Satrurday May 30th 2009

After last week's humiliation I was determined to show no favours today. Kenya have a fairly good bowling attack, but are probably a little weak in their batting line-up. I felt that putting our strongest batsmen in first, and building a good total, should completely demoralise them. Winning the toss was the start of my game-plan, which I duly did, and elected to bat first.

The sun was beating down from a clear blue sky at The Oval as Christopher and I made our way to the wicket.

We shared an opening stand of 69 before Christopher was run out: 69-1.

My 50 came and went, before Ad nicked a cut to the keeper: 93-2.

Mincat was run out: 103-3.

ILTV was bowled: 120-4.

Richard was caught in the slips: 133-5.

Carol was also caught: 151-6.

I was getting a little concerned that I was running out of partners, and was having to do a lot of work in very hot conditions (Christopher was the only other batsman to score in double figures) - still, eventually my century arrived.Ivy was then caught in the slips: 160-7.

Rob was adjudged LBW on his first ball: 160-8.

A tired shot saw me bowled: 160-9.

Our tail wagged a bit before Vicus was caught and bowled: 171-10.

I am afraid I failed to photograph the relevant page of the scorebook. It showed:

Christopher: 18
Dave: 101
Ad: 6
Mincat: 8
ILTV: 5
Richard: 7
Carol: 6
Ivy: 4
Rob: 0
Phil: 6 not out
Vicus: 5

As we tucked into our clotted cream tea we felt we had set a sufficiently daunting target.

This soon became obvious - Christopher took a wicket in the first over: 1-1.

I took one in the second over: 1-2.

Vicus got one in the next over: 5-3.

And Phil took two in his first over: 6-5.

I came back on and took 4 wickets, giving me a five-fer to add to my century: 6-9.

Rob knocked over the last wicket, with an edge to a diving Richard: 6-10.
We move back to second place in the league, with a vastly superior net run rate to everyone else. This will be important, for next week we play New Zealand, away. If we win, that run rate should put us top of the league table.

Saturday May 23rd

I must admit that I rather expected today's game would not stretch us, and so I thought I'd shuffle the batting order, to allow our lower order players a chance to bat higher up - and I also thought I'd let everyone have a bowl. This may have been a mistake.

Bangladesh won the toss, and elected to bat.

Carol took the first wicket: 17-1.

ILTV made the next breakthrough, Ad holding a sharp catch in the slips: 30-2.

Phil got a clean bowled: 45-3.

Vicus' pace removed an off stump: 48-4.

Ivy held a catch off Phil's bowling: 69-5.

Phil managed to knock another stump over: 69-6.

I achieved a hat-trick (in my third maiden over): 77-9.

Rob finished their innings, with a ball clipped to Richard: 78-10.Tea was some kind of curry. This may have had an effect on our side's desire to get back into the pavillion as quickly as possible.

Ivy was our first player to be run out, going for a second run: 1-1.

Ad and Richard responded with three sixes, before Ad was bowled: 22-2.

Richard was caught by their keeper: 34-3.

Phil was caught, trying to hit a six: 36-4.

Vicus was run out: 44-5.

We needed just 35 more runs, but had lost half our wickets. Still, we had our main batsmen left, so no-one was unduly worried.

Rob was clean bowled: 45-6.

So was Christopher: 54-7.

Carol was run out, and we were in deep trouble: 59-8.

Which worsened when I was caught-and-bowled: 63-9.

I'm afraid Mincat threw her wicket away, going for a suicidal single: 65-10.
As a result of this loss we have slipped to third place in the league.Next week we play Kenya. I will treat them with due respect.

Saturday May 16th

We played this match in Manchester, so that Kaz could come and cheer. The West Indies won the toss, and elected to bat.

The first wicket fell to Christopher, who bowled his man around his legs: 11-1.

Phil managed the next breakthrough, with Ad holding onto a sharp catch in the slips: 32-2.

Ivy held onto a drive off Christopher's bowling: 42-3.

With his next ball, Christopher held a catch himself: 42-4.

Lara then set about our bowling - he took 19 runs off my first over, as they tried to push the run rate up.

Rob held onto a drive from one of Vicus' balls: 82-5.

I got Lara with my next over - caught by Carol: 84-6.

I achieved a clean bowled in my next over: 86-7.

Rob's pacey ball took out the middle stump: 92-8.

And another: 94-9.

And finished the innings: 94-10.Tea was a traditional dish of Lancashire hotpot and chips, followed by Eccles cakes, Manchester Tart and some parkin with a slice of Lancashire cheese. Gosh, the catering quality has gone up since Z took over.

The target looked easily achievable, and we set off briskly, until Mincat was caught: 15-1.

I had pushed Ad up to number 3, as I haven't done much in the last two innings, he and Christopher continued the attack, until Christopher was caught: 26-2.

Ad was striking the ball nicely, but eventually edged to the keeper: 40-3.

ILTV was caught and bowled, and suddenly things were looking a little shaky: 43-4.

Richard and I steadied the ship, until he was caught and bowled: 78-5.

I persuaded Carol to take some deep breaths, and play steadily, and between us we saw the side home: 95-5.As you can see from the league table we're still second, with New Zealand leading by virtue of their extra game played.Next week we're away in Bangladesh.

Saturday May 9th 2009

We flew into Sydney Airport with just five minutes to spare before the start of the match. Using Gardner Airlines may have been economical (and exciting) but not, perhaps, the speediest option.

I won the toss and elected to bat - setting a large target, which the opposition struggle to reach (and, incidentally, giving every player in our side a chance to bat) seems to have worked so far.

Mincat was caught and bowled when the score had reached 27-1.

Christopher was caught by their keeper: 36-2.

I brought Ad in higher up the order, as I know he's been working hard in the nets.

Annoyingly, I played a shot from Worde onto my pads, from where it gently rolled into my stumps: 45-3.

Carol was caught in the slips: 57-4.

Ad and ILTV took us past 100, Ad finally being caught just short of a maiden half-century: 106-5.

ILTV was run out: 121-6.

Ivy was caught and bowled by Worde: 154-7.

Rob was bowled: 155-8.

As was Phil: 158-9.

And Vicus: 163-10.Tea was a jolly affair, gathered round the glowing barbie. The taste of burnt plastic did, though, rather spoil the taste of the prawns.

After our return to the field, Vicus made a quick breakthrough with an LBW: 4-1.

Unfortunately this brought Ponting in - a player we have found it hard to dislodge in the past.

We did, however, manage to contain them to 2 or 3 an over - well below the rate they needed - until eventually they had to go for big shots - and Christopher was rewarded with a catch by Mincat: 47-2.

In his next over he tempted Ponting to do the same thing: 56-3.

Vicus was hit for three consecutive boundaries, before one fell slightly short and I was able to hang onto it: 80-4.

In his next over Rob tempted another drive to Mincat: 84-5.

And another to ILTV: 90-6.

With my final ball I got my revenge, clean bowling Worde: 94-7.

The final over of the match, from Christopher, saw just one run, and so they finished on 95-7. We win again.

Sadly I failed to photograph the scorebook before we left Australia. I can however confirm that our bowling figures were Vicus: 6 overs, 2 wickets for 41 runs, Rob: 6-2-14, Christopher: 5-2-9, me: 5-1-22, Ad: 2-0-9.

Mincat took 3 catches, and ILTV and I one each.

As the league table shows, New Zealand are going to be the team to beat.
Next week we're home against the West Indies.

Saturday May 2nd 2009

I won the toss, and decided we'd bat first against an Indian attack noted for early pace, and cunning spin later.

Sadly, the early pace bit threw Christopher, who was given out LBW before he'd had time to get his eye in. 4-1.

Mincat and I seemed set and confident - until she ran me out: 25-2.

Mincat and Carol attacked the bowling successfully - until, that is, Carol was bowled: 53-3.

ILTV was also bowled: 87-4.

As their spin bowling didn't look that threatening, I decided to promote Ad up the order, to see if the time he's put in the nets had worked - it certainly had, as he scored a brisk 27 before being given out LBW: 121-5.

After a good, steady innings, building up 43 runs, Mincat was run out: 144-6.

Ivy was bowled: 153-7.

As was Rob: 161-8.

And Richard: 161-9. Those spinners were harder to read than it had appeared.

Vicus was dropped off the second ball he faced, and bowled by the next: 161-10.
Tea was gratefully taken, the lumps of ice in the incompletely-thawed pork pies helping to cool the blood.

We took to the field with a smaller target to defend than last week, but still something that seemed achievable, although heads started to drop after their opening batsmen attacked our pace bowlers from the start. Fortunately we are not a one-dimensional side* and some tight spin bowling from Phil slowed the run-rate, and took the first wicket too: 17-1.

After 15 overs they had reached 38-1, well behind the run-rate, but with enough wickets in hand to afford to be flamboyant. They did indeed start to strike out - but balls flying in the air also meant catching chances. Our pre-match fielding practice paid dividends - and in particular our lady members, embarrassed about last week's dropped chances, did well, each of them holding a catch.

ILTV was first, holding a difficult chance off Christopher's final over: 58-2.

Annoyingly, Vicus dropped a catch off my bowling. We did appreciate that it cannot be easy for a centenarian to react with the pace of youth.

Mincat, who was having a great match (apart from the little matter of having run her skipper out) took a one-handed catch off Rob's bowling: 79-3.

Carol held onto a ball that I'd bowled: 82-4.

As did Ivy: 87-5.

We got through our 30 overs with the score on 90-5, and so we won again.
As the table shows, we are now second in the league, with a match in hand over the leaders.
*We are a two-dimensional side. Literally.