Defeat

Many thanks to Neil Morley for the following report from last night's clash between North West Water and teh Woodburners at Whittington. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the match, but it sounds like it was another nail biter.

Wednesday July 8, 2009: the day cricket lovers all over the world had been waiting for with bated breath. The day that two legendary adversaries came head-to-head once more.

At last the hype, speculation, wall-to-wall media coverage and nervous anticipation was over, and the battle between these cricketing giants could commence.

Yes, NWW were taking on the Woodburners.Whittington was bathed in sunshine: a far cry from the last time the two teams met at this venue, when mud was the dominant theme.

Bowlers, backed by good fielding on both sides, were on top in a low-scoring game. The variable bounce made for tricky batting.NWW won the toss and put the Woodburners in. Five of the visitors had played the previous night, in a narrow defeat by BT. Skipper Hugh Curteis was absent.

Alan Bothwell and Neil Morley put on 17 for the first wicket, before the latter gloved a rising ball from G.Jones and was caught behind in the fifth over.

Hal Harries and Bothwell then added 25 for the second wicket, including a six by each batsman off H.Jones.

Youngster R.Jones (NWW's man-of-the-match: 28 and 2-1) then bowled Bothwell (Woodburners' man-of-the-match: 17 and 2-5).

Harries was run out (excellent fielding) shortly afterwards for 18, and when skipper Alec White was also bowled by R.Jones for 2, Woodburners were struggling at 49-4.

Phil Edwards and Rob Birkett saw the visitors through to the close without further mishap, but sharp bowling and good ground fielding kept a tight grip on the scoring rate, and in the eight overs they were together the fifth wicket pair were only able to add another 33 runs, resulting in a final score of 82 for 4 after 20 overs.

The visitors felt they were at least 20 runs short of a competitive target, but their spirits quickly soared when Bothwell dismissed both openers, left-handers B.Cole and G.Cole, in the very first over, Phil Edwards taking both catches.

Dave Ryder and M. Daulby then attempted to steady the ship until Daulby, who was threatening to cut loose, was caught off the leg-spin of guest 11th man (thanks, NWW) Dominic Powell.

R. Jones joined Ryder at the crease, and played the innings of the match, pulling and driving with power and authority, after a careful start. But the required run rate had started to creep up: after 11 overs, only 21 runs were on the board.

Two fours by Jones off Phil Edwards' first over kept the target in reach, but by the time he was caught behind off Graham Stroud for 28, 25 were needed off the last three overs.

I. LLoyd was caught by Morley off Hal Harries for a duck, bringing skipper Justin Evans to the crease. He struck some hefty blows, so that by the start of the last over, 13 were needed for victory.

But despite his best efforts, and those of the steady Dave Ryder, who had been in since the first over, NWW just fell short on 76-4, losing by six wickets.

A close match, played in a good spirit, followed by quality chip butties. What's not to like?

We won!

Well, we finally got our season under way with a hard fought victory in a close encounter with a new side – the Ellises.

Our victory was largely down to two fine individual performances, one from the increasingly important Rory Jones and the other from skipper Justin Evans, whose three wickets late on turned the game decisively in our favour.

We batted first, having only managed to assemble a team of ten and I was an unwilling starter having come down with a nasty dose of man flu (and of course I was feeling very sorry for myself, snorting and sniffing my way through our warm up.

Anyway, we got off to a decent start through Mike Stokes and Geraint Jones, before Rory, who had suffered a blow to the head during a school match earlier in the day, went in at number four with Steve Daulby. Steve rattled his way to 15 with a succession of boundaries before losing his wicket.

I then joined Rory, who was playing well against a real mixed bag of bowlers. Although I was still feeling sorry for myself, I made 14 before attempting a suicidal second and running myself out for the second time this year. The score was around 90 at that stage with around three overs to go and, thanks to fine attacking shots from Rory, we ended our innings on 123 with Rory going for 40 off the final ball of the innings. That gave us our largest total of the season and definitely something to bowl out.

I opened the bowling with Huw and, after a decent first over, I had a horrible second (going for 10, I think). Fortunately, Huw was more successful taking a wicket in each of his two overs as we started to put pressure on our opponents.

Jimal then produced a fine spell and, along with his brother, Liam, who turned out at very short notice, we made sure were still very much in the game at the half way point. However, we were having difficulty with one of their batsmen, who escaped three difficult catches and while he was at the crease, they always looked favourites.

Thankfully, Justin – who had been keeping wicket – stepped up to remove him, quickly followed by two more wickets to give us victory by 10 runs.

It was a great win – hopefully to be followed by a few more....

Gardening or cricket... that's the question

Well, our scheduled match against JT Hughes at Whittington on Wednesday failed to materialise after the opposition failed to raise a side.

So we decided instead to organise a practice match involving as many of our own players as possible. In the event, 10 of us turned up and we enjoyed a decent night's cricket.

There was, however, one very notable absentee: Steve Daulby, who chose to garden - that's right, garden - rather than play cricket. Now I'm all for gardening, it's almost certainly the new rock and roll, but in a choice between cricket and gardening there can only ever be one winner. And it's definitely not gardening.

Thankfully I'm not North West Water's skipper, but I'm sure Justin will want to sit down with Mr Daulby and have a serious chat about his commitment to the sport. If you think Andrew Symmonds has problems...

Anyway, as for the game itself, we batted in pairs for eight overs. Top score when to father and son duo Huw and Rory Jones, with Rory displaying some very imaginative shots in a swashbuckling performance. They waltzed their way to a total of 60, beating mine and Dave Ryder's 57, the next best score. As you can imagine, any partnership that involves me is somewhat more sedate, but Dave showed a more flamboyant side to his batting, unleashing a series of fine straight drives.

Other highlights included Brian Cole's return - and a fine spell as wicketkeeper which resulted in half a dozen stumpings courtesy of Dale Penrose's willingness to charge down the wicket. Justin batted with his usual aggression and struck some meaty blows in his innings, while I committed the cardinal sin, dropping a sitter after Geraint Jones - who bowled very impressively - failed to connect properly with one of his brother's rapid deliveries.

Speaking of Rory, I faced him during my innings and I can confirm that he's developing into a very nippy bowler indeed; it bodes well for the future of North West Water.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and useful evening. It's just a shame Mr Daulby couldn't join us...

And it's off

Disappointingly, our fixture against Cae Glas fell victim to the rubbish weather we've been 'enjoying' for the last couple of weeks.

And even more disappointingly, I didn't get the message - and proceeded to spend half an hour sat outside Whittington Cricket Club wondering where on earth everyone had got to. Still, it might yet turn out to be my most consistent performance of the season...

Hopefully the weather will improve in time for our fixture at Acton Reynolds - scene of Rory Jones' memorable hat-trick last season - next Thursday. I'll keep you posted.

The curse of BT

I used to play for BT in my (much) younger days. They're a good side and, since I've been playing for North West Water, I can count the number of times we've beaten them on one hand.

It was with some trepidation then that I approached last night's encounter at Oswestry School, my first outing of the season. My worries were well-founded, we ended up being beaten comfortably despite getting into a very good position half way through their innings.

Again we fielded a slightly weaker side than usual - Gareth and Brian Cole, Carl Dulson and Huw and Geraint Jones - were all unavailable, which meant our task was that much harder.

I have to say that I was pretty nervous before the game. I blame my brother. A couple of weeks ago we had a conversation about how sensible it is to keep taking part in team sports as you get older. Basically, my brother Baz - who plays football not cricket, by the way - was saying he was worried he had lost his pace. I know the feeling; as I said in my final blog of last season, it's not much fun struggling to find any kind of form and it does make you wonder if you've lost whatever scrap of ability you once had. So when the first ball of my spell disappeared back over my head - landing just short of a six - I almost retired on the spot. More of that later...

Back to the game, we won the toss and batted first with the ever-elegant Dave Ryder and rising star Rory Jones starting strongly. They added 30-odd for the first wicket at a decent pace before Rory departed and our collapse started.

First Mike Stokes and then a helmeted Steve Daulby were dismissed, before skipper Justin Evans attempted to steady the ship with some powerful strokes. Unfortunately his time at the crease was cut short and I arrived at the wicket with Dave still holding the innings together.

Dave was the next man out, our eagerness to take quick singles leaving him stranded in the middle of the pitch, as I went on to notch up 11 before attempting one quick single too many and finding myself a few yards short. To be honest, I felt pretty good at the crease - better than I had done for some time - and, if I could just work out to score off my legs, I might have made a useful contribution.

By this point, Jamal Penrose and Dave's son Dominic were at the wicket and we limped on, edging towards 80 before Jamal was out and Ian Lloyd - a late arrival due to confusion over dates - arrived and took us to 83 before being caught out with the last ball of the innings.

That total didn't look like being enough, especially when I opened the bowling and my first delivery was smashed to long on. However, I managed to redeem myself by bowling four dot balls before having Phil James caught by Jamal at square leg. As if by magic, all thoughts about retirement disappeared, even if it wasn't the greatest dismissal of my career.

Ian took the new ball at the other end and bowled their other opener with his first delivery. It was a great start and we suddenly sniffed a chance. I bowled another couple of overs - ending with figures of 1-11 - while Ian was even more miserly at the other end.

When Steve picked up a third wicket leg before - beating their man for pace - we were looking good. After 10 overs, they were 35-odd for three and we were in a promising position. Steve was bowling as well as he has done for some time - he's quick and, being left handed, he causes problems for most batsmen.

Justin was unlucky not to pick up a wicket with his teasing leg spin, but BT consolidated through brothers Ant and Gareth James, before the latter unleashed a flurry of boundaries to take his side to victory with three overs to spare.

It was a desperately disappointing end to the match for us. We'd done well for so much of the game but our total was again a little bit below a decent score and, to be fair to BT, they paced their innings just right.

So it's on to the next game - Cae Glas at our home ground, Whittington, next Wednesday. Hopefully our fortunes will take a turn for the better.

Legal action?

The latest correspondence from Neil Morley concerning the Woodburners' fortunate victory over North West Water at Whittington on Wednesday.

Mr Wright:

My solicitors advise me that, bearing in mind the Cutting And Pasting On To Blogs Without Permission Act, an out-of-court settlement of, say, 10k, should embarrassing legal proceedings no longer necessary.

Actually, we were very very lucky to get a game. It was rain-free during play, but it was cloudy and threatening. We cut it down to ten 8-ball overs, which proved to be a good decision.

Modesty forbids me to mention the part played by a elderly gent of this parish in a 41-run, (all-run, boundary free) opening stand by the Woodgeezers. But what the hell, I'll mention it anyway.

Cheers, Neil

A sorry and soggy end to the season

I missed last night's game between North West Water and The Woodburners at Whittinghton - our final fixture of the season - due to being stuck in a queue of traffic on the M6 at Birmingham.

However, my former colleague Neil Morley - a Woodburners' stalwart - helpfully sent in this summary of proceedings. I can only assume he's being sarcastic when he refers to me as 'star all-rounder'. Regular readers of this blog will recognise this as a blatant misrepresentation of my lack of talent.

It sounds like it was a fitting end to a season that has been disrupted by bad weather throughout. Our form fell away as the season went on - probably due to the frequent postponements - and we also lost last week in the 17th over to our other arch-rivals, The Orhtopaedic last week. Still, we do have a 40 over game pencilled in for the 7th of September. Things can only get better!

Anyway, here's Neil's match report:

Fuming NWW cricketers blamed their star all-rounder Martin 'Wrighty' Wright for their latest devastating defeat against arch-rivals the Woodburners.

''If only Wrighty had turned up, we might have lost by a run or two less,'' said a rueful NWW spokesman after last night's Whittington debacle.

Gleeful Woodburners took full advantage of the absence of NWW's much-vaunted iconic talisman, romping home by the huge margin of a few runs, on a pitch that was later described as 'a trifle muddy'.

...but seriously, shame you weren't there, we were two short as well. It was a good see-sawing game on a surreal strip (I went a**e-over-tit the first time I ran).

A thrilling victory

Picture the scene: we're almost down and out. Cae Glas Ladies, thanks to an onslaught by somebody looking suspiciously like a man, are ten runs from victory with 14 balls remaining. Surely there's no way back. Is there? Just like Mr Stallone in the Rocky movies, there was.

Step forward our heroes, Rory Jones and Dave Ryder, with honourable mentions to Geraint Jones, Rory's elder brother, Matt Daulby, and our stand-in wicket keeper (again) Brian Cole. Thanks to this quintet, we somehow snatched victory - by five runs.

After batting first, we struggled to 83 all out. That represented something of a recovery after we had been reduced to 2-2 off four overs, then 20-odd for four. Only a handful of our batters made double figures - Dave Ryder, Mike Stokes and Steve Daulby, I think - and we were probably 20 runs short of a good score on another flat Whittington pitch.

Our innings certainly didn't lack drama, though, and one fielder needed the first aid kit for a split finger after one diving stop, while Huw Jones gloved a ball on to his own face.

I went in at number seven or eight and ended not out on two or three, Jamal being the last man to fall LBW in the final over. Jamal's innings was notable for the fact that it was the first time I had seen one of our adult players wearing a helmet. I think he'd seen the Huw incident and decided he didn't fancy a trip to the dentist.

Anyway, our reply started well even if we didn't take wickets. I was grateful to Brian's agility behind the stumps as I struggled to find a decent line opening the bowling, but I didn't go for many runs and even induced a couple of edges that almost carried.

Mike Stokes produced a miserly spell, and after 10 overs, Cae Glas had only made 33. It was the skipper Justin Evans (who's asked me to point out there's a lot more to him than a pair of expensive Puma pads) who made the breakthrough, bowling their Kiwi opener (another male) with his increasingly effective leg spin.

However, their number three (another male) was an accomplished player, who proceeded to play with a great deal of authority. Our total looked worryingly low.

We took a couple more wickets - courtesy of Steve Daulbly, who also opted to bowl slow left arm rather than his usual pace - to leave Cae Glas with 14 balls to make 10 runs, with seven wickets in hand.

And that's when it all happened. Rory bowled the penultimate over, removing the number three courtesy of a smart catch by Matt Daulby. Two balls later there was a run out - courtesy of a brilliant throw by Matt and smart work by Brian to whip the bails off - followed by another wicket for Rory, this time clean bowling the hapless batswoman.

This left the game poised on a knife edge going into the final over. Dave Ryder was bowling with Cae Glas now needing six to win. His first ball produced a wicket, clean bowled. Crucially, it was also a dot ball. Next up, a dot ball, followed by a scrambled single. Then another run out - this time Geraint Jones throwing down the stumps from eight or nine yards. It's a good job his throw hit - they probably would have won it off the overthrows, the ball was travelling so quickly.

Another dot and a run out off the final ball - this time courtesy of Brian behind the stumps - saw us to victory. With hindsight it was an enjoyable. At the time, things were pretty tense, particularly after I managed a couple of inexcusable misfields. I'm just glad they didn't cost us victory...

A humbling defeat

Well, I was back in action this week when we took on a team made up of youngsters and fringe players from Frankton Cricket Club at Whittington. I rather wished I stayed in Zakynthos.

Not only did we lose - we were all out for 112 in the 18th over chasing 143 to win - I ended the game wicketless and with a golden duck for my efforts. Brilliant. In fact, my main contribution was retrieving a ball that went through the hedge and ended up floating in a brook the other side of the boundary fence.

North West Water skipper Justin won the toss and decided to bowl first, although the decision did prompt one or two dissenting comments from some members of the team.

I was handed the new ball and proceeded to spray the ball either side of the stumps, leaving our unfortunate wicketkeeper Pete Danby with an impossible task. I went for 11 off my two overs.

It was the first time we had played the Frankton side and although we expected one or two to be pretty handy, we weren't quite prepared for the onslaught from the opening pair.

After eight overs, they were 82-0 - including a succession of brutally dispatched boundaries. Thankfully, their team-mates took pity on us and called them off before they could inflict any further damage on our battered egos.

Thereafter, we retained more control - Huw continued his fine form with the ball, picking up one wicket and just missing out on a sharp caught and bowled chance. Gareth and Jamahl also struck, while Justin opted to bowl leg spin and picked up two wickets in a superb spell (he might have had three if I had been able to take a catch on the boundary; instead I did a pretty convincing impression of a headless chicken).

Two run outs also helped our cause - one courtesy of a searing throw from Brian Cole from fully 20 yards, the other from the consistently accurate arm of Ian Lloyd.

Bowling at the death, Brian went on to produce a hostile spell that went for only a couple of runs and included a wicket courtesy of great catch from Mike Stokes at slip.

In reply, we started brightly enough, with father and son pair, Gareth and Brian, picking up a number of boundaries as they put on 30-odd for the first wicket in the face of some useful bowling. But when Gareth then Pete Danby departed, we were tottering, having fallen well behind the required rate.

Brian continued to score quickly until he was dismissed after reaching the mid-20s. Steve Daulby reached six before sportingly walking after gloving a delivery to the keeper, before Rory Jones and Justin launched a counter attack that saw both of them score a succession of boundaries. I should mention that Steve ran another three - his second of the season - which we believe is a new record.

Unlike most of our team, who spent the winter months getting a little bit older and slower, Rory is rapidly developing into a very promising bowler and an attacking batsman. His 18 also included a leg side six - the only maximum in our innings.

Unfortunately, Rory's dismissal brought me to the wicket. I played all around a straight delivery and umpire Merv Hughes (that's his real name, honest) raised his finger.

Justin's 26 was full of aggressive intent, and included one textbook cover drive. But when he was dismissed, our innings crumbled to 112 all out, with Jamahl the last man out. Against very talented opponents, it wasn't a terrible effort; it's just a shame we weren't a bit more competitive in the first half of their innings.

Next week, we're without a fixture. However, a practice match is on the cards. I certainly need it.

Back to earth with a bump... but Steve's off the mark

North West Water's winning start to the season came to an abrupt halt at the hands of Cae Glas Ladies last night.

After the elation of last week's shock victory over The Orthopaedic, it was perhaps inevitable that we would struggle. However, despite posting a modest total of 84, we were still favourites to win with around six overs to go; Cae Glas needed 40-odd with three wickets remaining.

Unfortunately, our killer instinct deserted us at the crucial moment and Cae Glas inched home with four balls to spare. We were gutted.

Things stated promisingly. We won the toss and batted first, with Brian Cole and Rory Jones opening on our adopted home ground of Whittington. We got off to a decent start too. Brian, a classy left hander, unleashed a glorious drive through extra cover in the first over, while Rory's good form continued after his heroics against the Orthopaedic last week.

However, Brian was bowled and his father Gareth failed to hang around. Things got worse when Rory, who had raced to 17 with a succession of boundaries, was run out when our skipper Justin Evans called him through for a sharp single.

Justin - sporting very posh new pads - looked in good form before missing a straight one. Mike Stokes, making his first appearance of the season, joined Steve Daulby at the crease - with Steve opening his account for the season after last week's duck in Gobowen.

His departure brought me to the crease with the score at 40-odd for five, and when Mike was caught in the next over, we were struggling at 48-6 off 10 overs.

I was joined by Geraint Jones, and we managed to survive, taking the score to 82 in the final over before I managed to run Geraint out.

Until that point, we'd been making decent progress, even if it was a bit slower than it should have been. I even hit three boundaries in my 26no - more than I scored in total last season. Geraint batted really well for his 14 and really deserved more.

Jamahl Penrose hit two off the final ball and we ended on 84 - probably about 15 short of a decent score.

Our reply started well. I opened the bowling with Steve and we kept things tight (I conceded three off my two overs), before Mike struck and a run out courtesy of Rory Jones put us in the driving seat.

When Justin took two wickets in his spell - one courtesy of a sharp catch in the gully by Greg Stokes - we looked favourites. Huw Jones' produced an impressive spell, taking 2-7 including a smart stumping courtesy of Brian, our stand-in wicket keeper in the absence of Pete Danby.

But the last six overs of the innings cost us dearly. Cae Glas's ninth wicket stand was resolute and, despite one or two chances, in truth we never looked like breaking the partnership.

Cae Glas secured victory with four balls remaining, to leave us licking our wounds and hoping for a better performance against a new side, JT Hughes, next week.

The wonderful British summer

Well, we're meant to be playing Cae Glas Ladies tonight but, judging by the rain beating against the window at the moment, it may not happen.

I'm gutted. I'm going to miss next week's match so I was really hoping to get a game tonight. Oh well, maybe the weather with suddenly improve and our first fixture at our new home, Whittington, will go ahead after all. Somehow I doubt it, though.