England League and Cup Discussion

[casperj]

Ruff Royals Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 14,853 14,127
Batting - Middle Order 12,363 11,527
Batting - Tail 5,002 5,914
Bowling - Seam 14,096 (20) 13,810 (20)
Bowling - Spin 14,144 (30) 14,214 (30)
Fielding/Keeping 17,890 16,958
Overall 248,160 241,495

Ruff Royals won by 64 runs

Expected defeat once we lost the toss. Conditions were Hot/Dry and spinners never seem to perform if bowling first. My three spin spec batsmen also didn't make many runs .
Congrats to Spark who's now in pole position for promotion to Div 1.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries bluekipper8878
Batting - Top Order 14,237 12,957
Batting - Middle Order 11,700 12,013
Batting - Tail 5,332 7,799
Bowling - Seam 12,928 (30) 12,008 (40)
Bowling - Spin 13,541 (20) 14,030 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 17,195 15,048
Overall 237,198 230,489

Result: wolfberries won by 6 wickets

A tough chase but we just got over the line.

[spark]

Indian Avengers Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 4,977 8,301
Batting - Middle Order 3,223 5,094
Batting - Tail 3,829 3,909
Bowling - Seam 3,297 (12) 5,800 (14)
Bowling - Spin 5,463 (8) 9,046 (6)
Fielding/Keeping 4,537 9,475
Overall 78,716 127,604

Ruff Royals won by 169 runs

I rested a couple of key players who I didn't think were in massive need of experience and gave a couple of youngsters a go.

It was a comfortable win with Macrow hitting 87, Vinson 64, and Fuls 66 not out as we raced to a total of 241. It was always going to be a big win for us and Verhoeven picked up figures of 3-14 to make himself the best bowler on the day.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries YorkshireTykes
Batting - Top Order 5,989 6,376
Batting - Middle Order 3,935 4,697
Batting - Tail 3,360 3,861
Bowling - Seam 6,652 (8) 6,154 (12)
Bowling - Spin 6,046 (12) 8,356 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 6,823 6,938
Overall 101,692 111,870

Result: wolfberries won by 9 wickets

Despite the ratings we walked today's game, we have a very young side and we may even survive in division one!

[spark]

Bathaloner won by 27 runs

Ruff Royals Bathaloner
Batting - Top Order 13,803 13,781
Batting - Middle Order 9,967 11,587
Batting - Tail 5,026 8,558
Bowling - Seam 14,349 (8) 12,874 (16)
Bowling - Spin 14,124 (12) 14,001 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 16,794 16,836
Overall 231,615 243,160

It's tough when you have an allrounder, a wicketkeeper, and 3 batters away on international duty. A bit surprisingly, it was the bowlers that did badly and I'd class all of them as first choice players. Delap was particularly bad with figures of 0-57 on an even pitch.

We made a respectable 179 but still lost by 27 runs. Laurence hit 50 and Durham 68.

On the plus side, we're still top as the other results seemed to go our way.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Oxhey Players
Batting - Top Order 6,083 6,189
Batting - Middle Order 4,131 4,713
Batting - Tail 3,344 3,552
Bowling - Seam 6,717 (16) 5,850 (32)
Bowling - Spin 6,126 (24) 8,279 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 6,932 7,318
Overall 103,502 107,895

Result: Oxhey Players won by 4 wickets

Despite the loss we should be OK to avoid relegation, which is all we are looking for this season as we have a very young squad.

[casperj]

Crestfallen Sidekicks Yorkshire Tigers
Batting - Top Order 5,278 6,575
Batting - Middle Order 5,459 5,112
Batting - Tail 2,559 3,474
Bowling - Seam 5,871 (16) 6,804 (32)
Bowling - Spin 5,886 (24) 7,957 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 7,650 6,300
Overall 102,979 111,251

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 2 wickets

Somehow still top of the league despite a very poor squad. Actually (for once) benefitted from playing more spinners on a hot/dry than my opponent, and snuck a win, albeit requiring some minor heroics from nbrs 8 and 9!
Can't see us actually getting promoted, but a good chance of taking 2nd place prize money as it stands!

[Atko]

The Raging Speed Horns vs Goondiwindi
League Youth 2.1

Weather Hot
Pitch Crumbling

Result: The Raging Speed Horns won by 4 wickets

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Goondiwindi
Batting - Top Order 5,986 8,119
Batting - Middle Order 6,777 4,898
Batting - Tail 4,247 3,504
Bowling - Seam 6,032 (24) 7,235 (24)
Bowling - Spin 8,474 (16) 6,718 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 9,462 9,383
Overall 127,223 125,874

Playing top team Goondiwindi today, we managed to blag a win. Puts us even on points with the big G, but with a much inferior NRR. Camberwell Carrots are also equal on points in 3rd spot; in fact the league is tight enough that 8 points separate 1st and 6th, so it's all still up for grabs.

Todays match played out a little oddly - we put the oppo in to bat, and they scarcely got out of first gear, pootling along to 79-2 by drinks, then ambling to 156-5 by the 40th. No urgency was shown and I had to double check my bowling orders to see if I had everyone on defensive

Our turn came and we chased down the total inside the 36th over, for the loss of six wickets. No one really stood out in a damp squib of a match, but hey, four points is four points so yay!

[spark]

Egham Town CC Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 7,724 8,733
Batting - Middle Order 7,225 6,540
Batting - Tail 4,983 3,999
Bowling - Seam 6,736 (16) 6,936 (28)
Bowling - Spin 8,592 (24) 9,124 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 9,149 9,775
Overall 141,444 140,377

Egham Town CC won by 6 wickets

Vinson did great with the bat to get 115 but there wasn't much help for him as we made 225 on an even pitch. We struggled to take wickets and Egham won comfortably with about 2 overs to go.

[spark]

Ruff Royals The Spitfires
Batting - Top Order 12,791 12,613
Batting - Middle Order 11,135 10,898
Batting - Tail 4,899 4,971
Bowling - Seam 14,360 (20) 11,696 (20)
Bowling - Spin 13,987 (30) 11,618 (30)
Fielding/Keeping 16,767 14,304
Overall 231,386 210,116

Ruff Royals won by 65 runs

This was probably the best week to play a team in the bottom 2 as it meant we didn't need the 5 players who were absent. Of course, it would have been a complete disaster if we had lost.

It was a good team batting display on a dry pitch with Durham scoring 68, Dickerson hitting 66, Galindo 43, and Delap a rapid 42 from 24 balls. Zondeki was great with the ball as he took 5-58, and Westerveld also did okay with 2-28.

[Atko]

Pedagogs vs The Raging Speed Horns
League One Day 1.1

Weather Hot
Pitch Dry

Result: Pedagogs won by 5 wickets

Match Ratings
Pedagogs The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 13,591 12,124
Batting - Middle Order 11,964 8,886
Batting - Tail 5,849 4,920
Bowling - Seam 13,641 (20) 13,478 (20)
Bowling - Spin 12,841 (30) 10,314 (30)
Fielding/Keeping 17,103 15,359
Overall 236,882 202,775

Well,well, we cracked 200k playing a few youngsters . Result was a foregone conclusion, but I did see the opportunity to turn out the spinners for this one. The oppo prepped a dry pitch, so I shook out the tea chest and loaded up the team with all our wristies. the batsmen posted a respectable 251-6, but our bowlers again failed to get the wickets, with the oppo knocking off the runs with a million overs to spare.

Another player goes on the TM - not premier league material, but if anyone wants to develop a wristy - here ya go - player 2476222

[wolfberries]

Ffoh wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 8,276 6,110
Batting - Middle Order 6,316 3,929
Batting - Tail 3,865 3,095
Bowling - Seam 6,873 (12) 5,599 (12)
Bowling - Spin 7,011 (8) 6,919 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 8,873 7,127
Overall 131,222 101,463

Result: Ffoh won by 8 wickets

Absolutely hammered today, but we may actual be able to avoid relegation from divison1 this season.

[spark]

Ruff Royals Egham Town CC
Batting - Top Order 7,904 7,429
Batting - Middle Order 5,985 6,917
Batting - Tail 3,996 4,900
Bowling - Seam 6,416 (20) 6,588 (12)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 9,284 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 9,567 8,991
Overall 128,329 137,391

Ruff Royals won by 8 wickets

Just the 2 players away this week but 1, Niazi, has played his last youth game for the club as he promotes to the seniors next week. Foot is the other player away but has 1 more week of youth cricket. Buck is playing his last youth week and, somewhat surprisingly given he's got spectacular batting and tech, Howe is also getting to play youth club cricket this week for the final time.

In this match, the bowlers did well enough on an uneven pitch more due to decent economy than wicket taking as they restricted them to 132. It wasn't an easy chase as we struggled to score quickly but we didn't lose many wickets and got home in the final over. Vinson scored 49 and Howe 58 not out.

We're only 4 points off top spot but realistically the best we're going to be able to do is maintain our current 3rd place.

[casperj]

Crestfallen Sidekicks bluekipper8878
Batting - Top Order 13,185 12,943
Batting - Middle Order 12,254 11,843
Batting - Tail 5,257 7,668
Bowling - Seam 13,489 (16) 11,924 (16)
Bowling - Spin 14,655 (4) 12,396 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 16,363 15,147
Overall 235,234 227,687

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 6 wickets

Relatively comfortable win, despite our opening over going for 16 runs! Still in pole position to take second place at the end of the season.

[Atko]

Zippys Rainbow Destroyers vs The Raging Speed Horns
League Youth 2.1

Weather Humid
Pitch Uneven

Result: The Raging Speed Horns won by 5 wickets

Match Ratings
Zippys Rainbow Destroyers The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 4,406 6,174
Batting - Middle Order 5,153 6,732
Batting - Tail 2,655 4,500
Bowling - Seam 3,872 (24) 6,182 (24)
Bowling - Spin 5,617 (16) 5,994 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 7,102 9,253
Overall 90,359 123,424

Easy match for us today. Zippy's Rainbow Destroyers have fallen away in ratings and results over the last few weeks, and a 33k difference was always going to be a challenge. Quite pleased with our ratings actually - we run with seven players 18 or under and still rock a decent side. The match itself went pretty much as expected. We limited the oppo to 178-5; our bowling is our weak suit - we played one part-timer, a couple of finger spinners, a reasonable LFM and DeLameter (our one decent bowler today), so generally, it's the batsmen who do the heavy lifting (we bat down to 10). Mink Copious, our outstanding summary LWS is on tour this week, so a match against one of the bottom two clubs was gratefully received.

That win takes us to the top of the heap, displacing Goondiwindi, who fell to the ominously threatening swinton sharks, who in turn take second spot from Goondiwindi. Dunno if we'll take the league - we play swinton sharks in our final match, so might be an exciting finish to the season, or we might stumble all over the place between now and then. Who knows?