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.    

 

 

 

Time to Step Up 

Or at least to Step in Time

So, a home game against Lymington, who had won their first two games, with the opening bat Mr Tollerfield scoring a century in each one, so could be tricky. Their last game they were skittled out for 29, so I was carrying some hope that they had some vulnerabilities. Chatting to their captain, he described the loss as due to facing a surprisingly fast bowler for this level of cricket and the team could not deal with the pace. He also said that they were playing with 3 U14s, which they would not be in the game against us. So, we may be facing a stronger team than they had previously put out.

We lost the toss and Lymington decided to bat. Was in two minds as to what I would have done so I was happy enough with this. I was aware that the Winton pitch had been a bit naughty recently but was confident that it would be playing better so batting first might have been nice. But still, we get to use the new ball and if we bowl well could limit them to a gettable score.

On we crack, our opening bowlers take a wicket and keep scoring opportunities down in the first ten overs. After this though, ‘Mr Century’ is joined by a couple of ‘big biffer’ batsmen and the run rate starts to climb alarmingly, so by drinks Lymington have score well over 100 runs and are accelerating. This is worrying; a big score is in the offing. On the plus side we had also managed to pick up a couple of wickets so not a complete disaster.   

This is a situation that makes it genuinely interesting to be a captain, as if I just let things drift it could go very bad, so what to do? The plan I decide to go with is to bring back one of the opening bowlers straight after the break to see if he can tighten things up at one end whilst turning to the young lad A Worsdale at the other to see if he can get a wicket or two with his ‘toss it up’ slow deliveries.

Surprisingly enough, this plan worked out bang on. Alex kept it tight one end while the lad Adam spun his web at the other taking three wickets. During this period Lymington also suffered a retired hurt, someone going down while running for a second run. My first instinct was ‘he’s fallen over get the ball in’. It soon became apparent that this was a proper injury so the game stopped and the gentleman had to hobble off – all the best to him and hope it is not as bad as feared.

After this clutch of wickets the ball went to the strike bowlers and the innings was soon wrapped up. After twenty overs I was fearing a score well in excess of 200, so to finish of the innings for 166 was a performance that I was proud of. One fear was the pitch was getting worse as the innings went on but with a target of only 4 an over I felt it was more than doable. A nod to Mr Tollerfield – who just missed out on his third century of the season by being left stranded on 94.

And then we had a bat, er, yeah, that was not so great. Now, people may point to the fact that I got out for a duck and this is true. I was out playing a defensive shot to a good ball – which was better than I could deal with. Too many of the team got out swinging. Or even more frustratingly, playing a half hearted push shot and chipping the ball into the air for a catch. Not flat batting it into the ground like they should have done. The forward defensive shot seems to be a dying art. 

It gives me a semi just looking at it

So what should have been a doable run chase into a chastising 61 all out, a bit frustrating really. The pitch was getting to be difficult to play on and a couple of people did show tenacity and got out to difficult balls (one being an ankle high skimmer going under the bat of a defensive shot, again). But overall, a performance that could have and should have been far better. I can only refer my team to the post game team talk in the blog entry for the last game.

This is how bad it’s got

On Play Cricket for each team there is a ‘Hall of Fame’ for each team. And for my team this shows me as having the best performance in a game for the team with both bat and ball. I do not say this to blow my own trumpet. Well, ok, maybe there is a little self bugle tooting going on. But I mainly say this because there is no way I can be described as the best batter or bowler in this, or indeed any other, team. And the fact that I am performing better than everyone else in the team I fear says far more about everyone else than it does me. First two games of the season everyone was on it, the level now seems to have dropped. Some come on gentlemen, time to extract digits.

Winton Round Up

The 1s are up and running with a win – get in! Both the 2s and 4s maintain their 100% start to the season. Four out of four for the 4s and the 2s. The threes had a match that I can sympathise with……

HCL Div6(a)

Pylewell Park and Mudeford 2s both maintain a 100% start to the season to go first and second. They play each other next week – an early season 6 pointer? Mudeford 3s are snapping at their heels in third. At the bottom there are three teams yet to win a game – I will not be so gauche as to name them…….

 

 

 

 

Welcome To the New Forest Cricket Tardis

I like the New Forest, I go there camping, and walking. It is lovely, some parts giving off a proper ‘forest’ vibe, some more heath land. Some beautiful panoramas. A lovely place to visit, apart from the inconvenience of gangs of out of control gangsta ponies roaming around doing whatever the faq they please, causing trouble and disrespecting everyone they come across. But being a forest, it has a very low population density. That is one of the reasons why it is a great place to spend some time in. It does however have a shit ton of cricket clubs, many of them with multiple teams. At the last national census, it was calculated that there were more cricket clubs in the New Forest than people.

Burley High Street 9PM on a Saturday night

But it was to the New Forest we went – namely playing Bashley and Rydell High School Cricketing 11 (go the T-Birds!). I did not actually play in this match, was busy that day. You may think that this would cause me some problems trying to do a write up of the game, and you would be right. But not for the reason you are thinking. Doing a blog post about a game of cricket that I did not see is really not a problem. If I can see the score card and have a chat to someone that was there half of that problem is solved. When you put this together with the fact that I have a fertile imagination, no qualms about making stuff up and no actual interest in giving a factual recount of the game in question you can see that this is no real problem at all.

No, the problem I was mulling over last Saturday was far more fundamental. If my team won and I did not play, indeed was not even present on the day, how could I claim credit for the victory? You see, quite a tricky one eh? It’s not impossible, as if you are one of the er, 10s of people that was reading this nonsense last year, you will know that I managed to claim credit for the victory v Lymington in which I did not play. But it does take me an even more than usual willingness to ignore facts, accurate reporting and sense of decency to pull it off. Happily for me though, my team managed to lose, even without the handicap of me playing so all that worry was wasted. All that really remains is for me to give my team its post game talk reflecting on the defeat, so here goes –

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves, you let yourself down, your parents down and most of all you let me down. You all should go home and think about the pathetic way you have embarrassed me today”.  

You may be asking yourself why I would mention the players letting their parents down in an adult match. This is because I first used this speech several years ago when the U9 girls team that I was managing first lost and it had such a powerful effect then I see no reason to change it now.

How did we lose? Well, the openers managed to start well, getting to well over 50 before the first wicket fell. The rest of the team then decided to show a misguided sense of solidarity with their opening bats by all getting out in quick succession. Ah, what cha gunna do? It happens sometimes. Any bright points, well a good opening stand, obviously. Bowling wise, Alex Leach opened the bowling and only went for 7 runs in 5 overs, which is a commendable effort. Champagne moment? That is awarded in a completely different game – see below.

 Match Scorecard

Winton Round Up

The 1s managed to maintain their consistent start to the season by coming second again – remember guys, you are letting yourselves and your parents down…..

The 2s and 4s both maintained their 100% start to the season, which is nice and the 3s posted their first win as well.

 

HCL Div 6(a)

Well, the main game I would pick out here is Lymington 4s. v Mudeford 3s. Despite winning their first 2 games of the season Lymington conspired to get themselves bowled out for 29. Probably wasn’t the pitch as Mudeford had already posted 230. My guess would be a good bowling performance allied to a ‘one of those days’ for Lymington. The Champagne award this week therefore goes to Carl Turner for a stellar bowling performance with figures of 6/5/5/7. Well played sir. Now, we are playing Lymington next weekend, so if they could put in another ‘one of those days’ that would be great! How likely is that though…….

 

The Sun Is Out, The Sky Is Blue

 

Barnes Wallis New A Thing Or Two

A week where there was plenty of availability, which throws up differing problems for the club captains. The 1s are playing away – on the Isle of Wight, so they all go together in a mini bus. This makes selecting a team for the 1s captain really easy. He just picks the 10 blokes he most enjoys drinking with and off they go………..  Er, I mean he picks the 10 blokes he thinks will make the best team and off they go. So on for the 2,s 3s etc For me though, it is not so simple. The ‘best’ team is not my sole criteria. I may get some players dropping down if there is lots of availability. But there are also people that regularly play at this level. I also have to make sure I am including some youngsters. Then I have to look at the strength of the opposition – Mudeford 2s are quite decent; losing isn’t a disaster but I want to avoid a dispiriting defeat. So, I have to consider a few different things when selecting a team. I end up with a team of four sets of dads and lads and three more. There are some decent dads and indeed lads mixed in there so it is a fairly decent team; perhaps not the strongest I could theoretically pick but good enough I feel to give the opposition a decent game.

I get to the ground nice and early so I am not feeling flustered, the pitch looks decent and I think I would choose to bat first (goes to show how much I know). I promptly lose the toss and get put in to bat. Not so bad thinks I, I was wrong.

The pitch was a bit naughty, very up and down. I have forgotten my helmet and this is the first time I really wish I was wearing one; as the ball could shoot of a length, or indeed keep low. My opening partner Reece and I going into ‘survival’ mode, seeing if we could get through and wait for the ball to go a bit soft and the pitch to bake a bit in the sun. As it turns out, we can’t…… I get out for 3 of off 19 balls. This sounds kind of rubbish but I am indeed the highest scorer of the top 6. We are down to 28/6, with only 6 of those runs of the bat. It is starting to look like the ‘dispiriting defeat’ that I want to try and avoid. I should also say, that this is not only due to the testing conditions. The Mudeford bowlers bowled relentlessly on an excellent line, which would have been difficult to deal with at the best of times.

A perfect release at the crease

I was wearing a Go Pro so have some actual footage of the bowling to show how hard it was to face.

In game footage

We then had a slight uptick, with Sargon Worsdale and Kiran Mandivalli coming to the crease. Kiran threw his hands at most things, Sargon blocked the straight ones and attacked the wider ones. They both got into their 20s before getting out. Kiran nicking off, Sargon playing a textbook forward defensive stroke and the ball shooting under his bat (I was umpiring and he had a proper ‘da faq’ look on his face after the ball careened into his stumps). With this effort managed to crawl our way up to a mighty 96 all out. Probably not enough……….

But we thought we would give it a go. It would be pointless trying to defend such a score so we went with the ‘have to take wickets’ plan. The pitch was calming down a bit (or the ball was getting softer) but it was still a bit naughty. So, slip, gully, catching extra cover (if not quite silly). We made a decent fist of it as well, with Mudeford, a team with some very good bats, 7 down before they managed to chase down the total. It got so desperate, even I had a bowl, got a wicket too. So again, close but no cigar. A fun game played in a good spirit and although we lost it was a fighting loss, and not the crushing defeat that I feared when we were 6 down.

For the champagne moment, an honourable mention to Adam Loader for a very smart slip catch, throwing himself forward and to the left. But the award this week goes to James Burns, who hit the winning runs. After the scores are tied on 96 he won the game with a boundary. This is of course always a stylish thing to do. In this instance it also has the added bonus of giving an extra batting point. I think it is fair to say Mudeford 2s are targeting promotion this year and the teams at the top of the table may well end up with the same number of wins. So the bonus points could be very important, come the end of the season that extra point could make the difference.

Match Scocrecard - a tale of woe

Winton Round Up

Well, despite a captains innings from their er, captain, the 1s managed to come second.

The 2s made it 2 for 2 to keep going to the top of the table.

The 3s are finding the start of their promotion year a learning curve, Div 5 is certainly a step up from Div 6.

The 4s are bossing it in Dorset with another win.

HCL Div 6(a)

I notice that all the teams that are a clubs 4s or 5s are huddling towards the bottom of the table; apart from Lymington 4s who are the seasons early pacemakers. Do they have some good players dropping down? Some really good youngsters spreading their wings? Have they just been a bit lucky in the first 2 games? We shall see as the season unfolds.

 

 

Summers coming and train spotting just isn't exciting enough for me........

How do you get your kicks? Some adrenalin junkies get drawn to extreme sports like golf, or crown green bowling. For some, not even this level of craziness is enough and they get into such bonkers pursuits like train spotting. But when even the sight of a Class 73 fails to move you, or you are too jaded to even get excited upon knowing that a Sprinter Class 158 unit has a Perkins engine installed, then you need to take your thrill seeking to the next, extreme level. That level is the Hampshire Cricket League, Division 6(a). Strap in baby we are ready for take off!

You are probably already drooling looking at this Class 73, but how would you feel if I told you that this baby is a bi mode?  

The new season is upon us! The weather reports during the week were predicting showers but come the day the morning was warm if a cloudy, with it due to clear later, lovely cricketing weather. First game up is against Suttoners 2s, who finished mid table last season – so above us. I seem to recall from playing them last season that their batting was their strength, with some experience and skilled openers followed by some hard hitters. So, a good challenge to start with. We are going with a team that mixes youth and experience with 4 young lads who will be playing their first competitive adult game.

As it is a new season I am determined to prepare for each game properly, like a professional. So, as I am sure Ben Stokes does on the first morning of a test match I get a load of washing out onto the line to take advantage of a sunny day. Following this I give my daughter a lift to her dance class. To get to the game, my wife drives me to the venue as she will be needing the car later in the day. During the ride, to help me prepare for the game, she takes the opportunity to remind me of what she feels are my more egregious character flaws and the fact that I am probably a bit selfish to be spending the whole day playing cricket anyhow. I am sure Mrs Stokes would do no less for Ben.

So, well prepared and fully focused I stride onto the pitch to have a look at the wicket. It has a lot of grass, including a few clumps and looks a bit damp. I win the toss. Checking my self imposed rule / advice of ‘bat first unless there is a reason not to’, looking at the pitch I say ‘we’ll have a bowl’ and hope that it dries out as the day goes on.

The first few overs were an interesting match. Winton’s two opening bowlers are both U14. Suttoners opening bats by contrast, would not I feel overly object to being described as more to the ‘veteran’ end of the spectrum. Youth versus experience, which would win out? The two young lads bowl really well, helped by the conditions and the hard new ball but they have to put it in the right place. Shanmukha going for only six runs off of his five overs. Alex going for an even more miserly one of off five. However, they did not get a break through, due mainly to the skill and attitude of the bats they were bowling too. Speaking to their captain (one of the openers) he said that he would have bowled first as well. And going out to bat it required ‘proper grown up batting’, by which he meant patience and an ability not to panic. They were facing a ball that was moving off the pitch and had really uneven bounce but they played cautiously and watchfully and did not panic even when they had only scored 7 from the first ten overs. If we were bowling at bats that had started to panic at the lack of runs our opening bowlers would have probably taken a few wickets but it was not to be. 

Having seen off this difficult spell, as the pitch dried and they got their eye in the bats started to accelerate the scoring. Winton bowled well so run rate never got completely out of hand but taking wickets was tough. We were give a bonus in a run out that was never really on. One problem that the Winton team has is that the bowlers are all similar, right arm seam. All decent bowlers but no real change up to challenge the bats with something new (similar to how it has been watching England play for the majority of the past 30 years……) The only option for changing it up was to bowl myself. My bowling is left arm slow / loopy. It does have the ability take wickets but at the risk of tempting the opposition to hit out big. Having a couple of set batsmen in who had plenty of wickets in hand with big hitters to come would risk having the run rate accelerate a little too much. In the end though my hand was forced, one of the bowlers having to stop bowling due to an injury. Bringing myself on I managed to take the wicket of the other opener in my first over – a top edge straight into the air. If given the choice I would have taken myself off immediately to let someone with a bit more pace bowl at a new bat but I had to bowl a couple more.

And so the innings went on, with the Suttoners scoring at a decent pace ending on 236 / 4. Which meant they scored at about 7 ½ an over for the last 30 overs, a good scoring rate to be sure but without completely breaking the bonds.

Was I confident of chasing the score down? I thought it would be tough, we have some decent bats and even though our younger players are decent with the bat chasing down a big score in your first adult game can be daunting. We needed to score at 6 an over, Easy enough in the short term but over after over meant that we needed to keep pushing.

Still, Atilla and I went out with the standard openers attitude of, ‘let’s not go crazy for the first ten, try not to lose a wicket and see where we are’. We were helped off to a very decent start by the first couple of overs from both ends being a bit wayward (first game of the season and all that) before the bowlers found their rhythm and tightened up.  Still, after the first ten overs we had hit about 40 for no loss, which while not up at the required rate was a very decent start. A discussion was then had about needing to start pushing on. The most immediate outcome of which was Attila playing more aggressively a getting caught off a top edge – bugger. However, this did lead to Dave ‘good time not long time’ Baugley striding to the crease. This meant that the scoring rate went up somewhat.

Which is a good time to reflect that in the limited overs amateur game there are two different types of top order bats. Test V IPL, Boycott V Gale, Love you long time V Wham bam thank you mam. Both styles are needed in a side; however both have a built in flaw that the bat must guard against. Mr IPL can score quickly but they must realise that it is not only 20 overs. You are still allowed to respect the good ball and flat bat it, that way you are still around to whack the next bad one for six. For Mr ‘Long Time’ they need to realise that it is not a Test, they have a duty to their team to keep the score ticking over. This may be rotating the strike, or it may be accelerating after getting your eye in. This is of course easier to judge when batting second – you can see where you have to get to. But even batting first you need to be aware of how you will make runs at a decent rate. Scoring 50 not out of off 120 balls, taking half  the balls of your teams innings may be good for your individual figures but it may also mean that you are skilfully batting your team to defeat. A slower mistake than swishing across the line to a straight one but sometime just as costly. Both extremes need to be avoided.

But I digress,  Dave starts to do what Dave does and the run rate kicks on nicely. In the twentieth over, he really hits out, including a couple of sixes. With just one more ball to go before the drinks break, we are back up to the run rate needed, only one wicket down and things are looking good. Dave then proceeds to swish across the line to a straight one and is bowled……..

Reflecting on this in the drinks break, Dave has whacked a quick 41 off about 20 balls getting us back to needing about 6 an over. Would have preferred him to carry on a bit longer but a mighty effort. I need to play my part by keeping the score ticking along. I am helped in this by Alex, the next bat. A young lad but maturing into a capable batsman, who played an excellent game, blocking the good ones, taking the singles on offer and smashing the bad balls to the boundary. In this fashion we are closing in to the end game. Some overs going for not many, some going big but overall keeping close to the run a ball needed rate. My only worry is that we never get a couple of overs to get ahead of the rate and as we get to the final lap are met by some good bowling, particularly from Adam Clifford. Not lightening fast but fast enough; and accurate on length and line making it hard to get any ball away.  This game was going to the wire, we were slightly behind the rate and with wickets in the bank risks needed to be taken. Because of this I decided to push it with the running and called Alex through for a second run. If there was a clean pick up and accurate throw I know I would be in trouble – and trouble there was and off I trotted in the 34 over……

In this gamble I had given away the ‘two set batsmen’ advantage and the next few batsmen that came in fell in a clatter of wickets. No opprobrium is attached to this, they were looking to score and win rather than save their own wickets. Far better to lose trying to win than lose with a whimper. The game went to the last ball but sadly we came up 4 runs short.

However, it was an enjoyable day, a game of swings and roundabouts which was in doubt to the very last ball. Four youngsters from the club were blooded into adult cricket in a tense and close game. In fact 5 were, as there was a Winton Youngster, Charlie, playing for the Suttoners – his dad has links with them so they are playing with the Suttoners. Charlie came on to bowl at the death and held his nerve in a tight situation. I Would also like to thank the Suttoners 2s team for a good game. On the pitch they were competitive but friendly – just as it should be at this level.

Match scorecard

Inquest – Why did we lose?

Firstly, have got to say the opponents had something to do with it – they played well. But where could we improve? Can I blame Dave for swishing across the line? After getting 41 that would be a bit churlish. Should I blame myself for the bad decision for the second run? Well, it turned out to be a bad decision but I did bat most of the innings and get my team in sight of the winning post, so will give myself a break. No, I am going to point my finger elsewhere, specifically at our fielding.  When we batted, the Suttoners were on it all through the innings, from start to finish, they gave us nothing. Our fielding by contrast was lacklustre. More than once a fielder let the ball go through them because they could not be bothered to get down and get their body behind the ball, turning quite a few singles into 4s or 3s. A few times their bats could drop the ball into the ring and get through for a quick single. The fact that these runs were not highly risky means that our fielders had gone to deep or were not walking in, on their toes. At points there was a lack on energy and focus on the field from some players and we must have given away at least 20 runs because of this. This was the difference between losing by 4 runs and celebrating victory with a few overs to spare. I usually say that talk on the field should always be positive. But in this case I will make an exception and tell the team that if they see a team mate giving runs away due to laziness or can’t be bothered attitude then they can tell them that it is not ok. Mistakes I can accept, not bothering in a competitive environment? Nope, you should not be there if you are not willing to give it your all.  

 

‘Champagne Moment’  

This is a hard one to award – as I am going to award it to myself for getting a 50. Now, you may be thinking, a 50, not that big a deal. But, as some people reading this are aware, I only first picked up a cricket bat just over three years ago, in a spirit of setting myself a challenge and seeing if this old dog could learn new tricks. One thing I have learnt is playing cricket is not easy, it’s really not. In this blog I usually do a very English line of self depreciating humour but just this once I am going to say ‘yay me’, a first ever 50 is worth acknowledging. OK, we all know how the cricketing gods work and for the rest of the season they will be kicking me up the arse and laughing about it but for this game, I done good.

Winton Round Up

How did the other teams do? Well, the 1s get hit by a heavy dose of ‘bank holiday weekenditis’ and had to go out with quite a few key players missing, going down to a defeat. The 2s got off to a winning start in a high scoring game. During the course of the day they lost a couple of players and ended up fielding with 9 men but the 300 they scored in the first innings saw them through. The 3s went down to what seemed like a fairly strong side and the 4s set off the Dorset campaign with a victory against Rolex. A team which plays on Winton’s pitches so a bit of a derby and therefore nice to win.

Div 6a round up

Well, as it’s the first week all that can be said is that half the teams won and half lost, no real conclusions to be drawn there. The game of the week may by Mudeford 2s V 3s a high scoring game that the 2s came out (perhaps unsurprisingly) on top. Two conclusions can be drawn from this game. The first is Mudeford seem to have produced a decent batting pitch. Second, in scoring 300 from 40 overs their 2s  seem to have some decent bats who are starting  off to the season in very good form. Wouldn’t want to be the mugs who plays them next. Who are we playing next week again? Oh ffs……….

 

 

Being A Captain Is Bloody Hard Work…..

So, first game of the season – hurrah! A friendly against Bournemouth, This is also a ‘proper’ friendly as over the winter I was playing in the same indoor team as the opposition captain and both the teams in this game would have plenty of youngsters. In light of this I did not pick what probably would be our two best (adult) bats. I also told the opposition captain that my best bowler, who he was aware was too good for this level, would bowl a minimal amount of overs.

During the week, the weather report could not make its mind up as to if it would rain on the Saturday or not. But the morning dawned, well, rather cloudy, but very not wet, so good news. Offset by the bad news that I has a player drop out due to injury….. So, I put out ‘da word’ that I needed another player and hoped…… Luckily, there was someone available, not a bowler though and it was a bowler I lost. This fact would lead me to having to make a momentous decision during the game.

I get to the ground early as I said that I would give a hand laying out the pitches. This game was to be on astro though, as the Winton Oval (the Home of Cricket™) will be very busy during the summer and this was the last week of preparation. Both teams start to arrive and the toss is duly made, with the bad guys winning the toss and electing to bowl. Which is nice as I would have had a bat anyhow.  As I was opening the batting I went and got padded up and strode out onto the ground to meet my opening partner. Who was nowhere to be seen…. Apparently he did not have his whites at the ground and was wearing the wrong trousers and had to pop home to get the correct pair.

Attila 10 minutes before the start of the game

So after a quick re-jig of the batting order the game is on. The astro has recently been relayed so has a good even bounce and as it is on the very end of the square there is a very short boundary. Because of this I had a mental note that at least 200 was needed to be competitive. How did we do? Well, we scored at a decent pace, keeping up to about 5 an over but regularly lost wickets. We had several players that got decent starts but did not then go on to dominate. This led to us being all out for 162 after 34 overs. Somewhat short of my imagined target. Still, 162 of your actual cricket runs is not to be completely sniffed at and is a target to defend.

Had a bit of learning for me as a newly minted captain. Before the game started, I had spent loads of mental energy worrying about sorting the pitch, boundary, was everyone going to turn up? Could a player find his trousers? Who was going to bat when and would they be happy with it? That by the time I went out to open the batting I was just not in the zone. I couldn’t concentrate or get my feet moving and was completely unfocused. So it may be that in the future, particularly at home games where you have more to worry about as a captain that I drop down the order. We shall see……

Going out to defend the 162 we would have to bowl tightly as it was only four an over needed. Our performance was a bit of a curate’s egg though. Some very good bowling was mixed in with bowling that the individuals concerned would I think agree was a bit wayward. This meant that Bournemouth were managing to keep up with the run rate on extras rather than hitting runs themselves. The bats were careful and not giving their wickets away but they did not really need to try and push on so things were going ok for them. What was frustrating though was an inability of the fielders to take catches. Over the course of the game we missed 3 chances that should have been bolted on but were put down and many other chances that could have been taken as well. What is the opposite of catches win matches?

Still, Bournemouth, even with all this extra help they were getting, were still only keeping at the required run rate and after giving my 4 bowlers a run out I had to make up more overs due to the fifth bowler dropping out. This I did by splitting these overs between my boy and myself. My boy is really far too good to bowl at this level but the overs needed to be done. I was a bit worried that his radar may be of as he had not bowled for months (a focus on GCSEs) but he clicked in to a groove. He has decent pace, swing and very good bounce (my little boy is now 6’2). The only runs that came off of him were when it flew through the slips area, something that happened fairly frequently with nothing going to hand. So far, so as to be expected. The truly surprising thing though was happening at the other end, where I was bowling. In my 4 overs I only went for 6 runs with a couple of easy catches put down as well as top edges and false shots. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is I was bowling against younger lads who would never have faced such slow and loopy bowling and weren’t quite sure what to make of it. As there was no pace on the ball to get it away it had to be hit hard, which is something they struggles with being quite young. The final reason is the frankly unbelievable bit though. I managed to send down 4 overs that were accurate, good length and line, with dip and even a touch of spin of off the straight. Yes, yes, I know it sounds like I am making up nonsense on my blog about myself but there were even independent witnesses and everything. So, these 8 overs altogether went for only 16 runs with the asking rate creeping up.

I now had a momentous decision to make, as I had made up the 8 overs needed. Carry on as things were going to force a win or give the other bowlers their full allocation. I could not in all conscience continue to bowl my boy; in a friendly against this team his level was just too high. I could justifiably continue myself though, as no one could ever accuse me of being ‘to good at cricket’ which would keep one end pinned down. I decided against this though as it was a friendly and the slightly wayward bowlers could do with getting into the swing for the season. This meant that although there was some decent bowling the scoring rate did creep up until Bournemouth managed what I can nobly and magnanimously say was an underserved and lucky win that I am not upset about at all……..

The Winton Captain being not bothered by the result

So, was it a useful game? I think absolutely for all involved. Especially for the younger players in both teams that are stepping up into adult cricket. So would like to say welcome to Jacob, Jamie, Sam, Aarav and Alex to the team and adult cricket, I look forward to playing with you this season. Also  congrats to Aarav and Alex for their first wickets in adult cricket.  A possibly even bigger congratulations to Andy for his first wicket in about 30 years….(no exaggeration…..) I believe this is because he has not playing in three decades rather than being somewhat unsuccessful season after season, but hey, back on the horse. Also to Will, his first game in close on two decades and top scores in the game at faster than a run a ball, like riding a bike eh?

I will close this match report with a completely new and original idea I have had called ‘The Champagne Moment’. Each week I will choose an incident in the pitch worthy of celebration and respect. To be completely clear, no Champagne will be used in the celebrating of this award. The award this week goes to John Woodage, a veteran of even greater years and greyer beard than me. A firmly struck ball that was only a little uppish look like it was flying through the covers for a 4. John threw himself downwards and to the left like Jonty Rhodes on amphetamines to pluck the ball out of the air one handed. An impressive feat and one worthy of celebrating.

 Right, enough dwelling on a meaningless game the result  which is in no way important or anyone cares about. Onto more important things, an away game against a team that I think may be one of the stronger in the division. Oh, on a bank holiday weekend, which usually means two things. 1. it pays havoc with player availability and 2. It is more or less guaranteed to rain, ah, don’t ya just love cricket……

Match Scorecard

 

 

 

I Am A Cricketing God!

For the past few weeks I have been attending pre season nets. I enjoy nets before the season starts for two reasons.

The first is that I do find the hour or two in the nets fun. The kinetic feedback you get when you middle a ball is a pleasure in itself; outside any competitive performance you could take pleasure in during a game. Middling a ball feels good. Also, bowling in nets is also good exercise. Not ‘I’m in training to do a marathon’ levels of exercise but you do feel achy and tired by the end of the session and get those physical exercise endorphins kicking off. I always come away from a net session thinking ‘yeah, that was fun’.

The main reason I enjoy nets before the start of the season though is that in the nets, I am fucking awesome at cricket! Completely unstoppable, batting, every ball I middle for a 4, my bowling is full of guile and skill; every other ball would take a wicket. As there are as yet no games being played, I can luxuriate in the unlimited possibilities that the season may bring, safe in the confidence that my performance level at the moment is so high I am considering entering myself in the next IPL draft. OK yes, lurking in the dark recesses of my mind is the knowledge that the fantasy of my cricketing brilliance will shortly meet the brutal inswinging yorker of reality but for a few short weeks I can ignore that and dream.

My cricketing psyche after a successful net session

But for not too much longer though, as the season is nearly upon us. Who will we be playing? Well, the way Hampshire are organising the lower leagues has changed. It used to be large leagues of about 18 with everyone playing each other once. Now they are leagues half the size with everyone playing home and away. The main argument in favour of this is that it means all the teams are closer together geographically so there are shorter journeys to away games; which is good. A down side for me though is that we are no longer playing at some of the more interesting and picturesque grounds in the forest, which is a shame. I do remember reading that the people arguing for this also said that it would mean that we would no longer have to have 2 teams from the same club in the same league as there would be another league very close by so the teams could be split up. So, who will we be playing?

 Hants League Division 6A

This league covers the area from Bournemouth into the south west of the New Forest with a decent mix of teams. Although what is this I notice? Mudeford has two teams in this league? Oh FFS. Not complaining about Mudeford, sure they are lovely guys. But whoever decided who would go in which league, why make this decision? Perhaps they were no other teams close enough and they had to put teams from the same club together? But checking the 6B league, there are two clubs based in Ringwood and another in Ferndown that could be swapped with a Mudeford team and no one would have batted an eyelid. So am slightly annoyed.

Never mind though, who do I think will be chasing promotion? Hard to tell this year really as there are a lot of teams that seems quite similar to us, the clubs 4^th or 5^th team. I am guessing that Mudeford 2s will be a force, as they came close to promotion last year and as they now have a third team the weaker players will be in. Remember playing Suttoners 2s at the end of last season and they seemed pretty decent but who knows? Be interesting to see how it pans out.

But, you ask, how do I see Winton Dev Team doing this year? Well, am setting a target of mid table. Think we have enough in the squad to pick up a decent number of wins. If we are at the top of the table though, this will mean we have some players doing very well and perhaps should be looking to play for a higher ranked team within the club. Remember, the aim of this team is not to get promoted, but to develop individuals so they can play higher up the leagues. If we had a standout season and got promoted this would be a problem as next year we would lose the better players and be in a higher league. So, aiming for a mid table finish it is.

Before we start out on the long hard road of league games, we do have a friendly. This is against Bournemouth 6^th Team. An ideal friendly in many ways for both teams, as they are similar, made up of the ‘to young and to old’ and hoping to develop younger players. This Bournemouth team will be playing in Dorset so we will not meet them in the league – so much the better.

However, it is good to report that the opposition is already running scared. Talking to their captain he said the team was him, a few other dads and a lot of youngsters and he then asked me to go easy on them. It is just a friendly and more about clearing out cobwebs then trying to win, so it will be good to have a relaxed game to get into the swing of things without worrying about a win.

If you are playing in the Winton Development Team or have children that will do so, please ignore the above sentiment. It is the sort of thing that I feel obliged to say. Also, If in any game I talk about ‘don’t worry about the win, just make sure you enjoy yourself’, please be aware that I am just saying that to make myself look relaxed and unbothered and please ignore me completely. So, you ask, what is our aim?  I can answer in one word: it is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no feeling of petty smugness you may get at winning a Hampshire League Division 6 cricket game.

How is the team to be organised? Well, I have asked most people what they feel their strengths are and trying to match their role with that. This is especially true for the youngsters. I will try and make sure they have a regularity of position in the team. So if they are developing as a bat, I aim to keep them in the same batting slot. If they are more a bowler, then make sure they bowl every week, which will of course mean they will bat down the order. The possible problem with this is a lot of youngsters still like to bat and bowl but playing with adults is a big step up, having to learn how to deal with adults. So I want to keep their role in the team consistent so they do not have to worry about changing from week to week. If they want to continue to bat and bowl, that is what age group cricket is for. If they mainly bowl in adult games they can make sure to get to bat in age group cricket (and vice versa).

So, a few net sessions done, feeling confident, squad is sorted, friendly organised to help prepare, good to go. So, what’s the weather forecast for the game tomorrow? Oh, ffs………..