Welcome back to a new season at OD CUACO CC! It has been a long winter, and a wet spring, but we are hopeful the proper cricket weather is just around the corner, and we can go on to have a great season together! There are a lot of things to get excited about this season.
I would like to wish all of our teams, and players the best of luck on and off the field this year, and I look forward to welcoming you back down to the Home of Cricket soon!
Kind regards,
Chris Webster
Club Captain
Match Reports:
1st XI v Bexleyheath
In their second game of pre-season, the ODs 1st XI had a great run out against a relatively strong Bexleyheath side. As per tradition, captain Wandy lost the toss, and ODs were asked to field first.
A strong start from the seam attack of Worsley, Webster C and Baylis saw ODs contain the Bexleyheath top order, taking wickets in the process, before the "slower" of the bowling line up including 5 spinners and D Webster all chipped in to contain Bexleyheath to a score of 147 all out.
Particular highlights include a brilliant catch from early 'Fielder of the Year 2024' candidate Daniel Baylis and some acrobatic fielding attempts from Mr Worsley and East Jr (both pictured in this newsletter). Seven of the nine bowlers took wickets, with all bowling well, and Joe East was thanked for his efforts in the field.
With the bat, ODs had a shaky first 10 overs, with numbers 1 and 3 of Pienaar and C Webster being removed LBW by grubbers after positive starts. This left Ollie Jasper and Dan Webster to marshall the troops forwards, playing cautious and watchful innings to take ODs near to the line. Both decided that the murmurs of retirement were rude enough for them, that they both departed bowled for 42, leaving captain Ainger and TFC East to polish off the remaining 20 runs, giving ODs a convincing 6-wicket victory in 45 overs.
A great performance from the boys, and they will look to take this momentum into next week's league kick off match against Kings Hill.
As ever, thanks to Sheila for scoring, Howard for umpiring and to DB10 for capturing some great snaps on camera.
Match report by Chris Webster
1st XI v Leeds and Broomfield
In their first match of 2024, the 1s headed to Leeds Castle, which seemed to be the only place in Kent that had not or did have rain that weekend.
A fam story emerged as Ainger lost the toss and ODs were in the field. Leeds accumulated a score of 170-6 in their 30 overs, with ODs rotating through their bowlers to bring them some confidence outdoors after a long winter.
With the bat, after a positive start from the top 4, sadly the side from Beckenham fell 24 runs short, as a collapse and some "net practice" in the last 10 overs meant the required rate continued to rise.
A positive start, and most importantly, some cricket under the belt. Thanks to Jane for scoring!
Match report by Chris Webster
Sunday XI v Grenfell CC
Finally, the 2024 season got underway with our visit to Grenfell CC, luckily we only had to travel to Bromley Common, so after our short trip down the road, imagine our amazement that the outfield and track were dry.
The skipper won the toss, hopefully a sign of things to come and elected to bat first, with a team including 6 past and present skippers and some bloke from SA, picking a batting line up was the hardest challenge of the day, the only easy decision, Sawko was batting 11.
The opening par strode to the crease with the skippers advice of have a net, but I want 240 firmly in the front of there minds.
KOOOOOOOOOOOT and the ever dependable Kev Harding set a solid, if a bit slow platform of 36-0 off the first 10. Rumours were around that Kev was out scoring the fast scoring Koot, but this was not true the first team skipper was having issues with the modern technology of the scoreboard.
Kev was the first to go LBW to the impressive trigger finger of Sawko. The finger went up quicker than the ball went down!
The first skipper of the day to bat was Chris Colby, to comments from the score box of, these 2 look the same from here.
The run rate increased slightly, as both players seemed to want to get on with it, at 84-1 at drinks the skipper had revised his target to 220, especially with the power left in the shed.
Chris was the next to go for 25, and in came skipper number 2, Will (the reverse) East, after claiming he would hit his 1st ball for 6 the disappointment was palpable, when he unveiled a classic forward defence, he has since claimed that his 31 on the day was more like 60 or 70.
Koot reached his 50 with a quick single and all seemed good with the world, until he got himself out, leaving us on 107-3.
But no panic, skipper number 3 Andrew Ainger was next in and out, always good to have the 1st team Captain show you how it’s done.
At this point the actual skipper went to get his pads on so can’t tell you how Rakesh (Boom Boom) Posam got out. With skipper number 4, ‘The Chair’ joining Will hope was that a lot of quick singles and we could still reach 200.
Unfortunately, Will decided he didn’t like batting and was out LBW.
Cometh the hour cometh the man, well so I thought until I got absolutely barbecued by the chair out for 0, thanks mate!
This started the run of wickets meaning the last 4 batsmen didn’t trouble the scorer. At this point thanks again Jane for scoring.
So 71 runs short of the skippers desired 240, we had set the oppo 170 to win.
After a good tea, (yes, they provided the long forgotten highlight of any cricket match, Tea) the skipper throw the ball to Asa Smith to open the bowling, down the hill, in a pair of trouser that hadn’t been out of his bag since last July.
At the other end, the magnificent Sawko started well as it took two balls, before the Chair could come out with the well know phrase “that’s better Steve” this obviously fired up the Sawko who took the first wicket with a great delivery.
Having not had a chance to really look at the wicket and what it was doing when he was batting, thanks again Chair, the skipper realised, that actually 170 was a solid target on this deck.
On the last ball of the 6th over Sawko pulled up lame, get better soon fella, meaning we only 7 other bowlers. As ever he turned to the Beast, who is tighter on runs than Billy Rouse buying a beer, 8-3-12-3 a stand out performance.
Bowling in partnership with Rakesh who was bamboozling the batsmen and at one point the 3 slips the skipper had put in.
With the opposition were falling well behind the rate, which lead them to chance their arm against W East, who should have had his first wicket, when the set batsmen hit one a little higher than 15ft in the air, the call came KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTs so as everyone else, that could have taken the catch left to the overseas pro, who let it hit him in the KP Nuts
After the laughter had stopped and Will had calmed down, we continued to apply pressure, with some good field placings and still having 2 first team bowlers to call on, the result was never in doubt, the final 3 wickets went to Coles, Ainger and Koot.
A solid win and hopefully the first of many this year.
Match report by Mark Coles
Picture of the Week
Fantasy Cricket
Welcome to the 2024 edition of OD CUACO CC Fantasy Cricket!
Here you are able to make the decisions and choices that you want to make. Who are your big hitters going to be? Who are you going to trust to be your team's captain? Will you make the correct choice when selecting your all important all rounder? The answers will soon be clear in the coming weeks.
Every single adult match played on a Saturday will count towards the points tally and scoring will commence from May 11th to give everyone ample chance to select their best possible 11 from a budget of £55 million.
Cost of entry per team is just £6, payment must be made via this website when you set your team up. You can enter as many sides as you like. There will be prize money available (details TBC).
Good luck and thanks for playing!
200 Club
The 200 club is a monthly raffle that occurs throughout the season giving members the opportunity to win up to £200. Entry is just £20 per ticket for the year.
Its not long until the first draw for the season, so if you would like to join, details can be found here along with the payment link.
Ball and Match Sponsorship
We are still looking for ball and match sponsorships for our games this year. These come at just at £25. This is a very important way for us to raise funds for various projects at the club, not covered in our normal budget. The link for this is below.
Communications - OD CUACO WhatsApp Announcements Group
Join our ODs Whatsapp Announcements group! By scanning the below code from a mobile phone / tablet etc. you will be asking to join our newly formed members information group. The administrators of the group will provide amongst club updates, news of social/ cricket events, and any quick one line information bulletins considered useful to members. This will be an information only group and will not be a chat. Newsletters with more in-depth information will continue to be sent.
Training times
The following times are designated for club training sessions. Nets will be available to use for club members outside of these times, and if there is no game on the main square.
Group | Day | Time |
Senior Nets | Wednesday | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm |
Additional 1st XI nets | Tuesday | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm |
U15-U17 | Tuesday | 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm |
Under 11 and below | Sunday | 10:00 am - 11:15 am |
Under 12s - U13s | Sunday | 11:15 am - 12:30 pm |
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