 all out (6pts) lost to SIBFORD 158 all out (20 pts) by 37 runs
A disappointing loss against a side below us in the
table means that at the halfway point in the season or record reads a
symmetrical W 4 D 1 L 4.
Sibford School was a new venue to all but the very oldest
BCC players. The School is run by Quakers, whose strength is quiet
contemplation so they probably don’t have many pupils like Phil whose
chat woop woop level almost
went off the scale. The school obviously take the water shortage very seriously
and hadn’t seemingly applied any for weeks. This left an uneven strip
with extravagant bounce for the bowlers to the extent that despite winning the
toss Dave inserted them Sibford countered the
vagaries with a positive outlook led by
former Bodicote player (and there aren’t many
of those in the league - I can only think of Tubby) Guy Wilby.
Newer players were filled in about Guy’s debut knock for Bodicote, 153 no, and he seemed intent on a similar score
as he smashed the ball high to all parts. His opening partner however did not
match him, in fact in one of Simon’s overs he
failed to connect with the first five swinging deliveries and he was bowled by
Phil for 1 with the score on 27. No 3 Woollerton
helped Wilby move the score onto 79 after 18 overs before he skied one off Dean to Barlow at point, who couldn’t persuade anyone else to go for it and
pouched it with a relieved look on his face. Dean struck again in the next over
when Stanno had Wilby
caught behind for 57 and things looked a lot better at 88-3. Sibford continued to attack and used the pace of the
bowling to help the ball to the boundary with Dave unlucky to bowl a spell of
4-0-23-0 and most of their batsman got a few to move them up to 154-6 with 5 overs left which on this track was too many. Dean had by
now bagged five wickets and he and Barlow both got two players out in their
next overs to reduce Sibford
to 158 all out. Dean ended up with 7-56 off his 12 overs
and Bodicote remarkably held all six catches that
came their way with Andrew taking two behind the stumps after a hard afternoon
of leaping and swooping.
In response, Inzy –
who cannot currently buy a run sadly – departed for a blob to bring Stanno and Dave together. They moved the score on to 28 in
the 11th before Dave ran Andrew out for 4, an unusual error by the
skip. George and Dave took the score up to 45 in the 17th and again Bodicote were looking comfortable until Dave was well
caught at slip for 28. This precipitated a painful slow collapse with Polly,
Stuart and Dean all out cheaply to leave Bodicote
53-6 off 24 overs. Sibford
relied on steady tight bowling and helped by the pitch they were now well on
top. That was until the arrival of Cronin in Barbarian mood and he set about Wilby who had just come on to bowl taking 18 off his only
over including 1 huge six. George hit 6 off the next over and then Dave took 19
off Davies’ one and only over and with another nine added off the next
the score had raced up to 111-6 in the 28th. Sadly, with Sibford now very looking worried, the fun couldn’t
last – George was out for 23 and Dave soon followed caught at long on for
a breathtaking 43 in fewer than 20 balls. Phil hit one 4 before departing,
Barlow never looked connecting with any big ones and Si
was bowled for a duck to leave Bodicote 37 short with
five overs left.
Saturday 17 June
BODICOTE 94 all out (20 pts) beat CULWORTH 80 all out (5 pts) by 14 runs
Genuine
all-rounder Inzy (umpire, scorer and now sub match
analyst) reports…
Culworth’s quicker bowlers went for
a few runs, but didn’t take a huge amount of wickets ,
on comes the slower bowler, some tall old boy at 1 end and a little kid
spinner, Richard Eaton, son of Fred at the other and it went from 70s for 2
(Andrew 30, Dave A 27) to 94 all out (highlights were duck from Por-ger and big 6 from Newman). Eaton finished with 5-5.
In
their innings Inzy put down a catch early on (did
drop it twice + pushed it into face), Dave then took an absolute stunner, 1
handed to his right off Newman. Simon had 2 snaffled. Then on came Deano, first off an aggressive bounce that took the opener
(caught by Stanno behind) then another wicket in the
same over. Later in the innings George also took a top 1 hander sort of having
to come forward (better than his catch at Evenley !!!). Eventually managed to get them all out for 80, good
fielding performance (8 or 9 catches I think) backed up with some good
aggressive bowling won the day.
Saturday 10 June
BODICOTE 176-4 (9 pts) lost to LEAMINGTON KHALSA 286 all out (20 pts) by 110 runs
A trip to Mid Warwickshire to play
new opposition Leamington Khalsa at Lighthorne with a fast bumpy outfield, short boundaries and
dips and slopes in the run-ups. Dave lost the toss and the oppo
decided to bat .. well to
bludgeon really and they immediately set about the Bodicote
bowling. With Newman and Cronin missing, the new ball bowlers Simon and
debutant Bhavin were treated with no respect. Khalsa reached 50 off 7 with the ball smashed to all parts,
often in the air, but hit very hard. Bucks broke through with the score on 98
after 15 overs and with Barlow tied the runs down a
bit so that Khalsa had slowed down to 136 off 20 when
they lost their second wicket
Opener Kuldeef then fell for a hard
hitting 93 and two more colleagues fell going for their shots so that the score
stood at 172-5 off 30. No 5 Sanjay had survived when Skipper Dave failed to lay
a hand on a lobbed up chance at deep mid off and he then punished the visitors
to pile the runs on with 90 coming off the next 8 overs.
Dave’s son Sam also put Sanjay down, but at least he got a hand to his.
Secret weapon Kilvo finally snared Sanjay for a rapid
85 and Bodicote actually bowled Khalsa
out thanks to a fine run out from George who hit the one stump he had to aim at
from backward point. The total however was a daunting 286. Bodicote’s
bowlers had toiled in the sun with some gruesome figures - Bucks the pick of
then with 4-64 off 12 (including the only maiden of the innings), Hawkeye went
for 53 off his 6, Bhavin 1-64 off 10, Kilvo 2-16 off 2 and the Chair a whopping 2-79 off 11. On
another day balls might have gone to hand (whether the would have been caught
is a different issue – this was another poor fielding display) but Khalsa did not let up from first to last
If we were going to get near this
total we needed big scores from the main batsman and Inzy
quickly stood aside for Dave after playing round a straight one. Dave and Andrew added 110 before Dave fell
for a boundary studded 78 but this had been achieved in the relative sedentary
rate of 4.5 an over which meant the target was never on. Andrew used the time
at the crease for batting practice before falling for 39 to avoid any calls of
jug avoidance. George helped the run rate with 36 which included 5 maximums,
the pick of which went sailing over the clubhouse and another would have landed
in Bucks’ lap had he not moved to gallantly leave his wife Anne to fend
for herself. Bhavin and Stuart moved the score to 176
which at least secured four bowling points and nine in total – our best
ever losing effort as we are probably the worst side for amassing or worrying
about bonus points in the league.
BODICOTE 189-8 (20 pts) beat PRESTON CAPES 91 all out (4 pts) by 97 runs
A good win with everyone playing their part.
Dave
won the toss and batted but Bodicote struggled to
60-4 with Andrew, Inzy, Skipper and Woody all having
departed after scoring a few. George and, making a welcome rare Saturday
appearance, Slogger came together and put on 73. Rog scored 28 and George scored 56, batting very well
according to Skip. A late flurry from Dan Smith (11), Phil, one big six onto
scout hut and Bucks (11 off 3 balls) took the total up to 189 with 17 off the
last over..
Simon
took two early wickets but was a bit expensive however the
WOODFORD HALSE (10 pts) drew with BODICOTE (10
pts) – no play rain
It rained and rained and rained !! Not a ball was bowled in the SNCL. Since 2003 our
record at Woodford has been – no play due to rain, Match abandoned due to
rain, cancelled due to football, no play due to rain
BODICOTE 206-4 (20 pts) beat HINTON IN THE HEDGES 100 all out (3 pts) by 106 runs
To our good fortune a small haven of
good weather hung over Bodicote which allowed last
week’s disaster to be put behind us. Most other games were postponed and
it was important we played because on this showing Hinton will sadly be 20
points for the taking by most teams, especially if, as per Saturday, their two
best bats are missing.
The early portents didn’t look
good with rain around but George had prepared a good strip and when the rained
stopped it was (a 37 over) game on starting at 2.15 pm. Dave lost the toss and
we were duly inserted. Andrew and Inzy opened and
made a cautious start in difficult conditions. The score reached 23 in the 11th
over before Inzy departed for 7 trapped by 59 year old (there’s hope for a few more years for some
of us yet!) Chris Loggin and by three balls later it
was 31-2 with skipper Dave’s record 44W.
Polly then joined Andrew and the two
of them got the scoreboard moving helped by some erratic bowling as Hinton
struggled to get a grip, literally on the wet ball - Thorogood
went for 26 off 2 overs with 17 off his ten-ball
second stretching the scorers’ ability to squeeze all the action into the
relevant box. Polly hit some big ones whilst Andrew played some classy off-side
shots to reach fifty. Polly was finally out for 29 in the 25th over
with the pair having added 84. This brought George to the wicket and he played
responsibly, allowing Andrew to farm the strike and they took the score up to
182 in the 34th over before George fell for 21. Dave C was promoted
to join Andrew but played a bit part as the opener powered to his century which
he reached at the beginning of the 37th and last over and finished
on a chanceless 107 not out to leave Bodicote on a surely match-winning 206-4.
After another fantastic tea the main
issue was ensuring that we hurried 20 overs in as the
rain was still threatening. To achieve this skipper Allen opted for Barlow to
partner Hawkeye. Simon got an early breakthrough when Linford
was well caught in the slips by DC. Barlow then struck twice with Andrew, who
following his marathon batting stint, was having to stand-in behind the stumps,
catching the other opener off a turning delivery and then stumping Upstone from one that turned at least a foot. Hinton had
reached about 50-3 when Hawkeye was replaced by Bucks who struggled with his
line and length but picked up a wicket when Andrew produced a fantastic low
diving catch to his left to remove Wills for 19. By now 20 overs
had been bowled – in under an hour which impressed umpire Syd - so a result was guaranteed. Barlow finished his spell
on 3-35 with Andrew claiming his fourth dismissal from another spin induced
edge which removed Prendagast for 42. Apart from a
couple of dropped diving catches off Barlow by Wigger
(flying potato) and Crona (top effort), Bodicote’s fielding was pretty good with
Woody’s throw from the ropes which skimmed off the bails on the full a
highlight - however just to make the rest of us feel really inadequate spectating son of Skip, Sam Allen (13), casually pinged one
back from well over the boundary to George which went like an exocet.
Crona was cranked into action to remove the tail.
After a sluggish, wishing he hadn’t eaten so much tea, start he duly
worked his way through the lower order helped by Andrew’s fourth catch,
one for Hawkeye at mid-on and a loopy one which Skipper Dave in the slips took
no chances with and ordered George out of the way before pouching it.
Hinton’s main aim was to reach 100 and their first batting point of the
season and Smart saw his leg stump up-rooted by Dave trying to achieve this.
With the last over to be bowled by DC, Hinton were on 99-9 and Inzy at short mid-off kindly flopped all round
a forward defensive shot by their No 11 to allow them a scrambled run to reach
their target before Dave picked up his fifth wicket to end up with 5-13.
However there was no contest for the Man of the Match award with Stanno’s 107 no and five dismissals = 3 jugs –
what with the one owing from the Radway game a
fortnight ago Andrew’s outstanding payments to The Plough are soon going
to match his Student Loan debts. To help Andrew has made himself
available for sponsorship, click here
to contact him.
Saturday 13 May
BODICOTE 33 all out (1 pt) lost to FENNY COMPTON 34-2 (20 pts) by eight wickets
This really was awful.
Another Bodicote
X travelled to Fenny Compton seeking to build on last week’s success.
With Skipper Dave away it meant Skipper Dave was in charge. That is the Cronin
version and Flintoffesque fears that the
responsibility might affect the great all-rounder’s
performance were dispelled when we realised he had yet to take a wicket or
score a run this season.
Rain had left the Fenny track a
little juicy and with more forecast it would be a good toss to win which Fenny
did and duly inserted Bodicote. First ball of the
second over Inzy creamed a beautiful straight drive
past the bowler for four and that remained a high spot in what was to follow.
Last week’s hero Stanno was caught and bowled
off a leading edge with the score on 13 and Polly soon followed caught behind
off a low inside edge. George followed to a fine c&b
and a procession of Inzy, Woody, Stuart, Dave C, The
Chair, Kilvo collapsed in the face of some good
bowling from Derek Maries in particular and good
catching. That notwithstanding 33 all out in 16 overs
was a very poor effort.
Simon opened up and took a wicket
with the first ball with the opener caught round the corner by the Chair. He
bowled well as did the skip who generated some pace and movement and was
unlucky that when he found the edge the ball went to Inzy
who failed to hang on to it. Simon earned a bonus point with his second wicket
but the total was passed with 10.5 overs bowled at
As D Ream sang, Things can only get
better ………… but only if we work to make them
better.
Saturday 6 May
BODICOTE 143-6 (20 pts) beat RADWAY 142-5
(5pts) by four wickets.
With your correspondent unable to
play the tension of a win off the penultimate ball cannot be fully realised in
a second hand account. Happy for any other contributions to
do the game justice.
The weather meant the game was
reduced to 28 overs per side. Dave won the toss and
stuck them in which is unusual for Dave. Simon Hawken
took the first three wickets to fall ending up with 3-30 odd but Radway scored too freely … helped by some dropped
catches. Dave Cronin bowled the last over of the innings which went for 16 to
leave a pretty daunting total.
It was good to see Andrew back in
the side particularly as Dave Cronin underlined his all-rounder status with a
golden duck, the first ball of the innings. He stick around whilst other took
up the mantle. Skipper Dave hit a quick 35 and Inzy,
Polly and George all made a few with Polly falling to an outrageous LBW, when
he hit it whilst Porge was sick having eaten too much
tea. With 15 needed off 4 things looked good but Stuart couldn’t get the
ball away or get Andrew on strike and this became a nervy 4 off the last.
Stuart was run out bringing in Phil to hit the winning runs with a ball to
spare and Andrew ended up on a fine 63 no.
So good to get off the mark against
a team who had beaten us twice last season.
BODICOTE 112 all out (2 pts) lost
to SYRESHAM 113-3 (20 pts) by 7
wickets
The season opened with a loss at Syresham but as the optimists pointed out a lot better than
last season’s pipe opener.
There were 10 players at the ground
at
Wigger - “Are you at Radway?”
Bucks - “No I am at the top of a mountain in
So it was 10-man Bodicote
again who were inserted. With Steve Pratt tracked down to
Syresham’s tea did not disappoint and was eaten with relish by the team before trooping out to field. Phil got an early breakthrough with an LBW but after that the result was never in doubt. George might have made it interesting had he hung on to a straightforward chance at cover but the score moved rapidly onto 70 b