Cricket, Like War, Can Be Hell

And what horrors will we see in Nomansland?

The hardest thing I find about cricket is when you make a mistake or do badly, as there is no hiding. In football, if you make a bad pass, usually other things have to happen for that to be turned into a goal. In cricket though, get whacked for a 6, make a mistake in the field leading to giving away runs and that is on you. It’s not so much the feeling of not doing well personally, it’s more the feeling of letting team mates down. Calling it hell though is of course hyperbole. For the youngsters, it is a good way to learn to process difficult emotions in what should be a supportive atmosphere. For grownups, there is of course beer.

This weekend’s game is against Bramshaw 3s. A team that have won 2 and lost one so far this season. How are we going to do? Buggered if I know to be honest. The game they lost was against a team we have also managed to lose to. So could be a close game? The Kapils have already developed this season and I think it is fair to say that their bowling has been more than up to snuff. The batting has improved but has still not shined. Which hopefully will be put right this weekend, as we do have some bats that can be highly destructive. What we are looking for is for one of our better batsmen to properly fire, back up by the rest of the team, if that happens, an opposition team could be on the end of a hard time in the field. Will it happen this weekend? Let’s be optimistic and say hell yeah!

Would like to say that I am impressed with Bramshaw’s website, someone puts a lot of work into it, so kudos to you. From it I learn that the pitch at Nomansland. On the village green, was first in use in 1926, has a shed load of quirkiness going on and excellent views across the forest. I have never been there before but a day out in a beautiful setting on an historic pitch is one of the major reasons I enjoy cricket so much, so am looking forward to it.

Elsewhere in the league I am pleased to report there are only 4 teams to not record a win, and as two of them are playing each other that will reduce even further. There are also only 4 teams to have won all their games, it will be interesting to see if they can carry that on; how long can the longest winning streak go for?

 

Hants Div 6 SW Match Day 3 Round up

 

Hants Div 6 SW
Match Day 3 Round up

Bugger me, Parley have actually played a game!

After having to sit out for two weeks in a row in what has been pretty decent cricketing weather, Parley 3s actually got to play a game this week, chalking up a victory with 21 points. Winton 3s remain the early pace makers though, notching up another 24 pointer. A record of 23 points, 24 points and another 24 is starting to look ominous for the other teams due to play them. Bournemouth 4s and Godshill are the only other two teams with a three out of three record, settling in to joint second with a 22.3 average. Bournemouth 5s slide into fifth place with their outrageously lucky and undeserved win.

At the other end of the table Lyndhurst get their first win with a thumping 24 pointer and Ferndown 4s go shooting up the table as well with 22 points in their first win.

Can we yet say that the table is taking shape, with the top middle and bottom forming leagues within the division or has some team so far undersold itself and is waiting to rise? Or indeed has any team in the top third over performed so far and is ready to take a tumble?

Week 3 table

 

You Could Say That Cricket Is the Winner

But if you did, I might just kick you in the knackers

A quintessential English scene: a green oval in a park surrounded by trees, the sun slowly going down over the pavilion, the smell of skunk gently wafting over the outfield. 13 people dressed in white, seemingly standing at random around the field, everyone’s attention furiously fixed on what, to a casual observer, appears to be absolutely nothing. So far, this is just a cliché of nostalgia for a merrie old England that probably never existed anyway.

Look closer though and you will discover you have stumbled over a sporting contest of high drama. The last over, 6 balls with six runs needed to win, 8 wickets down, this one could go either way. This may not be professional sport, but the intensity of the contest and emotion is still there. However, before we discover how the story unfolds, we need to answer the question; how did we get here?

A few days before, the club are struggling for numbers, with more senior team scrambling for players – bank holiday weekend and all. So a couple of people in the Kapils are asked if they want to play for the 2s. My boy being one, this saddens me, as what father doesn’t want to play with his son? He takes it with a philosophical shrug though, happy to help out the club, and still in a lower league than he was playing last year so can take it in his stride. This does however leave the Kapils in a quandary, searching for players. We do get a full team out, but with the possibility of some people having to leave early.

So, the teams gather, some people on either side know each other so the greetings are friendly. It is a warm but not hot day with a bit of cloud cover, the Winton captain keen to bowl first to take advantage of the hard shiny ball (at this level of cricket, the same ball is used in both innings). We promptly lose the toss and get put into bat…………

It is, by a long way, the Kapils best batting performance of the season so far though. First game, we started well before collapsing to just over a hundred. Second game, we got our collapse in early before recovering to just over a hundred. This game, we started solidly against a moving new ball, before consolidating and accelerating through the middle overs. The bulk of the work here being done by Z Stainer-Reid and J Lee for a partnership of over 60; the maturity of their batting belying their young age. With 8 overs to go there were seven wickets in hand, time for the final assault. Due to some good bowling from Bournemouth this did not go completely to plan, with wickets falling regularly in the last few overs. Still, 158 is by far our best score of the season and represented a competitive total, not crushing but ‘in the game’.

The score was mainly driven by the youngsters in the team. One particular piece of praise I would like to give is their attitude in the final overs. When needed they hit out, trying to push the score on rather than preserve their wickets. Even when they got out it was the correct decision, showing a maturity and willingness to play for the team, rather than worry about their individual average.

Notable points of the innings? Two catches and two shots. The first catch was from a well driven on drive, a bit uppish but flying towards the boundary. Mid On just turned and started running to the boundary to see if he could chase it down. As the ball went past him, he looked over his shoulder stuck out his arm with the hand facing backwards and plucked the ball out of the air. A catch, that if it was at the coming world cup, would have the commentators raving about it. The second catch was much more village. A leading edge chipped up into the air between mid wicket and square leg, an easy catch for either of them. They both sprinted forward to take, and you can guess where this story is going……..One of them actually had it in both hands a split second before they crashed into each other and went sprawling. As square leg umpire I did my best not to laugh but it was kind of hard not to. The two shots were identical, coming in the final over. Both glorious lofted straight drives, the only issue being would they be a six or one bounce four. The first landed about 30cm inside the boundary and just plugged. The batters had stopped in the middle of the wicket to chat and admire the shot and ended up having to run a single in the confusion. The second was exactly the same. So two singles instead of two boundaries, would the missing six runs play a part in the game? Of course they would…….

The defence of the total started well, with the watchwords being ‘squeeze’ and ‘scoreboard pressure’. By drinks break at 20 overs Bournemouth were scoring at less than 3 an over, nowhere near enough. Then several things happened that allowed Bournemouth back in the game. The first was that the Kapils lost two players, their time was up and they had to leave. No blame is attached here, the rest of the team are grateful that they could make it at all. Fielding with 9 is a lot harder than fielding with 11 though….. Looking back, I think it did have a mental affect as well, the fielders were quieter, there seemed to be less energy in the field and mistakes that did not happen in the first 20 overs crept in. The was compounded by one of the bats pulling out a favourite village shot – the slog to cow, with which he was very successful, scoring 66 including a brutal over for 18. When he fell in the 36 over, lbw missing a slog across the line, there was only 12 needed off of 23 balls, seemingly game over. The fall of the wicket acted as a catalyst though, Winton finding their belief, the next 17 balls going for only 6 runs with another 2 wickets to fall.

So, back to where we started, 6 balls, 6 runs needed. Both bats and the bowler were amongst the younger members of the team, who could keep their heads the best? First ball, hit away for 2, advantage Bournemouth. Second ball through to the keeper but the bats run anyhow and get a bye, very risky. Next ball, through to the keeper, the bats run anyhow and there is a run out, which leaves the game at 3 needed off 3 balls, with one wicket left. I can’t help feeling that the Bournemouth bats had gotten over excited, suicidal running not yet needed, could it cost them the game? Now only 1 wicket remaing. The number 11 though was the Bournemouth captain, an older head that might be just what his team needed. Fourth ball, 2 runs to tie the score. It was noticed that the younger bat was backing up so enthusiastically he was well out of his ground before the ball was bowled. On having this pointed out to him and that he was at risk of being run out he cheerful pointed out that he should get a warning first – with the reply being told that this was the warning. Low level cricket is just for fun but does come with a competitive attitude. Fifth ball a dot, defensive shot back to the bowler. The non striking bat though was enthusiastically scampering way down the wicket screaming ‘yes’. The batter, still in his crease, and whose enthusiastically scampering days are, to be fair, well behind him shouted a despairing noooo….’. The backing up batsman turned to try and get back in his ground, but the ball was in the bowlers hand and he was closer to the stumps, a throw – and a miss! The last ball was hit for a single to wrap up a win for Bournemouth.

A truly enjoyable game, played in a friendly but competitive spirit, I could almost say that cricket was the winner, but if I did my family would be treated to the unedifying spectacle of me trying to boot myself in the nuts, and no one wants that. But it was, for all involved, an excellent day playing sport, what more could you want? Well, to be fair, I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had won……..

Match Scorecard

Sometimes I feel it is so much easier being a professional sportsman. People go on about great international captains but picture the scene - Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. India v Pakistan, half way through the run chase, the stadium a cauldron of noise and energy. Over a billion people watching on TV. But who is this figure that has appeared on the boundary? Its Bumrah’s older sister. And what is she saying?

 ‘Jasprit, Hey JASPRIT, you have to go now!’

His reply, ‘can I stay and bowl just one more over?’

‘No, we have to pick your sister in half an hour.’ And off indeed he does go.

Yeah Rohit, you think you have problems as captain, try dealing with that………

 

The Home of Cricket

The Winton Oval

Winton as a club play on three different grounds, all public parks. The senior two teams do not even play in Bournemouth, their ground is in Ferndown as it boasts better facilities than that are available in any Bournemouth pitch, which are a requirement for the upper echelons of the amateur leagues. The other teams though share grounds at either Slades Farm or Winton Rec. The ‘better’ pitch is considered to be at Slades Farm, as the ground at Winton does suffer from being on the ‘to small’ side of what you would wish for. I prefer playing in Winton Rec though for several reasons.

The first is that although the Slades Farm pitch is bigger, it is on a bit of a slope. Also, as a park, Slades Farm is large and open, it seems a bit windswept and a bit unwelcoming and impersonal to me. Whereas the pitch at Winton is in a part of the park that is separate off from the rest of it, in a bit of a sunken bowl surrounded by trees, which gives it a more secluded but welcoming feel. On one side of the oval there are stone steps with benches for seating which gives it a genuine amphitheatre feel. Right next to this is a café, where you can by bourgeois coffee at a decent price during the game. Twenty seconds walk away is Winton’s clubhouse where you can get a pint, very important when considering facilities for low end cricket. The ground and pitch were falling into a shabby condition. A couple of years ago though, the club took over the responsibility for maintaining the pitch from the local council and some people have put in regular hard work to improve the quality of the ground. The pitch are now are of a decent quality; it should be at least as good as those that we have played on for the last two weeks. The outfield does have the problem of being used as a public park area so is never going to be billiard smooth but at least the grass is cut regularly and there are no bald patches at all so it should get judged as ‘good enough’.

Winton Rec is also my local park that I sometimes use as a park, and where I go to play tennis (on surprisingly good quality and well maintained tennis courts), so I have a bit of an emotional attachment to it for that reason.

The last advantage that Winton Rec has over Slades Farm, for a public park, is that it has a higher quality of drug dealer. The local ‘tuff yoof’ at Slades in my experience can be a bit of a pain in the arse, riding annoying mini motorbikes and sometimes being disrespectful to other park users. At Winton Rec though, they mainly seem to sit on the benches at the top of the Oval and get a bit stoned, so aren’t a bother to anyone. Fair play to them I say.

 

There is only one thing better than beating your enemies

And that is beating your friends

This weekend’s game is against Bournemouth 5s. It should be a good competitive game as they are a team that are in many ways similar to the Kapils. Both are teams made up of a good youngsters mixed in with a bunch of has beens and never weres; each team having a good mix of youth and experience. Looking at the form guide, both teams attained solid mid table mediocrity last year, with the Kapils coming 9^th and the Fivers 12^th. This year so far they have both won one and lost one, so can’t really put a Rizla paper between them there. It seems like it will be a true ‘who performs best on the day’ type thing. Which team has the players that can step forward and do the business for them? It should unfold as an exciting contest.

What should add an extra bit of edge to it is that I am fairly certain that the youngsters in the team would be used to playing against each other in colts cricket, but also with each other on the same team for their county age group teams, so they will be desperate to do well against each other. For me, it is also a bit of an odd situation in that this Bournemouth team is the team that I first played for and indeed was on the other side of this fixture last season. So there are people in the opposition team that I like, respect and consider friends and ordinarily would wish them to do well. Not this weekend though, this weekend they are the enemy to be crushed beneath my chariot wheels. And then have a pint with afterwards.

Another factor that may have an effect on the game is the fact that it is a bank holiday weekend and the start of half term. This can be problematic for any amateur sports team as people go away for the weekend / for the week. It can be especially problematic for a lower level cricket team though because of how team selection works. If the first team is missing a couple of players they will nick some people from the 2s. Who will have to replace them from the 3s, as well as the players that they having missing anyhow, this cascading down the club. So by the time that it gets to the 5^th team, they are having their better players poached, have to deal with some of their players being away anyhow and have no team to steal people from, so it can be a bit of a scramble to get a team out.

This is the Kapils first home game of the season, so something to look forward to as it is close enough for me to walk home. Two well matched teams that may or may not be weakened by selection issues, the winners getting to push into the top quartile of the table, should be a good one. Bournemouth 5s are carrying one extra problem that the Kapils are not. They are missing their stalwart, stylish, reliable opening bat from the last couple of seasons, that’s right, Gary  isn’t playing anymore.

 

Hants Div 6 SW Match Day 2 Round up

 

Hants Div 6 SW
Match Day 2 Round up

Two teams give it a flex

Bournemouth 4s continue their impressive start to the season, scoring 245 before rolling their opponents for 106 ao, giving a maximum 24 points. Outdoing even this, Winton 3s scored 250 before bouncing out the opposition for 57. These two teams now share first place with an impressive 23.5 average each and are looking to be the teams to beat. Cadnam, Godshill, Bramshaw and Bransgore slot in closely behind with score ranging from 22 down to 20.   

Mudeford 2s and Brokenhurst 2s fought out the most exciting tie of the day, with Mudeford being put into bat and scoring 144 ao. In reply Brokenhurst scored 144 ao with 1 ball remaining for a tie. They had scored 144 to tie the match when their eight wicket went down, needing 1 one to win with 2 wickets remaining, both went down without a run being scored, must have been an exciting finish, with the bowler doing the business in such a situation winning my ‘balls of steel’ award.

The unluckiest team so far has to be Parley threes, both of their games being cancelled, am not sure why. Is a shame for them as they have missed out, I have enjoyed two glorious days of cricket. Perhaps they can get up and running this weekend? If they get to play and win, it will propel them to near the top of the table.

After 2 weeks there are 9 teams out of the 18 yet to record a win. Good luck to them all in their next matches (as I am not playing one of them), I hope to see them all firing soon.

Week 2 Table

 

A Tale of Two Weather Reports

Winton Dev Team V Ferndown 4s 

I have already started getting annoyed by having to type out ‘Winton Dev Team’ so for the purposes of this blog at least I am going to nickname the team ‘The Kapils’, which is easier to type and gives a nod to one of my favourite cricketers of the 80s.

I saw two weather reports for Saturday. The BBC was saying to it would probably be a wet day all the way through, the Met was saying there may be some early showers before clearing. As it turns out, both were wrong. The morning had very light showers followed by a dry warm day, so game on.

Dolman's Farm. A pleasant place to play cricket

Looking at the pitch, it was green and so soft I could push my thumb into it; describing the probable bounce as ‘low’ would be a massive overstatement. It was screaming ‘bowl first’ louder that any pitch I have ever seen, (including the one last week, as it was even softer). We promptly lost the toss and got put into bat.

My wicket was the first to fall, in a fairly unbelievable way. The ball pitched so far outside leg I ignored it as there was no way I could reach it and it would be called a wide. So when I heard leather hit wood and look round to see the bails of I was somewhat surprised (I may have said a rude word….). Coming off team mates asked me if it had moved loads, with my honest answer being ‘it must have, as it pitched so wide I stopped watching’. An opposition player described it to me as ‘the ball of the century’. Doesn’t make it any less annoying mind…….

After I was out the game quickly got out of hand, wickets tumbling so the score was 6 for 4 followed by 15 for 5. The bowler doing the damage – John Dalton, was a style of bowler that our youngsters that made up most of the top order would not have faced before. Slow and loopy, letting the pitch and conditions do the work; he kept putting it on the right place against them. Misjudging their shots, they got through them far too early, chipping up easy catches. This left the score at ‘oh for fa sake’ levels, with me starting to make plans for what to do with the rest of my day.

Not quite the whimsy of a tree inside the boundary, 

but interesting visuals never the less

We then put on a bit of a fight back though, with a 70 run stand for the sixth wicket. Alex played a good supporting role but Pranav carried the load. He was not originally in the team but we had a player drop out. He usually plays in the Winton Dorset team but they had too many, so he came and played for us. He usually plays at a higher level, so this series of events was very fortuitous.

One oddity that was thrown up though was the bowler he scored most of his runs against. Watching the game, Giles Woodcraft I would rate as objectively the ‘best’ bowler in the Ferndown team; a good accurate offy bowling the ball through at a good pace. The other bowlers, Pranav found it harder to time. I think Giles’s bowling though, was more at a standard that he was used to seeing so he found it easier to line up and he went after him, Giles going for over 5 runs an over in a low scoring game. Cricket can be very odd sometimes. Giles did stick with it though and eventually claimed Pranav’s wicket.

After Pranav went, the game swung back with the Kapils being all out for 115 in the 33^rd over. On the plus side, when we were at 6 for 4 getting to over 100 seemed like a fantasy so it represents a good recovery, it also meant that there was a total to defend. On the down side, it was a very low total to bowl to and the pitch had been drying out. Happily for us though, it was a warm rather than a sunny day so the pitch had not completely dried, the conditions for Ferndown batting therefore I think could be described as ‘easier’, but certainly not ‘easy’.

The Ferndown innings started of hopefully for us, as the openers looked like they were finding it difficult. But a wicket did not fall. A dolly of a catch was put down, they played and missed without the edge being found time after time and they got to over 20 without losing a wicket. I was fearful that they would start to get comfortable and start scoring regularly. However, the bowling continued to be testing with a helpful pitch and slowly the wickets started to fall. Everyone of the Kapils bowling unit kept it tight, making runs hard to come by. At the start of the innings Ferndown needed less than 3 an over but this crept up over the course of the innings. It was a tight game all the way through though, as only a couple of loose over that got hit could swing the game decisively towards Ferndown. The bowlers stayed focused though and as each batsman looked to push the scoring on against the good bowling and helpful conditions they instead got out. The innings finishing all out for 86 in the 38^th over for what, at tea, seemed like an unlikely win for Winton.  

Looking at performances, Pranav Antony’s 67 was the difference maker in game, with no one else on either team getting close. Bowling wise, everyone who bowled for the Kapils were on it and played their part. The pick of the bowlers would be Alex Tekeli, a medium pacer who bowled an accurate, nagging line daring the opposition to try and hit him. He got his fivfer with figures of 6.3/2/9/5 A very impressive performance. I would also say it was an immense performance from the whole team in the field, with everyone throwing themselves around in the ring to cut of balls and chasing them down to the boundary when needed. In amateur cricket fielding can be overlooked. In this game though, committed fielding probably saved 20 plus runs, probably making a material difference to the result. Special mentioned to Attila Tekeli, the wicket keeper. The uncertain bounce made it difficult to sometimes judge taking the ball. He took one on the side of the foot from our fastest bowler, which probably bruised nicely. Another ball, which kept lower than expected, looked like it was going for byes until, luckily, he managed to get his gonads in the way. Commitment above and beyond there…….

For Ferndown, John Dalton finished with the highly impressive figures of 4/2/3/4, with Giles Woodcraft also taking three wickets. Their batting never really got going with a few making it into the teens without anyone pushing on.

So, the Kapils are up and running with their first win. A long way to go to see how this season pans out though.  

Match Scorecard