England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

A. Jirongo (rfm) 2-0-5-1, J. House 0 (1b), N. Laurence 8 (4b)
End of over 3 (4 runs) - Ruff Royals(15-2). 212 runs required from 47 overs. RR 5.00 RRR 4.51

Not a great start to say the least. It already feels like one of those games where are batsmen just aren't going to perform. We could be heading for a big loss with is not ideal with how tight the league is and the part NRR might play at the end of the season.

[wolfberries]

T. Benneworth (lws) 10-1-50-2, L. Bozzelli 87 (135b), D. Diablo 4 (7b)
End of over 50 (7 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(187-9) RR 3.74

Can't see us chasing this but at least the total isn't huge.

[spark]

Danger Hotspurs won by 8 runs

Danger Hotspurs Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,351 14,038
Batting - Middle Order 11,254 11,213
Batting - Tail 5,639 4,912
Bowling - Seam 13,336 (20) 14,503 (20)
Bowling - Spin 13,457 (30) 12,943 (30)
Fielding/Keeping 16,820 16,858
Overall 232,840 234,154

It's a fair result but it's still disappointing. I'm not sure whether to blame my LF and LM being really expensive or to blame most of my batters for not being up to the job.

I'm bottom of the league now and I really can't afford to drop to division 3!

[Atko]

So that happened ...

wolfberries won by 1 wicket

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 13,319 12,735
Batting - Middle Order 11,148 10,859
Batting - Tail 4,698 5,125
Bowling - Seam 13,438 (30) 11,694 (30)
Bowling - Spin 15,165 (20) 12,539 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 17,034 16,370
Overall 233,706 219,027

Two key points -

1. Our four senior bats - a mixture of world class/exceptional - scored 2, 4, 0 and 12.
2. Our two noobs - both spectacular summery - scored 68 and 87 not out.

So on balance, I suppose I can't complain, since the kids dragged us to 187-9 but c'mon!

Other than that, their younger team batted better overall, and deserved the win.

Me - I'm giving up trying to understand the ME - time for a drink...

[spark]

Ffoh Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 5,977 6,668
Batting - Middle Order 6,500 5,241
Batting - Tail 4,175 3,653
Bowling - Seam 6,815 (12) 5,452 (16)
Bowling - Spin 7,428 (8) 7,021 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 9,072 7,992
Overall 124,953 111,406

Ffoh won by 5 wickets

It was always going to be tough today on a crumbling pitch and with players missing due to national duty. My oldest and best batter getting out for 0 didn't help and, despite a late surge, we didn't quite get enough runs and only had 116 to defend. We got a couple of early wickets but couldn't keep it going and lost with 3 overs to spare.

Only 4 points clear of the relegation places so we're going to need to start winning again. It'll be interesting to see our ratings over the next couple of weeks with the return of players from national duty and a couple of players moving to the seniors.

[wolfberries]

South Yorkshire CC wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 5,437 7,275
Batting - Middle Order 4,009 5,605
Batting - Tail 3,316 3,271
Bowling - Seam 6,853 (12) 6,927 (8)
Bowling - Spin 6,676 (8) 6,639 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 6,209 8,538
Overall 100,272 120,718

Result: Match tied

T20 and Crumbling pitches eh!

We are now 10 points ahead of 2nd,3rd,4th, 5th and 6th places, so hopefully we won't slip up anymore in the coming weeks.

[wolfberries]

Home wolfberries
Away Crestfallen Sidekicks
Ground wolfberries CG
League Twenty20 2.2
Date 18 Jun 24 10:00
Crowd 14,220
Weather Humid
Pitch Dry

Toss: wolfberries won the toss and elected to bowl.

We need to start winning if we are to avoid relegation, division three is not a place we should be in with our squad!

[spark]

Ruff Royals South Yorkshire CC
Batting - Top Order 15,005 11,983
Batting - Middle Order 13,238 7,341
Batting - Tail 5,518 4,977
Bowling - Seam 13,297 (16) 11,018 (8)
Bowling - Spin 13,909 (4) 12,182 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 17,844 13,699
Overall 250,158 191,912

Ruff Royals won by 7 wickets

It feels like a while since we rated 250k so I'm happy with that especially as I left my highest waged bowler out. It probably begs the question of whether I really need him. To be fair, I did replace him with an allrounder.

We restricted them to 116 on a slow pitch and chased it with almost 4 overs to spare.

The best news today was that The Spitfires beat our closest rivals by 1 run to give us an 8 point lead at the top.

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away The Dross
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League Youth 1.1
Date 20 Jun 24 10:00
Weather (forecast) Hot
Pitch (current) Uneven

I'm expecting a loss today which would probably mean I slip back into the relegation places.

[spark]

C. Penn (rm) 4-0-9-0, D. Howe 8 (14b), L. Vinson 7 (19b)
End of over 7 (1 run) - Ruff Royals(20-1) RR 2.86

Incredibly slow start and we've lost a wicket so it's not looking good.

[spark]

Well, my batting line-up just got ripped apart in the space of 8 balls.

69 for 5 is not nice.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,761 13,384
Batting - Middle Order 12,357 11,116
Batting - Tail 5,230 5,732
Bowling - Seam 14,051 (8) 13,702 (12)
Bowling - Spin 13,441 (12) 13,912 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 17,310 16,404
Overall 240,519 233,340

Result: Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 54 runs

We lost on Tuesday so we are basically down despite playing our best side recently, we've lost 8 on the run with quite a few of them by our best side. So it's time to get rid of a few ex-Internationals and look to play the next bunch, division 3 here we come!

[wolfberries]

Home wolfberries
Away Scotland Youth
Ground wolfberries CG
League Youth 3.1
Date 20 Jun 24 10:00
Crowd 5,440
Weather Hot
Pitch Dry

Toss: Scotland Youth won the toss and elected to bat.

The curtain falls on the innings of Scotland Youth. Now, the spotlight shifts to wolfberries, who will be tasked with chasing a target of 112. Let the chase begin!

Playing the league bot today so with the new changes to bots they managed a decent score compared to usual. Eight points ahead of second place so hopefully another win for us today.

[spark]

C. Penn (rm) 7.5-0-29-3, M. Niazi 2 (4b)
End of over 39 (6 runs) - Ruff Royals(155-10) RR 3.97

Not a great batting performance (that's practically the motto of my team). It's going to be all about trying to limit the net run rate damage which could be important come the end of the season.

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Scotland Youth
Batting - Top Order 7,623 2,860
Batting - Middle Order 4,492 4,490
Batting - Tail 3,256 6,256
Bowling - Seam 6,991 (16) 2,915 (24)
Bowling - Spin 6,699 (24) 3,608 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 7,159 5,570
Overall 113,788 80,845

wolfberries won by 9 wickets

Easy enough win in the end which leaves us still 8 points ahead of second place.