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]

guys i love captaincy


corporal got a game in on saturday

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Are you a man short?

[Guest]

na i have a pool of 17 players to choose from this week lol..

the players i dont pick will drop into the 2nd XI.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

na i have a pool of 17 players to choose from this week lol..

Just as well since I started off bad and got worse - and also can remember seeing Micky Stewart play at the Oval.....

[Guest]

training tonight, if the damn weather holds..

will go a long way to choosing my side for the weekend

[Fists of Fury]

Hi Cf

Who is it that you play for?

[Guest]

hey fists

sorry mate, i hope you dont mind, but i dont reveal who i play for when i write about this.....same on CMS when i write about it..

apolgies if this upsets anyone, but its the way i do it.....

really hope i can get my side promoted this year, 2nd season of captaincy and last year only missed out on promotion by a few points.

[hodge]

look for teams in an essex league that matches cf's description of his result

[Guest]

go for it.

[hampo17]

Got a phone call from our skipper asking me to keep again this weekend, except we have no gear spare! Didn't realise how expensive keeping gear was!

[JDizzle]

My team at home haven't had a game rained off yet, but whilst I'm at unay it has chucked it down here! Hopefully we have a game this week though, so finger crossed!

[Guest]

We lost this Saturday just gone. 102-9 after 50 overs and our new opener played like Boycott on a zimmer. Seriously he scored 3 off 42!! After 10 overs we were 2-0!!

My captain came under fire as I didn't bat and I was fresh and he didn't bowl me from the start. I finished with 4 off 2 overs and I was getting swing off a wet artificial pitch.

This weekend I have a double header

[Mad for Chelsea]

nets tonight, went pretty well. Feel I'm hitting the ball well again which is nice, particularly off the back foot through the off-side. Bowled a lot more than usual due to there not being many of us there (only five of us, and one of us has to be mowing the field). Managed to bowl some straight deliveries (I keep wicket, so don't bowl much) and probably got a few wickets stumped with my new carrom ball

Game on Sunday, we have a pretty strong team out against an outfit we probably should beat. Hope for a few runs to really kick-start my season.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Because of the rain we have only managed to get 1 net session out of 5 in and even then it was too wet to use the nets so we just did drills. Got first game on Saturday so in all likelihood my first delivery faced this year will be in a game!!!

[Shelsey93]

I have been called off (due to a wet outfield)... for the fourth consecutive weekend!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I am still on for tomorrow! Going to be going into the match without a net, the first ball I face in the middle will be the first ball I have faced all season

[hodge]

First team called off tomorrow so I called the 2's captain and can play for them. This is after having been worked over at nets tonight at Newport, first net I had there and it was with some of their 2's, interesting to say the least but thought I bowled alright, irony being I never bowl in matches.

[Mike Selig]

4-day tournament starting on Thursday, with France seniors, two regional based sides, and a Presidents XI. I am coaching the latter, all preparations are in place and we hope to spring a surprise or two.

It's part of the french side's preparation for the World League qualifier in La Manga.

[Guest]

Match is still going ahead today down here in East Sussex.

We only have 8 players though

[hampo17]

Just about to leave work, got to get to Conwy from Wrexham which is about 60 minutes away by 1.30 and pick my kit up on the way.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

What a lovely day for cricket!

We lost by 5 wickets, we batted first and got 204-7 off our 45 overs, I got 11 . That is good for us considering we are pretty much a boys team playing in an adult league. They got there with 7 balls to spare but an amazing 33 extras killed us!

[Guest]

We had a team of bowlers and were bowled out for 43. The umpire was a disgrace! Firstly for giving a wicket on a NB which was shocking, to top it off he gave out our opener when no-one appealed. To make matters worse he started giving out wides to our fast bowler. Utter w@nker and tosspot! Ruined what should've been a good day for cricket. He felt awkward at the end when no-one shook his hand. The opposing captain actually apologised for his umpiring.

Hoping tomorrow brings a better day of cricket!

[Corporalhumblebucket]

There's always tomorrow!

[guildfordbat]

We had a team of bowlers and were bowled out for 43. The umpire was a disgrace! Firstly for giving a wicket on a NB which was shocking, to top it off he gave out our opener when no-one appealed. To make matters worse he started giving out wides to our fast bowler. Utter w@nker and tosspot! Ruined what should've been a good day for cricket. He felt awkward at the end when no-one shook his hand. The opposing captain actually apologised for his umpiring.

Hoping tomorrow brings a better day of cricket!

Legendkillar - I know of someone who had the good grace to give up umpiring when he found out the lbw appeal he upheld had only been made by a kid on a bicycle.

[hodge]

We played today and won.

Got put in on a poor batting pitch and i was dismissed early for 4 left one which would have missed off stump however moved back in off the seam and clipped the outside of off. Finished on 145/7 after our 45 then bowled the opposition out for 91

[Mike Selig]

We had a team of bowlers and were bowled out for 43. The umpire was a disgrace! Firstly for giving a wicket on a NB which was shocking, to top it off he gave out our opener when no-one appealed. To make matters worse he started giving out wides to our fast bowler. Utter w@nker and tosspot! Ruined what should've been a good day for cricket. He felt awkward at the end when no-one shook his hand. The opposing captain actually apologised for his umpiring.

Hoping tomorrow brings a better day of cricket!

Much as I can sympathise about poor umpiring, not shaking his hand is unacceptable, no matter how poor you think he's been. I have never once refused to shake an umpire's or an opponent's hand, no matter what they've done.

And also, complaining about the umpire when you're bowled out for 43? By the sound of things, there were two poor decisions (and they both came from batting errors anyway), what of the other 8? As a coach, whenever someone mentions the umpiring in the debrief, I say "yes the umpire was [insert expletive here], we're not talking about that, we're talking about what WE as a team are going to do better next time".

Trust me, I have known loads of awful umpiring (there are some stories to tell which would be amusing, had they not been in matches which were actually quite important), and at the time you rant and rave a bit on the sidelines (and can potentially get into trouble for it) but once the game's done and finished, there is nothing to be gained from dwelling on the umpire's mistakes (which can by definition only happen once a player has made a mistake, so work on that).

[hampo17]

LK I feel a bit better after reading yours, we had 4 batsmen and were bowled out for 41. Personally haven't picked a bat up since last August so to be told I was batting 3 was worrying and it proved right as I got a 3rd ball duck, not a lot I could do mind, bowler got the first two to move dramatically down the slope and the 3rd to hold its line, good bowling.

[hodge]

Mike I agree, not cricket but I had a rugby game a few years ago where we were royally screwed by the ref and as much as we didnt want to we shook hands with the opposition and the ref, having said that the players seemed quite sorry for us as i remember

[Guest]

We had a team of bowlers and were bowled out for 43. The umpire was a disgrace! Firstly for giving a wicket on a NB which was shocking, to top it off he gave out our opener when no-one appealed. To make matters worse he started giving out wides to our fast bowler. Utter w@nker and tosspot! Ruined what should've been a good day for cricket. He felt awkward at the end when no-one shook his hand. The opposing captain actually apologised for his umpiring.

Hoping tomorrow brings a better day of cricket!

Much as I can sympathise about poor umpiring, not shaking his hand is unacceptable, no matter how poor you think he's been. I have never once refused to shake an umpire's or an opponent's hand, no matter what they've done.

And also, complaining about the umpire when you're bowled out for 43? By the sound of things, there were two poor decisions (and they both came from batting errors anyway), what of the other 8? As a coach, whenever someone mentions the umpiring in the debrief, I say "yes the umpire was [insert expletive here], we're not talking about that, we're talking about what WE as a team are going to do better next time".

Trust me, I have known loads of awful umpiring (there are some stories to tell which would be amusing, had they not been in matches which were actually quite important), and at the time you rant and rave a bit on the sidelines (and can potentially get into trouble for it) but once the game's done and finished, there is nothing to be gained from dwelling on the umpire's mistakes (which can by definition only happen once a player has made a mistake, so work on that).

Like I said in my post Mike, we had a team of bowlers and we only had 10 players, hence the low score. We had 2 recognised batsmen. I didn't vent at the umpire during the match unlike some of my team mates who could not contain their frustration. I spoke with the captain of the opposition after the match as I was dumbfounded with the wide decisions given against us and how they managed a whole match without wide given that our top order actually said one ball he had to walk to the offside to get bat on it.

I disagree with the whole unacceptable comment. I have played just about every sport and this official is the worst I have come across in bias decision making. I am sorry but bias and poor decision making does not justify any respect in my book. Shows lack of respect to my team and it's players and also the sport.

[Guest]

LK I feel a bit better after reading yours, we had 4 batsmen and were bowled out for 41. Personally haven't picked a bat up since last August so to be told I was batting 3 was worrying and it proved right as I got a 3rd ball duck, not a lot I could do mind, bowler got the first two to move dramatically down the slope and the 3rd to hold its line, good bowling.

Sorry to hear that Hampo. The captain of the opposition told me of match his team were bowled out for 21.

It was a bad day at the office for me I think. I went for 0 after the ball hit my back pad and then the back of me bat and onto the stumps! The umpire was dumbfounded as I was

I can't wait for nets to get stuck into much needed batting and some bowling.

After a day of reflection I am much more relaxed and less angry about yesterday. It was a bad day and we all have them.

[Mike Selig]

We had a team of bowlers and were bowled out for 43. The umpire was a disgrace! Firstly for giving a wicket on a NB which was shocking, to top it off he gave out our opener when no-one appealed. To make matters worse he started giving out wides to our fast bowler. Utter w@nker and tosspot! Ruined what should've been a good day for cricket. He felt awkward at the end when no-one shook his hand. The opposing captain actually apologised for his umpiring.

Hoping tomorrow brings a better day of cricket!

Much as I can sympathise about poor umpiring, not shaking his hand is unacceptable, no matter how poor you think he's been. I have never once refused to shake an umpire's or an opponent's hand, no matter what they've done.

And also, complaining about the umpire when you're bowled out for 43? By the sound of things, there were two poor decisions (and they both came from batting errors anyway), what of the other 8? As a coach, whenever someone mentions the umpiring in the debrief, I say "yes the umpire was [insert expletive here], we're not talking about that, we're talking about what WE as a team are going to do better next time".

Trust me, I have known loads of awful umpiring (there are some stories to tell which would be amusing, had they not been in matches which were actually quite important), and at the time you rant and rave a bit on the sidelines (and can potentially get into trouble for it) but once the game's done and finished, there is nothing to be gained from dwelling on the umpire's mistakes (which can by definition only happen once a player has made a mistake, so work on that).

Like I said in my post Mike, we had a team of bowlers and we only had 10 players, hence the low score. We had 2 recognised batsmen. I didn't vent at the umpire during the match unlike some of my team mates who could not contain their frustration. I spoke with the captain of the opposition after the match as I was dumbfounded with the wide decisions given against us and how they managed a whole match without wide given that our top order actually said one ball he had to walk to the offside to get bat on it.

I disagree with the whole unacceptable comment. I have played just about every sport and this official is the worst I have come across in bias decision making. I am sorry but bias and poor decision making does not justify any respect in my book. Shows lack of respect to my team and it's players and also the sport.

I'm sorry but I disagree. Strongly.

It is far more understandable to let frustrations boil over during the game, then not to shake an official's hand afterwards. Whatever happens on the field, when everything is done and dusted, you treat the officials with respect, whether they deserve it or not. It is part of the ethos of the game, and part of what separates it (and other sports such as rugby as said by hodge) from football.

I very much doubt the umpire was being deliberately biased - I have umpired cricket, refereed rugby (and even refereed one football match - an experience not to be repeated), and made more than the odd blunder in doing so - he may have been incompetent but even if he was plain cheating you should have lifted yourselves above that, rather than put yourselves down to his level. There must be channels through which you can complain about the standard of umpiring? I suggest using those.

Finally, a lot of what you write sounds like excuse-making. I accept the umpiring was probably poor and circumstances were very much against you, but it remains that you were bowled out for 43. I suggest the main reason for that is you didn't bat (as a team) particularly well, and you should concentrate on fixing that. Using the umpiring as an excuse won't help.

And again, trust me, I have seen some incredibly inept umpiring (MfC can attest - a particular occasion where a batsman smashed the ball to cover and the umpire declared it a bump ball; more generally I remember a game where we lost 3 wickets - 2 LBWs and a run-out - due to poor officiating and poor batting, and got given nothing in the field; and also a few instances at a higher standard which I shan't go into on a public forum, but on one occasion led me to submit an official complaint). The point is not that bad umpiring doesn't happen, it is that there is nothing you can do about it. Concentrate on the things you can do something about.

[Guest]

We had a team of bowlers and were bowled out for 43. The umpire was a disgrace! Firstly for giving a wicket on a NB which was shocking, to top it off he gave out our opener when no-one appealed. To make matters worse he started giving out wides to our fast bowler. Utter w@nker and tosspot! Ruined what should've been a good day for cricket. He felt awkward at the end when no-one shook his hand. The opposing captain actually apologised for his umpiring.

Hoping tomorrow brings a better day of cricket!

Much as I can sympathise about poor umpiring, not shaking his hand is unacceptable, no matter how poor you think he's been. I have never once refused to shake an umpire's or an opponent's hand, no matter what they've done.

And also, complaining about the umpire when you're bowled out for 43? By the sound of things, there were two poor decisions (and they both came from batting errors anyway), what of the other 8? As a coach, whenever someone mentions the umpiring in the debrief, I say "yes the umpire was [insert expletive here], we're not talking about that, we're talking about what WE as a team are going to do better next time".

Trust me, I have known loads of awful umpiring (there are some stories to tell which would be amusing, had they not been in matches which were actually quite important), and at the time you rant and rave a bit on the sidelines (and can potentially get into trouble for it) but once the game's done and finished, there is nothing to be gained from dwelling on the umpire's mistakes (which can by definition only happen once a player has made a mistake, so work on that).

Like I said in my post Mike, we had a team of bowlers and we only had 10 players, hence the low score. We had 2 recognised batsmen. I didn't vent at the umpire during the match unlike some of my team mates who could not contain their frustration. I spoke with the captain of the opposition after the match as I was dumbfounded with the wide decisions given against us and how they managed a whole match without wide given that our top order actually said one ball he had to walk to the offside to get bat on it.

I disagree with the whole unacceptable comment. I have played just about every sport and this official is the worst I have come across in bias decision making. I am sorry but bias and poor decision making does not justify any respect in my book. Shows lack of respect to my team and it's players and also the sport.

I'm sorry but I disagree. Strongly.

It is far more understandable to let frustrations boil over during the game, then not to shake an official's hand afterwards. Whatever happens on the field, when everything is done and dusted, you treat the officials with respect, whether they deserve it or not. It is part of the ethos of the game, and part of what separates it (and other sports such as rugby as said by hodge) from football.

I very much doubt the umpire was being deliberately biased - I have umpired cricket, refereed rugby (and even refereed one football match - an experience not to be repeated), and made more than the odd blunder in doing so - he may have been incompetent but even if he was plain cheating you should have lifted yourselves above that, rather than put yourselves down to his level. There must be channels through which you can complain about the standard of umpiring? I suggest using those.

Finally, a lot of what you write sounds like excuse-making. I accept the umpiring was probably poor and circumstances were very much against you, but it remains that you were bowled out for 43. I suggest the main reason for that is you didn't bat (as a team) particularly well, and you should concentrate on fixing that. Using the umpiring as an excuse won't help.

And again, trust me, I have seen some incredibly inept umpiring (MfC can attest - a particular occasion where a batsman smashed the ball to cover and the umpire declared it a bump ball; more generally I remember a game where we lost 3 wickets - 2 LBWs and a run-out - due to poor officiating and poor batting, and got given nothing in the field; and also a few instances at a higher standard which I shan't go into on a public forum, but on one occasion led me to submit an official complaint). The point is not that bad umpiring doesn't happen, it is that there is nothing you can do about it. Concentrate on the things you can do something about.

Sorry Mike but I disagree with that statement completely. To make a comment like that is pure laziness on your behalf. One because you were not there. We took positives from the game by the fact we didn't abandon due to lack of players and that we picked up a points from wickets we managed to take. And again to suggest bowlers should score more than 43 is completely ridiculous on your behalf.

I am sorry but a lot of what you say is way way off the mark in realistic terms. Like I said I have played every sport and even offociated and I can say with absolute certainty that I have never allowed personal feeling influence any decision I have made.

Our captain is submitting a complaint which I fully support. I have beared witness to some poor decisions in every sport I have played football, rugby, tennis, cricket and badminton and this was by far the worst official I have come across.

I am sorry but I hold no respect for your comments which are entirely judgmental to myself and my team-mates.

[Shelsey93]

Our 1st XI did manage to get a game in at last. But they were a bit rusty after the rain, and could only draw against inferior oppostion after getting stuck after loosing a few wickets in a chase of 165.

[Mad for Chelsea]

first official game of the season for me, we creamed them

batting first (40 overs aside) we made an imposing 259. Our openers made a good start, putting on 48 in quick time, but unfortunately our n°3 and president had to retire having dislocated his shoulder diving to make his ground just when he was getting his eye in. This mattered little as our n°4 smacked them around on his way to a quickfire 50. Our n°5 then smashed a quick 20 with two sixes, before he and the other opener (who'd dropped anchor) fell in quick succession (the opener to a pretty shocking LBW decision it must be said). This brought yours truly to the crease with the score on 190-odd (8 overs left). I played tip-and-run for a couple of overs to get my eye in, and then opened up a bit more, making a bright and breezy 26 before being caught off a slower ball (didn't wait for it long enough) off the last ball of the penultimate over. We picked up 13 from the last over to finish in style.

In reply, we picked up a couple of quick wickets, and their n°4 basically seemed happy to have a net, spending 18 overs at the crease for his 16 (and he had plenty of the strike), as they crawled along at just uder 4 an over (they were chasing 6.5 remember). Anyway we eventually got him, followed by a couple more, and though their opener made a nice 70 he never looked like taking it away from us. When he fell we cleaned up very quickly, bowling them for 152 in the 37th over. I kept tidily, no byes, but didn't get a chance to add to my dismissals tally.

A very nice performance, and I was pleased with my little knock

[Guest]

MFC

Ouch to your president. Sounds very painful. Hope he is ok.

Sounds like a very clinical performance.

[Mad for Chelsea]

The president's fine really LK. He came back to the pitch after the game, his arm in a sling, but no lasting harm done. The medics thought at first he might have broken his collarbone as well, but thankfully it wasn't the case.

Yeah, it was pretty much a pitch perfect performance. I was especially pleased with our batting, which is our weakness really. We were talking about it the other day and saying that we needed one or two guys to make good scores with a few others chipping in with 20s or 30s and that's what happened today: two fifties, three knocks of 20+ and a few other starts and we made a big score.

[hodge]

played in the sunday team today and we lost by 40 runs in a game that we never usually win. They hit 190/2 odd in their 40 overs, I was wicket keeping and took a catch for the first wicket and only gave 9 byes which i was happy with as ive only kept about 3 times in the last 3 years and our bowlers sprayed it around today.

I batted #4 and went in with the score on about 35 after 9 overs, I then batted for 24 overs making a decent 37 which should see me keep my place in the firsts for saturday probably, but wickets fell around me and when I got out I think it made it about 130/9.

[Mike Selig]

Sorry Mike but I disagree with that statement completely. To make a comment like that is pure laziness on your behalf. One because you were not there. We took positives from the game by the fact we didn't abandon due to lack of players and that we picked up a points from wickets we managed to take.

You're right, I wasn't there. But I'm not talking about taking positives, I'm talking about learning from defeat.

And again to suggest bowlers should score more than 43 is completely ridiculous on your behalf.

You say you had 2 batsmen, which suggests you had 8 bowlers. Even if the two specialist batsmen made ducks (which would be a problem in itself), yes I would suggest with 8 bowlers I'd be looking at a lot more than 43 (an average of 5 or 6 per wicket) - around 70 at least.

I am sorry but I hold no respect for your comments which are entirely judgmental to myself and my team-mates.

It's not being judgemental, it's constructive criticism. I'm suggesting you and your team-mates should try to learn from the mistakes YOU made; there is nothing you can learn from umpiring errors.

[Guest]

Sorry Mike but I disagree with that statement completely. To make a comment like that is pure laziness on your behalf. One because you were not there. We took positives from the game by the fact we didn't abandon due to lack of players and that we picked up a points from wickets we managed to take.

You're right, I wasn't there. But I'm not talking about taking positives, I'm talking about learning from defeat.

And again to suggest bowlers should score more than 43 is completely ridiculous on your behalf.

You say you had 2 batsmen, which suggests you had 8 bowlers. Even if the two specialist batsmen made ducks (which would be a problem in itself), yes I would suggest with 8 bowlers I'd be looking at a lot more than 43 (an average of 5 or 6 per wicket) - around 70 at least.

I am sorry but I hold no respect for your comments which are entirely judgmental to myself and my team-mates.

It's not being judgemental, it's constructive criticism. I'm suggesting you and your team-mates should try to learn from the mistakes YOU made; there is nothing you can learn from umpiring errors.

Mike,

We had in mind we wanted to make more than 100 which in itself was over ambitious given the number of players we had. I dread to think what you would have to say on hampo's team who made 41 with 4 recognised batsmen. It is not like we sat on our laurels and planned a score of 43.

We did not blame the umpires for our defeat. If you read my posts I was more dumbfounded by the decision making and for me if anyone is going to officiate in any sport and not going to do the role justice in terms of impartiality should not be on the field play. It is that simple.

Like I said we saved 5 points by not forefiting and took 2 bonus points for wickets taken. That for me is more than a positive given the circumstances.

It is called a bad day at the office. Every individual and team have them. Saying a par score for a team of batsmen at 70 is a bit bizarre. I liken that to saying a team of fullbacks in football should expect to win 3-0 against a well balanced team.

Some of my team-mates were more than aggressive in terms of how they spoke to the match umpires. For me I am not one to verbally be abusive on the field of play. Done that once in football and was rightly red-carded and haven't done anything like that since. I chose to be silent and yes that action may seem dis-respectful, but for me the umpire showed a lack of respect to the players involved and the sport itself.

Like I stated it ruined the day. It didn't affect the outcome, but it ruined the day for me as I like to enjoy my cricket which is far more important than trying to exact professional standards of play which in the amateur ranks is difficult for the working class.

Lessons learnt from defeat? Simple:

- Show up with more than 10 players
- Do not allow the first team to raid the second team for batsmen
- Attempt to be aggressive when the chances present themselves

Plus if a team can bowl well like our opponents did, then take your hat off to them and say they were the better team. People who try to read too much beyond that are doomed to failure.

[Mike Selig]

That all sounds very reasonable.

As you say we have all had days when at the debrief someone says "so what went wrong?" and the only possible answer is "erm, pretty much everything".

The key is then to take away a few points (it could be 1,2, or as many as 5; I would suggest more than 5, unless you have a team which is particularly good at assimilating things, is probably going to cause confusion more than anything else) which are under your control, and you can work on to improve for next time. Like your "attempt to be aggressive when the chances present themselves": that to me is clear, precise and helpful. I would advise against statements like "they played better" that suggests that in some respect the result was out of your hands, which is not the case (or shouldn't be).

I still don't think 70 is unreasonable to expect from a team of bowlers: it averages (notice the mathmo) at 7 runs per player. Is the consensus on here that 7 runs is too much to expect from a bowler?

[hampo17]

In reply, we picked up a couple of quick wickets, and their n°4 basically seemed happy to have a net, spending 18 overs at the crease for his 16 (and he had plenty of the strike)

You should have tweeted this to Fred Boycott, he would have got the dig in trophy

[Guest]

It can be Mike. I mean look at poor Chris Martin of NZ being dubbed by Bumble as the walking wicket. We have bowlers in our team who look frightened by the prospect of holding a bat. I mean I was out for 0 after mis-reading a slower delivery after clattering the previous quicker balls and finding the fielders.

In the match in general the batsmen did come back and they did acknowledge that yes they were at fault in terms of dismissals. What doesn't help is one of our batsmen being wound up by the umpires and allowing it to affect him in terms of apportioning their decisions as non-helping cause. When I went into bat all I heard from 2 of our players who were out was them just being constantly critical and abusive about the umpires. When I went to the crease I was able to flush their comments from my mind. some of our batsmen I felt bought into the argument that they were playing against the umpires.

I was annoyed as one of the umpires was faultless. Even the smallest details like not practice bowling on the pitch which annoyed our seamer was the right decision. Also not changing the match ball as we were bowled out in 22 overs. Again the correct decision and yet it provoked an abusive reaction from one of our bowlers even though at that time the team required only 14 runs to win.

In general Mike I was annoyed with some of the decisions made by one umpire in particular who seemed to give wides to our seamer who bowled a very disciplined line and yet the bowler who was aggressive bowled some filth and never conceded a wide. It was little in-consistancies like that I found frustrating as he was clearly intimidated by the bowler and I don't like that. I did pull our bowler after the match to say I didn't like his choice of words during the match. I did most of my cussing under me breath.

I agree yes 70 is not an un-managable score, but when I look at the team of bowlers we have they just looked 'uncomfortable' at the crease. Our no.10 was in my earhole saying how much he was not looking forward to batting.

I was peeved at myself for not picking the slower straighter ball.

[Fists of Fury]

In reply, we picked up a couple of quick wickets, and their n°4 basically seemed happy to have a net, spending 18 overs at the crease for his 16 (and he had plenty of the strike)

You should have tweeted this to Fred Boycott, he would have got the dig in trophy

I love Fred Boycott.

[Guest]

Cor I just spoke with me 1st team VC and it seems we are having problems getting our kit from the supplier. I placed my order with MKK Sports and they have been crap!! Charged me £6.80 delivery and they haven't bothered delivering!!

Also our main luscious pitch is still a bog from the recent bad weather!

I would like thy cricketing gods to be more merciful!

[Shelsey93]

It looks like I will finally get a game in tomorrow. Poor availability further up means we have a bit of a threadbare bowling attack, and I'll probably need to get through a lot of overs.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

It looks as if we might only be playing with nine tomorrow!

Shall have to play well to get anything out of it, had a good net on Thursday so am feeling quite good about my batting at the moment. Hopefully that can be transferred into runs tomorrow

[Shelsey93]

Today's match was a disaster for the team, and pretty poor for me too.

We lost the toss and bowled first. All the bowlers, myself included, bowled pretty well though I couldn't get a wicket. We dropped 10 or more catches though (including two drops for me), and they got 181-9.

Our batting wasn't very strong and we collapsed to 38 all out. I was at the dizzy heights of number six and slogged my third ball to mid-on However, there were five other ducks in the pond to keep me company!

[hodge]

We destroyed our opposition today, we bowled them all out for 108, however they were 32-6 at one stage then slogged their way to their final total, I took the catch for the final wicket, a skied catch which was the highest i've ever seen one, there was a good 10 seconds air time on the ball from bat to hand.

Batting turned out I opened as I had been wondering where I would slot in, I only scored 6 but it was nice to see the captain has faith in me. I got out to trying to hit one over the top when I saw it pitching short however the ball then stuck on the wicket so I was through the shot too early. We ended up winning by only losing 3 wickets.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Yesterday we only had nine players of which two had never played a cricket match before

We batted first in swing and seam bowlers heaven. I opened which is unusual for me, I scratched around for 4-5 overs getting a grand total of 2! As a team we got to 94. Then they got there with ten wickets to spare

[guildfordbat]

We dropped 10 or more catches though (including two drops for me), and they got 181-9.

Shelsey - bad luck with the catches (although I don't expect Mike to be so sympathetic!).

I used to play with a dreadful catcher who was nicknamed ''Parachute'' as ''everything goes to ground safely!''.

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