England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

G. Wiener (lfm) 10-1-49-4, C. Rush 1 (1b), D. Combs 0 (0b)
End of over 50 (4 runs) - Ruff Royals(303-8) RR 6.06

That's a decent total but anything is chaseable especially if my bowlers and fielders get too tired. House just missed out on a century by getting run out on 96. Mills was also run out but this time for 87.

[spark]

T. Zondeki (rf) 2-0-8-0, A. Caldwell 20 (32b), A. Roy 15 (17b)
End of over 18 (4 runs) - Bedfordshire Jats(79-3). 225 runs required from 32 overs. RR 4.39 RRR 7.03

An okay start to the bowling so far but we need to keep the pressure on.

[Atko]

End of over 41 (maiden) - Trevor Francis Tracksuit(114-10). 51 runs required from 9 overs. RR 2.78 RRR 5.67

The Raging Speed Horns won by 50 runs

Job done. Good, solid bowling performance - my RM and RFS getting the lion's share of the wickets with 3 and 4 respectively. At 92-3 after 30 overs, the oppo were looking a wee bit too comfy, but a catastrophic five wickets in four overs ended it for them rather suddenly. Ravana got three of his four at this stage, which, added to his stonewalling 17 runs towards the end of our innings, rightfully got my favourite RFS MotM.

Interestingly, the top four won today so - barring any tweaks to NRR for the 5-7th placed guys on 16 pts - there should be no change to the table.

The numbers -

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Trevor Francis Tracksuit
Batting - Top Order 14,981 13,653
Batting - Middle Order 11,014 12,283
Batting - Tail 4,444 5,250
Bowling - Seam 14,644 (30) 14,008 (40)
Bowling - Spin 15,333 (20) 14,360 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 18,464 15,924
Overall 247,311 237,659

[spark]

It's been a long time but we've finally won!

Ruff Royals won by 132 runs

Bedfordshire Jats Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,290 14,684
Batting - Middle Order 10,083 13,646
Batting - Tail 4,287 4,100
Bowling - Seam 11,776 (40) 14,086 (50)
Bowling - Spin 13,793 (10) 0 (0)
Fielding/Keeping 14,966 17,920
Overall 212,148 249,813

Combs got us off to a good start with the ball and ended with 4-33. Schneider also took 3-40.

This win means I'll only be 4 points from safety. However, something tells me that I'll need to win both my remaining matches to stay up; I don't think 20 points is going to be enough and I'm on 16 at the moment.

[Atko]

...
This win means I'll only be 4 points from safety. However, something tells me that I'll need to win both my remaining matches to stay up; I don't think 20 points is going to be enough and I'm on 16 at the moment.

Man, that's a tough couple of matches to come. Some strong teams in 2.1.

[spark]

...
This win means I'll only be 4 points from safety. However, something tells me that I'll need to win both my remaining matches to stay up; I don't think 20 points is going to be enough and I'm on 16 at the moment.

Man, that's a tough couple of matches to come. Some strong teams in 2.1.

There'll all pretty tough in 2.1 with it being the 11th ranked league in the world (2.2 is the 27th ranked). The highest rating 2.2 side on Friday would only have been the 6th highest rating side in 2.1.

It's going to be interesting if I promote to T20 1.1 whilst also being in SOD div 3. I guess I'll still be able to rate around 250k in division 3!

[spark]

Home Relegation reprobates
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Relegation reprobates CG
League Youth Twenty20 1.1
Date 15 Jul 24 10:00
Crowd 10,512
Weather Sunny
Pitch Dry

I was unsure whether to bat first to try and to reduce the chances of a big net run rate hit or bowl first which I thought would give me more chance of a win. I chose to bowl first even though I think a win is unlikely.

R. Reynolds (rfm) 4-0-32-0, C. Carmody 5 (5b), C. Hinds 6 (4b)
End of over 20 (7 runs) - Relegation reprobates(170-5) RR 8.50

A win is looking more unlikely now as I don't think we can go at that run rate.

F. Moore (lf) 3-0-23-0, L. Foot 9 (4b), L. Vinson 6 (8b)
End of over 10 (6 runs) - Ruff Royals(73-3). 98 runs required from 10 overs. RR 7.30 RRR 9.80

My two best batters are out so I can't see us getting the points from this game.

[casperj]

Somerset Cavaliers CC Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 5,337 5,475
Batting - Middle Order 3,728 4,447
Batting - Tail 2,548 2,604
Bowling - Seam 4,567 (16) 5,693 (16)
Bowling - Spin 3,179 (4) 7,615 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 4,383 6,903
Overall 78,505 98,599

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 70 runs

Guarantees us some prize money at the end of the season, which is all I can really ask for given how poor my youth team is. Could theoretically grab third if I win next week, but that's pretty unlikely.

[spark]

Relegation reprobates won by 19 runs

Relegation reprobates Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 9,702 7,429
Batting - Middle Order 6,306 4,932
Batting - Tail 3,895 3,719
Bowling - Seam 7,333 (8) 8,109 (12)
Bowling - Spin 8,352 (12) 6,422 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 9,347 8,500
Overall 143,487 123,273

A few more runs in the last over would have been nice (we only got 5) but it's pretty much what I expected from the top team in the league.

I was a little bit disappointed with my wrist spinner who was expensive. Foot was good though with a nice 50.

We're still 4 points clear of the relegation zone with better net run rate. That net run rate gap closed today so we can't be complacent.

[Atko]

I don't normally comment on T20, but something caught my eye today - my youth side have been struggling to avoid the drop in YT20 2.1 all season. It was only after todays match - which we won, thus securing safety - that I bothered to look up -

1 Inchigeela Angels     32
2 Fiery's XI        32
3 St. Marks Hill Strollers    30
4 The Dross         28
5 The Raging Speed Horns    28
6 Gold Prospectors X1    28
7 Danger Hotspurs    20
8 Leyland Lions    10

I never realised it, but I was also fighting for promotion

[wolfberries]

Hay Spitfires wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 7,490 7,388
Batting - Middle Order 5,297 4,400
Batting - Tail 2,856 2,932
Bowling - Seam 5,045 (16) 6,439 (12)
Bowling - Spin 8,470 (4) 6,820 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 5,622 7,350
Overall 105,235 110,962

Result: wolfberries won by 6 wickets

As promotion was already ensured, we managed to play a couple of the younger prospects.

[wolfberries]

Home wolfberries
Away YorkshireTykes
Ground wolfberries CG
League Twenty20 2.2
Date 16 Jul 24 10:00
Crowd 15,901
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Dry

Toss: wolfberries won the toss and elected to bowl.

Not sure how we have performed so badly this season, but we are already ensured of relegation.
So of course we picked a team consisting mostly of prospects, but good enough to ensure we don't miss out on sponsorship.

[wolfberries]

I never realised it, but I was also fighting for promotion

Good luck.

[spark]

Home Relegation reprobates
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Relegation reprobates CG
League Twenty20 2.2
Date 16 Jul 24 10:00
Crowd 19,000
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Dry

We could secure promotion today or Relegation reprobates could close the gap to 4 points.

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.

M. McCoombe (rfs) 1-0-10-0, J. House 23 (18b), W. Mills 27 (17b)
End of over 6 (10 runs) - Ruff Royals(50-1) RR 8.33

It didn't start well with Bullock bowled first ball of the innings but we're doing okay now. We need a really big score though.

[spark]

D. Ridimahaliyadda (rf) 4-0-34-3, M. Patterson 1 (2b), M. Schmidt 35 (25b)
End of over 20 (14 runs) - Ruff Royals(144-6) RR 7.20

I think we're going to have to wait another week to see if we can get promoted as I don't think this is enough. We're going to have to bowl extremely well if we are to win. House built a nice innings of 64.

Edit: And we've just dropped a catch the first ball of their innings.