Barnards Green cricket Club

BARNARDS GREEN CRICKET CLUB

MATCH REPORTS

17th May 2014 - Match Reports.

Ombersley vs BGCC 1sts BGCC 3rs vs Barnt Green 3rds

Green lose local derby despite brilliant century partnership between Tapper and Brewer

Barnards Green travelled the short distance to local rivals Ombersley who they beat in the National T20 hoping to consolidate their position at the head of the Division One table.

Captain Andy Ford lost the toss and the Green were put into bat. Right from the start the Ombersley bowlers took full advantage of an inconsistent pitch. Adam Dovey fell early when he miss-hit one to Fiaz at mid-on off Bayliss. Other opening bowler Harwood got good lift and bounce and grabbed two early wickets as Alex Hepburn nicked behind to Young and Andy Ford chipped to Catterall at cover.

Jamie Tapper joined George Rhodes with the Green 25 for 3 and they struggled with the uneven bounce and decent Ombersley bowling. Slade replaced Bayliss and overseas Smith replaced Harwood and the latter made the breakthrough, clean bowling Rhodes for a hard-fought 16. Elliot Hennessy joined Tapper and the Green’s run rate slowed as they tried to steady the ship. After playing out several maidens and two fine sixes off Slade, Hennessy was trapped LBW by Smith for 14.

Tapper was joined by Mark Hooper and they took the score from 49 to 74 before they misjudged running a 3 to the deep, Harwood fielded well and Hopper was run out for 2. This brought Ash Brewer to the crease with the Green 84 for 6 with 16 overs still to play. Brewer attacked from the start taking advantage of some loose bowling from Meacham – hitting two boundaries in his first 4 balls. He and Tapper continued in a more aggressive style and the Ombersley bowlers seemed to lose their rhythm. The Green took the batting powerplay and really took advantage of the restricted field – knocking 42 off the 5 powerplay overs. Brewer brought up the 100 in the 37^th over with a beautiful clip off his legs for 4 through deep backward square.

Ombersley brought back both opening bowlers in an attempt to break the partnership but the Green batsmen continued taking boundaries of them both. Brewer brought up his half century with his 10^th boundary and Tapper followed soon after as they took a single to bring up his maiden Green 50 and the 100 partnership – this coming off just over 10 overs.

With 5 overs remaining Brewer’s attacking batting finally brought about his demise as he was well caught by Gwynne off Catterall. His impressive innings of 56 came of just 34 balls and included 12 fours. Rishe Umasuthan came in and he and Tapper took the score on to 203 before Catterall clean bowled Umasuthan for 3. Tapper was joined by Jon Dovey and this pair took the Green to 215 before Tapper was caught by Marcus D’Oliveira off the last ball of the 50^th over bowled by Catterall. Tapper’s notable innings of 72 included 9 boundaries and showed both patience and talent.

Ombersley must have felt disappointed with the second half of the innings but this was soon dispelled as openers Oakley and Gwynne hit 35 of the first 4 overs. This offensive batting continued so Captain Andy Ford was forced to rotate his bowlers in an attempt to stem the flow of runs and get a breakthrough. Both openers batted well but it was Gwynne who really took the initiative away from the Green with a series of fine boundaries.

Ombersley raced to 50 of 8 overs and 100 of 16. The score had reached 111 before the Green could break through. In fact both openers fell with the score on nelson. Andy Ford enticed Gwynne into one too many aggressive shots and he was well caught by Mark Hooper at mid-wicket. His 59 came off just 57balls and included 9 fours and 1 six. Oakley (39) then skied one to be well caught by Tim Williams at mid-on off George Rhodes. New batsmen, Catterall and Smith, settled quickly and made steady progress despite all the Green bowlers’ efforts.

Jon Dovey returned to the attack and he took 2 wickets in two overs trapping Smith LBW for 18; then Marcus D’Oliveira (3) nicked one behind to Ash Brewer. Ombersley’s 150 was brought up in the 33^rd over as Catterall clipped one off his legs for four. Again it was Dovey who kept the Green’s hopes alive as he had Bayliss caught by Alex Hepburn at mid-off for 19.

Ombersley were 180 for 5 as Harwood joined Catterall, they needed just 36 of the remaining 12 overs so took no undue risks. Initially they rotated the strike then Harwood opened up hitting a six and 3 fours to take Ombersley over the line in the 45^th over. Ombersley’s 20 points take them top of the table and the Green 5 points leave them sitting fourth. The teams meet again on the 11^th June in the Birmingham League Challenge Cup.

Barnards Green 3rd XI welcomed a youthful Barnt Green team to a yet again well prepared Newland.

At the toss skipper Jez Clarke only had one thing on his mind and that was to bat first and try to take it to the young attack of Hines and Kings. Clarke looked set for a big innings after putting 2 to the fence and then trying to pull a short ball and was caught at mid-on. Next to the crease was the inform Tim Clarke who couldn’t get to grips with the wicket. The ball seemed to be sticking in the wicket and as he tried to play a forward defensive shot he chipped up to the cover fielder and the Green were struggling 19/2 after 5 overs.

At the other end meanwhile, all-rounder Chris Smedley was in fine touch, putting bad balls to the rope and played sensibly looking to rotate the strike and putting high pressure on the fielding team with some quick singles. These then turned into some big hitting, he managed nineteen 4s and four sixes in an impressive 123. Stewart Hepburn joined the dominating Smedley and wasn’t long till he got into rhythm stroking the ball to all parts of the ground. He reached 50 in no time at all and from 19/2 the green moved on to 228/2 from 32 overs. Hepburn reached his maiden century with a beautiful shot through mid-wicket and was finally dismissed for 103. Dan Metcalfe played some nice shots in his 42 but with the smell of tea on the table and the beautiful cake baked by the tea ladies the Green finished their 50 overs on 344/7.

After a stunning tea the Green took to the field and looked to the opening attack of Hepburn and Matt Brookes to make an early breakthrough. But 14 year old South African Jacques Banton had other ideas, he took to Brookes who was struggling to find any sort of rhythm and was taken out of the attack. Hepburn seemed to find a good line and length and soon had the batsmen in all sorts of trouble finishing with figures of (3/38). Banton seemed to want to take on every bowler skipper Clarke threw at him but finally fell to Tim Clarke (2/15) with wickets drying up at the end of the innings. Chris Freeman (3/39) was finding turn out of wicket that had been a batsmen’s paradise much of the afternoon and cleared up the tail to secure the Greens third win in a row.

BGCC 3rds now sit clear at the top of Worcestershire Division 5 and next week look to make it four from four as they travel to Hallow with a 13.00 start.