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2007 Season Archive - March / April |
Monday 30th April
Can I draw your attention to Andy Hartleys interactive stats which can be found at www.soright.co.uk/cfcc/. He has been busy updating previous season stats over the winter break and has now got back to 1996, so you can check out just how bad we used to be!!!
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Sunday
29th April
Home
v Black Torrington NDL
What is it with us and Black Torrington, why do the games all go down to the wire?
Charles has yet to win a toss this season and so Cheriton were consigned to the field on a very hot afternoon. There was a certain amount of grumbling from the younger and fairer skinned players, but it did at least mean we would know what we were chasing.
With Ben still aching from football on Saturday it was Ted who opened down the hill, while Phil was persuaded to give it a go from the Cadleigh End. Ted bowled at a good pace, but struggled a bit with his line. He has Steve to thank for stopping his figures looking even worse....
Black Torrington's first wicket went not to Ted or Phil but to John Pitts. Fielding at square leg he picked up and was about to lob back to the bowler when he realised that the BT openers were going for a suicidal run. If he hit then it was all over, and he duly did (from 25 yards with all 3 stumps to aim at, not 85 yards with a single stump obscured by two fielders and the batsmen as he was later telling everyone) to send Ian Davies back to the Pavilion. Ted did get better slowly, but the extras were starting to hurt....
Phil on the other hand bowled a fantastic line and got the ball to swing late. We have been looking for another bowler to operate up the hill with Will and Robbie, and we may have found him. Phil bowled his 9 overs in a single spell despite the heat and maintained his line and length through out. His 2 for 29 could have been 3 or 4 if the stumps had been given a coat of varnish during the winter.
Ben replaced Ted from the Urinal end and despite his aches and pains managed to bowl a very good line and length and got up to a decent pace in his second over. He passed the bat regularly and was unlucky that the edges did not go to hand.
Black Torrington were building a good score, with Mayne and Cockwill playing sensible cricket and running well. Chasing a wicket Charles was guilty of attacking a little too much at times, but with Phil and Ben bowling well it was very tempting...
Robbie was called up from fine leg to follow Phil, while David was roused from his slumbers to replace Ben. Robbie has bowled up the hill for the last 25 years, wearing a groove in the turf as he trundles in dropping almost every ball on the spot. Unusually Robbie got the ball to spit up off a length, adding another problem for the batsmen above and beyond his normal bag of tricks. This extra bounce took the ball past the edge countless times in his 9 over spell, resulting in Oohs and Aahs and stifled appeals from the field and chuckles from the bowler.
Dave did not have things quite his own way at the other end. It was in jest that the scorer was informed that "the new bowler is Carr, D.... Unless he gets tonked in which case it is Carr, W." David is pressing for the initials to be changed. See below for the details, but it was all a bit too short and wide. Ouch.
John Pitts gave it a go from the Urinal end and managed to break the partnership, sending Mayne on his way for 104 by getting him to slap a leg stump full toss straight down Ted's throat in cow corner. He had been put there for that shot and the Mayne fell into the trap..... it is village cricket after all. Others didn't, and John's figures look worryingly similar to David's but at least he now has his first wicket for Cheriton.
David was briefly brought back from the Cadleigh end and bowled with a little more control, but with the score now getting uncomfortably close to 250 the Captain recalled Ben and Ted for the final few overs. Ben did exactly what he had in his first spell, while Ted was a revelation from the Cadleigh End. Bowling with pace and control he took the two remaining Black Torrington wickets, both bowled. Let us not quibble about the age and or experience of the two players concerned, Ted actually bowled two balls at the stumps in one over.
After that we all had to have a sit down and so Phil's tea provided a welcome rest.
All out in the 42nd over for 258, not a bad total but BT did not manage to bat out the full 45 overs. Would that come back to haunt them? Only time would tell.....
With some of us playing for the first time this season and the form of some others unproven, there was some discussion over tea about the order. With 9 recognised batsmen to call upon the first two names to be inked in were no's 10 and 11, Robbie and Brent. The Captain kept faith with Mike and Peter as openers, but had a series of difficult decisions to make with other 7 places.
BT opened with Jones down the hill and he bowled a good spell after a torrid first over during which he overstepped 6 times. A good stand between Mike and Peter allowed the decision on the batting order to be delayed for a while, but eventually Charles plumped for John Pitts at 3 when Mike pushed at one he should have belted and was caught at cover. John and Peter stayed together for a while and patiently built the total. With lots of wickets in hand the rate was not yet a worry, but we would need one of them to bat through if we were to make it without too many nerves jangling.
Peter was striking the ball well and starting to find the boundary when he went for 41, Charles dragging himself to the crease at No 4. Putting the bad balls away and running well John was starting to look comfortable, and with Charles managing to pick the gaps with a series of edges things were looking up. On 35 John missed a straight one that kept low and shortly afterwards Ben played a shot that would not have looked out of place in an MCC manual if only he had actually hit the ball. The rate was now a worry at 7 an over and things were getting serious. Phil was the next man in, when did he last bat as low as No 6? The winner of last year's Batting Cup with an average of 71.44 Phil's record is excellent, but in only his second game of the season would he be in any sort of form? Charles and Phil had to try to score heavily while not taking risks, never an easy task. With Phil nursing a sore leg the running would have to be sensible too...
The Black Torrington skipper was aware of the state of the game and wisely set a defensive field with only two men in on the single and everyone else out on the rope. This made things difficult and slowed the scoring for a while until first Charles and then Phil took the initiative and started to go for their shots. The lefthand-righthand combination together with a mixture of luck (CS) and timing (PC) brought them some much needed boundaries and the rate came down to about a run a ball with 12 overs left. The Captain seemed to want to keep things interesting however, and having survived a close run-out taking a bye to the keeper Charles then got himself out top-edging a ball he should have left alone through to the wicket-keeper. Enter Mr. Brigden. There was still a lot to do. Phil was well set, but with a new man at the crease maintaining just over a run a ball would not be easy.
Ted showed all the languid, loose-limbed grace that Brent had commented on last Sunday. Perhaps he should stay out quite so late on Saturday nights... Fortunately he was able to get a good look at things as the pressure told on the Black Torrington bowlers and they started to lose their line. The fielding side now had to be aware of stopping the singles and defending the boundary, a difficult task on a small ground with a fast outfield. They stuck to the task well and things were in the balance until an unfortunate series of wides and no balls (including one for having three players behind square on the leg side) brought the rate required down to only 4 an over with 5 overs left. With singles now enough to win it, the BT field had to come in. This left some room in the outfield and some lusty blows brought up the win with a couple of overs to spare without further loss, Phil closing on 38 not out and Ted on 21.
Yet another tight game against Black Torrington and thankfully we manage to come out on top again, but only just, to claim our first 20 points in Division 4.
April has not been a bad month for batting. Mike scored a ton, with two more for visitors and over 1300 runs in only 3 games. Pity the poor bowlers.....CS
|
|
| Black
Torrington |
258
all out |
| Cheriton |
260
for 5 |
| T.Brigden |
7.4-0-41-2 |
P.Cutler |
9-0-29-2 |
| B.Coe |
7-0-33-2 |
R.Keight |
9-0-53-1 |
| D.Carr |
6-0-52-1 |
J.Pitts |
4-0-43-1 |
| 1 |
M.Foan |
Caught |
17
|
|
| 2 |
P.Blight |
Caught |
41 |
|
| 3 |
J.Pitts |
Bowled |
35 |
|
| 4 |
C.Sheldrick+ |
Caught |
44 |
|
| 5 |
B.Coe |
Bowled |
6 |
|
| 6 |
P.Cutler |
Not
Out |
38 |
|
| 7 |
T.Brigden |
Not
Out |
21 |
|
| 8 |
D.Carr |
- |
- |
|
| 9 |
S.Stentiford
† |
- |
- |
|
| 10 |
R.Keight |
- |
- |
|
| 11 |
B.English |
- |
- |
|
| |
|
Extras |
58 |
|
| |
|
TOTAL |
260 |
for
5 |
| Result -
Won by 5 Wickets |
|
|
|
John Pitts keeps another one out. |
|
Sunday 22nd April
Home
v Bill Owen's XI
Sunday
the 22nd of April dawned damp and misty. Well, I assume
it did as it was still damp and misty at 10am when I
crawled out of bed with a hangover.Thankfully both the
mist and
my hangover had lifted before long and we could look
forward to a good afternoon of cricket. Mike and Peter
were restored to the top of the order but the rest of
the team had an unfamiliar look to it with two debutants
(Carl Steele and Charles Mossman) and the Cutler being
J. not P.
Charles managed to win the toss and despite the fact
that he was still waiting for his opening bowler to
arrive invited Bill Owen's XI to bat first, which, as
is traditional he did personally.
Carl Steele opened the bowling down the hill in his
first game for Cheriton, with Will Carr toiling away
up hill and in to the wind. Both bowled well
on a pitch with more pace and bounce than one would
expect in April and some positive batting combined with
a dry and fast outfield gave the visitors a good start.
Carl was the first to strike, dismissing Bill with a
jaffa that pitched on middle and flicked off bail. He
got his second in more traditional Cheriton fashion,
a long-hop on the leg stump that the unfortunate Sara
guided into the hands of Will at long leg. The catch
was also taken in traditional style, second or was it
third attempt?
Will persevered up the hill, regularly passing the bat
and getting the ball to swing both ways. He finally
got his reward with a ball that would have taken out
Rose's leg and middle stumps if his leg had not been
in the way. Although it was his only wicket in 12 (yes
12) overs bowled in a single spell he was consistently
hitting a good line and length. He may well be aching
this morning, but the work out will have done him good.
When Ted did come onto the field he was looking more
than usually dishevelled and from his first few overs
it was clear that he had enjoyed the previous evening
(and probably much of the night). Having said that,
he came up several unplayable deliveries, some of which
weren't wides. Two of these accounted for the Bill Owen's
Nos 5 and 6, though the No 3, Cameron, was just getting
better and better.
Mike was forced to go off for a while to ease the pain
in his ankle and so we found ourselves fielding with
two Colts for a while when Mark English came on as a
sub. He did so well that it was with some regret that
we welcomed Mike back after his fag break.
When the ball was finally prised from Will's grip Robbie
was the grateful recipient. Complaining loudly of bad
ankles, knees and a stiff back he nevertheless dropped
onto a good line and length almost immediately, as we
all knew he would. Cameron was now well set, but even
he was not immune to the magic. Unfortunately for Robbie,
Charles could not hold onto the chance at midwicket
and unfortunately for the rest of us this was the only
chance that Cameron gave.
Now before anyone gets too excited, it was not the Captain
at mid-wicket but Charles Mossman making his debut for
Cheriton who was the unlucky player.
Robbie made no such mistake with a return catch from
Phippen, jumping several inches to take a good two handed
catch over his head. He also bowled Hawkins off his
pads to trundle ever closer to 700 wickets.
While the old spell was being woven from the Cadleigh
End a new career was getting underway from the Urinal
(or should that be New Pavilion) End. Who would have
guessed that the first Cutler wicket for the season
would come in only the second game and to Jim rather
than Phil? Jim bowled well and fully deserved the wicket,
taken low to his right at cover point by Peter doing
a passable impression of Paul Collingwood. Well, he
caught it anyway.
Cameron reached a well deserved century just before
tea, having guided Bill Owen's XI to a competitive 244
for 8 at the declaration.
Carol provided an excellent tea (as always) during which
the Home Captain had to construct a batting order. Normally
this takes care of itself, but a few last minute changes
in personnel had left him with a side resembling a lizard
(at least half tail!) and with 245 to get to win he
needed to get it right.
The only positions that did not require much thought
were 1 and 2, Mike and Peter having proved themselves
able to see us off to a solid start against all-comers.
This they did yet again, though a little more slowly
that even they are used to as. Butterfield opened down
the hill with 4 maidens in 5 overs, and although scoring
was slightly easier against Bell we crawled along at
about 2 an over for the first 10 overs. By then Peter
had had enough and started to hit out. He found the
boundary several times with some well struck drives
before some quick work from Sara behind the stumps sent
him back to the pavilion for 31. Mike was moving a little
gingerly between the wickets (see earlier comment about
his ankle) so the Captain had to rein in his desire
to turn 1's into 2's, but at 66 for 1 after 20 overs
they needed to start to accelerate.
Scoring picked up a little against the change bowlers,
with Mike hitting one or two good off-side shots in
addition to his trade-mark whack over square leg for
6 while Charles (S) was happy to pat the ball in to
a gap to give him the strike. When the last 20 overs
were called at 6:25 Cheriton had only 99 on the board,
but importantly only 1 wicket down. This was more down
to luck than judgement, with Mike having a season's
work of luck in one afternoon.
Mike moved from 50 to 100 rapidly, with Charles trying
to give him as much of the strike as possible. On 108
(again!) he tried one drive too many and lost his off
stump. Not a bad knock for his first innings of the
season, and it pushed M.L. Bowles yet another place
down the All-time list.....
Andy Goddard came in and played the sort of innings
he normally reserves for Thursday evenings against the
12 years olds. Even Brent had to congratulate him on
he second of his straight drives, but it could not last
long and so Ted was roused from his slumbers to join
the Captain. He played with his usual languid grace,
or as the Square Leg Umpire put it "a bit bloody
Caribbean" and found the middle of the bat from
the word go.
|
With
the opening bowlers recalled for the final 10 overs
of the innings things could have gone horribly wrong
for Cheriton with the rate required still at around
five an over. Of those left to to come in only Steve
was a recognised bat, so a wicket could have left the
tail exposed. A couple of loose balls from Bell relieved
the pressure, Charles opening his shoulders for the
first time to bring the total within reach.
Cheriton overhauled their target with a couple of overs
to spare, but the game was a lot closer than the figures
may suggest, with Butterfield in particular very unlucky.
He went for only 2.14 an over, finishing with figures
of 12.1-4-26-0 and could well have had two or three
wickets.
Always an enjoyable fixture, we look forward to hosting
Bill and his side again next year, by which time we
promise we will have a new pavilion complete with facilities
for the ladies..... probably. CS |
Robbie
trundling closer to 700 wickets. |
|
| Bill
Owen's XI |
244
for 8 dec |
| Cheriton |
190
for 1 |
| C.Steele |
6-0-33-2 |
W.Carr |
12-0-68-1 |
| T.Brigden |
10-2-40-2 |
R.Keight |
10-0-44-2 |
| J.Cutler |
4-0-38-1 |
- |
- |
| 1 |
M.Foan |
Bowled |
108 |
|
| 2 |
P.Blight |
Stumped |
31 |
|
| 3 |
C.Sheldrick+ |
Not
Out |
59 |
|
| 4 |
A.Goddard |
Caught |
9 |
|
| 5 |
T.Brigden |
Not Out |
13 |
|
| 6 |
C.Mossman |
- |
- |
|
| 7 |
R.Keight |
- |
- |
|
| 8 |
S.Stentiford † |
- |
- |
|
| 9 |
C.Steele |
- |
- |
|
| 10 |
W.Carr |
- |
- |
|
| 11 |
J.Cutler |
- |
- |
|
| |
|
Extras |
25 |
|
| |
|
TOTAL |
245 |
for
9 |
| Result -
Won by 7 Wickets |
|
|
New
boy Carl Steele in action,
with fellow debutant Charles Mossman in the foreground. |
Jim
Cutler about to take his first wicket of the season. |
|
Sunday
15th April
Home
v Bratton Fleming NDL Cup
Another
season has arrived and it seemed to take some of us by surprise
- apologies to the Bratton Fleming side who were all ready
to play at 1.00pm, whereas the Cheriton side rolled up in
dribs and drabs to commence at 1.30. Time was played for
as a certain someone forgot he had the new scorebooks and
Ted and Will were despatched back to the village to pick
them up!
Charles had had a late call from Peter (Blight) who had
to drop out with a bad back, so from the line up available
he chose Phil to step up a place and open the innings with
himself after losing the toss and being put in.
The general concensus was that it was going to be a short
game, however Charles had other ideas. After playing and
missing early on and surviving a caught and bowled chance
- he's got it, he ain't got it, he's got it, he's got it,
he's got it, he ain't got it! - Charles found the form that
was so sorely missing last season. He played sensibly but
powerfully and dealt mainly in boundaries, until the BF
bowlers started turning the screw and the runs became harder
to come by. But some quick running kept the board ticking
over and the chance of a decent score was in the offing.
However, after seeing off BF's top bowlers Charles was undone
by the first ball of their 6th bowlers spell. Having far
more time than he realised he skied an easy catch to mid
wicket which really should have been despatched over the
ropes for 6.
Sadly after that Cheriton showed BF how to collapse in style
until the innings was taken to the full 45 overs thanks
to Steve and Will who both showed excellent rear guard action
- Steve we all know is an old master at this, but Will proved
himself very worthy and played with a flourish that was
great to watch. The best thing for Will was that he outscored
his brother, and so another seasons sibling rivlary has
got off to a flier!
After Charles' 62, extras was the next largest scorer with
48, helping us to a total of 186 for 9. Had one of a handful
of batsmen who got into double figures been able to go on
and support Charles we might had made a reasonable total.
As is usually the case, the Captain took on the responsibility
of the first tea of the season, well half the responsibility,
as I'm sure Jane would tell us. Excellent as always with
some delicious cakes still warm from the oven!
The BF reply was steady and dealt with everything Ted, Ben,
Will and Phil could deliver so the captain turned to who
else but Robbie who managed to take the only wicket for
us in the afternoon, when their left hander chopped one
down onto his own stumps. They rattled the runs off in a
little more than half the allotted overs and so we got off
to our customary losing start to the season.
If nothing else it proved that we're not totally eclipsed
by higher class teams, which should i hope give us confidence
for the league games to come. I just hope I've stopped aching
by the 29th April!! PC
 |
|
|
Charles
in action. |
Well,
first game done and dusted with probably the expected result,
but still a twinge of disappointment that we did not do
a little better. We could and should have put on 230ish
rather than 186, but things did not go our way with the
bat. Injury and late arrivals gave the top order a slightly
Heath Robinson look, with Phil pressed into opening and
DC looking like a rabbit in the headlights when told he
was No 3. Thankfully the rest of the team did arrive and
he was able to drop down to the middle order, but still
looked a little startled when he came out to the wicket.
I was worried before the game that we could crumble completely
against Div 2 bowling, but fortunately we didn't and although
we left it to our 10th wicket pair to give the air of respectability
to the score 186 was not a bad effort when you consider
that only one player got beyond 18.
The bowlers all looked to have wintered well, but it takes
a few overs to get used to the feel of grass wickets rather
than the harder bouncier surface in the nets. Some of the
fielders looked a bit rusty (yours truly being one of them)
but then again some of them looked rusty last September!
We only took one wicket, and guess who got it. No prizes
for that one, the old magic is still there and Robbie now
has only 29 more to get to reach 700 career wickets.
We have a history of losing our first competitive game of
the season, so hopefully we will continue true to form and
get a win on Sunday against Bill Owen's XI, especially as
normal service will be resumed at the top of the order.
CS
|
| Cheriton |
186
for 9 |
| Bratton
Fleming |
190
for 1 |
| T.Brigden |
5-0-28-0 |
B.Coe |
6-0-32-0 |
|
W.Carr |
4-0-23-0 |
P.Cutler |
5-0-21-0 |
| R.Keight |
5-0-39-1 |
N.Guscott |
1-0-15-0 |
| P.Randerson |
1-0-19-0 |
- |
- |
| 1 |
C.Sheldrick†
|
Caught |
62 |
|
| 2 |
P.Cutler |
Caught |
12 |
|
| 3 |
B.Coe
+ |
Bowled |
18 |
|
| 4 |
BP.Randerson |
Bowled |
1 |
|
| 5 |
T.Brigden |
Caught |
4 |
|
| 6 |
D.Carr |
Bowled |
11 |
|
| 7 |
N.Guscott |
Bowled |
0 |
|
| 8 |
S.Stentiford |
Not
Out |
16 |
|
| 9 |
R.Keight |
Run
Out |
1 |
|
| 10 |
B.English |
Bowled |
1 |
|
| 11 |
W.Carr |
Not
Out |
13 |
|
| |
|
Extras |
48 |
|
| |
|
TOTAL |
186 |
for
9 |
| Result
-
Lost by 9 Wickets |
|
|
|
Steve
(above) and Will (below)
during their 10th wicket stand. |
|
|
 |
