Dear all,
Big news week – so straight on with it.
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NEWS
Trust XI Playoff Game
Our young cricketers (and Sagar – this gag doesn’t get old…) have qualified for the semi-final. They will now face Old Rutlishians this Sunday at home from 1.30pm – the winner will qualify for the Surrey Trust Final at Valley End on Sunday 1 September. Your support will be welcome.
SMCC 10th Birthday Party – Saturday 24th August
Streatham & Marlborough CC was formed on 1st February 2003 and this year we celebrate our 10th Birthday. As February isn’t a great month for celebrations, we will be holding our 10th birthday on Saturday 24th August after the games. Please invite friends and family up to the club to enjoy the evening festivities; and perhaps introduce them to the stump game!
Surrey Championship Players Survey
The new Chair of the Surrey Championship has been looking at ways to establish some new lines of communication, get feedback from players and look at all we do to improve ourselves and our cricketing experience. Therefore, they are, for the first time, launching a Players Survey. The more responses we get the better the outcome for us all, and the more authority we will establish to evolve our leagues. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete and will have an impact on the future of the league. Deadline is end August.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SurreyPlayersSurvey
Quiz – Friday 13th September
After the success of the previous quiz in February (which attracted over 70 competitors), we will be running a summer version of the quiz for the first time. These events are a great source of income and rely on members spreading the word and getting tables together – teams of friends and families are more than welcome. Even if you don’t have a team, we can find space in existing teams. Details are below:
7pm for 7.30pm start.
Pavilion, Dulwich Common, SE21 7EX.
£10 per entrant (includes food)
Cash prize for the winning team
Please e-mail Natalie Hill (natalie.hill@falconpw.com) to confirm your attendance so we know how many to cater for.
Chance to Shine Coaching Video’s
One of our players, Ben Walker, is involved in Chance to Shine and the England Women’s Team have recently done some coaching videos – please see the below link if you’re interested.
End of Season Dinner – 19th October
Save the date… this years end of Season Dinner will take place at the club on 19th October.
Food after the game on Saturday
The BBQ is back by popular demand. Chicken, Beef Burgers, Sausages and Salad are on the menu.
Surrey Championship Dinner
The 2013 Annual Awards Dinner is to take place on Friday 4 October 2013 at The Kia Oval. If you would like to attend, please let me know asap.
Potential Overseas Player for next season!
As a contact for the club, I often get e-mails from players claiming to have played a far better standard than they are capable. The stats on Play-Cricket have largely put a stop to that from UK based players, but I still receive the odd message from overseas. I know this is a bit mean, but this one arrived in my inbox this morning and is a gem. I think we can all learn a thing or two here – enjoy…
http://youtu.be/I6eUuLSLRWw
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LAST WEEKEND’S RESULTS
Saturday
1st XI vs Woking & Horsell
Lost
Getting into the business end of the season and a return to the limited overs cricket which we have proved stronger at thus far. Roger produced another belting wicket and I decided that the covers had greened it up enough to be worth a bowl. At 177-2, it’s probably fair to say that the decision was akin to Nasser Hussain asking Hayden, Ponting and co to have a bash at the Gabba in late 2002. However, it could have been so different. Twice in an over Carr found the edge only for it to fly through the vacant 2nd slip region (the guy liked to cut… I had two gully’s instead) for four. Saif passed the bat a fair few times as well. This seemed to set the trend and when the bowling was tight, it was left to the fielders to keep the board ticking over, JT with a memorable look down at the turf as his overthrow sped over the boundary. To be fair, the poor student had discovered Abacus in the City the night before and was lucky to have chosen to field the correct ball from the many which were travelling to him. Shareef Hassan was the pick of the bowlers as we managed to peg back the rate and take a few wickets at the end to leave 249 for the win. What you don’t want in this situation is to lose early wickets. Our openers lasted a combined 8 balls. Hassan and a more sober JT took to rebuilding and looked to be together for the long haul before the a floaty delivery had JT seeing dollar signs and it was all over. Fuller looked in good nick before running past one and Hassan nicked off. Not much to talk about from then on, mainly as I was in the shower / sulking about our impending loss. We have a tough journey to promotion candidates Chipstead followed by some very winnable games. Two wins out of four should ensure safety… (D Ellis)
1st XI League position – 7th / 10
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2nd XI vs Oxted & Limpsfield
Lost
2nd XI League position – 5th / 10
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3rd XI vs Thames Ditton
Won
3rd XI League position – 4th / 16
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4th XI vs Old Wimbledonians
Won
Saturday morning dramas involving poor German car manufacture and train re-scheduling meant the 4s began a vital home-match with a meagre 9 players, and so being put into bowl by Old Wimbledonians was not seen as the ideal outcome of the toss. Hindsight however is a wonderful thing, and so it proved the best lost toss of the season so far. Stand-in skipper Gladstone fussed, with fielders standing in some very odd places, but the opening stints from both Richard Haynes and Viren Patel were aggressive, well directed and rewarded with the oppo 3 down for 30. However with chances hitting the floor this could well have been 5 or 6, and that story continued as Jack Hughes, Gladstone and Simon Stuart bowled through the middle of the innings with little luck as a total of 13 chances, including some interesting interpretations of the stumping regulations, were missed. 2 young batters took full advantage, both scoring 50’s with a mix of excellent running, good striking and extra-ordinary good fortune to see the oppo close at 184 for 6 after 46.5 overs. There was some hair-dryer from a frustrated captain, a great desire to have a full compliment of fielders and a few drooping shoulders after a lot of hard work from the bowlers was potentially wasted by some proper slack nonsense in the field.
A cake-based tea however, backed up with some good words from the teams’ senior players and gunning Red Bulls, saw the 4s go out to bat with some renewed enthusiasm and determination to grind out the score required to keep the title challenge going. At least, that was the plan.
What actually occurred was a wholesale slaughter of what was a weak bowling attack on a pitch offering very little to bowlers, and really put the 1st innings into perspective. Reaching 79 after 10 overs, openers Robin Hobbs and Karan Rai showed the way with some mighty impressive, and merciless, batting. Hobbs falling stumped for 32 with Rai going on to 65 before being run-out on debut, his slowness blamed on jogging with kit from Streatham Hill earlier in the day. Simon Stuart bedded in as the hitting continued, with de Ruyter under orders swinging, and swinging well, followed by Callum McDonald also on debut bashing a quick 22. Raj Patel and Simon Stuart ended the proceedings 5 and 35 not out respectively, and with the winning runs coming as 5 byes S+M wrapped up the win with 20 overs and 6 wickets to spare. A good win, with limited resources, keeping the pressure on Sinjuns at the top of the table. S+M MUST win every match now, and with the return vs. Sinjuns in 2 weeks the league is still in the balance.
Oh, and the skipper promises to be less of a moody grouch. (D Gladstone)
4th XI League Position – 2nd / 10
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5th XI vs Old Wilsonians
Won
The short trip down to West Wickham this Saturday was undertaken by a team shorn of its regular skipper, but with the addition of young Messrs Willmott and Chowdhury. The pitch at the Ex-Blues Club is a touch on the slopey side, but the wicket is flat and plays true all day. Barrington strides out as captain for the day again and duly wins the toss, and as usual we insert the opposition, confident in our batsmen’s ability to chase any score.
Father & son combo Harry (36) and Thomas (27) Cornish open the batting for the OWs, and play a number of lovely straight drives down the ground and through cover, intermingled with the odd thick outside edge over point, to give the oppo a solid start. Mark Davis (9-1-35-0) and Ryan Willmott (4-1-16-0) toil away and are unlucky not to see any of the edges go to hand. Next up were the Patel duo, Brijesh (8-0-29-1) bowling young Tom with a beauty before Vinay (6-1-28-1) bowled the number 3. OWs were in a strong position at 117-2 off 27 overs and we were fearing a chase in the region of 200 as they looked to tee-off. Perhaps they got a little carried away though, and when Barrington (8-2-13-4) brought himself on to bowl a peerless fast and aggressive spell at one end, supported by Henly’s (5-0-28-3) mixture of loopy flight and leg-side dross at the other, wickets started to fall with regularity and runs began to dry up as the innings ended up at 155-9.
Confidence was high as the openers strode out after tea into the brightest of the afternoon sun. Newton Moss (41) looked in fine fettle, powering a number of glorious cut shots to the square boundary and Justin Sbresni (38) providing the calming influence at the other end as we made it to drinks at 70 without loss to see off the openers and leave the opposition how they would ever take a wicket. They needn’t have worried as just 4 deliveries later Moss missed a straight one… Sbresni responded with a sweep shot for four of the new spinner (that is not a typo readers), apparently his first such effort in over two decades. Truly these are wondrous times in the Vs. Once Sbresni fell to the ever consistent Adrian Beckett, Tejus (22) played a solid knock before Henly (12*) and the flamboyant Andy Chowdhury (28*) saw us home with 4 overs to spare. Andy’s knock of 28 coming off just 13 balls as he timed the ball all around the park hitting 6 quick boundaries. Some erroneous calculations on my part led me to tell the team that was promotion secured, but alas, er, not quite yet. 1st hosts 2nd next weekend as we welcome Bexley to Mayow – one final push for the summit lads… (P Henly)
5th XI League position – 1st / 10
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5As XI vs Hampton Hill
Lost
We set off with ten but still hopeful for a third victory in as many games. Winning the toss, we put the hosts in and set about them in aggressive fashion. Hampton were undone by Cockar (2-44) bowling with pace and variation to claim the opener Roger Coates (one of a family of four playing for Hampton) for 19. He was ably supported by Brendan Guest (1-14) who followed on from where he left off against Valley End by bowling excellent line and length. The Shukla lookalike claimed his wicket with a catch at point from the skipper to remove Harry Coates for 14. More chances came our way including the usual dropped catches (just the three this week) and numerous unsuccessful appeals but we were well on top: 74-5 thanks to a quick brace from Syed-Hussain (2-25) and Cockar’s second, both helped by excellent catches from Hall (twice – despite a broken finger) and Guest. We had our opponents where we wanted them… and then came the drinks break. I can’t recall if the teams were being served from different jugs or with different juices but for some reason Hampton came out fighting afterwards while we started to toil. They benefitted from a terrific knock by Dodd (62*) and runs down the order. With the exception of Rawstrone’s 3-41 the bowling began to deteriorate and we felt the effects of travelling a man light in the field. Eventually the declaration came with the scorecard 206-9. Not what we expected just under an hour earlier.
Things started badly, ‘Hulk’ Haagensen perished for 10, lofting one out to long leg. The top order didn’t stick around: Adams was bowled by the excellent Thomas Coates without scoring and Hall (1) edged to a terrific catch at gully but Knott played a masterful innings, possibly his best for the side so far, to stem the flow of wickets. All this time we were on top of the rate but the game drifted away as we lost cheap wickets trying to get runs too quickly. In fairness to Hampton, they have some excellent players and when we replay the fixture next season we will give them a better game. Lower order wickets fell with only Cockar (10) reaching double figures. Knott completed his second consecutive half century for the side to spare us greater humiliation before being caught at mid wicket for 51. The game was over when Syed-Hussain was adjudged to have edged; a valiant effort at a Stuart Broad from the youngster but if Michael Hall is umpiring there is only going to be one winner. We trudged off all out for 82 wondering how we went from such a strong position to losing so badly. Bouncebackability required ahead of our visit to Godstone. (M Shukla)
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Ladies XI
Ladies 1st XI League Position – joint 3rd / 8
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Trust XI
Trust XI League Position – 1st / 8
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/results.asp
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UPCOMING FIXTURES
Saturday
1st XI away to Chipstead Coulsdon & Walcountians
2nd XI home to Egham
3rd XI home to Addiscombe
4th XI away to Wimbledonians
5th XI home to Bexley
5A XI away to Blindley Heath
5B XI away to Cudham Wyse
Sunday
Trust XI home to Old Rutlishians
Friendly XI home to Sidcup
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/fixtures.asp
Best of luck to all the sides.
Dan
ps. Keep up to date with news from the club on Twitter feed (@SMCricketClub) or via our Facebook page (Streatham & Marlborough Cricket Club)
pps. Our local restaurant sponsors (Dulwich Tandoori & Mirash Tandoori) are very important to us and provide valuable financial assistance. Please make an effort to visit them and, if you do, mention that you are a member of SMCC and are grateful to them for their support!