A wet week saw lots of rain affected games for us this week, but that didn't stop the 3s and 4s from returning to the club victorious! In other news, captain narrowly missed out on a 180 in the 2s darts break...
Results:
Match Reports:
1st XI v Whitstable
On arrival to the home of cricket, there was an air of anticipation. An opportunity to claim a vital 18 points. However also in the air was precipitation. Through some brief showers, we managed to get under way after stand in (and former) captain, Nick Worsely, lost the toss and we were told to bat. In some unforgiving conditions, the Whitstable openers managed to extract some swing and zip off the pitch and it was challenging for Mike Parr or Koot Pienaar to score freely. In an attempt to lift the pressure, Koot starting playing some aggressive shots but dragged one back onto his stuff. With the rain imminent, all players knew it was only a matter of time until they were dragged off. Solid play from the English Dravid, Dan Webster, meant we were only one down when the heavens opened.
As the day progressed and the moisture rating hit 121/86 (report from Dan Baylis) there wasn’t much that could be done. Mike ran around showing everyone his cover drive and Ollie Jasper plotted is knee slide on the pitch. While the cricket looked unlikely to resume, a game of indoor bowls was heating up. Despite a promising start, team Sanders-East struggled with the inconsistency of the surface and some good tactics (exploiting the long ball) from team Batten-Pienaar led them to a comfortable 11-3 win.
After hours of deliberating the umpires finally called time of death and the points were shared. An opportunity get back into the pack of teams trying to avoid relegation was taken away by the weather.
OD’s 42-1 (13) Mike Parr 22*
Whitstable DNB
Match report by Joe East
2nd XI v Bexleyheath
Sensing a problematic weather outlook, ODs arrived promptly at Bexleyheath and managed to secure an early start for a T20 game in the hope of securing a result. GazBall this wasn’t!
With the skipper duly relegated to his rightful spot at 11, Kieran joined Richard at the top of the order. Loader was a changed man, striking the first two balls for four! Kieran followed suit with a six launched over wide long on and then a powerfully swept four.
58 were added for the opening partnership (Loader 25 off 22, Kieran 31 off 19).
Thereafter, wickets fell at steady intervals, despite a quick fire 22 (14) from Dan Murrell, that included a six powered into the tennis court netting, nearly wiping out the future of Bexleyheath LTC in one swoop.
Pooley and Sanders scrambled some singles to avoid the embarrassment of being bowled out, finishing on 155-9 after 20. Alas, rain had begun to fall increasingly heavily, so the game was paused at the innings interval.
Pending formal cancellation, an impromptu darts tournament was held (Jasper 3-2 Murrell a big upset) before the end was called. A big challenge up against Gravesend awaits next week, hopefully in sunnier climes.
Match report by Laurence Sanders
3rd XI v Bickley Park
A wet day at the Jubilee Ground, Catford, welcomed both OD Cuaco CC 3rd XI against a struggling Bickley Park CC 3rd XI whom are flirting with relegation. The atmosphere was subdued at best with both teams anticipating a wet and windy game. OD’s won the toss and chose to bowl first. The visiting side set a target of 137 runs for OD Cuaco to chase. The visiting team lost a wicket in just the second over, off the bowling of Ansar (2-30) with a tempting line and length delivery outside off stump which the opening batsman, Mantri (4) wafted at and snicked off to Westmacott. It didnt take Ansar long to claim his second scalp of the day. This time blowing the Bickley Park skipper for just 12 runs. OD's were on top within the first 6 over restricting the visitors to just 24-2. The weather grew worse, the wind picked up and bowling and fielding became a challenge for everyone. Bickley Parks 4th wicket partnership played incredibly well with Saunders (24) and Davis (74) putting on an impressive 114 runs. Bickley Park managed to reach a total of 137 runs but OD Cuaco knew they had a genuine chance of chasing down the target, especially with the support of their passionate fans (The Walkers) who had come out in full force. As OD Cuaco took to the field for their chase, their opening batsmen, Gul & Howe aimed to bring a sense of calmness and control to the chase. Gul set the tone with an exquisite pull for 4 on the 3rd ball of the day. Sadly for Gul (5) he perished the next over snicking off. Bickley were delighted, screams of the ‘danger man’ is out, ‘they have no chance now’ they were saying in the huddle. It was only 6 weeks before Gul and Patel had both hit impressive 90’s against Bickley. Little did Bickley know what was to come. As Howe scratched around at the start, the young fearless Laycock (21) took the game by force bludgeoning the bowling attack and hitting them to all parts of the ground. Unfortunately for young Ewan he walked across his stumps to flick a ball of his pads to be bowled leg stump. It was a sad end to a brilliant start to an innings which really got OD's back on track.
Howe was joined by Peter White on 48-2 off 8 overs. The game at this stage was still very much in the balance. The two veterans continued to steady the ship and the turning of the tides came in overs 9, 10 & 11 where the pair whacked an impressive 42 runs off just 18 balls. As they say in SW19, game, set, match, OD Cuaco. Howe (64) and White (37*) took OD's right to the end knocking off the runs in just 16 overs. Howe with 2 runs to win tried to hit a 6 and got out... Classic Howe wanting to win the game in style. Patel (1) came in and with a cool head nudged a single to cover to win the game for OD Cuaco and secure 16 valuable points. OD's find themselves in mid-table with August to play. A few wins could see them push for a promotion place and they have everything to play for over the next 7 weeks.
Match report by Tom Howe
4th XI v Bexleyheath
On a typically English summers day(!), both skippers knew that we would never get a full days play in, so agreed to reduce to 20 overs a side.
Having won the toss, Captain Coles decided to bowl first and try and restrict the 3rd placed team in the league and chase it down.
Opening up with Sawko and Westmacott, they did exactly that, with some tight lines and the opposition deciding that singles were the way to go, with some interesting field placings we restricted even that.
Captain Coles decided to keep the spells short so the batsman couldn’t settle, another wonderful idea! A fantastic spell from the best Bennett showing why he has a great future at the club was backed up by some great inswing from Avis.
The skipper may have made a bit of a miscalculation and need Sharp to bowl 2 overs from each end, what a great mistake to make, after a interesting first over he settled down and bowled well.
Having restricted the oppo to just 105-5 in their innings we knew exactly what we wanted to do.
Opening up with McCarthy and Rouse, the discussion was to take the quick singles to bring the field in and then go over the top. Both batters decided that hitting the ball to the fence was the better option and we reached 41 after 3 overs. The runs continued to flow until Rousey was given out having walked across his stumps and missing the ball.
In came Harding in his sun hat. The runs still kept coming and the end virtual in sight, McCarthy decided to take a single to keeper standing 2 yards back from the stumps.
Bridges came in to see off the remaining runs with Harding without any alarm.
A great 17 points which means we are now only 3 points away from climbing above Bexley Park.
Match report by Mark Coles
Sunday Friendly v Woodside Green
Match report by Enny-Won?
Fantasy Cricket Standings
The top 10 is very close! See the full breakdown of teams and player performance here:
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 squad 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 U11s to Under 13s | Sunday | 11:15 am - 12:30 pm |
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