Dear all,
Straight on to the news…
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NEWS
Quiz – Friday 26th July
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.
Food after the game on Saturday
Mark Davies will be doing a BBQ on Saturday after the games. Chicken, Beef Burgers, Sausages and Salad are on the menu.
Tennis
Whisper is quietly, but there is a chance that Andy Murray could reach the Wimbledon Final – in that eventuality, we will have the match on at the clubhouse from 2pm for anyone who wants to watch.
Survey (and a chance to win tickets to England vs India in 2014)
This is your chance to give your say on the recreational game in England and Wales. The findings will support the ECB’s wider plan to invest £96m into community cricket over the next four years. It is aimed at coaches, umpires, scorers and volunteers in the cricketing world. http://cricketsurveys.com/s/the-national-cricket-playing-survey-2013/
Battersea Net Sessions
Additional net sessions are being set up at Battersea Park for the remaining Thursday nights throughout the season. These are ideal for any players who are based in central or SW London or simply unable to make Tuesday nets. We’ll be looking to run sessions from 6.30. Unlike the Tuesday nets there will be a small charge but the surfaces are a good quality and less than a couple of years old. For more information please contact Marcus Shukla: 07828 174296
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LAST WEEKEND’S RESULTS
Saturday 1st XI vs Cobham Avorians
Lost
1st XI League position – 5th / 10
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2nd XI vs Maori Oxshott
Losing Draw
2nd XI League position – 6th / 10
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3rd XI vs West End Esher
The third’s returned to the green green grass of home on Saturday to play West End Esher. A sunny day, a hone game, what could be better. I lost the toss again (it’s not unusual) and WEE decided to bat. They got off to a brisk start before Culley (12-0-39-0) and Harris (10-4-24-3) applied pressure and we got the early wicket we wanted. The second wicket partnership briefly threatened to hold us up but the run rate was always under 3 and it wasn’t long before we broke through, Lewis Knapp proving what a good good pair of hands he has when he doesn’t have Matt Clark taking him out just as he’s about to catch it. After that, good bowling from Willmott (1-18), Bartolo (3-49) and especially Davorn (3-18) made regular inroads before Harris came back to take the last wicket as we bowled WEE out for 162 in 46 overs. The reply was pretty much everything a captain wants to see. Knapp and James Driscoll put on a serene opening partnership of 53, Hayward came in and looked in great touch until he inexplicably chipped to square leg on 18 before Bartolo (21no) and Clark (24no) saw us home with wickets and overs to spare, Clark testing the catching skills of their skipper at long on. Luckily for Matt, he was found wanting. A great win on a great day on a great track (thanks Roger). Let’s keep the ball rolling ah home to Chertsey on Saturday. (M Begg)
3rd XI League position – 12th / 16
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4th XI vs Beddington
So a win that wasn’t really a win is the story that comes out of the 4th elevens away game against Beddington. We arrive to find a beauty of a deck and a tiny boundary on one side, the captain proceeds to lose the toss and into bat we go. Henderson and (Marmite) Mansi open up, the later struggling with a hangover. 23 runs in quick time for the skipper before a questionable lbw decision sends him back to the dressing room with the score at 23 for 1, did I mention Marmite was suffering? Stuart (42) played a composed innings but another middle order collapse left the side looking at a below par score, then came Gregg De Ruyter. Batting with all the intelligence of a cabbage things didn’t look good but then the oppo brought on a loopy bowler and Asbo’s eyes lit up! 36 runs in two overs and the young man was looking at a fifty only for the stupid batting to re-emerge and he was gone for an important 49. Showbiz with some late clubbing blows and 196 looked a decent total. I’m still slightly confused by Beddington’s innings. They never really decided if they were going to go for the target or not. It’s very rare that you’ll see 4 slips and 2 gullys in a 4th eleven match but that was the degree to which they appeared to be shutting up shop with over half their innings to go. Wickets were spread around and then with 11 overs to go and 89 needed for victory they decided they could win it. The ball started disappearing to all parts and 30 runs came in no time, squeeky bum time was setting in. Two quick wickets from Henderson sent the batsmen into defence mode again and the 90 overs ended at 18:54 with the oppo 9 down. Knowing that we could play on till 7pm (strange rule I know) we could easily fit in 2 overs but the opposition refused to acknowledge this rule and walked off the pitch, refusing to listen to our argument and ignoring the league website. Off home we went a bit disappointed with just the 4 points. A quick e mail to the league for clarification on the rule and they replied and awarded us the victory, wasn’t expecting that! So a win that kind of wasn’t but a in nonetheless. (A Henderson)
4th XI League Position – 4th / 10
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5th XI vs Sidcup
The short drive to the splendour of Sidcup Cricket Club’s Sydney Road Ground, a fine track and our team name pinned on our changing room. All very different from picnic cricket at Mayow. Another much changed V’s side welcomes Andy Jones back from his time in the 4s and welcomes Stan Barrett-Johnston back from studies and contemplation of life. I win the toss just by way of a change and decide to exploit any lingering dampness on the perfect looking track. After 20 overs of very good seam up bowling from Shiraz Sheikh (10-5-19-0) and Mark Davis (10-4-21-1) Sidcup are 40 for 1 at drinks and we are keeping their very good batters tied down. The only complaint is our poor catching from last week is still very much in evidence. We will go on to drop at least seven chances. We will drop M. Lewis (91) 3 times before Andy Jones makes his first big contribution to catch him well at cover off Brijesh Patel (7-0-36-3). After drinks Sidcup accelerate well and we are quite ragged between overs 20-30. Barrington Wilks (10-1-54-1) and Brijesh regain some control for us at the death but we continue to drop catches. The ground fielding is good all round with Stan and Andy, Shiraz, Brijesh, Mike Nicholas, Paul Henly and Justin Sbresni all doing their bit to keep the runs down. Honourable mention too for Brijesh’s and Mark Davis’s bruises – testament to their commitment to the cause. Amidst the rubbish, three fine catches – one each to Brijesh (!), Barrington and Andy Jones. Just a word about the master piece of strategy of the day. Mark Davis moving Barrington in off the midwicket boundary to the hard-hitting opener, inviting him to see if he could clear him. Mark served up a filthy half-tracker (intended of course) and the batter obliged by putting it in to BW’s midriff flat and at speed. Sidcup finished on 174 for 6. Paul Henly kept well for 20 overs and did not concede a bye. Mark Davis also kept well for 20 overs conceding two. He thinks they were wides. Mark also ran the skipper out. After a pleasant tea Newton Moss (17) and Justin Sbresni (62 not out) get us underway with a partnership of 50. Newton batted with aggression , belting three boundaries before spooning one to cover. Paul Henly (1) gave 1st slip catching practice he clearly didn’t need and Mike Nicholas gave the wily Brian Smith another bowled to add to his collection. 78 for 3 in the 25th over. Plenty of batting to come but it was not to be needed because now Andy Jones (70 not out) strode to the wicket and after a scratchy start proceeded to take the bowling apart. The pick of the shots was an enormous six over midwicket but there were plenty others in the powerful right-handers innings. Eleven boundaries in all. A delightful contrast between Justin’s elegance square of the wicket and through the covers – one fabulous shot that bisected cover and extra cover with both fielders a couple of feet from the ball and neither able to reach it. These two timed our acceleration perfectly and we got home with 10 balls to spare. A great performance against a very good Sidcup side. Can we keep going? We’ll finish with Mike Nicholas’s Haiku:
Sidcup testing score
But flashing blade Jones, Justin
Win the nail-biter.
(L Johnston)
5th XI League position – 1st / 10
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5As XI vs Bredgar
5As travelled to deepest Kent looking to bounce back from last week’s humbling defeat to Eltham. We batted first; our openers started well with Curtis Knott going about his business in a confident mood. He went on to post an excellent 71 with shots all over the ground (including one terrific six over mid-wicket). However, wickets were falling frequently (with the higher middle order wobble that we are unfortunately seeing on a regular basis) and at 79-5 our hosts were on top. Knott and Cockar (19) then forged a partnership of 33 before Knott’s excellent innings was brought to a close. Van Aswegen then hit a quickfire 23, ably supported by Cockar, and a valuable 42 run partnership meant that we ended on 152 for 6. Not an easy total to defend on a small pitch that favoured bowlers but we set about the task in aggressive fashion and had Bredgar reeling at 12-3: Babar Khan (2-58) and Cockar (1-19) dismissing the openers. Sadly, this was about as good as it got for some time and Bredgar managed to swing the game in their favour thanks to an excellent 65 from skipper Aylett. Late wickets from Hunsley (1-9), Singh (1-33) and Khan meant the game was still just about in the balance but sloppiness in the field and generous bowling helped Bredgar to chase the total down with 3 wickets and overs to spare. A frustrating defeat all in all but some positives and hopefully we can do ourselves justice against Catford. (M Shukla)
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Ladies XI vs Sutton
211 runs. 211 runs! An S&M CC Ladies’ record. OK we were helped along the way with a few wides from the very charming, and much improved Sutton, but that was out of our hands. Tammy lost the toss but luckily the opposition chose to field. A solid opening partnership between Tammy and Verity put on 100 odd with both retiring on 35, although Tammy should have been out in the first over lbw – lesson to all – always appeal! So lucky, but it was clearly our day. Verity hit some fine boundaries, on a large pitch not offering up boundaries readily and never looked like losing her wicket bar one minor tonk. Farah was looking good again at the crease, but unfortunately had to retire injured. We hope she recovers well. The remaining batswomen, particularly El, came in and tried hard to score runs which was positive to see, and Rabiena had a lovely cameo performance at the end and would surely have threatened a high score if she had faced more balls. Onto the bowling and all I can say that, as captain for the first time, the bowling attack performed extremely well throughout. Really solid – so thank you for making my life so easy and apologies for the slightly chaotic fielding – I have a new respect for captaincy! Leia, once again put the heeby-jeebies up all the batswomen in her way and took a fine tally of 3 and Rean delivered some seriously fine deliveries and snatched 2 highly deserved wickets, aided by our new specialist silly mid-on Farah on both occasions. El and Dag who opened the bowling, were also tidy with a low number of wides which was great. Fielding overall was strong, bar some minor hiccups – you know who you are! Laura did a fantastic job in her first game with brave batting, and some enthusiastic diving fielding – excellent work. Verity also had a tidy 3 overs giving only 9 away. After her 35 not out, that bowling performance secured her the Player of the Match award. Congratulations Verity. So restricting Sutton to 81 it was a resounding win. On the ‘things to be improved’ front, some of our running between the wickets and calling can be improved, and as ever there is room for improvement in our batting, but overall this was a highly positive day, played in a great spirit against a developing side so we should always have won against, but we did and in some style. Hopefully we can build on this performance next week against Epsom. (T. Mattinson)
Ladies 1st XI League Position – 5th / 8
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Trust XI vs Bank of England
BoE conceded due to lack of players
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 Old Wimbledonians
2nd XI home to Pyrford
3rd XI home to Chertsey
4th XI away to Oxted & Limpsfield
5th XI home to Mottingham
5A XI away to Catford & Cyphers
Sunday
Ladies XI away to Epsom
Friendly XI home to TBC
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/fixtures.asp
Best of luck to all the sides.
Dan
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