England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

Topmen Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 12,907 11,654
Batting - Middle Order 12,208 12,545
Batting - Tail 6,393 4,560
Bowling - Seam 13,161 (40) 12,130 (30)
Bowling - Spin 12,411 (10) 12,195 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,261 15,756
Overall 233,482 218,530

Ruff Royals won by 1 wicket

It looks like I slightly overestimated the quality of the side I picked. I'm not quite sure how we got those last 22 runs when we were 8 down but I'll certainly take it. House played a captain's innings of 45 even though he's not really a captain with his reasonable captaincy and was only undone by a Flipper.

An important first SOD league win of the season.

[Atko]

Yeah, that was too much to chase ...

End of over 42 (2 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(160-10)

Result: Inchigeela Angels won by 52 runs

Should have batted first - I left the boys on default orders - although no excuses, we were soundly beaten.

The tale of the tape -

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Inchigeela Angels
Batting - Top Order 14,806 14,571
Batting - Middle Order 11,168 11,842
Batting - Tail 4,479 6,957
Bowling - Seam 14,570 (30) 13,934 (30)
Bowling - Spin 15,190 (20) 14,969 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 18,644 17,062
Overall 247,359 249,456

[casperj]

Crestfallen Sidekicks Hay Spitfires
Batting - Top Order 11,002 12,387
Batting - Middle Order 12,600 10,417
Batting - Tail 6,447 8,385
Bowling - Seam 12,589 (50) 10,976 (30)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 12,191 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 15,735 14,324
Overall 223,904 216,658

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 109 runs

A much better performance after last weeks debacle. A 200 run second wicket standing doing the damage.

[Atko]

GrimreaperIV vs The Raging Speed Horns

Matt Krevs Memorial Cup Rnd 2

Weather Cloudy
Pitch Uneven

After last weeks bot bash, Round 2 of the cup sees us visiting the Reaper's back yard. The oppo can rate circa 160-170k and I had originally set orders for my B team to play. Now they rate around 180k so this wasn't exactly going to be a walkover. With that thought niggling away at me, a half hour before the off I wimped out and made a couple of changes

Still 9 B team players, but I swapped out the two youngest (and crappiest) players for a pair of veteran batsmen. So far so good -

End of over 28 (8 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(171-2) RR 6.11

Looks like we'll make a sizable total - which we'll need, considering our lightweight bowling attack.

[casperj]

A. Abbas (rf) 9-0-35-3, J. Macdonald 10 (12b)
End of over 47 (2 runs) - Boston Fire(160-10) RR 3.40

About the upper limit of what I'd want to chase on a Cloudy / Green given the weak nature of my batting line-up. Should be OK, but might need to rely on one of the 'A' team batsmen getting in.

[Atko]

In the end we made 323-7 - Labyrinth top scored with 123 - he's suitably knackered from the effort but doesn't play T20, so can put his feet up until Friday.

My concern over the bowling was unfounded as we skittled the oppo for 100. My guys are normally getting their bottoms handed to them in T20 on a weekly basis, so the little boost to form will be gratefully received. GrimreaperIV were actually sub-par with quite a few fatigued players -

Match Ratings
GrimreaperIV The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 10,194 12,129
Batting - Middle Order 7,484 9,423
Batting - Tail 3,403 5,173
Bowling - Seam 7,969 (40) 10,376 (40)
Bowling - Spin 8,575 (10) 9,992 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 10,551 14,642
Overall 153,026 197,151

This season it looks like we've hit the jackpot with our route through the MKMC - Next week we're up against a sub-150k side, Cricket Allstars. B team again, methinks...

[casperj]

Crestfallen Sidekicks Boston Fire
Batting - Top Order 11,779 9,945
Batting - Middle Order 10,906 6,292
Batting - Tail 4,531 3,367
Bowling - Seam 11,202 (40) 11,815 (33)
Bowling - Spin 10,918 (10) 11,843 (17)
Fielding/Keeping 13,574 14,559
Overall 200,786 177,847

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 7 wickets
C. Negri (rfm) 4.2-0-17-2, G. Lilburn 76 (98b), D. Snider 2 (2b)
End of over 33 (2 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(161-3) RR 4.88

Got home quite comfortably in the end. Snider didn't have to face too many balls so hopefully he'll be fresh for the T20 match on Tuesday.

[spark]

Ruff Royals Ayr Cricket Club
Batting - Top Order 11,293 8,326
Batting - Middle Order 8,633 6,129
Batting - Tail 6,128 3,296
Bowling - Seam 10,228 (30) 7,368 (30)
Bowling - Spin 10,739 (20) 8,956 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 13,775 7,335
Overall 191,581 129,732

Ruff Royals won by 95 runs

I picked my reserves for the MKMC this week after being too ill last week to change it. We batted first and scored 244 on a sticky pitch with Laurence top scoring with 73, Schwartz next best with 58 and Banerjee getting his best score of 46. With the ball, we managed to bowl them out with Harrison taking 5-17 (numbers 1-5 in the batting line-up too) and Zondeki picking up 4-17.

We should be able to make it through the next round with our reserves but we'll see.

[spark]

Home Staindrop Lordies
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Staindrop Lordies CG
League Youth Twenty20 1.1
Date 06 May 24 10:00
Crowd 7,591
Weather Windy
Pitch Slow

It's about time we picked up our first youth win of the season. At least we won the toss. They've been scoring a bit quickly so it might be tough.

R. Reynolds (rfm) 3-0-14-1, B. Mzimkhulu 37 (24b), F. Frei 3 (3b)
End of over 18 (6 runs) - Staindrop Lordies(137-4) RR 7.61

[spark]

R. Reynolds (rfm) 4-0-27-1, B. Mzimkhulu 54 (32b), S. Powar 1 (3b)
End of over 20 (13 runs) - Staindrop Lordies(155-5) RR 7.75

Expensive last over so it's going to be a tough chase. I feel we might need a masterclass from Marwat.

[casperj]

Kashmir Kings Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 5,695 4,779
Batting - Middle Order 4,553 4,232
Batting - Tail 3,984 2,967
Bowling - Seam 5,407 (14) 5,377 (12)
Bowling - Spin 5,771 (6) 5,386 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 6,294 6,199
Overall 99,411 90,451

Match tied

D. Schwarz (rm) 2-0-18-0, D. Schade 60 (37b), A. Appleton 112 (65b)
End of over 20 (12 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(192-2). 1 runs required from 0 overs. RR 9.60 RRR 0.00

Youth's couldn't quite get over the line in a heavy run chase on a flat wicket. However it's our first youth points of the season in either league, so can't complain.

[spark]

Ruff Royals won by 6 wickets

Staindrop Lordies Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 6,997 8,260
Batting - Middle Order 4,638 4,771
Batting - Tail 3,550 3,588
Bowling - Seam 6,297 (14) 7,010 (12)
Bowling - Spin 7,136 (6) 5,215 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 8,711 9,518
Overall 116,066 122,905

About time we won a youth game. The aforementioned Marwat masterclass made an appearance as he made 62 from 44 balls. He was ably helped by Howe's 49 not out.

[wolfberries]

Bedfordshire Jats wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 7,053 7,834
Batting - Middle Order 5,515 5,275
Batting - Tail 3,663 3,229
Bowling - Seam 5,673 (12) 6,629 (8)
Bowling - Spin 5,594 (8) 6,092 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 7,514 9,657
Overall 112,013 122,628

Result: wolfberries won by 8 wickets

Eight wicket victory but it took us until the last over to win.

We managed to give 16 year old wrist spinner McCloy his T20 debut as well.

[casperj]

Back to usual form in the T20. Another batting collapse, and narrowly avoid being bowled out on a windy/dry. Probably about 20 short of being competitive

D. Ridimahaliyadda (rf) 4-0-30-3, R. Weston 1 (1b), R. Drake 0 (0b)
End of over 20 (5 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(110-9) RR 5.50

[casperj]

Back to usual form in the T20. Another batting collapse, and narrowly avoid being bowled out on a windy/dry. Probably about 20 short of being competitive

D. Ridimahaliyadda (rf) 4-0-30-3, R. Weston 1 (1b), R. Drake 0 (0b)
End of over 20 (5 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(110-9) RR 5.50

An absolute thrashing,which is disappointing considering the ratings. Need to somehow address the repeated batting failings.

Batting - Top Order 14,229 12,786
Batting - Middle Order 11,300 11,132
Batting - Tail 4,961 5,302
Bowling - Seam 11,753 (8) 12,733 (8)
Bowling - Spin 13,960 (12) 12,864 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 16,213 15,832
Overall 231,030 223,132

Relegation reprobates won by 7 wickets
R. Weston (rws) 2.3-0-14-1, N. Boyle 38 (34b), B. Lette 11 (7b)
End of over 14 (5 runs) - Relegation reprobates(111-3) RR 7.93