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Despite another horrific week of weather
North End Lane was bathed in sunshine at 1330 on Saturday to host the clash
between top of the table Barnards Green and wooden spoon contenders
Wormelow.
On a wicket with obvious moisture home skipper Smedley again lost the toss
and was asked to bat. The Green got of to a circumspect start with Davies
struggling to control the swinging ball resulting in a number of early wides
but also capturing the wicket of Golder whose rich vein of form has
momentarily stalled.
Williams Snr played some glorious strokes until he was caught off Davies for
24 and then Paddock playing his last game of the season due to football
commitments fell for a bright and breezy 22.
It was then left to skipper Smedley and the in form Andy Ford to rebuild the
innings and post a competitive total. The pair complemented each other like
Torvill and Dean with Smedley the graceful stroke player and Ford showing
strength and power to loft the ball over the infield. Smedley was finally
dismissed for 58 trying to clear the boundary with an off drive and was
caught on the 30 metre circle. Ford powered on to 72 before he was dismissed
by visiting skipper Waldron who took 5-57 from his 12 overs. The Green
finishing on a more than respectable 244 from their allocation
At the resumption of play the home side were buoyed by the news that the
visitors would only have the services of 10 batsmen as Davies would not bat
due to an injured hamstring. The opening attack of Williams Jnr and Dutchman
Hoogstraten approached the task with relish and both found early movement
Williams managed to convert this into figures of 2-39 from 7 overs and
Hoogstraten ripped through to top order with figures of 5-35 from his 12.
When spinner Ford was introduced to the attack to replace Hoogstraten only
skipper Waldron had showed any real resistance for his 24 and when he was
brilliantly caught by ‘keeper Binks off a Ford arm ball the rest of the
Wormelow side offered little resistance finishing on a paltry 96 all out and
returning the Green 24 well earned points.
BGCC 244 Ford 72, Smedley 58, Waldron 5-57
Wormelow 96 all out Hoogstraten 5-35
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Barnardsgreen seconds travelled to local
rivals Nomads on a bright sunny day hoping to at least play a game following
the cancellation of the two previous games due to rain,they were pleased to
see that the nomads wicket was dryer than expected and looked to be a good
batting wicket a credit to the groundsman .
Not only was it sunny ,the second miracle of the day was the green skipper
actually winning the toss at the eleventh time of asking,he had no
hesitation in asking Nomads to bat first.The opening two overs went for 18
runs 17 of which were off a rusty Matt Brookes over, the green skipper
wondered if he had made the right choice, but with the experienced Ian
Scullion bowling his usual tight line and Brookes being coaxed into a better
rhythm they began to put pressure on the home sides batsmen,first to go was
Dixon smartly caught behind by Glendenning off Brookes and in the following
over the pair combined again to remove Bland for 13, the new batsmen Leach
and Brain struggled against the now tight accurate bowling of Scullion and
Brookes ,they had taken the score on to 48 when Leach was well caught at
square leg by Sam Spencer off Brookes for 30. The green bowlers were well on
top ,so much so that after 30 overs nomads were 60 for 5 with Brookes taking
all five wickets to finish with 5 for 51 off 16 overs, Scullion bowled his
16 overs for just 15 runs in which 7 were maidens he had beaten the batsmen
on countless occasions and was unlucky not to of taken any wickets hopefully
his time will come later in the season.Steve Metcalfe bowled what only could
be described as a mixture , he mixed offside and legside wides with
unplayable balls clean bowling two bats men leaving the home side struggling
on 73 for 7,Sam Spencer bowled a tight line conceding very few runs he too
clean bowled batsmen in consecutive balls this left the score on 83 for
9.The experienced last pair of Lloyd and Goodreds proceeded to bat out the
remaining overs and inched the nomads score to 125 at the end of their
allotted overs.Sam Spencer took 2 for 13 off 9 overs and Metcalfe a little
more expensive taking 2 for 31 off 8 overs.
The green replied steadily with the youthful James Scullion and veteran Rob
Lewis they had taken the score to35 when Lewis was bowled for a watchful 10,
Lewis Hooper patiently made 9 before he was second out with the score on
67,Cyril Dean took the attack to the home bowlers striking 4 boundaries in
his 23, Robin Longmore failed to trouble the scorers when he walked to the
faintest of nicks, all this time James Scullion had been compiling his runs
quietly he completed his maiden second team league half century then watched
as Steve Metcalfe smashed 18 off 12 balls to take the green to victory with
a six over midwicket. The green finished on 129 for 4 winning comfortably by
6 wickets and taking 20 points to Nomads 2. |
