Sometimes, I Bloody Love Cricket

An odd start to my cricketing day. I drive around Bournemouth as I am giving a few people a lift to the game and every road I go down there is an annoying amount of traffic. So I get to the game, if not late, then a little behind time. A warm beautiful day it is though, with BBC weather reporting a precisely 0% chance of rain. So I am thinking, if I win the toss, that is bolted on to bat. As we are getting close to the ground though, it starts raining. This impossible rain keeps up for half an hour. On the plus side this is one of the few grounds in this league with covers which are rolled out. But the pitch probably does get some moisture on it which will juice it up for bit until it dries out. I duly win the toss so am left with a decision to make. ‘Ah, we’ll have a bat’ I decisively / foolishly  / bravely say.  

So, how did that work out? Opening dates started of cautiously in the face of some accurate bowling – making sure that we got off to a solid start. When a bad ball came along it was dispatched. The first wicket going down at 32, so not a disaster as long as it was built on. And built on it was with the remaining opener pushing on well supported by No.s 3 and 4 to get to 124/3 at almost 6 an over. As the captain I had a warm fuzzy feeling about this. We then lost a couple quickly, which for this team is always a dodgy thing, as the batting order has the ability to panic and jump like lemmings over the cliff. Will Lochhead played an excellent steadying hand though, not trying to smash it but keeping things on course, the run rate dropped a bit but a decent score was being built. This allowed the lower middle order to come and attack, upping the run rate again for a very creditable 221 of you actual cricket runs.

A good score, but would it be enough? The pitch was a good one and the outfield was hard and fast. Bransgore I knew also had some very decent bats, so game on. I was informed that their first opener was a danger, a very capable bat. The opening ball of the innings was sent down and thudded into the pad and from where I was, look very LBWish – with the umpires finger going up! One run, one wicket. The second wicket fell a few overs later. This led to a couple of very powerful hitters coming to the crease, and hit powerfully they did. Upping the run rate considerably. This was another point of danger for this team – witness last week when we went from a winning position to losing it (the game / our heads / focus) when some bats counter attacked. Today though no one panicked, the bowlers continued to bowl well, the fielders remained focused and we took a wicket, then another and things snow balled from there to a convincing win.  

As captain, the most pleasing thing about the win was that it was not due to one or two people have a ‘day out’. It was a good all round team performance with everyone stepping up as needed, which was nice. We had come very lose to victory in a couple of games before falling short, so it is nice to now win one.

The Winton captain at the end of the match

Anatomy of a Catch

Early in the Bransgore innings I was put in the position of having to take a catch, a position which I hate….. The ball was hit straight – and in the air. My first hope was that it would be a caught and bowled, nope going over the bowlers head. So, next I hoped that it would be closer to mid on (I was mid off), nope, slightly my side of straight. My final despairing hope was that it would also be too high for me to take – but buggery flip, it was not hit hard enough and it was already dropping. Ah, I don’t like this for many reasons – I had to make a decent amount of ground. While the ball was not absolutely flying it was hard enough and worst of all I HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT – nightmare. I managed to get in line and thinking about it I saw that although dropping it was still going to be head hight so made the mental decision of ‘fingers up’. To the general surprise of everyone in the team and my utter relief I managed to hold on to it. So, this is fair warning to my team, I have taken a catch this season, I do hope you are not expecting me to do something as competent again.

Sijo Watch

A double instalment as I did not included this section in my last games write up. Two weeks ago Sijo, the captain of the 2s got to have his first bat of the season – scoring a creditable 14 at No.11 This game was also the 2s first loss of the season. Last week, Sijo was back on form. He has to get padded up but was not able to get out into the middle. His team also recorded a crushing victory. There seems to be a pattern building up here. So for all the players in the 2s, for your hopes and chances of promotion I beseech you – try to not let your captain have a bat……..  

Match Scorecard

 

 

Sometimes, I Bloody Hate Cricket

If you are one of the many several stylish, tasteful and discerning people that choose to regularly read this blog, you have probably noticed that this instalment is being published over a week late. My apologies for that, but the game that I should be writing up annoyed me so much I couldn’t face it, hence the radio silence.

The game was against Sway, a team in a very similar position to us in the league, leading to us hoping that we had a chance of coming away with the laurels. Having won the toss, I chose to field. The pitch looked ok but wanted to give my bowlers a chance to use the shiny hard ball (at this level remember, only one ball per game). As a captain, choosing to field always seems to be a risk, as if the opposition get off to a flyer you feel a bit of a fool. No worries of that in this game though, we had Sway at 72 / 8.

AND THEN WE STILL BLOODY LOST

What? How? Why? Fa crying out loud…….. From 72 for 8 they ended up on 190. On a good pitch this should have been doable but we ended up 159 all out.

Where can blame and credit lie for this? Well, lets look to myself first. As captain, could I have done anything else? When we had them on the ropes, I was happy to carry things on as they were, they were working so why not let them carry on working? I could  have been more proactive, brought back the opening bowlers with more attacking fields to wrap things up, this may be a lesson learnt.

Next, got to give credit to the two bats that put on the 100 runs stand. Fair play, they did the business, with a mixture of defensive batting when needed and attacking strokes when able. They were also very active in hustling the quick singles when they could. Well played gentlemen.

There is possible also an issue with the mental strength of the team when things started to slip. Rather than people stepping forward to calm things and take responsibility it all got very ragged, the team got a bit shell shocked. Quick singles were given away when they should not have been – people were not in their position and on their toes. To stop the rot at one point as captain I quickly called everyone in to speak about being switched on and doing the basics better, which did have an effect. By then it was a bit too late.

So 190 runs more or less given away. The pitch was playing well though and it should have been chased down. Too many silly mistakes, to many people not taking responsibility to make things happen when they should have done (talking about the senior players here, not the youngsters, me included). This led to a game that should have been a win petering out to a distinctly annoying loss.

72 for 8 should have led to out first win of the season, instead it become the worst loss of the season instead. Bah, sometimes I bloody hate cricket………….

Winton captain at the end of the game

 A tale of woe

 

Cancelled, Abandoned, Abandoned, Cancelled

The wicket is the strip of light brown underneath the lake......

Last weekend was wet in the South of England and I don’t think there were many games played. It had rained heavily overnight but had stopped raining Saturday morning, so my first job was to check if it was even possible to play on the wicket and ground, or if it was already too wet.

When inspecting the ground as the home team captain, there are a few important things to keep in mind. First, you have to inspect the wicket, especially on an uncovered pitch. While doing this, the most important thing to consider is ‘can you get a decent team out?’. If you are struggling for numbers, or are only making it up to 11 by calling in really weak players you may want to notice just how soft and unsuitable the wicket is to play on. Conversely, if you can field a strong team, then this probably means that the sun and breeze will dry it out nicely before the start of play. Then you need to be sure that the outfield and especially the bowler run ups are safe to play on. When doing this it is important to consider the quality of the opposition; if they are unbeaten at the top of the table you may find that the run ups are far too wet and slippery to use safely.

So after checking that I had a decent team and the opposition were bottom half of the table the ground was ok to play I did not call the game off. This was somewhat frustrating as there was a lot of rain forecast for the afternoon but it was not raining at the time and forecasts can be wrong so there was no reason to yet call the game off.

So, how did the game go? Yeah, rained off after 14 overs or so, a frustrating day all round. Any interesting incidents? Well, a contentious caught behind was given. I say contentious, to be more precise, everyone on the ground including the umpire thought there was a good nick, the batter disagreed. There are two ways for the batter to handle this:

The ‘cricket approved way’ – fixed the umpire with a hard stare for just a second then slowly walk off slowly shaking your head.

The ‘don’t teach this to the kids ‘way. Audibly disagree with the umpire’s decision and walk of muttering semi verbalised swearwords.

Now, I do not mention this to make fun of or chastise the batsman in question (OK, maybe just a little bit). But because it illustrates two important points about being a cricketer.

Point the first

Being a batsman is psychologically really hard. You play once a week, and probably look forward to the game. As a bat you can go out to play, and it a matter of minutes, if not seconds, wham, that’s it, game over, no second chances. This can be tough, especially if you are given out in a way you perceive as unfair.

Point the second

People involved in cricket have an idea about the game, its image and their own behaviour that they often do not live up too. ‘It’s not cricket', 'fair play' and being respectful to your opponents are nice ideals but are often observed in the breach. This is not just a ‘village cricket’ thing either, but seems to be a culture throughout the game. I have seen in low league games men swearing at opponents – including children. It is also nepotistic; I have seen captains and coaches pick players based on not if they deserve to be picked but if they are a mate, or the child of a friend, rather than on merit. Such selfishness extends throughout the game. The MCC claims for itself the right to be the holders and guardians of the ‘spirit of the game’. Their claims to this were tested in the last Ashes series when Jonny Bairstow was controversially run out by Australia. Shortly afterwards, the Australian team has to walk through the ‘Long Room’, full of MCC members. A chance for them to show the world the culture of the MCC. Did they behaviour with dignity and gravitas, making the Australian team wilt under a silent condemnation all the more powerful for being unspoken? Or did they behaviour like a group of entitled children who had just heard the world ‘no’ for the first time in their lives?  

The MCC, a complete bunch of utter members 

Don’t get me wrong, I have met a lot of lovely people through cricket. But in my somewhat short time in being involved with the game, I have come across far to much behaviour that I would describe as ‘not cricket’.

New Feature

Which I am going to call ‘Sijo watch’. This season Sijo has taken over captaining the 2s and has won five out of five – fair play to him. So far though, in every game he has not yet had a chance to bat, with a month and a half of the season gone. So, each week, I will be reporting on how close Sijo actually gets to wielding the willow.

Winton Round Up

It rained

Div 6A Round Up

It rained some more

 

Well, That Was Unexpected

An away game against Mudeford 3s. Still not sure why they are in the same section of Div 6 - 6A, as Mudeford 2s rather than one of them being in 6B but ho hum. I was assuming that this game would be at Mudeford Rec. This is a ground that is functional, but feel sure that no one in the club would be too offended if I did not describe as one of the most beautiful that I have been to. It has some nice trees in the background and a really good chippie opposite, but no breathtaking vistas of the English countryside. However, a few days before the match I realised that if their 1s and 2s take turns playing at home the 3s must play their home games elsewhere. When I checked I was sent a link to a map of the ground that was labelled as ‘Bisterne Football Club’. Great, this was going to be a ropey stretch of astro in the middle of a field that for 10 months of a year was used as football pitches so the outfield would be dangerous to play on; oh ffs. Imagine my surprise when I turned off a quite country road into a sports ground that had been fully converted into a cricket pitch with a good square and smooth flat outfield. This being situated with views of beautiful countryside in every direction. On top of this, it was a perfect day for cricket, sunny without being overly hot. A perfect setting for a game of cricket. Don’t go telling the captain of Mudeford 1s or he might go getting ideas about what ground he wants to play on……

 

Bisterne Cricket Ground, a view from the boundary at the close of play, looking west

Winton 5s are coming into this game of the back of two bad defeats. Not due to the opposition being so much better than us but due to a lack of effort and fight on our part leading to batting collapses. As captain I found this intensely annoying and my main priority was for this to not happen again. Winning the toss I elected to bat on what looked like a good pitch. It did indeed play well all day, a little up and down but nothing too mental.

Striding out to with my partner we agreed we needed to be solid, create a base for others to build on, didn’t need to do anything mental. Can you guess what happened? First wicket down with only 7 on the board in a frustrating fashion. Attila was given out LBW by his son. I thought that I heard a nick but what boy does not want to give his dad out LB? Indeed Freud argued that this rite of passage for any young man was an expression of a desire to clear the way for his own future. He probably also said something about it being an expression of a primal Oedipal urge about wanting to shag your own mum, but Freud was a bit of a perv like that. It might also be a case of as Alex said ‘it was plumb and I didn’t hear anything’, which is also fair enough. Wicket number two fell shortly after for 18 in the eighth over and I was worrying about another collapse and ignominious defeat. I was determined that this would not happen and Harry, the new bat was of similar mind. So with a plan of just not losing any more wickets until the 20^th over and then seeing where we were we dug in. We let wide ones go and flat batted anything straight and we did let quite a few maidens go. As we got our eyes in we started to strike the ball to start the score ticking over.

All this meant that after twenty overs we were 56 /2. OK, not a great scoring rate by any means but in our previous game we were all out for 61 so I was more than happy with that as an improvement. With wickets in hand though we could try and push on  and I had a hopeful target of 175 in mind – which was just over 5 an over in the second half of the innings. Ah, alackaday, both Harry and I went quite quickly, Jacob at 5 showed a bit of fight but succumbed just as he was starting to look comfortable, followed by the No.6 for a duck, leaving us 89/6 in the 30^th. This could go south very quickly and even if we weren’t skittled limping to 125 just would not be enough; my estimate being 150 was the bare minimum to make a game of it. But then Alex T and Adam L stepped up, Alex taking the lead in attack and Adam showing steady support they managed a 50 partnership in 7 overs before Alex went down. With the tail also chipping in we made it to 154 by the end of the innings. Not a great score but far better than what it looked like it could have been and enough to make a game of it. The fact that several people in the batting order stepped up when needed was also very heartening.

Although I did not say so to the team, I was not overly hopeful going out to bowl, as Mudeford seemed to have a few people top order that could whack it and we would need to get them out quickly.  And to be fair, with Alex Leach leading the charge there was a regular clatter of wickets; the score being 25/3 at the end of ten overs – game on. To try and keep up the pressure I turned to that handsome young devil, a certain A Worsdale, to see if he could produce a wicket or two; as to everyone’s astonishment, including his own, he has been regularly taking wickets this season.

I managed to take two wickets. The first could be described as ‘a beautifully flighted delivery, the angle of the ball confusing the bat who played a false stroke and was caught at square leg’.  To be fair, it could also de described using phrases such as ‘rank full toss’, ‘hit straight to fielder’, ‘taking wickets with shite’ and ‘lucky bastard’. I would therefore like to thank the bat for the gift of his wicket. Mind you, I also have to say it was a good catch by Harry – it was hit at him very hard. The second wicket was the result of a lovely shot – a beautifully executed lofted straight drive. Unfortunate for the bat, there were two factors that got in the way of the six he was looking for. The first was that the straight boundary was a decent size, not massive but certainly bigger than Winton.  The second was that stationed on that boundary was Adam Loader, who is a) a tall lad and b) probably the safest pair of hands in the team. So just as it looked like the ball was soaring over his head for a six he stretched both arms above his head and the ball smacked into his hands. It is gratifying to see a plan come together.

Unfortunately, although we got Mudeford 6 down their Wicket Keeper Alex Burns stepped up to guide his team to the win scoring at a decent rate but without taking many risks. A 7^th wicket in the 32 over seemed to be no more than a consolation as Mr Burns hit a 4 in the 33^rd over to tie the scores and that, it seemed, was that.

But then Alex Leach took his fourth wicket to dismiss Mr Burns, leaving the scores level and two wickets to go – interest was revived. Adam Nichols then bowled an over of dot, dot, dot, dot wicket! Only one more needed to tie the game. The Winton team crowded the bat, The Mudeford team watching had gone from a relaxed calm to a rigid oh ffs this can’t happen disbelief. Final ball of the over, this is what makes sport thrilling, what would happen? The bowler completed his run up, a whirl of arms and legs and released the ball. Then the umpire outrageously called the ball a wide to seal the win for his team. I say outrageously, when to be fair, after 5 awesome balls in the over, the last ball I think was so wide it may have been in a different postcode to the batsman by the time it smacked into the keepers gloves.

So, no last minute miracle, no thrill of pulling it out of  the bag as we went down to a loss. I am not so worried by this loss though, as there was a great spirit and effort showed by the team. A team that had 4 U14s in as well as a couple of other young lads, playing against men. To be good at cricket it is at least as important to have the correct mental attitude as well as technical skill, so the young lads learning that attitude is an important part of the role of the ‘development’ team. Would also like to thank our opponents for an enjoyable game and enjoyable days cricket.

Match Scorecard

Winton Round Up

The ones continue their uneven start to the season with another loss on an away day to the Island. The 2s and 4s both continue their winning streaks both making it 5 out of 5 with the 3s joining them in the winning column.

HCL Div 6(a)

The big game this week was first played second – Pyewell Park v Mudeford 2s, with Mudeford coming away the victors. When that is added to Mudeford 3s outrageously lucky and undeserved win, it puts Mudeford in both top spots. For Winton 5s, the next few games are against teams at our ewnd of the table so a good chance to pcik up some points. No disrespect intended, I am sure those teams are thinking the same about playing us. Will be interesting to see how it goes.