Dear all,
A great weekend for the club, undefeated in the league games and the only loss being a narrow one for the Sunday 1s. A couple of notices before the match reports.
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Presidents Day – This Sunday
The Annual Presidents Day will be taking place this Sunday. This year, the President (Peter Edwards) has challenged a Club XI (led by Mark Eldridge) to a 50 over match starting at 11.30am. This is an event for members, friends and family so please do pass on the word and encourage people to attend throughout the day. The bar will be open early and there will be lots of food around in the evening. Plus, the Bank Holiday Monday will give you plenty of opportunity to rest your sore heads!
Devon Tour update – 11 to 16 August
Please see website for more information.
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Last weekend’s results:
Won – The 1s won the toss and elected to bowl on a decent looking deck which had been under covers for most of the week. SLCC got off to a flying start as they capitalised on some loose bowling. McGill soon located the edge but runs continued to flow. Patel bowled well, without luck, but Staines’ overseas pro looked in ominous touch. Blackburn made the breakthrough either side of drinks and the batting sides progress stalled. Two run outs followed. The first came as an airy shot from fell just over points head and the batter was smartly run out by Little as he slipped turning for the second run. If that was odd, 3 runs later Staines tried to steal a single to the bowler… a spin bowler…. who was located next to the stumps at the non-strikers end. It wasn’t close… SMCC were unable to finish the innings quickly, Staines benefitting from some undisciplined bowling to finish 224 all out. Pick of the bowling were Blackburn and Hassan, who both bowled with good control.
SMCC took the field knowing that 225 would be a testing score and required a good start. It took some time for the SMCC openers a while to get accustomed to the bounce in the wicket but soon they took full advantage of anything off line. The bounce was to get the better of Davenport, however, as he was unable to counter a short delivery and deflected on to his stumps. Shah came in at 3 and SLCC were obviously concerned by his run scoring exploits of the previous weeks. Ellis was looking in good touch but again lost his wicket after having played himself in. As with the first innings, taking pace off the ball made scoring more difficult but Hassan and Shah were able to find the boundary to keep the score ticking over. At 137, cramp got the better of Hassan and he chipped a catch back to the bowler. Hill decided to take the attack to the bowlers as the innings threatened to stagnate. Dropped second ball, Hill then took 16 off the following over to wrestle back the initiative for SMCC. Staines did take 3 more wickets to keep things interesting, but McGill joined Shah (75*) to see the run chase home.
A decent batting performance led by Neil Shah, SLCC will rue dropped chances and an opportunity to post a much more testing target at drinks. SMCC will be keen to tighten up their bowling performance at the start and end of the innings and will want batters to convert starts into meaningful scores. (D Ellis)
1st XI League position – Joint 5th / 10
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Won – Saturday saw us travel to our old friends and close rivals Sinjunsgrammarians. The ground, it has to be said, has had a makeover of quite miraculous proportion. It looked like a cricket ground. Another toss lost and S&M were asked to bowl. Remember I said last week that we had discussed about a much improved fielding display from 2012? Well, fielding hit an all-time low at Trinity Rd, if I said school boy that would be unfair on ordinary school boy fielders. It’s fair to say that Cornsy summed it up at tea with continual door slamming. To be fair, Knotty and Chris Austin did field well and other debutant Jimmy Herman did well at 3rd man. Dropped catches over throws for 5s not backing up and people fielding with their weaker hands were all too much for Cornsy (he didn’t drop a thing all day). Even ginge found himself in the wrong postcode when one went to him (he blamed it on the sun!! Highest temp Sat 14 degrees – enough said).
Anyway the oppo wafted at everything and cheered at each slogged 6 and raced along at 4.5 per over – IPL watch out. 225 to win seemed a decent target to chase with the batting line up we had. Contributions all the way down the order. A good start from Austin and Langan then some good hitting from Martin “I’m not a slip fielder, get me outta here” Thompson meant that the run rate was maintained. 225-7 scored in the 49th or 50th over – we’re not quite sure as it was 8pm and nobody could see the scoreboard.
First win registered. With a good batting bowling and fielding performance in the same match this could be quite a good season. See you all at Ashford. (M Eldridge)
2nd XI League position – joint 5th / 10
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League season to commence on 25 May
3rd XI League position – N/A
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Losing draw – Second game, second draw though this one in stark contrast from the first. We win the toss and into the field we go against a strong looking Worcester Park side with players being recognised from higher elevens all over the place. 10 overs go and only 26 on the board, Culley and Sadhwani bowling well and unlikely to be seen in the 4s again anytime soon. Worcester Park keep wickets in hand and attack brutally towards the end of the innings, 219 for 5 from 45 overs on a hard track to time the ball on and a slow outfield a testament to the good batting side they were.
After a tea where the oppo forgot the rule of away side first (poor form) we took up the task at hand. Well up with the rate for the first half of the innings, Sowton again leading the way, an innings of 44 that could and probably should have been a lot more, ably assisted by Pete Adamson with a composed 31. Both innings ended by differing reactions to lbw decisions, Badger feeling he missed a straight one, Angry Pete wanting to murder a colt! Nonetheless, the innings faltered. Needing 70 off of the last 7 overs, the skipper and Begg tried to push the rate only for a couple more wickets to fall and the last 3 overs to block out the game for a draw. Culley ignored advice and attacked which was fun to see but with the 3rd XI games starting this week it will be interesting to see the strength of sides in the league now less higher level talent is available. (A Henderson)
4th XI League Position – 7th / 10
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Won – With swifts screaming overhead and the sun trying to burn through the cloud it was almost like cricket – but my feet were still cold. We made the short journey to Lower Sydenham to find a pleasant flat ground with a pretty damp track and a karate tournament in full swing at the Leisure Centre.
Blue Star had struggled to get a team, a feeling I am all too familiar with and took the field with ten after press-ganging an injured retired supporter. I lost the toss and Newton Moss and Matt Clark opened up for us. The track was slow and low and needed skill and patience. Newton Moss (2) again had no luck and chopped the impressive J. Franklin (10-1-49-3)on to his stumps. Matt Clark batted very well for nearly an hour, brutal on anything short and careful with anything on the line of the stumps. Simon Stuart (44) helped him put on forty for the second wicket before Clark had a momentary lapse and was bowled. Stuart and Charlie Greenwood (49) now batted with judgement, skill and a little fortune (6 catches dropped the Star’s skipper lamented in the bar much later). Simon Stuart has shown real application on tricky tracks and did so again before accelerating at just the right time for the team. Charlie Greenwood looked the class player he is, playing with exquisite timing either side of the wicket. By the time they were out they had added 76 for the third wicket. Ed Lawrence came in and played with authority again , finding gaps and running very well between the wickets. Paul Henly played a magnificent late innings knock for us, cutting the ball gloriously – on one occasion over points head – and doing nothing to erase the Cowdrey tag I gave him last week. Mike Nicholas hit one massive four in his few minutes at the crease and we closed on 176 for 5 with only one extra amongst them.
We knew we only had nine wickets to get but Blue Star got off to a flyer before Shiraz Sheikh (10-3-2-27) dismissed both openers. After that we were on top. Roddie Bell took the pace off the ball at the other end (8-3-25-2) and accounted for 3 and 4 in the order. Next an astonishing run out by Sheikh from fine leg to the bowlers end direct hit with the bat three foot short of the line. Paul Henly bowled very well and troubled the batsmen without getting just reward. Time for Rhino Willmott (or Judith Hann as Roddie memorably called him) and the talented young man bowled very well and exactly as asked. Bowling wicket to wicket, hitting the bat hard and very little given away the lad deserved his wickets ((5-2-9-3). Only criticism was the filthy leg-side hat-trick ball he served up. Mike Nicholas wrapped up the innings as Paul Henly clung on to a good catch at point and we had won. A special mention for the ground fielding and catching. Only the skipper ruined things by dropping a simple catch. Simon Stuart clung on to a difficult skier, Mike Nicholas and Paul Henly made good catches, Charlie Greenwood was magnificent in the covers and we looked a good outfit. Ed Lawrence kept well again and collected some new bruises. A special thanks to SIMBA who turned up en masse to support/barrack Newton and ply him with rum and coke at drinks.
Blue Star gave us a good game, starting with 10, losing their opening bowler to an on-field injury but always keeping going, playing hard and fair and being very decent people. And the Blue Star skipper drove back to the club with one of his lieutenants and watched the 1’s complete a victory and then stayed for hours, enthralled by Whacko’s tales of yesteryear. Truly a prince among men. (L Johnston)
5th XI League position – 1st / 10
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Won – Following a disappointing 4-run defeat against Oxted & Limpsfield in their last game, the ladies were determined to put in a good team performance against Rowledge and got off to a good start with skipper R Hassan winning the toss and electing to bat. There was a reshuffle at the top with D Selwyn-Kuczera promoted to open the batting with the regular No 1, T Mattison. This was a gamble, but one which ultimately paid off, with the opening stand worth 56 before T Mattison (24) went for the big hit only to be caught at deep midwicket. It could have been a different story, with D Selwyn-Kuczera having been given out the second ball, a decision which, luckily, after some discussion was overturned as the ball had bounced three times before dislodging the bails so a no-ball was called and the innings resumed. The batter was eventually out for 23 attempting a slog – the intention: to up the run-rate, the result: the woodwork re-arranged – no reprieve this time. With valuable contributions from M Little (13) and R Hassan (7*) Rowledge were set a target of 99, which although not high, the ladies were confident of defending owing to the strength of their bowling attack. L. Mazur got straight to business, dismissing the opener with her second delivery – a very well held catch off her own bowling. Two balls later, Rowledge could have been 0-2, if only the bowler had been a couple of centimetres taller! Nevertheless, very impressive figures of 3-2-4-1 for last season’s ladies player of the year. The Rowledge batters struggled with the pace of L. Mazur, R Selby, D Selwyn-Kuczera and M Little but it was the trio of slower bowlers of C Pierre-Packer (4-0-11-1), R Hassan (2-0-11-1), and S Peters-McCalla (1-0-6-1) who claimed the other Rowledge wickets. T Mattison and young S Peters-McCalla were, once again, excellent in the field. So with Rowledge restricted to 73-4 after 20-overs, S&M ladies recorded a well deserved 25-run victory. (D Selwyn-Kuczera)
Ladies 1st XI League Position – joint 1st / 8
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/results.asp
This weekend’s games:
Saturday
1st XI home to Addiscombe
2nd XI away to Ashford
3rd XI home to Worcester Park
4th XI away to Old Rutlishians
5th XI home to Chislehurst & West Kent
Friendly XI away to TBC
Sunday
Presidents Invitational XI vs Club Invitational XI
Monday
Ladies 1st XI Home to Guildford
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/fixtures.asp
Best of luck to all the sides.
Dan