Barnards Green cricket Club Match
Reports.
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12th July 2003 Worcester Nomads vs Barnards Green 3rd XI |
12th July 2003 Barnards Green Singles vs
Cutnall Green |
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Saturday saw Barnards Green 3rd
XI visit the glorious Ghost Meadow at Colwall to take on Worcester Nomads on
a steaming hot afternoon. Electing to bat, Nomads got off to a disastorous
start losing Ranscombe bowled around his legs by Liam Paddock off the second
ball of the game. Skipper Keeley and Massey sought to rebuild the
innings, but on 14 Keeley nibbled at Hacking and was caught behind. Rob
Tyler clean bowled Kelly, before Dave Price deceived both Massey and
Dexter with a mixture of cunning and guile to clean bowl both batsmen.
A smart piece of work in the field saw the demise of Davis for 4 and Taylor
was well caught by skipper Bob Rogers foloowing the introduction of Paddock
who also accounted for Staford to finish with 3 for 15. Jamie Longmore
polished off the tail with Emson well caught by Knapper and the dangerous
Brown, hitting his own stumps as Nomads finished on 127. Martley vs Barnards green 1st XI Last Saturday
Barnards Green visited Martley in this division 3 1st XI
game. On a glorious day with a wicket
which looked as if it would break up Rich Williams won the toss and elected
to bat first. The Green had the worst
possible start when Williams himself was caught behind without scoring to a
ball which bounced sharply.
Drinkwater soon followed to leave the Green 27 for 2. Dan Flynn played some exquisite shots
before he dragged the ball on, leaving Smedley and Tim Clarke to repair the
damage. Both played with great
patience and were quick to climb into any loose bowling. Clarke was just getting into his stride
before he was adjudged leg before for 36.
Smedley completed a well deserved half century including 6
boundaries. When he and Richards both
fell in quick succession the Green had slumped to 156 for 6. Further trouble was looming when Doughty,
Scullion and Churchill all chipped catches back. The Green then found themselves 163 for 9 with still 6 overs to
bat. Tim Williams and Graeme
Glendinning managed to bat through the final overs and with some late
boundary hitting from Williams (36no) were able to add 35 in 6 overs to leave
the Green on 198 for 9 at the close. The Green struck a
blow early in the Martley innings when Drinkwater ran Basford out with a
superb direct hit. Hopkins and Grove
both followed soon after to catches behind the wickets off Scullion and T.
Williams respectively. The Green had
to work hard for the next wicket which came due to a huge piece of
fortune. Tim Clarke deflected a
return drive off his own bowling onto the stumps and Ganderton was well out
of his ground. Birchley followed
almost immediately and Martley were restricted to 90 for 5. Some late hitting got Martley into the
game and in with a chance of victory. However a run out and a steepling catch by Rich Williams in
quick succession meant Martley needed 35 off 3 overs with 3 wickets in
hand. Tight bowling by Scullion
insured that the Green were not going to lose. However the drama was not complete. Tim Williams clean bowled Vale and Wood in successive balls in
the final over to leave 3 balls to win the game. The experienced Kyte was able to guide Martley through to the
draw though. The Green picked up 15
points and remain in a group of teams chasing leaders Victoria. This weekend the Green travel to second
placed Belbroughton, whom they are 15 points behind. The Green make only one change with Jez
Clarke returning to the top of the order to replace injury victim Rich
Williams. |
In the battle of the
‘Greens’ it was Cutnall who emerged victorious with an emphatic ten wicket
victory over the ‘singles’ as local run machine Neil Fletcher smashed a
chanceless 147 not out to see his side past the 217 run target.Freeman won
the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat on a superb wicket and
under a cloudless sky. His decision seemed vindicated as he and Genever got
off to a positive start, Freeman in particular was severe on anything full
and when it dropped short he demonstrated the cut to great effect. He and
Genever soon saw off the openers but first change Higgins had Freeman out
first ball when he edged behind for 24. A fine partnership developed with
Steve Beavan finally finding some form with an imperious innings crashing the
ball to all parts. He and Genever added 67 runs as Genever serenely
accumulated 28 before he to fell to a catch behind. Beavan fell soon
afterwards when adjudged to have been bowled by Evans for 43. A period of
consolidation followed as Mat Brookes and newcomer Willie Hale set about
repairing the innings. Hale became Evans second victim but Brookes found an
ally in Marc Jones. Both batted sensibly with Brookes judicious in his stroke
selection. As had happened throughout the innings wickets fell at the wrong
time, Brookes went for 18 requiring the further repair to the innings. Jones
upped the tempo with a series of crashing legside hits but he succumbed to
Faulkner (4 –49). The veteran bowler took advantage of some late order
hitting and when Spencer went for 15 to Evans (3 – 47) it was a case of the
singles posting a score in excess of 200. A young tail ensured that this was
to happen as Jonathon Lewis and Rich Leech both hit out to good effect but a
target of 217 looked woefully short.After an excellent tea and liberal amounts
of sunblock applied to ample girths of the slip cordon it was down to
dismissing the Cutnall batters. An excellent opening burst from Leech and
Brookes certainly looked promising for the singles. Fletcher and Higgins were
more than watchful but Fletcher was quick to seize on anything fractionally
short or full. Freeman attempted to stem the runs by deploying sweepers to
all parts but Fletcher elected for the arial route narrowly missing a hot air
balloon straying in the Newland area. The bowlers were rotated regularly but
all came in for the same harsh treatment. The closest the singles came to a
wicket occurred when youngster Mike Genever was disappointed to see his dad
Chris put down Higgins. In fairness this was the only fielding slip by the
singles all afternoon, Jones covered miles as he swept the boundary and Lewis
was exemplary behind the stumps as Fletcher continued to power his way
towards the target. Unnoticed Higgins passed fifty as he deposited two into
the adjoining field. Leech (9 overs for 27) was brought back and he stemmed
the run flow as Fletcher showed his true maturity as a batsman and Leech
showed great heart in trying to achieve the desired breakthrough. Brookes
came back in an attempt to gain some semblance of respectability. His figures
were ruined by his final over as Fletcher realised that the next over was to
be bowled by Freeman or Jones and this prospect forced him to smash the
necessary twenty runs for victory and see his side comfortably home. |
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