England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

Ruff Royals Sledgingshire
Batting - Top Order 14,578 13,119
Batting - Middle Order 10,700 11,543
Batting - Tail 4,302 4,753
Bowling - Seam 14,236 (12) 13,580 (8)
Bowling - Spin 13,508 (8) 13,879 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 17,444 16,493
Overall 236,075 231,184

Ruff Royals won by 23 runs

McCall and Mills got us off to a cracking start as we were made to bat first. Clarke also made a good contribution later on with 44 from 36 balls and we posted 165 on a slow pitch.

Roberson and Rush then got us off to a cracking start with the ball. The run rate required soon became too much for them and in the end they did well to get as close as they did. Schneider was super economical conceding only 8 runs from his 4 overs although he didn't manage to get himself a wicket.

It's still a very close league but we're 8 points clear of the relegation zone which also means we're joint top albeit massively behind on NRR. Another win should see us safe which was the main goal for me this season.

[wolfberries]

Home wolfberries
Away Castle Rock CC
Ground wolfberries CG
League Youth 2.1
Date 17 Aug 23 10:00
Crowd 9,042
Weather Sunny
Pitch Crumbling

Toss: wolfberries won the toss and elected to bat.

Another expected loss today for our youths!

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Castle Rock CC
Batting - Top Order 5,408 7,146
Batting - Middle Order 4,574 4,492
Batting - Tail 3,044 3,998
Bowling - Seam 4,971 (24) 6,007 (32)
Bowling - Spin 3,561 (16) 8,512 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 8,285 6,987
Overall 95,956 112,049

Result: Castle Rock CC won by 8 wickets

No surprise this loss!

[spark]

Ruff Royals Sledgingshire
Batting - Top Order 7,003 6,881
Batting - Middle Order 7,524 4,657
Batting - Tail 5,344 3,498
Bowling - Seam 7,346 (20) 6,557 (24)
Bowling - Spin 7,910 (20) 7,180 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 8,887 8,681
Overall 138,946 116,727

Ruff Royals won by 1 wicket

Much closer than I would have liked but I'll take the win. We won the toss and made them bat and it was looking like a bad decision as they got off to a great start and were 82-0. Delap and Fattah then began to bowl really well with Delap being particularly impressive and ending with 4-25 as we restricted them to 179 all out.

Once again we started the batting badly and were soon 76-5. However, we have lots of players who can bat in the youths so it only takes a good partnership from a couple of batsmen to get us back in the game. This time it was allrounders Harrison (67) and Ames (40) who got us the bulk of the runs. We did try to implode at the end but just sneaked over the winning line.

Still 8 points clear at the top.

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away Inchigeela Angels
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League One Day 1.1
Date 18 Aug 23 10:00
Weather (forecast) Sunny
Pitch (current) Slow

We're playing top of the table. I'm not expecting anything from the game so I've decided to rest 2 or 3 of my older players who are a bit tired. I'll cross my fingers that it doesn't make my NRR dramatically worse.

[spark]

A. Hyland (rfs) 1-0-5-0, J. House 14 (13b), W. Mills 3 (2b)
End of over 11 (5 runs) - Ruff Royals(52-3) RR 4.73

The run rate is fine but the number of wickets we've lost is not. These two need a huge partnership and I can't see it happening.

[spark]

D. Currie (rm) 7.2-0-31-2, D. Combs 3 (10b)
End of over 46 (maiden) - Ruff Royals(176-10) RR 3.83

That's not as bad as I thought it was going to be although we've got no chance of winning. Dennehy with a decent 59 as he was ably supported by allrounder Schneider who hit 40.

[spark]

Inchigeela Angels won by 4 wickets

Ruff Royals Inchigeela Angels
Batting - Top Order 13,352 14,704
Batting - Middle Order 11,453 13,612
Batting - Tail 3,682 6,042
Bowling - Seam 13,568 (30) 13,892 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,274 (20) 14,410 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 17,089 17,316
Overall 228,784 253,837

A loss but not as damaging as I thought it might be.

[casperj]

Two Star CC Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,248 12,161
Batting - Middle Order 8,352 13,309
Batting - Tail 5,107 5,852
Bowling - Seam 12,958 (50) 12,666 (30)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 14,685 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 14,955 15,943
Overall 211,380 234,633

Two Star CC won by 6 wickets

Thrashed despite out-rating the opponents by 23k. Keep getting results like this, which means that despite having the strongest team in the league, the best I can finish is 3rd.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Grays Thurrock CC
Batting - Top Order 12,196 8,342
Batting - Middle Order 11,200 7,663
Batting - Tail 5,048 3,341
Bowling - Seam 9,943 (30) 7,022 (30)
Bowling - Spin 11,084 (20) 8,880 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 15,581 11,983
Overall 207,476 148,819

Result: wolfberries won by 275 runs

A win against the league bot keeps us four points clear on top.

[wolfberries]

Home Captain Speccy's Muppets
Away wolfberries
Ground Captain Speccy's Muppets CG
League Youth Twenty20 3.2
Date 21 Aug 23 10:00
Crowd 7,120
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Slow

Toss: wolfberries won the toss and elected to bat.

Another loss expected today.

[spark]

Ruff Royals won by 7 wickets

Ruff Royals Oxhey Players
Batting - Top Order 7,414 7,807
Batting - Middle Order 6,473 7,792
Batting - Tail 4,482 3,979
Bowling - Seam 6,704 (12) 7,425 (12)
Bowling - Spin 8,618 (8) 8,715 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 8,390 5,940
Overall 131,512 131,863

Well, we inflicted their first defeat of the season in this league. They'd have to lose 2 more games (or 1 loss and a tie) for us to have any chance of overcoming their points advantage and our NRR deficit.

Delap was great again with 4-19 but they still set a challenging total of 144 to win on a crumbling pitch. Bennett got us off to a good start with 40 and Durham got 37. Delap made sure he picked up the man of the match though with 38 not out from 24 balls as we won on the final ball.

[wolfberries]

Captain Speccy's Muppets wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 6,044 4,489
Batting - Middle Order 5,359 4,155
Batting - Tail 3,307 3,017
Bowling - Seam 6,164 (20) 4,971 (12)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 3,561 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 6,654 7,526
Overall 106,317 88,244

Result: Captain Speccy's Muppets won by 7 wickets

A big loss as expected.

[spark]

Home Ffoh
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Ffoh CG
League Twenty20 1.1
Date 22 Aug 23 10:00
Crowd 20,710
Weather Windy
Pitch Uneven

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.

H. Abdel (lfm) 1-0-7-0, J. House 7 (5b), E. McCall 1 (4b)
End of over 2 (11 runs) - Ruff Royals(12-2) RR 6.00

We lost 2 wickets for 0 runs from the first 3 balls so it could have started better for us.

[spark]

S. Mullen (rfs) 4-0-39-0, R. Schneider 26 (14b), S. Whitehead 43 (33b)
End of over 20 (17 runs) - Ruff Royals(137-5) RR 6.85

A good last over to get to some sort of total that might be defendable. I think we might be at least 20 runs short of where we'd need to be.