Barnards Green cricket Club Match
Reports.
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14th August 2004 Gree |
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Barnards Green 2nd XI vs Lye |
Highley vs
Barnards green Singles |
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The Green suffered throughout a pleasant afternoon at North End Lane. They lost Brian Hancock to illness before the start, then lost the vital toss. Further deep damage was done, in the second hour, once Lye realised roughly where to bowl on a damp track. The Green’s makeshift openers Keith Middleton and Bob Rogers had taken the initiative at five runs per over, but when Rogers (19) flailed and was stumped they collapsed to Faulkner’s swing and cut. Rogers junior and Sherliker each hit one boundary before being bowled. Hill, expecting a post-holiday break but rushed into service at no. 5, made a smooth single and then just as smoothly played on. Goodman lobbed to gully, Middleton was yorked after a fine 55, and the Green were in dire trouble at 112-6. Skipper Dick Brown and Andy Sanders surprised Lye, first by surviving eight overs of near misses and stifled appeals, and then by counter-attacking. They doubled the score with mostly legside blows that peppered the adjacent gardens. Both achieved creditable fifties. But the pitch was now tame, the pavilion-side boundary was very short, and the home audience rightly feared the worst. Faulkner’s 5-96 and Mantom’s steadiness were to be seen in true perspective after tea. Hill beat the bat a few times, and some edges and lofted drives went astray, but the Green veterans looked slow and uncompetitive. The legspinners McMillan and Sherliker, admittedly not helped by their colleagues, could apply little pressure. Saunders and both Rogers fielded keenly, and Hill got hands to a steepling catch but trod over the boundary rope in the process. He then spilled some blood in a dive across the outfield, adding to the medical list that included Fletcher’s back and various elderly stiff or seized joints. Fletcher gamely switched ends and saw two more catches dropped. A rare bright spot was that, with Glendinning his usual massive influence behind the stumps, there were only 7 byes. Brown tried his slow lobs, but Lye won at a trot after 31 overs, with undefeated free-hitting centuries for Clifford and Gulbar. Lye vs Barnards
Green 2nd XI Barnards Green
First team travelled to Lye on Saturday knowing a win would secure promotion
from division 3 as champions. The green seemed to be pre-occupied by this
thought and more comprehensively outplayed by a very good Lye team. Lye won the toss
and asked the Green to bat first on a well worn under prepared wicket. With
the ball swinging and seaming Jez Clarke and Chris Smedley struggled to 27
off the first 10 overs, a steady if not startling start! Three poor shots
accounted for both Clarkes and
Smedley (21) Youngster John Lewis (26) was then joined by veteran Rob
Richards (34) in a steady stand of 74 off 27 overs that re-built the innings
but never gained any momentum against some very tight and disciplined Lye
bowling. Liam Paddock gave the innings a much needed boost with a useful 27
at the death. With a total of
165 The Green knew they had to bowl well but on a helpful track had more than
a sniff of winning the game. The dangerous Else was quickly bowled by
Williams (2-56) but with too many four balls being bowled Lye were off to a
flyer, the green kept plugging away though with wickets falling at regular
intervals but the loose balls kept flying to the boundary, Khaleeq with 8
fours in an innings of 40 telling the tale. Smedley bought
back Harrison and Williams as Lye closed in on the target, The Green’s day
was summed up when Harrison bowled Lye’s Skipper Craig Whitehouse (31*) off a no ball which went for 5 byes. Lye
reached their target off 34 overs winning by 5 wickets. The Green’s bowlers
conceded 28 fours in a well below par bowling performance. Barnards Green
will again try to attain promotion at home to Oldswinford this Saturday a far
more disciplined performance will be needed if this is to be achieved. Barnards Green put
the champagne on ice as they only
took 4 points from this game meaning 1 point on Saturday will secure
promotion to Worcestershire Division 2 arnards Green 233-7 (45
overs; Brown 57 no, Middleton 55, Sanders 53; Faulkner 5-96) Lye 235-0 (31 overs; Gulbar
111 no, Clifford 110 no) Lye won by 10 wickets |
A fantastic
bowling and fielding performance made way for the most woeful batting of the
season and a 38 run defeat in a low scoring encounter. Winning the toss Freeman
had no hesitation in asking Highley to make first use of a suspect looking
wicket. The rewards were immediate when Bell snapped the middle stump in half
with a quick delivery. Two more wickets soon followed as Bell’s pace was just
too much and Highley were rocking at 12 for 3. Two crucial moments followed
in successive overs. Firstly Steel’s mistimed hook fell just short of Spencer
in the field and Spiers put down a regulation catch before Brown had scored.
The pair now dug deep and put on 40 priceless runs until Brown was run out
for 15. With the bowling restrictions in place Bell had to be rested and
Steel took command whilst Englebert played the most crucial of nought not
outs. Steel struck some lusty blows to pass fifty and the pair added 44 runs
until Freeman took a fine running catch to end his innings on 72. Duncan Bell
returned to the fray and quickly mopped up the tail aided by a stunning
Clarke catch to finish with 4 for 29. All of the bowlers performed well
Spiers 2 for 21, Clarke 1 for 39 and Sam Spencer 1 for 24 meant that the
singles needed 121 for victory off 50 overs. The Singles reply
stuttered against some very tight bowling and inspired fielding. Wheeler
guided a catch to gully and Phil Spencer ran himself out. Freeman and White
were resolute in defence but the runs failed to come, the pair added 20 runs
in 18 overs as Parry and Brown gave nothing away. Freeman perished going
after a wide one for 13. White now opened up against the change bowlers and
scored at will giving the singles the edge with the bat for the first time,
he and Birch took the score to 67 and towards victory. The wheels then fell
off with the introduction of Junior Boyce, the wily left arm spinner
fortuitously trapped White in front for 39 and the remainder of the batting
imploded. James’ dolly drops took two wickets as the batters picked out the
fielders and then Boyce mesmerized the tail to pick up four wickets whilst
only conceding six runs in ten overs. The last five wickets went for 15 runs
and Highley were victorious by 38 runs. Barnards Green 3rd
XI vs Droitwich A top of the table clash with Droitwich 3rds saw the Barnards
Green come away with twenty points in a convincing 8 wicket win at Newland on
saturday. Put in to bat, Droitwich lost opener Westwood in Hoddy's
first over, well caught at slip by skipper Cyril Dean who then proceeded to
drop Morgan in the same over. Wright and Morgan then made steady
progress, but were pegged back by some accurate bowling from Bill Munn who
later had Wright cuaught behind and an excellent catch off a skier by 13 year
old Callum White who continues to show great promise. Munn finished
with 2 for 26 off 12. Hoddy lost his line and was replaced by Rob Lewis
who lost the plot and wides escalated, but when the ball was pitched on the
stumps, Morgan was bowled for 18 and patterson for 28. The introduction
of 13 year old Adam Price proved vital as he picked up 3 vital wickets with
his off spin and should have had four when he clean bowled Patterson with a
full toss, but the umpire called no ball for a high delivery before admitting
he did not know the rule!! Jamie Longmore then found a good line and
length removing Machin clean bowled and the no ball let off proved costly for
the Green as Droitwich added a further 22 runs but more importantly, they
lost Dave Price carted off to hospital by the tea lady (anything to get out
of the wasshing up) with a dislocated finger following a diving stop with two
twists and piroett worthy of an Olympic Gold and thus reducing an already
depleted batting line up. Adam Price finished with excellent figures of
3 for 28 off his 8 overs. |
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