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With sunshine in abundance, a hard and
bouncy wicket and a quick outfield, it was a little surprising that Ross on
Wye 1sts asked Barnards Green 3rds to take first knock. However, openers
Chris Hill and Jud Doughty were tested in full as Kyle and Barrington
charged in to test the openers. Hill duly despatched anything overpitched
whilst Doughty was intent on seeing off the new ball. With 44 runs on the
board off 12 overs, Doughty finally succumbed LBW to Barrington for nought.
Stand in skipper Steve Beavan joined Hill, but after an elegant 12 he too
departed bringing the ageless Dick Brown to the creese. quick singles
between Hill and Brown were banished and Hill was then undone by a slow long
hop, being adjudged lbw for an impressive 38. Cyril Dean scored a sprightly
8 before playing all around a straight one, but he was replaced by 16 year
old Harry Pleass who played the innings of the game with a delightful 44
full of flowing cover drives. Brown kept his end up which was useful at his
age but when he departed for a useful 47, Robin Longmore joined the action
and bludgeoned a quickfire 17 before departing to the impressive Barnard who
picked up 4 for 65. Dave White and Clive Churchill then saw the Green to a
very respectable 280 before tea was taken.
After a banquet fit for a Queen, ross set about tackling their target.
Despite some excellent bowling from Hill and Churchill, Ross took their
score to 133 without loss off 27 overs and looked well in command thanks to
Warwick and Barrington. Enter the Gladiators in the form of Jud Doughty and
skipper Steve Beavon, both of whom took wickets in their first overs. After
the openers had departed, only Howls with 44 offered any resistance as the
innings collapsed and Doughty (6 for 16 off 10) and Beavan (2 for 41 off 6)
caused mayhem. Churchill returned to take two wickets and Ross capitulated
to 204 all out to give the Green 24 points. without doubt, the highlights
of the game were the batting and fielding of young Harry Pleass and a
masterly display of wicketkeeping from the twinkle toed Graeme Glendinning.
Sincere thanks go to sponsors The Red Lion at Powick and David Whyman Map
sales for their continued generous support. |
The green travelled to Bromyard with a team
which covered a wide spectrum of ages from twelve year old Ryan Scullion ,
thirteen year old keeper Ashley Brewer and also including Roy Mayo
groundsman and stalwart coaxed out of retirement yet again in the clubs hour
of need.On arrival they were confronted by Jeremey Leighton a well known
local batsman of considerable class and the promise that Matt Bullock could
not make the first team departure time and would be arriving shortley.
Bromyard chose to make first use of an uneven looking wicket Matt Brookes
and the fit again Ian scullion opened the bowling, Brookes struck first in
the tenth over bowling Corbett for 11, this brought the watchful Leighton
to the wicket , Scullion and Brookes bowled tight line and lengths
restricting the home side to less than two an over in the first 28 overs
,with both bowlers tiring the green turned to spin, Lewis Hooper soon was
amongst the wickets ,he took the prize wicket Leighton for 29 , he then
started to take wickets at regular intervals with the aid of some fine
catches and a first catch behind the stumps for Ashley Brewer, the only
resistence was by Wright who struck some hefty blows until he was bowled by
Sencer for 34, the home side were bowled out in the 50th over for 172 ,
Lewis Hooper taking 7 for 62 backed up by Spencer with 2 for 40, a fine
effort by all the bowlers and fielders in the extreme heat.
Father and son Rob and Jon Lewis opened the innings they raced away scoring
at 8 an over with Lewis jnr being severe with anything on his legs, they had
put 106 when Lewis jnr was caught off a top edge for 69, Nic Rogers was
unlucky to be caught by Corbett diving full length at point for 2, this
brought Lewis Hooper in to join Rob Lewis, this pair quickly began to
dominate the Bromyard attack , they took the green to victory in the 39th
over , a fine victory by 8 wickets wih an under strength side, credit to
Lewis Hooper for his bowling and Lewis snr and jnr for a fine opening
partnership, also for Ashley Brewer only conceeding 3 byes and taking a fine
first catch , not forgetting young Ryan Scullion who did not look out of
place in the field.The Green took 24 points and Bromyard 2
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The sun was shining for the 2nd fixture in a
row as the Green entertained their closest title rivals Lye at North End
Lane this Saturday. The Green again fielding a depleted team due to injuries
and also the wedding of Tim Clarke which led to several high profile
absentees.
Captain Smedley lost the toss and was asked to bat first on a used wicket
that would perhaps offer spin late in the day. This move seemed to be the
wrong one for Lye as Golder and Whack raced to 60 off the first 9 overs with
skipper Stanaway struggling to set effective fields for either batsman.
However the breakthrough came when Whack was dismissed for 31 and kiwi all
rounder Hoogstraten strode to the crease as a makeshift number 3. He started
to build with Golder and the platform looked a strong one. Istiaq had other
ideas coming on to bowl his off spin at the North End Lane end and quickly
had the wickets of Golder and Binks on his way to figures of 4-89.
Hoogstraten compiled a patient 39 and Smedley made 24 before they were both
dismissed and the introduction of Razzaq led to further confusion as he
delivered slippery in swing which baffled the batsman as he picked up 3
wickets. These wickets did not halt hero for the day Tim Williams who
rescued the Green in his familiar style as he cut and pulled his way to his
maiden 1st XI half century including 11 brilliant boundaries to finish with
58 not out and leave Lye chasing 239 for victory.
Lye failed to show any real application with the bat as seamers Williams and
Spencer picked up 2 wickets a piece in the early stages. Both bowled with
control and aggression and skipper Smedley was able to set attacking fields
throughout the duration of the game. The introduction of Ford further slowed
the rate with runs coming at a trickle as Ford bamboozled the Lye batsman
with his big spinning off break and well disguised arm ball.
Only skipper Stanaway showed any discipline but after being let off by Binks
when stranded miles out his ground he pathetically skied the very next ball
to midwicket to be dismissed for 48 and leaving his team in trouble at
110-8. The next 2 wickets came quickly as the Green polished off the tail to
cruise to victory over their 2nd placed rivals by 119 runs.
This week Barnards Green face 11th placed Feckenham at North End Lane with
play starting at the earlier time of 1pm.
BGCC 238-6 Williams 58not out, Golder 51, Istiaq 4-89 (24 points)
Lye 119 all out. Ford 5-29 (2 points)
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With a number of players
away at 4 separate weddings, on family holidays and a number of injuries,
Barnards Green did exceptionally well to field 4 teams of 11 players on
Saturday. With a number of players being coaxed out of retirement and
playing their first games of the season for the fourths, the loss of the
captain on the morning of the game really hampered the fourth team in their
plans for the fixture against Ross on Wye for the Division 4 South 2nd XI
Crusader Worcestershire Cricket League match.
With Ross batting first, stand in captain Chris Horne asked Stuart Fletcher
to deliver the first over of the game, Fletcher and Bradley both bowled
steady opening spells, however with each bad ball being punished the run
rate was always around the six and half mark. The introduction of youngster
Ellis (1 for 28) brought the breakthrough by bowling Daniel for 25. Farmer
at the other end continued to punish the bad ball and eventually perished
for 105 having hit 18 fours and a six. Farmer was one of 3 wickets for Dave
Price who bowled 13 overs, 3 for 62 runs. With Warwick (36 not out) and
Tucker (28 not out) pushing the scoring rate along in the last 10 overs,
Ross on Wye finished on 284 for 5 from 45 overs, the first time Ross had
passed 200 all season!
Again, the inexperienced and youthful looking Green batting were less than
confident of chasing such a large total, even though the pitch seemed to be
getting easier to bat on.
John Wheeler and Horne opened the innings and got off to a positive start,
going at the required rate for the first 5 overs. Once Horne was caught, and
Higgs didn’t trouble scorer Bako, the total was looking a long way away!
Bradley supported Wheeler to score 13, but once Bradley, Marshall (4), Price
(1), Brookes (4) had all departed, Wheeler was left to bat with the tail.
Dan Metcalfe, playing his first senior game, wasn’t out in the middle long
for another Green duck, then a crazy second run accounted for Brewer. It was
left to Fletcher and Ellis to bat for 27 overs with Wheeler, who had passed
50 for the first time in the season. The hopes of batting for the remaining
overs were lost when Fletcher was bowled and Ellis caught behind to end the
innings.
The Green were all out for 98, the second time in 2 weeks that the fourths
had failed to reach three figures when batting. Wheeler finished on 68 not
out, having kept wicket for 45 overs and then carrying his bat for the
entire green innings was a fine effort. S Tucker finished with exceptional
bowling figures of 7 for 57 from 10 overs.
This Saturday the fourths entertain fellow mid tablers Rushwick and with a
number of senior members of the squad back from injury, holidays and
weddings, confidence within the team is higher and hope for improved
performance and get back to winning ways
Thanks go to the Match Day sponsors Julian Hall Garden Services and
Clarke Roxburgh
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