23rd July 2011 - Match Reports.

BGCC 4ths vs Amblecote & Wollaston

 Barnards Green CC - 1st XI vs Oswestry CC - 1st XI
With two teams pushing for honours in the Worcestershire 2nds league Div 4, this fixture was always going to be a closely fought encounter and so it proved as second placed Barnards Green 4ths entertained Amblecote & Wollaston 2nds on saturday.  Having lost the toss the Green were asked to take first knock and skipper Steve Hunt chose to mix youth in the form of Georgia Hennessy, with a more experienced campaigner in Robin Longmore.  Longmore opened the scoring with a fluent cover drive and Hennessy looked comfortable against a lively attack until she received a ball that lifted sharpley on her and could only pop the ball into the hands of short leg.  This brought Dominic Horne into the fray and he showed his intent with some lusty boundaries before a swish across the line brought about his demise for 21 with the score on 46.  Mark Perkins joined Longmore who was despatching anything overpitched or short to the boundary until he missed a straight one that kept low and was bowled for 34.  Fourteen year old Sam Daffin started off well with a superb four before he too was castled for 4.  Keith Middleton then gave Perkins the perfect foil gently gathering runs as Perkins set about the bowling attack, not without some good fortune, but also with some beautiful straight drives and upper cuts to the offside boundary.  With the score on 130 Middleton got a leading edge to short square leg to depart for 17 and Perkins was joined by Ian Scullion who grimaced his way through his innings whilst playing some excellent shots to finish on 46 not out.  Perkins departed for an excellent 88 when a century looked on the cards and Rob Lewis accumulated 16 not out with some good quick singles and a spattering of boundaries.  At the end of their innings the Green finished on 246 for 6 and retired for an excellent tea.
 
Somewhat full, but also full of confidence, the Green opened with 14 year old Georgia Hennessy who bowled beautifully all afternoon and picked up the opposition skippers wicket when she clean bowled him with a beauty and showed that when you pitch the ball up and bowl at the stumps you will invariably take wickets.  At the other end, Shane Thompson bowled with pace but length and direction had gone awol and Priest and Grimmit were able to help themselves to some easy boundaries.  Rob Lewis struggled at times with his line, but when he got it right he bowled some peaches and was somewhat unlucky when Grimmit chipped the ball to Ian Scullion at point but remarkably Ian put the chance down, something rarely seen over the past 30 years or so. Steve Hunt bowled a tidy spell of leg spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Priest for 28 and Alexandre for nought, whilst Ian Scullion bowled his normal economical spell of 7 overs for just 18 runs and was unlucky not to pick up more wickets.  Keith Middleton swooped to catch Grimitt for a well desrerved 56 off Ian's bowling and an excellent piece of fielding by Sam Daffin saw Sproson run out for one.  Hennessy returned to take two further wickets to finish with 3 for 35 an excellent performance.  At 172 for 7 A&W were still some way short of getting the 185 they needed for a losing draw, but somehow the Green managed to lose their way and gift them the points when a win looked on the cards and A&W finished on 191 for 7.  The Green picked up 15 points to keep them hot on the heels of leaders Tenbury and play fourth placed Avoncroft next week.  Thanks go to match day sponsor Julian Hall Gardening Services for their continued support of the club.
 

Barnards Green welcomed Shropshire outfit Oswestry to North End Lane for a top of the table clash. In a reversal of fortunes from the return fixture it was the Shropshire side who had the better of the contest returning home with a solid winning draw. Despite the early wicket of Carrasco for McEwan, Fynn and young keeper Clarke steadied the ship with a solid partnership of 85 with Clarke eventually perishing to the reliable Jon Dovey for 32. Fynn found another ally in Huxley as Oswestry continued to build a platform for a final overs assault on the home attack. Skipper Williams entry into the attack paid immediate dividends as he combined twice with keeper Binks to dismiss Huxley(40) and Robinson(2) and the run out of Miles to give the home side the chance to restrict the total. The return of McEwan to the attack gave immediate reward with Suter captured for a duck capping another anonymous game for the former keeper as the impressive Clarke took the gloves for the Oswestry fielding innings. Unfortunately for the home side Fynn took this as his cue to launch a vicious attack, ably supported by Phillips(14no) the South African first brought up his hundred in style with a boundary off Williams and then accelerated to finish with a quite brilliant 156no with his final 60 runs coming up in just 14 balls. Williams figures took a dent finising with 2-68(8), McEwan 2-75(17) and Jon Dovey the pick of the bowlers 1-32(14). The visitors posting a solid total of 263.
The home reply suffered a major setback with Adam Dovey falling first ball to Davies. Hooper and Harris then worked hard to battle through the new ball. Hooper fell for 15 to Miles and the impressive Harris was then joined by Ford to put together a highly fluent partnership which took the home side to 123 before Harris fell for 61. Hennessy quickly departed  for 1 which left Ford to bat with the returning Liam Paddock, Ford was dismissed by Davies for an excellent 71 and despite a brisk contribution of 16 from McEwan the chances of chasing down 264 became remote with the rate at nearly 12 an over.Paddock launched a respectable counter attack to try and reach the total however when he was dismissed for a well compiled 33 it was left to Binks(16) who struck 3 crisp boundaries to reach the losing draw target (211)and then Poole to secure the draw for the home side.The Green will be disappointed to suffer their first losing draw of the campaign but will also be happy that they did not allow Oswestry to massively close the gap at the top of the table. Closest rivals Brewood won joining the Malvern outfit on 232 points at the top of the table.
Next week the First Eleven have another home fixture hosting Handsworth at North End Lane. Admission is free, wickets are pitched at 12pm and the bar is open all day.

Amblecote & Wollaston vs Barnards Green 3rds

Result – A total stuffing for The Green.

OK. So admittedly the pitch was unbelievably wet and without doubt this was a bad toss to lose but that does not excuse the total lack of thought and application which The Green brought to their batting performance in this match.

When your top scorer in a game gets eleven runs and is outscored by extras and your top wicket taker takes one wicket then, let’s face it, you don’t have a snowball’s chance of winning anything. The Green surrendered,  ( the only word for it ), for 61.

In reply A & W batted properly, taking as  much time as they needed, ( 21 overs ),  to surpass the target and played straight, something that The Green seemed to have forgotten how to do.

In summary, we were absolutely useless!
Forget it and start again next week.