Middle order collapse sinks Bamville Titanic

Early start, early finish

Bamville inflict Aldenham's first Saturday defeat of the season.

Ani Jabba's on and on...

Rain fails to stop play

Another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory

Moral victory by Duckworth Lewis

Most of usreached Bourne end by 1.30 with rainy forecast in mind. With no one from thehome side present memories of how they stood us up last year startedcoming back. Just as we were about to give up any hope of a game around 2 PM,some players from the home side turned up. After Darren showed some urgency the oppositionagreed to toss in drizzling conditions and we eventually started playing at2.30.

Darren wonthe toss and put the home side in. Iqbal and Ash started well and for fewminutes it looked like we would able to hold back the two aggressive openers. Butthat hope was short lived, our spearhead Iqbal got hit for three consequtiveboundaries and Darren had to start thinking about alternatives. He decided totake the pace off the ball and I found myself bowling spin in the 7th over ofthe day. Soon Ash and me were on the receiving end and boundaries were hitregularly. We then were replaced by Darren and Peter Moss. Both bowled verywell, especially Peter who got rid of one opener and quickly followed that upwith getting their number 3. He almost got the other opener LBW on a reversesweep, but the (under 15) umpire found it too difficult to give their bestbatsman out. While all this was happening a constant drizzle was on and at onepoint I slipped and Darren was considering coming off. Neverthless we carriedon (but reduced the match to a 30 over game as a full game looked unlikely atthat stage). Phil Oliver made an impressive bowling debut. I had good timebowling my second spell in death overs and getting rid of their centurianopener expertly stumped like a pro by Simon Cripps. The opposition finallyfinished at a score of 193 (openers scoring 150 + between themselves).

Tea wasbetter than many other places btw.

While we had an extended tea, the rain got heavier and we struggled to get out tobat even after 5.30 pm. With the conditions showing no sign of improvement wedecided to start batting anyway. I opened with Andy Cripps. In less than 10mins I was back in pavilion bowled yorked by their slowish medium pacer(Disgraceful I know - not getting out - getting bowled I mean). Raj came in at no3 and started playing his shots. He looked good but he was in pain aggrevatingsome injury he picked up when fielding. I padded up again to be his runner, butweighing his options he decided it was better to come off :). That broughtAamir to the crease and he hit 4 boundaries for his 9 ball 16 with Andy playingsteady at 17 on the other end. The score was 51 for 1 off 8 overs (well oncourse of chasing that 193 of 30) when all hell broke loose and it rained cats& dogs.

Match was abandoned as the pitch / outfield was too dangerous to play.  No-one had the D/L tables to hand or we would surely have won.

MOTM : Verydifficult to have MOTM in a abandoned match, but purely on bowling stats, Philcame close to be one with figures of (3 overs 8 runs for 2 wickets). If only hewouldn't have dropped their centurian opener off my bowling when he was in histwenties some of the other guys could have got better figures.  Peter Mosssurely was a joint contender as well.

Extras extras!

On winning the toss I put Bricketwood in and we got off to a good start; in my first over I took a wicket and also had a wicket in my second over. All the bowlers bowled well however Bricket Wood ended with 203 in their 40 overs.  (I suppose we ought to mention the huge number of wides - I think extras scored 50! - NQ)
Darren Hincks got 3 wickets and bowled a good spell as did James Riley (who got the wicket of their top bat - for 49), Ian Wedd, Nigel, and John Harle who should have had at least two LBW's. We also had a very good spell from Errol playing his first game.
Our run chase began well and I was the first one to get bowled for 15.  Bob and John Harle had an execllent partnership and also ran very well. They had taken the score to over a 100 before Bob got run out backing up too far for a very good 33.
John got himself caught in the same over for a very good 55. We continued to lose wickets but at the same time our run rate was very good. We had another good partnership between
Richard and Ian. Richard was the first to go trying to hook their best bowler. Ian kept the score moving along and he fell for a good 39 with 4 runs left to score. We were 200/7 which quickly became 200/9 but we managed to pull past Bricketwood with a wide and 2 no balls (not inappropriate given the number of extas in their innnings - NQ). Another close game.

MOTM John Harle

Good game, wrong result

Great close game against Chesham Bois. put them in on winning the toss and the match was reduced to 35 overs as it was raining.
They scored 144 from 35 overs and we fell short by 14 runs.
Nigel was our stand out bowler with 3 for 22 from his 7 overs but our batting let us down once again.  That we managed to get close to their score was due to a good partnership between Jeremy and Richard. Richard went on to score a bright 39.

man of the match richard

Beaten twice over

Another close win

Another close match and once again we won. Having won the toss I put the Cavaliers into bat on what looked like a slightly damp wicket. They raced to 40 from the first 6 overs. Jeff had to go off the field as he pulled a back muscle and as Matt could not get his lines right we were forced to change both the bowlers.  Michel and I replaced the opening bowlers and we both chipped awaywith Michel getting 3 for 25 from his 8 and I had 2 for 23 from my 8. MickTizzard took three execellent catches. Muks took a couple of wickets in his spell and Richie picked up one as well. The Cavaliers managed to score 165 for 9 in their 40 overs.

We needed a good start and Mick went of to a flyer in the second over taking 3 fours off the bowlerbefore he was bowled. I came in at 3 and Martin and I scored at a very good rate until I, as usual, holed out for 33. Amir came in and started playing his shots and got a very good 35.When he was out we required 40 runs from 16 overs and we started to lose wickets as well. Michel went in with us requiring 15 from 5; he kept a cool head and hit the winning boundary with an over to spare.

Man of the Match: Michel for his bowling as well as his batting

Kimpton Make it a Double

Just desserts for Bamville

The right team won on the day – which was Bamville of course – following some disappointingly partial umpiring from the home side – well we would say that wouldn’t we?
We played the game in the right spirit and in the end we won the game.

On winning the toss Penn Street put us in on a greenish pitch with the ball swinging like a banana. We lost 2 wickets for 2 runs before Paul and I steadied the innings and used up a few overs. I was first to go and Paul followed soon after. Good cameo from Anirudha of 29.

We were 79 for six when Ash and Amir came in to bat and had a very good partnership with Ash getting a good 24. The star of our innings was Amir who went on to hit a very good 69. At 78/6 I would have settled for 130 to 140, but the way all the lower order batted we managed to get 215 from our 40 overs.

Iqbal got us off to very good start with a wicket in his first over and another in his third over. Charlie bowled well at the other end but did not get the break through, Michel and I replaced them, and I went on to take two wickets in my spell from 8 overs. Ash replaced me and after softening up their no 3 with a full toss on his elbow, he took a stunning caught and bowled the next ball which was travelling like a bullet. This wicket won us the game as he was scoring all their runs. Iqbal in his second spell picked up one more as did Charlie who should have had a caught behind as well. Michel was also unlucky not to get a caught behind as well as a plumb lbw. We won in the last over by 6 or 8 runs when we had the last batsman run out going for two runs.

Man of the match: Amir for his excellent batting

Always check with the scorer!

We had a tied match which according to the score board read Bamville 141 and Ivanhoe on 134 needing 7 runs from the last ball.  As it turned out someone put the wrong runs on the board ! The real score for us was 140 and they needed a 6 from the last ball which their batsmen duly hit meaning the scores were level hence  a tied match.

I lost the toss and it meant we had to bat on a slow damp wicket and the ball doing all sorts.  Paul Robin and Pete Moss both were out to one that kept very low and I fell to a rash shot trying to up the scoring for 33. We have Jeremy, Simon and Richard Harle to thank for getting us to 140.

Ivanhoe raced to 36 for 1 of 6 overs with Jeremy getting a wicket in his first over. We managed to get their run rate really down with Paul Robin bowling an excellent spell 8 overs 2 wicket for 5 runs and 5 maidens.  Lee also chipped in with a good spell of just 16 runs from his 8 overs.

The man of the match goes to Jeremy for his batting and bowling; 26 valuable runs and 2 wickets.

Ani and Iqbal beat the rain, and win the match

On a hot, sunny day after winning the toss we inserted the oppostition. After five overs of tight opening bolwing by Iqbal and Mike Taylor the oppostion found themselves 8-4. and after some gentle, mid-innings bowling and then some late hitting the oppostion managed 170 with Iqbal taking four wickets.

A good opening stand between Muks and Paul Hughes (41), then some late hitting by Anirudha and a three ball 14 from Iqbal, with a backdrop of thunder and lighting, led to Anirudha scoring the winning run just as the terrentional rain came pouring down.

MOTM: Iqbal for four wickets, a run out and his 14 of three balls right at the end. 

Bamville reliant on Robin

Misers Jeff and Miles secure win

MOM Jeff Chapman

Tizzard in need of support

On winning the toss against Kimpton Peck put them in to bat, they went on to score 205 in 40 overs.
We got a good start to our batting from Mick Tizzard who scored 72 but we lost the match as they rest of us did not score enough runs finally falling about 10 short.

man of the match Mick Tizzard

Price cleans up

Choosing to bowl on a dusty wicket Jeff Chapman and Miles stood out being both difficult to score off snd taking wickets regularly. Miles finishing with a four wicket haul. Chingfords number three bat managed to be not out 43 having come in in the fourth over. Opening partnership of 39 from Cripps and Cripps and a bullish 28 off 10 balls from Phil Olivers we reached the target of 124 for 5 wickets.

MOM Miles Price

Lost at the toss

Victory from the jaws of defeat!

We finally won our first match on sunday

On  winning the toss  we batted first and got a useful start from Mick Tizard and Peter Moss. The batting performance came from both John Harle and John Smith who both hit fifties, John

Harle top scoring with 55 and John Smith getting 50
useful contributions from Pramod and Tony Heyes. We ending getting 194 for 5.

John Harle got us to good start getting a wicket in his first over and in hisover all spell ending up with 5 wickets for 15 in his 8 overs. Good support from Michel Taylor, 2 for 18, and a wicket each for Pramod, Richie and myself.

Harpenden got close but lost by 16 runs.

Man of the match John Harle

50 over match stretches older team members!

Luckily the Saturday youth policy was in full operationas we played a 50 over game.  Boxmoorchose to bat and although we bowled well we could not seem to takewickets.  An opening partnership of over100 ensued until Geoff took the first wicket having dropped the other openerTWICE(who got the fielding trophy!!!)

Steady batting meant we were againchasing 265 but in 50 overs this week.

Anirudha was asked to open and at 49-1off 7 overs, Ani 47 n.o. things were looking up. He continued to plunder viathe aerial route until he got cramp and retired on 72 we then lost wicketsregularly only Iqbal 24, Geoff 27 and Jeff Chapman at the end showingresistance. Ani finally out last for 95, we ended on 197 all out (on ourfeet!).   

MOTM Anirudh

Close again!

After a lengthy wait for the opposition to arrive we got underway at 2:35. The opposition did not bother to play themselves in scoring 35 off of the first three overs. At 20 overs they had almost 140 and finally scraped together a paltry 264-5.  Only Iqbal seemed to escape with reasonable bowling figures of 8-0-30-1.  With a very positive approach Peck and Anirudh put on 50 in 8 overs and the momentum continued when Darren joined Peck and took the score past the 100 and on to 125 at 20 overs. Unfortunately Peck was caught for an excellent 57 and Darren went for 47.  Although the rest of the batsman tried hard they could not seem to find the boundaries we needed with the exception of young Simon Cripps who hit a classy 30 no.  We eventually fell 11 short of the total 253-9

MOM Simon Cripps

First home game

We didn't bat well and lost lost both our openers very early, John Smith and Pram were  going well until John slipped going for a second run and was run out.

We ended up getting 142 thanks to Muks who hobbled in as the last man and got a good 30 not out.  He and Darren Hinks batted well at the end.

Pram was the man of the match with his 51 runs and couple of wickets.

Two 5 fers but no win

We bowled first and bowled them all out for 75 with Charlie Yates and Jeff Chapman both taking five wickets. On a suspect wicket we just managed 70 all out. With half the team being bowled by balls that shot along the ground. (Mine actually burrowed under the ground - Nigel) Some good performances by Philip (highest with 23) and Andrew Cripps.

Man of the Match: Both Charlie Yates and Jeff Chapman

Not sure we can have two MOTM, but hey!

Last ball drama

Very exciting low scoring game against Dolphins on Saturday.Put into bat on a very unpredictable wicket we patiently constructed a score of122-7 in our overs. Bob Norrish top scored with able assistance from Peter Mossand Darren. Early bowling from Jeremy Peet and Iqbal was very economical butlooked like we were not going to take any wickets until both of them tookwickets when told it was their last over. Peter Moss then came on to bowl amiserly spell until unfortunately dislocating his finger trying for a caughtand bowled.  Darren given the job of finishing Peter`s over bowled thebatsman first ball.  Wickets then began to fall quite regularly but alsoruns were being scored. In the end it came down to them needing 7 off the lastover. Geoff took the responsibility and bowled four dot balls but decided tomake it interesting by letting them hit a four off of the fifth.  one dotball later Bamville successful by 2 runs.  Great game.

MOTM Peter Moss

Close, but not close enough...

Gaddesden batted on a damp pitch and a good opening spellfrom Lee Anderson backed up by Matt Arnerich kept the score below 2 an overwithout taking any wickets. Bowling change to Peter Moss (8 overs 2-25)andGeoff (6 overs 1-18) managed to produce the first wickets and kept the run ratereasonable up to 20 overs but after that the bowling took a bit of a hammeringand Gaddesden ended up on 193 for 5.  The batting started solidly but wefound it as difficult to adjust to the damp pitch scoring quite slowly. Darren 40 and new man Pram Mistry 52, on debut, added some pace to the battingand Geoff hit a rapid 20 - but we fell 10 runs short.

Man of the Match: Pram Mistry