England League and Cup Discussion

[casperj]

Amounderness Hundred Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 7,944 5,233
Batting - Middle Order 5,273 5,213
Batting - Tail 3,937 3,057
Bowling - Seam 7,563 (24) 5,131 (24)
Bowling - Spin 7,717 (16) 6,089 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 5,578 6,840
Overall 119,537 99,049

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 7 wickets
T. Parsonage (rm) 7.2-1-32-0, A. Shareef 108 (90b), S. Reese 72 (60b)
End of over 40 (6 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(248-3) RR 6.20

Very unexpected win for my youth team. Possibly better fielding on a flat wicket helped? Still unlikely to survive in Div 3, but its gven us a glimmer of hope.

[spark]

I don't think I've ever had someone on rest before but there was a time when I got close. I can't 100% remember if I went through with resting them or I had second thoughts and put them to work.

Ruff Royals bigsexybarry
Batting - Top Order 7,369 7,550
Batting - Middle Order 6,347 5,578
Batting - Tail 3,832 3,653
Bowling - Seam 7,101 (32) 6,947 (32)
Bowling - Spin 9,687 (8) 6,831 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 9,489 5,981
Overall 132,920 116,041

Ruff Royals won by 8 wickets

A good bowling display. Pithey and Rocha took a couple of wickets each as we restricted them to 159 on an uneven pitch. Our batting was a bit slow to start with but, after a couple of early wickets, we dug in and kept wickets in hand. Marwat finished on 80 not out from 105 balls whilst Galindo ended with 55 not out from 72 balls.

We move out of the relegation zone up to 6th but we're level on points with 2nd place.

[Atko]

Youth 2.1
Inchigeela Angels v The Raging Speed Horns
Overcast/Green
Result: The Raging Speed Horns won by 3 wickets

Match Ratings
Inchigeela Angels The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 7,483 6,320
Batting - Middle Order 5,787 5,810
Batting - Tail 3,452 3,229
Bowling - Seam 5,950 (24) 5,530 (24)
Bowling - Spin 8,808 (16) 5,705 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 8,773 7,020
Overall 125,225 107,271

Another nice win against the odds, but my youth team are now in freefall ratings-wise. From 141k towards the end of last season to the current state, brought about by having a clutch of good pulls 4-5 seasons back, to a rather barren run of late. I'm down to 5 bowlers (one away on Nat duty for this match) and with only twelve players in the squad, I'm going to have to accept any old rubbish just to make up the numbers in the weeks to come - assuming the RNG doesn't smile on me next Monday.

Regarding "Rest" -

I always keep a big squad (probably too big) which means I can manage fatigue, however that comes at a cost of wages. I don't think I've ever used the rest option.

Yeah - I'm finally getting up to speed with the senior squad, numbers wise. The wage bill has made me more MKMC-focused - it's a good revenue stream and allows me to keep the lavish academy ticking over (for the time being).

I don't think I've ever put a player on rest who isn't 30+, I tend not to over extend my squads , senior wise I won't concentrate on more than two comps at a time.

Yep - this season it's been SOD and MKMC for me. I've tried to split the T20 out among 2nd XI and youth players - although the fatigue issue came about partly through sloppy monitoring of orders (with a couple of seniors playing in all matches). Going forward it'll be more manageable.

I don't think I've ever had someone on rest before but there was a time when I got close. I can't 100% remember if I went through with resting them or I had second thoughts and put them to work.

Okay so regarding "Rest", our survey said nah-ah!

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Surrey Cricket Club
Batting - Top Order 6,401 6,381
Batting - Middle Order 5,654 5,144
Batting - Tail 3,546 3,548
Bowling - Seam 4,603 (32) 5,532 (16)
Bowling - Spin 6,466 (8) 5,472 (24)
Fielding/Keeping 9,145 6,787
Overall 111,173 104,590

Result: wolfberries won by 3 wickets

A close but much needed win, it's going to be tough to avoid relegation though!

[spark]

E. Fagg (lf) 10-0-60-2, M. Patterson 6 (7b), R. Schneider 14 (11b)
End of over 50 (6 runs) - Ruff Royals(336-6) RR 6.72

Even pitch so I'm less experienced in what a good enough score would be. It seems like a very good score to me but I've probably got more experience of these conditions at international level so this might still be chaseable. Mills got 71, Dennehy got 48, and Schmidt got 83 from 68 balls.

We've got to bowl well both to win and to help our net run rate.

[Atko]

One Day 2.1
YorkshireTykes v The Raging Speed Horns
Overcast/Hard

End of over 25 (11 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(147-2). 131 runs required from 25 overs. RR 5.88 RRR 5.24

Solid start chasing 277. Must admit I'd hoped to get 'em out cheaper, but c'est la vie. I suspect this one's ours to lose now. The Tykes currently second from bottom - us second from top - ah the symmetry...

EDIT...

Wrapped up with 5 overs to spare -

The Raging Speed Horns won by 7 wickets

Match Ratings
YorkshireTykes The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 13,013 14,163
Batting - Middle Order 10,001 10,346
Batting - Tail 5,499 4,428
Bowling - Seam 12,531 (40) 14,218 (30)
Bowling - Spin 12,770 (10) 14,030 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 14,415 17,954
Overall 214,697 235,902

Nice unbeaten century for my youngest batsman, and a 70 for the wicketkeeper. Might rest 'em for the MKMC against Inchigeela Angels this Sunday.

[spark]

It took a while to get the 7th wicket but after that it went quickly.

Ruff Royals won by 102 runs.

Relegation reprobates Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 14,166 14,469
Batting - Middle Order 11,811 11,959
Batting - Tail 5,417 4,899
Bowling - Seam 13,017 (30) 13,947 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,809 (20) 13,298 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,194 17,116
Overall 235,418 240,200

[spark]

It's time for me to say goodbye to Captain Steven Whitehead. He has been a world class summary batter for several seasons and I'd like to say he'll be greatly missed. That's what I'd like to say anyway but I can't as he's only got a batting average just shy of 26 so not exactly a top performer in my team. He will be passing the captain's armband to Francis Bullock who was one of my favourite youth players and will no doubt be a disappointment now he's a first team regular.

With a much heavier heart, I'll be retiring wicketkeeper Armando Clarke. He leaves us with a much more respectable 31 average and was a mainstay in the USA national touring squad for many seasons. Dennehy is eager to get his hands on the wicketkeeping gloves on a more regular basis as he moves from just being a batter to being the man behind the stumps. Dickerson is likely to take over as a pure batsman although Laurence is sure to get a chance every now and then.

[casperj]

Crestfallen Sidekicks Gully Boys CC
Batting - Top Order 10,828 12,385
Batting - Middle Order 12,627 11,106
Batting - Tail 7,944 5,278
Bowling - Seam 11,674 (20) 13,315 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,682 (30) 13,766 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 15,870 15,679
Overall 229,658 224,316

Gully Boys CC won by 21 runs

Pretty predictable defeat once I'd lost the toss. Spinners never seem to perform on Crumbling/Dry wickets if you have to bowl first.

[Atko]

MKMC Round 6
The Raging Speed Horns v Inchigeela Angels
Result: The Raging Speed Horns won by 106 runs
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Sticky

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Inchigeela Angels
Batting - Top Order 13,492 13,930
Batting - Middle Order 9,836 10,407
Batting - Tail 4,244 5,018
Bowling - Seam 13,636 (30) 13,782 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,139 (20) 13,957 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,998 15,726
Overall 224,228 228,844

Solid win there - my LF is turning into a bit of a beast - 5/14 gives him 19 wickets in the MKMC at 6.63 a piece, just behind the the top guy who's played one game more. None of my batsmen make the top 30 - useless sods - although to be fair, they spend half their time playing on sticky, so they're on a hiding to nothing compared to the bowlers.

This lot can now put their feet up until the next domestic one day.

[wolfberries]

St. Marks Hill Strollers wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 12,188 12,989
Batting - Middle Order 11,355 11,636
Batting - Tail 6,982 4,386
Bowling - Seam 12,171 (33) 12,919 (40)
Bowling - Spin 12,957 (17) 16,137 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 15,461 17,245
Overall 223,699 231,208

Result: wolfberries won by 99 runs

An easier than expected win keeps us in the prize money spots.

[spark]

Ruff Royals Oxhey Players
Batting - Top Order 7,172 7,939
Batting - Middle Order 6,329 6,808
Batting - Tail 3,722 3,908
Bowling - Seam 7,024 (16) 6,898 (18)
Bowling - Spin 10,028 (4) 4,856 (2)
Fielding/Keeping 9,526 6,415
Overall 131,878 123,425

Oxhey Players won by 2 runs

A disappointing defeat. We had 132 to chase on an uneven pitch which I thought was very doable. However, we only had one batter who stayed in for a long enough period and all the others were largely underperformers. The one who did score heavily was excellent and Howe can be proud of his effort with 82 runs from 68 balls.

It's proving to be a tight league as we were knocked off top spot on net run rate by the second bottom side and there's now only 8 points between top and second bottom.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries The Benaud Eye
Batting - Top Order 6,974 5,808
Batting - Middle Order 4,712 5,389
Batting - Tail 3,427 3,282
Bowling - Seam 4,906 (12) 5,455 (8)
Bowling - Spin 5,975 (8) 6,087 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 9,073 6,585
Overall 110,918 103,565

Result: The Benaud Eye won by 3 runs

A very disappointing loss and has hurt our push for promotion.

[casperj]

bluekipper8878 Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,009 12,154
Batting - Middle Order 10,123 11,055
Batting - Tail 4,472 5,659
Bowling - Seam 11,633 (8) 12,682 (8)
Bowling - Spin 12,110 (12) 13,550 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 14,610 15,830
Overall 209,372 223,324

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 30 runs

Crazy match on a Windy/Crumbling. 99 all out was enought to win batting first! Our batting failed again, not helped by my opponent passing all 9 of his fielding wicket checks + getting 6 'great fieldings vs 2 misfields. Although we had substantially higher fielding ratings, we only passed 4 of 6 fielding wicket checks, and only had 4 great fieldings vs 2 misfields. Makes me wonder what the point of training fielding to Spec/Exceptional is....

[spark]

Ruff Royals Pedagogs
Batting - Top Order 14,285 14,093
Batting - Middle Order 10,715 12,062
Batting - Tail 4,915 6,270
Bowling - Seam 14,133 (8) 14,080 (8)
Bowling - Spin 12,333 (12) 13,332 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 17,024 16,974
Overall 231,085 242,511

Ruff Royals won by 13 runs

I'm very happy with that win against the top of the table side on a slow pitch. I'm especially pleased as I managed to rest my main allrounder and the risk I took, in picking a young spin allrounder over a slightly better medium pace allrounder, paid off.

I was annoyed at the end when I thought there was 20 runs required and then I saw a host of boundaries in the commentary. Luckily, I was accidentally looking at the run rate so they still needed 19 runs to win!

We lost the toss and were made to bat first. Bullock was out first ball which bodes well now that he's first choice! Mills hit 58 from 39 balls and led us to a very competitive 140 with help from Dennehy's 31 not out.

Our bowling was a bit up and down but we managed to gain a bit of control on the run rate by the halfway point of their innings. Westerveld and Patterson both had economy rates of 3.75 but Westerveld managed to pick up 3 wickets.