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| Chairman's Report 2004 | The 2004 Season by The Webmaster | Chairman's Report 2005 Scorer's Review 2005 | England Expects | Ashes to Ashes - A Winter's Tale | Four Innings And A Birthday Cake |
The normal pre-season preparation of the ground was, as usual interrupted by the weather, although the wicket, which had been re-seeded and top dressed at the end of the previous season, was looking in good condition. With only a few home matches during May, this allowed us sufficient time to get the ground into a reasonable condition for the rest of the season. There were a number of changes to the season fixtures, with new fixtures replacing some of those which, for various reasons, we had lost. The first annual club dinner was held at The Hinds Head, and an enjoyable evening was had by everyone. We hope to be able to repeat this event early in 2005. Indoor nets were once again held at Bradfield college, with a variable turn out and on occasions we ended up using two nets. With smoking becoming less socially acceptable in public places and with concern for safety issues (fire risk), it was decided to implement a no smoking policy in the pavilion. There has been some major management changes to Wasing Estates, which so far have had no effect on the club, but there could be some changes in the future, which may or may not effect the club. During the season Wasing Estates held a "pop concert" in the grounds of Wasing Park. Fortunately our worst fears were not realised, and there was no major damage to the ground or buildings. We have been offered a sponsorship deal with one of our Vice Presidents, Gerry Brownlee of Pump and Technology. The company has offered to supply us with a number of shirts, which would incorporate both the company and Aldermaston Cricket Club logos, which then would be then sold to members. At the start of the season we introduced our own web site at www.aldermastonvcc.fsnet.co.uk. Many thanks to Jeremy for setting up the site and looking after it. The season results were not up to the previous season standard, as we lost our first match in over a year. The batting was dominated by Gary Masters, who scored the only century, and Sayeed Munir, with each scoring 300 runs. The bowling was almost a one man attack, with Sayeed taking 40 wickets, followed by Mark Woodley, 21 wickets and Les Woodley with 16 wickets. I would like to thank the committee for the work that has been done over the season and in particular Carol for organising a significantly number of new fixtures, and to Chris for keeping us on the straight and narrow financial road. N. Hogg Chairman, Aldermaston Village Cricket Club 25 January 2005
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The 2004 Season by The Webmaster The 2004 season has been a real mixture, in terms of results, weather and the fortunes of the national side between Test and one-day cricket. Not to mention the speed with which this web site has been updated at times... Aldermaston’s games this year ranged from the very close (scraping a win on a low, slow pitch at Pangbourne and narrowly failing to pull a win out of the fire the previous week against Ramsdell) to the frankly not so close - Englefield and Wargrave spring to mind. Our season started a little later than planned, with the first two games falling foul of the weather and the third replaced by a practice game and a ‘beer match’, the exact statistics of which Keith and myself were absolutely forbidden to allow anywhere near either the web site or the end-of-season averages. My over in that beer match certainly had the batsman in two minds - he didn’t know weather to hit me for four or six. Actually, it ended up being four (twice), but mainly because the tree got in the way. Our two year unbeaten run came to an unceremonious end on 6 June, and in the weeks that followed our results varied from a storming win at Purley, to none at all, due to the weather. The forced abandonment at Yattendon was especially frustrating, but at least I now know where the ground is. Long story.... Our first clash of the season with Bradfield was memorable because we snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat, thanks to some tight bowling from Sayeed and Mark. A few hours after, England’s footballers were two minutes from victory against France and we all know what happened next-more a case of defeat from the jaws of victory there. Our game at Wargrave on 15 August was an example of a day when most things which could go wrong, went wrong. Wargrave got more runs than they should, and our batting folded dramatically, on top of which the petrol tank in my car sprang a leak. And the scorebook didn’t want to add up. However, we ended the season strongly with a win and a couple of draws, although the previously mentioned Ramsdell game was one we very nearly won. We needed 90 needed in the last 15 overs with just 6 wickets in hand, but we got close thanks to Mark and Gavin, who’s fifth wicket stand was worth 79. The 34th over was the point at which we revived the run chase, it went for 15 runs. In the end though, in failing light, we just missed out on the target by four runs, and the game was drawn. Pangbourne was an interesting afternoon, not only because we were fed with a tea of epic proportions (thank goodness Mike won the toss and fielded first) but also because of the way the match went. A target of 102 in 35 overs shouldn’t have been a problem, but at 28 for 4 and 81 for 7, I was scrambling around to find some pads in readiness to go in at my specialist position, number 11. Thank goodness Barry decided to finish the game with a flourish - there were seven fours off the bat all afternoon, and Barry hit three of them. The other highlights of the day was Ed Petit-Mills’ brilliant throw from mid-wicket which left a Pangbourne batsman stranded, and Sayeed’s figures of 6 for 33. If I had been a bit more accurate with a throw from mid-on I may have finally done something to get on the fielding stats. The batsman would have been out by about a yard, which unfortunately was three times the distance I missed by. I think I surprised the batsman by a), stopping the ball in the first place and b), having the presence of mind to have a shot at the stumps. Actually I think I surprised a few people, I know I was a bit startled. My second throw at the stumps missed by the width of a coat of varnish, but the batsman was well in. Having dropped a very catchable chance a couple of weeks earlier (the only thing which caused me to drop it was hitting the ground) this was a little annoying. Individually there were several memorable performances this season, which included Gary’s rapid hundred against Reading Lawyers, a whirlwind innings of 81 from Mohammad Zeeshan early in the season against Kingsclere, which we managed to figure out was off 42 balls, (this was a one-off appearance, we could do with a few more like that if he’d like to play for us again!) and a similar whirlwind effort by Sayeed at Bradfield on the last day of the season, which included ten fours, five sixes, and apparently, very nearly one scorer! I’m not entirely sure if it was the pace of the scoring or the ball whistling past his ears, which nearly sent him over the edge, but anyway Keith tells me the nightmares have now stopped. Sayeed took the honours with the bowling this season, with a total of 40 wickets. Finally, this has been the first season the web site has been on-line so thanks to everyone who’s looked at the web site this season, and said nice things about it, and to Keith for providing the stats and the match score cards. When I suggested the idea at the AGM, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, because I’ve not really done web site design before, or if anyone would be remotely interested, let alone impressed, but it seems to have been well received so I guess I got away with it, even if it went a month in mid-season without being updated due to ‘technical difficulties’. It’s certainly been more noteworthy than my batting average! Jeremy Ogden September 2004 Back to Top | Back to Scorer's Table
As distributed at the Club AGM in February.
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The next few months are going to be another very busy period for our national side, with the Champions Trophy in India starting soon, followed by what is the most anticipated Ashes series for years. The VB Triangular one-day tournament with Australia and New Zealand will follow as a pre-cursor to the World Cup next April in the West Indies, the first time the tournament has been staged in the Caribbean. Another busy summer follows in 2007 with West Indies and India visiting for Test and One-Day series. England ended this season on a high today with a narrow win against Pakistan at Edgebaston to level the one-day series at 2-2, and we wish the team the very best as they embark on a tough year of almost non-stop international cricket. What a shame that only those with a satellite dish will be able to see Ashes cricket this winter, and indeed live Test cricket for at least another four years - sooner or later, probably when Sky offers a ludicrously small sum for the next TV rights contract in 2010, cricket at all levels is going to suffer from the short-sightedness and short-term greed of those who run the game in this country, and the puzzling attitude certain broadcasters hold towards what is supposed to be our national summer sport. The momentum and popularity built up by last year’s fantastic Ashes series has been more or less crushed by the lack of live Test cricket on terrestrial TV this -and for the next three - years. For those without Sky, Test Match Special on Radio 4 and Radio Five Live Sports Extra will be the place to go for ball-by-ball coverage of the biggest series in cricket. On the bright side the BBC will be broadcasting a daily highlights package of the World Cup, and we do at least have Channel Five’s summer highlights programs over the next three summers. Jeremy Ogden 10 September 2006 Footnote: Just two days after posting this item, the Ashes squad was announced, with Andrew Flintoff leading England's Ashes defence in the Test series which starts at the 'Gabba in November. The other big news though, was the announcement from BBC Television that they have secured the rights to show highlights of England's tour of Australia, that's all five Ashes Tests, and the VB One-Day Series also involving Australia and New Zealand which follows. Combined with the highlights package for the Cricket World Cup next spring, perhaps we are finally seeing signs that perhaps BBC TV is starting to realise that Football is not the only sport in the World and they are starting to take Cricket seriously again. Or perhaps it's an early sign that at worst, the TV coverage of cricket in Britain will end up segregated between broadcasters, as Rugby Union was for several years. Hopefully there is finally room for optimism that next time the TV rights come up for grabs, Test cricket in England will be back where it should be on free-to-air terrestrial TV, which it should never have been allowed to leave in the first place. The only downside is that another four years is a long time to wait... 13/9/06 Ashes to Ashes - A Winter’s Tale Since this website last got a a major update, in November, just days before the start of the 2006/07 Ashes series in Brisbane, English cricket has been put to the sword in the most ruthless fashion possible by the rampant, brilliant, awesome Australians. We knew it would be difficult at the start, perhaps beyond England’s young side, which was actually substantially different from the one which regained the Ashes at The Oval on that memorable day in September 2005, and rode the open top bus to Trafalgar Square in a victory parade to end all victory parades the following morning. But truth is, we were nowhere near good enough, and were blown away, five-nil. Now, amid the outcry that an English team should lose so massively, perhaps one fact is perhaps being skimmed over - that is just how great this Australian side is. There is no other Test team in the World at the moment who are actually capable of beating the Australians over a Test match, let alone a series, maybe the odd day or the odd session might go against them, as indeed it did during the Ashes, but what the opposition then have to do is finish the job, something which the English looked utterly incapable of doing. Some strange selections, lack of preparation and such-like was a big part of England’s lack of success in the Ashes series, along with the aforementioned fact that this was not the same team, in terms of personnel or in terms of form and leadership. Under those circumstances a heavy defeat was expected. The five-nil part? That, I think, was the backlash, because the Australians were so stung by their defeat in 2005, when they looked complacent, arrogant and also, ironically enough, under-cooked. After their huge win at Lord’s they seemed to be under the impression that they were going to win just by turning up for the rest of the series, but their eventual defeat was a massive wake-up call. And it’s a testimony to how deeply they were hurt by their loss of The Ashes that in terms of personnel, this was a very similar side to the one which watched miserably England’s massive celebrations on the outfield at The Oval that September evening 16 months ago. What can you say about England? They were missing Trescothick, (I really hope he has recovered from his problems soon and plays for England again) Simon Jones, and crucially, Michael Vaughan from the side that drew the final Test in 2005, and as well as that Steve Harmisson looked horribly out of form for two whole Tests before things started to come together a bit at Perth, while Ashley Giles, who hadn’t played a first class match for roughly a year before England landed in Australia, looked a shadow of his former self and had to leave the Tour after the Second test due to a family illness. Geraint Jones had started the series back behind the stumps in place of Chris Read, and although his wicket-keeping looked perfectly neat and tidy, he was keeping Read out on the basis of his alleged stronger batting, so he badly needed to score some runs - and didn’t. His nadir finally arrived at Perth, when he bagged a pair, and Chris Read returned in Melbourne. Andrew Flintoff, carrying the weight of England’s un-penetrating bowling attack on his shoulders, as well as the burdens of captaincy and of shoring up his side’s suddenly fragile middle order, not to mention the lingering effects of the injury which caused him to miss England’s entire summer series against Pakistan, showed only in patches the form and inspiration he had shown in 2005. Various players showed moments and flashes of promise. Andrew Strauss was in good form all the way through the series and could consider himself unlucky to have only one half century (a score of exactly 50) to show for it. Alistair Cook scored a terrific hundred at Melbourne, but failed to pass 50 in any other innings. There were times when the Australians looked ragged and rattled when Kevin Pietersen was in full flow - especially when he was on his way to his third score of 158 in Test cricket. But a match-winning innings eluded him. Ian Bell, after struggling throughout 2005 showed the World he can play against Australia, passing 50 four times but failing to reach a century, and still looking all at sea at times against Shane Warne. Paul Collingwood made a terrific double hundred in the second Test at Adelaide (more of that game later) and made couple of other decent scores, but again, no match-winning innings, and his bout of sledging against Shane Warne in Sydney was as about intelligent as the bouncer Fannie De Villiers unleashed on Devon Malcolm in 1994 - and we all know what happened next on that occasion. Overall though, Collingwood was one player to emerge with a little bit of credit, along with Monty Panasar, who should have been in the team from the start, and whose exclusion in favour of Ashley Giles was the most short-sighted and negative things Duncan Fletcher must ever have done. To then not directly admit he was wrong was one of the most stubborn. The other questionable selections which spring to mind are Sajjid Mahmood - I don’t doubt that he tries his best but what was he even doing on the tour? - and poor old James Anderson, who seems to have lost the plot compared to what he was when he burst on the scene four years ago, and yet still shows an infuriating knack for bowling devastating spells amidst all the wild stuff. At least he’s regained a little bit of form in the one-dayers, before injury forced him out again. Matthew Hoggard toiled away and was as hard working as ever, and at the time of writing, was fifth in the World rankings of Test bowlers. The difference in the end was that Australia had a team of World-class champions, in form, playing consistently the best cricket of their careers (as they seem to have been doing for, in fact, most of their careers). I’m not going to hark on about the stars of their team, but all I’ll say is that as in all team sports, a sign of greatness is when a team consists of individuals who back each other up - if one fails, another performs. That was the case for England in 2005 - if Trescothick didn’t score runs, Vaughan or Strauss did. If Flintoff wasn’t taking wickets, in would nip Simon Jones or Matthew Hoggard to take a couple. When Giles and Jones were getting some stick after Lord’s, the team and the management backed them up, whereas under previous administrations, they would have been out of the side and packed off back to the County Championship faster than you can say ‘Lord Ted’ or ‘one-cap wonder’. But not in 2005, just as had been happening with the Australians for about 15 years prior to 2005 and it’s what they did again in this Ashes series. And it could have been so different but for that aforementioned disaster at Adelaide. England were twenty minutes from potentially saving that game, and possibly their whole tour. Twenty minutes. If they’d batted until tea on the last day, they may well have scored enough runs, and occupied enough time to take the target out of even Australia’s reach. It may well have been that Australia might have gone for it anyway, and they still may have won, but it may well have been a whole lot closer, or Australia clinging on at the end to rescue a draw. Who knows? We never will now. But hindsight, although a wonderful thing, counts for very little, and Australia won one of their most amazing victories in recent times, and knocked a lot of the remaining fight out of their by now beleaguered opposition. So what’s left that England can salvage from their miserable winter? Well, as unlikely as it seems, if England beat New Zealand this coming Tuesday they’ll be in the one-day series final against Australia. Considering the shambolic performances they were putting in up to a very small number of days ago, and although they stand no chance whatsoever of turning over the Aussies were they to reach the finals, this would at least give them some encouragement ahead of the World Cup. Ah yes, the World Cup. In which England are in the same group as New Zealand, Kenya and Canada. Were England fail to progress beyond the first stage for the third successive World Cup....doesn’t really bear thinking about does it? Perhaps when they land in the West Indies in March, expectation will be so low that they will feel like they have nothing to lose, and sometimes, that kind of situation can actually be an advantage - look at West Indies, rank-outsiders, yet winners of the Champions Trophy in England in 2004. Look at Kenya, semi-finalists in the last World Cup, and Pakistan, no hopers, down and out in the 1992 competition after some shocking, shambolic performances. If their game with England hadn’t been rained off after they were bowled out for 74, they would have likely been knocked out, even if all their other results had been the same. And yet they ended up winners from no-where, beating New Zealand and England, the two best teams in the tournament, in the semi-final and final respectively. The odd thing about this World Cup is that there is very little doubt at the moment who the winners will be - who would dare bet against Australia winning their third title in a row? - but you can argue that any three of the remaining seven major Test nations (that excludes Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) could make the semi-finals. So the biggest cricket World Cup ever could potentially be both the most predictable in the sense of who is most likely to win it) and yet the most wide open in that so many other teams could be their the ones on the receiving end on the day of the final. But of course I’d love to be proved wrong.... Jeremy Ogden 4 February 2007 Four Innings and a Birthday Cake When the sun is shining and there’s no rain around on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer (especially this summer), it seems a waste for us not to be playing cricket of some description. But that was exactly what happened when our match against Reading Lawyers was cancelled on the morning of the match, so with the ground prepared, the tea bought, and as many players as we could get assembled at Wasing park, we tried to make the best of things by having a couple of six-a-side practice games at Wasing Park. Despite the temptation to have a school style picking of teams, Mike allocated the players to give some sort of equality between the two sides, with Mark Whitelock, Ed, Gavin Phil, Phil and myself joining Mike on his team and Garry leading a side consisting of Mark Woodley, Richard, Keith, Aaron, and Jerry, with Craig arriving later on. I went out to open the batting (yes, really) with Mark Whitelock, but soon I was slightly unluckily walking back after getting a little inside edge onto my stumps, from my second ball. However it didn’t really matter, as Ed walked out at number three and sent the ball to all parts, into the very sizable gaps in the field. In the midst of Ed’s rapid cameo, the ball was thrown to Keith, who promptly had Mark Whitelock caught by Gary at mid-on, much to the enjoyment of just about everyone, with the possible exception of Mark. Not only was he caught by Gary, he was also caught on camera <insert joke about the only thing I’ll catch all season, etc here> , and the video is ( now available to view on YouTube – all 40 seconds of it. Mike’s team reached the dizzy heights of 109 for 4 off their 10 overs, Ed falling shortly before the end for 68. Gary’s team set off at a good rate, and barely ever looked like slipping below the required rate. Richard scored 32 and Craig 31 not out, although Mike Palfrey bowled his 2 overs for just 9, and took 2 wickets, the first game was won by Gary’s team, with 2 balls to spare. Mike’s team batted first again in the second game, but possibly after their exertions in the field (ie, chasing after the ball as it ran to the boundary), batting was a little more difficult this time, and we managed to reach 87 for 2 in 10 overs. Mike reached his 50 in the final over, Keith got through his 2 overs for the cost of just 9 runs. However, 87 proved a very defendable target, despite the fact that Mike threw me the ball for the second over. Opening the batting and the bowling on the same day is fairly unusual for me to say the least, but I’m pleased to say my bowling was so rubbish that the batsman couldn’t hit me very far – well, if pitching the ball (or in my case, mainly not pitching the ball) outside leg stump to restrict the flow of runs is good enough for the King of Sp(a)in himself, Ashley Giles, then it’s good enough for me). In fact, in my second over, (no really, he let me bowl another one!) the fourth of the innings, I did manage to play a part in two wickets, even if neither were credited to my bowling. First of all, in what can only be described as an almighty cock-up, Craig and Aaron ended up at the same end, and after the ball was thrown back to me by Mike, who was keeping wicket this time (not to mention drinking beer), the run out was easily completed. A couple of deliveries later, Craig managed to prevent one of our fielders from getting to the ball, and someone appealed for obstructing the field. Aaron, who was the unfortunate victim of the run out, was now umpiring and took his well considered revenge on Craig by giving him out, after a long lingering pause worthy of Test umpire Ian Howell! This could well be the first instance of a player being out Obstructed the Field at Wasing Park, but sadly, under Law 37 of the Laws of Cricket, the bowler is not credited with the wicket. I’m considering writing to the MCC to ask them to retrospectively change this in the next edition of the Laws…. Believe it or not my two overs cost only 15 runs, but I’m fairly certain (and relieved) that this was my last bowling spell until next year’s net sessions. After all this excitement, it was really only a matter of time, and the wickets started to tumble, even despite the incredibly hopeless headlong dive I made to try and take a catch, which only succeeded in ensuring that Ed, with whom I very nearly collided, also didn’t manage to take the catch. Even Gary went for a duck thanks to Gavin’s fearsome medium pace, which was not nearly as fearsome as the his and Mike’s celebration after the wicket. Gary meanwhile was wondering off in something of a disbelieving daze until someone pointed out he needed to take over as umpire. Keith was the last man to the wicket, and he managed to finally get on the score sheet by running a single, that was after Gavin put down a sharp chance at silly mid off. Keith’s innings was noteworthy for the fact that his single somehow transformed into 7, including one glorious (so Mark tells us, as he was scoring at the time) cover drive for four. Keith was eventually bowled which left us the winners in the second match by 40 something(ish) runs. Which just left the small matter of tea, (thanks to Jackie for doing the hard work) which included Mike’s birthday cake at the end of a different, but enjoyable day. Jeremy Ogden 14 August 2007 Back to Top | Back to Scorer's Table
The summer of 2008 was a bit of a damp squib one way
or another (and there was plenty of ‘damp’) but in between the rain we did
manage to fit in a very stop-start cricket season, beginning back at the start
of May, at Pangbourne College, and finishing at the end of September, on what
was perhaps the last day of a brief, but welcome ‘Indian Summer’. When we gathered at Pangoune College on 4 May under
threatening skies for our first game, I think everyone was apprehensive about
the weather, the opposition (I think Pangbourne had already managed to get one
game in, so had the advantage of having had some match practice) and then, the
format of the game. A 24-overs per
side format was agreed upon by the captains, and it soon became evident that we
were not really in the game, as the home side ran up an impressive 167 for 4,
against our ring-rusty looking attack. We
were never in the hunt and despite a late burst, we failed to pass 100 and lost
heavily. Not a promising start. Our match the following week at Bucklebury was called off,
so our next game was on 18 June, against Chiltern Gypsies, a side we’d never
played before. We ran up 194 for 6
in 36 overs before tea, with Garry Masters hitting our first hundred of the
season, 106 before he fell to the final ball.
He took heavy toll of the visitor’s bowling in a
partnership of 74 in 13 over with Kamran Chaudhry, and looked in
excellent form. The visitors got away to a solid start, but lost their
opening batsman / wicket-keeper, retired hurt at 35 and three wickets fell with
the score on 36. The score moved to
62 for 3 in the 22nd over, but a late flurry of wickets followed –
7 wickets for 11 runs – and we registered our first win of the season. Our home game the following week against Purley On Thames
fell victim to more bad weather, but during June, often a month which suffers
from bad weather (usually because I’m on holiday during it), we managed to
play four complete matches, all of which we won.
Ramsdell were our first victims, by 7 wickets, on a tricky batting
surface. The wickets were shared
around, and an opening stand of 68 between Zafqar Ali (43) and Craig Woodley
(36) was important in our win. The following week we were off to Whitchurch On Thames, a
ground where a couple of years ago the all-star Lashings team had visited, with
Aravinda De Silva and Richie Richardson among their ranks.
After a couple of early wickets we needed someone to make a big score.
Kamran Chaudhry obliged with an unbeaten 106, sharing a partnership of
168 with Garry Masters (56). Kamran
had played for us a couple of times a few years ago and his return was very
welcome this year, as an aggressive batsman and a dangerous bowler.
Our 203 for 3 in 35 overs was a tall order for the home side to chase,
especially as our bowling was very tight to start with and they found themselves
16 for 2 in the ninth over. But the
innings soon fell part, and the home side went for 20 for 2 to 30 for 8, and
although they rallied briefly to pass the 50 mark, they ended up 59 all out, to
give us another big win. Mark
Woodley (3 for 9) was our best bowler, with Ali and Naveed each claiming two
wickets. Despite the fact that it was necessary for me to turn out
at Woolhampton the following week, we were now on a bit of a roll, and with the
weather holding out, despite becoming a little chillier, the team was now
hitting some good form. The match
at Woolhampton was 40 overs per side, and this time we had to chase, after
restricting the home side to 160 for 9. Four runs per over may have been tricky
earlier in the season but with Ali now hitting some good form with 74, and
another useful 37 from Garry Masters we eased home with 29 balls and 5 wickets
in hand, despite losing Kamran for a duck. I managed to keep my place for the trip to Purley On Thames the following week, which turned out to be the peak of our form this year. Two years ago at Purley we’d lost a nail-biting encounter by one wicket off the last-but-one ball on a scorching July day. The weather was not quite as hot this time but with Kamran hitting 77, Ali 41 and Naveed playing a brief cameo with 24 (all his runs in boundaries) we posted 219 in our 40 overs. Purley set off at a decent pace, and were 63 for 1 in the 14th over, when Jayasuriya (yes, they are related) was out, and before long they were 71 for 4. A partnership of 36 in 7 overs between Jack and Tim Perser kept the home side briefly in the hunt, but both went in the 24th over and it wasn’t long, despite a couple of catches going down, (ahem…) before they were all out for 135. On 13 July, myself and Norman were witnessing England
vainly struggling to take a South African wicket – any South African wicket
– in the Test at Lord’s, which ended in a dull draw despite England
outplaying the tourists for the first three days.
At Wasing Park, we should have been playing Mortimer, but when that game
was called off there was some last minute re-scheduling, and
we ended up playing another new opponent, Bristol Llamas, and with
something of a second string team, we notched up an 8 wicket win. The scorebook
makes quite entertaining reading, - I don’t recall any other opponent having
an opener called Cheese or a captain called Jiglet before. Another unbeaten
effort from Garry (42 this time) and 40 not out from Mark Whitelock, who earlier
had picked up two wickets, saw us reach our moderate target of 119 with relative
ease. It might sound like a daft thing to say, but 20 July should
be a warm day. There should be a
law or something. As it was, I
arrived at Kingslcere in the closing throes of the game (having spent the
afternoon doing unspeakable things with wallpaper) and spent the next hour or so
trying my best to help Keith with that indecipherable scoreboard while doing my
best not to shiver. Like the
weather, we were off the boil that day, as the home side ran up 173 for 9 in
their 40 overs. We were briefly in
the hunt while Garry (63) and Kamran (32) were sharing a partnership of 76 in
just under 18 overs, but as the overs began to run out, so did the wickets
(literally in a couple of cases), and we finished 36 runs short, our winning
streak of six games ending. The following week, the weather was a little warmer again (thank goodness), and we were back at Wasing Park taking on Englefield. Or at least for the first half of the game, we were taking on their openers, Van Der Merwe and Samid. They racked up a stand of 213 in their 40 overs without being separated, Samid hitting an unbeaten 102 and Van Der Merwe finishing on 94 not out. I don’t think anyone really thought we were in with much hope of winning, especially when we found ourselves in trouble at 22 for 2 after 10 overs, but at that point, Garry Masters unleashed a furious assault and revived the game. With some solid support from Mark Whitelock, David Bardwell (18, in a stand of 66) and most importantly Huw Thomas (31, in a stand of 58) the game rapidly swung in our favour. Admittedly, Englefield were a couple of fielders light, but if ever there was a demonstration of how to find the gaps in the field, this was it. There as still time for a brief wobble, as our seventh wicket fell at 200, but there was still plenty of time to spare, and the winning runs were hit by Mike in the 33rd over, Garry’s unbeaten 123 was his highest score for the club. The next couple of Sundays both ended in frustration, and
rain, at similar stages of the game. Reading
Lawyers were the first visitors, scoring150 for 6 in their 35 overs, and we
found ourselves in a spot of bother at 30 for 3 after 13 overs.
I arrived soon after, after spending another afternoon committing heinous
crimes against interior design, by which time it was already raining.
Kamran (32 not out) and Mark Whitelock took the score to 63 for 3 after
18 overs before the rain just got too heavy and the players left the field, as
it turned out, for the last time. Kingsclere visited the following Sunday, by which time our
form seemed to have gone the same way as summer, and we soon found ourselves at
16 for 3 in the 10th over, batting first. Mark Whitelock and Huw
Thomas were the only batsmen to get to double figures in a meagre total of 90
all out. To defend a total like
that, we needed some early wickets, but although the runs weren’t coming for
the visitors, neither were they losing wickets.
Eventually off the final ball of the 13th over the first
wicket fell, and three balls later Les had opener Hanney caught behind, leaving
the visitors on 28 for 2. However,
Mitesh Patel had come in at number three, the player who had stolen the game
from us at the Fieldgate Cnetre last year, and he made his intention plain from
the word go, hitting mark Whitelock for six to get off the mark.
He proceeded to 20, taking the core to 54, before he had another swing at
Mark Whitelock and was bowled, a vital wicket which caused animated
celebrations. Unfortunately, at
that point, the rain which had started shortly before, brought us off the field,
and soon the ground was unplayable. Although
at that point the momentum was very much with us, I have to be honest and say I
doubt we could have won the game from there, but I suspect we could have made
life pretty awkward for the remaining visiting batsmen.
Sadly we’ll never know. On 25 August we finally completed a match for the first
time in six weeks, and it was a memorable afternoon. As with the Englefield game a few weeks earlier, I doubt anyone seriously thought we could win
the game at tea time. Bradfield
posted 203 for 4 in 45 overs (this was a timed game) with opener Ashby (55) and
Jack Parsons (102) sharing a stand of 143 in 149 balls. We managed a solid start with Mike and Craig opening the
batting, Craig scoring 20 in the stand of 54, but it really was Mike’s day.
I’m not sure what he had for breakfast that morning, or indeed if there
was some sort of magic ingredient added to his cup of tea before he went out to
bat, but his innings of 130 not out stole the show, and the game, and left the
home side wondering exactly what had hit them, looking thoroughly rattled.
Garry was able to play second fiddle for once, his dismissal for 18 with
the score at 122 was the only subsequent wobble, and Mark Whitelock provided
able support with an unbeaten 31 as Mike smashed his way towards his hundred and
the target. The following Saturday was the first day of the bank
holiday weekend and brought some glorious summer weather at last.
Sadly it didn’t last and we were back to rain by the Sunday morning,
which meant that our match at Kingston Bagpuize was called off, and it was the
same old story the following week as our game at Ashford Hill fell victim to the
weather as well. By 14 September we were starting to wonder if the late
finish to the season was actually going to happen, but with Bucklebury visiting
we finally got a taste of an Indian summer.
A good all round performance in the field, including two terrific catches
by Jerry Dobson, and then a couple of run outs, saw the visitors skittled out
for 69. Les took 4 for 8 in 7
miserly overs, up to then our best bowling performance of the season.
We lost Mark Woodley early but got though to tea without any further
losses. Afterwards though the
collapse came swiftly, and we went from 23 for 1 to 25 for 4, Mike going for 9,
Mark Whitelock for 0 and Huw also for 0, first ball..
Garry was joined by Jerry Dobson, who although he scored only 1 in a
partnership of 40, provided valuable support for Garry who was nudging the score
upwards at the other end. The
pivotal over of the game was the 19th over, when Bucklebury
introduced a new bowler, Partridge to the attack.
The over lasted 16 balls, with 2 no balls and 8 wides, and took the core
from 36 for 4 to 46 for 4, which in the context of a low-scoring game was
absolutely vital. The pressure was relaxed and the initiative was back with us.
The score continued to creep up, as did the number of extras, Garry
struck a couple of well placed fours in the 23rd over to take the
score to 63, and although we lost Jerry at 65, and then David Bardwell first
ball, we finally won the game off the final ball of the 27th over,
with Garry unbeaten on 25, but the 27 extras conceded by Bucklebury the
top-score of the innings. As we had no game on 21 September, our last game of the
season finally arrived on 28 September, and coincided with the end of the summer
we finally got in September. Sadly
we ended the season as we began it, with a heavy defeat, but this time we were
well in the game for the at least the first half of it.
There was no end of season fatigue in evidence as we put in an excellent
bowling and fielding performance to dismiss the visitors, Bradfield, for 142,
with Mike opening the bowling (as well as the batting) taking best figures of 5
for 21 in 8 overs, to go with his century at Bradfield a couple of weeks before,
and David Bardwell taking four catches behind the stumps, on a very good day for
wicket-keepers (more of that later). The
first was a regulation edge, the second a thick edge off a big swipe (and the
batsman was also stumped or possibly run out as well just to be sure). The third
was a simple catch off a top edge and the last was a terrific one handed diving
effort as the batsman charged down the wicket, aiming to smash Mike somewhere
into Woolhampton. Wicket-keeping
dismissals seem to be no-where near as common place at this level of cricket as
they are in the higher reaches of the game, and this is easily the most
dismissals in an innings I can remember during my involvement with the club.
We had high hopes of ending the season on
winning note, after all, we’d chased down tougher targets than 142, but
perhaps it was telling that our bowling attack also made up the top five of our
batting line up. Mark Woodley went for 2 with the score on 8, and soon things
got messy as we lost three wickets with the score at 14, including Garry for 4.
Bradfield’s keeper Ian Bliss had snaffled up edges to dismiss our top
three batsmen. Mark Whitelock and David Bardwell briefly raised hopes of a
revival, but David’s dismissal for 13, leaving us 31 for 5 wiped away any
realistic chance of a comeback, and we were soon battling just to reach 50.
We did at least manage that, but got only to 57 before the end came,
which left us to pack up and trudge off to the pub for the final time this
season. So the abiding memory of 2008 was overwhelmingly, the
weather, but in between there was some good cricket to remember, in particular
Mike and Garry’s centuries, and not forgetting Kamrans.
Although Garry easily topped
the run scoring list this season (542 at 60.22) Mark Whitelock ended the season
with 250 runs and would have averaged 50 with one more not out.
Statistically Kamran had the highest batting average (92.33 – out just
three times in six innings), while Mike’s unbeaten 130 at Brtadfield earned
him an average of 46. Bowling wise,
Mark Woodley was the leading wicket taker with 18 wickets, while the fielding
stats were noteworthy for the 13 run outs we managed during the season, which
itself was quite an impressive statistic. Player wise we were short in a couple of areas this year, but on the plus side Mark Whitelock scored some vital runs in the middle order and Huw Thomas joined us, taking some important catches, nipping in with some vital wickets and sharing in a couple of important partnerships. As for 2009, well the countdown starts now, with net sessions about to start in a week or two. Beyond that I’m making no predictions but I would really, really like some warm sunshine! Jeremy Ogden February 2009
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Last updated 15 March 2009.
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