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Midweek SMS – 21 May 2014

Dear all,

Welcome to the midweek SMS (Streatham & Marlborough Sweep). Last weekend saw the 3s take early charge in their division, a first league win for the 6th XI and an enjoyable first BBQ of the summer. This long weekend brings the arrival of four more sightscreens and the annual Presidents Day on Sunday, which all are welcome to attend.

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News & Events

Presidents Day – This Sunday
Slight change of format from what was reported last SMS as there will be four sides out on the day playing two Twenty20 fixtures. They will comprise of two sides from the Club, one from London Schools Cricket Association and a President’s XI. What won’t change, however, is the glorious food and the deceptive strength of the rum punch. All welcome to come and enjoy the day! Games start around 1pm.

Saturday
We have an outside hiring on Saturday evening for a birthday party. However, they are aware there will be cricketers around in the bar after the game and are happy for us to carry on as normal.

Other dates for the diary
14th June – England v Italy World Cup Football on the TV’s with pizza / pasta
5th July – Mid-season party
13th July – Summer Fun-day
27th July – Colts v Parents end of season match
8th August – Pool Tournament Final
6th September – End of season party with BBQ and live music
12th September – Lashings Fixture
18th October – End of season Dinner & Dance

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Last weekend’s results:
Seniors – Saturday
1st XI
Lost by 131 runs
1st XI League position Joint 5th / 10

2nd XI
The 2s entertained Ashford on Saturday, and after the previous games abandonment the 2s were looking for a win. The visitors will have made the long journey home wondering how they contrived to lose a match they dominated for long stretches. After electing to bat on a warm, humid day, the 2s were quickly making a mockery of the skippers confident decision, reeling on 19 – 3. However, a battling 50 stand between Greenwood and Macdonald took the team to 74 – 3. Queue an awful flurry of wickets, losing 4 batsmen without adding to the total. A small wag from the tail gave the team a total to bowl at, a poor total, but a total at least.

Cue an inspiration plate of prawn sandwiches at tea, alongside a stern word or two to the team. We knew we had the bowling to threaten, and all of the bowlers did. Walker and Corns sharing 4 early scalps giving us a chance. This chance was then enhanced by the end of a 19-year spell in the wilderness of 1s cricket for JC; who proved, on a turning track, far too good for the opposition middle order. Reducing Ashford to 49-7. Jamel ably supported JC with a quick and accurate spell at the other end. The Ashford tail dug in and the game was very much still alive with the 10th wicket getting them within sight, but a 3rd wicket for Corns finally wrapped up a dramatic win. The fight, character and spirit shown in the field was a pleasure to be a part of, and if we take that forward for the rest of the year we will be a handful for any team in the league. (P Corns)
2nd XI League position – Joint 5th / 10

3rd XI
In my first game in charge in the league, we had a long trip to AOB. As we turned up so early after lots of traffic we started some warm up drills to ensure we were ready. This got us prepared and pumped against AOB who only had 8 players at the toss so winning the toss it was a no brainer to insert the oppo on what can be described as a spongy wicket. The opening pair of Sagar and Dustin Hopwood kept things tight until Hoppy got their opener strangled down the leg side. In stepped their captain who decided to spoon one straight to Sagar at mid-off. A good start and after 12 overs of tight bowling and only one dropped catch on came the youngsters in Ryan and Haneef. Straight away Ryan got his Yorkers on the mark and took 3 quick wickets. After a being hit for 6 on the shorter boundary the captain back on to switch ends for Haneef and immediately took a wicket. Haneef troubled the opposition with his flight and guile and deservedly got their top scorer out stumped. The captain then wrapped it up with 3 more wickets to end with 4, AOB ended on 67 all out. With a quick turn around the openers Krish and Hendo knocked off the runs for only the loss of Hendo. A highly professional performance and all in time to watch the mighty Arsenal lift the trophy back at the club. With 2 wins out of 2 we will be looking to continue the strong start in our next game at home to Chipstead on the 1st of June. (S Mehta)
3rd XI League position – 1st / 10

4th XI
The 1st league game of the season for the 4s saw them at home under cloudless skies against the mid-table mediocrity that is Worcester Park. Winning the toss, new skipper Jack Hughes decided to test a new-look batting line-up by taking 1st use of the deck, wanting some big numbers to put score-board pressure on the oppo, but early signs were not good as both Sean Cannon and Gladstone fell cheaply to some wily slow-medium from the top end, but with Hughes looking to pounce on anything loose he was joined by Raj Patel who together put on a stabilising 45. Hughes fell for 41 looking to lift the ball over the infield but mistiming on an occasionally slow deck, and when Patel and Tejus Dasandi fell soon after the 4s were wobbling slightly at 98 for 5. With Rupesh Amin looking to play himself in and Gavin Buck looking strangely attacking after his pre-season heroics an important 39 runs were added until an unfortunate run-out saw the end of Buck, cause apparently something to do with lack of mouth use??, but by this stage Amin was beginning to flow and dominated stands of 25 with both Bell and Hazzledine with a very brief stay from Ambler not concerning the scorers. Waleed Hassan swung well at the end for 6 not out, but the star with some excellent strokeplay and ever increasing solidity and assurance was Amin, ending up on 80 not out with a century begging with 4 or 5 more overs. Superb batting, and proved integral to the 4s going to tea with 194 on the board. Congratulations also to the fielding team, dropping 11 catches and adding so much to the S+M total.

Post tea, and very nice it was too, Ambler began down the hill and struggled with early season jitters but the batting team were soon reduced by Hassan bowling accurate medium pace, control of length accounting for 2 in a controlled spell of 8 overs, 2 for 20. He was replaced by Gladstone whilst the top end rotated, but the oppo were always in the run chase despite losing regular wickets due to some aggressive hitting from their number 3, Jackson, but cheered on by both the 2s and 3s who had finished spectacularly early the bowlers plugged away with Hazzledine and Bell taking a wicket each. The skipper putting himself on spiced up the occasion and threatened to finish off the innings with an aggressive spell with 1 wicket from 5 overs, but the 4s could not quite get over the line with Gladstone finishing with good figures of 16 overs, 8 maidens, 4 for 30 and the opposition 9 down and held together by a very annoying man. Oh, and only 1 catch was dropped.

So a winning draw, but the feeling that an opportunity was missed. Getting maximum points will be critical in what is a very short season for the 4s, and plans will have to be put in place for this week’s journey to league leaders Old Wimbledonians. (D Gladstone)
4th XI League position – 5th / 8

5th XI
Availability problems in all the sides send us off to HSBC with a much changed side. HSBC’s set up is first rate and their young side will utterly outplay us all through the match. I lost the toss and we got to bat first on a perfect batting track. The attack was decent and gave away little loose but Justin and Newton looked comfortable until Newton retired hurt with a shoulder injury and Justin fell to a very good parried catch in the slips. Then the collapse set in with only Greg de Ruyter (12), Mark Davis (11) and Shiraz Sheikh (18 not out) reaching double figures. Paul Miller guesting for us batted for a long time for his 8 runs and without him we could have been all out for 50.All of this was very galling as we could and should have made 200 plus. The fact that five of the wickets were bowled on a track with perfect bounce and a good even pace should give us pause for thought.
Quite rightly HSBC set about getting the runs quickly. A wonder catch from Ollie Bale in the gully, one handed and high to his left, clutching on as he fell to earth provided one of the few high points of the day. Worthy of the IPL. Shiraz Sheikh (7.5-1-25-2) bowled well as always and Barrington Wilks (4-0-22-1) and Mark Davis (4-0-29-0) strove manfully but HSBC got home to win by 7 wickets with more than 30 overs to go. HSBC are a talented bunch of young cricketers and a very pleasant bunch of people. None of that can make up for the fact that we were woeful in a way that we haven’t been for two seasons. We have to bat better and soon. (L Johnston)
5th XI League position – 8th / 10

6th XI
Won by 3 wickets
6th XI League position – 5th / 10

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Ladies
It took some of the ladies a little while to locate Purley’s Croygas ground (satnav directing us either to Baileys Cleaning Services on an industrial estate or the local school) and even longer to find the wicket. To say that it had more grass on it than our outfield would be to do a disservice to our outfield. The outfield itself was an interesting fusion of ankle deep foliage and barren ground but as (1) this time we managed to amass the same number of players as the opposition (nine), (2) the sun was shining and (3) the skipper won the toss, we took the field in high spirits. Leia (6-1-13-1) spearheaded the attack and bowled beautifully. Rabz (6-1-20-2) followed suit from the other end. Purley’s openers struggled to connect bat with ball but stubbornly remained at the crease, so in came Dag and Sally into the attack. Dag (7-1-18-2) continued where Leia left off, troubling the batters with pace, line and length but it was Sally (4-0-32-1), promoted to the no 4 bowling spot, who made the much needed break-through, completely deceiving Purley’s no 2 with a much slower ball to dislodge the bails. This gave us more impetus and once the opener retired on 35 (as per the league rules) the wickets started tumbling at regular intervals. Wickets two and three were pure class. Firstly, Marta, took an amazing one handed catch behind off Dag, at full stretch diving low to the left. Shortly thereafter, Farah, at silly mid-off (where she had fielded tirelessly, stopping ball after ball right through the innings and allowing absolutely nothing to get past her) provided the second contender for the catch of the season. None of us are sure how she even saw the ball at the speed it was travelling but she propelled herself high thought the air, got a hand to the ball and clutched her fingers round it. Emma (2-0-8-0), on her debut, showed great promise with the ball. Her spin variation deceived the batters and she was unlucky not to take a wicket, having a decent shout for LBW turned down. The ever dependable skipper then ended her spell with a double wicket maiden and Dag took our last wicket with the final ball of the innings. Purley finished 93-7 off 25 overs.

Then it was our turn to bat and, in a typical fashion, we failed miserably in the run chase. The bowling was fairly ordinary, generally slow and loopy, but it was accurate, meaning that for once extras wasn’t our top scorer. Our skipper was. Rabz (29) probably played her best innings for the club to date but unfortunately the rest of us (other than Leia who hit a quick-fire 13) failed to offer much in support. We were all out for 63 in the 20th over. Having bowled and fielded so well (two dropped catches aside) to lose in such a fashion was disappointing. However, it’s still early in the season, we have players to come back after exams and a few new players to make their debuts, so hopefully we will soon be back to full strength and back on track. (D Selwyn Kuczera)
Ladies League position – 5th / 5

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Colts
The U11s played a friendly pairs match at home against Addiscombe.  Choosing to bat first, SMCC had a rocky innings, losing early wickets to an enthusiastic opposition.  Louis Sandison hit two good fours, and the last innings pair of Noah Dodds and Sean Ryan made sure that we posted a competitive 219.  The opening pace bowling of Dodds and Sandison picked up 3 early wickets to put Addiscombe under early pressure (they took 6 wickets in total). Oliver Kahn also took two wickets with his slow  left arm spin.  Sonny Nicoll held his nerve in the last over to ensure a 6 run victory for the U11s. Another fine bowling performance, with lots of hard work to focus on with the bat moving forwards.

On a glorious sunny Sunday morning, the U10s travelled to the village of Addington to play Addiscombe in a cup game. The boys had already beaten Addiscombe in the NEC league, but this was to be a rather tougher encounter. The toss was lost and the boys were put into bat on a sloping pitch with a slow wicket. William Kay continued his good form with the bat, scoring 3 fours (17 in total). Laurie Campling, Ben Kahn and Archie Day also batted well. The bowling was impressive, although we do need to work on our accuracy.  There were two wickets for George Sandison, William Kay, and Freddie Oxley and one for Harry Luckett, Gregor Lumsden and Ben Kahn. Addiscombe needed 5 to win from the last over, but Freddie Oxley bowled skilfully to snare two late wickets and put the game beyond reach. Final score SMCC 238 Addiscombe 217.  This team are developing into a cohesive unit and there is team spirit in abundance.  Onwards and upwards to the next round (against Merstham) to be played at home on the 4th or 5th June.

We will be hosting a kwik cricket tournament between St. Anthony’s School and Goodrich Primary School on Tuesday 4th June. This means that some of our colts will be pitted up against each other when playing for their Schools.  Up to 120 boys and girls in years 4, 5 and 6 will be involved.  We have been asked by one of the Surrey coaches to be host and this is a great opportunity to showcase our club and its wonderful surroundings. (S Keith)

http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/subsite/web_pages/130967

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This weekend’s games:
Saturday
1st XI home to Old Wimbledonians
2nd XI away to Oxted & Limpsfield
4th XI away to Old Wimbledonians
5th XI away to Blackheath Select
7th XI away to Bank of England

Sunday
U10’s home to Beddington (9.45am)
U11’s away to Beddington (9.45am)
U15’s away to Sanderstead (9.30am)
Presidents Day

Wednesday 28th May
Midweek XI away to Gravesend

http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/subsite/web_pages/130966

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Best of luck to all the sides.
Dan
Streatham & Marlborough Club Captain

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