England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

J. Westerveld (rfs) 4-0-21-0, M. Zafar 2 (9b), K. Ebanks 26 (37b)
End of over 25 (12 runs) - Gully Boys CC(86-3) RR 3.44

I'd probably make Gully Boys favourites from here. If we can take some more wickets quickly then we might get back into it.

[spark]

D. Combs (lf) 8.5-0-28-2, M. Cross 0 (1b)
End of over 43 (6 runs) - Gully Boys CC(182-10) RR 4.23

We managed to pick up the last 4 wickets in 9 balls. Sadly, we did that a little too late. Combs didn't get the early wickets I wanted and although Zondeki was alright to start with he faded badly after the mid innings break.

There's an awful lot of work for the batters to do.

[wolfberries]

South London's Number One CC wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 14,444 12,040
Batting - Middle Order 11,707 10,496
Batting - Tail 4,820 4,494
Bowling - Seam 12,672 (40) 12,227 (30)
Bowling - Spin 14,018 (10) 12,383 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 17,446 16,153
Overall 236,113 213,535

wolfberries won by 3 wickets

Another win, but we are still getting relegated.

[spark]

Ruff Royals Gully Boys CC
Batting - Top Order 14,672 14,267
Batting - Middle Order 12,818 10,653
Batting - Tail 4,813 4,438
Bowling - Seam 12,900 (30) 13,756 (40)
Bowling - Spin 14,313 (20) 14,099 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 17,851 17,136
Overall 245,283 233,535

Gully Boys CC won by 32 runs

The loss of early wickets meant we were never likely to successfully chase 182. Schmidt did get a 47 so I can say that he put in a performance that I was looking for (although I'd have liked more). The other performances I was looking for didn't happen.

It doesn't look like a sticky pitch is the pitch for us (I don't think we bat deep enough at this point) so I think I'm going to have to look for something else. Possibly a switch to dry and just use a young spin allrounder and sell medium pacers.

It's going to be interesting trying to have a squad good enough for the top league in T20 whilst also trying to keep costs down due to being in division 3 in SOD.

[casperj]

gRhyllidae Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,855 13,842
Batting - Middle Order 11,764 11,593
Batting - Tail 6,509 5,837
Bowling - Seam 12,524 (10) 14,135 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,371 (40) 14,104 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,826 16,807
Overall 238,495 240,283

gRhyllidae won by 38 runs

Pretty much knew we'd lose once we lost the toss. Spin bowlers never seem to perform bowling first on a dry wicket, as evidenced by my world class summary finger spinner going for 7.5 an over. Another season in Div 3 beckons!

[Atko]

...well, a good performance in the end -

Result: The Raging Speed Horns won by 7 wickets

Match Ratings
Pedagogs The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 14,108 14,599
Batting - Middle Order 11,820 9,918
Batting - Tail 6,900 4,636
Bowling - Seam 13,408 (40) 13,433 (40)
Bowling - Spin 12,656 (10) 15,052 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 16,926 17,995
Overall 241,481 234,750

Excellent bowling from the three old hands and two reserves, kept the oppo to a chaseable 187. The top order delivered the goods with ten overs to spare and the loss of just three wickets. Well done lads!

[spark]

Ruff Royals Snakey's Kent Stars
Batting - Top Order 6,311 7,481
Batting - Middle Order 4,606 5,390
Batting - Tail 3,692 3,518
Bowling - Seam 5,668 (16) 6,637 (20)
Bowling - Spin 7,543 (4) 0 (0)
Fielding/Keeping 7,926 8,784
Overall 108,739 121,579

Snakey's Kent Stars won by 7 wickets

We were always going to struggle this week with 2 players away but after we scored 12 in the first over on an uneven pitch I thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. We soon slowed down our scoring and lost wickets regularly. Foot held firm with 45 not out from 38 balls but we only managed a total of 113.

The bowlers struggled to both take wickets and keep the run rate down so Snakey's Kent Stars won comfortably with three and a half over to spare.

The good news is that we're still not in the relegation zone although we play the team top team next week so that might not last long.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Francis House
Batting - Top Order 7,848 6,255
Batting - Middle Order 4,971 4,228
Batting - Tail 3,287 2,606
Bowling - Seam 7,119 (8) 5,239 (12)
Bowling - Spin 6,831 (12) 6,019 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 8,805 6,514
Overall 122,288 97,053

Result: wolfberries won by 8 wickets

That's promotion confirmed, we are also 12 points ahead of second place in the youth 40 over league. So anything but a loss and a double youth promotion is sorted, very much needed as well.

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away wolfberries
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League Twenty20 2.2
Date 09 Jul 24 10:00
Crowd 17,136
Weather Windy
Pitch Slow

A win here with our net run rate advantage could virtually seal promotion.

S. Garland (rf) 1-0-14-0, W. Mills 5 (3b), F. Bullock 9 (3b)
End of over 1 (14 runs) - Ruff Royals(14-0) RR 14.00

A very good first over but that happened yesterday and then we lost easily.

[wolfberries]

K. Hartigan (lm) 2-0-30-0, W. Mills 31 (19b), F. Bullock 37 (23b)
End of over 7 (10 runs) - Ruff Royals(68-0) RR 9.71

S. Garland (rf) 2-0-28-0, F. Bullock 11 (7b), W. Mills 18 (11b)
End of over 3 (14 runs) - Ruff Royals(29-0) RR 9.67

JFC

[spark]

S. Garland (rf) 4-0-52-1, W. Mills 51 (31b), J. House 0 (0b)
End of over 12 (13 runs) - Ruff Royals(117-1) RR 9.75

First wicket gone. I wish we could perform this well in SOD. That said, with how things have gone on slow pitches for me this season (albeit mostly in SOD), I'm not completely sure this kind of run rate won't be chased.

[casperj]

D. Salinas (lfs) 4-0-38-0, L. Royes 60 (38b), C. Zulch 45 (28b)
End of over 20 (13 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(193-3) RR 9.65

Feels like it should be enough, but not sure how my bowlers will fair on a Windy/Even

[casperj]

D. Salinas (lfs) 4-0-38-0, L. Royes 60 (38b), C. Zulch 45 (28b)
End of over 20 (13 runs) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(193-3) RR 9.65

Feels like it should be enough, but not sure how my bowlers will fair on a Windy/Even

Wasn't enough...

Bathaloner Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,898 13,906
Batting - Middle Order 11,281 11,238
Batting - Tail 8,778 5,750
Bowling - Seam 11,421 (12) 13,852 (12)
Bowling - Spin 12,700 (8) 13,958 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 15,844 16,638
Overall 234,251 237,212

Bathaloner won by 7 wickets

Returned my highest ever one-day rating on Friday, and lost. Today returned highest ever T20 rating, and lost....

[spark]

Ruff Royals wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 15,080 14,151
Batting - Middle Order 12,667 11,563
Batting - Tail 5,142 4,924
Bowling - Seam 15,217 (12) 12,463 (12)
Bowling - Spin 14,171 (8) 12,484 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 18,221 16,615
Overall 255,076 229,836

Ruff Royals won by 4 runs

That was very close. I didn't think we were going to do it when there were 3 or 4 overs left. Thank goodness for my 2 seam specialists at the start with Bullock hitting a rapid 66 and Mills 65 (both off 41 balls). The rest of my batters played like it was actually a slow pitch despite some wickets in hand.

Rush was the best of my bowlers purely for his excellent economy (4.75) and Westerveld wasn't too bad. The rest weren't great though.

I wouldn't say the title race is over as the net run rate gap has closed a little and we've got two tough games left.

The ratings were a bit better than I was expecting (I'm looking forward to posting similar ratings in division 3 SOD next season!). The crowd attendance was awful.

[Atko]

The Raging Speed Horns vs SLBenfica
League Youth 2.1

Weather Sunny
Pitch Dry

2nd (us) vs 3rd (them) today. They're about 8k better than us on paper, but I'd hope we can squeak a victory. We've won the toss, so it's all set up.