23rd July 2011 - Match Reports. |
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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.
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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. 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! |