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Saturday saw Barnards Green second eleven
travel the short distance to near neighbours Eastnor to play in the
beautiful castle grounds.
The game was played on a dry, tired surface which, like the rest of the land
around it, looked in desperate need of some rain. The visitors won the toss
and, lacking the rampant Matthew Brookes and the consistent James Scullion,
asked Eastnor to bat knowing that a chase should be easier than bowling a
team out, especially with a threat of rain showers later in the day.
The decision to bowl first proved correct as Ryan Scullion (10-2-28-3)
bowling with pace and bounce ripped the first two batsmen out with only
single figures on the board. Eliot Hennessy, a batsman at first team level
shared the new ball and quickly got into the act by removing the number 3’s
middle stump leaving the home side uneasily placed at 10-3. Hennessy’s final
figures were an impressive (7-3-12-1). Eastnor put on a little bit of a
stand until the 4th and 5th wickets fell with the score on 48. Tom Clack,
bowling off a shorter run-up restricted the scoring so much that his first 7
overs were maidens and he finished with excellent figures of (11.2-7-12-2).
Clack also ran out the dangerous Stanford with a near direct hit from the
cover boundary – don’t take two to Clacky! Lewis Hooper, bowled himself into
a rhythm and delivered 15 overs on the bounce (15-4-40-1) with half of those
runs coming in one over. As the wickets fell with regularity Jack Macintosh
came on picked up one of the tail (6-2-22-1) before Scullion and Clack
returned to finish the innings, inside of 50 overs for 124.
After a nice tea, including freshly baked, home-made sausage rolls the
formidable Andy Wheeler opened the innings with Mark Hooper in pursuit of
what appeared to be a modest total. Wheeler, continued his excellent form by
smashing the bowling for 57 at nearly a run a ball. Hooper, more watchful
and careful played himself into some form by scoring 20 including some
handsome drives before falling to an astounding caught and bowed by
Stanford. Doughty, batting at three, nudged the innings to a close with a
stodgy 13 unbeaten runs whilst Ash Brewer (2) and Steve Metcalfe (2) both
succumbed to some indifferent bowling near the close.
Next week the Green travel to another Herefordshire side, Brockhampton as
they look to close the gap at the top of the table. Whilst we have won the
last few games comfortably Saturday’s task looks much more formidable on
paper and all of the players need their wits about them if our unbeaten run
is to continue. |
The Green beat the opposition and the
rain as they chased down a target of just 133 runs at Brinton's
Chainwire ground.
The hosts were restricted to a modest total thanks to some very
controlled bowling and an excellent fielding display. Robbie Lewis
picked up three wickets and Georgia Hennessy two. Chris Horne (39) and
Cyril Dean (40) raced against the weather to give The Green a solid
start in their reply, putting on over 80 runs for the first wicket. Then
followed a "wobble" as a succession of players were out cheaply but the
experience of Robbie Lewis and Ian Scullion saw The Green home.
A full match report and a description of Chris Horne's spectacular
diving slip catch will appear shortly.
BGCC 1sts vs Penn
An excellent bowling display and ruthless batting kept Barnards Green at
the top of the Birmingham League Division 3 table despite indifferent
weather in the region.Skipper Tim Williams yet again won the toss and
stuck to the winning formula inserting a Penn side containing several
experienced Birmingham League cricketers.Visiting skipper Dhillon was
back in the hutch within 3 balls LBW to a McEwan inswinger and Harris
struck a triple blow dismissing Hudson, Lal and Adam Lawley all without
scoring to leave the Wolverhampton outfit reeling at 10-4.Nick Lawley
joined his brother James to offer some resistance for the home side this
period disappointedly culminated in a rain delay of an hour. Upon the
resumption a smart slip catch from Ford off McEwan accounted for James
Lawley for an innings top score of 19. However only Rana(18) provided
any further ballast to the total as the impressive Harris(5-36) and
McEwan 4-32 routed the away side for a well below par total of 88.
With weather and nerves the only likely obstacles to a seemingly
comfortable run chase economical bowling from Brooker and Doggett led to
some nervous watching as Adam Dovey and Kevin Golder negotiated a tough
opening spell with both batsman playing and missing occasions.
Unfortunately for the visitors their early pressure did not translate
into early wickets as both Golder and Dovey increased fluency. With dark
clouds looming Golder sensed it was time to up the tempo and struck 6
boundaries including a brutal maximum in his 41 not out, ably supported
by Dovey 22 not out and gifted 26 extras by the visitors the winning
total was reached just as the heavens opened.With in form Oswestry
winning again and closing the gap at the top to 2 points the Green will
be hoping to continue their form as they host fourth placed Tamworth who
were tipped for the title by the punditry website www.clubcric.com
Wickets are pitched at 12pm with the bar open all day and the Harris
Kitchen providing refreshments |
