The trip to
Hagley Hall
ended up as a
deeply
disappointing
day in the
sunshine for the
Green second
eleven.
Having won the
toss and elected
to bowl first on
beautiful
looking track
surrounded by a
lush green
outfield the
Green did an
excellent job in
restricting the
hosts to just
202 runs in
their 50 over
allocation. Tom
Banks taking the
new ball looked
ring rusty
(4-0-20-0)
although made up
for this in the
field. Young
Ryan Scullion
bowled with
pace, rhythm and
aggression over
his two spells
and finished
with (7-2-33-2)
but the key to
restricting runs
appeared to be
taking the pace
off the ball.
Tom Clack
(7-0-20-1), with
the keeper,
Ashlea Brewer,
standing up to
the pegs, bowled
a nagging line
and the batsmen
appeared happy
to leave the
majority of his
deliveries,
making the task
of accumulating
runs all the
more harder.
Later, Lewis
Hooper
(12-2-61-2)
bowled well but
found he was the
target for the
batsmen looking
to post a
competitive
target as James
Scullion
(12.4-3-41-4)
and Jack Cullity
(7-3-15-1)
squeezed the
run-rate dry at
the Church end
of the ground.
Both Scullion
and Cullity
bowled with
knowledge and
nous, for the
latter –beyond
his years,
swinging and
seaming the ball
off a full
length. Both of
these bowlers
were supported
by some decent
ground fielding
and aggressive
wicket keeping
from Brewer.
After a
nourishing tea
(Hagley CC must
be the only
cricket tea in
the land to
include Bombay
Mix as an
integral part of
the spread,
marks are
awarded for the
unconventional
and the cheese
board was noted
as a classy
touch befitting
the
sourroundings)
the Green
opening pair of
Judd Doughty and
Andy Wheeler
began the reply.
Wheeler (45 with
44 coming in
boundaries) hit
the ball hard
and smacked the
medium pace
attack of
Allport,
Beckerleg and
Russell to all
parts with the
occasional hint
of elegance.
Doughty (18)
played some tidy
shots before
departing to a
chest high full
toss caught on
the leg-side,
from the wrist
spin bowling of
Shaw. Wheeler
perished in much
the same fashion
except his
delivery has
shoulder high
and clearly
should have been
called a ‘no
ball’. Tim
Clarke (17)
looked in good
form until he
missed a
straight one
from Shaw and
the Green’s
reply began to
falter. Adam
Greaves (67)
provided the
glue to stick a
collapse
together and
batted with
determination
and class in
equal measure to
guide the
innings close to
the required
target.
Unfortunately no
other batsmen
was able to hang
around long
enough to make
Greave’s hard
work pay off.
Greaves, forced
to push the run
rate on was
finally bowled
by Allport. The
last 7 batsmen
of Banks (0),
Brewer (6),
Clack (3),
J.Scullion (0),
Hooper(0),
Cullity (9*) and
R. Scullion (0)
combined to
score just 18
runs together
ending the
innings on 185,
18 painful runs
short of victory
with 10 overs
left. Whilst
credit must go
to Hagley who
are proving to
be our bogey
team, lessons in
durability and
endeavour must
be learned by
all of the Green
batsmen, crease
occupation can
be as valuable
as run scoring
in certain
circumstances.
Next week we
face a tough
Redditch side at
North End Lane
and this week’s
homework is
batting
practice.
‘Durability’ and
‘Endeavour’.
Repeat 100
times.
5th June 2010 - Match Reports. |
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| Hagley vs Barnards Green CC 2nd XI | Barnards Green CC 4ths vs Old Elizabethans |
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Barnards Green were asked to bat first on a hard, straw-coloured wicket at Newland and a high scoring match looked likely. Robin Longmore and Ewan Wilson opened for The Green and the contrasting styles of the pair became apparent as Wilson (17) exploited gaps in the field with a range of excellent cricket strokes before being caught off the bowling of Donaldson, whilst Longmore (35) preferred the aerial route to achieve a fine 35 with only one run being a “non-boundary". With both openers out of the way the experienced Chris Horne and Captain Dick Brown came together and started to build a partnership of some 100 runs for the next wicket. Horne (50) looked in excellent form pulling anything short to the leg-side boundary and driving anything over-pitched with considerable venom, his half-century including two glorious sixes. Brown, who has batted well all season found that element of good fortune which all batsmen need in order to achieve high scores and some hard-hitting quickly saw him too achieve his half-century. In the increasing heat and humidity of the afternoon it was fatigue rather than bad batting which finally saw the end of both men with Brown finishing on 74 which included 11 fours and 3 sixes. Robbie Lewis continued the onslaught, accompanied first by Elliot Hennessy and then by Mark Perkins. Lewis started slowly but then found his touch to achieve a fine 35 before being stumped off the bowling of Neale. Hennessy decided not to do too much running in the heat of the day preferring to hit 5 fours and a six in his not out total of 32. Perkins looked totally at ease and never in trouble as the Green’s innings came to a close on 280 with him 22 not out. The visitor’s all bowled well but lacked their usual degree of penetration on a wicket which offered them little help. Tea was taken and it was obvious that OEs were not prepared to settle for a draw and looked to force the pace from the off with Bayliss in particular batting aggressively. His opening partner Davies was adjudged lbw when he had scored just 4 and the visitors lost their first wicket with the score on just 11 but this brought the free scoring A Bolton to the crease and with The Green’s opening bowlers failing to reproduce their usual form, he and Bayliss began to dominate. With the run-rate escalating Skipper Brown once again looked to his slow bowling partnership of Steve Hunt and Dave Price to check OEs’ progress and, with the added benefit of Robbie Lewis’ accuracy the plan worked as Price first had Bayliss (39) sharply stumped by Perkins and then trapped Bolton (54) lbw. With these two gone the total was going to be beyond the visitors but despite Lewis taking a sharp return catch to dismiss Colbourne, Price having Young superbly caught at mid-on by Dick Brown and Jack Mackintosh clean bowling OEs’ captain Pullen The Green were unable to dislodge M Bolton and Donaldson who batted superbly under increasing pressure to see out the final overs and prevent their hosts from gaining the win. Barnards Green’s batsmen all contributed and were, for once, somewhat let down this week by a below par bowling and fielding performance. The match was played throughout in the best spirit with The Green finishing on 14 points and Old Elizabethans on 10. |
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On another gloriously sunny Saturday
the Green travelled to Worcester to play local rivals Old Elizabethans
in what was expected to be a close game between two evenly matched third
teams.On losing the toss yet again, the Green were asked to make first
use of what looked to be a hard bouncy wicket. Openers Scullion and Hill
struggled against the father and son combination of Martin [magic]
Johnson and the pacey left armer Peter Johnson, whilst Scullion was able
to dispatch any loose balls Chris Hill scratched around unable to rotate
the strike until eventually out in the eighth over with out troubling
the scorers, this brought the newly promoted Drinkwater to the wicket,
he was careful with the uneven bounce but punished any loose bowling by
hammering the ball to the boundary, Scullion fell for 13 quickly
followed by Hall 1 and Ratcliffe 6, at 57 for 4 Louis Loader joined
Drinkwater and together they upped the scoring rate until Drinkwater got
a ball that lifted and was well caught in the slips for 39, Dave white
joined Loader and together they added 70 runs until White top edged a
full toss to backward square leg for a much needed 28, Heaton struck a
brief 16 with one 6 landing in the park and ride car park, Roger
Thompson who had been struggling for form came in at number 9 and
proceeded to smash the ball to all parts of the ground, his cameo of 31
and Louis Loader's maiden club half century helped the Green post a
competitive 228, this was a fine innings of 64 no and hopefully will
give Louis the confidence to make the most of his natural talent with
the bat.For the Old Elizabethans veteran Martin Johnson finished with 5
for 47 from 17 overs |
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