2007 SEASON
Click on 3 icons for match reports
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FIXTURE |
RESULT |
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Fenny Compton |
W 119-9* / 120-5 |
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D No play rain |
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W 154-5* / 157-8 |
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W 201-5 / 105 all out |
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W 197-9 / 172 all out |
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W 160-8* / 164-3 3 |
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W 109-8 / 98 all out |
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D No play rain |
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D No play rain |
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D No play rain |
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L 194-9 / 181 all out |
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Fenny Compton (H)
Cup Semi |
W
136-7 / 92-8 |
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W 142-9* / 143-6 |
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D No play rain |
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D No play rain |
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L 168-8 / 131 all out |
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W 247-5 / 205-6 |
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W 169 all out / 50 all out |
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Sat 18th Aug |
Stoneleigh (A) |
D No play rain 3 |
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Culworth (H) |
W 170-7 / 158-8 3 |
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Radway (A) |
W 61-3 / 59 all out* 3 |
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Sun 9th Sept |
Broughton & NN (A) |
L
284-7 / 208 all out 3 |
BODICOTE
208 all out beat BROUGHTON & NN 284-7 by 76 runs
So a repeat of last year’s success in
chasing down 277 in this fixture was not achieved.
The last game of the season, as ever, was played
in lovely sunshine (why don't we play in the Autumn
and give up summer cricket). On a slightly damp pitch (Broughton had left the
sprinkler on overnight) BCC took the field. A massive away support had
assembled (25-30 during the afternoon) obviously to see the mighty Inzamam Ul Haq
take the new cherry. As he commenced his leonine run up from the sightscreen,
the assembled two leg slips, keeper, five slips and two gullies crouched in
silence. To all round astonishment the ball pitched on leg stump and whistled
over off into keeper Symington’s gloves .Two balls later a similar
delivery drew a edge and the ball curled into the 1st team
skippers expectant hands - and straight out again! The moment was lost and
a succession of wides followed amidst the groans of
the away support.
The usual pattern then followed, Stuart Walton
got 67(caught spectacularly by Inzamam on the
boundary off Wigga), with his brother Kevin making
66, and 284-7 was posted, with Sean Harris taking 2-47, Dave 'loopy-doop' Crona 2-14, and worryingly
for his team mates Symmo 2-8 (and yes to make it even
worse the umpire said they turned). Symmo also
pouched a one handed reaction catch at keeper, and later a slip catch. Could he
follow up with a batting performance to match and send his team mates
looking for a place to hide?
Well yes he did. Sporting a union jack
bandana Symmo clattered 43 in a partnership with
Roger Graham of 62 which briefly had us on target. Several shots on the posh
side were noted and it was good to see Roger playing the 'shed door shot' for
six in a fine knock of 56.Luke Symington came in at 8 and prompted calls for
DNA testing as he hit all his 6 runs on ground and on the off-side!
However Luke was to discover why Inzamam
acquired his monika,
falling for the old hit it to a fielder and shout 'Yes-No-Sorry' routine,
leaving Luke stranded. Inzy then ran himself out by
some distance, as the now vocal and lubricated BCC support roared its approval.
The innings wound up at 208 all out as Wigga
attempted to mow Brian Hancock into Gloucestershire, being horribly bowled
to give the 61 year old spinner near career best figures of 3-18 - oh the
shame!
Saturday
1 September
BODICOTE 61-3 (20 pts) beat RADWAY 59 all out (1 pts) by 7 wickets: CHAMPIONS!!!
It’s
the last game of the season and Bodicote can still be
overhauled by Fenny Compton despite only having lost one game to Fenny’s five.
Put this down to the poor points distribution
for rained off games, Bodicote having suffered 7 of
them while Fenny perfected their water-cricket skills. The problem lies with
the new bonus points rule because a losing side can, in theory, still obtain
the same number of points as a rained-off team. The solution could be to share
out 50% of the available points in a game (say 14, with 30 on offer), to equate
with the system before the bonus points came along. On the other hand, it is
good to encourage teams to play rather than go for the points in absentia.
Enough of
this: let’s get to the game, where the first big surprise was the welcome
presence of an umpire: the redoubtable Sid.
He had brought along some silverware to go with his grab-bag of signals,
confiding in the Skip that the cup and trophies couldn’t be distributed
until tea because we still needed two bonus points to put us beyond the grasp
of Fenny. Not wanting to delay the acquisition of these points, the Skipper won
the toss and put the opposition in. With
the Skip still unable to bowl (though the decision would most likely have been
the same anyway) Bodicote opened with Dan and DC Crona. Good bowling against equally good batting kept
events at bay for what seemed an age but was probably a couple of overs or so. Then DC made the breakthrough: half a point
gained, if such a thing was possible. More eternity elapsed, then DC had
Millard trapped LBW: a point in the bag.
The time had come for Dan to deliver, which he was trying to do very
effectively with some pacey, bouncy, and altogether
tasty bowling from the Edghill end (i.e. not the City
End, which is the one pointing to Radway, obviously).
Delivery eventually arrived in the form of a screaming edge straight at Porge’s left eye in second slip, intercepted
thankfully by the hand of Dave Allen at first slip….and held: Who da man? Three down and shortly to be four with a cracking Crona ball cleaning up the stumps of Pick. So two points, Division champions, and handshakes all round, with generous
congratulations from the umpire and Radway.
The Radway innings continued to erode through 12 overs each of fine bowling from Dan (5 for 23) and DC (4
for 26), showing the increased fitness of Bodicote at
the end of the season compared to the beginning. Apart from the Skipper, of
course, whose dislocated knee was still unhelpful.
Nevertheless, he did manage to complete the innings rout with a stupendous
catch off Zulfi that went via the dark side of the
moon (look, I gotta have done something). So Radway all out for 59 and Bodicote
with a small amount of batting to do before a terrific season could be
concluded. Radway had other ideas and bowled very
competitively, taking three wickets. The ship was steadied by Inzy and decidedly rocked by Zulfi,
who entertained all and sundry with some tremendous swings at the fast bowlers
from somewhere nearer them than his own wicket: “Zulfi,
it’s 6 whether the ball lands on the top of Edgehill or just over the rope”. The runs were duly
obtained and Zulfi rounded off a productive first
season for Bodicote with 17 not out, ably supported
by Inzy’s 9: another strong contribution from a
very generous first team/second team floater.
Matt was top scorer with 19, adding to his own exceptional scoring that
should just about maintain his position in the firsts for the Premiership next
season.
BODICOTE 170-7 (20 pts) beat CULWORTH 158-8 all out (6 pts) by 12 runs
A disorientating preamble to this
game: the sun was shining and there was
no prospect of rain. Despite the heat, Skipper Bucks (who, it must be
confessed, is the author of this piece due to the absence of El Chair in
Despite testing conditions, Bodicote made a steady start but lost both opening batsman
within a short space of each other. When Zulfi went
for 0 almost immediately, the baleful looks may well have been hard to suppress
but Craig and Porge repaired the damage with a
welcome, if silent, partnership; Craig likes his mid-pitch resumees
but Porge was obviously concentrating too hard. All
this mental effort must have paid off, though, because George went on to a well-made
39. This was second only to another excellent batting contribution from DC who
belted 58 with a 6 off the last ball (I think, but I’m a journalist
today, so don’t take my word for it). The end result was 170, which we
would have settled for at 20 overs but not at the
start of the innings. Richard Harper was the most effective of Culworth’s bowlers, coming off a much shorter run up
than in previous years. When asked why, he just quoted his age. We don’t
want any of that nonsense in Bodicote, where we have
enough trouble with weight.
Bodicote opened the bowling with Dan Smith
and Jay Watts, both of whom have had some good figures in previous games, Jay
mainly in the seconds but ably moving up to the firsts for today. Neither ball
nor bat held sway and all the top five Culworth batsman got going, with King and Eaton making
scores of 40 and 51 respectively. It was tight, tense, and just right for an
intervention from the Culworth skipper in his
umpiring duties, who called Zulfi for a no-ball when
he came on to bowl because “he didn’t tell me his
action”. There were, I’m
sure, no negative thoughts in the fielding side about how we might feel if Culworth win by one run.
As it happened, a win for either
side remained a possibility throughout. Bodicote bowled
well and the run rate crept up but was never impossible. The big difference was
probably DC, who was finally able to bowl after about over 16 when the effects
of his batting exertions had subsided. This was the chance for the non-bowling,
non-batting, and hobbling-in-the-field Skipper to have an impact, by annoying
the Crona from mid-off and trying to claim some role
in the wickets as a desperate attempt to justify his crippled presence. All
given short shrift by DC, who bowled 12 overs on the
bounce and was the pick, with 3 for 38 to match his batting display.
As the game neared its denouement,
the fielders scattered along with their wits. The last over was a classic. Jay
was bowling and David Eaton from Culworth was batting
very well, but with about 20 runs still to get. He hammered a ball to long on
where Polly waited in perfect position to take the catch…..and dropped
it. Maybe the sun dazzling from his whitened teeth had something to do with it.
If so, he had an opportunity to keep his mouth closed and take an identical
catch off Eaton from the very next ball. Ignore the white teeth theory: it must
be something else causing the balls to be grassed. With anxiety increasing, the
whole of Banbury must have heard the Bodicote
fielders yell at Jay not to throw the effing ball at
the non-strikers end as he considered running out Eaton for a quick single.
Captain Jack took no notice, hurled the ball with one stump to aim at (and no
fielders backing up), and hit them!! I never doubted it, of course, and neither
did I have any concerns about the slower balls that finished off the innings to
seal a hard fought but well attained Bodicote
victory. Man of the match was DC, our comic book Barbarian hero, and our thanks
to Culworth for an entertaining game.
BODICOTE (10 pts) drew with STONELEIGH (10 pts) – no play rain
For an
unwanted record breaking seventh time this season the game was cancelled due to
the weather. On the other hand, it left
plenty of time to admire the abbey and try to identify some urine-coloured liquid in an unmarked bottle. BCCs
lager and bitter drinkers didn’t get very close. It was Calvados.
Û
BODICOTE
169 all out (20 pts) beat THORNBOROUGH 50 all out (5 pts) by 119 runs
Not a vintage performance but a win nonetheless
against a very weak Thornborough side.
At 1345 hrs in the absence of the skipper (and Zulfi who found the trip a bit of an expedition and El
Chair, hot foot from Manchester), Crona won the toss
and had no hesitation in batting. Dave A and Matt put their pads on and the
other sunned themselves on the patio, entertained by the returning Phil who was
on tip-top quick fire form and recovered from his Aunt Sally injury. The
openers moved the score serenely onto 19 before Matt fell for 161 less than
last week, ie 6, well caught behind off an away
swinger. DC joined DA and the runs continued to flow before Dave (A) dragged
one onto his stumps for a brisk 21 with the score on 42. Surely someone would
make a huge score against a
depleted ‘boro
attack but it was not to be Crona, out for 11 with
the score on 67. Zulfi spent most the day reading his
Guide to British Citizenship – sadly no section on not scooping wide long
hops to square leg, which he did after a fluent 31 to make it 93-4. Porge fell immediately afterwards for 12 and Dan followed
for a blob to leave the total a precarious 98-6. Luckily Bodicote had Inzy and Gazza to shore up the
innings (and what two more suitable players could you find for the task). They
added 52 before
Thornborough’s response never got going. Phil reeled off six
successive maidens but remained wicketless whilst Dan
cleaned up. After 12 overs the home side were 10-3 and they lurched onto 18-4,
28-5, 37-6 with Dan taking all six. Barlow spoilt this run when Phil took his
second slip catch of the day off the spinner before Dan returned with two more
wickets. In his last over Dan beat the bat every ball but was unable to pick up
a ninth victim but still finished for 8-21, the second week running a long
standing BCC record had fallen. This surpassed the legendary Maurice
Marshall’s record of best bowling figures in an SNCL match, 8-24 v Priors
in 1979. It was Zulfi who ended the innings with his
first wicket, caught by Phil (who also has taken one wicket this season!). Another record was the first time we have had
an SNCL umpire younger than the players, Greg Buck, who stood exuding a calm
authority (although his mate DC did think his wide signals were a bit g*y) and
he came for a drink with us - he looks to be a great asset to the umpires panel
So we remain
top 19 points clear of Fenny Compton. The post match entertainment was
provided by George who, undertaking an impromptu driving lesson with the Inzy School of Motoring edged his car closer and closer to
the Thornborough brook whilst trying to reverse,
before it was pointed out that he had mistaken the noise of the air con for the
engine running. Obviously the three lessons he has had had not got as far as
turning the engine on. The only bad news was the injury to the skipper which
looked serious and likely to prevent him bowling during the end of season run
in.
Saturday
4 August
BODICOTE 247-5 (20 pts) beat WOODFORD HALSE 205-6 (7 pts) by 42 runs
So the sun
shone at last to end the latest bout of rain induced inactivity and Bodicote
celebrated with a good win over Woodford Halse to
also gain revenge for the cup loss the previous Sunday.
With Skipper
Bucks still away DC declined the captain’s armband and so ex-Skip Allen
took up the leadership. Winning the toss he had no hesitation in batting and he
and proud new father Matt Miller opened the innings. Despite some quick but a
bit wayward bowling from Haynes J and accurate stuff from Chambers Bodicote
progressed serenely reaching 50 off 11 overs and bringing the 100 up inside 19.
Matt by now had reached his 50 but unfortunately Dave felt soon after this
caught at deep extra cover for 36. Stu, batting at
the rarefied heights of No 3, struggled to get the ball away and Matt
didn’t get as much strike as he might have wanted so the run rate did not
increase. Stu was run out for 7with
the score on 148 in the 31st over when he was caught off a high no ball, walked
and, unaware it had been called and then run out! Zulfi
did not last long as he tried to up the tempo but Matt was looking increasingly
fluent and reached three figures in the
33rd over. After this he just went ballistic, hitting the tree more regularly
than anyone can remember and also peppering the boundary all round the
ground. At the other end DC was also
unusually run out when he thought he had been caught only for the fielder to
reveal he had dropped it but had thrown the ball to the keeper to run Dave out
as he trudged off. Matt brought up his 150 in the last over with a big six and
hit two more before being run out off the last ball by George for a gargantuan
167 with 100 runs coming in the last 10 overs
In total he hit 17 fours and 7 sixes although in truth many of these
were not “hit” just well timed. This score surpassed Neil
Young’s record of the highest score by a BCC player, 165* in the National
Village Cup v Letcombe in 1990.i
Woodford trooped down to the pub dejectedly and 247 looked like it would
be a winning score but they had managed 160 odd in 20 overs against us in the
cup so it was not a formality.
Openers Haynes and Bunting took the score on to 50 in 11 overs. Dan bowled without any luck beating the bat
on numerous occasions whilst Simon had one of his less accurate days to mean
With second placed Radway losing at Thornborough our lead at the top is extended to 19 points.
Woodford play Radway this Saturday whilst we must endeavour to avoid slipping up at Thornborough
ourselves.
Oh Man of the Match – by a narrow margin Matt for a record BCC
score, beating Neil Young’s 165* v Lewknor in
the National Village Cp in 1990.
Sunday 29 July
BODICOTE 131 all out lost to WOODFORD HALSE 168-8 by 37 runs
Bodicote
lost against a competitive Woodford side in the Division One Cup Final at Byfield. There was a good crowd at Byfield’s
fantastic ground with many old SNCL faces who either knew the injured Bob
Lawrence or long serving El Chair.
DC lost the
toss and Woodford chose to bat. Big Si and El Chair were entrusted with the new
ball and with the score on 16-1 (Haynes bowled by Si) after 5 things got off to
a promising start. However Si’s next two overs
went for rather a few more and Dan (who’d replaced Inzy
who’d replaced Dave A who’d replaced Bob L in the team in a busy 24
hours for Captain Crona) was brought into the attack.
El Chair finished with a miserly 0-18 off his 5 but Woodford had upped the
tempo before Dan bowled No 3 Jones for 27 to make it 84-2 in the 12th.
Robert had replaced El Chair but was never allowed to settle as Woodford went
for their shots and Dan’s third over went for 18 so the skipper brought
himself and Dean on. Dave made an immediate impact bowling opener Bunting for
52 and doing the same to Powell (25) in his first over to make it 128-4 off 16.
In a late flurry of activity Woodford kept the (electronic) scoreboard moving
whilst Dave took a couple more wickets bowled, Dean one to a skier well held by
Symo and No 9 May adjudged out obstructed field (a
first for Bodicote) when he hit the ball the away as we tried to run him out. DC finished with
4-23 and Woodford an imposing 168-8.
Bodicote
lost George for 1 early in their reply but Polly and (mainly) Zulfi moved the score onto 34 inside the 6th
over before Polly was giving out LBW for 7. Dean joined Zulfi
and the two of them took the game to Woodford. Zulfi
hit some lovely shots in compiling 44 and when he was out the total was up to
83-3 off 11. Symo joined Dean and Dean took up the
reins also hitting well before the two of them fell in quick succession, Symo for 7 and Dean LBW (a long way forward) for 33. This
left 55 needed off the last five overs and sadly Bodicote’s chase fizzled
out as DC, Dan, El Chair, Rob and Si all perished for not many between them to
leave Woodford deserved winners.
Still it was
a good day out and thanks go to the many supporters who followed the team.
Saturday 28 July
BODICOTE
(10 pts) drew with DUNCHURCH & BILTON (10 pts) – no play, flooded
outfield
Just how depressing is this. Potentially our
best season in years turns into a muddy, wet disaster with our sixth game of
the season now called off because of the weather.
With the sun shining I don’t suppose many
players were concerned about not playing however news came through to Captain Crona that D&B’s
outfield was very soggy on one side of the square and D&B wanted to call
the game off. News also filtered through
that D&B only had nine players. After DC’s phone went into meltdown
it was established D&B could not call the game off unless we agreed so
we decided we’d travel, surely the
sun and wind would mean it would dry out even if we were to play a reduced over
game? Rather shamefaced we arrived to
see large puddles of standing water that look unlikely to dry out by next
Saturday, let alone this. We can only put our doubting of D&B’s
word down to our desperation to play!
Saturday
21 July
BODICOTE (10 pts) drew with CROUGHTON (10 pts) – no play rain
The game was
cancelled by us as the pitch was waterlogged to the extent where Balti’s dog made paw prints on it when it went for a
walk . Fifth rained off game in 2007
– an unwelcome record number of cancellations in a season since
records began – and we are only 2/3rds of the way through the campaign L
. And we have been rained off against all three bottom sides in the Division!
Û
BODICOTE 143-6 (20 pts) beat SIBFORD 142-9 (4 pts) by 4 wickets
Another
interesting day in the history of the club!
Kingsfield
was not available due to the Bodfest celebrating all
things good about the village. (The irony of this is not lost on the cricket
club who have to play elsewhere despite being one of those traditions that
enhance village life). Eschewing Culworth, our usual
home from home in these circumstances, The Chair arranged for a ground at
So finally
onto the cricket. Sibford won the toss and chose to
bat. After a good start that saw them joint top with us after five games they
have not won since and looked short of confidence. Scanning down their line-up
the absence of Wilby G was met with relief by the BCC
attack as he would no doubt have enjoyed the belter
of a wicket and short straight boundaries of the picturesque Park Close ground.
Bucks opened with himself and Bloxham old boy Dan
Smith. The skip made an early
breakthrough when opener Simms edged one to second slip where George (again)
dropped it .… fortunately on this occasion he managed to grab it at the
third attempt. Sibford made slow progress with opener
Peters making a bid for the Guy Jones Award as it took him
until a misfield in the 10th over to get off the mark. (The Sibford scorer, whose handwriting and detail was something
to behold, confirmed that two weeks earlier he had faced 62 balls before
getting off the mark) The first shot in anger was an off driven 4 by No 3 Wollerton that took the score up to 22 in the 13th
over but he was caught and bowled Smith the next ball trying to repeat the
shot. By 17 overs the score had crawled to 28 and Crona
had replaced Dan and soon picked up a wicket bowling Barton J for 1. Two overs later he repeated the trick to
remove Morbey for 0, 35-4. Meanwhile Bucks had been ploughing through his overs and treated with a level of
respect he can only dream of in his day job as a University lecturer. He
finished with figures of 1-18 off his 12 overs to be replaced by Barlow.
Peters, who by now had amassed 9 in 25 overs hit Barlow for 2 then, off a
tempting loopy one a straight six which the Chair probably wishes he
hadn’t bowled as he was then brutally taken out of the attack by Bucks
after just one over to be replaced by Dean.
Bucks’ midas touch came off though as
Dean bowled No 6 Peachey with a shocking long hop that almost bounced twice to
leave the score 58-5 off 28. No 7 Sabin
finally showed that the wicket was a batsman’s paradise and was soon in
his stride. Peters also came out of his shell, occasionally, to show he had two
gears – neutral and overdrive and hit some big shots too with DC’s
later overs and Dean proving quite expensive. Smith and the reprieved Barlow
took over in the attack as the score raced on to 131 in the 38th
with 73 runs coming in ten overs. In the 39th over Dan finally
accounted for Sabin bowled for 42 and Peters, a miracle (as befits a man with
the moniker JC) caught and bowled off a screaming straight drive for a Col Parfitesque 48. Dan ended with great
figures of 3 for 18 off 9 and Barlow also got into the act bowling two players
in the last over to see the score end up on 142-9, probably at least 60 below
what you would want on the ground.
The teams
then trooped off to hunt down, via gates and hedges, the tea (which showed no
signs of any hurried preparation and was up to its usual great standard) which
was kindly served in the
With the
news of Fenny Compton’s loss filtering through the team knew they had
gone back to the top but had made hard work of chasing down a total that should
have been easily reached given the fantastic ground we were pleased to have the
opportunity to play on. Thanks go to Mark Austin for helping out and fielding
so well and special thanks to Mr & Mrs Irvine for
their help in finding a pitch and hosting tea.
-
The
Guy Jones Award named
after Guy who played for us a few times in 1994, working at Lloyds with Woody
and playing hockey for Banbury. Guy was a steady
player of limited shots and famously scored a 17 over duck opening against
Charlton. He continues to play hockey for Banbury
where he remains a 1st XI squad player
-
Col
Parfittesque - in the style of Colin Parfitt.
Doughty bat from the early 80s, renowned for slow scoring, see History section
for further details
BODICOTE
136-7 beat FENNY
Cup Finals are like buses two come at once then if you miss those you
have to wait for ages. Well Bodicote last played in a cup final in August 1992
when we memorably beat Broughton in the Midweek league on a Wednesday and lost
to Wootton in the Division Cup the day after. However
Thursday’s semi final win ends the 15 season drought
After Saturday’s reverse in
the league, Thursday saw an early chance to gain revenge over Fenny and winning
the toss Bucks batted. Matt and Dave opened and the latter fell for four to
leave the score 7-1 off the first over.
DC joined Matt and the next nine overs proved decisive in the match.
They added 74 in in nine overs
with Miller hitting four sixes and four fours (admittedly with a Toytown size boundary that had been set out) being
particularly severe on his nemesis from Saturday Maries R although he was
finally out to him caught at deep wicket for 49. DC also hit a six, which to
compound the misery for the Fenny opening bat who injured himself on Saturday
and had come to watch, landed on the bonnet of his car. Dave made 24 before falling to smart catch
at slip by Derek Maries off Craig Harris. After this Bodicote couldn’t
keep up with the run rate of the first 10 overs but Polly (12), Dean (15) and
Robert (10) all chipped and a total of 136-7 reached.
In response Fenny got off to a
disastrous start with Barton run out in the first over for 0 despite a fumbling
Symo/Stu combination. Bucks took two early wickets
and they were 17-3. Dixey and Deeley
found the boundary and had got the scoreboard ticking before Barlow had the
former caught by Dave Allen for 16. At the halfway point Fenny were 53-4. Dean
and DC took over the attack and Deeley fell to Dean
caught by safe hands Skip at mid off. After this Fenny were unable to make any
significant progress with both bowlers doing well. Dean took another wicket
seeing Craig Harris caught by DC at mid wicket and the Fridge chipped in with a couple of players out
bowled as the required run rate went through the roof. By the end Bodicote were
comfortably in charge to the extent that ex-skip Allen was able to indulge in
some socializing with a mystery blonde at fine leg/long off. Fenny finished
well short on 92 to leave Bodicote contemplating a trip to Byfield
to play the winners of the Thornborough/Woodford tie
on Sunday 29 July .
Saturday
7 July
BODICOTE 181 all out (8 pts)
lost to FENNY
So, remarkably, a game of
cricket, four weeks after our last one. However whilst we have been twiddling
our thumbs (or by all accounts getting hammered at a one last smokeothon in The Plough last Saturday) our opponents Fenny
Compton have somehow avoided the rain and played and won the last three weeks
running which meant they were our closest rivals. By the end of play they had
gone above us having inflicted our first defeat of the season.
With
It was the usual scenario
at Fenny, damp with a warm cheery welcome from their senior citizens. Bucks won
the toss and stuck them in and from then things took a turn for the
unusual/worse. Their skipper also a Buckingham opened and was soon in trouble
having injured his leg going for a big shot. Unable to walk let alone run he
decided that boundaries were his only option and he certainly hit them.
Dean’s figures after 3 overs were 0-45 and his only consolation was that
he caught Buckingham off Barlow with the score at 67 off 6.2 overs of which the
invalid had amassed 58. After this the game settled down with Bodicote’s
Buckingham bowling well whilst Barlow failed to make the most of the
conditions. Bucks had Derek Maries caught just behind
square by Zulfi for 6 with the score on 77 after 10
and then he had No 4 Smith well caught by Stuart to make it 93-3 off 16. Opener
Harris and Darren Deeley put on 46 before Matt,
making a rare visit to attack, bowled Harris for 49. Dean, who had returned to
the attack once Bucks finished his 12 over spell with 2-29, then bowled Deeley for 21 and Dixey for 0 and
at 152-6 with 8 overs to go things looked a lot better than they had after 8
overs. However No 7 Barton hit some big shots scoring a quick 38 and despite
another wicket for Dean and two run outs in the last over Fenny made 194-9.
Dean’s second spell was a creditable 3-38 off 8 and we’ll leave it
to the reader to work out his final figures. Apart form one drop from George
the team fielded pretty well with Stu doing a good
job behind the stumps and Sam’s throwing putting the rest of us to shame.
.
Dave and Matt opened and
with the wicket drying out 195 did not look impossible. The pair had
comfortably added 23 inside 6 overs before Matt was unlucky to be run out
backing up when a Dave Allen drive hit bowler Rob Maries
(well on a law of percentages probably not so unlucky) and then hit the stumps.
Matt has probably found the SNCL pretty courteous up to now but was unimpressed
by Maries’ in your face celebration that
followed. Cronin joined Dave and they took the score onto 52 in the 13th
when DC was unlucky that a leg glance (or not) was well caught by the keeper
and he was out for 7. No 4 Zulfi probably likes a
harder wicket than Saturday and he soon went for 5, 58-3. Still Dave Allen was
going well. Oh forgot to mention that for the first time in ages we had an
official umpire and he was a friend of Dave’s who is involved in the
rugby club. So you would have thought Dave safe when he hit a full toss into
his pads and the bowler (and no one else)
strangulated a half appeal – no, up went the finger, disaster,
Dave out for 44 and BCC 68-4. George sadly did not keep his head and after one
huge six fell trying another, out for 10, to bring Stuart to the wicket
………… finally as he had not realised he was batting 7
and only just got over the rope in time. Stuart made 7 before being run out by
Polly and at 75-6 in the 20th over things looked grim. However Dean
and Polly were not going to go down without a fight and with Dean looking in
fine form they repaired the innings before Dean became Polly’s second run
out victim having scored 33 including two big maximums. The pair had added 61
taking the score onto 136 with nine overs left. Barlow added only seven before
being caught at long off for by Rafael Nadal (you
don’t see many capped sleeved cricket shirts these days) but skipper
Bucks and Polly kept the board ticking
over until Polly produced his run out hat-trick, a suicidal self imposed one
having patted the last ball of the 38th over back to the bowler,
177-8. Polly made a good 32 in last innings (ever?) before his marriage. Sam
Allen joined the skip but he sadly fell for a brave 17 to leave Fenny winners
by 13 runs with 8 balls to spare.
So the unbeaten record
ended but a good game played in a good spirit apart from the one moment of
nonsense. Fenny are now top but most teams in the Division look capable of
beating others – we just need to avoid it happening to us.
Saturday 30 June
BODICOTE (10 pts) drew with RADWAY (10 pts) – no play rain
The game was
cancelled by us as the pitch was waterlogged. Three weeks running no game
– an unwanted barren spell!
Û
BODICOTE (10 pts) drew with CULWORTH (10 pts) – no play rain
The game was
cancelled by them as the pitch was waterlogged.
Û
Saturday 16 June
BODICOTE
(10 pts) drew with STONELEIGH (10 pts) – no play rain
The game was cancelled by them as the pitch was
waterlogged.
Û
Thursday
14 June
BODICOTE 109-8 beat CULWORTH 98 all out by 11 runs
So the sun shone on the righteous or
at least it did not rain as Bodicote missed the bad weather to progress to the
semi final of the Division One KO Cup at the expense of Culworth.
.
Players arrived astounded to find
the ground dry as they had travelled through floods and thunderstorms to get
there but thanks to Bob Lawrence and Symo a decent
strip had been prepared. Skipper Bucks was talked out of batting second and won
the toss so we batted with Matt and Dean opening up. Sadly no-one had briefed
Matt about Craig Wilkins stock late in swinging delivery and he was bowled
through the gate in the first over. DC joined Dean and after a slow start took
the score up to 58 in the 12 when Dave went for 19. Dean soon followed for a good
34. Dave Allen failed to trouble the scorers and Rob Booth went for 4 but Zulfi hit a quickfire 22
including one huge six. Barlow scored 19 no aided by two dropped catches in the
last over and the innings finished on 109-8 not a bad score on a track where
the ball did not come onto the bat.
By now Kings Field was shrouded in a misty gloom and Culworth struggled to see the ball and make progress against an opening attack of Bucks and Big Si. Bucks bowled a good line at off stump and was rewarded with a catch behind by Symo and a great low slip catch by DC Refrigerated Services – another salad tray special. Si also picked up a wicket when Zulfi took a sharp catch at point and after 10 overs Culworth were 36-3. Bucks then turned to his slow bowlers with the introduction of The Chair and Robert in tandem. Robert bowled well with a good loop and turn neither of which feature in the Chair’s repertoire. “Are you feeling the winds of change Chair?” commented Bob L. Well no because Barlow has retained the priceless knack of taking wickets not with spin/loop but occasional straight ones. He took 3-17 off his four overs and helped by two run outs Culworth were reduced to 65-8 off 17. From here it should have been a formality but despite being the oldest player on the pitch Richard Harper managed to see the ball in near darkness and starting hitting boundaries which the fielders just could not see. With Craig Wilkins providing good support they took the score onto 89 before Rob bowled Wilkins for 17 in the 19th over. Richard hit nine off the first three balls off the last over bowled by Bob before he bowled the No 11 to give us victory by 11