31st July 2010 - Match Reports.
Martley 1sts vs BGCC 3rds

 Coombs Wood vs BGCC 2nds

After a week of  very poor availability aided by a few more drop outs because of illness and injury, it was all credit to the club and its members that they managed to field four reasonable teams.The thirds travelled to local rivals Martley knowing only a win would put them back on course for an all important top five finish.The home side won the toss and surprisingly decided to bat on a very damp wicket, openers Vale and Ganderton had put on 17 when Vale was well caught in the covers by Nic Rogers of the bowling of Sam Spencer,at 32 another fine catch this time by Dave Knapper saw the end of Ganderton for 12, this brought together the experienced Basford and the dangerous Pat Bibby this pair batted sensibly against the accurate opening bowling attack of Spencer and Roger Thompson, after 25 overs the score had progressed to 86 for 2, first change bowler was Clive Churchill brought out of retirement after a three year sabbatical,  he surprisingly bowled with a good line and still with the odd bit of pace which hurried both batsmen, he made the vital break through bowling Bibby for 27 then got a ball to rise sharply at Basford 25 who could only manage to fend it off to the waiting Yorke . Roger Thompson had bowled 15 overs for only 39 runs when he finally had his reward by bowling Nichols for 3, a well deserved wicket which on another day could easily of been four or five wickets.As per usual skipper Spencer came on for the final 20 overs of the innings he quickly took three wickets all caught by well placed fielders then the returning Spencer jnr had Gardener caught by Yorke off his first ball , young Joe[fish] Churchill bowled a tidy over and then Phil Spencer took the final wicket in the last over to finish with figures of 4 for 23 off 10 overs, a fine bowling display by the Green backed up by some fine catching , enabling Martley only to total 158.
     The Green's openers Paul Yorke and Graham Baddeley struggled against the pace of Mayfield and the experienced Basford, but as per normal Yorke decided to put bat to ball and hit the bowlers off their rhythm he struck a quick fire 31 until he was caught behind off the spin of Ganderton with the score at 49, unfortunately the inform Jason Brewer failed when he too was caught behind off Basford for 5, he was quickly followed by Dave Knapper for nought, Sam Spencer struck 9 before he was also caught behind this left the Green's reply in the balance at 72 for 4, Roger Thompson brandishing his new blade strode to the wicket to join the battling Baddeley, he proceeded to knock the ball to all parts of the ground  his quick fire 42 included 7 fours and a six until he was bowled by Ganderton, he was soon followed by Baddeley who had compiled 41 runs and collected a covering of bruises as he battled  for the Green's cause, it was left to the experienced seventh wicket pair of Ratcliffe and Spencer to see the Green home with four wickets to spare and nineteen overs in hand, pick of the bowlers for Martley was Jim Basford whose 3 for 42 was not enough to prevent the Green picking up 24 vital points.A good performance by the Green and especially those who made themselves available at short notice to help the club in it's hour of need.

BGCC 4ths vs Martley 2nds
When Barnards Green entertained Martley at Newland on Saturday skipper Dick Brown had little hesitation in batting first on a dry and flat pitch when he won the toss (again). However the Green openers Chris Horne & Mark Perkins found the initial going tough as Martleys opening bowlers Uppual and Holdsworth found significant swing in the humid conditions and passed the outside edge several times. Once the bowling was changed the batsmen started to get on top however, and any loose balls started to be punished. The openers built the score to 65 in the 13th over before Perkins (22) was brilliantly caught and bowled by A. Mann. This brought Julian Hall to the crease. He told his partner “you get the runs and I’ll just try to stick around”. However, after surviving another caught and bowled attempt, a close LBW shout and being attacked by wasps, he changed his strategy and began to smash the bowling to all parts of the Newland boundary. Both batsmen were very severe on any loose balls and the score quickly mounted despite Martley rotating the bowlers to try to stem the tide of runs. Hall overtook his partner and moved swiftly through 50 to a fine 100. Horne then reached his first century for the Green with a straight driven six and was eventually bowled by the very promising Holdsworth in the 40th over for 116, a knock containing fourteen fours and four sixes. The score was 321-2 and Horne & Hall had put on a stand of 256, believed to be one of the largest in the Greens long history. It had taken just 27 overs.Hall was joined by Nick Pett who also started to score quickly against the tiring Martley attack. Hall continued his own violent assault on the bowling, eventually reaching a career best 155 not out before the skipper declared with the Green on 350-2. Halls magnificent innings contained twenty nine fours and one six. Pett finished on 17 not out.
          If the Green thought that their large score would break Martleys resolve they would soon be proved wrong, as wickets were hard to come by. The Martley openers M Sweat and S Kirby started confidently against  opening bowlers Chris Hill and Jack Mackintosh. As in the first innings any poor balls were dispatched to the boundary.  It took a change of bowling before spinner Pete Daffin tempted Kirby (17) to give a steepling catch to Hall to claim the first wicket. Sweat continued to bat well despite losing first Adams (0) and then Dickins (18) to the seam bowling of Pett. Daffin bowled Jordan for nought and then opening bowler Hill came back to finally dismiss Sweat for an excellent 60.This brought skipper John McGarn to the crease and he frustrated all the Green bowlers as he tried to shepherd his young batting partners towards a draw. With time fast running out Pett and Hill both picked up a further two wickets to leave ten-man Martley 183-9 with just 13 balls remaining. McGarn ended on a well compiled 42 not out.The Green won by 167 runs. For the Green Pett took 4-49, Hill 3-14 and Daffin 2-54. Young Jack Mackintosh was very unlucky to go wicketless.
Well done to both sides for an interesting game played in an excellent spirit.


 

A yet again altered BGCC Second Eleven arrived at a damp Coombs Wood CC with high hopes of picking up some useful points against one of the league’s bottom sides. With key players unavailable through illness, injury, holiday and family commitments chances were again given to the young Hennessey tribe, Dan Hunt, newcomers the Jeynes brothers and the mercurial talent of Fiaz.
Doughty lost a second successive toss and was not in the least surprised when his opposite number asked him to bat (whilst chuckling to himself) on a track which had remain uncovered throughout all of the week’s rain showers and was very damp underfoot. Doughty (10) and Brewer (2) found the going tough with ball ‘popping’ off a length and moving laterally unpredictably. Brewer was victim to one which bounced more than expected and was well caught at mid-off whilst Doughty was forced to play at one which nipped away and took the slightest of deflections from his outside edge. Croad grafted and dug-in for a hard fought 16 runs off 40 balls and all concerned realised any score above 100 would be hard to achieve. With Croad, Scullion played with ease and some fluency for his 13 runs before being caught bringing Pat Jeynes to the wicket for his debut knock. Jeynes P batted well, using his height to counter the bounce and played some attractive shots, particularly cutting the ball through and above the cover fielders. Jeynes scored 29 runs in as many balls before perishing, leaving partner Fiaz (31) to bat with Brown (14) and Hennessy E (9). Fiaz played the ball late, under his eyes, and looked at home although I’m sure the wickets in Jhelum or Islamabad play better than this one did. After Brown and Hennessy E departed, both playing some excellent attacking shots, Rich Jeynes strode confidently to the crease to, like his brother, make his debut knock. Jeynes R batted well for 11 and guided the tail to the first bonus points and respectability at 125. Georgia Hennessy entered as Jeynes left and batted fantastically well against the clever spin of Butterworth. Hennessy batted for 23 balls for her 6 not out and showed her nerve against the returning opening bowler Mahmood and even managed to chassis down the wicket to guide a four through mid-wicket, a real highlight or an otherwise bleak innings. Hunt, happy at number 11, made 1 run before being caught behind leaving his batting partner stranded just as she was warming up. The innings closed on a very well fought 156 all out in difficult conditions.
After a unique tea which included the delights of cheesy potato waffles and chips with onions the sun came out and dried the swamp-like wicket to a surface as hard as a main-road and the home batsmen had no difficulties in knocking off the required runs for the loss of only one wicket. Butterworth, in particular, played well. He scored 82 well earned runs, mainly swept and cut, off his stumps. The fielding by the Green was average, neither good nor bad and the bowling was something similar. No one bowled badly, perhaps we all tried to hard to look for wickets rather than wait for them to come. The real standout bowlers were Rich Brown who bowled his 6 overs for just 10 runs, using clever changes in pace and mixing seamers with cutters and Georgia Hennessy who bowled her 3 overs for a miserly 6 runs. The captain, with hindsight, should have bowled both bowlers for more of the innings.
Whilst we were unlucky to find such a wet wicket at a ground with covers and for the sun to come out the minute we completed our innings it is no surprise that we struggled fielding a side with only 3 or 4 regular second team players and where only three players were old enough to pay £5 match fees against a side scrapping for survival. Coombs Wood on the other hand had a much more experienced side and knew exactly how to play in wet conditions and well deserved their much needed 20 point prize.


Barnards Green 1st XI vs Bromyard CC 1st XI

Barnards Green produced an excellent all-round performance to return to the top of the table with rivals Worcester losing at home to an in form Droitwich XI. 

Tim Williams won consecutive tosses for the first time in the season and had no hesitation inserting the opposition. Williams himself struck a vicious double blow to dismiss Bullock plumb LBW and Anderson bowled first ball. Oliver and Zahid then produced a solid partnership of 73 to take the visitors into drinks in the ascendancy. Strong words from the skipper in the huddle however rejuvenated the home side who struck quickly after the break with Ford and Harris picking up two quick wickets a piece to leave Bromyard reeling at 126-6. Harris finished his allotment of 17 overs with figures of 3-48 and it was left to Williams 3-24 and Ford 4-63 to polish off the tail with only Taylor 25 offering any meaningful resistance. Bromyard closing 144 all out. 

Despite losing Rhodes for just 2 with the youngster caught in the slip cordon by Anderson off Taylor in form Golder and Mark Hooper produced a robust partnership of 62 which only faltered when Hooper was LBW for 35. This brought Ford to the crease to support Golder. Both batsmen were brutal and clinical in dispatching loose offerings from the visitors attack with Ford crunching 4 boundaries in 24 not out and Golder scoring 50 of his 59 runs in boundaries.The home side winning with 28 overs to spare with 8 wickets in the shed. With West Indian Andre Russell import struggling to return from Jamaican T20 duty in time to take on Colwall this weekend the Green travel for the Herefordshire/Worcestershire derby with a gap of just 11 points between them and league 2nd placed Worcester.