Results and Match Reports for the 2010 season are below

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1^st XI
2^nd XI
Midweek XI

1^st XI

2010 SEASON

Date	Opposition	Result (* batted first) Click on ¥ for match reports
01 May	Hinton in Hedges (A)	L 175 all out / 124 all out ¥
08 May	Radway (H)	L 170-9 / 118 all out¥
15 May	Evenley (A)	L 172 all out* / 173-4 ¥
22 May	Byfield (H)	L 313-3 / 206-8 ¥
29 May	Warwick Univ Staff (A)	D No play rain ¥
05 Jun	Marston St L (A)	L 243-6 / 204-8 ¥
12 Jun	Wootton (H)	L 101 all out* / 103-3 ¥
17 Jun	Warwick Univ Staff Cup (A)	L 159-5 / 122-5 ¥
19 Jun	Culworth (A)	W 221-7 / 219-7* ¥
26 Jun	Syresham (H)	L 182-7* / 183-6 ¥
03 Jul	Hinton in Hedges (H)	L 166 all out / 137 all out ¥
10 Jul	Radway (A)	L 119 all out * / 120-6 ¥
17 Jul	Evenley (H)	L 300-6 / 70 all out
24 Jul	Byfield (A)	L 306-3 / 170 all out ¥
31 Jul	Warwick Univ Staff (H)	W 232-4 / 228-7* ¥
07 Aug	Marston St L (H)	L 227-5* / 219-9 ¥
14 Aug	Wootton (A)	L 215-5 / 133-8 ¥
21 Aug	Culworth (H)	L 214-8 / 85-4 ¥
28 Aug	Syresham (A)	L 173-9 / 143-9 ¥

Saturday 28^th August

BODICOTE 143-9 in 39 overs (6 pts) lost to SYRESHAM 173-9 (20 pts) on a faster run rate. (Revised target 150)

Bodicote’s last game of the season saw a trip to Syresham, for years our first fixture of the season and the wicket certainly had that late April rolled mud look that meant skipper Bucks had no hesitation in sticking them in when he won the toss – if only every part of his game had been as a successful as his toss calling this year. Bodicote were not at full strength with priority given to the 2s, “quoi de neuf” I hear you ask, and DC opting to Meet the Fockers of latest squeeze Tracey. Syresham too were weaker than usual thanks to a mix of the desire to keep their 2s up, football and general weltschmerz after another season of unfulfilled promise.

Bucks gave a rallying team talk along the lines of “We’re relegated, let’s enjoy it” and vowed to give everyone a game. So he opened the bowling with Scott at the other end. Scott soon bowled Cooper for 5 and Bucks had oppo skipper Wilson S LBW for 4, 9-2 off 5. Syresham No3 Draper who bucks the usual Syresham trend of machine gun batting settled into patient innings mode and the score moved up to 35 when Wilson M was bowled by a Buckingham off cutter in the 14^th over. This brought Wyness to the wicket and he and Draper batted well with the former going for big shots against a variety of bowling from Barlow, Ian Yates and our new Spanish signing Dave Alvarez. The pair added100 with Wyness reaching what must be a rare 50 but he struggled to cope with the extra pace of Dan Smith when he joined the attack and was bowled by him for 55 with the score on 138-4 in the 36^th over. With the dangerous Parry joining Draper coupled with the fact that Porge had talked himself on to bowl the traditional oppo late innings surge to 220 plus looked on the cards but luckily Parry was well caught at long on by Scott off Dan for just 7, 146-5 off 38. Archer N and Draper were not able to score too freely and then Bucks played his masterstroke – taking off Porge to bowl himself. This paid instant dividends when Draper was caught a mid-wicket by Barlow for 68. There are two versions of the catch. One is that Barlow (as ever) saw it late and then made huge ground to take a stunning double handed catch at full length with the ball millimeters off the ground. The alternative view is that he was dozing at sleepy hollow and was alerted to the ball in the air by the shouts of team mates and he moved slowly into position falling to his knees as he caught it. Two balls later an even better catch (were it possible) by Scott diving full length at first slip to remove Collins. Dan bowled Archer to end with 3-35 and Bucks last over saw Cooney bowled by a shooter to give the Skip his first five wicket haul since heaven knows when with 5-19 and Syresham 173-9 at tea.

…. and what a tea. There is always a good spread at Syresham but this was as if the Syresham tea ladies had decided on a best of teatime treats to finish the season. A fabulous variety of savoury snacks from around the world plus cakes, strawberry and marshmallow kebabs and meringues to die for. Crona’s decision not to play looked all the more odd as the big man has happily demolished plates of tea at Syresham in the past. When texted about the great offerings and Bucks 5 wickets he replied he could believe the former but not the latter.

Whilst third helpings were being polished off Symo and Matt went out to bat but within two overs were back as the rain got too heavy to play. After an 18 minute delay it was agreed Bodicote’s revised target would be 150 off 39 overs, with Syresham’s run rate 3.84 recurring. It has to be said that the workings were different than last week’s interpretation of the rules. By 9 overs Bodicote were 25-2 with both openers out bowled, Symo (2) and Matt (10). Dave Allen and Dan Smith set about repairing the innings but with dark clouds circling there were worries we were behind the run rate after 20 overs. The good news the rain held off, the bad news Dave out LBW for 38 bringing Porge to the wicket, 65-3 off 21. Dan looked in good form and even hit consecutive fours off our usual nemesis Wyness. The scored moved up to 104 in the 31^st when Dan was bowled for 24 leaving 46 needed off 8 and Super “The Finisher” Dan to the wicket. He played the anchor role whilst George went for his shots and when he hit 17 off the 34^th over and seven came from the 35^th the game looked to be going Bodicote’s way with 16 needed off four. Unfortunately things did not go our way, Dan was run out for 4 and then Porge holed out for an excellent 49 leaving Bucks and Barlow to try and get 8 of the last over. This was well bowled by Parry who had Bucks caught, Barlow run out unable to get bat on ball and El Dave bowled last ball to leave us seven short on 143-9. Another defeat pulled from the jaws of victory – perhaps we weren’t playing badly this season just part of a Buckingham betting scam to throw matches.

So the season ended in a long enjoyable and foodless night in the Plough. Jugs of Euro Fizz flowed celebrating the 2nds promotion success and much talk by the greybeards into the small hours over how we might improve for next season..

Saturday 21^st August

BODICOTE 85-4, 27 overs (4 pts) lost to CULWORTH 214-8, 45 overs (20 pts) on a faster run rate.

Bodicote’s last home game of the season saw Culworth in town, of course one of the few teams we have beaten this year. Their line up included Lyssia Girl-Tucker, George’s nemesis and a son of Street to go with their assorted retirement home for SNCL players numbers – Bateman C and Baker (ex Wardington), Street J (ex Byfield), Oxley (ex Charlton) and Oxley & Baker Snr prowling round the boundary too.

For Bodicote Lewis Caiger got a late call up, only to be replaced by Shaun Harris when the 2nds game was called off with Lewis moving on to the scorer’s table. With Jerry away Bodicote welcomed Bob L to the umpiring duties and although lacking Jerry’s utility belt did provide a sartorial masterpiece in a BCC tie from circa 1982.

It was another good toss to win which Bucks did and stuck Culworth in. Dave made an early breakthrough when he had Oxley caught down the leg side by Symmo and Scott followed this up when Tustain P was well caught at the second attempt by George in the gully, 18-2 off 6. Saldy it was to another 22 overs before another wicket was taken at Cook and Baker dug in. Cook offered a hard chance to Craig at extra cover and to Symmo down the leg side but otherwise played a patient game whilst Baker mixed defence with chancing his arm. Baker finally fell stumped by Symmo off a wide one from Bucks – a masterplan? No just a wide one which Symmo caught standing up, 105-3 in the 28^th. No 5 Tustain R didn’t last long, bowled by Barlow for 5, Bateman P was adjudged LBW by Sid off one that only Bucks appealed for and Cooko’s vigil was ended in Barlow’s last over, also LBW for 68.144-6 in 37 overs, Barlow celebrating his new trousers (bought by his Mum who couldn’t believe she’d been asked to mend his old ones!) with 2-35 off his 12. Culworth had kept back the dangerous Street and he was supported by Bell who was given a life by Scott with a shocker of a drop of a mid off. Street added a very quick before falling bowled by DC as he tried a Petersen/Inzy-esque reverse hit. Dave then had Tucker c&b and the fireworks petered out to 214-8, Dave ended on 3-60 off 12, Scott 1-56 off 10 and Bucks 2-44 of 11.

Teas was taken except by Wasim who observing Ramadan has to fast during daylight hours, there are not many of his colleagues who could manage that. Craig opened with Matt and the bat was soon crashing round … the dressing room after popping a snicko-esque shot up to gully of Tucker for 0. Dave joined Matt and again accumulated runs without looking at his most fluent. Behind us the weather was backing up and Bucks was hoping the run rate would be kept up, it wasn’t. 12 overs of Chris Bateman went for 24 and when Dave was out to an excellent catch by keeper Oxley off Tustain the score was 68-2 off 22. Shaun and Was failed to trouble the scorers as Bateman P joined the attack with two wickets but Matt was going along well when the rain came. Umpire Sid applied the byzantium SNCL regulations that say once it rains the game has to finish by 7 pm. Honestly we would try and change them if they didn’t refer to so many other rules in a complicated fashion and if other umpires didn’t ignore them anyway - we finished at 8.30 in similar circumstances at Castlethorpe last week just deducting 3 mins for each over lost. Anyway at 85-4 off 27 we would have needed about 72 off the 6 possible overs “left” so with some grumbling the game was called off.

To be fair it also started raining again but some of the players who had left all the ground tidying up tasks to others wouldn’t have known as they had gone down the pub (you know who you are guys and when you do nothing on the wicket either it starts to grate).

A flat way to confirm relegation and the only bright spot when adding up the scrolls that Matt had reached 50 no.

Saturday 14^th August

BODICOTE 133-8, 36 overs (4 pts) lost to CASTLETHORPE 215-5, 40 overs (20 pts) on a faster run rate.

So the big relegation battle was lost and it will need a miracle now to save the 1^st team from the drop.

A reasonably strong side was assembled with Craig Lynes making his 1^st team debut for the season which certainly reminded us how much we have missed Newman’s chat as he was voiciferous in his support and advice to the oppo. Craig Irvine’s social diary came up with an unexpected window to allow him to play too. Wasim was a late cry-off due to Ramadan and he move down to the 2nds to strengthen their XI …. in return only SD was willing/able to play in this crucial relegation dogfight. Porge also returned, unscathed from his stag do and the delights of the GR8 Hotel in Blackpool. However he was to shortly join the increasing rank of players whose personal lives have matched the on pitch disasters this season but agreed to play nonetheless and showed good spirits all things considered.

With a great deal of wet weather around it was good toss to win and Bucks stuck them in. Castlethorpe were of course previously known as Wootton and it is surprising they spent so long as a nomadic club (and credit to those players who stuck with them) prior to returning to the delights of Wootton when they could have moved to Castlethorpe which offers a far more pleasant setting for SNCL cricket.

Back to the game Dave bowled a pacey hostile opening spell and Scott also bowled well but good balls passed the edge and bad balls were punished so Castlethorpe reached a useful 35-0 off 10. DC then made the breakthrough when Spinelli was caught of his glove after a lifter that Dan made good ground to from the gully to catch it. Scott then had Currell, a mini-FS, caught by Craig I at point from a long hop and he was helped on his way with some chat with Craig L. This was in the last over of his spell, a good 7-1-21-1. Dave then bowled No 3 Tate who took objection to the big man, not unnaturally, running down the wicket to celebrate with colleagues. 43-3 and things were looking good. This brought Castelthorpe’s dangerman Bell to the crease and he played and missed a lot at both Dave and Dan, who had joined the attack in place of Scott and was given an early life when SD grassed a hard chance at point. No 5 Eliiott settled into his game and despite a couple of breaks for weather, including an early tea where SD committed the social faux pas of pouring hot tea on the Chair’s lap, these two set about turning the game in Castlethorpe’s favour. DC finished with figures of 2-40 off his 12 which scarcely reflect how well he bowled but Dan could not get his radar right and his 7 overs went for 42. The older pros Buckingham and Barlow tried to stem the flow and there was good support in the field especially from Craig L who chased down plenty of boundary heading shots returning them with huge throws. By the time Barlow had bowled Elliott for 40 the score had reached 153 in the 32^nd over. Bell had by now reached his 50 and with the help of Allen (13 no) went on to complete a very good ton in the last over bowled by Bucks before being caught off the last ball by Symmo for 107. Castlethorpe ended on 215-5 in 40 overs, Bucks went for 1-52 off 6 admittedly defending far shorter boundaries than Barlow 1-45 off 8. As have been shown in results this season Castlethorpe have a longish tail if you can get to it but Bell batted very well and ensured that we didn’t find it.

So a large score to chase and the rain, which might be the saviour, fell heavily again early in the Bodicote innings causing frantic covers management in the Castlethorpe ranks. However only 4 overs were lost leaving Bodicote a revised target of 194 off 36. Another worry saw Castlethorpe change umpire between innings with the first half man replaced by “How’s that Dad, that’s out Son” Bell Snr but oddly he only stood at square leg and there is little chance of a stumping off Bell Jnr.

Craig L opened with Symmo and he played positively using all areas of his bat to hit fours much to the excitement of the Castlethorpe field with the (Craig christened) Oompa-Lumpa Currell to the fore in the chat stakes after his previous interaction. Symmo was unable to force the pace and was bowled for 3 by Jones, who has an odd action that looks like he is emptying his pockets in his run up; 23-1 after 9. Ten runs later Craig followed the same way after a good looking 19. Dave carried on his good form and added 30 with Craig I until the latter steered the now bowler Bell to gully for 9 to make it 63-3 off 19. Victory was looking improbable and within the next 5 overs impossible as the score slumped to 79-7 with Dave (32) and DC, Porge and SD all ducks all falling to Bell to give him a 5 wicket haul to go with his 100. Dan S and Barlow produced a face saving 8^th wicket partnership of 52 to move the score into respectability before Barlow fell in the last over for 22, whatever has caused this change of form with the bat in 2010 it is sadly not the Dr DC prognosis of his social life seeing an upturn (why he should think that as it certainly hasn’t helped DC’s batting!). The Skip had time to swipe a mighty single and Dan ended on a good 40 no with the final total 133-8.

So with Warwick also winning relegation is almost a certainty now. The table doesn’t lie and although we have had chances to win other games two heavy defeats against our nearest rivals tells its own story. Let us finish on a high against Culworth and Syresham..

Saturday 7^th August

BODICOTE 219-9 (7 pts) lost to MARSTON ST LAWRENCE 227-5 (20 pts) by 8 runs

In a nutshell - a gut wrenching loss after a brave fight to reach 227 against a full strength Marston side who go third on the back of this result.

The delights of the Gr8 Hotel and Porge’s stag do in Blackpool did not appeal to the more mature persona within the 1^st XI and reasonable strength side was assembled only for Dean to pull out with a twisted ankle on Friday night . Even Symo was unable to find a player and the last chance saloon saw El Chair phone Sid Cracco at ten past one and seven years after his last Saturday game he generously agreed to play.

Around that time the ground had received a soaking from a heavy pre-match shower and skipper Bucks was pleased to win the toss and stick Marston in. Dan Smith made an early breakthrough when Bywater L was caught slicing the ball to Wasim at point and it was soon 20-2 when Dan had Griffiths caught behind by Symo. DC was proving very hard to get away and his opening spell of six overs went for just four runs before Bucks replaced him with himself. Hall N pulled a muscle to retire hurt and Preston and Bywater A set about getting the Marston innings back on track. They did so in a variety of conditions with warm sunshine, alternating with light drizzle and Stygian gloom and the early leaf drop from the tree (still not raked up by Symo incidentally) gave an Autumnal feel to the proceedings. Dan came out of the attack after 8 overs with figures of 2-31 but Scott was punished in a short 3 over spell for some wayward balls which were interspersed with a number of good ones. Barlow finally got the breakthrough when Bywater was well caught at long off by Dan for a patient 59, the score on 120-3 in the 32^nd. Preston soon followed for 32 when Symo caught him mis-pulling off DC who had returned to the attack. However No 6 Boyles specialises in this situation against Bodicote and was soon laying into the bowling being particularly fierce on Dan who had returned to the attack in place of Barlow. When DC bowled him he had added a quick 46 and the score moved onto 182 in the 41^st. With DC having bowled out with excellent figures of 12-3-30-2 Bucks had to take the last two overs from the top end and Hall G took up where Boyles had left off hitting a very quick 35 no and the score onto 227-5. Marston had timed their innings well and this would not be an easy chase.

Skipper Bucks sent in Sid and Wasim as openers and they did a good job in blunting the Marston attack. Wasim even hit his first ever six clanging Boyles into the shed door and making a mockery of his barbed comment when batting “I am looking forward to bowling on this” which was taken as unjust criticism of a rain affected wicket (he ended with 1-68 off his 12 – enjoy!). The total had reached 48 in the 18^th over when new bowler James F got some lift and Was edged him to the keeper for 23. Dave Allen came in and hit James for two fours in the remaining balls of the over and Sid repeated the feat against Hall G’s first ball. Sadly trying to repeat the shot next ball he picked out backward square leg to fall for a patient 17, it was as if he had never been away. 61-2 off 19 and the run rate would need to be increased which Dave and Parvaiz set about doing. This they did with Dave reaching a good 50 and Parvaiz looking increasingly confident. The hundred came up in the 29^th and just when he looked like he was going to break loose Parviaz was caught at cover for 29, 149 for 3 off 32, ie 79 off 13. Symo proved a good foil for Dave who was particularly severe on the returning Boyles but he had the last laugh when he bowled Dave for an excellent 77, 190-4 off 40, 38 needed off 5. Unfortunately Symo and Dan chanced their running against a Marston throw once too often and Symo was run out by a fraction for a good 20, 195-5 off 41. DC joined Dan and they took ten off the next over. Dave was bowled by Preston to leave it 211-6 with two overs to go. Barlow fell to the first ball of the 44^th, well caught at deep long off and Dan fell caught behind at the end of the over leaving 13 to win off the last. Sadly this proved beyond Wigger, 5 no, Bucks ran himself out and Scott swung and missed at the last two balls to leave Bodicote 8 short.

A great game of cricket but in the circumstances we would have preferred to win a poor game. Marston fielded well and their youthful enthusiasm helped them through. Special thinks go to Wigger and especially Sid for helping out. Whilst other teams draft in youngsters Bodicote go the other way with six of Saturday’s team 45+ and the average age of the team around 38 despite Scott and Wasim being Under 20 and Bucks lying about his age.

Next week a relegation dogfight at Castlethorpe who along with Warwick Univ Staff and ourselves are marooned at the foot of the table .

Saturday 31^st July

BODICOTE 232-4 (20 pts) beat WARWICK UNIVERSITY STAFF 228-7 (7 pts) by 6 wickets

Another week another record – fortunately not conceding 300 for the third consecutive week but the highest league score chased down.

With skipper Buckingham still in Wales at the time of the toss DC took up the mantle and was left to make a decision after Warwick called incorrectly. DC was undecided, there looked like a bit of life in the wicket after heavy overnight rain. Umpire Syd gave him five minutes to make up his mind so DC called upon a decision making committee. Dave A & Dean said bat, Matt & El Chair said bowl and DC gave his casting vote to the latter. Barlow stood in for Buckingham with DC taking the new ball or would have done had we had one – the oppo kindly provided it. Bowling first soon looked like a very good move as there was some early lift and movement. Scott bowled Sandhu for 12 in the 4^th over with a full length delivery and three overs later DC had Lamb R caught at short leg by Dave Allen who had astutely advised DC to put him there. Dave then took a wicket in the next three of his overs. Anish who destroyed us in our midweek game was bowled off his pads, Raghul was caught behind by Symmo and Wood caught by Dean, 35-5 off 13 overs, what a start. Then things went downhill, coincidentally coinciding with the arrival of the Skip. His first action saw him underneath a towering skier at mid on from No 6 Anantha, unfortunately he didn’t lay a finger on it. Ananatha made the most of this quickly getting Warwick back the game with some huge shots. Scott finished his spell with 1-21 off 7 and with Bucks not able to bowl due to his absence since the start Dean replaced him at the tree end. Anantha was particularly savage on anything around the leg stump and he received scratchy support from No 7 Satya who benefitted from two DC bouncers that Jerry adjudged no balls being too high. DC’s figures were spoilt and he ended up with 4-60, Dean went for 59 off 7 as 110 was added in 16 overs. Heads were drooping but Barlow finally made the breakthrough having Anantha well caught at deep cow by Porge for 73, 145-6 off 29. Barlow actually got some turn which was a bit surprising but also slightly worrying as Warwick normally have some Asian twirlers in their ranks who might be able to exploit it better. Miller replaced Dean and had No 8 Lamb S comfortably caught by Irvine at extra cover on174 in the 38th but Satya who had not looked much of a bat to start with and Vivek added a further 54 runs perfecting the art of chipping or mis-cueing over the in field or not reaching the deeper fielders. To be fair Satya who ended on 74 no did also hit some good shots through the covers off Matt but when he tried to hit him straight he found the inside of umpire Jerry’s thigh too big an obstruction to miss. So 228-7 from 35-5 on a wicket still doing a bit and Bodicote’s hopes of staying up hanging by a thread.

Some good news however was that during tea the sun started shining stronger than before and this warmed up the wind that had been around so the wicket was drying out. Courtesy of some wides, byes and a nice shot from Matt Bodicote raced to 16 off two overs – or was it as the book indicates completion of the over but the umpire gave another ball which saw Symmo caught behind for a duck. Dave joined Matt and they kept the scoreboard ticking over with Dave initially finding the cover boundary with regularity admittedly in taking the aerial route. When this gap was plugged Matt’s run rate increased whilst Dave proved less fluent and he fell LBW in the 18^th over for 27 with the score on 79. Parvaiz joined Matt and they kept the run rate up to the required including Matt taking 13 off Lamb S’s sixth over when the previous 5 had gone for just 3. Off spinner FS Sandhu FS was hit out of the attack and when bat wasn’t being put to ball extras were contributing with byes, leg byes and wides all helping the cause. Matt brought up a well deserved 50 with a six but finally fell trying to repeat the shot caught at long off for 61 with the score on 157 in the 30^th, ie 72 needed off 15 with seven wickets in hand, “what could go wrong?” everyone thought but dared not say! Skipper Buckingham couldn’t even watch and spent most of the innings hidden away. The support was boosted by three generations of Woodruffs with Woody obviously impressed by the oppo hitting Bodicote’s magic number – 228. However it was wife Helen the downfall of Matt as it had been pointed out to her by the superstitious members that he would be out once she left, she did – he was! Luckily Parvaiz was now at his hard hitting best and Porge provided a useful foil in a cameo knock of 15, out with the total up to 196 in the 38^th. Warwick looked a dispirited side in the field and would have been more so had they realised that when another 4 byes went through Extras clocked up its half century. Parvaiz soon reached this milestone too again with a 6 and Craig nudged singles before hitting the winning runs with a 4 as the total was reached with four overs to spare, Parvaiz ending on an excellent 64 not out, Craig 9 not out (if only we could persuade him to play more!) and Bodicote 232-4.

You would have got long odds on 460 runs being scored after the first half hour of the ball swinging and jagging around, probably even longer odds at tea-time, the finger tip life line remains intact – just.

228 – BCC history fact No 1. The legendary amount of a round in The Plough during the Young Jim, Old Jim early 1980s period. Following mental arithmetic from either of them to work out the cost of a round (remembering drinks were a lot cheaper then!) the answer more often that not seemed to be“£2.28”. This inspired the “Jim says 228” tour tee shirts in 1985 a homage to the great men in the style of “Frankie says …. “ shirts in vogue at the time. Older members still get a small kick from getting a 228 wherever they are shopping.

Saturday 24^th July

BODICOTE 170 all out (4 pts) lost to BYFIELD 306 for 3 (20 pts) by 136 runs

So what could be better to follow the thrashing by Evenley – a trip to league leaders Byfield …. or more so a trip to Byfield with availability thin …. or with an inability to convince anyone to step up from the 2s …. or when finally arranged Stu pulling out of the 11 on the morning. Preceding this El Chair / Stand in Skip, returning from 210 hours work in a fortnight at the Womens Champions Trophy, spent nearly as long getting a side together with more texts than a teenager on speed and luckily able to call on Kofi Symmo Annan to assist with negotiations with the 2s.

Having won the toss Barlow stuck Byfield in, a points gathering tactic that was to fail spectacularly. Our nemesis Steve Clayton was missing but this did not stop Harris and Heath E making a confident start. With only 10 players in the field everyone needed to be on their toes but sadly by over three Kilvo was on his a**e having gone lame chasing a ball to leave him hobbling for the next 42 overs. This was poor luck for Pete who had agreed to help out in the last couple of weeks and he had to resort to a fielding style similar to one of those toys you get when you press the bottom and the puppet collapses, of lying in front of the ball and rolling it in underarm. DC and Scott were unable to make a breakthrough and by the time 20 overs had been bowled the 100 was up with Barlow and Miller bowling in tandem. A further 50 were added in the next five overs before Heath was very well caught for 66 off Matt at deep mid wicket by Luke Symington. Harris was still going strong and brought up his 100 in a 100 partnership with No 3 Watts. After a slow start Watts started smashing the ball to the offside boundaries particularly off Scott but he stuck to his task and when Watts top edged one Super Dan made good ground from the cover boundary, and showboating bounced the ball up in the air before taking the catch, 251-2 40^th over – bowling point No 1 for tactical genius the Skip. No 4 Kirkham destroyed Bodicote earlier in the season but this time fell bowled by DC for 10, 279 for 3. Harris brought up his 150 and finally made a chanceless 169 no, Byfield made 306-3, 7 fewer than earlier in the season. The Bodicote 10 had stuck manfully to their task

In response Dan fell early to bring Dave Allen and Matt together. Matt looked particularly fluent seeing off the dangerous opening pair of Kirkham and Heath J. Having brought up the 50 partnership Matt fell L(surprise)B(surprise)W(surprise) to Wheeler for a good 32. George came in, hit his first ball for 2, was stumped next ball and thanks to being able to borrow Sarah’s car drove off in a huff. 56-3 off 20. This brought 13 year old Luke to the wicket and the older Byfield members reminisced about Peter Willey with his double eyed stance. However it works for Luke and - showing no family traits - he hit some nice shots on the posh side. Dave fell for a comparatively scratchy 20 at 85 but Luke and DC moved the score onto the dreaded Nelson 111 before they were both out – Luke for a really good 23 with five 4s and DC for 9. This brought Symmo senior and Barlow to the crease and they concentrated on keeping Kirkham out from one end and hitting the bowling from the other end. Symmo flat batted a six into the pavilion wall (no posh side shots for Dad) and Barlow hit one monster six over cow corner and another through square leg in an 18 run over that again proved the timeless quality of his 25 year old Duncan Fearnley bat. Having added 59 Symmo was out for 23 (“Is that the first time father and son have hit the same score?” it was queried, no Bob & George Lawrence have surely both been out for ducks.) Scott and Kilvo fell with no score added to leave Barlow not out 35 and frustrated as he was, quote “absolutely cooking”.

So another loss and a win needed next week to keep any slim hopes of staying up alive. While we might not have fielded our strongest XI (or X) those who played can be congratulated for sticking with it.

Saturday 17^th July

BODICOTE 70 all out (2 pts) lost to EVENLEY 300 for 6 (20 pts) by 230 runs

No report but you can read one on Evenley’s site, see links page.

Saturday 10^th July

BODICOTE 119 all out (3 pts) lost to RADWAY 121 for 6 (20 pts) by 4 wickets

In the absence of the Skipper (dropped a boot outside his house and had to return to get it) and the Vice Skipper (waiting for police to return trousers to a mate after an "interesting" stag night in Bournemouth), the toss was undertaken by Symo. Luckily it was won and Bodicote batted first, giving time for DC to arrive an hour late in reasonably good shape all things considered (which we won't). It was a hot day and requiring Radway to toil in the sun was also a good idea, in theory. In practice, Matt Walsh (3 for 16 off 12) reeled off a series of 6 maidens and the batsmen were made to toil, apart from Wasim who departed very early on, possibly anxious about his imminent university results (surely not, says the Skipper, who is a lecturer on the same degree course as Wasim). Not until the change bowlers arrived did the momentum marginally improve, with Parvaiz, George, and Symo providing the backbone of the innings. However, 119 all out indicates a spine less like Atherton's legendary resolve but more like his ankolysing spondulitis. Phil Douthwaite caused much of the damage with some canny slow bowling leading to 5 wickets for 28.

A cracking tea cheered us up without deluding us into thinking that a score of 119 could be defended on Radway's small and fast outfield. All ten wickets would have to be taken and instructions to this effect were given, along with an entreaty to enjoy the game whatever the outcome. No point spending all summer playing cricket in the gloom when the sun is actually shining.

Caiger and Bucks opened the bowling without making the inroads required. The skipper did see a regulation catch go down off a perfect away swinger but it marked the end of his wicket-taking opportunities and Wasim replaced him to join Cronin at the other end. DC's seven overs produced one wicket but it was the reintroduction of Caiger that ignited interest and, perhaps, some palpitations in the batting side. Good catches were taken by Parvaiz at point, Symo behind the stumps, and George low down in the gully, with Caiger on a hat-trick at one point. George could have had a second catch when he held a chance off Walsh only for the umpire to deem it a bump-ball. However, the best catch of the day, in the Skipper's opinion, was due to "inspired" positioning of DC when he was entreated to stand at a specific, microscopic point just in front of square, to give Wasim a wicket on the very next ball. So much for Brearley moving the sun to a more appropriate position (cf famous letter in The Guardian, 1981); this was the shifting of Crona, if a considerably lighter one than last year's model.

Six wickets down brought three points without preventing Radway's win as they overhauled the score in less than 26 overs. The first two games of the second half of the season have thus seen duplicate losses to teams who Bodicote should be able to beat if it is to remain a Premiership side. The next two games are Evenley and Byfield. Hmmmm.

Saturday 3^rd July

BODICOTE 137 all out (7 pts) lost to HINTON IN THE HEDGES 163 all out (20 pts) by 29 runs

Oh dear, here is one to mark off in the “Games we should have won” column and it’s not like we can afford those at the moment!

A glorious sunny day and despite gallons of water the strip had more cracks than a whorehouse. Resident skipper Buckingham was in Boston (US not Lincs) Vice DC didn’t fancy it, ex-skip Dave Allen was away so El Chair took up the mantle for the first time since 1995. Undecided what to do if he won the toss he was swayed by DC, who, as Porge had failed to come up with the goods, had enjoyed a quieter Friday night than of late and was full of beans wanting to tear in down the hill. Dan Smith was also making a mid-season return so when Hinton called incorrectly Barlow stuck them in. Bodicote made an early breakthrough when Merritt clipped DC off his toes straight to Scott at square leg who bagged the catch. At the other end Dan started well before allowing some easy boundaries with some leg side full tosses. The Skip was thinking of bringing him off when he bowled Prendagast for 30 and a couple of overs later repeated the trick to see off Connor for 19, Hinton 70-3 off 14. DC was bowling well but saw a couple of drops dent his hopes of a big haul, neither proved too expensive (but expensive enough it turned out) as one was Prendegast and the other no 5 Mounsden who he had LBW for 16, 86-4 off 19. Wills and Stevens batted carefully as DC bowled out to end with 2-42 and Barlow came on for Dan after a 9 over over spell. Wills survived a chance when Dean, who seems to concentrate on not dropping his new baby only, failed to hold to an easy chance at mid on off Barlow who he then hit on to the scout hut. However Barlow got his revenge when he bowled him for 22, 132-5 off 30. He then accounted for Stevens (38) the same way and at 150-6 gambled by bringing Smith (Dan not Inzy!) back on for his last three overs, in place of Scott, to try and get through the tail. This was successfully achieved as Barlow deflected a drive onto the stumps to run out Lindford for 2, Dan bowled Gardiner and Soady to end with 4-51 and Barlow also bowled last man White to end with 3-31 and a chaseable total of 163 although the shooter that accounted for Gardiner gave a few alarms. All out in 39.2 overs Barlow was able to offer a smug grin to umpire Wilkins who had earlier been nagging about slow over rates and not getting to tea by 4 pm.

New settled opening pair Wasim and Matt got Bodicote off to a flying start with Was in particular hitting some lovely shots that raced away over the bonehard outfield. 33 off 7 and the troops were relaxing listening to horror reviews on tripadvisor of the Gr8 Hotel Blackpool which will soon play host to the cultural festival of Porge’s stag do. Although the run rate slowed there were no alarms until Mounsden bowled Wasim for an excellent 31, 47-1. Unfortunately he repeated the trick an over later to bowl Slogger for a duck and when Matt holed out to cover off White for 18, 47-0 had become 51-3. Dean and Porge looked to have steadied the ship taking the score up to 82 when new bowler slow left arm Stevens, had Dean LBW for 14. Dan cam ein looked confident but was then out stumped off Stevens, the ball rebounding off the keeper’s pads with Dan out of his ground for 7, 95-5. Soady had looked the weaker link in the Hinton attack and he was replaced by another slow-y Prendagast who managed to catch Symo in two minds a dobby pull shot 111-6. Porge had stood firm but then hit a Stevens full toss to mid off, out for 24, followed quickly by DC finding long off 112-8 off 30 a horrible collapse. Inzy came in and played his full array of shots including the switch hit and reverse sweep before falling for 8 with the score up to 131. Barlow hit Stevens for a big 6 but fell trying to repeat the shot for 13 - 137 all out, Stevens 5 wickets, Hinton, jubilant Bodicote in the sh*t.

Saturday 26^th June

BODICOTE 182-7 (7 pts) lost to SYRESHAM 183-6 (20 pts) by four wickets

So at home to Syresham, well home being the delights of Sandford St Martin as Kingsfield was in use for the annual caravan rally. Sandford is a fantastic ground, lovely setting, good track and billiard table outfield – “has Arthur driven his tractor over here just to mow it for us?” mused Dave Allen ironically. Older players recalled a previous visit for a friendly which might have been Newman’s debut in the mid 1990s – we could do with him now. El Chair recalled playing there for Alcan, younger members not aware of the now defunct company let alone them having a cricket team, in 1983 but he was unsure if it was late May or early June, standards are slipping.

Skipper Bucks enjoyed the rarity of an unchanged side (admittedly after some behind the scenes mediation) and even rarer a winning one. He won the toss and elected to bat on a hot afternoon hoping to stifle Syresham renowned “enthusiasm” ie chat, as they endeavour to break into the duopoly at the top of the Premier Division. Last week’s hero Wasim soon showed the way to bat at Sandford with some lovely timed shots that sped away to the boundary. Unfortunately he got carried away and was bowled having a swing at Archer for 14, 20-1 off 7. Dave Allen joined Matt and they both looked comfortable with the score mainly going up in 4s. They saw off the opening attack in a 50 partnership and looked well set when Dave feathered one of slow bowler Brock G and was well caught standing up by the keeper for 27, 71-2 off 17. (Brock G and brother H who was also playing are of course sons of legendary ex Oxford player and Banbury Utd manager Brock K. Kevin was watching on Saturday and enjoyed the “Brocky Brocky give us wave” chant, although in shades and without his timeless ageing adidas waterproof jacket he looked unrecognisable) Matt soon followed for the same score with Jerry showing no hint of bias, giving him out LBW. After this the scoreboard kept moving but unfortunately both the runs and wickets – Parvaiz made a quick 20 including one huge six before being well caught at cover, Dean made 7, Symo 1 and DC 5 all also well caught – “catches win matches” (as we would re-discover to our cost later) and Bodicote slumped to 124-7 in the 34^th. This brought Barlow to the wicket to join George. For younger/newer players the idea that Barlow was once a talented all rounder might come as a surprise, particularly as he insists on using a taped up 25 year old Duncan Fearnley bat that has lasted through his heyday and beyond. However after some lucky swinging and missing he got into his stride and along with George they set about making a target to bowl at. Porge ended up on a good 34 no, Barlow, thanks to a couple of drops off skiers, 32 no and their unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 58 helped the final total up to 182-7, probably less than required but something to bowl at. Off to tea well organised by multi tasking umpire / secretary Jerry and accompanied by the unusual sight of someone, the Sandford groundsman, repairing pitch marks and repainting the lines.

You know what to expect with Syresham’s batting – it looks like they are running late to catch a train, it is 100% full on so always a chance for some wickets – and/or a fast run rate. DC obliged with the former bowling opener Collins for 4 and No 3 Draper for 0, 27-2 off 7. Draper’s wicket had been preceded for a long break negotiating with umpires and looking for a spare ball that hadn’t been used much to replace the match ball gouged on his helmet after a mistimed hook. No 4 Brock G joined Beckett D and was positive from the start. Scott bowled well without much success and crucially (though it is hard to criticize as he took a great catch there last week) Dave dropped Brock off Scott in the slips in an over that otherwise yielded 13 runs, the score up to 59 off 12. DC was by now looking tired but had Beckett caught by Symo for 29 the next over. Barlow replaced Scott but didn’t make any impression as the scoreboard rattled along. Bucks came on for DC and had Wilson M bowled for 17 to give us a sniff at 121-4 off 24 but Brock, added by a couple more hard drops had completed a rapid 50 and when Dean bowled him for 74 the score was 141-5 and almost home. More big hitting brought the target within reach by the 29 over and Wasim took it and gained an extra bowling point (which takes us out of the bottom two!) bowling Beckett A for 19 before a big 6 from Butler first ball ended proceedings.

Not enough runs, a few key drops and if we are going to surprise teams like Syresham we need to do just that little bit better - but overall for a team near the foot of the table not a bad performance compared to other teams.

Saturday 19^th June

BODICOTE 221-7 (20 pts) beat CULWORTH 219-6 (8 pts) by three wickets

Culworth is the quintessential SNCL ground, largely untouched by progress and no worse for it and of course every visit sees El Chair remind the troops that it was here he made his Bodicote debut n years ago, scoring 0* in a midweek cup game – name of competition now escapes me but possibly the Percy Bradley Cup (n currently = 35). It has also been the venue for some memorable matches over the years – the Battle of Culworth in 83, Chris Buckingham and Gareth Lewis broken legs in ’93 & ’94, Sid’s split lip in the epic win on the way ot the ’97 Division 1 title and this victory is right up with them. This week’s record - the highest score to win batting second (I think).

Bodicote lost the toss and were in the field. The Culworth ground includes a shortish boundary downhill from the square leading onto a sheep field and a huge boundary towards the road the other way and this was accentuated by playing at the foot of the square. As ever protection of the short boundary was key to any strategy.

Bodicote got an early boost when Mark Street was run out in the first over. Mark used to be the thinner brother of John Street the Culworth captain but is now less a Street more an Eight-lane highway. When he was sent back looking for a third he had the turning circle of the Amoco Cadiz (younger readers may follow the link) and even allowing for a Symmo fumble following a good throw from Parv he was well out of his ground. DC then had No 3 Cooper well caught at gully by Dean, diving forwards to catch a gloved delivery and Culworth were 3-2. This was soon 16-3 as Scott bowled the other opener Oxley and things were looking good. Baker and Bateman set about repairing the innings and made slow progress especially against Dave who bowled very well. When he had finished his spell, 12-3-19-1 the score stood on 59 after 24 overs. Barlow had replaced Scott and apart from the occasional 6 from left hander Baker to the short boundary kept things reasonably tight and Bucks who came on for DC only went for 1 off his first two overs. Bucks also accounted for Baker for 32 fantastically caught one handed at slip by Dave Allen after an earlier let off in the same place off DC by Porge. Bateman however was getting into his stride and made the most of a life off Barlow to bring up his 50. Dean then came on for Barlow and bowled Bateman for 60 with the score now on 126 after 36. The next nine overs were however carnage with John Street hitting a very rapid 60, surprisingly caught at mid on by Barlow of Scott and Rowling an equally quick 32 no, both taking advantage of the short boundary and from a strong position Bodicote found themselves chasing 219-7. Scott finished with 2-70 and Dean 2-41. A rather fractious Bodicote trooped off for tea having seen some fielding errors helping Culworth on to their total but in reality the bowling/fielding wasn’t that bad and the short boundary undoubtedly a help.

After his careful grooming on Thursday Bucks had selected newcomer Wasim to open with Matt. Wasim’s stock got even higher when the Skip learnt he is studying Computer Science at Aston and will be teaching him next year. Matt feathered one off Rowling for 2 but Dave joined Wasim and they kept up with the run rate reaching 75 off 16. The rest of the team were voiciferous in their support if not a little disjointed as some of them couldn’t stand listening to DJ Symmo’s melody of soft rock and had to watch from elsewhere. This included the Skip who was desperately trying to finish a paper on the “Ontology of something in risk assessment in mental health” or something similar.

It was then that Culworth unleashed their secret weapon Jones M, 16 years old swing bowler with a low arm that meant low bounce and also to really unsettle the Bodicote testosterone fuelled psyche, a girl. Dave was the first to fall, caught at midwicket for 39, 87-2 off 20. Parviaz joined Wasim and Was brought up a great half century on his debut as the two of them moved the score onto 149 before falling in quick succession (not to Jones), Was for 68, Parv for 31 – Yeah Man! 150-4 with 10 overs to go. However Bodicote couldn’t get on top as Jones took two more wickets, DC for 3 caught at long off and Porge for 5, c&b which saw Porge troop of despondently aware that this would not go without comment. (it also cannot go unreported that he also undertook some petulant stuff which he manfully apologised to all and sundry for afterwards) At 179-6 with three overs to go things did not look good but Symmo and Dean launched into Bell and the 43rd over went 1 6 . 1 6 4 6 with Symmo hitting one maximum and Dean two. With much ball searching undertaken and in the confusion the umpires, as the eagle eyed will have spotted, allowed a seven ball over and Bodicote were right back in it 201-7. Jones bowled the penultimate over and again proved hard to get away only going for 9 to end with a laudable 3-27 and the knowledge that she would be ingrained in Porge’s nightmares and the team’s banter for ever. So 10 needed off the last over and skipper Street came on for Bell. Symmo hit his first ball for 4 but then managed to get bowled off his pads off the next to be out for a fine 20, This brought Barlow to the crease, he managed a single off an ugly swat to leave Dean facing, five to win three balls to go – only one was needed another huge six over midwicket brought up victory with Dean ending up with a brilliant 41 no, he won’t be able to wash his lucky, sicked on by Jo, jockstrap again!

A great win and with other teams at the foot of the table losing heavily hope that this will kick start the road to recovery.

Thursday 17^th June

BODICOTE 122-5 lost to WARWICK UNIVERSITY STAFF 159-5 by thirty seven runs

The SNCL cup draw gave us the trip to Warwick Univ, not an easy one for a Thursday evening, it is nearly as far as we are going on tour. However the team managed to get there on time for the usual “hunt the ground” fiasco at Warwick – they don’t have to prepare a ground themselves, at least they could have somebody indicate where you are playing. Also the lack of pitch side facilities mean careful pre-match preparation has to take place – do I need a s*** or not? The team was a mix of 1s and 2s with Hasan, Wasim and even Craig turning out for the anti-Chris(t)

Despite being the closest to the ground Skip Bucks was late so stand-in skip, with the widest smile in the club as his lotus eater life continues to blossom, DC tossed up and won and stuck them in. Bucks arrived and opened with Hasan and Barlow. Opener Phodnis tucked into anything wayward from Hasan whose first two overs went for 27 to have an early blow for DC. DC was pleased when the batsmen said they didn’t need the scoreboard moved because ” …. the bowler wasn’t as wide” - long time since he heard that but a fair compliment .

Barlow bowled a tight leg stump line and his 5 over quota was completed for just 19 whilst DC applied a bit of a brake and after 10 overs the score was 64 Hasan then returned for DC and bowled Phodnis for 46. Bucks entered the fray and also bowled well, DC came back on for Hasan and at 105-1 off 16 it wasn’t looking too bad. However a late assault took the score up to 159 with wickets for DC who had opener Harris caught by Symmo for 36, a run out and a wicket last ball for Bucks. Final figures Hasan 5-53-1, DC 5-32-1, Skip 5-41-1.

In reply Symmo and Craig took the score on to 15 before Craig was caught in the deep. Parvaiz entered the fray but struggled initially to get into his stride. When Symmo was out for 15 the score had reached 44 in 9, somewhat behind the run rate. George came in just as Parvaiz started to get going hitting new bowler Batra for 4 2 4 all teasingly close to the ample figure of Sandhu N (he of “Fish Supper” fame) at deep third man who was moved before he suffered any more . Batra had probably been un-nerved by a very late “Bowler’s Name” call but found one straight one to dismiss George for 3. Wasim joined Parvaiz with ringing words of praise in his ears from the Skip who has his eyes on Was playing in the 1sts and his every run was met with manic support from the Skip that bordered on grooming. The run rate became unachievable but Parvaiz hopefully played himself into form with an excellent 68 no. Wasim fell for a good 20 in the last over, Zulfi a golden duck and Dan kept out the hat-trick.

Post match some players chose to go for a drink at the Varsity and were surprised to be charged £2 to get in or even sit in the garden as it was “Student night”. Barlow was also charged a commission on burger sales having travelled in his motorized home due to fractured domestic car arrangements. However the older members of the squad agreed that £2 wasn’t too bad a price to pay for the talent on view and remind them of their own student days – Buckingham at the University of Southampton), Barlow at Brunel University and Symmo at the Roy Chubby Brown College of sick jokes.

Saturday 12^th June

BODICOTE 101 all out (2 pts) lost to CASTLETHORPE 103-3 (20 pts) by seven wickets

It isn’t easy to write anything positive or amusing after this display. Castlethorpe (nee Wootton) are not a great side, arrived with 10 players but still thrashed us so our current standing is clear – the only way is up as Warwick Uni Staff won to leave us at the foot of the table.

OK on to proceedings, a 12 noon start so that we would finish in time for the big match in the evening. Despite the early start everyone was at the ground in good time with team hedonist DC having enjoyed another sleepless night beaming with delight. Still playing one handed Bucks won the toss and batted. Symo and Matt opened and with the former surprisingly the major partner they put on 28 before Matt looped one up to the keeper in the 12^th over. Enter Dave Allen who saw Symo bowled for 25 by off spinner Eddie Tate (no not that one), 46-2 off16. Dave was playing some fine shots including hitting opening bowler Jones for a six back over his head and another maximum off Tate but George didn’t get going and was out for 2, bowled by Bell, 63-3 off19. Unfortunately Dave smashed a short one from new bowler Smith straight to Tate at point to be out for 28 and at 82-4 things looked grim. Not as grim as 89-8 though as Ross, Polly, Dan and DC all fell in quick succession. Scott and El Chair edged the total up to bonus point territory until Scott went for 6 to bring in the Skip for some light relief. Batting one handed he decided to bat left handed which meant after an over he changed his thigh guard to protect the right (right) thigh. He kept the ball out even managed a single before Barlow missed as high full toss all out 101 with Smith claiming 5-10 – note that when he bowled DC the big man had hit a half tracker the ball before for four, his subsequent first ball to Scott was his second unintentional beamer, three balls that would land 10 m apart – that was what we got out to.

Early tea / lunch and three early wickets – a beauty of an in swinger for DC and Scott picked up an LBW and a dolly to DC at slip of an attempted pull and 28-3 (net 4) and Castlethorpe having a long (but short) tail a sniff of success. Sniff was sadly snuffed as Bell with some good shots but some pathetic smart a**e comments and Spinelli eased the visitors home with 20 overs to spare. So plenty of time for the big match warm up and some morale boosting team bonding – must do better!

Saturday 5^th June

BODICOTE 204-8 (8 pts) lost to MARSTON ST LAWRENCE 243-6 (20 pts) by 39 runs

Off the rural idyll of Marston with a much changed unit from the original text from the skipper, perhaps players were put off by ther word “putative” that accompanied it. – no Parvaiz, DC, Porge or Phil meaning less woop woop chat but on the up side more tea to go round. In came three players making their first team debuts for the season Stuey, Slogger and Dean. Dean of course has recently become a father and tried to pass off his bleary eyed look as lack of sleep on parental duties rather than he had been on the p***. Mentioning fatherhood and having looked for a record per match your correspondent feels that 8 Dads in the side is the most we have ever fielded and with Ross doing ante natal classes Stuey and Scott had better sort themselves out if they are not going to be left behind.

Anyway to the game. Marston in the sun, how could you improve on this – well by winning the toss and batting of course …. Bucks didn’t, we were fielding. The Skip opened with himself and Scott and the latter proved the more expensive. An early off drive of Scott passed close to Skip at mid off and as well of course as missing the ball his complicated dive / break dance routine involved balancing his (admittedly vegetarianly low) body weight on two fingers on his left hand …… fingers gave way and result - dislocation. You would have thought there would have been plenty of people queuing up to inflict pain on the Skip by putting them back in place (but the BCC twitter site is down so Julie, Jan, Wed… etc were unaware of the opportunity for retribution)and it was left to Radar (M*A*S*H reference) Rog who did the trick. An over off for strapping and Skip was soon back in action. To be fair he bowled pretty well with prodigious away swing that saw opener Thornton chop a ball onto his stumps 35-1 off 10. The team huddled round the congratulate the Skip who responded by going on a solo celebration to the deep square leg boundary. The other opener Bywater was playing some strong shots and brought up a half century but also played and missed a lot including one over from Bucks he couldn’t lay a bat on. No 3 Bussey came in intent on hitting everything on the leg side which he did to good effect before going too far across his stumps to Barlow, who had come on for Scott, and was bowled round his legs for 29, 100-2 off 25. Bucks ended his spell 12 overs 5 maidens 1 for 46 and could reflect on bowling worse and getting better figures. He was replaced by Zulfi bowling his off spin and apart from a couple of big maximums did pretty well. No 4 Preston and Bywater took the score onto 152 in the 35^th when Barlow turned one past the opener (really!) and Symmo pulled off the stumping to see him out for 77. Barlow ended with 2-56 off his 12 overs and got out of the attack just in time as Preston and Boyles both scored freely to bring up fifties. Zulfi responded to their attacking by switching to medium pace which was carted even more, Dean came on for a thankless 3 over spell at the end but did bowl Preston for 59 in the penultimate over and Scott brought up another bowling point with two wickets in the last over, bowling Hall for 6 and having Gale well caught at long on by Zulfi to end with 2-61 off 10, In general the Bodicote fielding has been committed with Stuey and Ross both covering a lot of ground, but with four outfielders 48 or over this is always going to be tough – the three catches that went down (no names) luckily did not prove relatively too expensive with the relevant batsmen dismissed soon afterwards.

In reply Stuey sadly fell early for 0 but with the help of plenty of extras Dave and Matt took the score onto 28 before Dave played too early to Dennison and gave a simple c&b, out for 4. Dean played positively and hit a couple of good fours before managing to deflect off his pads onto the stumps for 9, 42-3 off 13. Symo had been tactically moved down the order but he and Matt put on a useful partnership of 43 which was ended when Symo was bowled by James F for 11, 85-4 in 22 overs not far off the run rate but up against it in terms of wickets lost. Ross joined Matt and the two of them played well but after initially boosting the run rate got a little bogged down and Matt fell trying to force the rate when he hit across the line to a ball from Hall that kept a bit low to end on a good 46. Zulfi only made 1 and at 128-6 in the 32^nd things didn’t look great. Despite not having batted for two seasons Rog however soon made an impression whilst Ross was looking increasingly confident with some stylish back foot play and taking 13 off Boyles first over back Bodicote were not completely out of the game. When Rog went for 21 they had added 46 off seven overs leaving 70 needed off the last 5. Ross farmed the strike but couldn’t find the boundary and although Barlow enjoyed hitting Boyles back over his head for six off the first ball he faced the chase petered out to leave the spot prizes up for grabs. Ross duly completed a fine half century ending on 54 no and brought up maximum bonus points, Barlow fell for 7 trying to emulate his previous feat and Scott made 3 no which meant we were sadly spared Chris batting one handed. 204-8 which included a whopping 44 extras was the final total after a game played in a good spirit and Bodicote needing more penetration in their bowling for this week’s crucial game against Castletthorpe (nee Wootton).

Saturday 29^th May

BODICOTE drew with WARWICK UNIVERSITY STAFF – no play rain

Saturday 22 May

BODICOTE 206-8 (6 pts) lost to BYFIELD 313-3 (20 pts) by 107 runs

So another home fixture and another record broken, not sadly hottest match in May (although might have been, what a contrast to a fortnight ago) but largest SNCL score conceded.

With champions Byfield in town the temptation under the SNCL bonus point system might be to stick them in. However under the scorching sun Skipper Buckingham was well aware of a mutiny in the ranks if he did this but lost the toss anyway. With Zulfi a late cry off “Sorry skiper I can’t play” read his text, Bucks drafted in fellow Leamingtonian Ross Caws which lead to some frantic calls to sort out his registration. This proved unnecessary because Ross was alarmingly similar in appearance to Polly and (apart from the less shiny teeth) could have played as him Even spectating brother JP was fooled into thinking that said Polly was playing.

With Crona suffering from an (literally) all night session Phil and Scott took the new ball. Byfield openers Harris and Clayton missed a few balls but generally kept out the good ones and hit anything off line for 4. The score had raced along at 5 an over to 75 off 15 when Phil made the breakthrough, break being the operative word. Attempting a hook shot the helmetless Clayton took the ball on the bridge on his nose with a resounding crack. He fell to his knees in a pool of blood to allow newly medically qualified Symmo to practice his first aid skills. Steve went off dazed, retired hurt for 42 and a trip to the Horton revealed a broken nose which may have to be re-set. Still at least he hasn’t got a modelling career to be ruined! Ironically two years ago he broke his thumb at Bodicote so somewhat of an unhappy hunting ground for him, we hope he makes a quick recovery.

Not long after Phil did make a real breakthrough when he had Harris well caught a first slip by Dave Allen.for 49 to make it 81-1. He followed this up with the wicket of No 3 Carr, LBW for 4 and No 5 Willis bowled with the last ball of his spell for 7. 123-3 read the scoreboard. “is that your bowling figures?” quipped some of the other bowlers,(no they were a good 3-63) …. they were laughing on the other side of their faces later! Oliver and Kirkham were kept reasonably quiet to start with by the medium pace of Buckingham and Cronin and after 29 overs the scoreboard read 139-3. At this stage things did not look too bad but Kirkham then broke lose with a fine array of shots and Oliver biffed anything around the stumps with a Bristowesque bottom hand to deep mid wicket to see the run rate go sky high. Barlow 5 overs for 48 and Miller 2 overs for 24 were tucked into with relish although Porge almost brought off a miracle catch at deep long on with a spectacular dive and palm for 6. Scott rejoined the attack and 9 overs 0-50 represents a good effort. The final outcome - 313-3 with Kirkham 134 not out, Oliver 58 not out and a partnership of 190 in 22 overs including 174 off the last 16.

That target was never going to be on the cards so the revised target was 200 and maximum bonus points. Symmo and Matt put on 48 for the first wicket seeing off the opening bowlers – Kirkham(!) and Heath before Symmo fell for a good 21, bowled by Wills. Then Matt drilled a half volley to mid off to be out for 28 and after a couple of 4s Parvaiz’s shot selection let him down, bowled for 10 and Bodicote 78-3 off 24. Dave Allen and Porge were now at the wicket and despite the former’s attempts to calm the latter down and hang around so that the runs would come Porge fell too going for a big shot, out for 12, 105-4. Enter Ross, with scorer Gillian thinking his name was (aptly) Lost Cause, and he played a good foil as Dave got into his stride with trademark shots between point and mid off and some big sixes behind square to bring up a stylish half century . Ross made 11 in a partnership of 64 and maximum batting points were just 31 runs away with five wickets left. However next batsman in was the struggling Cronin. After squeezing his helmet on play-doh style with cheeks protruding beyond the grille (good banter George/Phil) he took a an age to reach the wicket and then spooned up a simple catch to mid off for a golden for an equally long walk back to the inviting chair. Phil came in and made 8 departing with the score on 193 in the 43^rd but Dave brought up the 200 with another six and only lack of strike in the last over prevented him reaching three figures ending on 95 not out and the final score 206-8..

So the positives – a great batting track, 200 plus, Phil’s three wickets and Dave’s great knock. Next week away to bottom of the table Warwick Uni Staff for a big 40 pointer.

Saturday 15^th May

BODICOTE 172 all out (5 points) lost to EVENLEY 173 for 4 (20 points) by six wickets

Picture this: a pub, a post office, a village green surrounded by stone houses, and cricket played right in the middle. It's Evenley. Picture also a Bodicote win for a perfect day of village cricket.

Now read what actually happened.

Bodicote batted first, which means we must have lost the toss according to Swiller. We did, but the Skip was going to bat first anyway...yes, really. A steady start with Miller and Symmo ended when Symmo played on for 11. Russell was the bowler, with his brand of accurate left-arm over that Swiller was countering with a big stride forward and watchful defence. Or so he thought. The umpire had other ideas and gave him out LBW for a decision that was interesting no matter what the angle of view. Controversial decisions continued when a decent consolidating stand between George and Dave Allen ended with George being caught at mid-on for 16. Except nobody really knew whether the catch was taken....except the umpire. Bad moods began to prevail, with Russell seeming to point to the pavilion when Dave Allen was bowled for a good 33. Does Bodicote indulge in such playground behaviour with tit-for-tat responses? New Dad Newman couldn't resist and duly spiced up the game with a barrage of abuse that surely didn't come from the pre-natal clinics, w hen Russell was dismissed off Buckingham during Evenley's innings.

Bodicote wickets now tumbled and, at 80 for 7 after only 28 overs, picturing a Bodicote win simply looked like delusional hallucinations. But Newman joined Cronin and the score not only accumulated but did so rapidly, until Newman was out for 25. The Skip came next, with the intention of batting out the overs while Cronin made hay. And so it went, with Bucks even getting a five with a single and four overthrows (don't look in the book because it isn't there). When Buckingham was run out for 13 (14), the innings soon came to a conclusion with Cronin's dismissal for an excellent 43. A decent overall effort in the end considering the poor rub of the green, with only 12 balls wasted and a total of 172. Not big enough at Evenley's high-scoring ground but much better than it looked at one stage.

Evenley's innings began with the Skip opening the bowling for a change, with Cronin at the other end, but Romaines and Holden made steady progress until Romaines (31) slapped a rank Buckingham long-hop to point where Parvaiz took a good catch. This brought in Russell who was quickly despatched when caught by Miller and pursued off the field by the volley of abuse mentioned earlier. When Walker was out soon after, Bodicote began to sniff a chance, especially when Newman had Holden very well caught by Zulfi for 20. But this brought in Steve Harris and the end of any more wickets as he (38) and Wethey (68) accumulated runs at an ever-increasing rate. The field scattered and bowling changes were made but to no avail. The main result was a deterioration in the fielding side's temper as fractious behavior came to the fore, culminating with the last over of the innings bowled by George. Ball number four was wide, slow, and very ugly. As it rolled to third man, George stomped off the field before the batsmen had finished running, leaving a slightly embarrassing end to the game.

The facts are that Evenley easily won with plenty of time to spare and, irritating as it might be, Bodicote needs to play these pressure games with a mental attitude more akin to West Wing than West Side. People drop catches, bowlers get hit, batsmen get bad decisions or play stupid shots. It's what we call cricket and we are supposed to enjoy it...all of it. But trying to win at the same time, of course.

Saturday 8^th May

BODICOTE 118 all out (5 pts) lost to RADWAY 170-9 (20pts) by 52 runs

36 seasons after his debut El Chair / Editor marvels at the fact that there are still new records to make and the latest one was Saturday’s “Wettest ever SNCL game without any breaks for the weather”.

Despite the pre-match mix of drizzle / going to drizzle a good hard wicket meant we started on time with a large crowd of disappointed 2^nd XI players (their game being called off) watching on in a variety of hoodies and woolly hats like a group of hoodlums from The Wire. Skipper Bucks welcomed back El Chair and Parvaiz in for Newman and Altaf who looks likely to have made the shortest ever Bodicote career with more time being spent on his transfer than his actual playing. Winning the toss Skip had no hesitation in sticking Radway in. With Boris Douthwaite plying his trade elsewhere DC was soon rewarded when he bowled is replacement Walker for 1. No 3 Rutherford looked like he was settling in and hit Scott for a 6 and a 4 before going for another big hit he was c&b by Scott for 23 with the score on 29-2 after 10. Scott was replaced by Bucks but he struggled with his footing and sent down an over of gentle long hops, the last of which trapped Hayden for 9, 43-3 off 12. Bucks decided his “kiss the turf” final stride requirements were not met by a wet pitch so Matt took over. DC took the next wicket bowling Elsey for 9 to make it 77-4 off 21 and he ended up with a final figures off 2-31 off 12. By now the game took on an attritional feel with the weather alternating between rain, just going to rain or drizzle, and a howling freezing wind. Radway’s runs were hampered by the outfield holding up shots but on the plus side they benefited from numerous slips and slides on the wet outfield and spikes clogged up with Arthur’s hay with El Chair to the fore in this respect. El Chair had also come on for DC and after being hit for an early 6 bowled opener Barnes for a patient 43. Miller bowled Walsh for 18 and when Barlow bowled Bow with the rare pebble ball for 4 Radway had slipped to 116-7 off 31. The eighth wicket pair of Handley and Watkins however quashed any hopes of a collapse and the chance for Bodicote to warm up with a good partnership of 37 broken when Caiger, back on for Matt (12-2-40-1) had Handley well caught a deep cover by Inzy for 26. Scott’s second spell was a good one, 4 overs for 10, and with Barlow also windscreen wiping his way through a tidy spell with one more wicket to end up with 3-49, Radway nudged the final total up to 170-9. It had not been an easy afternoon in the field and the challenge had been met by varying degrees of enthusiasm by the Bodicote troops.

Symmo and Matt opened up and after the former had fallen for 2 but Dave and Matt took the score comfortably up to 32 when Matt was LBW to Hayden for 23. Parvaiz had opted not to take up the No 4 slot instead leaving the ground complaining of illness so Zulfi joined Dave. Zulfi hit a couple of 4s but it was Dave who looked at ease taking four 4s and a 6 off Walker’s first two overs and generally looking in control. At 89-2 things were edging Bodicote’s way and rain at this stage would have given us a welcome win on run rate but saldy it was not to be. Zulfi went for 12 and Dave who had reached 47 then couldn’t lay bat on ball saw the runs dry up. Porge went for 0, DC for 6 and Inzy for 1 and although Dave finally completed a good half century, when he fell for 58 the score was 111-6 and game over. Scott and Bucks failed to trouble the scorers and 89-2 had become 118 all out (well for 9 with Parvaiz absent) and Radway’s Walker had 4-30 after 0-26 off 2! Thanks go to Gillian for scoring and getting in practice for her guiding trip across the Arctic tundra spent the afternoon wrapped up in the “warmth” of the shed.

So a miserable wet day and off the pub to dry out - for those players lucky enough to have dry trousers to change into as El Chair’s afternoon had taken a turn for the worse when Dave emptied the un-drunk 20 over squash rations all over his jeans during the interval. Two losses against potentially two of the weaker sides in the Division and Evenley away next week – time to dig in and stick together.

Saturday 1^st May

BODICOTE 124 all out (6pts) lost to HINTON IN THE HEDGES 175 all out (20 pts) by 51 runs

The last time the Bodicote Skipper (and yours truly for this report) was at Hinton, an almightly thunderstorm reduced play to 0 balls and imminent fear of electrocution. Today we were hoping for sparks out on the field but with rain forecast for later in the afternoon, Bodicote chose to bowl after winning the toss (there is little alternative with the appalling rain-affected rules heavily favouring the team batting second).

New Dad Newman opened from the top end and "New Man" Cronin followed up from the pavilion end. Having finished last season as The Fridge, Crona was no more than an Ice Box today and his fitness regime paid off with a terrific performance of 12 overs, three for 22. The first wicket was Paul Turvey, coming in the second over and boding well for Bodicote. As Swiller pointed out, Turvey must be a decent player because he's got a van with his name on it. Newman, too, was putting in a good spell until the unaccustomed strain of lifting buggies and babies in the previous three months caused his withdrawal with a back problem. His 5 overs for 10 runs was a fair effort and could have been better rewarded, had Inzy had held on to a hard-hit drive by Ricky Wills to mid off. If the ball was a homing pigeon then Inzy was its loft for this match, except that the pigeon only popped into the perch once. Yes, it was Wills again, but by now he had made a further 60 runs. Credit to Inzy, though, for catching him on the boundary with a crippled knee, injured with a previous failure to entice the pigeon home.

Runs were beginning to leak and Altaf, our new signing from Evenley, took over from Scott (who returned for the very last over to finish with 2 for 31). The reduced pace brought out the capricious nature of the pitch, which had the bouncy feel of those bark paths favoured for woodland walks and caused the ball to rear up, albeit in loopy slow motion. The problem for Buckingham at the other end was that he was neither quick enough nor slow enough to capitalise on the bounce and his unusual middle-of-the-road position caused him to be voted off the hustings. The innings was thus seen out by the more effective slow-bowling of Altaf and Miller, Altaf gaining a creditable 4 wickets for 55 off 12 overs.

Hinton's score of 175 (Wills 65, Mounsdon 34) looked pretty reasonable under the circumstances but was less than 4 an over, which should be easy enough to maintain in anticipation of rain. The intervening tea, and what a great tea it was, must have done something to the pitch, though. In the pub afterwards, Hinton admitted surprise at how much it deteriorated, making Beth Tweddle appear leaden-footed. Unsurprisingly, being caught was the order of the day, with Altaf first to fall after a big 6. Miller (27) and Allen (17) battled well, managing to avoid the fielders for a while before eventually being pouched. Zulfi returned to number 4 and promised a more measured, careful display. However, such an unpredictable pitch was not conducive to this changed approach, with Zulfi reverting to his own predictable style of swings and scythes until being bowled for 14. Neither was this pitch one suited to George but he accumulated 26 excellent runs while watching the rest of the batting order gradually erode. The final score was 124, just missing an extra batting point and falling well short of Hinton's score. On the positive side, Bodicote took 10 wickets to gain five bowling points and definitely had the worst of the pitch. Symmo's elevation to first-team keeper was a success, with three sharp catches to ease the irritation of Stanno slinging his Hooky. Plus we have a rejuvenated pair of opening bowlers and some momentum for the next game: another important one against Radway at home

 2^nd XI

2010 SEASON

Date	Oppostion	Result (* batted first) Click on ¥ for match reports
01 May	Helmdon (H)	W 181 all out / 78-8 ¥
08 May	Flecknoe (A)	D No play rain ¥
15 May	Middleton Cheney A (H)	W 167 all out / 98 all out ¥
22 May	Northampton GP A (A)	L 132 all out* / 134-2 ¥
29 May	Braunston (H)	D No play rain ¥
05 Jun	Chipping Warden (H)	W 173 all out / 134 all out ¥
12 Jun	Dunchurch & B A (A)	W 125 all out / 74 all out ¥
19 Jun	Woodford Halse A (H)	W 117-4 / 116 all out* ¥
26 Jun	Charlton (A)	L 160-6* / 161-5 ¥
03 Jul	Helmdon (A)	W 212-6 / 211-8* ¥
10 Jul	Flecknoe (H)	W 190-3 / 189 all out* ¥
17 Jul	Middleton Cheney A (A)	W 206-7 / 100 all out
24 Jul	Northampton GP A (H)	W 268-4 / 91 all out
31 Jul	Braunston (A)	W 166-9 / 165 all out*
07 Aug	Chipping Warden (A)	L 186-6 / 172 all out
14 Aug	Dunchurch & B A (H)	D No play rain
21 Aug	Woodford Halse A (A)	D No play rain
28 Aug	Charlton (H)	D Abandoned

Saturday 28^th August

BODICOTE ‘A’ 71-5 (11 pts) drew with CHARLTON (12 pts) – match abandoned after 19 overs

Not much cricket for the twos recently but the 10 points from this rained off game secured promotion to Division 3 as runners-up behind Charlton.

Saturday 21^st August

BODICOTE ‘A’ (10 pts) drew with WOODFORD HALSE ‘A’ (10 pts) – no play rain

Game called off because Woodford said it was too wet to prepare a wicket. Perhaps if they had looked at the weather forecast earlier in the week they would have pre-planned a bit. BCC 1^st team wicket was prepared on Monday! Leaves 2nd team needing maximum bonus points or a win against Charlton to get promotion.

Saturday 14^th August

BODICOTE ‘A’ (10 pts) drew with DUNCHURCH & BILTON ‘A’ (10 pts) – no play rain

The game was called off at 1215 due to rain. Unlike at Castlethorpe where between the showers it was sunny, proving that the sun shines on the righteous or at least those players who play for the club not a team……………. .

Saturday 7^th August

BODICOTE A 172 all out (8 pts) lost to CHIPPING WARDEN 186 for 6 (20 pts) by 14 runs

Report unlikely

Saturday 31^st July

BODICOTE A 166 for 9 (20 pts) beat BRAUNSTON 165 all out – 9 pts by 1 wicket

Report to follow

Saturday 24^th July

BODICOTE ‘A’ 268 for 4 (20 pts) beat GRANGE PARK ‘A’ 91 all out (4 pts) by 177 runs

Sorry no report

Saturday 17^th July

BODICOTE ‘A’ 206- 7 (20 pts) beat MIDDLETON CHENEY ‘A’ 100 all out (6 pts) by 106 runs

Sorry no report

Saturday 10^th July

BODICOTE ‘A’ 190-3 (20pts) beat FLECKNOE 189 all out (6pts) by 7 wickets

The second weekend of July saw Bodicote at home on a pitch that despite being watered aplenty during the week was cracking up badly and against a Flecknoe side that should be easily beaten by our mighty 2’s?

The afternoon did not start well when having lost the toss Shaun asked to take to the field on a roasting hot day to have first go with the new ball, luckily for bodicote their last minute replacement for SD (rightly promoted to the 1’s) was Simon Hawken who quiclkly reminded everyone of his 8 wicket haul the last time he played Flecknoe.

Adam and Simon shared the new ball and it was Simon who started the better, having opened Lindoe caught behind for 1 in his 3^rd over. The next two balls should have seen Simon grab a hat-trick but thanks to a dropped catch and one that didn’t quite carry it didn’t happen, not to worry as he bowled the other opener Johnson the next ball for 6.

Simon also had another wicket, well caught by Rogers to finish his spell with 12-2-39-3. Shaun had replaced Adam from the tree end and after playing every shot in the air just past fielders Binder was bowled by Shaun for 29. The next two batsmen Aldersley and Adkins decided to chance their arm by swinging wildly at everything that Shaun and Yatesy had to offer. They put on a quick fire 60 partnership before Aldersley was bowled for 29 by Yates which brought Conning to the crease.

He didn’t stay for long as he was undone by a ‘very’ fast in-swinging yorker from Rogers who had replaced Harris from the tree end. Adkins fell soon after, again bowled by Yatesy for 38 and when Rogers had number 9 Annetts bowled by another yorker for 4 Bodicote had already started to think of the plough’s tea. This was a foolish mistake as despite doing his utmost to get himself run out Clark, aka Hunter, aka Gladiator, aka blue jogger wearing, white linen shirt American sounding oxford university student somehow managed to get 24, run out off the last ball to leave Flecknoe with 186 all out and a disappointed Bodicote trudged off down the road to think about the chase ahead.

Openers Rogers and Harris strolled out to the crease to surely put on a big opening partnership, something they had failed to do so far this season. This was once again not to be as Shaun was out on the 5^th ball bowled by a slow yorker and Rogers soon followed him, nailing a shot straight to mid-on for 7 to leave us 14-2 at the end of the 3^rd over.

No real danger then as the dependable Cutler was in with our ‘in-form’ batsmen Darren who showed his intentions by taking 27 off the 5^th over, albeit with the help of 5 no balls. These two looked comfortable at the crease and when Cutler was out for 5 in the 15^th over the score had moved past 70 and the next over saw Darren bring up his 50 and the crucial partnership between him and Craig would surely see us home?

Of course it did as they sent the ball to all parts of the lightning fast outfield to put on over 100 in 14 overs to see us home with 11 overs and 7 wickets to spare, Darren finishing with an excellent 84 not out and Craig a VERY streaky unbeaten 54.

Saturday 3^rd July

BODICOTE ‘A’ 212-6 (20 pts) beat HELMDON 211-8 (8 pts) by four wickets

So to the first game of the second half of the season and Bodicote faced a trip to Helmdon. Bodicote comfortably beat Helmdon on the opening game of the season but since then Helmdon have won the majority of their games and were only a few points behind in 4th place with Bodicote 3rd. Bodicote gave debuts to a couple of new players, Russ Duncan and Michael Palmer. So with Shaun winning the toss, he decided to stick Helmdon in on a wicket plagued with moss and to have the rare opportunity of having the first use of a new ball.

Adam and Shaun shared the new ball and the score crept up to 33-0 off 10 overs when Adam was taken out of the attack due to fatigue with his first 5 overs only going for 10 runs. Shaun then decided he was too tired to keep bowling up the hill so switched ends to replace Adam and bought Paul Rogers on from the other end. Shaun bowled straight through and returned figures of 12-0-57-1. New boy Michael Palmer then took over from Shaun and took a wicket with his first ball and then picked up his second wicket in his second over. He finished up with 3-35 off 5 overs after 1 of their batsmen took a liking to his bowling before Michael got his own back by having him caught behind by Darren. Paul bowled 5 overs for 20 runs and was replaced by Hasan. Hasan forced edges through the vacant slip region several times but still picked up 3 wickets in his final over (a catch each for Shaun, Adam and Paul) to finish with 11 overs 3-56. Adam came back to bowl another 3 overs and finished with 8 overs 1-35. A very good fielding performance by the whole team but the score ended up on 211-8 off 40 overs. Bodicote were very unlucky with edges not carrying or shots in the air that just fell safe. Otherwise the target would have been a lot less. A couple of drop catches, but won't name names (Craig - Both).

So after a brilliant tea, Bodicote set about chasing the 212 runs they needed to pull off a big win against the team just below them in the league. Bodicote opened up with SD and new boy Russ. Russ didn’t hang around long after being caught for 0. SD on the other hand looked relatively comfortable and scored a decent looking 11 before bottom edging on to his own stumps. 31-2 from 7 overs. Shaun and Darren were the together at the crease and Darren was quickly into his stride hitting some lovely shots and a big 6 towards cow corner. Shaun and Darren took the score onto 78-3 when Darren was bowled for 45 from a ball that kept very low and crept underneath his bat onto the stumps. Craig then joined Shaun at the crease and the 2 of them were playing plenty of shots. Craig was getting a fair bit of stick and plenty of stares from the oppo but himself and Shaun were having a laugh with them and decided to give plenty back to them, mainly by sending the ball all over the ground to the boundary. Shaun bought up his half century and the smacked a 6 over the road and into the next field and then pulled a ball for 6 which ended up hitting 2 cars. Shaun and Craig picked up the run rate and shared a partnership of 90 in 12 overs before Shaun was caught at point trying to increase the run rate even more for 63. 168-4 off 26 overs.
Paul then went out and tried to keep the run rate up and scored a quick 18 including another top edge for 6 like the previous week against Charlton. Adam was next in and tried to help Craig bring up his 50 by making sure Craig faced every ball. As soon as Craig got his 50 Adam tried to knock the ball into next week but completely missed and was stumped for 0. Michael was next in with 4 needed and only required 1 ball to win the match by playing a sweep shot for 4. Craig unbeaten on 53.

An excellent run chase with 6 overs to spare with most people contributing and was the first time Bodicote scored over 200 this season. A couple of must win matches against Flecknoe and Mango Chutney in the next couple of weeks to keep our promotion push alive.

Saturday 26^th June

BODICOTE ‘A’ 160-6 (7 pts) lost to CHARLTON 161-5 (20 pts) by five wickets

Bodicote’s biggest challenge of the season saw them visit a Charlton side that had scored over 200 runs in every game so far this season and were comfortable top of the table, this was to be our sternest test.

Shaun won the toss and chose to bat first and sent out brother Adam with Rogers to open the batting. The act of faith somewhat misfired when Adam was caught on 0 at the end of the first over to give Charlton the start they wanted. The first runs came in the 3^rd over when Rogers whipped Knight high over square for 6 with possible the best shot anyone on a Saturday will ever see!

He fell in the 7^th over caught off Knight for 14 which left Cutler and former Charlton boy Wyatt at the crease to attempt an innings re-build.

They did just that, slowly ticking the score over whilst still putting the bad balls away to take the score up to 95 in the 30^th over when Cutler unluckily dragged on for a good knock of 40 and his partner Darren was also unlucky to be run out after a slip just 4 short of a well deserved half century.

Thanks to a quick 30 from Craig we were able to make it up to 160-6 at the end of our 40 overs, the first time we had batted the whole innings all season!

Bodicote entered the field with the difficult task of doing what no other team had done before this season and stop the Charlton batting line-up, both openers Knight started things off for the opposition, the younger of the duo finding his range early thanks to some short bowling from Hasan, however Hasan soon had his revenge when he had Knight caught for 12, Knight snr was next to go, again falling to Hasan thanks to a fantastic catch from Rogers.

Next man in was the crucial wicket for Bodicote as top batsmen Taylor was in and then out again a few overs later, Adam inducing an edge and Bodicote were jubilant in the field sensing an unlikely win. Unfortunately the next man in ‘Big Mo’ lived up to his reputation smashing (or at least attempting to smash) the ball to all parts and by the time one of his lofted shots fell to a fielder (Shaun) from the bowling of Rogers he had already scored 40 and the target seemed less daunting, the rest of the innings is probably one to forget as despite giving their all in the field on a ridiculously humid afternoon we could only pick up another wicket, Rogers finishing with 2-35 and Charlton safely home with 5 wickets and plenty of overs to spare.

A disappointing day for Bodicote although we had given a Charlton side with 4 or 5 premier division caliber players a good game.

Saturday 19^th June

BODICOTE ‘A’ 117-4 (20 pts) beat WOODFORD HALSE ‘A’ 116 all out (5 pts) by six wickets

Bodicote staged host to Woodford Halse and for the first time this season were not required to bat first, they instead took to the field for their first chance to use the new ball.

Adam wasted no time in ‘hitting his straps’ having opener Prophet (No, he wasn’t) caught at slip with an ABSOLUTE SCREAMER of a catch by Irvine, turning up for his annual bodicote outing, unfortunately he not only let himself ..... but also the team down when he dropped a sitter a few overs later

It took until the 13^th over before Adam claimed his and bodicote’s 2^nd wicket, bowling Popat for 3, a couple of overs later and wickets 3 and 4 soon followed, both for Adam who was extremely confident as usual that he was still on for a 10-for. Adam picked up his fifth in his last over, finishing with 5-14 off his 12 overs, Jay picked up a wicket in his last over, number 4 Ward edging to Shaun behind the stumps for 10 to leave Woodford on 52-6 after 24 overs.

Rogers and Hasan replaced the opening duo assuming they would wrap up the rest of the batsmen easily, the only problem with that being that being the youthful confidence of Eyles and Ward jnr who took the attack to Bodicote and by the time Eyles was bowled by a delivery tipping 90mph from Rogers the score had moved past the 100 mark. Woodfood’s innings soon collapsed from their and they were bowled out for 116 in the 36^th over, Rogers finishing with 2-25 and Darren Wyatt 1-10 from his 3 overs.

Openers Paul and Shaun strolled out to the middle to knock off the total with relative ease (wishful thinking?). Shaun was the first to fall in the 7^th over when he was bowled by “a real fizzer” from Reed for 11, Rogers was next to follow him in the 10^th over and after being dropped 5 times was eventually put out of his misery for 31, Darren quickly followed for 8 in the next over, adjudged lbw by one of our own players despite the massive inside edge (seriously Dan!) to leave us still needing another 60 odd runs to win.

Luckily the next man in was Irvine who knocked the ball around with incredible ease with debutante Ross Allen who did play well for his 6 before Craig Lynes came in to help steer us over the line, finishing with 14 not out himself and an unbeaten 33 from Irvine saw us home with a comfortable 6 wicket victory.

Saturday 13^th June

BODICOTE ‘A’ 125 all out (20 pts) beat DUNCHURCH & BILTON ‘A’ 74 all out (6 pts) by 51 runs

Bodicote ‘A’ made the trip to Dunchurch for an earlier start time of 12.30 so we could all get back to the pub for the evenings football.

Shaun lost the toss and was asked to bat first (had they not seen our star studded lineup?), openers Harris and Rogers made their way out to the middle to see off the new ball pair of Garrett Jnr and Mattock, this was not to be though as Shaun was bowled by Garrett Jnr in the 3^rd over with one that nipped back off the seam (best ball he’s ever seen). Next man in was Darren Wyatt, playing his first match this season and his nerves obviously shone through as he was caught on the back foot in his crease, falling lbw for 0 in the 5^th over.

This brought Craig to the crease and he and Rogers looked to rebuild the innings whilst still playing their shots, Rogers crashing a straight six right into the sightscreen! Craig was out bowled for 6 in the 9^th over and Rogers soon followed him back in the next over after one that stayed on the floor for his 21.

Mike Hawken and Adam Harris were the new batsmen and just as there were signs of another good partnership like last weeks, Mike was bowled by new bowler Garrett Snr for 3. New man in Wasim took his time to get going and let Adam take most of the strike before he fell caught off the bowling of Garrett Snr again for a well played 31.

Luke was in next and after trying his best to get out caught at slip he very much succeeded in the 26^th over when he did just that, out for 3. Dan Lord was in next and after what should have been 4 run-outs in the four singles he made he was out, giving the returning Garrett Jnr his 4^th wicket of the match.

Just when we thought we would struggle to make the 100 mark, Wasim and Hasan put on a great 9^th wicket partnership to steer us to 116 when Wasim was out for a good knock of 36 and after a few more added between Hasan and Jay, Bodciote made it to 125 all out in the 29^th over.

Bodicote entered the field in jubilant spirits, convinced their own bowling attack on an already fragile pitch would be enough to see off the opposition. Adam and Jay opened the bowling, Adam picking up his first wicket in the 9^th over with opener Ewer bowled for 3 and the score only up to 8-1. Aided by the tight bowling by the opening pair Dunchurch were finding runs very hard to come by and when Jay had number 3 caught behind for 8 in the 14^th over the score was only up to 21.

The Bodicote banter was reaching its peak in their attempt to wind-up opening batsmen Norburn who was seemingly playing a test match innings. Hasan replaced Adam in the 21^st over and started to get the rhythm back that had deserted him last week, picking up his first wicket in his 3^rd over, meanwhile Roger replaced Jay at the other end who completed his 12 overs, ending with 1-27.

Rogers picked up his first wicket in the 28^th over, well caught by Luke to send Smith back for 1 and by the end of the 30^th over Dunchurch had reached 55-6, needing an unlikely 71 to win off the last ten overs. The run chase never really began though and wickets again steadily fell, Hasan picking up another two, one for Luke and one for the returning Adam to leave Dunchurch on 74 all out at the start of the 39^th over and a convincing victory for Bodicote.

Saturday 6^th June

BODICOTE ‘A’ 173 all out (20 pts) beat CHIPPING WARDEN 134 all out (9 pts) by 39 runs

The first game of June saw Bodicote host a Chipping Warden side that were only one place below them in the table and capable of causing an upset on their day, especially with the dangerous Jason Rumble.

Once again Shaun won the toss (100% record this season) and needed no encouragement in electing to bat first.

Paul and Shaun opened the batting, Paul getting off the mark with a nice straight drive for 4 and Shaun in the next over sweeping for 4 as well. They had taken the score past 20 in the 4^th over when Rogers was out caught at cover for 12, Shaun soon followed him in the next over, toeing a shot straight in the air to be out for 15.

The new batsmen Inzy and Craig batted well together for 8 overs before Inzy was out playing across the line to a straight one, he was followed a few overs later when Ciballi was out for 4, again to Green who’s slow bowling was certainly doing the trick.

Mike Hawken was the next man in and after having not played for 4 years decided to play himself in while Craig led the attack, he was out well stumped by Rumble for a good 30 which brought Adam to the crease. His first 7 scoring shots included five 6’s and two 4’s which prompted all the Chippy fielders to be sent to the boundary.

Adam and Mike put on 60 runs in ten overs before Adam toed a full toss to mid-wicket, painfully just six short of a deserved 50. Mike followed in the next over, bowled for a well played 19 and after a few more runs were added by the lower order we ended on 173 all out after 37 overs.

After top scoring with the bat Adam also opened the bowling from the tree end and in his 3^rd over had the dangerous Rumble trapped in front for 4. That was frustratingly the only wicket to fall in the next 15 overs as the two batsmen in scratched around against Adam unable to get bat anywhere near the ball whilst finding it easy to score off an ‘out of sorts’ Hasan, who despite changing ends only bowled 6 overs for 35 runs.

Wasim replaced Hasan from the shed end and found some turn and bounce straight away, mixing his pace every ball he had the Chippy batsmen guessing all the time. Finally in the 19^th over Adam struck twice removing Fernbank and Horricks who after many attempts were bowled and caught behind respectively.

The 25^th over saw a change in the bowling when Rogers replaced Adam, who’s 12 overs (including 7 maidens!) finished with 3-22.

Bodicote were finding it hard to pick up more wickets and instead set upon keeping the run rate down, leaving Chippy needing 70 runs off the last ten overs.

The pressure finally told on the batsmen and after two drops in two balls, first Adam and then Craig, Wasim finally picked up his first wicket, caught behind by Shaun to remove Holton for 18. They say one brings two and that was certainly the case as Rogers had his first, caught behind by Harris to send Wardman on his way for 13 to leave the visitors 115-6 at the end of the 33^rd over.

Bodicote soon wrapped things up from there, Rogers picking up another two wickets in two balls from his next over and Yatesy finishing things off with two wickets in the final over to dismiss them for 134 and leave Bodicote with a hard earned 39 run victory.

Saturday 29^th May

BODICOTE ‘A’ drew with BRAUNSTON – no play rain

Saturday 22^nd May

BODICOTE ‘A’ 132 all out (5 pts) lost to NORTHAMPTON GRANGE PARK ‘A’ 135-2 (20 pts) by 8 Wickets

The hottest day of the year so far was reserved for Bodicote’s trip to Northampton, for a game that was played on a primary school pitch which had it only been watered, cut, rolled and marked properly would have been a belter of a pitch, sadly this was not the case and Bodicote elected to bat first, Shaun winning the toss.

Shaun was first to fall from the first ball to misbehave of the day for 4 while Craig was sent after, toeing an edge behind to promote Wasim and Luke to the crease in only the 3^rd over, Wasim was soon on his way back falling lbw for 1 and his replacement Rogers lasted only 7 balls more for his 7. Adam’s time at the crease was just as short and Bodicote soon found themselves 39-6 in the 9^th over and looking at a very low score indeed.

The innings rebuild was built on a platform of real determination from Luke and SD who occupied the crease for the next 11 over’s whilst VERY slowly ticking the scoreboard over (mainly wides and potentially byes). Shortly after a wicket fell when SD was a fraction late down on a Yorker, Dan Lord soon followed and next to go was Luke for what must be a record 14 scored in 29 overs at the crease!

Hasan and Steve then decided to show the top order how it is done by batting with considerable ease to take Bodicote to 132 all out, a very good score considering the poor start we made.

Bodicote entered the field in confident manner feeling they had enough runs on a very poor pitch to push a real claim for victory, this was aided by a good start with the ball which saw their opener bowled by Hasan in the 4^th over.

This was unfortunately as far as the dream got as despite Northampton struggling to score from one end, Adam and Paul’s joint figures of 9 over’s, only going for 25 runs with 3 maidens, the other end started to yield more runs.

Craig soon picked up a wicket with a thin edge caught behind, this brought Northampton’s Couldrick to the crease, he soon picked up the run rate and along with other opener Young they easily saw their side home with 8 wickets and plenty of over’s to spare.

A disappointing day for Bodicote and a much better performance against Braunston next week is required.

Saturday 14^th May

BODICOTE ‘A’ 167 all out (20 pts) beat Middleton Cheney ‘A’ 98 all out (7 pts) by 69 Runs

Bodicote welcomed Middleton Cheney in the third week of the season.
With 10 points dropped the week before with a washout against Flecknoe, Bodicote were looking for no less than the 20 points that were up for grabs.

Bodicote won the toss and there was no hesitation in choosing to bat first on a decent looking track with a nicely cut outfield.

Shaun and Craig opened things up and were looking comfortable against some tight bowling.

Craig found the boundary with ease and Shaun was first to fall with the score on 28 in the 6th over after toeing a shot to square leg.

Luke was the next man in and took roughly 24 balls to get off the mark, taking the expression get your eye in to the extreme.

Luke hit a solid 12 and Craig didn't hang around too much longer for 19. Dean hit a couple of lovely edges for 4 before being bowled for 10, leaving the score 48-3 off 14.

Wasim and Stuart got stuck in and set about rebuilding the innings. Both got settled and got the score up to 139-6 with Wasim scoring 45 and Stuart 35. Adam added 2, Balti 12,

Dan 2 and Hasan 6 which left the score on 167 all out at tea.

Bodicote felt that they had enough runs to play with to bowl the opposition out and gain the 20 they were after.

The Cheney innings started with a run out by Wasim after misfielding a quick single allowing Cheney thinking they could sneak an extra run,
unfortunately for them Wasim had other ideas and threw the stumps down with a direct hit.

The next pair got stuck in and were difficult to remove, with number 2 batsman Owen not really scoring many runs but was happy to hang about, even after Adam wrapped him on the back of his leg, which he certainly felt!

Dean then decided to test out the middle of the pitch and give him a short one which managed to smack the batsmen in groin region. A couple of balls later Dean had the batsmen caught
behind but umpire wigger was having none of it despite there being a thick edge.

Shaun look up to the sky in disbelief and turned to the batsmen and asked him if he had hit it, and his reply was "yes", so Shaun then asked why didn't you walk then to which he replied with a
laugh and a grin on his face.

Dean then asked the skipper to put someone in at short leg cause he was gonna test him out with some more short pitched stuff.

The very next ball the batsmen was struck in the exact same place as before in the groin and went down like he had been sniped. He then called for some deep freeze but didn't hang around
much longer as Hasan picked up his first wicket.

After that their innings just disintegrated with 68-1 turning into 98 all out with bowling figures of Adam 7 overs 0-22, Jay 9 overs 0-34, Dean 8 overs 4-24 and Hasan 6 overs 4-14.

Another decent performance by Bodicote and another 20 points against Northampton grange park this Saturday would be nice.

Saturday 8^th May

BODICOTE ‘A’ (10 pts) drew with FLECKNOE (10 pts) – no play rain

Match called off in the morning and plenty of Snicko practice instead.

Saturday 1^st May

BODICOTE ‘A’ 181 all out (20 pts) beat HELMDON 75-8 (7 pts) by higher run rate

The first match of the season saw a visit from a less than youthful looking Helmdon side with an average age of nearly 50 against a youthfully Bodicote side with 10 players aged 25 or under.

Shaun won the toss and took no time at all in electing to bat on what looked a good strip, a reward of the hard work of the last few weeks. Shaun opened the batting with Craig against some less than threatening opening bowlers from Helmdon that saw the score race up past 30 in the 7^th over, Bodicote then lost Craig Lynes for 11 caught behind off the bowling of Bridger with brought Wasim to the crease in his newly promoted position, unfortunately he didn’t last long as he was undone by an absolute jaffa to give Bridger his second wicket, in strolled Luke Symington in a confident manner no doubt helped by the absence of his number one critic from the spectators, he started well along with Shaun who had been batting well and the score raced up to 93 after 17.

Shaun fell shortly after to a good catch at first slip for a finely crafted 53 which brought debutant Stuart Ciballi to the crease for his first match just 8 years after he first signed on, he was joined by Paul Rogers in the 19^th over when Luke was undone by new bowler Page, these two scratched around and decided to play themselves in during the next over until they decided to unleash a frenzy on the Helmdon attack which saw them put on 50 in 5 overs before Rogers fell to a good one handed catch for 25 and Ciballi soon after for a well struck 23.

Adam and SD were the new batsmen but the tone of the day seemed to be the tempo which saw Dan succumb to a walk down the pitch and a stumping off new bowler Arrand for 0, who also snared Adam who tried one too many ‘car park shots’ and was caught on the boundary for 14, another debutant Dan Lord came in next and after Hasan was adjudged lbw first ball he saw out a few more overs with Jay to see the score reach 181 all out in the 33^rd over.

After a refuelling trip to the Plough, Bodicote stepped out to the field in confident mood and made a great start with the ball when Jay had the opener Stothard well caught by Stuart for 4 and a slow start saw them reach only 26 after 9 overs. The 10^th over proved vital to Bodicote as it yearned 2 wickets in 2 balls for an on form Jay while Adam was beating the bat with every ball he bowled that wasn’t a wide (of which there were plenty).

By the time the drinks came out at the end of the 20^th Bodicote has reduced Helmdon to 61-5 including an outstanding slip catch from Stuart off the bowling of Adam in an ‘authentic piece of cricket’ of which Helmdon batsmen Turnham had no answer.

Adam was replaced by Rogers who, after a gentle reminder he had in fact edged it and yes, he had been given out removed the number 7 caught behind for 7, meanwhile Jay’s bowling was simply too much for the other batsmen who could barely get near it let alone produce an edge, he finished his 12 overs straight through, taking 4-31.

Rogers then took the 8^th wicket, well caught in front of square by SD before the teams retired to the changing rooms a little early as downpour brought an end to a Helmdon innings that had reached 75-8 in the 25^th over and a win for Bodicote with a much healthier run rate

MIDWEEK

2010 SEASON

Results from the Bodicote’s matches in the Brackley & District Midweek League will appear here. Hoping that Porge will write some match reports. The weekly league round-up is accessible here

Date	Opposition	Result (* batted first) Click on ¥ for match reports
28 Apr	Shifa (A)	L ¥
05 May	Kings Sutton (A)	No game – Sutton withdrawn
12 May	Sandford (H)	No game – Sandford withdrawn
18 May	Great Tew (Cup) (A)	W 195-6 / 108 all out ¥
19 May	Banbury (H)	L 130-6* / 132-4 ¥
26 May	Great Tew (A)	L 130 all out / 83-7 all out ¥
02 Jun	Banbury 20 (A)	W 124-9 / 113-7 ¥
08 Jun	Byfield (A) (Cup 2)	Postponed - rain then conceded
09 Jun	Broughton & NN (H)	W 87-7* / 86-6 ¥
16 Jun	Shifa (H)	L no details available ¥
23 Jun	Kings Sutton (H)	No game – Sutton withdrawn
30 Jun	Sandford (A)	No game – Sandford withdrawn
07 Jul	Banbury (A)
14 Jul	Great Tew (H)	A BCC 5-0 / 98-9 - rain
21 Jul	Banbury 20 (H)	W 165-2 / 147-8
28 Jul	Broughton & NN (A)	W 141-8 / 140-4

16^th June

BODICOTE lost to SHIFA

Info drying up from midweek team!

9^th June

BODICOTE 87-7 beat BROUGHTON & NN 86-8 by 3 wickets

Report to follow

2^nd June

BODICOTE 124-9 beat BANBURY XX 113-7 by 11 runs.

There’s a score you would not expect to see! Report awaited but word is Symo took five wickets, is there no end to this all-rounder’s talents?

26^th May

BODICOTE 83-7 all out lost GREAT TEW 130 all out by 47 runs

Feeling confident after their most recent success against this opposition just 6 days before in the Cup, Bodicote felt the urge to make a few changes to make this a very competitive game. It was Great Tew who one way or another had the privilege to pile up the runs 1st, in which was in contrast to last week. S. Caiger and A. Harris opened the seam bowling attack which was helped by sharp fielding throughout, with only the bad balls being dispatched for boundaries. The scoreboard with ticking over with relative ease without much of a sniff of a chance being generated other than when the batsmen could hardly get near the snorters of a deliverys, with which were few and far between. The man they call Symo strutted his stuff and caused the batsmen some confusion with his dibbly dobblys when Parker & Licence who under the number 1 rule of running between the wickets Never run on a mis-field in which Parker felt to the full when they attempted a 2nd run from a fumble in the field by Caiger then a great recovery by named fielder straight into the waiting arms of S. Harris, wicket-keeping, and whipped the bails of with Parker stranded. Another good partnership was building between Licence and Millard in equal measures to good bowling from Symo and P. Rodgers. It was a long wait in coming but the 2nd wicket (Millard) was finally taken by quick reactions from M. Miller who had a split second to cling onto a sharp caught and bowled chance, cue great relieve. With Porger at the other end it was going to be twinkle, spin, from both ends. This was the beginning of the end to a solid start from the Great Tew batting line-up as spin was their downfall as like buses when 1 comes and goes another 2 come and go. 3rd wicket down was from a good ball by Porger and finished off with a stumping from Quick Hands Harris who behind the stumps removed the bails off before Licence managed to recover his ground, who was reminded that he did in fact have a Licence to walk of the pitch and back into the Pavilion. Next and not long after was a loud LBW appeal and the raised finger meant another wicket (Catling) for Miller, who in his last over of the game didnt just accept the 1 wicket he was after blood and a couple of balls late bagged his 3rd wicket (Clarke) of the innings in which a smart but very good catch from Porger standing in short cover (Might want to check with Porger his position here, as not fully aware of what you call where he was actually standing but very close on the leg side) Last over of the innings and the Captain Porger leading by example set about a quick ending to the innings and was rewarded when Quick Hands Harris took 1 literally for the team and was like Coco the clown until he finally clung onto a sharp turning edge from Morton. The fun did not end there for Porger who actually managed to get one to pitch and straighten and removed number 7, Taylor, by removing his stumps. End of innings a real possibility of achieving a double success within a week for Bodicote after restricting the hosts to a decent 129-7.

A slow but steady start to the chase was required and the opening partnership of Miller and S. Harris went about that in exactly that manner slow and steady. Who would keep their nerves the longest would surely be the victorious team. Harris was the 1st man out as he was aiming where there werent any fielders aka the aerial route only for gravity to pull the ball back down to earth and land safely in the fielders hands. In walks P. Rodgers who was looking rather comfortable until tragedy struck when after attempting a sneaky 2nd run, Miller fell just short of his ground and headed back to the pavilion down beaten. Dan Lord was given the responsibility to steady the ship with Rodgers, and a couple of decent overs yielded 18 runs the unimaginable was becoming a reality. A good sharp catch at mid-wicket meant a long walk back to the pavilion for Rodgers who up to that point looked capable of bring success back home. Pinnochio as he is known as walked in and didnt hang about long after trying to up the run rate in which Bodicote were falling behind rather rapidly. Captain Porger in next and a sinking ship always needs a good captain, and a good captains knock was very much needed to salvage anything out of this game now. Lord was next man out after skying one too many in attempting to hit the very much needed boundary, in which plenty were needed at this point 12 overs down and 50-5 was a poor sight for any one able to view the spectacle on show. Symo, who never shone with the ball like he has mentioned every day since the last visit here, had a chance to delivery the hammer blows needed to get anywhere near the 130 target, came in and knocked the ball around like he never really meant it. A 6 straight down the ground was exactly what the doctor ordered but obviously the doctor ordered far too late as the target was now completely out the window and in trying to replicate the 6 hitting power of a certain Mr Pietersen, Symo only achieved a skier straight back to the bowler. SD was next in and not much happened other than SD and Porger, with a steady and confident knock, walking off the pitch. A measly 83-7. Straight back to the Plough for commiserations by the whole playing XI.

19^th May

BODICOTE 130-6 lost to BANBURY 132-4 by 6 wickets

On a humid Wednesday evening neighbours Banbury made it over the hedge, lost the toss and were soon in the field as captain MitchellJohnson decided to bat first.

Brothers Shaun and Adam strolled out to the crease and Shaun soon got the scoreboard ticking with some powerful shots to the boundary, they put on 20 odd runs for the first wicket before Shaun played all round a straight to go leg before, this brought Luke to the crease to join Adam who had been batting well, they carried the score along before Luke was the next go to, in came Barney next..... and straight out he went followed in by Symo.

Adam was next to go and he was followed straight away by Symo with Bodicote staring down the barrel of an embarrassing total.

Paul Rogers and Craig Lynes were the next two in and after one or two balls to get their eye in they soon advanced down the track to smack the spinners to all parts with 4’s and 6’s going everywhere (including nearly straight into their captains brand new car!)

Craig was eventually run out in the 19^th over for a quick fire 29 and at the end of the 20^th Bodicote had made their way up to 130-6, Rogers finishing with a crafted 44 not out.

After a quick change around Bodicote entered the field and openers Hasan and Scott kept things tight for the first few over’s including a wicket for Scott.

Banbury soon steadied the ship and the next 2 batsmen put on 80 odd for the 2^nd wicket and were looking like securing an early victory .......... but SD was having none of that, skittling the number 3 with a quick, low bouncing, flipper that rattled into middle stump!

Dan carried on the pace attack in his next with another timber tickler and with opener Phillips eventually out trying one too many ‘tree’ shots and the next batsmen in on a roll of 6 consecutive ducks Bodicote were sensing an unlikely win.

It all came down to the last over and despite bringing on Luke ‘Pinnochio’ Symington, Banbury saw themselves home with 4 balls to spare and a closer than it looked 6 wicket victory.

18^th May

BODICOTE 195-6 beat GREAT TEW 108 all out by 87 runs

On a batsman's paradise of a wicket Bodicote lost the toss and were put into bat by a very youthful looking Great Tew.

Matt Miller and Shaun Harris went out to open with Matt popping one up first ball but lucky a fielder didn't pick it up, unfortunately Matt then popped another catch up shortly after to depart for 3. Craig was sent out to partner Shaun who looked in form and smoting most of the balls only to get out for 0. Luke then went out to assist Shaun and put on 19 with some beautifully crafted shots which he obviously doesn't get from symo snr who seemed to miss time a lot of his early on in his 24. With symo departing on 24. Adam went out to partner Shaun who was sending the ball to all parts of the boundary and making it look very easy, he hit a brilliant four but very next ball give the fielder an easy catch.

Now into the final few over Paul Rogers looked at ease with Shaun scoring 30 himself only to get out on the last ball of the innings whilst Shaun had made his way to a beautiful knock of 100 N.O. and Bodicote finished with 195 for 6.

With such a large target to chase Great Tew looked to the wicket only for Jay to pick up a wicket in the second over, Scott soon followed with another in the next, both caught behind the stumps by a tiring Shaun.

With Tew looking like they were never going to make it as Buckingham took 2 in his first and last over everyone was given a bowl to show what they could do with symo picking up for wickets by bowling his spin.

Bodicote won the game by 87 runs and will now face Byfield in Round 2.

5^th & 12^th May

No games, Sutton & Sandford have pulled out of the league.

28^th April

BODICOTE lost to SHIFA – no details received

No details