Barnards Green cricket Club Match
Reports.
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Saturday 3rd XI vs Colwall |
Alvechurch and
Hopwood vs Barnards Green Singles |
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On Saturday, Barnards Green 3rds entertained Colwall at Newland
on the hottest day of the year. After winning the toss, the Green
elected to bat, but were soon in trouble against some tight bowling when
Henderson had Lee Dyment bowled through 'the gate'. Dave Knapper and
Rob Lewis got bogged down as old stalwart Kevin Bayliss bowled 8 overs for
just 12 runs before frustration got the better of Knapper (20) as he tried to
sweep a ball pitching middle and off and was out LBW. Jonathon Lewis
joined his Dad and showed him how things should be done as he played a fluent
innings of 41, but lost his Dad along the way for 19. Jon then perished
LBW to Holland and Bob Rogers followed shortly after for a brisk 13.
Dave Bayliss (32no), Dave Price (24) and Robin Longmore (11no) then tried to
make the score look respectable, but even in the intense heat, 189 was a
little disappointing with too few bad balls being despatched, but Colwall put
in an excellent bowling and fielding performance in the intense heat. |
Barnards Green
‘singles’ made the long trek to Alvechurch and returned a well beaten side as
Alvechurch made the most of an under par Green bowling and fielding display
to record a 98 run victory. The match was
delayed as Alvechurch prepared the wicket and sent out for a set of stumps,
on the toss a reluctant Alvechurch skipper elected to bat. The ball darted
all over the square and indifferent bounce made batting difficult. Brookes
and Spiers bowled superbly in their opening burst and soon both openers were
back in the pavilion. Smith and Lea rode their luck but survived as the Green
back up bowlers failed to make the most of the conditions. Freeman rotated
his bowlers regulary, not because of the heat but because they failed to
deliver the necessary line and length balls. Smith was the main beneficiary
in more ways than one. He was dropped before he reached fifty and again in
the sixties as the Green put down chances. Lea quietly accumulated his runs
and easily dispatched the bad and often frequent bad balls. The pair added
105 runs until Cook bowled Lea (53). Plagued by no balls Cook looked
dangerous but the over stepping contributed to the Green’s downfall and
lengthy spell in the field. Freeman brought back Spiers and stemmed the runs
and saw Smith put down yet again. Unphased by his good fortune Smith (108 no)
now plundered runs heavily and smashed the returning Brookes (Sponsored by
Steve Freeman Kit Suppliers) for 40 runs off his remaining four overs.
Alvechurch posted a formidable 257 runs on a track not worthy of 150 hard
earnt runs. The Green started
their response in positive fashion as Freeman and Genever had to deal with
the unplayable and Freeman in particular smashed the bad ball to the
boundary. Freeman then inexplicably called himself through for a suicidal
single and departed for 20. Genever soon followed for 18. Well up with the
rate the Green were pegged back by the change bowlers Cook and Brookes got
starts and then got themselves out. Metcalfe and Tolley both set about the bowling
and gave the Green a glimmer of a chance but the returning Fisher was to turn
the match around, aided by some superb catching. Tolley (13) was undone by
the pitch when the ball somehow came off the back of his bat then Metcalfe
who had looked awesome fell to a brilliant catch at third slip. The
‘hobbling’ White briefly raised hopes of an improbable victory with a rapid
22 but on his dismissal the attempts the tail to secure the draw failed as
Fisher’s returning spell of 5 for 18 did for the Green and they failed by
seven balls to secure an undeserved draw. |
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