Dear all,
Another communication with details of the packages for the Lashings game will come out shortly, so please look out for it and get selling! In the meantime, let’s get straight into this week’s missive…
——————————————————————————————————-
News & Events
ECB Player Survey
Last season, the ECB ran a survey which achieved over 21,000 responses nationwide regarding how they can improve the playing conditions to ensure you are playing the game that you want to play. It was the first time that the players have had a real voice which has levered, in some instances, significant change. Building upon this, they are launching the 2014 survey to shape the future of cricket in our County and nationally. Your views are vitally important, so please take the time to complete the survey by clicking on the link below.
www.ecb.co.uk/playingsurvey2014
Dates for the diary
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 All-Stars XI – corporate package to be finalised soon!
18th October – End of season Dinner & Dance
———————————————————————————————————
Last weekend’s results:
Seniors – Saturday
1st XI
After last week’s win over Addiscombe, the 1st XI travelled to Staines & Laleham as they aimed to make it two wins in a row. After winning the toss and choosing to bowl on a very green wicket the rain came down and an hour and a half was lost. The game was reduced to 70 overs, 42 for Staines and 38 for SMCC. Haughton and Mehta took the new ball, bowling good lines for little reward. Mehta was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket when the skipper dropped a regulation chance at mid-off. Spin was introduced after 15 overs as Raj Singh bowled his usual tight spell, unfortunately with no help from the fielders as 3 catches were dropped off of his bowling. The skipper brought himself on to try and get a wicket which came in the 30th over of the game when Bolton holed out to Hobbis at long on for 63. Staines made an unusual declaration with the score at 181-1 from 38 overs.
With 38 overs for SMCC to bat, there would be no option of a winning draw. Ellis and Knott got off to a good start before Bloomfield had Knott trapped in front for 18. S Hassan was the next to fall followed by Goodwin. Ellis and Thomas began to rebuild, taking the score up to 83 before Thomas was bowled. Clarke and Ellis batted well for a number of overs and added 53 until Clarke tried to up the rate and was stumped. With 42 needed from just 4 overs Sarwavkhan was sent in to get some quick runs, hitting his 6th ball for 6. 33 needed from the last 3 overs as Ellis decided to join in on the act, hitting three 6s in the next over to take the score to 169-5 from 36. Another big over costing 15 runs saw SMCC over the line with an over to spare. Ellis with a match winning innings of 89 not out. Many thanks to Tina Knott for scoring. Bottom of the table Pyrford is the challenge for next week as the 1st XI aim to make it 3 wins in a row. (S Hassan)
1st XI League position – 3rd / 10
2nd XI
A damp, showery start to the game against visitors Stoke led to some covers hokey cokey, followed by another lost toss; 5 in a row. Which, apparently, had odds of 32-1 (maths by Fuller) . Batting first in overcast and humid conditions could well have been a tricky task for the 2s, however Johnson (62) and Davenport (38) compiled an exemplary 100 run opening stand putting the team into a strong position. All good things, as they say, must come to end, and they did, in spectacular style. 100 for 0 became 126-6 as Stoke took pace off and bowled wicket to wicket, making scoring difficult and putting the 2s under severe pressure. Bartolo steadied the ship, and with Corns in tow, managed to form another partnership to drag the total up to 179 for 8 off 55 overs.
It turned out to be a suitably carrot-like temptation for Stoke, who tried to keep up with the asking rate, which led to regular chances being created, some of which were taken. Blackburn bowled two excellent spells of seam bowling, troubling all of the batsmen and finishing with 3-23 off 12 overs. Mortimore and Fuller then worked their way through the middle order, taking regular wickets. With time running out, and a draw looking increasingly likely, the two star bowlers of the day, Blackburn and Mortimore (3 for 19 from 14.3), came back to take the final 2 wickets with minutes to spare. After the trauma of the week before, this win was just the tonic and firmly puts the 2s season back on track. 13 more points next week and we can start looking up the league table with relish. (P Corns)
2nd XI League position – Joint 7th / 10
3rd XI
Lost by 27 runs
3rd XI League position – 4th / 10
4th XI
The 4s were again spoiled with a home game at the best facility in the league, this time against old rivals Oxted and Limpsfield, aka Surrey Colts. After 3 weeks of tight finishes, a regulation win would have been nice for the team, but as it happened Oxted sent an extremely limited team that never looked in the running against a 4s unit that both in batting and the field is looking ever more dominant. As usual, SMCC were inserted by the oppo, but a 1 over spell from the tall quick down the hill, 12 balls, set out their stall. (Comment of the day: ‘Is that the over umpire?’ . ‘No, 5 balls to come bowler.’ All the top 7 got runs at a quick rate, only getting out due to boredom and in Stuart’s case a good bit of cricket, but otherwise boundaries aplenty as Hughes, Gladstone and special guest star Begg got 30s and Cannon and Dasandi 20s. 208 for 6 declared in 34.5 overs, leaving SMCC 50 overs, due to a small rain reduction, to dismiss the oppo.
Tea featured chips and chilli sauce, followed by Falconer bombing in down the hill to tear out 5 for 14 in 8 excellent overs with happy returnee Viran Patel reminding all of his genuine pace with 2 for 24 up the hill. Haneef Hassan bowled with increasing confidence to bemuse his way to 2 for 20 and Brett Lynch with 1 wicket for 3. Game over man, it’s game over! So, another win, top of the league etc. but not the most satisfying. Off to Epsom next week……where is that exactly? On an editorial comment, the 4s league this year is a mess. 2 teams have dropped out entirely, and 3 further games called off as teams cannot get teams out. Looking like a 12 game year, which is a very poor reflection on what should be a vibrant and competitive league. Very poor. (D Gladstone)
4th XI League position – 1st / 8
5th XI
The man with the whip was practising his art again as the day wore on. Almost as bizarre a sight as our batting crumbling from 78 without loss to 117 all out. Earlier OD CUACO had set a good target of 213 with J.P. Carmier scoring 99 before he was caught at mid-off by the skipper. This was 99 runs after he had dropped him when on nought off Brijesh Patel. Carmier was ably supported by J. Langford (44). I thought we bowled well and fielded well although we did drop catches. Brijesh and Shiraz opened up well for us and Shiraz returned to finish on10.1-2-37-3. Brijesh (7-1-24-1) was unlucky again with drops at slip. Kasheef Hassan bowled with real venom and skill for his 12-3-66-4 and he troubled all the batters. Herbert Nally rolled back the years with a good spell (12-1-53-1) featuring a fine one-handed catch by Andrew Brook at point. Barrington came on at the death to claim a wicket and to have his customary dropped chance.
We were looking good at 78 without loss with Kasheef (55) batting beautifully with power and skill – 11 boundaries to the young tyro. Justin (12) was an excellent foil batting patiently. But both were out in quick succession. Then the collapse which was miserable. Credit to young Callum Nichol (6-0-25-4) who looks a fine prospect with his leg spin guile. So that was that, defeat by 95 runs in the 29th over. OD CUACO are a better side than us and we were outplayed for long periods. They were also a very pleasant bunch of people. We were grateful to Amelia Hill for umpiring the match in an excellent, professional manner. There is no doubt that we are playing a better standard of opposition this year and we have not yet risen to the challenge. The batting, bowling and fielding we are facing allows us no room for error. Nevermind we will go again next week when we will have the bizarre experience of going away to Mayow Park to play our neighbours Caribbean Mix. (L Johnston)
5th XI League position – 9th / 10
6th XI
Lost by 8 wickets
6th XI League position – 5th / 9
7th XI
Lost
———————————————————————————————————
Ladies
Sunday was to be a day of firsts, as the ladies played their first home game of the season and managed to put out 11 players for the first time this year. Despite losing the toss, the positive fashion of the day continued with Verity (35*) and Rabz (37*) both batting beautifully and retiring not out as they hit the maximum amount of runs allowed to be scored. Two batsmen reaching 35*-another first. As mentioned in the last match report, improvement is now evident throughout the team. E Johnston (15*) then wandered to the crease in a bewildered fashion and was promptly hit in the back by a fielder throwing the ball into the stumps. Embarrassing. However, she and Marta (5) batted well together before the latter received a tricky delivery which removed her off stump. Sarah (3*) only faced 3 balls but much promise was shown in her short innings. We finished on 132-1- a convincing and competitive total.
Dag (5-0-25-1) and Verity (4.5-0-18-0) replicated their performances from the last game, again bowling accurately with excellent length. Eleanor (2-0-17-0) didn’t bowl as well as she should have but this is now a common theme which I suspect you are all getting bored of reading about. The rest of the bowling however was very impressive, with Rabz (5-0-29-0), Sienna (6-0-32-0) and Sarah (2-0-9-1) all looking dangerous and most importantly, accurate. The three of them made it very hard for the batsmen to knock the ball around. Isabelle and Rose were ever dependable in the field, whilst Charlotte and Imogen were alert and quick. The two new teenagers will surely prove to be useful players once they have the rules explained to them properly (hehe). In the end the game was very close with Epsom needing one run off the penultimate ball, but unfortunately we could not restrict them. With more disciplined fielding and fewer wides the game would have been ours easily, but neither of these are areas that cannot be improved by training. Debut performances from Sarah, Charlotte and Imogen showed there is much to look forward to (I will drag the latter two back up even if they do not want to come). To conclude, it’s disappointing to lose, but we take much comfort in the knowledge that there are far better things to come. (E Johnston)
Ladies League position – 5th / 5
———————————————————————————————————
Trust
Sunday 15th June saw the Development XI back in action hosting Merstham. After last season’s triumphs the side looked to get off to a winning start and put pressure on the others in the group. With Merstham turning up late SMCC were awarded the toss and chose to bat. Thomas and Goodwin scored some quick runs before Thomas was given out LBW in the 2nd over with the score on 15. Davenport entered the crease but after just 9 more runs Goodwin was also out LBW. K Hassan showed some aggression, taking on the bowlers as he and Davenport took the score to 52 when Davenport was bowled for 12. The skipper joined his brother and the pair tried to take the attack to the bowlers. S Hassan (12), K Hassan (43) and K Maru (8) fell in quick succession as SMCC found themselves 106-6. Sarwavkhan and Rao batted sensibly, rotating the strike well and hitting the bad ball to the boundary. As Sarwavkhan (30) started to open up and score freely he reached for a wide on and hit one up to point. More quick wickets and SMCC were struggling to bat out the full 40. However, C Knott (17*) and Viren Patel (2*) batted for 6 overs to take the score up to 189-9 from 40, a score easily defendable with the bowlers on show.
SMCC set out to take some early wickets which Sarwavkhan did in his 2nd over as he bowled Carter with the score at 3. Sarwavkhan bowled with good pace as Rao dotted up the other end whilst picking up the wicket of Lock. Rao ended with 1-29 from his 8 as Maru replaced him, taking 2 wickets in his 1st over. Merstham made their way up to 90-4 at the halfway point with the game still in the balance, SMCC knowing that a few quick wickets could change the game completely. Maru picked up another wicket and S Hassan bowled the opposing skipper for 26. At 118-6 SMCC seemed to relax which gave Merstham the chance to score freely as they took the score to 152 before Gray was bowled by S Hassan. Maru finished with 3-25 from his 8 and K Hassan was introduced, picking up the key wicket of Preston (36). An unusual attempt at a 2nd run saw Rao run out Collerney and Sarwavkhan finished the game off by bowling Rees-Davies leaving Merstham 182 all out, just 8 runs short. A very close game which fortunately went the way of SMCC but a much improved display is needed in the coming week if the side is to challenge for league honours again. Many thanks to Tina Knott for scoring and Eddie Goodchild for umpiring. Walton On Thames next week as the side will look to carry on their winning ways. (S Hassan)
Trust League position – Joint 1st / 7
———————————————————————————————————
Colts
Sadly this weekend, availability was poor amongst the colt teams. This was due to a combination of School trips, Football and Father’s Day (a poor excuse in my book as what could be a better gift for Father’s Day than watching their son play cricket!). This had a knock on effect on the results which is a shame, as the U10s and U11s were easily capable of winning their fixtures had they been at full strength.
U10
Due to having to promote a number of boys to the U11s, we fielded a very in-experienced team for the game against Old Whitgiftians. It was good to be able to play some U9s who have been training hard since the beginning of the season. No fewer than 5 U9s played their first match for SMCC (Felix, Lucas, Alex, Nicholas and Daniel). They did themselves proud with Daniel and Felix not losing their wicket in their allotted four over spell and Daniel being the pick of the U9 bowlers (only conceding 5 runs in one over). Freddie bowled with his usual intensity and picked up 3 early wickets. Harry also bowled economically conceding only 11 runs in 4 overs spell. Laurie was the pick of the batters with 8 runs. SMCC only lost 4 wickets in total which is a good improvement on earlier in the season. We now need to focus on scoring runs! Final score Old Whits 268 for 7, SMCC 240 for 4.
U11
No match report.
U13
Perhaps too many of our boys had been up the night before watching the England game as they certainly performed about as well with the bat as the footballers did with the ball. It started well with captain Fraser winning the toss and inserting Trinity, hoping to repeat the winning formula from the week before. The bowling was good and the boys did well to take all 10 wickets in 12 overs after struggling to make an early breakthrough and having to wait until the 10th over for the first wicket (by when Trinity had already run up a strong score). After that wickets came quickly with two each for Nick (in his first game of the season), Fraser and Ifaz. Fielding was mostly good, with Aaron earning a run out and Stanley S taking a great catch at the third time of asking, while Ishaq’s ‘keeping was exceptional.
However the chase was as bad as the score line suggests, albeit against as good an attack as you will see in under 13s cricket. The boys did well to take it as far as the 19th over but were never in the game, with wickets falling regularly. Fraser showed application to remain unbeaten and Adnan played well to top score with 7 before holing out. But other than that it was all ducks, ones and twos and extra net practice has been ordered for training on Tuesday. Trinity Mid Whitgiftians 139 all out SMCC 33 all out.
U15
A much improved performance by the U15s this week scoring 60 runs with the bat, but they still ran out losers to Tadworth.
We will be running summer cricket camps on the W/C 4th and 11th August. Details to follow shortly.
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/subsite/web_pages/130967
———————————————————————————————————
Upcoming games:
Saturday 21st June
1st XI home to Pyrford
2nd XI away to Pyrford
3rd XI home to SinjunGrammarians
4th XI away to Epsom
5th XI home to Hayes
6th XI away to Catford & Cyphers
Sunday 22nd June
U10’s home to Alleyn & Honor Oak
U11’s away to Cheam
U13’s away to Old Wimbledonians
U15’s home to Old Wimbledonians
Trust XI home to Walton on Thames
Ladies 1st XI away to Guildford
http://stmcc.play-cricket.com/subsite/web_pages/130966
———————————————————————————————————
Best of luck to all the sides.
Dan
Streatham & Marlborough Club Captain