England League and Cup Discussion

[wolfberries]

Home Village Flowers
Away wolfberries
Ground Village Flowers CG
League Youth 3.1
Date 23 May 24 10:00
Crowd 7,812
Weather Sunny
Pitch Slow

Toss: wolfberries won the toss and elected to bowl.

The curtain falls on the innings of Village Flowers. Now, the spotlight shifts to wolfberries, who will be tasked with chasing a target of 138. Let the chase begin!

Very happy with chasing this total in these conditions, we are four points above second place so a win is a must.

[Atko]

Had my spinner open the batting as a pinch hitter/sacrifice for opponents fast bowlers on an uneven wicket. He ended up carrying his bat!! Probably cost me any chance of winning as it prevented some of the better batsmen getting in, has fatigued one of my bowlers aand meant we scored too slowly.

T. Wightman (rfm) 8-0-41-1, S. Sikander 100 (134b), S. Reese 34 (27b)
End of over 40 (9 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(193-3) RR 4.83

That's mental

Did you have him on aggro?

[spark]

D. Buck (rfm) 8-1-28-0, J. Williamson 10 (9b), S. Nizamani 0 (1b)
End of over 40 (6 runs) - Fiery's XI(194-9) RR 4.85

We bowled first on a slow pitch. It's not an easy total to chase but I think I'd just favour us given the increased scores this season.

My best bowler once again failed to do the business and didn't pick up a wicket. RFM Reynolds was the best with 3-22 and LWS Niazi also did well with 3-41.

R. Colegrave (rfs) 2-1-3-0, H. Mitchell 51 (63b), J. Marwat 17 (32b)
End of over 24 (3 runs) - Ruff Royals(107-3). 88 runs required from 16 overs. RR 4.46 RRR 5.50

The batting hasn't been easy and we've just started to fall behind the run rate required. We've only got one batter left to come and then it's all bowlers. I'm not confident. It's going to need to be these two to get the vast bulk of the remaining runs needed if we're going to win.

[Atko]

SLBenfica vs The Raging Speed Horns
League Youth 2.1

Weather Sunny
Pitch Slow

Huge loss to our youth side this week has been the promotion of Don Cypher to seniors. This guy was our exp/exp goto RFM, who opened the bowling and kept our attack at least moderately respectable. We're now reduced to two 16yos and three 18yos, the latter of whom are just shy of being a threat. I think this may trigger our toppling from the top of the league over the next few weeks, but if we can just tread water for a while and maintain a tier 2 place by the end of the season, then I'll be happy.

Anyway, we're facing SLBenfica, who thusfar have been pulling ratings similar to ours. We opted to bat first on a slow track, and I think we've done okay. We bat fairly deep (the advantage of 'general' pulls ), so needed to utilize that to the maximum - considering the paucity of our bowling. At the halfway stage it's -

End of over 40 (7 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(222-5) RR 5.55

- in previous weeks I'd be pleased with that score, but whether our young bowlers can defend it is another matter.

As I feared, our bowling is too feeble - our seamers can't even hit 5k.

Result -

SLBenfica won by 6 wickets

Match Ratings
SLBenfica The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 6,072 7,572
Batting - Middle Order 5,856 5,007
Batting - Tail 3,869 3,365
Bowling - Seam 6,508 (24) 4,591 (16)
Bowling - Spin 7,639 (16) 5,975 (24)
Fielding/Keeping 7,546 7,639
Overall 116,759 110,439

This'll be a tough few weeks going forward

[casperj]

Had my spinner open the batting as a pinch hitter/sacrifice for opponents fast bowlers on an uneven wicket. He ended up carrying his bat!! Probably cost me any chance of winning as it prevented some of the better batsmen getting in, has fatigued one of my bowlers aand meant we scored too slowly.

T. Wightman (rfm) 8-0-41-1, S. Sikander 100 (134b), S. Reese 34 (27b)
End of over 40 (9 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(193-3) RR 4.83

That's mental

Did you have him on aggro?

No, have him on standard orders. My aim is to have him suck up 10-20 balls at the start, to take the sting out of the fast bowlers on a favourable wicket for them, and then assume he'll get out and the batsmen can get in.

Ended up losing with 3 balls left. Had 3 decent batters who didn't get in, so could well have made the difference.

Mr Nice;Old Rollers Requiem Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 6,087 4,481
Batting - Middle Order 4,837 5,346
Batting - Tail 3,575 2,270
Bowling - Seam 5,533 (32) 5,029 (32)
Bowling - Spin 7,506 (8) 6,860 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 6,580 6,467
Overall 103,806 92,499

[spark]

Fiery's XI Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 6,744 7,717
Batting - Middle Order 5,614 6,167
Batting - Tail 4,121 3,705
Bowling - Seam 7,146 (16) 7,359 (24)
Bowling - Spin 8,011 (24) 5,582 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 7,716 9,769
Overall 123,274 129,202

Ruff Royals won by 5 wickets

Thankfully, Marwat and Mitchell did indeed get the vast bulk of the remaining runs with a partnership of 109 leaving only 21 runs more for the win. Marwat got to 50 before getting out and Mitchell carried his bat but only got a single off his last ball which won the game but left him on 99 not out.

We just sneak out of the relegation zone but only on net run rate.

We play Ffoh next week. We'll be missing 2 players and they'll be missing 3 due to international duty. I think we'll struggle to get the win but you never know.

[wolfberries]

Village Flowers wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 6,345 7,576
Batting - Middle Order 5,105 6,788
Batting - Tail 3,471 3,964
Bowling - Seam 7,544 (24) 5,941 (24)
Bowling - Spin 6,616 (16) 7,311 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 6,879 10,349
Overall 112,716 132,846

Result: wolfberries won by 7 wickets

Coasted to victory in the end, and we remain four points ahead of second place.

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away Bedfordshire Jats
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League One Day 2.1
Date 24 May 24 10:00
Crowd 20,880
Weather Sunny
Pitch Slow

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.

Bedfordshire Jats are probably the lowest rated side in the league but they're not to be taken lightly as they've already picked up a couple of wins.

L. Lyttelton (lfm) 5-0-19-0, C. Dickerson 10 (16b), F. Bullock 29 (31b)
End of over 10 (6 runs) - Ruff Royals(49-1) RR 4.90

Arguably my best bat is already out. Let's see what the rest of my lot can do.

[Atko]

Trevor Francis Tracksuit vs The Raging Speed Horns
League One Day 1.1

Weather Sunny
Pitch Slow

Interesting game today against the sporting garments .

I'm missing my best bat and demon strike bowler to nats for this one. The oppo are short four top batsmen, so I can't complain.

aarong has prepped a slow pitch, which rather suits my attack of two RM's, one LM, and two RFS's - a bit one-dimensional, but homegrown can often lead you down that particular cul de sac. We decided to bat first, which in retrospect, I'm not sure why - I'd rather have restricted 'em to a tight score and then chased it down - but old age seems to have caused a bit of sloppy order setting this season . Hey ho - at least I got the rest right!

Halfway through our innings and -

End of over 25 (8 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(120-3) RR 4.80

Seems reasonable enough. The only failure so far is new bat Bozelli, with an underwhelming 2 off 10 balls, but we'll let him off. Needless to say, I hope we push on - something around 250 would be pleasing

[spark]

R. Mahatapa (rws) 9-0-58-0, C. Dickerson 103 (101b), M. Schmidt 66 (49b)
End of over 42 (13 runs) - Ruff Royals(259-3) RR 6.17

Despite that loss of an early wicket, I'd say we are in an excellent position. Dickerson has done particularly well.

[wolfberries]

Home Inchigeela Angels
Away wolfberries
Ground Tir na Spideoga
League One Day 1.1
Date 24 May 24 10:00
Crowd 20,772
Weather Sunny
Pitch Crumbling

Toss: Inchigeela Angels won the toss and elected to bowl.

Would have preferred to bowl first but you can't always have your own way.

I. Van De Meent (rfm) 9.1-1-34-3, S. Garland 14 (15b)
End of over 49 (maiden) - wolfberries(202-10) RR 4.12

Very happy with the score in these conditions and the selected batsmen, although not sure we will defend this despite picking a near first XI attack.

[Atko]

Well, an even better score than I hoped for -

End of over 50 (10 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(316-4) RR 6.32

- that's gotta be a match winner. My keeper Fadington faced 131 balls for his 148no. May have to shuffle the reserve keeper in for tomorrows MKMC - not sure yet.

Will be interesting to see how the medium pacers and finger spinners perform now...

[spark]

T. Moerenhout (rfm) 10-0-75-1, I. Dennehy 7 (6b), C. Dickerson 127 (120b)
End of over 50 (7 runs) - Ruff Royals(322-4) RR 6.44

Even with increased scores this season, I think 322 is a very good score on a slow pitch. 127 not out for Dickerson, 98 for Schmidt, and 70 for Bullock were the main scorers for us.

[spark]

D. Combs (lf) 4-0-27-0, G. Currie 16 (24b), A. Dalmiya 27 (18b)
End of over 7 (12 runs) - Bedfordshire Jats(45-0). 278 runs required from 43 overs. RR 6.43 RRR 6.47

I was hoping for a big net run rate win but now I'm not sure we're even going to get the win. Maybe the spinners will give us some control.

[spark]

M. Patterson (rfs) 2-0-16-0, A. Dalmiya 69 (43b), J. Sardesai 7 (12b)
End of over 14 (14 runs) - Bedfordshire Jats(98-1). 225 runs required from 36 overs. RR 7.00 RRR 6.25

So it's seem it's a slow pitch that is not actually a slow pitch.

Edit: A second wicket falls but it's not Dalmiya who is being a menace.