Season updates thread

[hodge]

First topic message reminder :

I just thought for anyone who is playing this season that we could have a thread where people give updates on how their season is going both personally and for their team if they are interested?

As I said in another thread I have what are apparantly my university's first every cricket games thursday and friday this week and i'm captaining the side, no pressure there We have Newport cricket clubs midweek team on thursday and face UWE 2nd XI on friday who a freind of mine is captain so we have a little wager on the outcome of the game. Loser has to buy the winner a drink for every club 2nd XI game we both play in Again no pressure there!

Anyways good luck to everyone for this season, unless somehow in some strange case you end up playing against me!

[Guest]

Played yesterday after Saturday's game was cancelled because the other team had players fall out with each the night before. Never heard anything like that before

Played yesterday and after we posted 144 from 30 overs, we put the other team in. I have to admit the standard of fielding yesterday was eye watering bad. The opposition dropped 6 catches. Then we managed to trump that with 9 dropped catches! I hold my hand up to 1. One of our fielders dropped 5 catches!!! I really felt for him. My bowling figures were poor. The captain didn't help when I wanted a catcher on the pull and he said nah it isn't going there. 3 deliveries and boff 4,6,4. I was fuming as the batsman hit the ball exactly where I wanted the extra fielder. After that I sunk and bowled wide filth The opposition were 132-4 and then a majestic spell in the field in 3 overs left them on 133-9. Botham like stats from 1981! Their tail-ender came in and played a brave innings to carry them over the line. Altough we were gutted, it was an enjoyable match and played in the right spirits.

As for me it is back to nets! Need to work on the bowling and also some fielding practice is needed.

[Fists of Fury]

Final net session tomorrow before our first work T20 of the season a week tomorrow.

Very, very rusty!

[Fists of Fury]

By the way, loving the stories of dropped catches! So horrible when it is you, but it makes for good stories.

[Shelsey93]

Played yesterday after Saturday's game was cancelled because the other team had players fall out with each the night before. Never heard anything like that before

Played yesterday and after we posted 144 from 30 overs, we put the other team in. I have to admit the standard of fielding yesterday was eye watering bad. The opposition dropped 6 catches. Then we managed to trump that with 9 dropped catches! I hold my hand up to 1. One of our fielders dropped 5 catches!!! I really felt for him. My bowling figures were poor. The captain didn't help when I wanted a catcher on the pull and he said nah it isn't going there. 3 deliveries and boff 4,6,4. I was fuming as the batsman hit the ball exactly where I wanted the extra fielder. After that I sunk and bowled wide filth The opposition were 132-4 and then a majestic spell in the field in 3 overs left them on 133-9. Botham like stats from 1981! Their tail-ender came in and played a brave innings to carry them over the line. Altough we were gutted, it was an enjoyable match and played in the right spirits.

As for me it is back to nets! Need to work on the bowling and also some fielding practice is needed.

Sympathies with the poor field setting. As a spinner, I find that captains at my level tend to be far too defensive. They hit pretty every ball I bowled onto the leg side on Saturday, but it took until two balls before I was taken off to put an extra fielder that side of the wicket. The next ball went straight to him, and cut off a single which had repeatedly been conceded to the sweeper.

But no sympathy needed for me with my poor catching. It has always been a very poor area of my game. For some reason I tend to run past the ball quite often, and struggle to settle under catches, meaning that I reach for them, and end up dropping them!

[Fists of Fury]

I think that is my problem with the steeplers too, Shelsey - reaching for them due to not being settled and misjudging the path of the ball.

I'm not too bad with flatter ones, although my favourite are undoubtedly the gently looped catches off a leading edge

[Guest]

Played yesterday after Saturday's game was cancelled because the other team had players fall out with each the night before. Never heard anything like that before

Played yesterday and after we posted 144 from 30 overs, we put the other team in. I have to admit the standard of fielding yesterday was eye watering bad. The opposition dropped 6 catches. Then we managed to trump that with 9 dropped catches! I hold my hand up to 1. One of our fielders dropped 5 catches!!! I really felt for him. My bowling figures were poor. The captain didn't help when I wanted a catcher on the pull and he said nah it isn't going there. 3 deliveries and boff 4,6,4. I was fuming as the batsman hit the ball exactly where I wanted the extra fielder. After that I sunk and bowled wide filth The opposition were 132-4 and then a majestic spell in the field in 3 overs left them on 133-9. Botham like stats from 1981! Their tail-ender came in and played a brave innings to carry them over the line. Altough we were gutted, it was an enjoyable match and played in the right spirits.

As for me it is back to nets! Need to work on the bowling and also some fielding practice is needed.

Sympathies with the poor field setting. As a spinner, I find that captains at my level tend to be far too defensive. They hit pretty every ball I bowled onto the leg side on Saturday, but it took until two balls before I was taken off to put an extra fielder that side of the wicket. The next ball went straight to him, and cut off a single which had repeatedly been conceded to the sweeper.

But no sympathy needed for me with my poor catching. It has always been a very poor area of my game. For some reason I tend to run past the ball quite often, and struggle to settle under catches, meaning that I reach for them, and end up dropping them!

The captain said to me after the expensive over, "I was happy with field setting" but I can tell you I bloody wasn't!

He was hell bent on conceeding singles, yet we were conceeding boundaries. One guy loved the pull and I kept suggesting putting square leg deeper and he wouldn't. 39 runs later he decided to and he holed out to the fielder.

The catching I felt for the guy. He dropped 2 dollies and the other 3 he got his positioning totally wrong. I feel for anyone with dropped catches because their whole body language can drop.

[Guest]

i stated earlier on in the thread that im captain of my club side...


and we are unbeaten from our first 4 games

[JDizzle]

I hate catches. I can only catch the tough ones! If I have to take a steepler on the run, or even a drilled catch I am pretty good but any time I have a chance to think about it, I am in trouble! even the ones that look easy that have just lobbed up I struggle with!

As for me, I still haven't played this year. I played two games for my home team, but ever since I got to Uni all of the game have been rained off. Eating away at the season, 5 weeks in and I still haven't played.

[hodge]

I've played 6 games lost 1 so far this season.

However my club is playing the school staff team I sometimes feature in and they have an ex devon player playing for them this week who is probably one of the most destructive players i've ever seen.

[Mike Selig]

Hi all.

Coaching a president's XI over the week-end: 3 50 over games in 3 days which was hard work for a few of the guys. An interesting experience to coach in a tournament with a team assembled together just for the purpose (rather than building your side over the season) and made of odds and ends, so quite a challenge. The side consisted of 6 guys who are trying to get into the junior side (which I coach), 3 guys who have played for the juniors the last couple of years and are now trying to break into the senior side, and 3 guys who play for regions not otherwise involved in the competition. The tournament had the french senior side, 2 regional sides and us.

First game against the senior side and a complete thrashing, which was not a surprise. Let's not forget that our guys met for the first time the day before the tournament (and had a 2 hour training session - I had to disappear midway through to attend a technical meeting); the senior side have trained throughout the winter, have already had 2 good games against Jersey and of course have the best cricketers in the country. Well, the result was they made 412/5 (50 overs) and bowled us out for 82. They scored almost 150 in the last 10 as our bowling and fielding went to pieces (we were a couple of bowlers short if truth be told). There were some positives: a couple of our batsmen got good starts against genuine quality bowling, a young kid bowled well mostly but ended up with 2/90 (he bowled 9 bad balls - they went for 48 runs combined, 6 sixes and 3 fours); a couple of the guys fielded genuinely brilliantly.

2nd game against the regional side based in Paris: much better effort, great reaction from the kids. We had a long meeting beforehand establishing that they would try to smash us everywhere, and we should just keep plugging away and not worry about the odd slogged boundary. For 38 overs we did exactly that and had them 184/8 I think, which included a sensible partnership for the 7th wicket (between a guy who scored 100 and an ex-captain of the french side). Apart from a couple of dropped chances (which weren't too costly) I couldn't have asked for a better performance. Unfortunately we then exhibited the "fear of winning" and lost the plot somewhat - we failed to keep their number 10 on strike (due to some shoddy fielding from one guy in particular) and their number 5 hit some good shots to get his 100. They put on 70odd in 8 overs or so, before we at last got our yorkers right and got them all out for 264. The kid who took 2/90 bowled even better to get 3/50, and also took a brilliant catch over his left shoulder. Our field settings were a lot better (we'd been too attacking in game 1) and our fielding a lot more enegetic.

Chaseable but tough: good start to get to 80/1 off 18 (the "1" was a fairly ridiculous LBW), but then some tight bowling and overly cautious batting left us 110/2 off 30. From then it was tough, and despite a fine 81 from the opening bat, our young guys panicked somewhat at scoring 8/9 an over, and instead of hitting 1 boundary an over and then pushing the 1s and 2s, tried for too many big shots, and we were bowled out for 218. That was tough, because we'd played some excellent cricket, and really only 8 bad overs in the field and 6/7 ones with the bat cost us a win against a much more experienced side.

Last day we bowled the other regional side out for 144, but in truth we played less well than the previous day: fielding was atrocious, 7 drops including 4 absolute sitters (2 of which the same guy just didn't pick up, and barely got hands on), 1 very tough slip chance (diving away to his right full stretch one-handed) and 2 by the keeper standing up (one was tough, the other he should have probably got). We also relaxed somewhat having reduced them to 74/6 (after a good opening stand of 49). Some positives: we pulled it back brilliantly after an ordinary start (from 30/0 off 6 to 49/0 off 12) which led to the flurry of wickets; we did really well to their number 4 and in form batsman, by cutting off his preferred straight hit with long-off/on, and then bowling full - he hit a few singles and we bowled out the remaining balls to the other batsman who wasn't upto much, eventually he got frustrated and looked for an ambitious 2, which led to a complete mess-up and a run-out; once we broke their 7th wicket parternship (with another gift of a run-out) we cleaned them up sharpish; we took 2 excellent catches.

Unfortunately it then rained: we'd have scored the 145 fairly comfortably I think, but hey.

Overall a very good learning curve for the kids with some good lessons, a lot of positives and great to be able to work with some of them in a bit more depth. Good to see them grow and improve over the 3 days.

[Guest]

training tonight, followed by team selection, prob straight forward selection as unbeaten from 4 games.

[Shelsey93]

Hi all.

Coaching a president's XI over the week-end: 3 50 over games in 3 days which was hard work for a few of the guys. An interesting experience to coach in a tournament with a team assembled together just for the purpose (rather than building your side over the season) and made of odds and ends, so quite a challenge. The side consisted of 6 guys who are trying to get into the junior side (which I coach), 3 guys who have played for the juniors the last couple of years and are now trying to break into the senior side, and 3 guys who play for regions not otherwise involved in the competition. The tournament had the french senior side, 2 regional sides and us.

First game against the senior side and a complete thrashing, which was not a surprise. Let's not forget that our guys met for the first time the day before the tournament (and had a 2 hour training session - I had to disappear midway through to attend a technical meeting); the senior side have trained throughout the winter, have already had 2 good games against Jersey and of course have the best cricketers in the country. Well, the result was they made 412/5 (50 overs) and bowled us out for 82. They scored almost 150 in the last 10 as our bowling and fielding went to pieces (we were a couple of bowlers short if truth be told). There were some positives: a couple of our batsmen got good starts against genuine quality bowling, a young kid bowled well mostly but ended up with 2/90 (he bowled 9 bad balls - they went for 48 runs combined, 6 sixes and 3 fours); a couple of the guys fielded genuinely brilliantly.

2nd game against the regional side based in Paris: much better effort, great reaction from the kids. We had a long meeting beforehand establishing that they would try to smash us everywhere, and we should just keep plugging away and not worry about the odd slogged boundary. For 38 overs we did exactly that and had them 184/8 I think, which included a sensible partnership for the 7th wicket (between a guy who scored 100 and an ex-captain of the french side). Apart from a couple of dropped chances (which weren't too costly) I couldn't have asked for a better performance. Unfortunately we then exhibited the "fear of winning" and lost the plot somewhat - we failed to keep their number 10 on strike (due to some shoddy fielding from one guy in particular) and their number 5 hit some good shots to get his 100. They put on 70odd in 8 overs or so, before we at last got our yorkers right and got them all out for 264. The kid who took 2/90 bowled even better to get 3/50, and also took a brilliant catch over his left shoulder. Our field settings were a lot better (we'd been too attacking in game 1) and our fielding a lot more enegetic.

Chaseable but tough: good start to get to 80/1 off 18 (the "1" was a fairly ridiculous LBW), but then some tight bowling and overly cautious batting left us 110/2 off 30. From then it was tough, and despite a fine 81 from the opening bat, our young guys panicked somewhat at scoring 8/9 an over, and instead of hitting 1 boundary an over and then pushing the 1s and 2s, tried for too many big shots, and we were bowled out for 218. That was tough, because we'd played some excellent cricket, and really only 8 bad overs in the field and 6/7 ones with the bat cost us a win against a much more experienced side.

Last day we bowled the other regional side out for 144, but in truth we played less well than the previous day: fielding was atrocious, 7 drops including 4 absolute sitters (2 of which the same guy just didn't pick up, and barely got hands on), 1 very tough slip chance (diving away to his right full stretch one-handed) and 2 by the keeper standing up (one was tough, the other he should have probably got). We also relaxed somewhat having reduced them to 74/6 (after a good opening stand of 49). Some positives: we pulled it back brilliantly after an ordinary start (from 30/0 off 6 to 49/0 off 12) which led to the flurry of wickets; we did really well to their number 4 and in form batsman, by cutting off his preferred straight hit with long-off/on, and then bowling full - he hit a few singles and we bowled out the remaining balls to the other batsman who wasn't upto much, eventually he got frustrated and looked for an ambitious 2, which led to a complete mess-up and a run-out; once we broke their 7th wicket parternship (with another gift of a run-out) we cleaned them up sharpish; we took 2 excellent catches.

Unfortunately it then rained: we'd have scored the 145 fairly comfortably I think, but hey.

Overall a very good learning curve for the kids with some good lessons, a lot of positives and great to be able to work with some of them in a bit more depth. Good to see them grow and improve over the 3 days.

Sounds like you are doing a great job

[hodge]

training tonight, followed by team selection, prob straight forward selection as unbeaten from 4 games.

would this be in a pub or a bar in your pavilion? always the best way to do it

[Guest]

all the captains in the club talk selection over a pint

only way to do it

[Fists of Fury]

Nice one Mike!

[Fists of Fury]

Nets last night. Last one before our first Twenty20 fixture next week.

Bowling is still a bit scattergun - Mike, don't suppose there are any basic tips you would give to someone that is struggling just a little for line and length? The majority of them are ok, but there are too many 'four balls' that are wide enough of off stump to cut, or short enough to pull away. Obviously it is difficult without seeing my action etc, but just anything as basic as you like!

Batting wise I feel like I'm improving. A couple of nice shots, a couple of horrors. I'm definitely playing and missing less now though, which is promising. Foot movement is still a bit of an issue, as I'll sometimes find myself very flat footed when playing at wider ones and hence missing.

Great to be back playing some cricket though - the king of games!

[Guest]

Nets last night. Last one before our first Twenty20 fixture next week.

Bowling is still a bit scattergun - Mike, don't suppose there are any basic tips you would give to someone that is struggling just a little for line and length? The majority of them are ok, but there are too many 'four balls' that are wide enough of off stump to cut, or short enough to pull away. Obviously it is difficult without seeing my action etc, but just anything as basic as you like!

Batting wise I feel like I'm improving. A couple of nice shots, a couple of horrors. I'm definitely playing and missing less now though, which is promising. Foot movement is still a bit of an issue, as I'll sometimes find myself very flat footed when playing at wider ones and hence missing.

Great to be back playing some cricket though - the king of games!

When I suffer bowling wise I tend to take pace off it just so I can find my line and length and also my range. I tend to find when I go for more in terms of pace and length I release the ball too early. I would recommend just do a gradual increase in pace if your bowling starts to go wayward.

[Guest]

Got my first 50 of the season at the weekend. Was quite a fluent 63 compared to other knocks so far.

[Mike Selig]

Bowling is still a bit scattergun - Mike, don't suppose there are any basic tips you would give to someone that is struggling just a little for line and length? The majority of them are ok, but there are too many 'four balls' that are wide enough of off stump to cut, or short enough to pull away. Obviously it is difficult without seeing my action etc, but just anything as basic as you like!

Tough to say without visual aid, but based on description of short and wide stuff (are you occasionally pushing the ball down leg also, or are all the bad balls short and wide?):

- alignment: are you getting off or trying to get off the pitch too soon? Ask someone to look at your follow-through, and if it's too curved then put some cones down where you think you should be following through and follow-through between the cones. As a guide you should be looking to follow through as straight as you can whilst getting off the danger area. Alignment means "everything going towards the stumps during the delivery" if you're aligning outside off then that's where the balls will end up.
- Head position: are you "falling away" at delivery stride (like Anderson used to do when he started international cricket)? When you're bowling well you don't notice this, but when things are going badly all of a sudden your body follows your head and you bowl either short and wide, or try to compensate and fire it full down leg. If you're bowling both sides of the wicket, I would suggest this is the problem; if everything is wide of off it's unlikely. To correct this you have to "think tall and upright", it's worth bowling a few balls off a shorter run to get used to getting your head in the right position again.
- going through the crease: if you feel your pace is down and/or you're lacking rhythm you're probably jumping up rather than forward and this also leads to a lot of short balls because you don't have the momentum to get the ball down the other end.

[Fists of Fury]

Mike, thanks for that.

The odd ball is going down leg, but quite rarely I'd say. Too wide of off stump has been my main issue. Maybe I need to work on my run up being more directed at the stumps, then, and trying to follow through in that direction?

Your last point is an interesting one re: jumping up instead of forward. I may well be doing that, is there any remedy you know of other than trying to make a conscious effort to make it forward?

[JDizzle]

Bit of an odd question here, but how many grips do people use on their bat? Do you normally just stick with one, or load it up with two or three? I ask because I've put a second one on mine now and it feels a lot better as it balances the weight of the bat out nicely, and I'm tempted to put a third one on but just wondered if their were any adverse effects to doing that!

On a more normal note, I finally get to play a game of cricket this weekend! Playing for one of my sides at home as long as we don't have an epic shift in the weather conditions!

[hodge]

i usually have 1 but have asked for 2 on my new one to see how much a difference there is.

got an interesting 2020 game later playing for my club Vs the staff team of the school where i'm coaching atm

[Mike Selig]

Fists, fast bowling is not really my area of expertise, but I would suggest aiming for acceleration arriving at the crease. One guy I coached was struggling with getting through the crease and after studying some videos we found he was running in too flat-footed.

[Fists of Fury]

Mike, thanks for that, I'll try and pay attention to it next time I net.

Our first game is this coming Tuesday, and I won't get chance to practice before then so it may be best if I don't use an actual game in which to experiment, but I will bear in mind what you have said.

[hodge]

Turns out I was switched from my club team to the staff team today as they were short. Opened the batting, hit our first team opening bowler for 6 then got out in his next over meaning I was 6 and out

Then bowled 4 overs which is very supprising as I never bowl, however the guy who was my first team coach 2 years ago when I was at the school was captaining so chucked me on for the last 4 overs from one end, 4 overs 2-28. Not bad considering its the first time i've bowled in 2 years since I was at the school.

[Guest]

Had nets last night and my batting was going well until I started to defend without playing with a straight bat and thus hoofing the ball

The quickie bowled me a few bouncers and was actually apologetic bless him. Told him that sport hurts and some of the other guys were amazed I played on without seeming disrupted by the short stuff.

I bowled quite well. Found a consistent line and length. Caught and bowled the opener which annoyed him. Found the edges a few times. Very hot out there none the less and it was a struggle in the humidity.

[Guest]

ive settled on the side im gonna pick this week, will send the text round tomorrow, and then another training session friday night, ready for game staturday.

[hodge]

The Newport midweek team I play for won again tonight, baking hot evening played on an astro wicket (has to be not allowed a cut strip) and the captain decides to bowl

They hit 120 off their 18 overs, and we knocked it off 3 down at a rate of 10 an over. I came in at 5 and hit 25* to ensure that from 2 innings I haven't been dismissed yet sitting on 86 runs at the moment.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Played on Saturday and we batted first. I was down to come in at number 6.
We made a really really slow start, we were 41-1 off 20 overs!! Then we managed to get it to 83-4 off 33 overs when I entered the fray. I came in and my partner got out quickly leaving me and the number 7. We got going really well, we ran very hard between the wickets and I was hitting the ball nicely. I managed to get a quickfire 36 not out off 28 balls to get us to a final score of 149-5 off our 45 overs.

Then we managed to remove their openers in the first two overs and despite their number 5 making a 50, we controlled the game and managed to get them all out for 130.

FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON

[hodge]

Well done olly,

my saturday..... I don't want to talk about it

oh okay then, personally I fielded well on what was a difficult outfield, didn't make a mistake which cost any runs or chances, had a dive for a catch which i was about a hands width from getting something on. They were cruising to 250 it seemed on a good wicket but we pegged them back to 184/8 off 45. I opened again for the 1sts, however I got a 2nd ball duck, one that appeared to be a good length to pull just climbed a bit more than I thought and swung a tad more meaning I spooned it up in the air for an easy catch.

It was kind of gutting also to know i'm in the firsts, where If I were in the 2's like last season there's a good chance I would have been looking at averaging over 35 for them and enjoying my batting, something i'm not doing for the 1sts. I need some sunday games to come round to spend time in the middle.

[Guest]

GAME 5 IN THE LEAGUE:

WELL WE WON............AGAIN


1.G.Powell
2.J.Jackson
3.G.Hope
4.I.Barstable
5.G.Jackson
6.CAPTAIN CF (C)
7.N.Maynard (wk)
8.N.Sammers
9.J.Long
10.S.Mckenzie
11.P.Terry

i had the luxury of naming an unchanged side, and it proved to be the right decision. I won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. They opened the bowling with spin, they had packed their side with spin, i myself had two spinners in my side....At the half way stage 25 overs we had got to 140-3. Barstable had made a nice 40 before getting out.....I came in at number 6 and hit 70 from 30 balls :joydance as we ended up closing on 260-9. Maynard made a very good 53 as well.

Top scoerers

Captain CF: 70
Maynard 53
Barstable 40

I also opened the bowling with spin. Sammers opened the bowling...i gave him 4 overs in his first spell, he took 3-18 which i was very happy with...I myself took the new ball from the other end i bowled 7 overs in my first spell, didnt take a wicket but only went for 18 runs. After 25 overs we had them 70-6 and was right on top...Sammers did come back and eventually only went for 35 from his 10 overs taking 5-35. I myself picked up 4-36 from my 10 overs We eventually bowled them out 140 :clap

Sammers 5-35
CF- 4-36

UNBEATEN FROM OUR FIRST 5 GAMES

i was happy with the team's performance we are off to a cracking start

and on a personal note im very happy with 70 runs and 4 wickets

[JDizzle]

Mixed weekend. We lost on Saturday to a fairly average team, and I had only got back on the morning so I didn't have time to get a net in either. I bowled alright, with not much luck and only got one wicket but should have had more. Then a duck when I batted.

Lost again today. Much better though. Took two wickets and was so much more economical and offered less with to the batsman than I had on Saturday, and I also top scored from 5 with a 44. Should have gone on but I played a tame nothing shot and chipped it to extra cover when well set.

[Mad for Chelsea]

well done cf

Today we played our main rivals for the title in a crunch game. They'd given us a good thrashing in an earlier pre-season friendly (which we don't take very seriously it must be said) and more importantly had won their first two games. We were 1 from 2, though our opening game defeat can be put down partly to missing a large amount of first team players. Win today, though, and we'd go top of the league.

Well we batted first (always something I'm happier with, I reckon we're better at defending totals than chasing). Our opener from two weeks ago wasnt' playing, so skip asked me to open with him. We lost two early wickets. I didn't have much strike but was seeing it beautifully, before our n°4 and star bat called me through for a single which may or may not have been on. Unfortunately when I went to run my bat in, it got stuc in the very sandy outfield, and to compound this the fielder hit the stumps direct from cover. Run out for 7

Our n°4 redeemed himself with 60 though, and some lusty late hitting got us to 170 from our 40 overs. On that ground (the balls didn't roll very well due to said sandy nature of the outfield) that was, we felt, a pretty good score, provided we bowled well.

Our star bowler being back for this one, we bowled some excellent stuff from the start. He didn't get an early wicket, but they couldn't score off him (I think his five first overs went for 3 runs or so). Our other opening bowler dismissed their danger player, caught at extra cover off a nice slower ball, and after 15 overs the score was a mere 38/1. Two quick wickets after drinks put us firmly in control, the run rate kept climbing and they were eventually bowled out for 135-odd in the penultimate over.

I kept well I thought - just one bye (ball down leg which bounced just in front of me and veered off slightly) and one wide got through for an extra run (wide outside off, again bounced before reaching me). I also took my first catch of the season in an official game (easy enough, but still nice).

Very happy with the win, we're now top of the League!

[JDizzle]

I kept today MFC for 20 overs. And I now have much more respect for keepers everywhere! It's horrible, and I am stiff already. I won't be doing it again soon! Thankfully no catches came to me and I kept the byes down by getting something in the way, but my iron hands with a huge problem!

[Mad for Chelsea]

I love keeping, have been doing it pretty much since I started playing cricket (at least since I started playing for a club). It's being all the time in the action that does it for me. As for the being knackered part, your stamina gradually builds up (I used to find 30 overs quite hard work, now I can keep for 40 and still be pretty fresh afterwards).

Didn't find today quite so enjoyable, the sandy outfield meant moving nimbly was difficult, the state of my socks is something to behold!

[Guest]

Sweltering day for it today!

I didn't play yesterday due to being at Trent Bridge, so played for the seconds today instead as a compromise.

A very convincing win too. Put them in to bat on a suspect pitch, in which our skipper wasn't too sure about. In the end, considering the weather, it offered a bit to our seamers and we skittled them for 156 off about 34. I picked up 4-30 but was cost a 5 fer by a dropped catch (shock horror!).

We chased it down but lost 5 wickets in the process, I came in at 6 and got a pretty disciplined 35*, seeing us over the line with a horrible edged drive that would of gone right down second slips throat!

[JDizzle]

Oh yeah, the heat was grim this weekend! Boiling both days for me! That made my keeping experience even less enjoyable. I normally bat in a helmet as I'm quite short and I enjoy sweeping spinners so there is potential for the top edge into the mouth but I had to ditch in today after about an over and one run three!

[Guest]

[quote="Mad for Chelsea"]well done cf

thanks

[Fists of Fury]

CF are you the new Garfield Sobers?

[Guest]

haha captain and all-rounder

[Mike Selig]

That's a good win against Eymet MfC. Heard their bowling's quite useful this year. Quite a competitive league in fact which is nice; don't think the South is up to so much based on a few scores I've been given.

Was Clint batting 4? Did you tease him about the run-out last week? If not, you must...

[Mad for Chelsea]

cheers Mike. Was a very good win (considering we only had 10 players and they had pretty much their strongest XI on the park). TBH I didn't see much special in their opening bowlers (the only ones I faced) and was handling them comfortably, hence the even more galling run out! I will say though they don't give anything away with the ball (they only bowled 7 wides all innings), their bowlers all bowl line and length and aren't easy to get away (no weak link).

Clint was indeed batting 4 (seems to be his prefered position now), he's still mightily peed about the run out last week (suggests the other guy was basically not scoring a run all week-end, just using up deliveries?). To be fair to Clint, I only batted with him for a few overs, but it's quite inspiring to see just how determined he is out there. And he was quite apologetic about my run out. It being my game to put pressure on the fielding side by chancing a few quick runs, I don't think I can complain too much (Julian is stilll feeling the effects from batting with me for 8 overs two weeks ago )

[Mike Selig]

Our plan to Clint and the number 3 was to give Clint the single to long-on/off and bowl the remaining balls at the number 3 (who couldn't actually, erm, bat - as Clint says all he did was miss and leave balls basically). Worked for a few overs, then Clint hit one just wide of long-on, I think shouted "2", then a loud "NO" as our guy got to the ball quickly, the other guy kept running and Clint rather kindly left his crease so we got him run-out. We were fairly ecstatic. Why the other guy didn't sacrifice his wicket is a mystery (he played out a few more dot balls and eventually missed a straight one). Clint wasn't best pleased, I think there were a few choice words being said...

[Shelsey93]

I was involved in a double-header of dramatic matches this week - playing for the 4s on Saturday and scoring for the 1s on Sunday.

Saturday's match saw us playing Hertford's fifth team who, bizarrely, were playing nearer Cambridge than Hertford. We lost the toss and had to field in the heat, and only one of our bowlers got it right as their captain scored an easy 100 and we only took two wickets. I couldn't get my lines right for my first couple of overs, though I got things together a bit later.

In reply our captain set a very strange batting order which saw two hitters at the top, me at 3 (I usually bat 7-9), two players who had hardly ever played cricket at 4 and 5, before two of our best batsman, and the captain at 6, 7 and 8. I was seeing the ball beautifully, but missed out on a couple of scoring opportunities in the desire not to give my wicket away, and only made 5 in about 25 minutes before eventually being bowled. We were 41-7 at one point, but one of our best batsman and a youngster playing his first match of the season dug in, putting on 100 for the eighth wicket and saving the game.

But if that was some comeback, the match I witnessed from the scorebox on Sunday was remarkable. Our 1s were playing a Hertfordshire County Cup match away to Hoddesdon, who play two divisions above us. The pitch was described by one of our batsmen as a motorway, the outfield was lightning quick and the boundaries temptingly short. We also had a second string bowling line-up out which didn't help! Their openers launched an incredible onslaught in the powerplay, and just kept going, making a record opening partnership of 406 for all Hertfordshire competitive cricket in just 45 overs (the game had been reduced as some of our players were late!), and we never got a breakthrough. Their batsmen made 243* (yes, in a one-day match) and 150*.

But, even more incredibly, we were ahead of the rate for over half or the run chase, with their opening bowler bowling two overs for 29, as our Sehwag-esque opener plundered a 23 ball fifty. Unfortunately he got out next ball (if he stayed in we might well have won with overs to spare!), but the next few batsmen kept on hitting as 4s were hit more frequently than dot balls were bowled. However, they took their chances which we hadn't and, once the middle order got in, they couldn't keep up, wickets started falling more regularly and we were eventually bowled out for 296. Usually 296 would of course comfortably win you a club 45 over match! For a while I thought we were going to be involved in a SA v Aus 438 match type run chase, but unfortunately it didn't work out...

[JDizzle]

There was a game in the Shropshire League on the weekend similar to that! Where the number three batsman scored 200* off 99 balls and his team scored 369 off 42 overs. And this was after the openers had put on a stand of 70 for the first wicket! Of course he was a South African overseas player, so it devalues the achievement some what. Don't even get me started in teams dragging in and paying players to play at that level. Just pointless for people enjoying cricket.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

One team in my league has a suspect amount of South African players. Some of them are alright, although somehow with our team of pretty much under 16's we defeated them with relative ease

[Shelsey93]

There was a game in the Shropshire League on the weekend similar to that! Where the number three batsman scored 200* off 99 balls and his team scored 369 off 42 overs. And this was after the openers had put on a stand of 70 for the first wicket! Of course he was a South African overseas player, so it devalues the achievement some what. Don't even get me started in teams dragging in and paying players to play at that level. Just pointless for people enjoying cricket.

I'm not sure I quite agree. As a club, we have had a lot of top overseas players for a club in the fourth tier - last year none other than Zimbabwe international Dion Ebrahim, and Upaal Tharanga and Farveez Maharoof have previously joined us for short stints. Paying players is not allowed in the Hertfordshire League, though they are paid as coaches and they don't pay match fees etc. Having Dion around was of great benefit to the club as he brought professionalism to the First XI squad, and was a great thrill to have around for the juniors. He attended all senior and junior training, and also went into schools and coached on behalf of the Chance to Shine program. In some senses his 1000 runs were a bonus. Having said that our previous overseas, who was a St. Lucian pace bowler, was not that helpful as a coach and so didn't really benefit the club or the league at all other than his 80 wickets.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

We have two Australians over in our first team this year. They are always there at the youth sessions along with Chris Brown. You may have hear do of him, used to play for Lancashire and plays for the Unicorns from time to time. They all play in our first team, and Brownie is a amazing coach. Level 4 I think. The Aussies however are very chirpy and in fact struggle to shut up sometimes!

[JDizzle]

I have nothing particularly against South African players, as we have one ourselves! But he has been here for years and he is actually playing at the correct level for his talent! This bloke has batted 4 times this year and is averaging 187. Ridiculous. What joy can he get out of doing that?! Teams that buy there way up the league just annoys me. Stupid.

And Shelsey, agreed. If you get a good overseas they can be great. And by good I don't mean playing ability. Their coaching to the younger players at their club can be brilliantly valuable. And this is great at a certain level of a big club, like your team is who have 4 or 5 teams and where the pro can play at the top level against people of a similar skill level and he can actually be tested on the pitch whilst still offering advice to the younger kids in the lower teams. Whilst this bloke I mentioned might be a good coach, how good to you think it is for young kids to bowl at him whilst he is smashing 200 off 99 balls? He might be helping kids at his club improve, but he is putting off people at the other 11 clubs in his division from playing cricket.

[hampo17]

We had another awful game on Saturday. They got 283, the aussie pro for them got a hundred, found out at tea that his brother plays for the Aussie national side!

We were bowled out for 93, I am still disgusted with my shot, a very poor sweep that should never have come out of the locker however with only 8 byes in 45 overs that is an improvement, missed a stumping when the aussies was in his 30s though!

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