England League and Cup Discussion

[wolfberries]

wolfberries Trevor Francis Tracksuit
Batting - Top Order 11,977 13,687
Batting - Middle Order 10,574 12,107
Batting - Tail 4,496 4,983
Bowling - Seam 12,186 (30) 13,852 (40)
Bowling - Spin 12,722 (20) 14,309 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 16,176 15,701
Overall 214,224 234,952

Result: Trevor Francis Tracksuit won by 6 wickets

The expected loss.

[spark]

All Leeds Aren't We Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,229 14,952
Batting - Middle Order 11,883 11,930
Batting - Tail 8,000 3,944
Bowling - Seam 13,011 (40) 13,741 (40)
Bowling - Spin 13,655 (10) 14,675 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 16,320 17,833
Overall 239,114 242,499

All Leeds Aren't We won by 5 runs

Well, relegation beckons as I'm 8 points from safety. I think I'll mainly blame myself for this one as I probably should have picked an extra allrounder as my lower order/tail end batting as very weak.

That said, I didn't think we bowled too badly although my most senior fast bowler was far too expensive. I thought 200 to win on a green pitch was perfectly doable and I even made myself the favourite before our innings started.

We were comfortable with the run rate required throughout but, despite all normal batting orders, we kept on losing wickets on a regular basis. Dennehy did hit a nice 67 and allrounder Schneider a respectable 33 but too many got in and then threw their wickets away.

[spark]

Egham Town CC won by 41 runs

Egham Town CC Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 6,445 6,921
Batting - Middle Order 6,692 5,388
Batting - Tail 4,008 3,659
Bowling - Seam 6,630 (12) 6,924 (16)
Bowling - Spin 6,517 (8) 7,245 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 7,383 8,253
Overall 119,651 119,915

A bit of a disappointing end to things. We did okay with the ball and restricted them to 143 on an even pitch. We were then fairly comfortable at 67-2 with the run rate required at less than 7 an over but then lost 7 wickets for 35 runs. Fuls did well though with 49 not out.

We're still 4 points above the relegation zone.

[wolfberries]

The Spitfires wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 7,682 7,426
Batting - Middle Order 5,245 5,681
Batting - Tail 2,665 3,974
Bowling - Seam 5,632 (15) 6,246 (12)
Bowling - Spin 6,420 (5) 7,799 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 7,159 8,871
Overall 110,330 125,302

Result: wolfberries won by 6 wickets

Another win keeps us 10 points ahead of 2nd place.

[spark]

YorkshireTykes Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 12,775 14,694
Batting - Middle Order 9,717 12,863
Batting - Tail 5,245 6,606
Bowling - Seam 13,112 (12) 13,291 (8)
Bowling - Spin 12,480 (8) 13,405 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 15,474 17,783
Overall 216,426 250,192

Ruff Royals won by 7 wickets

Westerveld did great to finish off their innings with a hattrick to take him to figures of 4-23 which meant we had to chase 131 to win on a slow pitch. Despite losing an early wicket, we looked comfortable as Bullock raced to 52 from 36 balls and when he did get out House, 40 not out from 28 balls, kept us on course.

We're 8 points clear at the top and we've got a superior net run rate so promotion to division 1 is looking more likely.

[casperj]

Seem to be slipping back into the poorer form of previous seasons. Scraped a win despite both home advantage and a substantial ratings advantage.

Crestfallen Sidekicks The Spitfires
Batting - Top Order 13,675 13,336
Batting - Middle Order 11,060 12,292
Batting - Tail 6,074 5,051
Bowling - Seam 13,864 (12) 12,555 (16)
Bowling - Spin 14,087 (8) 12,716 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 16,679 14,634
Overall 236,966 224,504

End of over 20 (14 runs) - The Spitfires(158-7). 2 runs required from 0 overs. RR 7.90 RRR 0.00
J. Walpole 16 (8b), P. McCann 1 (3b), K. Carson (rfs) 4-0-52-1
Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 1 run

[Atko]

St. Marks Hill Strollers vs The Raging Speed Horns
League Youth 2.1

Weather Humid
Pitch Hard

Tough one today - Humid/hard really doesn't suit my spin-centic attack, and the oppo have won the toss and got off to a flier -

End of over 20 (11 runs) - St. Marks Hill Strollers(171-1) RR 8.55

My two best bowlers have been spanked all over the place for 10 and 12 runs per over respectively, and the other bits and pieces guys haven't been much better. Delameter, my sole recognised seamer has kept it tight at 4 per over plus the single wicket to fall. Nowhere to hide in this match. To be fair, we've been getting away with daylight robbery holding onto top spot, but I suspect it will start unravelling here

[spark]

Dry pitch with humid whether so not the easiest choice as to which bowlers to pick. We're batting first anyway.

J. Alsop (rm) 7-1-47-0, L. Foot 25 (25b), K. Galindo 31 (41b)
End of over 30 (7 runs) - Ruff Royals(157-3) RR 5.23

We've got wickets in hand albeit not the best batting lineup once we're 5 down. I think we're going too slowly as I wouldn't be comfortable defending anything less than 240. A nice 56 from 62 balls from youngster Macrow has been the highlight so far.

[spark]

F. Moore (lf) 8-0-47-0, J. Humphrey 17 (14b), D. Buck 16 (15b)
End of over 40 (8 runs) - Ruff Royals(218-7) RR 5.45

That's well short of where we needed to be. It's not unexpected though as we are playing the runaway leaders of the division.

[Atko]

Half-time -

L. Delameter (lfm) 8-0-50-3, H. Ollivierre 183 (116b), B. Robson 9 (8b)
End of over 40 (14 runs) - St. Marks Hill Strollers(338-8) RR 8.45

That's a lot to chase - their opener, Olliviere, scored 54% of their total - so I shouldn't be too hard on my bowlers - sometimes an individual wins the game.

...and we're off to a stinker -


End of over 3 (12 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(14-2). 325 runs required from 37 overs. RR 4.67 RRR 8.78

... our best batsman's back in the shed.

#@*$ !!!

[spark]

M. Niazi (lws) 3-0-18-0, J. Albers 65 (84b), L. Pietersen 77 (92b)
End of over 29 (4 runs) - Relegation reprobates(146-0). 73 runs required from 11 overs. RR 5.03 RRR 6.64

Only ten wickets away from bowling them out.

[Atko]

End of over 40 (16 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(260-5). 79 runs required from 0 overs. RR 6.50 RRR 0.00

St. Marks Hill Strollers won by 78 runs

Two things lost us that game - their opener making it to stumps on 183, and our top three batsmen throwing their wickets away for a grand total of 7 runs. A very poor performance by the batsmen - who I normally rely on to turn things round - ah well, fingers crossed we can stay up. Before today, there were 10 points between 1st and 7th, and I foresee a struggle in the run-in to season end.

Anyway, the numbers -

Match Ratings
St. Marks Hill Strollers The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 7,497 7,335
Batting - Middle Order 5,251 4,958
Batting - Tail 3,225 3,372
Bowling - Seam 6,458 (27) 5,594 (14)
Bowling - Spin 7,881 (13) 6,438 (26)
Fielding/Keeping 8,330 7,919
Overall 120,263 113,758

[spark]

Relegation reprobates Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 9,749 7,069
Batting - Middle Order 6,638 5,511
Batting - Tail 3,757 3,791
Bowling - Seam 7,497 (24) 8,042 (24)
Bowling - Spin 8,409 (16) 6,319 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 9,246 8,476
Overall 143,867 123,891

Relegation reprobates won by 8 wickets

A not unexpected loss. I'm still just out of the relegation zone but I'll have two players away on international duty so I don't fancy my chances next week.

[Atko]

Pedagogs vs The Raging Speed Horns
League One Day 1.1

Weather Cloudy
Pitch Uneven

Away match today, and with three key players absent on national duty, we'll face a bit of a challenge against a (presumably) full strength Pedagogs.

On the road again today, so will miss the action, I suspect...

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away Gully Boys CC
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League One Day 2.1
Date 05 Jul 24 10:00
Crowd 19,220
Weather Cloudy
Pitch Sticky

I've accepted that it's likely to be a relegation season for us but I'd like us to put in some good performances. Two players away with the USA but we should still rate decently.

I'd like to see an improvement from Dickerson and Schmidt with the bat (although if Schmidt doesn't have to bat then that is probably good for us). For the bowlers, I'm looking for Zondeki to show that he can take wickets and bowl well on a regular basis and for Combs to get early wickets and put us in a good position from the start.

We've lost the toss and are bowling which is fine by me.

D. Combs (lf) 1-0-3-0, T. Nayanakantha 1 (5b), V. Bux 0 (1b)
End of over 1 (3 runs) - Gully Boys CC(3-0) RR 3.00