Dear all,
Straight on to the news and a humdinger to start us off…
NatWest Cricket Club
As most of you know, NatWest have been sponsoring cricket to some degree for over 30 years. This year they are developing their involvement and are launching NatWest Cricket Club as an ‘umbrella’ to house all of their assets under; this will include match day activities and NatWest CricketForce. In order to launch the NWCC NatWest (and their agency M&C Saatchi) are developing a story around the grassroots and participation in the game. This will focus on facilities and funding and how man hours and bringing clubs to the centre of the community can help develop participation; with the view that participation won’t increase unless the facilities are there to support those wanting to play.
Why am i telling you this? Because we have been chosen as the club which will launch this scheme!
There will be a media launch at the club with Michael Vaughan next week – details still to be finalised. This is a real coup for the club and shows our standing amongst Surrey and the ECB. Many thanks to John Greenwood who has been active developing our relationship with Surrey CCC.
Fantasy Cricket
Chris Sowton still in the lead. Barney Smith’s 71 not out was enough to earn him MVP this week with 96 points. If you want to enter a team – please go to http://smcc.easyfantasycricket.com/ . Remember there’s the first development game this week and that counts towards the scoring as well. Pick wisely…
Last weekends results:
Saturday
Second placed Chipstead Coulsdon & Walcountians visited Dulwich this week and came up against a side eager to put right last weeks debacle. Having been put in, Ellis and De Ruyter battled hard to survive the new ball and managed to put on 73 for the first wicket before 5 fell in a the space of 15 runs. Thomas and Little came together to halt the collapse and took to the score up to 151 before a second collapse saw us 172-9. JC took us up to 186-9 off our 55 overs. Chipstead got off to a quick start but Cruttwell managed to pick up a couple of early wickets. SMCC squeezed and Chipstead found boundaries difficult to come by. Wickets started to come at regular intervals and despite persistent rain, SMCC managed to finish off the tail to win by 45 runs. Mortimore 3-48, Davenport 3-18 and Cruttwell 4-47. (D Ellis)
1st X1 League position – Joint 7th / 10
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The captain managed to lose two tosses within 10mins and that might of cost us the chance of victory as Chessington were struggling to handle the pace of Rossco and the Afghan Rebel. There was no stand out performance from the top order which prolonged our innings to 54 overs. Once again Cornsy saved the day with 32 at no. 9 and Saif showed great maturity with 29. Both players are demanding a higher position in the batting order and some tough decisions will have to be made. Even though we only had 14 overs before rain stopped our march to victory the performance on the field was unrecognisable from the previous week. Big match this weekend that will shape our season with victory a must. (C Brinsden)
2nd X1 League position – 5th / 10
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A frustrating day’s cricket ended with S&M on the wrong end of a draw for the second week in a row. When play eventually started (an hour late, due to Guildford having ‘traffic problems in South London’ – who knew?), some good probing bowling from Breed, Whiteman and Toney restricted the opposition to 90-5. A resilient 50 from their no.7 pushed the score on, until a short but devastating spell of 4-7 from Bartolo wrapped things up. 172 was perhaps a few more than they should have got, but it was certainly achievable. In response, for the most part, the top order got starts but were unable to build these into match-winning innings. When the rains came the game was in the balance, and the less said about what happened at the end as the two teams squared off against each other in a sodden, flooded outfield which posed life-threatening dangers to all living creatures, the better. (C Sowton)
3rd X1 League position – 9th / 18
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The 4s arrived at the rather bleak Old Ruts out-ground with an extraordinary 11 players fit and ready to play. Winning the toss and inserting the opposition, Trundle Ramsey and the Shizzle Sheik complimented each other with excellent opening spells, Shizzle unlucky but still taking 3 wickets for a paltry 31 runs with a fine display of swing bowling. Hello Henry Foster, Roddie Bell, Mike Telegraph Nicholas and SG Gladstone all chipped in with one each and Trundle returned to wrap up the tail with 3 quick wickets. Ruts all out for 133, despite 2 dropped catches, a possible broken finger, injured knees and 2 examples of ‘excellent all round cricket’. It should be noted though that the captain actually caught a ball, surely the biggest surprise of the season so far. A buffet style tea, plateless but with Double Choc Chocolate Rolls, was followed by a batting display that was a blend of controversial, worrying, stylish and finally brutal. The Chairman was shot out LBW by being hit half way up in front of middle stump much to his consternation, and Simon ‘Not holidaying in Nurenberg’ Stuart, battling with a purple bleeding finger, both fell for zeros. Barney Smith and Simon Gartshore steadied the ship, the latter falling for 17, and so with the rain threatening Hello Henry was upped the order to up the rate. 6 overs and 55 runs later, the job was done. Hello finishing on 34 and Barney an excellent 71 unbeaten. Fabulous all-round 7 wicket win, and with rain shutting down a number of other fixtures should mean a leap up the table. Beddington next week, AT HOME!!! (D Gladstone)
4th X1 League Position – Joint 4th / 8
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After last week’s debacle at home we travel to Waring Park in Sidcup to face the might of Sidcup’s V XI. The skipper wins the toss and elects to bowl first. Decent opening spells from Rory Thomas (6-25-) and Jamie Davorn (6-28-1)were followed by a fabulous spell by Aman Alquamud (12-3-25-3)who bowled quickly and accurately with his round arm action and troubled all the batsmen. Stan Barrett-Johnston was a little off-colour but managed 6 overs 1 for 27. Charlie Gill bowled beautifully from the top end for little reward (10-3-21-1).At the other end young Lewis Knapp took 4 wickets for 22 to finish off the innings. We caught seven catches, including a screamer by Elliott Charles at mid off, dropped none and ground fielded very well. Sidcup are one of the strongest batting line-ups in the division and we were very pleased to have restricted them to 159 off 45 overs. Our reply began with comedy and tragedy as usual. Kirk Smith tried every trick he knew to try and run Stan Barrett-Johnston out but failed.Kirk did play a couple of delightful shots including a magnificent hook in the style of Viv Richards before he either a) received an unplayable ball or b) missed a straight one depending on who you listened to. After Jim Hughes and Rory Thomas departed cheaply, Shindy Khaira thumped a couple of handsome shots. Shindy then thought a little gentle catching practice was needed for silly mid-off. It wasn’t. Elliott Charles came in and played some nice shots before the rain came down with us on 66-4 off 27 overs needing another 94 to win off 20 overs. Barrett-Johnston was undefeated on 30 and was more interested in his average than in going back out. Fortunately for him the weather obliged. A very good game, a great tea, a civilised opposition. Just a shame about the weather. (L Johnston)
5th X1 League position – 10th / 10
Sunday http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/results.asp
This weekends games:
Saturday
1st X1 home to SinjunGrammarians
2nd X1 away to Valley End
3rd X1 away to Woking & Horsell
4th X1 home to Beddington
5th X1 home to Bexley
5a’s away to TBC
Sunday
Development away to Wimbledon
1st X1 TBC
2nd X1 TBC
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/fixtures.asp
Best of luck to all the sides.
Dan