Match Reports:
1st XI v Linden Park
In a thrilling encounter at The Higher Cricket Ground, Linden Park CC - 1st XI emerged victorious against OD CUACO - 1st XI. After winning the toss, Linden Park CC elected to bat first and posted a competitive total of 233 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 50 overs. In response, OD CUACO could only manage 178 runs, resulting in a win for Linden Park CC by 55 runs.
Linden Park CC's innings got off to a shaky start as Max Campbell was caught by Pip France off the bowling of Chris Webster for 8 runs. Sadiq Hassan fell without scoring, dismissed by Daniel Webster after facing just 2 deliveries. Matthew White steadied the innings with a patient knock of 36 runs, but he too fell victim to Chris Webster's bowling, caught by Jacobus Johannes Koot Pienaar.
Atif Khan played a crucial innings, scoring a well-constructed 66 runs off just 67 balls, including 9 boundaries and a six. Tom Corner and James Beck couldn't contribute much, falling cheaply to Andrew Ainger and Jacobus Johannes Koot Pienaar, respectively. However, Justin MacVicar provided a late flourish with an unbeaten knock of 53 runs off just 39 balls, which included 4 fours and 3 sixes. James Speer and Freddie Hulbert also made valuable contributions to help Linden Park CC reach a challenging total of 233 runs.
In the bowling department, Chris Webster was the pick of the bowlers for OD CUACO, claiming 4 wickets for 51 runs in his 10 overs. Jacobus Johannes Koot Pienaar and Andrew Ainger also chipped in with 2 wickets each. Despite their efforts, OD CUACO couldn't prevent Linden Park CC from setting a formidable target.
Chasing 234 runs for victory, OD CUACO started positively with Nicholas Worsley and Jacobus Johannes Koot Pienaar putting on a solid partnership of 77 runs. However, Worsley was run out by Atif Khan after contributing 30 runs, including 6 boundaries and a six. OD CUACO lost wickets at regular intervals, struggling to build significant partnerships.
Jacobus Johannes Koot Pienaar top-scored with 42 runs off 35 balls, while James Sims and Chris Webster made useful contributions of 25 and 21 runs, respectively. Atif Khan was the wrecker-in-chief with the ball, taking 4 wickets for 31 runs in his 10 overs. Justin MacVicar provided excellent support, claiming 2 wickets for 22 runs.
Despite some resistance from the lower order, OD CUACO's innings came to an end at 178 runs in the 41st over, falling short by 55 runs. Linden Park CC's bowlers maintained their discipline and executed their plans effectively, denying OD CUACO's batsmen the opportunity to build partnerships.
In the end, Linden Park CC - 1st XI emerged as deserving winners, securing 18 points from the match. OD CUACO - 1st XI failed to register any points. Linden Park CC's victory was built on the foundation of a competitive total and disciplined bowling, while OD CUACO will need to reassess their batting strategy and aim for a stronger performance in their upcoming matches.
MoM - Sam Parke for some outstanding glovework
2nd XI v Linden Park
After a decent run chase and victory last Saturday, this week we welcomed mid table Linden Park to the Home of Cricket. With a hot day in prospect and selection of not the sprightliest/youngest 2nd XI ever to grace the field, Laurence searched for captaincy inspiration from some of the standout skippers from the past: Douglas Jardine, Richie Benaud, Mike Brearley and Shane Warne for those born in the 20/20 era. What would they do?
The plan was designed, considered, consulted and put into action. Win the toss at home, elect to bowl first, bring the boundaries in to protect weary and ageing fielders, take the pace off the ball with our array of spinners and gentle seamers, panic the opposition into deciding what a good score was batting first, use the confusion to bowl them out cheaply and then knock off the runs with few wickets down and plenty of overs to spare. Audacious and in contrast to usual thinking. We were very excited.
Linden Park reached 44-0 at the first drinks break. If Laurence was concerned his plan wasn’t coming together, he did not show it. In fact, the post drinks break chat suggested we were exactly where we wanted to be. Old heads looked nervously at one another, but no comment was made. In Laurence we trust.
And then the plan started to come together. The ever-dependable Robin East (9-2-25-2) had the decent opening bat caught behind first ball after drinks and followed by capturing the next batsman 4 balls later, caught smartly by Davo low at cover. Enter the spin twins and the colour drained from the faces of the incoming batsmen. By the next drinks break, Linden Park had crumbled to 72 – 9. Excellent bowling from Liam (9-2-18-3) and Ash (9-3-19-4) along with some brainless batting pretty much wiped out the rest of the team. A batsman was caught on the boundary by DB10 two balls after he’d been moved there specifically for that shot; another shouldered arms against Ash and was bowled not realising the ball turned in to him rather than away. One player returned to the pavilion with another single figure score and was heard to use the not very politically correct phrase ‘I batted like a total retard out there’. Whilst his teammates may have disagreed with the language, they would have agreed with the sentiment.
The final pair used what all the others hadn’t (their bats and their brains) and squeezed the score up to 116 before Davo finished the innings off, with Laurence taking his 4th catch of the match plus a stumping.
117 required. Bat 45 overs and we win the game was the message. Linden Park gambled by opening with their two best bowlers, in the hope of taking early wickets and causing a panic amongst the incoming batsmen. The first wicket fell at 20, but Craig Westmacott joined Laurence and used their indoor experience to nurdle the ball around until Craig was out with 60 on the board. We were over halfway to the total. Isaac joined Laurence and they continued the cautious approach, waiting for the 4th and 5th bowlers to enter the fray where runs would be easier to come by. Laurence passed 50 and looked in no trouble at all, and as Isaac settled in, runs started to come more easily. With the 6th bowler introduced it was time to finish the match off in style and he was dispatched for 19 in his only over to see us home by 8 wickets and with 11 overs to spare. Laurence finished on an excellent 54 and Isaac 35 off 38 balls. It couldn’t have worked out any better.
Hannibal Smith from the ‘A’ Team* would have been so proud; he also loves it when a plan comes together.
*80’s TV programme, not a new player in the 1st XI.
Match report by Richard Loader
3rd XI v Burgess Park
On Saturday the 3’s welcomed unbeaten table toppers Burgess Park to the Jubilee Ground.
Once again minus long term ‘toe-surgery’ Skipper Chris Colby, Kevan Harding was ‘PM’d’ by Chris requesting his services as stand-in skipper as he was: ‘missing 3 other regular options as stand-ins’. With this ringing endorsement sounding in his ears Kev strode to the middle to conduct the ‘toss’ full of confidence and looking forward to observing club mantra of ‘win toss bat’ Unfortunately the opposition called correctly and it was instead, ‘lose toss field’.
On paper, we looked strong in the bowling department with 5 quality seamers at our disposal, unfortunately we were not playing on paper, we were instead playing on a dead road of a wicket that offered zero movement, other than the ball disappearing to the short legside boundary courtesy of a quality batting unit from Burgess Park, whenever we dropped a little short or overpitched. Despite this the fielding was full of merit and effort and two exceptional grabs from Rohan (bob) Bridges were just reward for a spirited display from all the fielders. There were worthy mentions from many of the bowlers, Zahid for bowling 9 tidy overs straight through for figures of 9 – 40- 1, (should actually have been for 2 wkts as he had the opposition Captain stone dead LBW on 15, only to be denied by opposition umpire, ‘the slow walk’ Rupert. To be fair it was definitely missing leg and off stumps and only hitting middle halfway up). This reprieve was a little difficult to stomach as he then went on to score a further 85 runs for his century. Dan hunter also returned creditable figures of 9-38-2 and Billy Ansar 8-50-1 was ‘unlucky’ to have another stonewall LBW turned down by the aforementioned.
As a result at the change of innings we were looking down the barrel, chasing down 276 to win.
However, the skipper (yours truly) was still confident knowing that the home team opening Partnership boasted the likes of ‘Abi Patel’ coming straight from the previous days exploits where he batted 3 ½ hours for an unbeaten 70* and the ‘Doctor’ T20 specialist batter: Sherry Gul…
The opposition opened the bowling with two spinners and in fact used only spinners throughout the game, they had obviously previous knowledge of the track…
Unfortunately for us, despite achieving a weekend batting average of 70, and batting for 3 hours 31mins , Abi was soon back in the hutch. I asked him whether the ball had spun, he said ‘no, I just missed a straight one’…This injustice brought Rohan to the crease and he batted with assurance and serenity for 29 well crafted runs before missing another ‘straight one’ …at drinks the ‘Doctor’ confirmed to me that he was having trouble timing the ball and getting hold of the attack because they were ALL bowling ‘too straight’…the audacity of the oppo…how very dare they…..
After drinks, Sherry finally missed a ‘straight one’ to be bowled for a hard fought 45, and Billy Chowdury, entertained in his usual fashion before top edging for 47, in between Billy Ansar (1) ran himself out, Zahid (2) and Callum (0) missed more straight ones (in fairness by now they were actually spinning it, perhaps bored of the straight ball approach) . There was just time for Dan Hunter to emphasize to the skipper he should have been batting higher with a nice 19 red inker, before Howard Thomas missed the last straight one and brought the innings to a close on 166.
We lost by 109 runs to a very strong side, and although its fair to say the better team won, I was pleased and proud of how all the team stuck at it, kept their heads up and showed admirable team spirit throughout….on to next week….
MOM Rohan Bridges: 29 runs and two great catches
Match report by Kev Harding
T20s v Bickley Park and Sevenoaks Vine
Sadly ODs suffered two losses out of their two games in the T20 triangular. The first game was a tight affair with ODs restricting Bickley Park to 152 off their 20 overs. We took it tight, with skipper Chris Webster coming to the crease in the 2nd over, and batting through to end 78*. Sadly he couldn't see the boys home with 14 required off the last over.
In the second game, Tech God smoked us round for Sevenoaks Vine, until Cameron "2 meters" Sanders plucked one of the all time great catches out, diving full stretch at long off to snaffle a "worldy". Sadly our tired bowling display wasn't quite up to scratch, and the task of chasing 240 was almost impossible against a Prem quality attack. We did however fight valiantly, with Cameron hitting 47 in our respectable reply of 150.
Thanks to Steve for umpiring, Wendy for scoring, Nick for being a great waterboy, and to DB Drones for some fantastic photos that you can see here
U17s v Orpington
OD U17’s - 118-8 (20)
Orpington - 121-5 (16)
Another lovely evening for cricket. Away to the table-topping Orpington team. Some of the boys remarked how old they looked – a number of them having full beards! By contrast, we had 4 debutants in the team, Isaac Teague, Ben Pounder, Leo Surridge, and U14 Ethan Albrecht. We had very few players available and were really pleased to get 11 out and playing rather than conceding and losing 4 points.
For the first time this season, Oscar won the toss, so we batted first! Oscar started strongly but unfortunately, Rohan and Tom both departed without troubling the scorers. Ben W (6) came in and steadied things and the runs were flowing from Oscar’s bat until he managed to pick out a fielder and fall for 39. Luke Colby (20) and Charlie Neil (27), with his first chance to bat this season, put on a great partnership to keep the runs flowing. Ollie Arratoon scored 3 then our debutants had their chance, Leo (1), Ben Pounder (1*) and Isaac Teague (7*), including a very nice 4. We had posted 118, including extras, so securing 4 batting points.
We knew Orpington had 3 good batters, so we hoped to pick up early wickets with Oscar and Ollie Arratoon opening the bowling. It’s fair to say we had a couple of chances but, sadly, they went down. Then Charlie Neil bowled the number 1 bat and Leo Surridge took a very good catch at long off to Luke Colby’s bowling to dismiss the number 2. However, 76 runs had been scored by this point, off just 11 overs. Ben Pounder chipped in with a wicket, caught behind by Tom, then Ben Westmacott took 2 more, one bowled and one caught by Luke at long on. But Orpington reached the target in 16 overs. We always felt we needed more runs but, given the circumstances, 118 was a great effort and the sort of total that could be defended if the luck is with you.
We were very proud of the boys’ attitude throughout the match, fielding well and really having a go. We were very grateful to a few who chose to play the match rather than go to the fun night and for the 4 debutants who helped us get a team out. We may have lost the match but we gained 6 points rather than losing 4 and the boys had an enjoyable game and they all took something from it.
U15s v Hayes
OD CUACO CC 141/5 (20 overs)
Hayes CC 130/7 (20 overs)
OD CUACO CC won by 11 runs
At the risk of sounding more like Anna Wintour than Henry Blofeld, I can not let the sartorial excesses of the Hayes’ coaches and supporters go unmentioned. Catford & Cypher’s lab coated umpire was a paragon of dress sense compared to the 3 Hayes coaches who turned up in matching T shirts in a truly hideous shade of yellow. However, at least they kept their T shirts on, unlike the Hayes supporter: beer belly on display and defiling the home of cricket with tattoos and cans of Fosters. Fortunately, the match was a thrilling one and a perfect distraction from the opposition’s fashion faux pas!
ODs were put into bat having lost the toss. With the game set for 20 overs, owing to forecast rain, the batsmen had the need to drive the score along impressed on them in the pre-match team talk. Luke Colby wasted no time in acting on that and scored 21 from 22 balls, including 4 fours, before being run out trying to push for an extra run. Ben was bowled by a very strong bowler who had caught the eye when guesting for the Hayes B team a few weeks ago. Max was out to an unscheduled bouncer on 8, scored with 2 fours. Ollie Bennett opened the batting and with what is probably still a slightly broken toe did remarkably well to score 35 from 42 balls with 5 fours, before also being run out in search of an extra run. Tom really drove the run rate in the second half of the innings. Before also being run out, he scored a highly entertaining 33 from just 20 balls with 5 fours and 1 six, which went into the river narrowly missing a group of unsuspecting U9s training on the outfield. Carter and Josh closed out the innings, finishing on 10 and 9 respectively with 2 fours each.
Ollie Arratoon took the first wicket for ODs, clean bowling one of the Hayes’ openers. This was another good day at the office for Ollie, as he finished with figures of 3-10-3. The last two wickets were taken in successive balls in the final over of the match, with a catch from Luke Colby and another clean bowled. Carter took a key wicket, assisted by a catch from Ben, removing the Hayes’ number 3 and returning 2-13-1. Luke Colby took wickets in both his overs, helped by a catch from wicket keeper Tom, posting 2-21-2. Luke Curtis took the other wicket and finished on 2-12-1. It was good to have Zain back in the bowling line up, and whilst he did not take a wicket, with one maiden and just 4 from his other over, his economy made a great contribution. The bowling attack was completed by Ben (2-19-0), Josh (2-18-0), Ed (2-12-0), Max (2-12-0) and Ollie Bennett (1-2-0).
It was a tense run chase in the final overs, but the remaining Hayes’ opening bat retiring on 50 tipped the scales in the favour of ODs and the boys closed out the game effectively. Fielding was much sharper than in some of the previous games, though the armchair expert parents would like the team to note that the field should be further out in these tight situations. The accuracy of the bowling should also be commended with just 5 wides and 1 no ball, compared to 10 and 3 from the opposition.
The team are back on the top of the table, with a slender two point lead, but it really was a pleasure to watch this game and we are proud of the boys regardless of the league standing.
Thank you to Becky for the donuts (the interval snack of champions), thank you to the ever dapper Howard for umpiring and to Richard of Arabia (still swathed in his jumper) for scoring and organising us.
Match report by Lindsay Curtis
Bingo Night - Saturday 1st July
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 U11s to Under 13s | Sunday | 11:15 am - 12:30 pm |
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