England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

R. Schneider (rm) 4-0-28-0, H. Vermaak 44 (32b), B. Lette 34 (28b)
End of over 14 (8 runs) - Relegation reprobates(102-3). 43 runs required from 6 overs. RR 7.29 RRR 7.17

We started alright but the batters are not under much pressure at the moment so I can see this turning into an easy win for them. Patterson, one of my two spinners, has been poor so far which is disappoining.

[spark]

The last 16 balls were good but not good enough. We got it close though.

Relegation reprobates won by 5 wickets

Relegation reprobates Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 14,457 14,895
Batting - Middle Order 13,019 12,472
Batting - Tail 6,697 5,110
Bowling - Seam 12,645 (8) 14,860 (12)
Bowling - Spin 14,776 (12) 14,489 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 17,694 17,947
Overall 252,701 252,205

We're about 0.5 ahead on net run rate and 4 points clear at the top. I've no idea how easily that net run rate can be reversed but it seems like a decent lead to me.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries YorkshireTykes
Batting - Top Order 13,648 12,705
Batting - Middle Order 10,622 10,027
Batting - Tail 5,077 5,640
Bowling - Seam 11,596 (12) 13,099 (12)
Bowling - Spin 12,593 (8) 12,654 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 16,520 15,272
Overall 221,851 218,276

Result: wolfberries won by 4 wickets

Another win but we are still relegated!

[casperj]

Crestfallen Sidekicks South Yorkshire CC
Batting - Top Order 12,666 10,371
Batting - Middle Order 9,236 7,812
Batting - Tail 5,124 5,061
Bowling - Seam 11,554 (12) 9,238 (12)
Bowling - Spin 13,708 (8) 9,621 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 14,129 12,079
Overall 207,445 171,109

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 9 wickets

South YOrkshire appear to be building for next season, so an easy win in the end. Pretty much guarantee's 3rd place, which is much better than I expected at the start of the season.

[spark]

Home Ffoh
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Ffoh CG
League Youth 1.1
Date 18 Jul 24 10:00
Crowd 11,030
Weather Sunny
Pitch Crumbling

We lost the toss and were made to bowl.

A bit of a mixed bag so far. We've just picked up our fourth wicket with a second wicket in the over. Ffoh were definitely on top until then but it's a bit more even now.

G. Pithey (lf) 5-0-16-2, P. Mattson 1 (1b), V. Sardhara 0 (1b)
End of over 21 (1 run) - Ffoh(84-4) RR 4.00

[Atko]

South Hill Slammers vs The Raging Speed Horns
League Youth 2.1

Weather Sunny
Pitch Crumbling

Another Thursday, another beatdown. We're currently getting our clocks cleaned by the Slammers -

B. Spinoza (rfs) 6-1-23-0, S. Baglin 66 (70b), B. Hoskings 42 (45b)
End of over 30 (3 runs) - South Hill Slammers(156-2) RR 5.20

The opposition chose to bat and are currently spanking our bowlers all over the ground. I wouldn't mind so much, but I've got a couple of decent wristies in the side who've struggled to pick up one wicket for 87 runs between them

[Atko]

End of over 40 (7 runs) - South Hill Slammers(245-3) RR 6.12

Hmmmmm...not quite as bad as I expected, but still a tall order.

[spark]

My lot did better than that but I still think we'll struggle to chase this.

D. Buck (rfm) 8-0-43-0, A. McLean 10 (7b), V. Sardhara 29 (47b)
End of over 40 (13 runs) - Ffoh(181-5) RR 4.53

We let them off the hook once they were 4 down with a couple of drops.

[spark]

R. Sulaiman (rfs) 3-0-8-0, D. Howe 2 (9b), L. Vinson 29 (57b)
End of over 18 (1 run) - Ruff Royals(69-1). 113 runs required from 22 overs. RR 3.83 RRR 5.14

In some ways it's nice so far with only the one wicket lost but we're starting to score a bit slowly which will cause us problems in the medium to long term.

[Atko]

Off to a flier -

S. Gopalan (rfm) 6-0-31-0, M. Straphmurta 29 (34b), T. Topster 63 (53b)
End of over 20 (7 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(134-1). 112 runs required from 20 overs. RR 6.70 RRR 5.60

This crumbler is playing more like an even or a hard. Batsmen on both sides having fun padding their averages

[Atko]

23.4 W Gopalan to Topster : [catch] Topster is out, slicing Gopalan straight to cover where Deane takes the simplest of catches.
T. Topster c R. Deane b. S. Gopalan 68 (63b 6x4 2x6) SR:107.94

Interesting ... Topster's been smacking boundaries at will up to the break. Thereafter he had one scoring shot for 2 and a whole bunch of dots. I could almost have predicted the wicket. Meanwhile, Straphmurta continues to score freely. For context, Topster is an outstanding summary bat, and Straphmurta capable. Stuff like that really bugs me

[Atko]

Oh well, better than a poke in the eye I suppose -

Result: Match tied

During the chase, we belted along at 6.7 an over up to drinks, way ahead of the asking rate. Then, as always seems the case, took our foot off the gas after the break, and pootled along as the RRR steadily climbed from 5.6 up to 8.6 at the end of over 35. We still had seven wickets in hand, and - here's the rub - Every Single Batsman on my team was on aggro orders! This just shouldn't have happened. We should either have won the game with a bucket full of overs to spare, or got skittled by the oppo.

Okay, rant over. The numbers -

Match Ratings
South Hill Slammers The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 6,764 7,622
Batting - Middle Order 5,411 5,003
Batting - Tail 3,588 3,364
Bowling - Seam 6,122 (24) 4,946 (16)
Bowling - Spin 5,343 (16) 6,723 (24)
Fielding/Keeping 7,971 8,092
Overall 112,430 114,934

[spark]

Ffoh Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 6,978 7,183
Batting - Middle Order 6,427 5,600
Batting - Tail 4,481 3,797
Bowling - Seam 7,468 (24) 8,176 (24)
Bowling - Spin 7,565 (16) 6,525 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 9,344 8,558
Overall 132,633 125,781

Ruff Royals won by 3 wickets

I'm very happy with the win. It got a bit nervous at the end but we just about hung on. 46 for Galindo was the best for us but Vinson also got 38 and Macrow got 30 in tricky conditions.

Those 4 points mean we're safe in what has been a tough season so I'm delighted.

We'll lose two big players for most of next season but improvements to our other players should make up for that and I'd like to think we'll avoid a relegation battle.

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away Relegation reprobates
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League One Day 2.1
Date 19 Jul 24 10:00
Weather (forecast) Cloudy
Pitch (current) Flat

I've decided to try out a flat pitch for this one. Not sure that's the right decision but it'll be interesting to see how it goes. I've been much more defensive with my bowling too.

[Atko]

Ffoh vs The Raging Speed Horns
League One Day 1.1

Weather Cloudy
Pitch Crumbling

The penultimate match of the season sees us taking on Ffoh, who are 4 points behind us in 4th spot. Interestingly, 1st and 2nd are playing each other today as well. Best case scenario could see us hop up to 2nd spot, but before any of that we need to knock over the oppo.

Ffoh won the toss and decided to bat. They've been circumspect against the seamers so far, but it's paid off -

End of over 10 (maiden) - Ffoh(30-0) RR 3.00

Bring on the demon RFS's!