Crossbats v Rainmen

Venue - Hampton Wick

A blustery but sunny day was the flavour of the weather for Crossbats encounter with the Rainmen.
Being a long weekend, Crossbats were sporting a couple of new faces to help with the numbers and once all introductions were taken care of it was time for the toss.

Dunbar, with a firm game plan in mind, won the toss and immediately elected to bat.
In this, the second timed game of the season, Crossbats were looking to dominate and improve on their previous timed game record thus far.

The responsibilty was handed to Winch and Nichols, who both looked positive from the outset. But it wasn't too long before things started to wobble. Winch was first to go, playing on to his stumps, shortly followed by Nichols who was bowled.

Wright and Carter began to build a partnership, with Carter extremely lucky to survive after the simplist of catches was grassed by the opposition feilder.

Unfortunately for Wright, Dunbar had relieved Reeve of scoring duties and sent him in to umpire. Cockeyed and not sure what to do, Reeve was asked the question by the oppostion bowler after Wright's pads were rapped well outside the leg stump - Reeve slowly raised his finger, having seen umpires on the TV do the same, and sealed Wrights fate, who had looked comfortable compiling his 13.

Dunbar's stay at the crease was short and painful, not being able to put bat on ball against the spin, he was soon dismissed for 4.

Van Vuuren looked in good touch from the outset, hitting strongly over the top and he and Carter began to make a stand.

Carter had played a fine innings and having seen his way to fifty, he was looking increasingly settled before suffering a brain freeze and being stumped for a solid 51.

Van Vuuren's penchant for hitting finally saw him perish as the bowler was able to get one past the bat and into the stumps, not beforehe had added a valuable 19.

Surprise package and new face Ross was in the mood for runs and saved Crossbats from a low total as he caressed the ball to various parts of the ground. He was assisted at first by Van Vuuren, then by Spiro and lastly by the second new face White and finished his innings 33 not out and helped the Crossbats to a defendable 161/7 declared.

Tea bought it's usual discussion of the night before, the night ahead and murmers of the Italian tour on the horizon.

Fed and watered, the crossbats returned to the pitch looking to seal their fourth victory of the season. Dunbar and Reeve started proceedings andit wasn't long before wicket machine Reeve broke through, going strait past the defences of the opening batsmen. However, If Crossbats thought this was going to be a cake walk, they were wrong.

As the new batsmen found his feet and crossbats couldn't find the edge, the Rainmen pair began reeling in the target. At 75/1 and more than 20 oversremaining, Dunbar was concerned and consulted the brains trust on various tactics. It was decided to hunker down, tighten up and starve these batsmen of runs and hope that a cheap wicket could be brought in the process.
And it came almost immediatley when Jones had the batsmen edging into the gully where a 'safe' Alistair Wright claimed the catch.

Chances were coming but the ball wasn't sticking as a number of other opportunities went to ground, which may have proved the difference. Jones, Reeve and Van Vuuren were all in the wickets but Crossbats were running out of time.

Meanwhile, during a spell of bowling from Dunbar, wicketkeeper Malcolm Spiro was struck by the ball and proceeded to make a song and dance about it,which was ignored by the majority of the crossbats.....until such time as an enourmous egg appeared on his right forearm, giving some cause for concern -

With the most important part of his running style damaged and feeling somewhat wousy, Spiro left the feild to seek medical attention or any kind of attention that was available.
Crossbats toiled hard and must have beat the batsmens edge over 20 times, with no result.
With the match drawing to a close, Dunbar had one final plan - bring on Wright for the last over and hit them with geniune hand grenade bowling.

The equation, 2 wickets.

3rd ball in and Wright struck. Enticing the batsmen to have a go, he found the edge and it was claimed by Winch. 1 wicket required, 3 balls remaining.

Crossbats gathered near the bat and began to chirp a little - 4th ball defended......2 to come. Wright delivered the penultimate delivery and it seemed the wicket was on as the batsmens eyes lit up and he had an almighty swing ............ but it missed everything and with the final ball defended the game ended in a draw.

Man of the match honours go to Carter for his 51, but notable mentions must go to Van Vuuren, Reeve, Jones and Ross for their contributions.Thanks also to Lee White for for a good effort on short notice.

Though the match was drawn, the feeling was good and after a few beers with the opposition at the club, the bulk of crossbats headed to what could be the new local, The Swan, in Hampton Wick. The evening went on into the wee hours, with Spiro nursing his arm, healthy competition at the dart board and a lot of talk about nothing inparticular.

SCORECARD

Crossbats vs Morden

Venue – Raynes Park

In contrasting conditions from last week, Crossbats convened at Raynes Park with dark clouds, cool conditions and drizzly rain overhead.

With play in the first test at Lords abandoned due the above mentioned conditions, the Crossbats players may have been forgiven for Considering the same fate here – However, Captain Dunbar had other ideas and was fast summing up conditions and cooking up a plan.

The two captains met in the middle for the toss, Crossbats offer of two new balls was declined by the home skipper and when Dunbar won the toss he immediately chose to bowl, wanting use of the shine before it turned to soap.

With all but one of his charges bemused by the decision to bowl, the Crossbats trudged onto the pitch and the new ball was entrusted to Fraser, working in concert with Van Vuuren.

And what a sprightly track it was! The conditions belied the life in this pitch as the ball zipped around at good pace and with some good bounce to boot.

Stocky Moore had only one game plan on his mind – hit out or get out, unfortunately for him it was the latter that had the most impact, with Spiro holding a thick Edge off the accurate Fraser. Low looked to have the crossbats bowler’s measure and was of genuine concern to the captain. With the ball doing enough and the batsmen still looking to play their shots, Dunbar set a trap, moving his fine leg into a fly slip position at both ends of the Ground.

And just when he thought his grand plan might be becoming pointless, the danger man Low went at one from Fraser catching a big edge down to Van Vuuren In the fly slip position, who to the jubilation of the captain, made no mistake.

Both Fraser and Van Vuuren continued to suffocate the batsmen and had them trickling along at 2.5 an over. Van Vuuren was unlucky not to get a wicket But created immense pressure to finish with tidy figures of 7 overs, no wicket for 15. Both the opening pair bowled through with Fraser the beneficiary of two wickets and Very healthy figures of 7 overs, 2/16.

1st change was Bob Jones and joined at the other end by leading wicket taker Simon Reeve.

And it wasn’t long before Reeve began hauling in the wickets – With the batsmen under increasing pressure to get on with it, they began taking some chances and Those chances were going to hand and staying in hand. Reeves first wicket came by virtue of Dunbar poaching a catch from Carter, shortly followed up by Reeve slipping One through the batsmen to claim his second in as many minutes. Jones, not wanting to be outdone was rewarded when new keeper Spiro held a pearler behind the stumps To send this Morden side into disarray at 42/5.

Reeve struck again, enticing the batsmen to have a go, only to find Dunbar at mid on. Then, in what was a shambolic moment, Reeve again looked to have picked up a wicket when a huge LBW shout went up – the batsmen was fixated on the umpire and didn’t realise he was standing out of his crease – Van Vuuren realised, swooping on the static ball and firing it in, hitting the stumps – either way, the batsmen was out, but unfortunately for Reeve, it goes down as a Run Out and a good piece of work by Van Vuuren.

Reeve did claim his fourth moments later when the batsmen lifted one to a waiting Van Vuuren and it was all but over for Morden. Jones bowling tightly offered the tail end batsmen some flight and not being able to control himself, launched into a shot that found Reeve in the deep, taking a great overhead catch.

The ever patient Fitch was bought on to stop the tail wagging and get the innings over with and he did just that, coaxing the batsmen to again hit over the top, but to his demise as Man of the Match Reeve, calmly waited for the ball to fall into his hands, capping off a great inning for himself, finishing with 4/21 and two good catches and a great inning for Crossbats, bundling Morden out for a mediocre 78.

Hot tea and sandwiches were met by fat blokes unable to control themselves and when sufficiently stuffed, it was Steve Smith and Sean Spurdle to face the Opening onslaught from Morden.

The opening bowlers generated good pace and the ball was again zipping around, but it was the accuracy that proved the problem, leaking wides and byes they could ill afford, giving crossbats a healthy start and putting Morden on the back foot. Smith looked solid in defence and Spurdle aggressive in his strokplay and after 5 overs, the crossbats had raced into the thirty’s.

A change of bowling proved to be a good decision as Smith was removed after some dogged resilience. Wright came to the crease and was immediately off the mark With a well timed tickle off his legs.

Spurdle was next to go, when he was stumped after wandering out of his crease to show boat to the crowd, for a handy 20. Fitch had earned a promotion up the order and was not about to give his wicket away. He and Wright looked to have the bowlers worked out before Wright was dismissed by Sharma, who produced a brilliant catch off his own bowling.

Crossbats middle order had not been performing well of late and this was reiterated by Carter, who was caught shortly after to give Sharma his 4th and Morden a sniff of victory. But the sniff was snuffed out as Fitch and Dunbar, playing some good shots saw the Crossbats home, finishing on 14*(Fitch) and 11*(Dunbar) respectively and Taking Crossbats to a 6 wicket victory and their 3rd of the season.

A thoroughly satisfying result after a few weeks of near misses – Next week it’s the Rainmen at home in Bushey Park.

SCORECARD

Crossbats vs The Bank of England

Venue - The Bank of England, Roehampton

An absolutely glorius day greeted crossbats as the arrived in the picturesque settings of The Bank of England's home patch at Roehampton. Various members of the team had some difficulty locating the grounds and were desperately trying to contact anyone with vehicular access to come to their aid as tempertures soared past 25 degrees.

As anticipated, Dunbar was coerced into a timed match and it was crossbats who were sent in to bat. Spiro, feeling the effects of exhaustion and dehydration was quickly dispatched by the lightning quick opening bowler, claiming he had played the wrong line and had been beaten by a brilliant ball...

Tillson, keen to make ammends for his previous weeks duck went about his business with a purpose, hittingsome solid 4's and 6's to get the run rate ticking over. Wright had joined Tillson after Spiro's demise and looked calm and confident at the crease. The pair began to look in control before Tillson was dismissed for a galant 39.

Wright, joined by Winch, continued to build his innings, picking up singles by dropping the ball into the leg side on at least half a dozen occasions with a view of turning the strike and keeping the run rate moving.

As the runs built, so to did Wrights aggressive approach to the match, becoming ever more expansive, picking off boundaries at will and looking far more like the Alistair Wright of old.
And it appeared to be at his utter surprise when the cheer rose up from the other crossbats members, with Wright having passed fifty.It only took a moment to sink in......Wright, realising this was not a fantastical dream, began to hop and dance around on the spot, raising his bat to an invisible crowd that only he could see.....this was Wrights finest moment for crossbats in some time and he was going to enjoy every bit of it.

Meanwhile, the reliable Winch looked in some discomfort as Wright had been pushing him hard for the quick singles. It wasn't too long before Winch was uncharacteristically bowled and returned to the pavillion having posted his most modest total of the season.

This bought Carter to the crease in the unfamiliar position of number 5. He joined Wright who was looking to get on with things.

Unfortunately, Wright's innings came to a close when he was undone by a slow double bouncer, but his contribution had not gone unoticed and he finished with a valuable 58.

Nichols joined Carter at the crease with instructions from Captain Dunbar to start pushing it along with a view of declaring in another 10-12 overs. Carter, try as he might was unable to get going and thick edged one to a safe pair of hands at deep gully.

Dunbar, armed with the final overs game plan, joined Nichols at the crease. His intent was made clear from ball 1 and Dunbar fancied finishing the innings with a flourish. Nichols however, had other ideas.

Nichols, knowing full well that Dunbar was a chronic strike hog and that he would not likely get to face many balls, thought 'to hell withhim' and started dropping the ball into the off side and took great pleasure in watching the 'burly' Dunbar 'scamper' for unlikely singles......and sure enough, with Dunbar having only posted 4 runs, Nichols cunning plan of attack was bought to fruition as Dunbar was found a yard short of his ground and adjudged run out.

And so the middle order collapse was in full swing once more. Nicholls didn't last much longer, also posting 4. Fraser stuck around for a couple of boundaries before being dismissed for 13 - and When Van Vuuren played a horror shot to be bowled, Dunbar, wanting to keep some pride and dignity intact, made a sporting declaration at 173/9, giving the opposition approximately 45 overs to get the runs.

The Bank of England tea is one of the highlights of the season, with it's sit down service and fine array of cakes, scones and other very English delights.

Full to the gills, the crossbats waddled back to the ground, having been unable to stop themselves from gorging at the interval.

Dunbar and Fraser took the ball after tea and it only took two deliveries before a fired up Dunbar sent the ball crashing into off stump for thefirst breakthrough. And it wasn't long before Fraser joined the party, claiming a wicket of his own, leaving the Bank in a little trouble, with 2 down and not many on the board.

A moment of Winch brilliance saw Dunbar pick up his second, the batsmen edging one past the keeper, only for it to be snaffled, one handed by agile Winch at first slip. Bank, 3/15.

After some further tight bowling, Dunbar and Fraser were replaced by Jones and Reeve respectively, with Reeve having immediate effect, taking thetop of off stump sending the Bank into further trouble. Jones wasn't going to miss out a claimed one for himself moments later, leaving the crossbats feeling excited and the Bank in demise at 49/5.

Somewhere from this point onwards, the game changed and no matter what the crossbats did, they could not breakthrough.

There were some strange moments to boot, with Spiro, still feeling the effects of his long walk from Barnes Station, constantly changingsides of the field, mid over, his only explanation being his self induced confusion with the game of cricket!

With the batsmen beginning to dominate it was Reeve who finally made the much needed breakthrough, enticing the young batsmen to hit on the up, but he found the safe hands of Van Vuuren at mid off and gave crossbats the renewed hope of victory.

A wylie old fox joined the existing slugger at the crease and the pair began to dominate once more. Dunbar, feeling compelled to offer his team something further, bought himself back on for a second spell. First ball into the wylie old fox was a full bunger, about waist high that had the old fella skipping and cursing a bit. Second ball compounded the batsmens frustration, when Dunbar again delivered a full bunger, this time hitting the right wrist of the batsmen, sending him into a fury and with apologies not forthcoming, the atmosphere was icy......

The Old fox however had a cunning game plan and with a fired up Dunbar not quite finding his spot, the fox dabbed at the ball and it turned outhe had a better edge than U2 and was picking up streaky boundaries at will and was very chirpy in letting Dunbar know about it.

As Dunbar lost all control and wanted to bowl beamers at kenny rogers, he had the presence of mind to drag himself, but the damage was done.

Van Vuuren, who had patiently waited all day for a bowl, came on and had immediate affect, picking up the big hitting batsmen at the otherend. But it was to little to late and as the sun set over Roehampton, it also set on any chance of a crossbats victory. With the last rights read, the game was completed and crossbats suffered their second loss of the season by 3 wickets.

Although they had been beaten, spirits were still up and it was a few beers with the oppo, with all shenanigans forgotten, then off to thepub where various points of view on the match were discussed. Curry was on the menu and as the lads made their way to the local establishment, it all became too much for captain Dunbar, who stealthly made his way to a cab, unable to digest any more theories on where it all went so wrong, let alone a vindaloo!

Next week, it's the return fixture with Morden and crossbats will be looking to get back to winning ways.

SCORECARD

Crossbats vs The Blues

Venue – Hampton Wick

Fine weather greeted Crossbats as they arrived at Hampton Wick for their match against The Blues. Some early season player numbers were a concern for The Blues as they could only manage to rally 7 troops for the encounter. Dunbar, being a very generous and understanding captain, discussed various options with The Blues captain, to ensure a fair match was had by all. With the toss again lost by Dunbar, it was The Blues who padded up.

The first breakthrough came early when Gumbley found the edge and it was safely pouched by stand in keeper, Tillson. The next breakthrough was some distance off and The Blues made use of a spongy pitch that offered little for the bowler, scoring runswith gay abandon. The partnership was finally broken when Reeve got one to leap up off the deck, surprising the batsmen who gloved it through to Tillson.

The Blues had some hitters and they were scoring plenty of runs, but it was only a matter of time before they holed out. And it was Smith who created the next wicket, enticing the batsmen to hit big – but he did not get all of it and Dunbar safely claimed the catch on the boundary.

Next it was Jones, frustrating his opponent into also hitting big and he too found the safe hands of Dunbar just inside the boundary rope.Jones claimed his second moment’s later going right through the batsmen and then Dunbar chimed in with one for himself. A stodgy last wicket partnership saw The Blues through to about 183 – Unfortunately the Blues players are not schooled in the art of scoring – a lot of dots and dashes that Closely resembled hieroglyphics made up the scorecard. The score board said 170, the scorebook transcripted into 183, so the only fair thing the Blues captain could do was take the 183…………..

It must be said that the Blues may well have scored a lot more runs had it not been for the athleticism of Crossbats Man of the Match, Alistair Wright, throwing himself around like a teenager, sprinting to save the single or the boundary, setting a perfect example to his team-mates, because as they say, every run counts, whether it’s off your Bat or the ones you save in the field….

Chasing 184 for victory, keeper batsmen Tillson made his first appearance with the bat for the season and his first appearance on the duck list when he was Bowled for nought. Wright was next and he soon settled into his work. Running two’s and hitting boundary’s was on the menu and he, together with Winch, put on 49 before Wright Perished to his signature dismissal shot, the flat bat crossbat to a crossbat, filling in the field for the Blues.

Carter, looking to improve on last week started solidly, but it was not long before he was undone, dragging the ball back onto his stumps.

3/89 Amongst the commotion, Winch passed fifty, trying desperately to make up for last weeks match losing performance… Dunbar came to the crease and was very lucky not to be back in the hut with a pair after the easiest of catches was grassed in the outfield – After a stern talking to from Winch, Dunbar knuckled down as best he could, until second ball after drinks, also playing his signature dismissal stroke, the ‘very average cut shot’, was caught in the gully.

At 108/4 Crossbats were still in the hunt and Van vuuren look in good attacking form, scoring boundaries and running hard. The pair added 40 before Van vuuren was caught at mid off. Smith was next in and added 7 before he too was caught.

Things were getting tense, 171/6 with 2 overs remaining…13 for victory, but not to worry, Winch was still there on 92 and nothing was going to stop him taking crossbats to victory…………….Alas, the muppet threw his wicket away once more……..I must commend him on his 92, otherwise we wouldn’t have got anywhere near the total, but again Winch left his Team stranded, still requiring 13.
With one over to play crossbats had narrowed the victory margin to 9. Reeve relieved some pressure with a boundary off the first ball of the last over…….5 from 5 Another 2 to Reeve off the next ball made it 3 from 4 and all seemed well….. Dot ball – 3 from 3 A quick single, 2 from 2 Bob, feeling the pressure, came down the wicket to the next ball and swoosh!.........2 from 1 Last ball, all was tense and what a circus!

Ball bowled, Bob has a swing and a miss, Lips is bolting down the pitch, Bob is standing his ground, Crossbats Are screaming from the boundary for Bob to run, Lips gets to Bob, they have a quick conversation and he turns and sprints for home, the opposition fumble the ball and
When they finally gather they can only manage to fire it in, hitting their bowler square in the middle of his head…….What we all failed to notice, including Lips, was that our Helpful South African umpire had called a wide! Scores were tied and there was still a ball to go!!!!! This should seal it, no problem…..But the pressure was too much for Jones who again had a swing and a miss and Reeve, doing his best was run out by the keeper, leaving the game a tie.

When all is said and done, it was a fair result for a good day’s cricket – Next week it’s the Bank of England at Barnes, which should be a cracker!

SCORECARD