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!

[Shelsey93]

Well done Carrot, my top score for ages as a youth player was 19* .....

My highest has been 19* for coming on 4 years now. Had an 18* and a 17 since, was once run out for 15 when I felt really comfortable at the crease, and once batted well over an hour for 6 against two of the best bowlers in the league that year but haven't quite gone past the highest.... Hopefully this season I'll have a better opportunity as availability issues means it looks like I'll be at number 3 most weeks.

[hodge]

Apparently a couple of guys aren't available next week so could see me keeping my spot in the 1sts for another week, with more and more people returning now I can't see it being long before I return to my usual spot of 2nd team opener considering I haven't had a good knock yet in the 1sts. Only claim is because I didn't bat on the weekend what have I done to get dropped, considering the week before I was one of few players who could apply themselves in the situation even though I only got 18.

[Carrotdude]

Cheers guys, unfortunately the next game isn't for 3 weeks owing to one team in the division pulling out. I found out we're in division 2 of 7 in the Kent village cricket league having been promoted last year so a win in the first game this season was pretty good.

[hodge]

hit 35 on the way to helping the staff team of the school I coach get a win today, so captain and win against them last week, help them win this week

[hodge]

Initially dropped to the 2's but got a text today saying i'd been called back into the firsts for this weekend, seems like I really need to take this chance then this weekend!

[NickisBHAFC]

Making my debut for Newick tomorrow

One of the owners, a Mr Piers Morgan. Former Newick resident.

[Shelsey93]

In action again tomorrow for the 4s. Looking at the team I'd imagine it will be another low-scoring match which transforms my role from spin option to number 3 or 4 batsman as there is no chance of me being asked to turn my arm over to defend 60!

[JDizzle]

Played my second game of the season last night now I'm back from Uni. Got a quick fire 30 and a couple of wickets as we won in our T20 cup game. Allegedly got a game tomorrow as well if the weather holds off.

[Shelsey93]

We had the normal low-scoring thriller yesterday as we managed to defend 99, bowling the opposition out for 97. It should have been much easier than that but a string of dropped catches and some lower-order resistance after we got them to about 50-8 almost got the opposition over the line.

As I suspected the low-scoring nature of the game again denied me a bowl. I managed 6 with the bat but never really found my timing at all on a very slow pitch against a painfully slow bowling attack.

[hodge]

We won against top of the league who had only dropped 1 point so far this season (you can pick up 35 in a game) but it was a lot tighter than it should have been. We had them 70/5 but as we have done this season just couldn't kill the innings off. They ended up on 185 all out after some big hitting from their number 7.

I batted 7 and only hit 4 ended up being bowled by one that swung back in when looking to drive it back at him. The bowler was getting it to hoop a mile when he got it going though. In the end we won with a ball to spare. 4 games so far and 2 have already gone to the final over, we really need to get rid of that habbit!

[Carrotdude]

hodge - from my experience it's much more fun to watch a tense finish than be involved in it! Well done on another win!

[Mike Selig]

Good training week-end with the senior squad in Kent.

Sunday 2 matches against a strongish Kent academy side which included Sam Billings (who plays YB40 for the first team and made 140odd in a match last year).

First match: France 135/5 (20 overs) beat Kent Acc 100/10. Billings made 37 but was largely kept in check. Eventually Zika Ali (who trained with the academy last year) got him caught at long-off.

Second match: Kent Acc 131/4 (15 overs - Billings 76 off 46) beat France 98/6.

Two good tough matches, some positives and some stuff to work on.

[hodge]

hodge - from my experience it's much more fun to watch a tense finish than be involved in it! Well done on another win!

Cheers, a season where it looked like we'd be fighting relegation and we are in the top half with a quarter of the season gone.

The ending was made all the more nerve racking when the skipper got out with 14 or so needed of 3 overs and a more defensive batter was at the crease with a bowler who slogs, in the end dropped catch allowed us to run two, very satisfying as they weren't the nicest of opposition, and I get to slipper a Sunday game against them next Sunday

[Shelsey93]

That first match looks like a terrific result Mike Shame you couldn't quite keep it up when chasing.

[Carrotdude]

Is it OK that I'm excited that I get my own page showing my stats for the season?

[JDizzle]

Is it OK that I'm excited that I get my own page showing my stats for the season?

Play cricket is my favourite website. Means I can stalk all my friends and find out when they get ducks as well so I don't feel so bad.

Lost on Saturday. I bowled economically but batted poorly (awful shot) and had a friendly on Sunday where I batted well and got 40 odd which annoyed me as I should have done it on Saturday in the league when it mattered!

[Shelsey93]

Is it OK that I'm excited that I get my own page showing my stats for the season?

Its great when you do well; not so great when you build up six years of underwhelming batting stats as I have

[guildfordbat]

Carrot - whenever Alan Shearer was staying in a hotel with England or one of his club sides, he would annoy his room mate by immediately switching the tv on and tuning it to the Ceefax page for Leading Premier League Goal Scorers!

[Shelsey93]

Not playing this week as I have been the casualty of the usual half-term spike in availability. On batting form it was fair that I have been left out - I batted poorly last week and failed the week before. On the other hand I have never really been a batsman and one of the people that's come in seems only to have been picked because he's 'keen', even though he's 13 and has junior cricket to play. Plus, my fielding's probably been better than its ever been (which isn't saying much but is at least progress...).

[Carrotdude]

I played today, I don't want to talk about it.

OK I got bowled for 1 but some slow dobber and we lost by 50 odd runs. Very frustrating as they really weren't great bowlers but the pitch was completely green (as in you couldn't even see it in the square) and was very slow and low so it was really hard to get their medium pace/slow bowlers away and we bowled pretty horrendously conceding 49(!) extras.

[guildfordbat]

Is it OK that I'm excited that I get my own page showing my stats for the season?

Carrot - guess you're not feeling so excited tonight. Bad luck, Carrot. Roll with it. It'll make the good days even better.

[JDizzle]

Well, I bowled well today. One wicket at less than three an over.

We won't talk about the second ball duck and the collapse from 99-2 to 113-9.

[Carrotdude]

That's it JDizzle, concentrate on the positives!

guildford - yes I think I shall only be checking my page after good days!

[hodge]

Generally good weekend for me, stayed in the firsts having been called up a day later than others (still on Tuesday though so not a late call up) we lost the toss and were put in. Think I came in with 10 overs left with the score on 170 ish trying to look for 220. Got off to a great start being dropped on my first 2 balls ( ) first one skied off the top of the face trying to hit it over cover, and secondly smashed one off my legs to square leg and it went through a guys hands to the boundary.

From that however I batted pretty well, few boundaries and a big 6 over cow (which missed a car by about 2 feet) and ended up on 37 which had to be at a run a ball at the very least. We ended up on 249/6 with me being run out on the final ball. We then bowled the opposition out for 196. Immensely satisfied by the result along with another as we both went to school (at different times) with a guy who banged on about how much better his club was than us etc and when he heard he started making excuses.

Today I won the toss and chose to bat first as it was on the same track as the game above from the day before, got off to a steadyish start 84 without loss at the 16th over drinks break, lost a wicket the next ball but a first teamer out of some form came in and hit 67 in 8 overs before retiring. The other opener hit 57 in his first ever 50 (including one HUGE six, his first ever one as well). We finished on 208 and then bowled the opposition out for 145 or so, with them having been 132 for 3 or so. Our 15 year old taking 6/46!

That is now 3 wins from 3 games as captain, not quite sure how i've managed it....

[Mike Selig]

Another week-end, another coaching commitment: U19 trials in the South West (of France) with 2 40 over matches on Saturday and Sunday. Massive organisation required, but overall a very successful week-end. Huge credit to the groundsman for getting the pitch anything like playable with the amount of rain they've had there.

Pick of the performances was James "Jimmy" Dawkins taking 6-21 in the 2nd game. Although he got a deserved bollocking from the coach for not bringing himself back on for his second spell sooner .

That's the end of the trials and regional development program. Now have to pick the squad for the season.

[Shelsey93]

Back in the team today for what was always going to be a really tough game. Our opposition had easily won all their matches before today and in truth are probably playing a couple of divisions too low (they only re-joined the league a couple of years ago).

So far this season in 3 completed matches we hadn't broken 100 but had somehow remained unbeaten. Today a sub-100 score was never likely to be enough batting first and so it proved as we were beaten by 9 wickets after being bowled out for 75.

The main issue with the bat wasn't awful shots this week; rather that pretty much all of our batsmen have nothing between the big shot and the forward defensive. Their bowlers were right on the money and we had no response - one of them had figures of 17 overs, five for nine! My personal contribution was a glorious cover drive for 4, accounting for almost half of the runs the aforementioned bowler went for. Sadly I tried a repeat against the guy at the other end a couple of overs later and failed to keep it down, picking out mid-off perfectly, who preceded to take an excellent catch! And that was the pattern of the innings - after being tied down for a few overs batsmen attempted the aggressive shot and failed to pull it off...

Our usual potent attack was missing one of its most potent members and the other regular opening bowler bowled some shocking stuff for a couple of overs. That allowed them to get momentum and some good opening batsmen took advantage to win in under ten overs...

A reminder I think that any hopes of challenging for promotion purely off the back of having one of the best bowling attacks in the league are misplaced. The batting needs some work and if I'm honest improvement is unlikely to come unless we can inherit some classier players... when your number three (me) averages less than ten you know you have some issues!

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Just focus on that cover drive, Shelsey....

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Shelsey how quick are your batsmen between the wickets? A good old drop and run may be a good way to release pressure I always find

[Shelsey93]

Shelsey how quick are your batsmen between the wickets? A good old drop and run may be a good way to release pressure I always find

Sadly quite slow. Most of our talented young players go straight into the 3rd XI so the relative mainstays of our batting are late 40s/ early 50s and not particularly fit - and those which are younger tend not to be the most athletic in the club!

[hodge]

Not needed today really, drove about an hour and a half away and pretty much my entire contribution to the game was made after 3 overs when I took a catch at point. Was down to bat at 7 and wasn't needed. Our opener had reached 50 when the team score was on 64!

We're up to 2nd atm but when a result comes in i'd imagine we'd drop to 3rd. Considering the team hasn't changed except maybe 1 or 2 2nd team players coming up like myself we're at the top end of the table instead of the bottom end. Keep this up we could be looking at a promotion fight big time.

[hodge]

Called in as a ringer today for a team of my mates, batting first they put me 3, end of the 3rd over we were 11 for 3.... Luckily I was still there and joined by my mate who I play saturday cricket with. Proceeded to have a partnership of 108 and I was out for 62 (should have been 68 but a 6 wasn't put against my name). We set 244 in 35 overs and bowled them out for 78.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Called in as a ringer today for a team of my mates, batting first they put me 3, end of the 3rd over we were 11 for 3.... Luckily I was still there and joined by my mate who I play saturday cricket with. Proceeded to have a partnership of 108 and I was out for 62 (should have been 68 but a 6 wasn't put against my name). We set 244 in 35 overs and bowled them out for 78.

Is there likely to be a steward's inquiry into the composition of the team?

[hodge]

I would doubt it being a sunday friendly game not involved in any leagues or anything....

Best part is though my side I captain for my club plays the team I played for today later in the season, little scouting trip for me today

[Mad for Chelsea]

Finally got on the field yesterday for my first competitive fixture of the season. Our club had had an ordinary start, following up a thrashing of the League's weakest teams by losing to both other teams in games we really should have won. Yesterday we traveled to the weakest team's home ground, knowing that nothing but a big win would be sufficient to put our title aspirations back on track (every team plays each other twice, top two through to play-offs).

Captain Hugo won the toss and elected to bat, and in him and Adie went. At drinks after 20 overs they were still there with the score a more than healthy 130-odd for none. Adie eventually was caught at long-off for 65, Hugo went on to score 122, our n°3 Ali slapped a few big shots for 20-odd, Clinton hit a rapid 46, and I finished it off (from n°6) with a couple of fours in the final over, both paddle-swept off one of their medium-pacers to the vacant fine-leg region to push the team over 300. We ended our 40 overs on 304 for 5 (i made 11 not out from the 5 balls I faced).

Our opponents were never likely to get close, but after 9 overs of their reply we had picked up just the solitary wicket and the weather started to close in. On came Mohammed at first change and promptly picked up a wicket first ball. Hugo then asked the umpires how many overs were needed to constitute a match and the umpires replied "we think it's 20". Cue a bit of rushing through our overs, and thankfully the umpires kept us out there, but in fact the wickets tumbled merrily from there on in, and they were bowled out for 61 in the 18th over. Mohammed picked up 5 wickets, and left-arm spinner Jon picked up 3, including one sharp stumping by yours truly (I thought I kept pretty well actually - should have had two catches including one fine effort diving down the leg side but none were given).

So an absolute hammering in any book, maximum points gleaned, and with the other two teams having beaten each other once (and lost the other one) that could be crucial. We now need to win our remaining two matches and there's a decent chance we could still top the group.

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

I came out of retirement yesterday to fill in for a social team (St Anne's Allstars) vs Chigwell Synagogue in a 35-overs each match. And I really didn't cover myself with glory, went in at number 5, and nicked out 1st ball. Then I got sent back in at #11 (we were a man short, so it was "lowest scorer bats twice", and got castled 4th ball. I'm seriously in need of a net session I think. I at least fielded OK, but 88 all out wasn't much of a score to defend, even on a pitch with very uneven bounce (high, low, left and right!) so we lost by 8 wickets.

[Mike Selig]

[...]I finished it off (from n°6) with a couple of fours in the final over, both paddle-swept off one of their medium-pacers to the vacant fine-leg region [...]

Ah, glad to hear that one has come out of the locker again.

North group now looking very interesting. You guys probably have the strongest squad, so if you can get good sides out against Eymet and St Aulaye you should win those, barring a DN special in the St Aulaye game.

[Mad for Chelsea]

[...]I finished it off (from n°6) with a couple of fours in the final over, both paddle-swept off one of their medium-pacers to the vacant fine-leg region [...]

Ah, glad to hear that one has come out of the locker again.

Me too really, I'd lost a bit of confidence in the shot but it was the perfect time to play it. For some reason Mansle didn't believe in having anybody behind square on the leg side, though they did put back a fine-leg after the second one

North group indeed very interesting in light of St Aulaye's win yesterday, feeling quite optimistic at the moment...

[Fists of Fury]

I came out of retirement yesterday to fill in for a social team (St Anne's Allstars) vs Chigwell Synagogue in a 35-overs each match. And I really didn't cover myself with glory, went in at number 5, and nicked out 1st ball. Then I got sent back in at #11 (we were a man short, so it was "lowest scorer bats twice", and got castled 4th ball. I'm seriously in need of a net session I think. I at least fielded OK, but 88 all out wasn't much of a score to defend, even on a pitch with very uneven bounce (high, low, left and right!) so we lost by 8 wickets.

Tremendous return then, Pete. Oh well, can only improve!

Not sure I've heard of a pair in the same innings before

I'm playing Thursday, so it'll be your turn to laugh at me then.

[Carrotdude]

Played for Sheldwich Sunday 11 again yesterday, we batted first and I was due in at number 7 but thanks to a record 145 partnership for the 4th wicket never made it out to the middle as we finished 259-4 from our 40 overs. Really ramped up in the second half of the innings as we were only about 80-3 at halfway.

The opposition made 160-9 off their 40, with a dort of tense finish set up as an extra point is gained for reaching 160 and for getting a team all out, they needed 6 from the last over to reach it and the number 11 hit a couple of surprisingly good shots to get them there. I didn't contribute much but was very happy with my fielding out at cover and square leg and almost manufactured 3 run outs but for very slightly off target throws.

2 wins out of 2 for the Sunday 11 then, apparently we haven't lost in about 3 years with back to back promotions!

[Shelsey93]

Rained off today unfortunately. A real shame as we'd made a great start - 63-1 batting first.

[hodge]

We won our 5th game in a row yesterday, bowled first and bowled the opposition out for 189 and knocked it off for the loss of 2 wickets. One of our guys has an average of 212 at the moment after he hit 133* after having hit 120 odd not out last week and 96 the week before. It also means for the 2nd week in a row I wasn't needed to bat at 6 in the order. We're currently 3rd in the table (providing the team who were in 2nd last week get 12 points, if they get less we will be in 2nd)

Captaining a 20/20 game Wednesday again against the staff team of where I coach cricket so should be fun.

[DP]

Enjoy reading this thread.

I've started playing again, so look forward to my excerpts!

[Fists of Fury]

Rain driving me mad at the moment. Two fixtures in a row called off without a ball being bowled now...yet to make an appearance this season.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Not been able to play on Saturday's due to work commitments, however the U17's starts on weeknights soon, so will be able to play some 20/20 stuff!

Cannot wait

[DP]

Not looking forward to batting or bowling again, my handball exploits at University have left my shoulders in rough shape..

[Carrotdude]

3 wins out of 3 for the Sunday 11 now, won by about 70 runs after getting 247/6 from our 40 overs. I batted at 6, hit a nice boundary but then played a stupid swipe across the line for no reason and got bowled (again). First time I've been properly annoyed at getting out as it was a complete brain fade. 

Try again at the weekend I guess!

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

I've been called up again for this Sunday, playing against a team of Aussies in Mill Hill.

I can't bat worse than last game at least!

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

Lovely setting at Mill Hill, and it's actually possible (if you clear the stream on one side of the field) to literally hit the ball into the next county.

We inserted the opposition by consent, as only 4 of their players arrived on time. Eventually they got their numbers up to 9, and with some good swing bowling and fielding we knocked them over for 120. Our openers got off to a steady start, getting through the 1st 8 overs before losing a wicket, though the surviving opener proceeded to run out our #3.

A 40 run 3rd wicket stand saw off their opening bowlers (35 over match, and they bowled their 7 through), before I came in at #5. I was dropped behind 2nd ball, but started to middle some defensive shots, and with our opener starting to attack more played 2nd fiddle, making 8 in our 30 run stand before he was stumped. I was bowled 2 overs later for 18 trying to accelerate, but we got home with 9 balls and 3 wickets to spare. Managed to middle a few, and played a couple of nice flicks off my pads for boundaries (1 almost carried for 6 down the hill to backward square leg - and pulled up just short of the county boundary stream). Still a bit of work needed on my front-foot offside game - I only scored 1 run in front of square on the off, but a massive improvement on last game at least.

[Mike Selig]

Coaching Wednesday, Thursday, then a week-long training camp with U19s starting on Saturday.

Still yet to pick up a bat other than to hit balls in fielding drills, or to demonstrate how to demonstrate whilst running a coaching course - I joked recently that I have probably batted as much left handed as right handed this season so far...

Going to try to play some friendlies towards the end of August - MfC any games I can tag along to?

[kingraf]

Scored an impressive 76* of 55 balls in a t20 two days ago. I played really well. The day before (40-overs) I scored 155* of 96 balls. Although, truth be told, Im a provincial level player, and we were facing school kids and the blind (winter league doesnt bring out the best players). My best mate scored 133 of 90. Nothing in sports beats thumping a team with your best mate.

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