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| 2009 Season April 26th TWCC v Brunswick Village May 3rd Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 10th TWCC v Greys May 17th Moulsecoomb v TWCC rained off May 24th Bolney v TWCC May 31st Ashurst v TWCC June 14th TWCC v London Unity June 21st TWCC v Headliners June 28th TWCC v Poynings 2008 Season April 27th Brunswick Village v TWCC May 4th Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 11th TWCC v Greys May 18th TWCC v Moulscombe Wanderers May 25th Bolney v TWCC June 1st Ashurst v TWCC June 8th Single Wicket Competition June 15th TWCC v London Unity June 20th to 22nd Tour to Suffolk June 29th Poynings v TWCC July 6th TWCC v Wisley July 13th Staplefield v TWCC July 20th TWCC v Southern Cross and Hornblowers July 27th TWCC v Henfield August 3rd TWCC v President's XI August 10th Moulsecoomb v TWCC August 17th Warninglid v TWCC 2007 Season April 29th Brunswick Village v TWCC May 6th Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 20th TWCC v Moulescomb Wanderers June 10th Single Wicket 2007 July 1st 2007 Twineham and Wineham v. Poynings July 22nd Southern Cross and Hornblowers July 29th Henfield v TWCC August 12th Moulescombe Wanderers v TWCC August 19th TWCC v Warninglid September 2nd TWCC v Worthing Foresters September 9th Albourne and Sayers Common v TWCC September 30th TWCC v Brighton Beamers 2006 Season August 6th TWCC v President's XI August 13th Moulescombe Wanderers v TWCC August 20th Warninglid v TWCC 17th September Bolney v TWCC 24th September TWCC v Streat and Westmeston 1st October TWCC v Brighton Beamers Season Retrospective |
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| TWCC 2009 Season TWCC v Brunswick Village April 26th 2009 Thinning hair, creaking joints, expanding paunches but a remarkably sleek outfield: and so the 2009 season began. Would this be the year when sons outscored fathers? When Twineham and Wineham clung on to most of their chances? On the evidence of this performance the answer must be in the double-negative but it was an enjoyable opener with more than 400 runs slogged, nicked and nurdled. And there was the odd classy shot too. Captaining in the absence of Richard, Tony decided to bat and the opening pair of James (41) and Rob (56) put on 90 with the former much less fluent than the Oxford blue whose pick-up shot over the pavilion and scorching back foot six towards the A23 will live in the memory. Tony muscled his way to 59 with good support from Jonathon (29) and Twineham pushed the total to above 200. Edward, who unluckily nabbed a golden duck, provided a wholesome tea which should have set us up for a tigerish performance in the field. Unfortunately the ball proved as slippery as the big man’s ham and cold slaw sandwiches and we contrived to drop at least 6 decent chances, 5 off Ferandpaul, the wristy Sri Lankan, who has toyed with our bowling attack in seasons past. The fact that we managed to dismiss 8 Brunswickians was due almost entirely to Rob (5-28) who was struggling manfully to hide his light under a bushel. Nobody succeeded in combating his speed and accuracy as he knocked over the timbers with a precision which was sadly lacking in an otherwise limp attack. James and Mikey were regularly smote into the adjoining fields and, besides Rob, only Dave Jones (1-23) remained relatively unpasteurised. As Brunswick powered towards our total we all watched in despair as Ferandpaul (92) flicked what looked like another certain 6 towards the leg side boundary when Rob appeared out of nowhere to pluck it from the sky. Our hopes of victory were raised, very briefly, when Jonathon bowled one of their tailenders in the final over but Brunswick resisted his 3 remaining wobblers and we ended up two wickets short. Well done Rob. And thanks to everybody else for turning up! Top of page Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 3rd 2009 Well this was shaping up to be a rather ordinary `fighting draw` type match report, with an `unpleasant incident` as the central theme – until the last 4 overs, when events took a fairly extraordinary turn. ... TWCC went into the match at Streat with an under-strength side, with injuries and lack of availability accounting for half of the regular team (Edward was still traumatised by his golden duck the week before). Richard walked out to the middle for his first captaincy duty of the new season – and became somewhat confused and bamboozled by Stan’s (their captain) explanation of their new playing system – so he ignored it and hoped that Streat would bat for their normal 2 ½ hours, to 4.30pm. Matt and Paul opened for us on the furthest pitch on this beautiful ground – on offer was a very short boundary down the hill so the field was set to guard that boundary. The two of them bowled well but without much success and Streat headed towards 50 at a reasonable pace before Matt finally broke through with a low edge, smartly caught by Steve. Richard replaced Paul and bowled well – straight anyway! The runs dried up and Streat lost a couple of wickets trying to push on: a good run out by Ian Irvine – who kindly came along with Paul to turn out for us – and then a nick to slip off the skipper. We then allowed the exhausted Matt to catch his breath – and a succession of less regular bowlers did well coming up the hill, including Honsa and George Hunter, whilst James kept them tied down at the other end and eventually snaffled a wicket. 4.30 came and went and it turned out the playing system the skipper didn’t understand enabled Streat to bat until they felt they had enough. Matthew Brock bowled really well down the hill, keeping them in check as they tried to push on and it was eventually 4.45 when Richard took the 5th wicket that the declaration was made. Three chances had been shelled but it was an excellent performance to keep them to 183-5 after 2 ¾ hours in the field. Paul and James opened for us – but oh dearie dearie me. In the third over, James appeared to get a touch on a leg-side ball, smartly taken by the keeper. A big appeal was refused because the umpire (the skipper) couldn’t be sure it was bat and not pad – and James refused to walk. He then batted recklessly, confirming his guilt. In his `second innings`, his first ball went for 6, and two balls later another enormous swing and the ball hit middle stump. The averages committee will have to sit to decide whether 2 `outs` should go in James’s figures. Meanwhile his case file grows ever thicker! Tony -152 in last year’s fixture – came and went for just 5: we were 17-2. But that enabled Steve and Paul to get their heads down and the two of t hem put on 61 for the next wicket, before Paul was LBW for 22. Steve and George Hunter then shared an important stand, before Steve was bowled. We were on 94-4, 14 overs were left but we were short of recognised batsmen. George continued to play inspired cricket until he fell to one of Stan Spiegal’s famous dolly droppers. He lobbed a catch to Honsa – who fielded for both sides as well as then going on to Brighton to breakdance til the early hours! Richard and Matt then played cautious cricket and a draw seemed certain, with 56 needed from the last 4 overs. Then Matt broke free the reins of caution. He hit two consecutive 4’s, a 2 and a 3. 14 off the over, 42 needed from 3. Streat brought back their opener but he too took a pasting – 19 off the following over, including a 6 by Matt. 23 needed from 2. 5 came from the next 4 balls before Matt was caught in the covers. The batsmen crossed when the ball was in the air and Richa rd got a 6 from the last ball leaving new boy Ian facing, with 11 needed from the last over. He played the first ball back, smacked a brilliant 4 from the second and patted the third back. Then two wides, as Streat strained too hard. 5 needed from 2. The next ball Ian squirted to backward square and raced for 2 runs. And the final ball was hit firmly in the same place – 3 runs and victory! It was a great day’s cricket, Streat should be credited for their sportsmanship in all areas. Everyone played an important part and a makeshift Twineham team did a fantastic job. SCORECARD Streat and Westmeston vs TWCC at Streat TWCC won the toss and elected to field S Barrs Ct S Rogers (WK) Bowled M Steinke 30 B Mayston Ct R Brock Bowled Trollope 58 D J Singh Run Out (I Irvine) 5 G Christmas Ct T Pearce Bowled R Brock 4 M Bell Not out 40 G Hall LBW Bowled R Brock 24 TOTAL: 183 – 5 DEC BOWLING M Steinke 15-2-46-1 P Hunter 7-0-33-0 R Brock 9.1 -3-18-2 T Pearce 3-0-24-0 G Hunter 3-0 -12-0 J Trollope 4-1-14-1 H Karvay 2-0-12-0 M Brock 3-0-18-0 TWCC Innings P Hunter LBW B Christmas 22 J Trollope Bowled Walter 9 T Pearce LBW Bowled Walter 5 S Rogers Bowled Davison 35 G Hunter Ct H Karvay Bowled Spiegal 21 R B rock Not Out 27 M Steinke Ct S Spiegal Bowled Bell 33 I Irvine Not out 7 TOTAL 185 – 6 Did not bat: H Karvay, G Cuthbert, M Brock BOWLING Walter 9-0-29-2 D Christmas 11-1-44-0 G Christmas 5-0-28-1 Davison 7-0-17-1 S Spiegal 6-0-26-1 DJ Singh 3-2-1-0 Bell 3-1-25-1 TWCC WON BY 4 WICKETS Top of page TWCC v Greys May 10th 2009 The one that got away........... A lovely early summer day at Twineham and the pitch looked a picture. It had been well cut and the grass removed – beautiful. A stiff breeze complemented the sunshine and all was well with the world. Then their number 3 came in..... Skipper Brock lost the toss and they opted to bat. Paul bowled well to pick up one of their openers early thanks to a lovely slip catch from Tony, for the second week running. That brought in their Aussie number 3 Mr Covill, who scored a century against us last year. Huh, we weren’t going to let t hat happen again were we....? He had barely got into his stride when Matt strayed down leg, he whipped it round the corner, straight to into Paul’s safe hands, he caught it, they made 90 which we knocked off easily and drank copious amounts of beer in the pub. Sorry, that was the script before Paul altered it. It now reads `He had barely got into his stride when Matt strayed down leg, he whipped it round the corner, straight into Paul’s hands and he dropped it`. There followed a rather long afternoon in the field, gathering balls out of hedges for said no 3 to deposit there again. With credit to the bowlers, we tied up the other end pretty well, good bowling particularly from Dave Jones and Mikey. But we never saw another chink of light from Mr Covill who went on to make an excellent 143 not out. It was full of skilled and classic shots, he was not a tonker and he was also a pleasant and unassuming chap, who gave credit where it was due to the bowlers. Mikey bowled some lovely leg spin and deservedly picked up two wickets as we gradually picked off batsmen at the o ther end – but at the end of our 2 ½ hours in the field, we were exhausted and the match was probably already beyond us, with 232-6 on the board, one of the highest scores here in recent years. But as we do, we picked ourselves up and threw ourselves into the fray. Paul started well, but was caught trying to push the score along. James, possibly still traumatised by the events of his innings the week before, was unnaturally cautious, failing to master bowling which was tidy but not especially threatening. In fact he scored 13, all in singles, most unlike our usually dominant opener. But the match became a contest all the time Tony was at the wicket: he took the fight to Greys, including one superb over of 4-4-4 -6-dot-dot. Jonathan came and gave him valuable support and also unleashed some great shots in his 22 – and the mammoth total came into view with 118 needed off the last 20 overs. Unfortunately when Tony was bowled on 76, none of Jonathan, Steve, Edward nor Matt were able to keep up with an ever growing run rate – and with 12 overs to go and 100 to get, Richard came in determined to salvage a draw. This we did, with the assistance of Mikey and Dave Jones – whose admirable restraint for that last over deserves a paragraph all of its own – how he would have liked to have had a go at those balls but instead he let them all go and saw us home. So it was a battling draw, a match dominated by one man’s great innings and one man’s slippery fingers (there but for the grace of God.....) SCORECARD Greys Brasher Ct T Pearce, Bowled Hunter 5 Line: Ct Karvey Bowled Brock 23 Covill: ; Not out 143 Burgess Ct E Bunn Bowled M Pearce 15 Fenton Ct T Pearce Bowled Brock 0 Burbridge Bowled M Pearce 1 Day Not Out 40 TOTAL: 232 – 5 (42 OVERS) BOWLING M Steinke 7-0-49-0, P Hunter 5-2-18-1, R Brock 10-1-37-2, D Jones 6-1-24-0, M Pearce 8-0-47-2, J Rowland 2-0-29-0, E Bunn 4-0-26-0 TWCC P Hunter Ct Bowled Southon 22 J Trollope Ct Bowled Azari 13 T Pearce Bowled Line 76 J Rowland Ct Bowled Line 22 S Rogers Ct Bowled Line 0 E Bunn Ct Bowled Line 6 M Steinke Bowled Partridge 2 M Pearce Ct Bowled Hoare 8 R Brock Not out 7 D Jones 20Not out 0 TOTAL 157-8 (42 OVERS) Did not bat: H Karvey Bowling: Day: 6-1-12-0, Southon 5-0-29-1, Azari 6-0-39-1, Hoare 10-0-46-1, Line 5-3-8-4, Partridge 5-1-15-1, Brasher 3-0-6-0. MATCH DRAWN Top of page |
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| Bolney v TWCC May 24th 2009 Bolney is not our happiest hunting ground. Matches have frequently been tortuous, usually with us hanging on for a laboured draw or managing to implode whilst batting. So even though we were unbeaten this season, confidence and optimism were in short supply as our under-strength team gathered at Bolney’s handsome looking ground. Richard won the toss and elected to field, opening with an attacking field to the bowling combination of himself and Phil, happily returning to the team, his back alleged to have benefited from a session of faith healing! And hallelulah – what a return! His first six overs were all maidens, in an opening spell of 12 overs for just 14 runs. At the other end, the skipper was also reasonably tight, apart from a couple of balls which squirted through the slips – and the result was that after an hour, Bolney’s openers were still there but the score was just 38-0. Mikey Pearce came on and made a breakthrough in his third over, a good stumping by Steve as the openers finally tried to go after the bowling. Dave Jones succeeded Phil down the hill and soon put paid to their young number 3, who will be a very impressive cricketer when he’s older than 12. However the result of that was to bring in a Mr J Flower, who is already an impressive cricketer. I am told his hundred came from 45 balls. It included 7 6’s and 10 4’s. Among those who took some rather harsh treatment were Mikey (15 off one over) and Jonathan (29 off 2). But no bowler was spared as he ruthlessly sprayed the ball round the field and though he was dropped 3 times, none of them were easy chances. As he trickled a single to complete an unbeaten century, the Bolney skipper unexpectedly declared, fifteen minutes early and with the score on just 165. After a fine tea by the ladies of Bolney – featuring scones and cream, salmon sandwiches and home made cakes – a new opening combination took to the field. It was something of a forced decision – Tony, Mikey and their cousin Rhys Packham who came to play for us all had to leave by 6.45pm – so they took 3 of the first four batting positions. Mikey was clearly keenest to leave: he scored just 3 before being caught at square leg from what he felt was a bump ball. Many agreed with him, but Dave Jones didn’t and he was umpire. James didn’t last much longer – Twineham’s towering opener still struggling for form early in the season - and at 24-2 the task looked as steep as the Bolney slope. However, Tony was determined that he wouldn’t be told by his wife what time he had to leave cricket, so he dug in, gradually got into his stride – and an hour and a half later, he was still there, an essential foundation innings with the middle order giving him valuable support. Rhys showed good technique for his 17 – not bad after 5 years without cricket – Jonathan 14. Tony was eventually bowled by a fast delivery by J Flower – yes him again – but not until he'd scored 80 with 14 4’s and 2 6’s and guided us to 140-5 with 15 overs still available. George, Jonsa and Dave Jones managed just 2 runs between them – but at the other end Steve Rogers steadily kept the score moving and with 4.2 overs left, he looped up a ball from the leading edge of his bat into the only unguarded patch of grass left on the square. Victory! It was a good battling performance from an under-strength team on a hot day in the field. Particular credit to Phil for a really tight spell of bowling but most of all to Tony for a match-winning innings. Next week; Ashurst, where we continue to struggle in the 40/40 format. I might see if those faith healers are available for the whole team! SCORECARD – BOLNEY INNINGS J Moore Bowled D Jones 30 S Adby St Rogers, B M Pearce 16 M Danes Bowled D Jones 12 J Flower Not out 100 D Tyler Not out 2 TOTAL 165-3 Declared BOWLING P Steinke 12-6-14-0 R Brock 9-0-26-0 M Pearce 7-2-33-1 D Jones 9-2-39-2 J Karvey 2-0-13-0 J Rowland 2-0-29-0 J Trollope 1-0-6-0 TWCC INNINGS J Trollope Ct S Adby B M English 10 M Pearce C Standing B M English 3 T Pearce Bowled J Flower 80 R Packham Bowled S Bowles 17 J Rowland Ct Bennett B Standing 14 S Rogers Not out 14 G Hunter Bowled Standing 0 J Karvey Ct Danes B J Flower 1 D Jones Bowled J Flower 1 R Brock Not out 0 Did not bat: P Steinke TOTAL 166 -8 TWCC WIN BY 2 WICKETS Top of page |
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| Ashusrt v TWCC May 31st 2009 ASHURST VS TWCC 31st May 2009 – at Ashurst The best display of fielding seen in recent years by a TWCC team led to one of those matches where no-one would know the winner until the last ball had been bowled..... We came to Ashurst undefeated so far this season – but it’s not been a good ground for us in recent years, we’ve struggled to adapt our `time and overs` game to the limited 40 overs matches Ashurst favour. So new tactics were needed. We looked strong so the skipper decided he would bat first if he won the toss. He lost the toss and was asked to....bat first! Unfortunately neither of the openers made an impact: Steve departed in the third over for 0, James’ run of poor form continued as he recorded just 5. But they merely cleared the stage for the performances ahead. `Goldenballs` Pearce, the man who can currently do no wrong, once again put in an exciting boundary-laden display and, along with Rob, the team’s sole Wineham representative, they put on 64 for the next wicket in quick time before Tony was caught behind for 48. Rob was then joined by Edward – the `old Edward` - the one who used to put fear into the hearts of teams across the county. After a gentle start, Edward started belting the ball like he used to – and he and Rob put on a rapid 52 together before Rob was caught behind just for 42. Edward carried on despite a lack of support from the middle order and the score crept up to a formidable 195 – 8 from the 40 overs. Edward’s invaluable 58 not out included 7 fours and 2 sixes – his first 50 for 2 seasons. Then, as Ashurst took to the middle, came the most important spell of the match. Matt and Jim both bowled magnificently. Both kept the ball straight and on a length and gave the opening batsmen no room for their shots. Backed up by some fantastic work in the field by every player – James’s superb one handed stop at point was typical - Ashurst were made to work hard for every run, with Jim picking up a wicket. Jim and Matt bowled out their allotted 8 overs each and Ashurst barely got to 60. The pressure was on. The skipper was then able to introduce Rob and Phil – not a bad change in anyone’s book. These two continued the great work but, by this time, the number 3 Kennett got the message that things had to step up a pace. It was a great contest: Rob and Phil were bowling tremendously well, backed up by the keenest of fielding, but Kennett was good and frequently took on even good balls and sent them flying over the rope. He was keeping Ashurst in the game. Phil got their number 4 to hit to long on where Edward ran in and slid to take the catch – brilliant. The skipper then introduced young Mikey Pearce to the attack. His medium paced was soon jettisoned in favour of his leg spin: and that did the damage. The first of two catches down at deep long on by the skipper from Mikey’s bowling put Mr Kennett back in the pavilion. But Ashurst kept sending in big hitters and so the skipper decided there were a few cheap wickets on offer and brought himself on. It worked, as his averages will testify. Three quick wickets, a hatrick ball which went for a wide – but still Ashurst were close. They needed 13 to win, 12 to tie, from the last over – which was Richard’s. The full toss – ball 3 - going for 6 didn’t help – nor did the last ball, another full toss. Happily though, the batsman obligingly put this one just short of the boundary into the safe hands of Matt – game over, a victory by 6 runs. A great game, all catches held, fielders racing around like we used to before we got old – and the great start to the season continues. SCORECARD TWCC lost the toss and were asked to bat TWCC INNINGS J Trollope Ct Wkt B Turrell 5, S Rogers Ct Wkt B Turrell 0, T Pearce Ct Wkt B Mitchell 48, R Rydon Ct Wkt B Pickford 42, E Bunn Not out 58, R Brock Bowled Pickford 0, J Simon Bowled Syred 9, M Pearce Stumped B Syred 6, M Steinke Bowled Pickford 0, J Karvey not out 1,P Steinke DNB. TOTAL: 195-8 40 OVERS Fall: 1) 4-2, 2) 22-1, 3)86-3, 4)138-4, 5) 138-6, 6) 161-7, 7) 182-8, 8) 184-9 ASHURT INNINGS D Fischel Ct Bunn B P Steinke 26, L Harrold B J Simon 3, D Kennett Ct Brock B M Pearce 90, T Pickford B Brock 22, C Duffett B Brock 5, L Mitchell Ct M Steinke B Brock 0, T Syrgo Ct M Steinke B Brock 32, S Duffett Not out 0, S Gretton Ct Brock B M Pearce x, B Terrell x, T Holman DNB TOTAL 189-8 40 OVERS BOWLING M Steinke 8-3-22-0, J Simon 8-1-31-1, R Rydon 7-0-18-0, P Steinke 8-0-38-0, M Pearce 5-0-41-2, R Brock 4-0-26-4. TWCC won by 6 runs Top of page |
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| TWCC v London Unity June 14th A hot summer afternoon at Twineham, little breeze – woe betide those bowling first..... Skipper Brock lost the toss but they didn’t know what to do – so they offered him the choice and the choice was - bat. And it was a very good opening standing between James and Paul, both men getting in, finding their bearings, looking good – then getting out in the same over for 18 and 24! Tony, the man who cannot fail, then effortlessly moved on to the brink of another well deserved 50 before he was inexplicably bowled on 49. Edward made double figures – just – before being caught in the deep but Jim kept up his good recent form for 22 of which the first five scoring shots were 4s. There was then an excellent and `feelgood` stand between two of the club’s future stars (we hope) – Mikey Pearce played a stylish 34 not out and George Hunter an exciting 21 including two enormous 6's. Every batsman who was out made double figures and as the score headed towards 180 Richard decreed he would declare to give us an extra 15 minutes bowling at Unity. Unfortunately – the urn wasn’t ready!!! So we batted on ‘til tea and past 200. Would those 15 minutes matter – surely not? They went in to bat and it soon became obvious they weren’t going to come close. Matt and Paul toiled away opening and each took a wicket, but it was hard work trying to encourage them to come out of their shells. Wickets gradually fell, 8 bowlers were used with particular credit to our spinners James and Mikey, who worked in tandem and picked up six wickets between them – four for Mikey which he won’t let us forget. The last of those four was the 5th ball of the penultimate over which left them 9 wickets down. But their skipper proved to be the rock of stability throughout their innings and saw off the last over to finish 46 not out in a score of 141-9. It was not as exciting as that score might suggest, we could have done with a few extra overs bowling at their number 11. Can this week’s tea person please put the urn on good and early.... SCORECARD TWCC P Hunter Ct Wkt Bowled Taylor 24, J Trollope Bowled Taylor 18, T Pearce Bowled J Smith 49, E Bunn Ct Bowled Roberts 10, J Simon Ct Bowled Smith 22, M Pearce Not Out 34, G Hunter Ct & bowled Liddle 21, R Brock Not out 9 TOTAL 205-6 (40 OVERS) Did not bat: M Steinke, H Karvey, P Steinke London Unity J Driver Ct Trollope, Bowled M Steinke 13, D Adey Bowled M Pearce 31, N Adams St G Hunter (wkt) B Trollope 11, T Roberts Bowled P Hunter 2, A Pitcher Ct J Karvey Bowled P Steinke 3, M Murray Ct Bunn Bowled J Trollope 8, M Driver Ct wkt (G Hunter) Bowled M Pearce 9, J Williams Not out 46, J Smith Bowled M Pearce 8, P Liddell Ct & bowled M Pearce 0, J Taylor Not out 0 TOTAL 141-9(43 OVERS) BOWLING: M Steinke 6-2-1-19, P Hunter 5-0-1-25, P Steinke 6-2-1-20, J Trollope 7-0-2-18, M Pearce 11-3-4-20, R Brock 3-0-0-12, J Simon 3-1-0-13, T Pearce 2-0-6-0 MATCH DRAWN Top of page |
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| Top of page TWCC v Headliners June 21st This was a new fixture, or at least a match reinstated after a gap of some years versus a team that used to represent the Mid Sussex Times, and now includes a few extra hacks from around the area. We won the toss and batted against this unknown quantity. In the event, it was another very strong Twineham batting performance against some admittedly weak bowling. James made 27, Paul 39, Jonathan will be kicking himself for missing out with just 18, even Richard made 26 whilst a mightly last wicket stand between Mikey and Edward earned the latter a half century, whilst Mikey missed out by just 2 runs before tea. Every batsman scored double figures. Unfortunately our bowlers couldn’t match the heights of the batsmen: after an early breakthrough for Jim which left them 0-1, the next wicket didn’t fall until 72, then 73 then 142. Play was slow, the skipper tried to buy, cajole, spin wickets – but nothing really worked. A succession of bowlers each picked up one wicket but with their number 3 Holden scoring 91 – whilst never looking completely comfortable – time ran out. We tried but didn’t come particularly close to getting them all out, despite giving them plenty of opportunity to hit out and get caught. All in all, it was a disappointing draw. TWCC INNINGS J Trollope Ct, Bowled Boardman 27, P Hunter Ct, Bowled Bryant 39, J Rowland Ct, Bowled Brown 18, R Brock Ct, Bowled Boardman, 26, E Bunn Not out 51, M Pearce Not Out 48. TOTAL 229 - 4 (43 OVERS) Did not bat: J Simon, G Hunter, M Steinke, D Jones, P Steinke. BOWLING Bryant 12-5-27-1, Pearson 6-0-34-0, Boardman 10-0-55-2, Brown 5-0-31-1, Talbot 5-0-42-0, Wells 2-0-13-0, Holden 3-0-25-0. HEADLINERS INNINGS Ashpool Ct G Hunter (wkt), Bowled P Steinke 15, Boardman Ct Bunn Bowled Simon 0, Holden Ct Hunter Bowled Jones 91, Francis Ct, Bowled Trollope 0, Brown Run Out 33, Pearson Not Out 39, Wells Bowled P Hunter 5, Bryant Not Out 13. TOTAL 196-6 (42 OVERS) BOWLING J Simon 5-1-8-1, M Steinke 9-2-23-0, J Trollope 6-0-40-1, P Steinke 5-1-19-1, M Pearce 3-0-23-0, P Hunter 7-0-43-1, D Jones 5-0-28-1, R Brock 2-0-14-0. Match Drawn |
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| Top of page TWCC v Poynings June 28th Our matches v Poynings are frequently tight: none more so than this one on a hot but overcast and humid day. After failing to bowl sides out in the past couple of matches, the skipper banked on keeping the side’s excellent recent batting run going: so on winning the toss he elected to bowl. It felt like the day for swing and seam bowlers – the skipper mentioned it would be a good day for Phil – now there’s a man who knows his cricket!! With Paul and Jim struggling to break the opening partnership, though keeping the scoring in check, Phil came on – and the nature of the match changed. Phil was straight into his stride as ever and his first wicket was a beauty, a fantastic slip catch from Tony when the ball seemed almost past him. That raised the spirits and suddenly the wickets started to tumble. Richard’s first over offered three catches – all dropped – but then young George Hunter spent the rest of the innings showing the old gits how to catch properly. An excellent catch off a firm straight drive helped Richard unseat the second opener – and then he took up a position at mid-on and cleanly caught three more off Phil’s bowling. Steve took a couple of smart catches behind the stumps as Poynings middle order collapsed. The skipper gave Matthew Brock a chance to turn his arm towards the end but both he and Mikey were caned as a couple of hard hitting batsmen came in down the order. By the close the score had rattled up to 192-9, which would be formidable. The superb combination of Phil – 64-6 – and George – 4 catches – had given us a chance. A good start was essential – we were chasing around 5.5 an over to win. James and Paul put on a solid 28 before James was caught for just 9. Paul however batted on brilliantly. He would have expected Tony to have stayed with him for longer on present form but he was caught when their fastest bowler, Cuttress, came on. Jonathan then went out and Paul and Jonathan had a fine stand, keeping up with the rate before Paul departed just after getting his 50. Steve and Jim missed out but young Mikey Pearce maintained his growing reputation with the bat with a well worked 16. But the rate was starting to creep up as Jonathan battled on. However capping a brilliant day, George went in with order to `go for it` - and didn’t he just! Two sixes in a quickfire 20 brought the match within reach. With 5 overs to go we needed 51. When George was caught, we needed 13 from 11 balls. Jonathan and Richard scrambled to the point of requiring 3 to win from the last ball – but managed just 2 and the match was tied. A great game, very exciting at the end and memorable in particular for stunning personal performances from Phil and George. POYNINGS INNINGS K Fowler Ct T Pearce, Bowled P Steinke 23, S Jenner Ct G Hunter Bowled R Brock 35, J Cuttress Ct J Simon Bowled P Steinke 8, C Ranger Ct G Hunter Bowled P Steinke 4, G Norris Bowled P Steinke 8, T Fry Ct S Rogers (wkt) Bowled R Brock 1, S Latham Ct S Rogers Bowled M Pearce 25, W Brooks Ct G Hunter Bowled P Steinke 12, G Wallace Ct G Hunter Bowled P Steinke 40, L Lowin Not Out 16 A Beal Not out 9. TOTAL 192-9 (40 OVERS) BOWLING P Hunter 6-1-17-0, J Simon 5-0-21-0, P Steinke 14-1-64-6, R Brock 11-1-39-2, M Brock 2-0-27-0, M Pearce 2-0-23-1. TWCC INNINGS J Trollope Ct Bowled Fry 9, P Hunter Bowled Norris 51, T Pearce Ct bowled Cuttress 10, J Rowland Not Out 52, S Rogers Bowled Norris 0, J Simon Ct Bowled Norris 7, M Pearce Ct Bowled Cuttress 16, G Hunter Ct B Beale 20, R Brock Not Out 3. TOTAL 192 - 7 (43 OVERS) Did not bat: P Steinke, M Brock BOWLING Beale 5-1-18-1, Fry 5-2-13-1, Fowler 4-0-17-0, Cuttress 11-1-42-2, Latham 3-0-14-0, Ranger 3-0-13-0, Norris 4-0-27-3, Taylor 8-0-36-0. Match Tied! |
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| TWCC 2008 Season | ||||||||
| TWCC v Brunswick Village April 27th 2008 The first match of the season and Brunswick were the opponents. An hour long downpour just before the start meant the grass was wet, the pitch would be unresponsive. We won the toss: and elected to field first. Matt opened with a good, occasionally erratic, spell from the playground end and was unlucky not to take a wicket in a long spell. 10 overs, 0 for 29***CHECK***. Paul, opening at the other end, took the first wicket with a cleverly thought out slower ball. He then handed over to Richard who demonstrated what the word erratic really means. In a 6 over spell, he bowled 17 wides – including four on the trot! Curiously his final figures made rather good reading: 6-0-3-24. His first wicket was thanks to a quite brilliant running catch in the deep by George Hunter, truly earning his TWCC stripes. Wickets continued to fall with regularity but so did the number of wides bowled. Phil had an excellent spell ending with impressive figures of ....****CHECK****. – and mention should also be made of Tony Pearce who made three excellent catches in the slips, none of them easy. But by the end Brunswick hung on to score 143-9 – **CHECK*** of which an unbelievable 46 – yes 46 – were wides. Steve and Paul opened and Steve fell early to an excellent catch leaving us 4-1. Tony and Paul then took us to ....****CHECK****. before Tony fell for 15. Richard put himself up to 4 in the order and he and Paul pushed the score into the 90s ....****CHECK****. before he fell to yet another good catch for 19. The word collapse is said by some to be synonymous with Twineham – this wasn’t one of the great collapses but it wasn’t good. There followed a procession of batsmen failing to make a big impact: Mikey (SCORE) fell on his sword during a run out mix up with Paul, Jonathan (SCORE) showed great promise with some big hits but he too holed out – and the senior section of Rogers and Jones struggled to chalk up anything above singles. In the middle of the mayhem, Paul too was caught for an excellent 59. The required rate rose from 2 an over to 8 needed from the last over with the father and son combo of Matt and Phil at the crease. Matt hit a two then a mighty blow sent the ball scuttling towards the boundary, where an eager fielder dived full length to stop a certain four and effectively save the match. It came down to the last ball: two required to tie, three to win: Matt connected but not well enough and Phil was run out trying to make the second run. TWCC finished on 142-9 – the match drawn. A reasonable start to the season, a match we should have won easily had it not been for that appalling - and probably record breaking for TWCC – number of wides. We put it down to the close season cobwebs, a windy day and cloud cover – and move on. |
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| Streat v TWCC May 4th 2008 On a cloudy, humid day at the base of the Downs Twineham played Streat. Phil Steinke was captain for the day, and lost the toss as usual. But, in the end, it was a good toss to lose as Twineham were put in to bat. On a slow batting strip James soon got into stride after a couple of LBW appeals were turned down. Hitting four boundaries Steve and James put on 30 for the first wicket before Steve edged one to Steve Hancock. However, James carried on, making 24 before deciding to come down the wicket to Stan and getting stumped. Then entered the Pearce boys, Tony and Mikey, who put on 107 for the 3rd wicket, in which Tony scored 80 plus, hitting the bowling to all parts of the ground, hitting 6's off every other ball. Streat didn't have much idea how to get Tony out, with Steve Hancock bowling 6 overs for 61 against him. Mikey played his part, of course, in the 107 stand, playing well against Stan Spiegel, but who was out in the end for 21. Another 60+ partnership between Tony and Jonathan put Twineham in a good position for winning the game. A few more 6's and Tony was out, stumped, for a brilliant 153. Meanwhile Jonathan made a quick-fire 31 not out. Edward came and went for a single, but by then the damage was done; 264 for 5 off 39 overs. After the tea interval Twineham came out to field, with Nigel opening the bowling from the Manor End, and Matt from the Downs End. Nigel soon had Streat in trouble removing the dangerous Simon Barrs and Steve Hancock for ducks, and J Bovill for 2 who decided to come out without batting gloves and was persuaded to go back and get a pair. Matt played his part by removing A Barret with a low catch to James. Nigel, having figures of 3 for 13 off 9 overs, and Matt 1 for 6 off 8 overs. Then entered James to bowl from the Downs end, who, first ball, had Bob Mayston (former Kent player) out to a brilliant running catch at long on by Ollie Bunn. At this stage Streat were 24 for 7. Phil bowled from the Manor End and didn't trouble the batsmen often, and decided to give Mikey Pearce a bowl before being carried off with a hamstring problem. Mikey soon got in the rhythm by removing Bob Griffiths. M Bleson and Stan Spiegel who was brilliantly caught by the much improved Honse. In the end it was a good win for Twineham by 192 runs. And a second report: With uncharacteristic ruthlessness Twineham annihilated a sorry looking Streat. A record-breaking 150 by Tony Pearce thoroughly demoralised the opposition and fantastic catches by Ollie Bunn and Honse capped a stirring display. Never mind that Streat's bowling was friendly and their batsmen, to say the least, obliging, games like this still have to be won. Pearce senior made full use of a short boundary, swiping and smashing until he went a dangerous shade of puce, while Pearce Junior played with textbook correctness collecting one's and two's to his fathers fours and sixes. Well before tea the total looked way beyond Streat's capabilities and so it proved as Nigel and Matt took early wickets, and James and Mikey tweaked out the rest. Strangely, Richard's technical acumen was hardly missed as Phil changed the bowlers cannily until pulling a hamstring when the game was all but won. Ollie's wonder catch came as a former kent county batsman was deceived by James's flight. Ollie raced in from the boundary and plucked it from the sky. Honse, who appears to be made of rubber, caught the winning catch (destined for Matthew until he slipped) flinging himself forwards to hold on just inches from the ground. A few minutes later and the heavens opened. Five catches, a run out and no dropped chances; all that pre-season training had really payed off. And Tony has generously offered to buy the beers for the rest of the season. Top of page |
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| TWCCv Greys May 11th 2007 A hot sunny day for the game against Greys, a good day for batting as
the match, and two men in particular, would prove. TWCC lost the toss and were
asked to field. We spent the next two hours admiring their Australian opener
Covill stack up a chanceless century before he got greedy and was stumped for
109, trying to knock James into New South Wales. In the meantime, Dave Rogers
took a stunning diving catch to get rid of their other opener, but it was one
of those days where the ball avoided the fielders. Our bowlers toiled well for
little reward, mostly going for at least five an over. But Matt Steinke, Dave
Jones and Edward all picked up a wicket with James getting 2-29 at the end.
A good reply by our openers: Steve and James put on 61 before Steve was
bowled for 30, but the foundation was laid. Enter Tony Pearce, he of the 152
last week. It was very soon clear he was determined to continue from last week.
James was caught for 34 with the score at 71-2 - and the next wicket fell at
210!!! A curious but unselfish innings from Edward with 19 singles in the
scorebook before he got any other score. He was bowled eventually for 35 (23
singles, 3 4s) but by that time another magnificent century by Tony had got us
to the brink of victory. His superb innings consisted of 11 4s and 6 6s and
ensured victory by 7 wickets with ten balls to spare. Tony was 103 not out. So
another excellent team performance, congratulations to all, the undefeated TWCC
march on.
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|
TWCC v Moulscombe
Wanderers May
11th 2008 |
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| Bolney v TWCC May May 25th 2008 An undefeated TWCC arrived at the picturesque ground of Bolney, a venue where in recent years they’ve had little reward and occasionally fractious encounters – one might speculate whether those two facts are in any way connected. The skipper won the toss and elected to field on an afternoon promising a bit of swing. And so it was that the first controversial move was to open with Nigel and Jim – a tactic which paid dividends with Nigel coming downhill unlucky not to nick a couple of edges but bowling a good tight spell, and Jim using the conditions uphill to take a couple of good wickets, including their opener for a duck and their number three three balls later, for two wicket maidens in a spell of 21-2. The pressure was kept up on the batting side when Matt replaced Nigel down the hill and put in an excellent spell taking 4 wickets for 37 runs. It was a reward not just for that day but for some recent spells when Matt has bowled well but not got the wickets he’s deserved. Wickets fell regularly and only a late stand of 37 for the 6th wicket got Bolney towards a reasonable score, when they hit out at the spinning combo of James and Mikey. Fortunately when Mikey was getting the treatment his dad stepped in: by stumping the batsman who was trying to slog him onto the A23. It capped an excellent display behind the stumps for Tony, adding to two earlier catches. Bolney finished on 164-8, setting an achievable target. However, it soon became clear it would not be achieved. Mikey spent a long time getting not many and was out for 5, Tony took a short time getting even fewer and was out for 4 – whilst James just took a long time. We made 53 in an hour and ten minutes, unable to get good tight bowling away. James eventually made 27, Nigel fell for 12 – but then, in came Edward. No, not that one – not the one that scored 19 in singles – the other one, the `old Edward`. He set about the bowling and made a quickfire 41 – scoring more boundaries than singles – and suddenly the chase was back on. When he departed we were 98-5, needing 66 from the remaining 12 overs. Unfortunately, we were not up to the job. Jim made 2, Richard a shameful golden duck and William a swashbuckling 0 – though had he have hit one of the many he went for, it would most certainly have landed in Brighton. It was left to the last three batsmen to form a rearguard defence – and what a superb job they did. Dave Rogers and Matt lasted 8 overs, whilst Bolney tried to buy them, bounce them and blast them out with a variety of bowling, including bringing back the pacy opener towards the end. But these two stalwarts held firm until the match was almost safe – when Matt was eventually bowled by said opener. Enter the fray Honsa. With one ball which if missed would lose us the game he faced up like an American baseball player. The ball was good, fast and on the stumps in failing light – but not before Honsa’s magnificent bat came down firmly on it and the match was drawn. We have ourselves a new young hero, to go with our older hero Dave. So the run continues, it was a really plucky performance by those last three batters, good to see Edward back in the groove and a very good display in the field. SCORES BOLNEY INNINGS HIMAL: CT AND BOWLED M STEINKE 39 S ADBY: LBW SIMON 0 I ROBINSON: CT T PEARCE, B SIMON: 0 S BOWLES LBW B BROCK 16 P MARSHALL CT T PEARCE B M STEINKE 30 J MCDOWALL B M STEINKE 4 A BENNETT CT T PEARCE B M STEINKE 8 B GRIFFIN NOT OUT 21 G STANDING ST T PEARCE B M PEARCE 31 M ENGLISH NOT OUT 3 TOTAL 164 BOWLING N INGRAM: 8-2-0-0 J SIMON: 6-2-21-2 R BROCK 11-2-36-1 M STEINKE 11-2-37-4 J TROLLOPE 5-1-25-0 M PEARCE 4-0-24-1 TWCC INNINGS J TROLLOPE: CT ROBINSON B HIMAL 27 M PEARCE CT HIMAL B ENGLIS 5 T PEARCE CT MARSHAL B A BENNETT 4 N INGRAM BOWLED HIMAL 12 E BUNN BOWLED HIMAL 41 J SIMON BOWLED ROBINSON 2 R BROCK BOWLED HIMAL 0 W BUNN BOWLED HIMAL 0 D ROGERS NOT OUT 1 M STEINKE BOWLED ROBINSON 4 HONSA NOT OUT 0 TOTAL 109 MATCH DRAWN Top of page |
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| Ashurst v TWCC June 1st 2008 And
so to Ashurst, where a strong (on paper and only on paper) TWCC XI lost the toss
and were asked to field. The pitch had had a lot of rain and was quite soggy:
and given it's reputation for low balls anyway, we were hoping for a good tight
performance in the field. And this we had - for a while. Nigel and Jim worked
hard in the opening spell: Nigel's figures in particular were excellent:
6-2-8-3. Then Rob Rydon - our newest acquisition, who spotted our advert in the
pages of `Twineham Today` under the `New players wanted for a desperate cricket
team` column – came on a bowled very well, fast, tight, difficult to get
away. With Matt Steinke at the other end
also bowling well it was a very good period of intensive cricket. However, we are all there to play cricket so
the skipper controversially extended the bowling circle to include himself,
Jonathan and Dave Jones. This with a
batsman starting to enjoy himself and get to grips with the conditions. Result:
less appealing bowling figures, a batsman finally out for 74 and a total
about 30 more than it should have been.
They finished on 156-9. That said, the only point of setting an
achievable target is to come somewhere near striking distance – and we
failed. Abjectly. With such riches in our batting line-up,
everyone seemed to subconsciously leave it to the next man. So when Jim, snatching at the opportunity to
open with James (“isn’t there anyone else”) fell for just 2, and our early
season but fast fading hero Tony was also bowled for 9, it was left to our new
champion Rob to bail us out....
Anyway
moving on. After Rob’s 2, others to fail
were Edward (7), Jonathan (1) Nigel and Dave J – scorer untroubled – in fact
only Matt with an unbeaten 22 and James with 29 offered any resistance. We finished on 89-8, a valiant last stand of
32 between Matt and Dave Rogers – but because it was a 40 over game, it has to
be chalked down as a defeat. It’s nice
to see it wasn’t a traditional Twineham collapse however – just a steady torrent
of wickets. And we had our revenge by
creating such mayhem in their scorebook that their victory will have been
indecipherable!
SCORECARD
Ashurst
C
Adams Ct Trollope B Ingram 1
D
Fischell Ct Bunn B Jones 41
Pickford Dt Brock
B Ingram 11
Kennett Ct Rydon, B Simon 74
Mitchell: Bowled Brock 1
Duffett Bowled Brock 0
Harrod LBW
Rydon 9
Holman LBW
Ingram 0
S
Duffett not out
7
T
Syred run out 2
B
Turrell not out
0
TOTAL
156-9
BOWLING
Ingram
6-2-8-3
Simon 7-1-28-1
Rydon
8-2-14-1
M
Steinke 8-2-32-0
Rowland
3-0-22-0
Jones 4-0-29-1
Brock 4-1-20-2
TWCC
Trollope Bowled Kennett 29
Simon: Bowled Duffett 2
T
Pearce Bowled Duffett
9
Rydon: LBW Turrell 2
Bunn:
Bowled Duffett 7
Rowland
Ct... Bowled Mitchell
1
Ingram LBW Kennett 0
Jones Ct
Bowled Syred 0
M
Steinke not out 22
D
Rogers not out 5
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| Single Wicket Competition June 8th 2008 Anyway, away from the
pressures of the big league games, we staged the single wicket
competition. The big names were all
there and let us know it. “Are we the
only three to have each won it four times” said James loudly to Tony and
Edward. Curiously, James was a little
less loud when beaten in the first round by the magnificent Honsa. But his true spirit returned later when
another of the fallen champions, Edward generously suggested that the plate
final should feature George Hunter and Matthew Brock, two youngsters who had
turned up. James promptly rejected the
idea, demanded that he should play Edward in a plate semi final and then take
on the winning boy in a final. And so it
was and George narrowly missed out in the final. We all pass on our hearty congratulations to
James. Meanwhile, the punters took
the bookies to the cleaners. A great
deal of clever money had been piled on Matt Steinke at the start of the
day: and Matt powered his way to the
final where he took on Tony. It was an
excellent final, with Tony eventually requiring 2 to win and 1 to tie off the
last ball: but Matt bowled it well and
Tony couldn’t get a bat on it. So a new
name on the trophy, and just rewards for a young man whose cricket is getting
better and better. |
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| TWCC v London Unity June 15th 2008 And so it was, back to
business and London Unity. This time the
TWCC team looked as bad on paper as it normally does in the flesh – and it
wasn’t long before it set out to prove that.
Apart from James’s excellent innings of 69, holding together an assorted
shambles of batting, only Richard also managed double figures: the second time running TWCC has had only 2
batsmen in double figures. So it’s not
hard to see where the problem lies at the moment. Anyway we got to 104 all out,
just 10 minutes before tea. Unity started well getting
to 56 before losing a wicket. Then came
the fightback – and quite magnificent it was too, Twineham showing their finest
battling qualities. It came with the
bowling change: the recuperated Phil at
one end, newcomer Jasper Middleton at the other. Together these two kept things very tight and
with that pressure came wickets. Phil
finished with a quite superb 7-29, Jasper played an equally valuable part with
28-2. After that first stand, wickets
fell at regular intervals until at the start of the last over, Unity were on
99-9. We needed 1 wicket to win, they
needed 6 runs. It went dot, two,
dot. Then a cross batted slash connected
well and the ball raced to the long on boundary. A great end to a great game, shame they won
and not us. But real excellence in the
field, super bowling, catches taken all over the place, single stopping
fielding – and a very exciting match. SCORECARD J Trollope Ct Williams B Brock Ct B
Driver 10 M Jones: Bowled M Driver 0 D O Bunn: Bowled Driver 1 P Steinke not out 3 TOTAL 104 ALL OUT J Driver ct D Adey Ct S Rogers B Middleton 32 Gare: Ct S J Williams not out 6 J Roberts Bowled Middleton 7 M J Clarke Ct Middleton Bowled
P Steinke 0 J Williams not out 3 TOTAL 105 – 9 BOWLING M Steinke 10-3-38-0 R Brock 5-2-10-0 J Middleton 12-2-28-2 Top of page |
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| Suffolk Tour June 20th-22nd From Twineham came eight men
strong and true Heading East bearing bats and clubs They would meet the 3 where the
sky was blue And plentiful were the pubs Golf first, at Earls Colne, was
their game Standards of each did vary Some were poor, others most tame But old Codgers was quite the
contrary Take the game by the scruff of the
neck did he Seeing off the young pretenders And by the time we had pints on
the 19th tee Pounds up was the ancient defender The game it did change for the
time had arrived To dispatch to the Similar to ours, their name
derived But their players young and virile
not old and overfed The toss it was lost and we took
to the field Fours and sixes to the trees they did
crash To all ends of the field, and the
pink ball did yield To a watery grave, Hunter’s splash It was 20/20 in spirit and score Our fielders fought for each bye The accompanying theme, as each
batsman hit four Was a blaring tune on the hi fi At 158 they were done, thought us
sunk They returned to their dressing
room confident But they reckoned without Hunter,
the man who’d been dunked A point to prove, he’d show what
he meant He opened the innings, waited not
for the spinning `I’ll teach `em to put me in the
pond` A quickfire 24, a chance of us
winning But his luck, with his honesty,
did abscond. Launching into their task with courage
and clout Rogers and Pearce too took on the
bowlers By the time they were out we were
in with a shout 50 up and bring on Rowlers He missed out on the golf and
fielded but half But Jon was soon in the fray 1 six, 7 fours, but we had to
laugh When the ladies, their runs did
delay 14 needed from the last over Surely nothing could make our mood bitter How wrong we were, did we soon discover Two balls to go and enter `the pinch hitter` © Two sixes to win – defeat was portended Batsman Jones chose a mysterious tactic No big heave him, he meekly defended Like his bat was made of plastic Back at the pub, who would be blamed Fines and recrimination Hunter was caned, the skipper was shamed So too Jones for his vacillation The evening wore on, the ale on the go And tour traditions ever more The farting, the smarting, the sincerity did flow And the poker went on `til 4 Saturday morning, grey, not hot And Pearce adjourned to go betting Joined by Jones and Brock, they lost the lot Whilst the rest were barmaid-checking A pretty village Bures, on the border of two counties But strong at cricket, victors last year Defeated, hung over, Twineham expected no bounties Toss won, we took to the field in fear An early run out, but then it seemed to go wrong The catches they would not stick From the tennis court end Nigel and Phil held strong From the river, a quite terrible mix To detail all the catches we did spill Would be an exercise in humiliation So Hunter, Brock, Simon, Rowland et al Can wince from this very publication Another missed catch had an unfortunate end More serious than at first we did see Vinnie’s twisted back put our new found friend, In Jim’s van heading for The score we would chase, 191, seemed quite high `Til Paul and Steve put on 50, good cricket And when Tony joined Paul our hopes reached the sky They shared a century stand for the next wicket And so it continued, four followed four An occasional six thrown in Before we knew it we needed no more We’d managed our first With 11 overs still spare, we’d left Bures bereft To the Swan for footy and glee But we were only an 8, Jim’s ambulance had left We raised a glass to our missing three The evening was a flurry of cards, beer and curry Four hit the table and Nigel the jackpot With no match on Sunday there was no need to worry We left in the morning non-stop And so it was, a rundown of our tour Another memorable one – and a win too! In previous years we’ve had red lights and more But this time the red lights turned blue.
So who were the stars, who had the woes Who would we remember for ever and a day The truth is we toured with 11 heroes Bent on tradition, the TWCC way. OUR PLAYERS There was Phil, mean bowling, his shades so cool The skipper, the fall guy and always the fool Dave Jones – great tourist but defender of the six And Steve: got runs and safe behind the sticks Paul: batting hero, but what did we spy? The ball in the pond - sincerely - he did lie Tony, down on the betting but runs in a hurry Nigel put the wind up them, especially post curry Jonathan – a colossus with the bat, but at running a bit gay And Jim, batting good, but similar running to `J`! Dave Rogers: still the team heartbeat after 300 years on tour And Vinnie: enjoyed his company – erm....next year for more? |
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| Poynings v TWCC June 29th After the away weekend to Suffolk, we returned to our beloved Sussex –
and the Poynings ground nestled in the Sussex Downs. In recent years this has not been a happy
hunting ground for TWCC: frequently the
most enjoyable part of the afternoon has been the drink in the Royal Oak
afterwards. Would this be any different,
bearing in mind we were a scratch team of just 10, including a mate of Richard’s
who has never played the game since school???
The skipper lost the toss and we were asked to take the field, on a
warm but windy day. The wind would
obviously help the bowlers if they could master it – but what about that sloping
pitch? An opening attack of Jim and Phil bowled
exceptionally well kept them pegged right back, and took wickets at regular
intervals. Their figures deserve special
mention: Phil 11-3-16-2 and Jim
9-3-16-2. With bowlers far from
abundant, it was always clear that they would be in for long spells – but these
two made the most of it and gave us a great start. Unfortunately the scorebook doesn’t record
the stands but at one point Poynings were no more than 40-5. They were also scoring very slowly thanks to
some excellent work in the field, interrupted only occasionally by Graham’s
(Richard’s friend) inadequately soled trainers and James (nobody’s friend after
this performance) outrageous dive after the ball had long since passed between
his legs. On the fielding front, special
mention should be made of Steve who, with Tony at slip, managed to let go byes
and catches constantly for the first 6 overs, then stood up for the rest of the
match and was quite brilliant, frequently threatening stumpings, keeping the batsmen firmly in the crease and
whipping the bails off for two runouts from throws by Jim and Tony. So
Jim and Phil took care of four top order wickets. After Phil we introduced Mo, a friend of Phil
and clearly a very classy off spinner, ex Haywards Heath. He and Richard took three wickets during the
next spell: the difference being that
Richard didn’t take any of the three!!
The skipper wisely took himself off to avoid further damage to his
averages – rather too late – and asked Mikey to bowl his medium pacers. It was a masterful performance from the young
gobby one. Frequently passing the edge
of the bat he finished with excellent figures of 3-0-3-1, fully deserving the
praise he heaped on himself. And so it
was at 4.50pm Poynings were bowled out by a hardworking TWCC for just 123.
However, we all know how hard we can make even a moderate chase for
ourselves – and when James was clean bowled for 3, we gave a collective
gulp. But fellow opener Steve and Tony
steered us back on course and past the 50 mark before Tony was caught. Enter the skipper: no bat for him on tour, understandably given
the fact he is crap, but on this occasion he rose above the rather low standard
of bowling being offered. He and Steve
put on runs and then the once-a-year-bloom Graeme Flower showed he’d lost nothing of his
batting panache, including smacking a six and losing the ball. It was Graeme who hit the winning runs and
TWCC were victors by 7 wickets.
So two on the trot and considering the way the team was hauled
together, a great result.
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| TWCC v Wisley June 6th 2008 Wimbledon men’s finals day is always a day to look forward to at TWCC: because it heralds our match against our old friends from Wisley. Many a hard fought game has been played with the spirited Wisley team over the years and always finishing with a well earned pint. So what would this year bring? Rain!!! And more rain. By 12.30 more than half the team and the opposition had called in asking if the match was on. But given that the outfield was bone dry and the pitch artificial, plus a weather report that it would blow over by 3pm we bravely gathered, only for Edward to threaten to go home five times in the first fifteen minutes. Eventually, the clouds parted, the sun came out and we agreed to a 30 over match. The skipper won the toss and elected to bat – the tactics being simply that we didn’t want to field in the wet!! James`s indifferent season continued – he made just 7 – and it was welcome back to Paul – though we didn’t expect to welcome him back that quickly – he made 2! Then the batting marvel of the season continued his astonishing run of form. Tony provided the stability for the middle order to pile on the runs at more than 5 an over, assisted by Jonathan and Steve – and Edward batted too. Tony was eventually out for 78 before Mikey and Richard chipped in with useful 20s to take us to 171-7 from our 30 overs. So Wisley faced five and a half an over – and they started well, their first three batsmen all making good scores, despite good tight bowling by Matt and Jasper. It looked like it would go to the wire in terms of the run chase, not wickets. With a maximum 6 overs per player, Phil was deliberately kept back for the final overs. Paul and James bowled the middle overs, quite respectfully – but extraordinarily the first four bowlers all failed to get wickets, the only two to fall going to run outs.
Enter Phil. His first three overs were really tight, just
ten runs scored and two wickets. The
pressure suddenly piled onto Wisley who were falling behind the rate. Enter Richard. His first three overs cost rather more (problems with the scorebook make it impossible to verify the exact total but around the 20 mark is likely). So whilst Phil edged Wisley out, Richard did his best to keep them in it. However, during this tug of war, Rupert came to the wicket. We know Rupert well from years gone by and he can be ruthlessly destructive. Phil bowled another great over, only singles coming from it. As Richard stepped up for his penultimate over Wisley were up above ten an over. By the end of it, Wisley were favourites! Rupert smashed 17 off the over and the skipper disconsolately asked Paul to bowl his last over. However, what drama was to unfold and an over from Phil which was to turn the match. He took two wickets in the first four balls of his last over to turn the match on its head. Wisley then scored seven runs from the last two deliveries to leave them now requiring seven to win from the last over. Richard thought better of putting Paul up as the scapegoat and took the last over himself. The first ball clean bowled Rupert. Suddenly it was game on. A dot, a single and a wide left them requiring five to win from 3 balls. The 4th legal ball clean bowled their number 8 and the 5th clean bowled their number 10. One ball to go, five needed to win, four to tie, everyone on the boundary. In the event, Wisley`s most senior player walked to the wicket and played a shot reminiscent of Dave Jones` when he required the first of two sixes on tour – it was defensively knocked down the wicket. TWCC won by four runs in a highly dramatic and exciting game and much fun was had by all at the Royal Oak at the end of a fantastic day’s cricket. SCORECARD TWCC INNINGS J Trollope Ct Bowled Kumar 7 P Hunter Bowled Kumar 2 T Pearce Ct Bowled Woods 78 J Rowland Ct Bowled Geer 15 E Bunn Bowled Reed 5 S Rogers Bowled Reed 10 M Pearce Not Out 20 R Brock Bowled Haddow 21 J Middleton Not Out 5 TOTAL 171-7 (30 OVERS) BOWLINGWilson 6-0-12-0 Kumar 6-0-39-2 Geer 5-1-17-1 Alister 4-0-29-0 N Reed 4-0-25-2 Woods 4-0-34-1 Haddow 1-0-7-1 WISLEY INNINGSHaddow Bowled P Steinke 68 Swan Run Out 22 Fletcher Run out 30 Snelling Bowled P Steinke 0 Grist Bowled P Steinke 5 Geer Bowled Brock 24 Snelling Bowled P Steinke 0 Reed Bowled Brock 0 Calvin Not out 1 Kumar Bowled Brock 0 (GD) Woods Not out 1 TOTAL 167-9 (30
OVERS) TWCC BOWLINGM Steinke 6-1-26-0 Middleton 6-0-19-0 Hunter 4-0-27-0 Trollope 3-0-25-0 Brock 6-0-40-3 P Steinke 5-0-22-4 |
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| Staplefield v TWCC July 13th 2008
A rampant
TWCC side took to the field once more, this time away to Staplefield, hoping to
continue their impressive mid-season resurgence. Somewhat daunting was the
sight of a posse of lively 20 year old sporty types leaping about in
Staplefield colours, bandying balls about with, it has to be said, gay abandon.
Confidently including, in the face of this virulent display, no less than three
of our younger youngsters in the TWCC mix, skipper Brock strode to the middle
and lost the toss. Staplefield Innings A Morris bowled R Brock 51; L Cooper ct. and bowled M Steinke 0; P Clarke bowled J Simon 2; D Cooper bowled M Steinke 2; I Godsmark bowled P Steinke 5; P Sweet bowled P Steinke 22; P Doran bowled P Steinke 2; P Bradbury ct. and bowled P Steinke 5; A Stabile not out 2; M Onions bowled P Steinke 0; P Peterson run out 2. TOTAL 108 Bowling: M Steinke 8-1-18-2; J Simon 8-2-21-1; R Brock 7-0-34-1; P Steinke 8-0-21-5; G Hunter 2.3-0-9-0; O Bunn 1-0-1-0. TWCC innings J Trollope ct B Peterson 41; J Rowland bowled Onions 4; T Pearce st slip bowled Cooper 6; E Bunn ct wk bowled Peterson 24; M Brock bowled Peterson 1; O Bunn not out 6; G Hunter ct wk bowled Peterson 0; R Brock ct and bowled Dougal 9; J Simon not out for a magnificent and untroubled 4. Did not bat: M Steinke, P Steinke Fall of wickets: 18-(2), 34-(3), 84-(4), 87-(5),87-(1), 105-(7) TOTAL 109-7 Bowling: Onions 4-0-20-1; Stabile 4-1-9-0; Cooper 4-0-13-1; `Ghost` 4-0-13-0; Peterson 5-0-18-4; Clarke 5-1-13-0; D Cooper 2.5-0-13-0; Dougal 1-1-0-1. TWCC win by 3 wickets Top of page |
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TWCC v Southern Cross and Hornblowers July 20th Southern Hornblowers
were the opponents this week: they arrived at Twineham undefeated so far this
year. Would this match have a sting in the tail: well yes, thanks mainly to the
presence of a wasps nest in the teacup cupboard. In truth, this nest was
spotted two weeks ago but in the true laissez-faire spirit of the club, we left
it hoping it would go away. It didn't: in fact this week it was twice the size;
almost as big as a football. After Steve's brave efforts to grab some teacups
left him with two stings, we decided it had to be dealt with. So Paul went home
to get some spray, the skipper went out and lost the toss as usual - and the
match started with TWCC in the field. Jim opened from the pavilion end,
and with Phil's stunning form so far this season, he opened at the far end. And
lo and behold, he took a wicket with his first ball, their opener getting a
touch of glove through to Steve behind the stump s. It felt like a day when the
ball would swing: and so it proved. These two both bowled beautifully, had
the batsmen in all sorts of trouble and took out the openers early. Indeed were
it not for dropped catches by Tony and Richard off their number 3 Skutt that
would have been three early wickets. It was a struggle for the batsmen, but
just in case they were in any doubt, Mikey the Mouth helpfully screeched `he's
hit it at last` and was immediately disciplined by first slip (dad) and cover
(skipper). The change of bowling led to spells for Paul, whose slow ball was
decidedly not the best idea, and Mikey and
SHB won the toss and elected to bat. SC & H INNINGS Clifford Bowled Simon 4; Linn Ct Rogers B P Steinke 0; Skutt Ct Rogers, B Jones 61, Ghasemi Ct and Bowled 21, Barclay Ct Simon Bowled M Pearce 8; Wild Bowled M Pearce 0; Pither Ct S Rogers Bowled Jones 12; Linn not out 2; Burke Bowled Rowland 2; Shreeves Bowled M Pearce 0; Jake Ct T Pearce B Rowland 0. TOTAL 119 Fall: 2, 10, 60, 77, 81,k 102, 112, 116 118. 119. TWCC BOWLING J Simon 8-2-21-1; P Steinke 12-2-29-2; P Hunter 4-0-21-0; M Pearce 6-1-15-3; D Jones 4-0-30-2; J Rowland 1.4-0-2-2. TWCC INNINGS
P Hunter Not Out 82; J Trollope Ct x Bowled Pither 20; G Hunter Ct x Bowled Clifford 4; M Pearce Bowled Burke 8; J Rowland Not Out 0. TOTAL 121-3 FALL: 83, 91, 117 SC & H BOWLING Shrieves 4-0-21-0; Ghasemi 4-0-24-0; Linn 2-0-20-0; Skutt 1-0-14-0; Pither 3-1-16-1; Clifford 1-0-12-1; Burke 1-0-5-1 TWCC win by 7 wickets Top of page |
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| TWCC v Henfield July 27th
So the
triumphant TWCC marched on to a home fixture v Henfield. Surely the recent excellent run couldn’t
continue through another tough match?
Erm, no it couldn’t. The clue was
in the preparation: we could only muster
10 players, two of those were boys and another team member was a guy Richard
plays football with. So bad omens: worsened by the crash of the wasps nest. Phil had come in during the week to finish
off the blighters who’d taken root in our teacup cupboard. We arrived to find the nest had disintegrated
on the floor, a few stragglers were clinging onto life whilst most of their
friends had suffered in the Hunter/Steinke genocide. So the cupboard was moved outside, the
skipper continued his unhappy habit of losing the toss and on the hottest
afternoon for cricket so far this year, we went into the field. Well, for the first hour or so, we were
smacked around by the shot-making opener Eason and patted around by the gentler
TWCC INNINGS |
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| TWCC v President's XI August 3rd A wet day, with an on/off morning in which to make sandwiches. Tuna, mayonnaise, a dash of mango chutney, with mustard-and-oil-dressed lettuce marbled through the mixture seemed, to me, to be the best of them. TWCC batted first in a 40 over match and found the outfield nice and quick for a change. Several good performances to report, Paul (30), Matt (36), Edward (31) all added significantly to the total, plus a remarkable 10 not-out at the close of the innings from our swashbuckling, devil-may-care, inspirational and dashing skipper. What an example to us all he was as he selflessly risked all in his attempt to keep the Twineham worm climbing to the very end. What a 10 runs those were, and we were lucky to have them as it was clearly all a bit close with three wickets in hand and two balls left. 211 for 7. Dave Jones, playing for the President's XI, bowled particularly well, and for a lot of overs; ending with figures of 15 overs, 3 for 77 - not a flattering run-tally, but TWCC were hitting out all innings, and the 15 overs contained plenty of good stuff and some plucky hits off the middle stump. The rain settled in after tea, and President Sutcliffe-Smith sent in Mikey Pearce and Dave Rogers (both guesting for the opposition) to open, giving Skipper Brock the splendid opportunity to pit the younger versus the older Pearce. With somewhat too much glee Tony claimed the wicket of his own son as he got a ball to lift off a length, presenting the simplest of caught and bowled chances. Plenty to re-live in the Pearce household for a week or three. A rather subdued reply, with no really serious attempt to reach the total, followed as it was clear the weather was going to stop us all in our tracks. The game was kept going until opening time, with Tim Peacock himself carrying his bat through to the pub, top scoring on 13. At stumps the President's XI reply was 33 for 3 after 16 overs. Paul bowled well with figures of 2 overs, 2 for 7 and that was about it. Top of Page |
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| Moulsecoomb Wanderers v TWCC August 10th TWCC made the trip to Hadlow Down once more, not looking forward to the variable conditions, only to return home with that warm feeling that comes from thoroughly winning. Not that we play to win at all costs, but there seemed little point in avoiding a win once it became an option. To the plot; skipper Brock had carelessly booked his hols and left his side in the tender care of last season's skipper; not a happy thought, and with unburdened abandon Jim won the toss and put Moulsecoomb in to bat. "We've had the edge on Moulsecoomb over the last few meetings," he explained, "and we're sometimes a bit wobbly chasing. Put runs on the board and I think any total can be a bit of a challenge for those batting second at Hadlow Down." And so it proved. Unfettered by the pressure of having to score runs, Paul and Mikey didn't; both succumbing to balls that kept low - the usual Hadlow Down issue. In came first Tony, and then Jonathan, to take the match over and do the first of the two jobs; score lots of runs. Tony, although admitting to not really feeling in, did score prolifically against some difficult bowling. The ball continued to keep low, but this didn't stop Tony cracking three 6's and seven 4's in his 73 before wandering about once to often, looking a bit dazed by then, and being stumped. Jonathan, playing with great care and watchful attention to every delivery, took the bowling for five 6's and seven 4's in his total of 79 not out. Skipper Simon, umpiring for the latter stages of the match, was captivated by Jonathan's innings; "What was particularly impressive was that, even at the end of the innings, Jonathan was, when presented with a potentially difficult delivery, i.e. straight, still watching it all the way onto his bat and giving every ball the care it deserved." Moulsecoomb did bring on the openers again for quite a spell at the end of the innings in order to try and stop the run chase, and it did work. The scoring slowed right down and TWCC were held to under 200; 189 for 3. Plenty of batting unused in the pavilion, but scoring was difficult at the end, although Steve's pull for a single to square leg boundary showed what might have been possible if Tony had got out earlier. Mind you, if Steve had been able to read his map a bit better he might have been higher up the orTea was taken with Phil smoldering about how few overs Moulsecoomb had bowled at us (34) thus denying us runs, but little did he know what was in store for him. Seeing the ball keeping low from Pavilion End, Jim put Phil on to open knowing that of us all he is the man who will bowl it straight. In his second over the first of his many wickets fell to him, the ball keeping low and hitting the stumps. These weren't bad balls made good by the wicket being weird; these were straight and slightly swinging balls making batsmen play down the wrong line, and then, if the ball kept a little low, sneaking around and under the bat. In order to take the wickets the balls had to be good, and they were. Nigel took a wicket and Matt was unlucky bowling well for no reward, whilst Phil wheeled away claiming 5 in his first spell. Once sated Phil was taken off and replaced by Mikey who bowled the odd good ball and a good number of odd balls, and then George who whistled a few past the off stump and who had a catch dropped on the square leg boundary. But we had a match to win as the available overs lessened, and so Paul came on to take two wickets for 13, and Phil returned first to claim his 6th wicket, and then to wrap the game up with just one over to spare by taking his 7th. 7 for 14 off 10.1 overs - remarkable. The runs that Tony and Jonathan scored ensured we faced a Moulsecoomb side who barely ever tried to go for the runs, but unless we took the 10 wickets a win would not have resulted, so it is to Phil we owe the victory. And to the skipper of course, for asking him to open from the end he didn't want to bowl from. Top of page |
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| Warninglid v TWCC August 17th Skipper Simon once again won the toss and chose to field against a strong Warninglid side. Matt and Phil opened once again and Phil was quickly into the wickets as usual. Matt, on the other hand, was less successful as the Warninglid batters picked up perfectly good balls and began to find the boundarys. Matt, taken off in order to offer a different approach was replaced by Dave Jones who rolled in over after over of testing deliveries that somehow didn't take wickets. Dave got the ball to jump and swing, and although he was unlucky he did help, with Phil, to hinder the runaway scoring. TWCC began to grab back a bit of the initiative as the early flurry was halted. Phil completed his spell (11 overs, 1 maiden, 2 for 48) and was replaced by James as it appeared that the slower ball was likely to test the batters most, and so it proved as James' most loopwrthy deliveries asked the most questions. Inevitably, with tolerances lower with slower bowling, there was still the odd boundary, but overall the switch to the slower bowling was successful. Honse produced a good stop and a quick throw to run out one of their stronger batters. Dave, finishing strongly with figures of 10 overs, 1 maiden 0 for 39, was replaced by Edward who continued to present most problems with the slower ball which occasionaly found Dave's spot on the pitch that caused the ball to lift, and he had a lengthy spell ending with figures of 7 overs, 1 maiden, 0 for 30. James, (6 overs, 0 maidens 1 for 37), was replaced by Matt as he came on for his second spell and, bowling to the end, bowled tight and true, his 9 overs, 0 maidens 2 for 53 figures looking worse than they should as a result of his earlier spell. Jim came on to turn his arm over for just an over and a bit taking a wicket with the last ball at a cost of 9 runs. Warninglid ended on 216 for 7 at tea. Quite a target for TWCC without Richard, Paul, Jonathan, Steve or Nigel, though with a willing enough squad of eager players. TWCC opened their innings with James, newly refreshed from an overnight return from holiday having had very little sleep, and Mikey, up all night scanning the seamier side of the internet, but who, nonetheless, managed to get us off to a secure albeit less flourishsome start than Warninglid's openers. Mikey, after doing the hard yards, succumbed to temptation and was bowled for 15, which included 2 fours. James stayed around very well and anchored the innings, accelerating the scoring as he was joined by a succession of partners. First up was Tony, eyes firmly on a win, as he set about the bowling in grand style. 5 fours and 2 big sixes in his 35 an indication of the hitting. Tony was in the middle for quite a while, all the time with James contributing as well. Tony, eventually out caught, was passed on his way out... in... by Edward and he, too, began to set about things. By now the Warninglidders had also decided the slower deliveries were the harder to score off, but Edward did his best to prove them wrong. More big hits, and then he was out, going for his second 6, for 11. Our efforts proved to have been spent as Dave Rogers out for 0, Jim for 1, Ollie for 3 all made quick entrances and exits. It was now a matter of survival in the gloom of an overcast evening, and we had good lads still in reserve to do it. First Honse, who had clearly been taught good technique by Phil in the nets, parried in front of his stumps with a distinct inter-continental doggedness. He seemed to have a better grasp of the basics than his skipper, but in the end he was out caught as he tried to score. Dave Jones fenced well for a good period, and then he, too, fell, leaving us with Matt and Phil to keep the Warninglid wolves from our door. Which they did! Matt, who as we know, bats well and deserves a place much higher up the order than a lowly No. 10, clearly found being reined in a bit frustrating, but TWCC needed someone of his calibre there and there he was. With Phil, and with a co-operative Warninglid skipper, we saw out the day for a dishonourable draw. TWCC 128 for 9. We see the return of our true skipper for the next match, and none too soon. Top of page |
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| TWCC 2007 Season | ||||||||
Brunswick Village v TWCC April 29th 2007 The captain surprised himself by winning the toss - wasting a valuable toss-win as, upon declaring that TWCC would field first, he learned that the opposition's captain would have batted anyway. How this whole toss thing pans out over the season we shall just have to wait and see. Taking the field with no Phil or Mat was an issue, but Nigel certainly turned up big-time, and his potent opening spell set the tone for the match; 3 for 29 in 7 overs. At the other end Richard kept it tight and beat the bat regularly, and took 1 for 24 off 6 overs; an LBW decision from the opposition's umpire - an indication of the fair spirit in which the match was played throughout. Reeling a little, Brunswick Village got down to their No. 5 batsman in double-quick time. Dave Jones, replacing Richard, varied his line to some degree, but nonetheless took two for 45 during a lenghty eight over spell. There is a risk that these figures flatter not, but, and it is a big but, by this time we were all enjoying the wonderful strokeplay of Mr. Rosh (?) Fernandopulle who took runs off all the TWCC bowlers throughout his wonderful innings of 108 not out. Jim took over from Nigel, and bowled one of his best deliveires first ball, but who, going downhill from that point, ended up with figures of 5 overs none for 26. The captain, feeling that some variety and lift from just short of a length might just be the thing to stop the young Sri Lankan in his tracks, replaced himself with Edward who bowled well, in two containing spells totalling 8 overs, at a time when Brunswick were scoring freely, ending with 46 for 1. James' short spell failed to produce the wicket that it might well have, and also failed to be recorded accurately in our scorebook, (or maybe James went through the book with an eraser?), and the stats may be lost for all time. The book says 2 overs none for 23, but the Editor recalls a longer spell than this? Nigel returned to the fray, and took a further wicket to end with figures of 11 overs, 1 maiden, 4 wickets for 51. An overview of the Brunswick innings shows a domination by Mr Fernandopulle and, although there were contributions elsewhere; a 35 and a 24; there were no other significant scores and, for the loss of 8 wickets, Brunswick Village ended up setting a target of 220. The outfield was fast and difficult, as TWCC found, (Richard suffered a painful ankle injury when chasing a ball over the lumpy outfield, which stopped him taking part any further in the game), but 220 to chase, whilst it wouldn't be easy, was never a total too far. TWCC's skipper hoped for an innings based on a solid foundation, and James and Dave Rogers opened in TWCC's reply and provided just that. The best part of an hour's play followed with no loss of wicket; James accumulating runs by waiting for the opportunities and then connecting with great effect, and Dave doing his given job of keeping the bowlers out as the Brunswick bowlers worked through their fresh phase. With the bowlers tiring a little, the score had moved on to 74 for no wicket - a proper, crickety platform, when Dave, now opening up, was caught at gully. James' innings really set the tone of TWCC's reply; solid, chanceless as I recall; he having scored the bulk of the runs in the opening hour. Now, with a platform from which to begin an attempt at the total, Twineham were poised to see what they could do about overtaking Brunswick. Dave and James' opening job done of ensuring that TWCC really shouldn't lose the game, a license to go for it was created, and, with a team chock full of serious strikers lined up ready to indulge, the chase began in earnest. First up was Steve who, with his usual energetic clean-hitting, raced to a quick 17 in no time, and who, with James continuing to press on, began to indicate that the win was on. Steve's innings comprised one single and four fours - TWCC were off - and Edward replaced Steve at 121 for 2; 100 to get! All this time James had been keeping his end up, but, just approaching a marvellous opening century he suffered an on-target delivery which escaped his radar and which tickled the top of his off stump casuing his downfall on 95; 4 sixes and 13 fours! How about that; straight out of the box at the start of a new season! The creator of the perfect platform for the team, and the scorer of more or less half the team's required runs - an innings of distinction and one which augers very well for him and for the team for the oncoming season. No exact figures available, but I think at the point James left the field, TWCC probably needed about 10 runs an over, but, with the draw secured, Twineham were now able to capitalise on having moved Tony down the order a bit. 100 to get in ten overs or so; who would one want at the crease? Edward and Tony fit the bill! And they didn't disappoint as they set about the Brunswick bowling in marvellous style. Edward hit seven fours in his innings of 34, particularly strong pulling to leg, and the required rate dropped like a stone. Tony began his neat, cleverly paced innings with a straight six, and didn't look back as he waited for the scoring balls and pounced. Joined by Nigel upon Edward's demise, the terrible twosome powered on and Brunswick weren't able to stem the flow of runs and it became clear that a good win was around the corner. Nigel, 20 not out, with a huge straight six and two fours, together with Tony, simply took the game away from Brunswick who had, by now, brought on both their opening bowlers in the deepening gloom, but it was all to no avail as TWCC overtook their total with an over and a half to spare. Tony's batting at No. 5 - well down the order for him - did mean that he wasn't able to be at the crease for as long as might have been optimum, but, free to revel in his natural free-scoring batsmanship, he plundered 42 runs in no time, including 2 sixes and 6 fours. Not out at the end, and coming up with the goods when asked, it was a very promising and encouraging start to his season. All six batsmen produced the goods, from laying foundations to scoring heavily as the opportunity to do so with abandon arrived, and TWCC can be proud of their performance at the start of the new season. An overview of the day must highlight the success of several individuals. Whilst all bowlers bowled well in difficult circumstances as the Brunswick star batsman played so well, Nigel's opening spell was the most commendable as he rolled over the top of the order and put Brunswick on the back foot. No other bowler really had the Brunswick batsmen regularly worried, though wickets did obviously fall to good and less good balls as always. A target in the 200's was an impressive one to reach, and the batsmen were the real stars of the show, as detailed above. Edward's opening innings indicates this might be another vintage Bunn year, and Steve and Dave were reliable as always and helped us to the win. Man of the match is not easy; Tony's cool and fast 42 scored when asked to produce was a highlight and who knows what he might have scored had he batted lower down, but Man of the Match comes down to two players; Nigel for his penetrative and succesful bowling and his blistering presence at the crease at the end of our succesful run-chase is one, and James' impressive 95 which naturally puts him in the frame. A rare sharing of the spoils then; one can't imagine what total TWCC might have had to chase had Nigel not bowled so well, and his sealing of the game at the end was a wonderful contribution, and James' innings was clearly the main reason we were in a position to win at all. Men of the Match; James and Nigel. On to Streat where the editor hopes not to get Stanned again, and on into the season with a win under our belts and individual and team confidence high! Brunswick certainly played their part in a friendly and sporting fixture, a proper Sunday match, complete with the right result! Congratulations Twineham and Wineham. Top of page |
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| Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 6th 2007 With
a dodgy forecast having dogged the week, it was with some trepidation
that the TWCC team drove to Streat's wonderful ground, nestled in heart
of the rain corridor just North of the Downs. The mists were reeling
across the hills, full of wet intent, and the unseasonably high recent
temperatures a forgotten anomaly.
Top of PageUndaunted, the TWCC team went through the usual pre-match routine of changing as slowly as possible and of not being ready to play until we were a round fifteen minutes late. Notwithstanding this lengthy opportunity to lose the toss, the captain mysteriously made one of the few correct calls of the day, and chose to field first. TWCC's bowling attack opened with the Steinke duo, Matt operating downhill and into the wind from the House End, and Phil coming up the slope with the wind behind. Of the two it was Phil who caused most problems, taking an early wicket leaving Streat at one point on 6 for 1. Matt seemed to struggle slightly with the conditions, and was maybe a little short of match practice as this was his first game, and he was temporarily removed from the attack. Phil and Jim then continued in partnership for the next 16 overs; Phil always on the money and Jim bowling his usual mixture. Dave Christmas, on his way to scoring 96 and other Streat batsmen were getting seriously set and were on their way to a large total. Edward, using his varying pace very effectively, came on from the Downs End to replace Phil, and, using the slope of the wicket to his advantage, bowled an excellent eight over spell, taking one wicket for 35 runs; not un-economical in the context of the pattern of play as the batsmen were now hitting out at every opportunity. One or two odd deliveries from Jim appeared to trouble the batsmen at the wicket, but increasingly more did the same for the batsmen waiting to come in as they had to keep looking for the ball in the field behind the pavilion. With wickets in hand the Streat batsmen began to take advantage of poor and less poor balls alike and by the time Jim saw the light he had figures of 8 overs, 1 for 47 - not a pretty sight, and he thought it time for someone else to be as expensive. The captain's thoughts turned then to the bowling might of Pearce T. Not many pundits would have thought of this particular master-stroke, and it was a captain's decision that would have been effective had the boundarys been just a bit further away from the batsmen. Several skied shots had the bad form to go all the way into the hedge, just evading fielders on the boundary, and Tony's short spell, effective in producing chances, closed after 3 overs and 19 runs had been scored. By now the Streat players were in the last half hour of their available time and much hitting occurred. Dave Jones replaced Tony and he took a wicket in his five overs at a cost of 39 runs at a time when the batters were simply hitting out. Matt returned to the attack, finding his form very creditably in the different conditions from the Downs End, ending with very good figures of a total of 8 overs for 23. With the clock ambling very slowly towards tea, it was a reluctant Phil who took the ball for the last over - reluctant as the figures from his fine earlier spell were in jeopardy. However, more faith was justified as his clever tactic of bowling towards the stumps brought him another wicket and he closed with figures of 11 overs, 2 for 39. An overview of the Streat innings must not only pay tribute to the batting of M Brook (36) and R Spurr (33), and particularly to Dave Christmas' 96, but also to the condition of the outfield and the Twineham fielders. This was not one of TWCC's liveliest fielding performances, and, with a particulrly short boundary up towards the pavilion not helping, Streat ended with a total of 213 for 5. Twineham's bowling would have benefitted from the penetration offered by Nigel, and the additional variety that Richard Brock and even the odd Hunter might have provided. Twineham's run chase, again over 200, began with Richard being a victim of the only ball in the whole day that did anything unusual. Admittedly from the Downs End where there did appear to be a little bit more offered by the pitch, the ball lifted off a good length and all Richard could do was fend the ball to the waiting slips. An unlucky and unwelcome early dismissal, it is to be hoped that at least, by not unduly stressing his injured ankle over a more prolonged innings, by being out so quickly Richard might at least have hastened an early return to full fitness. There now ensued Twineham's purple patch. Without hurry, James and Tony began to accumulate runs in much the same craftsmanlike fashion as they had individually on the previous Sunday. Using leg glances off the full face of the bat, fine cuts, full-bladed drives off front and back foot they soon spread the field and were able to push for the ones and twos as well as take advantage of the looser deliveries by scoring boundaries. Both batsmen's timing is already in mid-season knick, and James' 65 included one all-run 5, 8 fours and lots of gently pushed singles. Tony, eventually out for 87, struck one 6, and 13 fours. Both innings' of great class they took Twineham to a fine victory, needing only modest assistance from Matt in at No.4 (10), with Edward (11) and Steve (8) not out at the end with plenty of time to spare. James and Tony impressed again with their cultured gentle stroking of the ball into the gaps in the field that their agression had opened up, and with their bigger hitting when the opportunity arose. Their prolonged scoring, admired from an increasingly relaxed pavilion, simply took the game away from Streat. Stan Spiegel, acting skipper, (who also took 3 for 38 off 6 overs) had thought at tea that they were maybe forty runs short, and with the outfield fast, the boundary on one side very short, and Twineham's known potential he was proved correct. As Stan pointed out, the wicket, outfield and proximity to a short boundary, together with some rather poor fielding, allowed a total of 428 runs for 9 to be scored, quite a total for a Sunday afternoon of cricket. Another fine TWCC victory in which more than 200 runs were required and it does seem as if TWCC's batting is in good, confident form, and we still look forward to the return of Paul up the sharp end of the order. Thanks to the performances of our strong batters our middle and sometimes lengthy tail have yet to find out how resilient we are in 2007, and that will be interesting when we are called upon to score runs lower down the order. James, in opening and then seeing us through to a strong position scoring 65 runs, and Phil in bowling so well, both helped more than most in securing another victory, but one can't ignore Tony's bowling, and it is for this, and possibly also for his 87 runs that Tony is this week's Man of the Match. |
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| Twineham and Wineham v. Moulescomb Wanderers May 20th 2007 Who was it that said; "Cricket's a young man's game?" Well here at the Gazette office we haven't got a clue, but whoever it was must have been at TWCC's home match against a particularly mobile and energetic Moulescomb team on Sunday. This week, even more so than on previous occasions, the Gazette is somewhat running on empty and so the Editorial Team are planning a different and hopefully less laborious (for all) write-up this week. So; the card! TWCC's skipper mysteriously won the toss and TWCC were batting first again. Moulescomb Innings J Harrison bowled Ingram 0 K Cooke Caught Hunter P. Bowled Steinke M. 4 T Sharpe Bowled Steinke P 42 T Bramford Caught Bunn E. Bowled Ingram 17 G Brighty Caught Steinke P. Bowled Steinke M. 8 S Griffiths Caught Rogers S. Bowled Brock 4 S Bramford Bowled Brock 24 P Langman Caught Trollope Bowled Ingram 20 M Green Not out D Sherwin Dropped Simon Bowled Steinke P. 9 D Sherwin Bowled Steinke P. 9 J Bowen Not out Extras 9 Moulescomb 140 for 9 TWCC Bowling Nigel Ingram 10 overs 3 for 26 Matt Steinke 8 overs 2 for 21 Paul Hunter 0.2 overs 0 for 2 (injured) Jim Simon 6 overs 0 for 24 Richard Brock 6 overs 2 for 21 Edward Bunn 4 overs 0 for 28 P Steinke 6 overs 2 maidens 2 for 14 TWCC Innings J Trollope Caught Griffiths Bowled Sharpe 11 D Rogers Run Out 1 S Rogers Bowled Sherwin 11 E Bunn LBW Bowled Sharpe 9 J Simon Bowled Harrison 0 R Brock Caught Sharpe Bowled Bowen 8 N Ingram Caught Griffiths Bowled Bowen 18 G Hunter Caught Bowen Bowled Not Sure 3 M Steinke Not out 2 P Steinke Not out 0 P Hunter DNB (injured) Extras a few TWCC about 70 for 8 Moulescomb Bowling G Brighty 5 overs 0 for 12 D Sherwin 5 1 for 14 T Sharpe 7 overs 2 maidens 2 for 6 J Harrison 6 overs, 1 maiden 1 for 16 J Bowen 6 overs 1 maiden 1 for 16 M Green 5 overs 0 for 11 (These figures may be wrong - well; are wrong as more wickets fell than this. Apologies to Moulescombe for any misrepresentations!) These figures tell most of the sorry story, though, as always there's a little more to it. It did all start out rather promisingly, with Nigel and Matt's familiar opening burst producing early wickets; we couldn't have asked for more and Twineham's bouncy fielding was an improvement on recent performances; having the Hunters back in the side certainly helped here. Then the first bowling change brought on an unfortunate injury to young hopeful Paul Hunter who succumbed to a painful tweak whilst running up to bowl. He took no further part in the game and didn't even get to the pub! Simon J was a disappointment again, bowling about one good ball in ten, but Edward did bowl well, with his usual mixture of temptation and variation of pace, and was unlucky on several occasions not to get a wicket. Richard, and then Phil produced the goods again from the Downs End, taking four wickets between them. The bowling and fielding performance was far from unsatisfactory, and conceding 140 with just ten men in the field for much of the time was commendable. The warning signs were there, however, for not only was Paul injured but was clear that the outfield was very slow. Seasoned pundits were heard to mutter that the Moulescomb total of 140 began could be a bit of a challenge. Before I begin a description of the Twineham reply I think it's only right to point out that many of the team were really quite good at cricket once. I think many of them may even have managed it twice, and the odd person is still in good nick. But, against Moulescomb, faced with an opening quartet of really rather good bowlers, TWCC were found a little wanting. One highlight of the Twineham innings was Dave's offside dab behind gully for two, of which he managed to complete one and three-quarters. His was the first of many downfalls we suffered largely on account of playing against such a youthful side; a quick move to the ball, a fast release and Dave was run out for 1. Not a happy start. James and Steve steadied the ship in the face of really very good agressive swing bowling of not inconsiderate pace. Steve tickled one too many, and soon a few of us had finished our game for the week. James' undobted batting skills allowed him to stay at the crease for a while, but the quality of the bowling prevented him from scoring many runs before being out to one of many very good deliveries. Edward and Richard did show that they could bat, and kept their wickets alive for some time, but it wasn't possible to get on top of the bowling at all. Once the game was safe Moulescomb brought on less testing bowlers and a brief revival duly occurred as Nigel had a go at seeing if we could approach the 141 needed, but he, too, fell and soon it was up to George and Matt to save the game. George deserves special mention for his stout defence in the face of quite severe pressure - he together with Matt, and then Phil, saved the game for Twineham and Wineham as Moulescomb, in failing light, allowed us to bat out to the end. Kevin, the Moulescomb skipper, is to be congratulated on his sportsmanship as we all know that he had four bolwlers in his arsenal each of whom could have wrapped up the game in the failing light, but he allowed us a chance to hold out against gentle pace. A low-scoring match, with no real highlights, and the low-light of Paul being injured and not being able to enjoy his first match of the year. A draw, but a very losing draw, and the honours certainly go to Moulescomb. Man of the match? Well, not an individual this week; more a state of being. Youth - Moulescomb's youth in the form of bendy fielders and lithe pacy bowlers, and TWCC youth embodied in George who batted so well and who saved the game; these are the abiding memories of the day. 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| Single Wicket 2007 June10th 2007 A steamy Sunday afternoon found us thrashing around in pursuit of the ever-elusive single wicket trophy. As usual we first had to make up all the rules, and then argue about them, and Tony had to sort out the book, but eventually we decided to just get on with it. First- round casualties, almost relieved, trotted out their usual denial of ever having been interested in winning in the first place, and we meandered through the afternoon. More of us fell by the wayside, the plate progressed. The Plate final was an all Steinke affair, with Matt emerging the victor as Phil threw the edge of his bat at a ball outside the off stump, and Mikey held on to the catch thus cementing his grip on the catching fund. Onto the final: Richard v. Matt Smith. Matt, a friend of Mikey's, a first-time player with TWCC, and clearly a good cricketer, bowled first and Richard saw his two overs through. It would be good here if the Editor could recall how many runs Richard scored, but, to be honest, by now the afternoon's cricket had all merged into a bit of a blur and I haven't a clue. Brocky, playing well all afternoon, had managed to score plentifully and bowl straight all afternoon, so it was no surprise that he found Matt's stumps with a plain good ball and won the honours of the day. Top of Page |
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| Twineham and Wineham v. Poynings July 1st 2007
Another Sunday dogged by dodgy
weather found TWCC playing host to Poynings; generally one of our more hotly
contested local derbys. Doubting Thomas's were ... doubtful ... that there would
be a game at all in the face of high winds and heavy squalls, but the weather
cleared out, blue sky appeared, and Jim lost the toss; normal service
resumed.
Poynings chose to bat first, and TWCC were pleased to welcome back fun-seeker Ingram to the squad, and he duly steamed in and rattled the opposition's timbers, whilst opening at the Downs End, Phil also hit top form straight away, and TWCC were off to a flying start having Poynings in some trouble at not many for quite a lot of wickets. Nigel came off when it was clear that it was time to ease up a bit on some younger Poynings players, thus being denied more wickets as he was certainly on song. He came on for an odd over or two at the end of the Poynings innings, and had figures of 7 overs, 2 maidens, 2 for 13; welcome back Nigel - we've missed you, and you certainly had more wickets in you had you stayed on. Phil's equally impressive spell, with the strong wind behind him, bowled his overs straight off, ending up with figures of 9 overs, 2 maidens, 2 for 13. No wonder Poynings were in trouble. Replacing Nigel, Dave Jones found his bearings bowling into the wind, and then delivered 7 overs, 3 maidens, 2 for 11! Great bowling, keeping it straight and true and Poynings couldn't get it away. James, bowling from the Downs End, alternately looped and sped up his deliveries, and looked good for his 5 overs, 1 maiden, 1 for 8. Where were Poynings going to get their runs from? Well; it became clear that Poynings had held back a pair of their more productive hitters and now TWCC were facing the prospect of more runs than we first thought being scored. Richard, again bowled well (7 overs, 2 maidens, 1 for 18; excellent figures), and, less successful (a common pattern) Jim (7 overs, 0 maidens 0 for 21) took on these quality batters, and the score got up towards the 90's. Paul replaced Richard and wrapped up the Poynings innings with figures of 2.5 overs, 0 maidens, 1 for 9. Poynings all out for 99. On the face of it a very good TWCC fileding performance, although the lively pitch certainly helped the bowlers. However experienced Twineham fans will recall situations in which their team foundered when chasing modest totals. Twineham had a good batting line up, however, and faced the challenge head on. James and Tony opened the batting and in no time we had 20 or so on the board. However, this was a bit of a false dawn... James, having opened up with a fine four, was bowled for 10 by R Brookes (7 overs 4 maidens, 2 for 7) and our decline had begun. Tony followed soon after for just 6 and Twineham suddelnly didn't find the going easy at all. And so began the long slow death of our ambition; runs dried up as we did no more than survive. But, and this was still a crucial factor, survive we did in the form of new boy Jonathan Rowland who weathered some shortand lively balls with great fortitude and resolve as he absorbed tough bowling, falling eventually for 12 runs - our top scoring batter. Steve Rogers also stayed the course, and our No.'s 3 and 4 batsmen suffered some agressive and tight bowling as a series of maiden overs stopped us in our tracks. Eventually Steve fell to a really tremendous catch in the slips (a habit of his that it would be good to kick) for just 2 runs, but that figure alone is no indication of the importance of what he achieved by staying at the crease and keeping our powder dry with plenty of good batting to come. Nigel was next in, but he fell for 0 as the Poynings bowling relentlessly wore us down. Not many changes of bowling during this period; their first 3 bowlers between them delivered 12 maidens in 27 overs, taking 4 wickets for 30 runs; long spells that set up a possible Poynings win. However, our hopes were high as in-form Hunter P. strode out to the middle. Surely, barring a freak accident, Paul would see us through to what was still an achievalbe total. The freak accident in question involved Paul swiping at a really wide ball down the leg side which hit his bat twice and lobbed up for a simple catch behind. Out for 3 runs Paul's demise was unfortunate and it looked like it would prove decisive as, though Brocky and Jim flurried a few runs, as far as the result was concerned; that was it; Twineham all out for 59. The Gazette must report the contribution made by TWCC newcomers Jonathan and Ian who fielded well and went in at No. 8 and who sportingly joined in Twineham's collapse. In retrospect the low score achieved by Poynings was not only a reflection of the fine Twineham bowling performance, but also of the difficult conditions facing both sides. Poynings, justifiably keen on victory, kept the bowling tight and only let up a little at the end when the result was assured. Although it would be easy to simply sigh and blame this defeat on "another Twineham collapse" I think that the conditions coupled with tight Poynings bowling are greater factors than any shortcomings in what was, after all, a Twineham squad full of batting, as illustrated by the fact that Nigel, Paul (batting well down the order) and Richard went in at 5, 6 and 7. Congratulations to Poynings who, in the nip and tuck of our local rivalry, came out on top. Top of Page |
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| Twineham and Wineham v. Southern Cross and Hornblowers July 22nd 2007 Looking back through the scorebook it appears as if Twineham have lost their way. We have to go back to June 17th to find the last TWCC victory, and since then have, in spite of several very good individual performances, not put it all together as a team and the results have been very disappointing. The latest match v. Southern Cross and Hornblowers was typical of recent form - a seemingly presentable bowling and fielding effort, but a poor batting display in the face of some good bowling. Playing in warm sunshine TWCC skipper (at least for the moment), having lost the toss, was asked to field first - a good sign as this has, historically, been our route to past success. Nigel and Phil duly delivered an impressive opening burst which constrained the Southern Cross and Hornblower's openers, Nigel finishing with 6 overs, 2 maidens 0 for 6. Phil continued on a little longer from the Downs End; 10 overs 3 maidens 0 for 16. It's not often that neither Phil nor Nigel take wickets, but though the batters were finding it difficult to keep the ball down and chances were flying about off both bowlers, the ball was falling safe and narrow escapes were the order of the day. But, neither were the visitors finding it easy to get the ball away for runs. Richard replaced Nigel at the Pavilion End and was soon in amongst the wickets; his slightly slower-than-Nigel pace encouraging the batsmen to have more of a go at scoring, but, at the same time, offering more in the way of opportunity to the bowler. Richard's spell was a long one; 12 overs, 1 maiden 3 for 50 and it included a significant period of play characterised by some really competent batting from the No. 3 and 4 batsmen as they came to the crease. The SCH batters; skipper Shutt and thorn-in-our-side Fernandopulle are clearly talented players. The first of these to fall was Fernandopulle who was playing the ball around very nicely and hitting the ball hard and true, though even he had trouble in keeping the ball down off our quite bouncy wicket. He fell to an extraordinary catch - James, running round to his right at extra cover, doing well to even get near a ball that was hit hard and was dipping low, stuck out a palm below knee level and, when he looked, the ball was stuck in his grasp. James himself looked surprised to find the ball in his posession, but it was nothing short of a great catch and one which dismissed Fernandopulle who, otherwise, might have gone on to score a great many more runs than his 28. Jim, meanwhile, came on at the Downs End to no particular effect, and took himself off after 4 overs (0 maidens 0 for 26!) and James came on to bowl to see if the rate of scoring could be attenuated by the ball being presented in a slower (and no doubt generally tighter) fashion. His spell was effective, and he took 2 for 27 off 7 overs, which included bowling to the very end of the innings when the visitors were scoring really heavily. Following Richard's excellent spell, and, with James having kept the rate down with his spin, SCH were around 110 with 20 minutes to go, Mikey Pearce came on to close the innings from the Pavilion End. Immediately causing problems his swinging deliveries foxed the opposition, and, though bowling at a time when the opposition were hitting out at everything, he still delivered a really creditable spell of bowling. The figures are unflattering (4 overs, 0 maidens, 1 for 22) because of the period of play in which he was bowling, but he had the batters in trouble many times and was on the button for an LBW decision. A very good prospect for us in the future. SCH's - 152 for 8, including a great catch and a sharp run-out from Nigel. Ghesemi, not out 45 scoring heavily at the close of the innings. So; the Twineham and Wineham reply... James and Steve opened the batting, and were immediatley struggling with the lively pace of Ghesemi and the the swinging deliveries from Shrieves. Much in the way that Nigel didn't get wickets, Ghesemi, in spite of having good pace also failed to strike in this spell. The lively bounce of our wicket doesn't actually help the faster bowlers that much - the ball that is on line and full enough to hit the stumps is relatively easy to play as it is has to be at a comfortable distance from the batsmen in order to not bounce over the stumps. Anything short isn't a threat to the wickets, and anything wide is often left to pass by as it's always rising and best left alone. I don't think our livley wicket, in spite of looking good as it appears fast and zippy, does any favours to the faster bowlers. Contrast with Shrieves; must slower and getting swing and movement off the pitch, he offered more of a chance to hit the ball because of his lower pace, but the swing in the air was significant and Steve, having cracked a wider one for four through extra cover, got one that swung out and then nipped back several inches to take the top of middle stump. An unplayable ball and he was unlucky to have got the only ball in that spell that nipped back. James stuck at it, and, joined by Tony at No. 3 our two main batsmen of the day set about taking the sting out of the opposition. Survival was the order of the day as there weren't that many runs to get, and there was plenty of time. James, having weathered the storm for a creditable period and shown great patience, unfortunately followed another swinging ball from Shrieves and presented gully with a straightforward catch and was out for 2. Tony was joined by Nigel and together they set about making inroads into the SCH's total. The opening bowlers, having clearly kept us in check, were replaced after seven overs each, by Clifford and Shutt who offered more in the way of opportunity to score, and Tony and Nigel made hay while the Sun shone. Tony, eventaully out for 33 (2 sixes, 2 fours) and Nigel (top score of 37, 4 fours) made the total of 153 to win look possible, with some big hitting and quick running for ones and twos. Richard, in at 5, also found the bowling to his liking, and he joined in the runfest scoring 29 (3 fours) before proceedings were somewhat brought to a halt by the re-introduction of Shrieves and Ghesemi into the attack. The opening bowlers soon had us on the run again, and we very quickly capitulated in the face of the tighter and difficult bowling, ending on 119 all out. George, in at No.6 was unfortunately run out taking a quick single, Jim had a truly unplayable world-class delivery that started on leg stump and took the top of the off stump, Dave fell to Ghesemi's pace, Mikey hit the ball well and true, but fell to a loopy ball from Rowen in his one over, and the only survivor was Matthew Brock who showed us all how it's done - is this his first innings for us? - as he strode out to the wicket and faced the music with some fortitude. So - on paper another defeat, but with signs of hope. Again, several of our players did all that could be asked of them, James's catch was a great moment, three of our batsmen scored some runs and Mikey's bowling promises much. Much more than Jim's anyway. Top of page |
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|
Henfield v.Twineham and Wineham July 29th 2007 Twineham's Summer Horribilis rolls on with yet another close game
ending in defeat. The match is somewhat painful to go into in any great
depth, and, just in case readers are in doubt about the TWCC skipper's ability
to win anything; he lost the toss as well and Henfield chose to bat. |
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| Moulescombe Wanderers v Twineham and Wineham August 12th 2007 Phil
went out to the wicket to toss the coin, looked at the sky, noticed the clouds
disappearing, had a look at the wicket, won the toss and decided to bat to the
horror of the batsmen who gave him a long stare as in previous seasons TWCC had
been put into bat and lost both games. Things didn't go to plan as Richard
Brock was bowled by Ty Bradford for an unlucky 3. However When
Twineham came out to field Phil opened with Nigel and himself and Nigel was
soon amongst the wickets as Andy Flower was brilliantly caught by Tony for 5.
Phil had a tidy spell of 7 overs 0 for 16 - oddly for him not amongst the
wickets and he couldn't find the edges. He took himself off and on came |
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| Twineham and Wineham
v. Warninglid August 19th 2007 Paul, again, was the top scorer with 27 good runs against difficult bowling. Brocky chipped in with a useful 15, surviving much of the better bowling long enough to capitalise on the easier offerings later on in the innings, and Phil, batting at the end scored 18 not out. One other performance from a Twineham batter caught the eye and that was from Mikey Pearce, who opened and faced all the tough bowling and kept it out really well. He has to consider himself unlucky to have met such difficult bowling in his first innings at No. 2. He frustrated the bowling and stayed at the crease looking comfortable fending off the short stuff and going forward if the bowling was more on a length. A natural opener. After having a difficult time of it, against pacey, accurate bowling, and then being offered some less penetrating bowling towards the end, TWCC were all out for 110. Warninglid, with plenty of youth on their side knocked off the runs with little difficulty, Wright not out 70, and Cripps not out 20, the only wicket falling to Paul (who also had two dropped catches by out of form Jim) getting a ball to lift a little more than usual and taking an edge for Tony to take behind. Top of page |
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| Twineham and Wineham
v. Worthing Foresters September 2nd 2007 With an afternoon of fine weather in the offing, TWCC arrived at their home ground full of anticipation for turning the corner of their season. Still short of a few key players, however, and facing a team whom they had not played before, there was still room for enough uncertainty in the air to keep the doubters happy. The TWCC skipper won the toss and chose to field first. Nigel, full of fire and bowling really quite fast, soon brought about some bruising in the hands of Twineham's reserve reserve wicket-keeper as the ball beat the bat, and sometimes the head, of the Worthing Foresters' opening batsmen. Edward, for he it was with the keeper's gloves, soon called for the inners to be unearthed from the club bag. Matt, opening from the Downs End, bowled a really tight spell of 7 overs, 2 maidens, 0 for 7. The Foresters were not getting away, and soon Nigel had one of the opening batsmen chopping the ball down on to his stumps as he tried to force a shot away. The Foresters then took an unlikely decision to send in a small personage which rather forced the Twineham skipper to take Nigel off before his time. However, who stepped up to the mark? Young Mr. Mikey Pearce, Twinehams newest star, who made the ball swing about and took 2 wickets for 8 in his 4 over spell. Matt came off and was replaced by Phil who bowled a fine 10 over spell (1 for 30) and there began a rather repetetive period of the game as the small Forester, whilst not getting out but batting well, didn't really get the ball away and his occupancy of the crease might be said to have cost the visitors some runs. At the other end was another youngster, though late rather than early teens I should imagine, who was accumulating runs at a rate that surprised; suddenly he was being applauded for a 50, and then, without the fielding side having made any particular errors, his 100! It's still not clear quite where all these runs came from - perhaps it was because not many were being scored by anyone else that they were inconspicuous. The Foresters score might well have grown rather rapidly after the Foresters' diminutive No 3 was out, were it not for a fine catch at deep square leg by tearaway-fielder Dave Jones. Scarfield, who clearly looked like a good batsman held back in true Sunday cricket fashion, and who timed the ball well, swung at a ball off his toes from Richard. Dave clung on in the deep to a dipping, hard-struck ball; the icing on the cake as he had fielded conspicuously well all day, dashing about and out-sprinting a few of the youngsters. In any case, had Scarfield not been removed for just 6 I feel sure that the total would have exceeded the 158 they scored by some margin. Nigel, upon the demise of the smallest Forester, was brought back to good effect and he closed the innings with figures of 10 overs, 2 maidens 1 for 30. Others bowled, including a spell from Sam Morrison that, unfortunately caused a strain - the first of many minor injuries of the day that afflicted the Twineham team. At tea the sides were led off by a not-out Wyatt, who, with 101 to his name, scored two-thirds of the visitor's runs; Foresters 158 for 6. Well... Batting... Or, rather, more bowling from another young side that, once again, made our batting look a little strained. However, James and Mikey did keep the score going and survived well in a partnership of 21 at the top of the innings. James, the first to go, scored some good, forceful boundaries before failing to keep a square-cut down and being caught at point; out for 13 (2 fours). Mikey and Richard (in at 3) also stayed together well in a partnership of 20. Mikey, I think, may have succumbed to a lessening of concentration - clearly able to survive he tried to score once too often in the end and followed a ball that lifted high and which he could have left alone. However this is not to criticise his ability and skill with the bat as he, once again, showed more of his well-schooled and disciplined batting, only failing on one occasion which happened to get him out. He scored 13 but was, more importantly, batting during two partnerships that put on a total of 41 runs against bowling that might best be described as substantial. Edward, exhibitng many of the symptoms which the ECCB manual describes as "being knackered" (from his acrobatics behind the timbers), did put bat to ball and stroked and struck the ball with his customary mix of brain and brawn, bowled in the end for 13; a popular score. Matt; biggest 6 of the season to long on, out for 10, Nigel; not only scored runs but had them, played the highest-scoring innings of the TWCC side of 29 (5 fours) - good to see his batting coming on-song. Jim; flattered to deceive again - a couple of good shots, even the odd defensive keep-out, but surrendering too soon by making a half-volley into a yorker; bowled again. Dave; well, I won't say. Sam Morrison - injured - survived to the end. Enter Phil, enjoying some of the slower bowling that appears to be a rarity these days, swashbuckled his way to 20 not out, 3 fours and a six! Irrespressible, and surely a position lower in the order is required to stop that average building. So; the game trundled to a quite exciting draw. For a long time the total was within reach, then it wasn't and it was a matter of survival. Ollie was all padded up with nowhere to go, which is a shame as he enjoys playing and being part of the team, and he could well have had the most important role of all to play if asked to survive the final over. Talking of which a clerical error (aka the TWCC Club President), managed to endager the draw by giving the opposition an extra over above the 20 in which to bowl us out. Happily no damage done and no explanations required! A draw, which in the context of the rest of TWCC's season, must be regarded as a bit of an upturn. Top of Page |
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| Albourne and Sayers Common v TWCC September 9th 2007 Winning the toss again, Skipper Simon didn't hesitate to put Albourne and Sayers Common in to bat; the pitch looked very poor - lots of grass and where there wasn't grass there were holes. Sure enough the ball alternately got up and stayed low; particularly lively from Nigel who was again unlucky in that his 8 overs (3 maidens 0 for 11) brought no wickets. Bowling at Nigel's pace the ball has to be pitched right up into half-volley country if the ball is to threaten the stumps, whilst pitching the ball short of a length causes it to fly about and it takes a good player to get an edge under those circumstances. And a good fielder to catch the result of any edges, come to that. Matt was, perhaps, even less lucky as he did find the edge of the opening player's bats several times, though no chances were taken, and he finished having bowled 8 overs, 1 maiden, 0 for 14. On with Richard and Jim who capitalised on Nigel and Matt's tight opening spells by offering a little more and allowing the batsmen a chance to hit or miss and get out. Richard bowled a sure line as always and was soon amongst the wickets, bowling 11 overs, 2 maidens, 2 for 32. Jim, wayward as always, and who has a habit of bowling his best delivery first ball and going downhill from there, managed to get a wicket in his short spell of 6 overs, 3 maidens, 1 for 16. Time for Phil to settle things down and, in a spell of zippy and accurate bowling, (7 overs, 1 maiden, 3 for 19), he was there until the end and, taking wickets, stopped Albourne scoring in the critical closing period of their innings. Replacing Richard on came Mikey "Golden Arm" Pearce who didn't disappoint his growing army of fans by taking a wicket in his first over, and then another in his second; 2 overs, 1 maiden, 2 for 2! Surely he should have replaced Richard earlier? Mikey's first wicket was that of their top-scorer, Hole, whose eyes lit up at the prospect of the ball gently arriving in the region of his bat, only to find that he had played all round it and his stumps were awry. Then wickets tumbled as tea approached and Albourne tried to hit out, but Phil and Mikey are not the bowlers to take liberties with and their innings ended on 103 for 8. Another good Twineham fielding performance; economy in the bowling backed up by some excellent fielding - Tony's clutching dive to save four runs off Jim's bowling a highlight, particularly for Jim. Steve behind the timbers, relishing the new gloves, kept really well and kept byes to a minimum off a difficult wicket. Standing up to Phil his swinging arms revelaed, once they stopped, the ball safely nestling in the soft folds of new rubber. Others too, of course, all helped to keep the runs down, and, who knew at that stage how important each run was going to be? Tea and team photo, though sadly missing the Daves and other assorted offspring, and on with the TWCC reply. Only 104 to win? One of the strongest line-ups of the season? A doddle. Out strode James and Paul (see photo's), confidence oozing from every pore as they knew that there was no pressure - for behind them in the order was the pride of Twineham, batting down to number 10, with Jim at 11. "If one of us still there at the end we'll win" said Paul... Blimey - I've just looked at the scorebook and seen a "0" next to James's name! I didn't realise that - no wonder Albourne were so full of it when he was out. And out he was, probably twice, as he uncharacteristically cross-batted himself pulling at two too-low balls that were on the stumps. The second one was given and he walked back slightly shame-faced and no doubt annoyed with himself at having played a bad shot and having had his glory curtailed. In these situations I think it helps to be a bowler. As James is too, come to think of it, though his captain seems to have forgotten that fact. Enter Tony at 1 for 2. He left at 2 for 19, with 3 straight fours to his name; strong on the off and smacked square into the undergrowth, caught... somewhere can't remember. Onto the scene strode Edward, liking the faster bowling. Of late his innings' have been thrust upon him during the time of the change in attack to see what a slower bowler can do, but thanks to the demise of his team mates the ball was still coming onto his bat as he likes it. Ever watchful, Edward embarked upon an innings mixing full-blooded defense with equally impressive shot-making and he was off. Unfortunately so was Paul, for 11 studied runs, adjudged LBW. 3 for 44, so one could argue that his job was done; more or less half way to the total by the time he was out, and with such a strong team he probably thought that it was only fair to give the others a game. The next other, to join Edward, was our new Wonder, Mikey Pearce. Full of confidence and looking stylish and in control Mikey played with just a little too much angled-bat-style; after blocking the ball in the middle of his bat the ball dropped backwards and wobbled the bails off. Most unfortunate, but Mikey had already scored a four square on the off; TWCC 4 runs closer. Edward was out next, top score of the day of 17 (3 fours), to a ball that crept under his almost impregnable defense, but TWCC were appreciably closer to the elusive result they sought. Then Steve, 8, and Phil "Mr Average" Steinke, 4, followed, and brought Twineham a combined 12 runs nearer. Enter Richard Brock, denied an earlier appearance with the bat for no other reason than that there were so many players all of whom can bat, but Richard is one of our key bowlers as well and he had already had a game. But, irrepressible as ever, this was to be the innings of the day; 16 runs at a difficult time including being there to the very end. Nigel passed through - another LBW - bringing Matt to the crease. Brocky and Matt saw us home with one wicket to spare; 104 for 9, Matt ending up with 11 runs to his name, who, with Brocky, dealt the killer blows that ended Twineham's extraordinary run of poor results. Some might wonder how 104 for 9 could ever be something to be proud of, but they would not have known how long it was since victory by the Twineham lads had been tasted. Top of page TWCC v Brighton Beamers September 30th 2007 Twineham and Wineham Cricket Club's generally unremarkable season ended unremarkably as the Beamers, never looking like getting the required runs, played out for a draw. A resurgent Twineham batted first, Captain Simon having lost the toss, and the top of the order scored well in the face of some hostile bowling. All of the top five got in and played well. Paul, out for 12, unlucky when he was taking his bat away from danger and the ball got up further than it should and took an edge on the way through to the keeper. Tony a really good 31, Mikey - in for a long time and doing another great job - top scored with 34. Steve, 30 in no time. Richard, 19. Lots of good runs, and not what TWCC have managed to do often enough this season. George, in at 6, and skipper Jim only managed 5 between them but then the not-out Steinkes sorted out the last few overs with Matt on 10 and Phil on 15. All these runs kept adding up and the Beamers found they needed 165 to win - a good total on the Twineham wicket this season. A quick tea in the interests of not getting into the twilight zone, and the Beamers set about their task. Good bowling from all, really, and the total never looked within reach for the visitors. Matt and Richard opened, Matt 9 overs, 2 maidens, 2 for 16; another great spell. Richard, 5 overs 2 maidens, 1 for 5 - again, not giving anything away. Time for Mikey and, although the ball was swinging a bit - his trademark - it was getting wetter and heavier in the early evening dew and it soon stopped doing much for him in his spell of 5 overs 1 maiden, 1 for 16. Phil, 5 wickets in his previous game, was soon at it again, taking 2 wickets in his 7 over spell for 18 runs. Jim, feeling good about his bowling, even managed a wicket in his 4 overs, 2 maidens, 1 for 9. The beamers were getting through their batsmen all this while, but up until the last 10 overs were still in with a chance of getting the runs, but after that it became clear that the shop was being shut up. Time for George's tempters; no bites. Then, with 6 overs to go on came Matthew Brock who charged in and impressed the selectors mightily, ending with figures of 3 overs 0 for 5. Paul, still trying to force a wicket from the Downs end (3 overs, 0 wickets for 11) was removed for the penultimate over to see if Honza (gully extraodinary) could create a chance, but by then all was over as the Beamers merely fended everything off for the draw; 105 for 7. Top of Page |
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| TWCC 2006 Season | ||||||||
| Twineham and Wineham
v. President’s XI August
6 th 2006
An Autumnal
air greeted Twineham’s current Cricket Correspondent of the Year as he
surveyed his estate on the morning of the 6th. For the first
time in the season there was an early mist over the Field of Dreams, but
the day was clear and bright by the time the teams arrived for a 2.30
start. True to form it was nearer 3.00 before a ball was bowled, and,
although I don’t know who won the toss, I do know that Twineham and
Wineham found that they were the team bowling it. The
afternoon turned out to be a very warm and humid one, and fielding was
warm work in the sticky atmosphere as Nigel steamed in to deliver his six
overs. Fiery and difficult to hit, Nigel was again a little unlucky as
many deliveries passed the bat, and even unluckier as quite a few of his
deliveries hit Joe Phillip’s bat squarely in the middle before galloping
off to the boundary. Opening
at The Downs End after an absence of some weeks, Mat Steinke was soon
amongst the wickets, the first of which brought to the crease an unusually
small No 3 batsman. Closer examination revealed that the batsman was more
of a batsboy – an unusual and quite disruptive Captain’s move from Il
Presidente. Mat, whose early wicket meant he was up against the youngster,
successfully moderated his approach to the small personage, and no runs
were scored for a few overs off his bowling. At one point he had figures
something like 2 for 0 off several overs, figures regarded with some
jealousy at the other end as Nigel found himself bowling more or less
exclusively against the free-hitting Joe Phillips, and Nigel’s figures of
6 overs none for 22 show how much he was bowling at the better batsman.
Jim replaced Nigel at the Pavilion End, and very quickly found what Nigel
had been up against as his very first ball was hit for four through the
off side. The next couple of deliveries gradually homed in on the stumps,
culminating in what the bowler still regards as a slightly over-pitched
yorker (but which some uncharitable team-mates were heard to refer to as a
full toss) that bumbled into the stumps ending an impressive innings of
full-blooded ball-striking; many punched shots off the back foot having
headed for the boundary at some rate of knots. Mat
finished with impressive figures of 8 overs, 2 for 11, and Jim, whose
accuracy began to desert him by the end of his spell, finished after 7
overs with 3 wickets for 29 runs, many runs coming off the last two of his
overs as a Mr A George effectively put bat to ball on his way to a
valuable 37. The
oppressive atmosphere was notable, and, though the temperature wasn’t
anywhere as high as we had already experienced during this hot Summer, the
conditions were described in the Press Tent as being quite soporific –
nothing to do with the nature of the game, of course, as a series of
players of differing sizes wandered out to the middle. One player, in
particular, caught the eye, as, clearly uncomfortable in pads and gloves,
he all but assumed his stance facing the wicket-keeper and, on turning
round, appeared to have one eye completely obscured by a flop of deeply
fashionable hair. This cut no ice with Hunter P. who callously took the
proffered wicket – claiming to have done so out of
sympathy. Catches
were sticking during this period of the game, and wickets fell bringing
Captain Sutcliffe-Smith to the crease. Richard structured his innings very
effectively, living up to the Sutcliffe portion of his name and not
getting tempted by some unnecessary bowling being served up from the
Pavilion End by the Editorial Team. Unfortunately, however, it was
temptation after all that led to his downfall as, clipping a ball towards
Square Leg, he set off shouting “Two!” but should, technically, have
shouted "one and a half!" as Tony sheepishly removed the bails to run him
out. Further
highlights of Twineham’s fielding effort included the bowling of George
Hunter and Mikey Pearce – two capable youngsters; George taking a wicket
with figures of 3.3 overs 1 for 8, and Mikey with 2 overs no wickets for
just one run. However
it is with some regret that I have to report a dropped catch in the deep,
but because Edward wasn’t feeling too well I don’t think I should mention
who it was that dropped it. The only other wicket-taker was James who came
on at the Pavilion End and took just one over to sort out a free hitter,
and Twineham ended up with a target to chase of 118. Not a huge challenge,
the casual observer might think, but that observer would only be casual
about it if they didn’t know just how good we can be at getting ourselves
out. At the
end of the President’s XI’s innings we were forced into an immediate
turn-round - for the rather prosaic reason that the urn wasn’t hot enough
to make tea. Our Captain, who has better access than most to the
scorebook, and who is clearly worried by burgeoning averages in the
batting line-up, gave both Edward and Mat the opportunity to get out as
cheaply as possible by sending them in at No 1 and 2. They both
disappointed our leader by not being out by the time the water had boiled,
and Edward only capitulated some time after tea by spooning a ball back to
the bowler after scoring a calculating 25. Meanwhile, at the other
end, Mat showed great control in choosing to hit what needed hitting,
feathering about what needed more respect and blocking anything that might
have got him out. His innings was chanceless, as far as I can recall, and
featured particularly watchable smooth leg glances off the full face of
the bat, caressing the ball so fine down the leg side as to always bring
runs. Some shots were played forward of square, but mostly the runs were
scored on or behind square on the leg side, with just the occasional
off-side push for one in front of a retreating field. Having gone in upon
Edward’s demise, Richard Brock took up the cudgel, supporting Mat’s
inspirational batting effort with an equally chanceless 32, and Twineham
reached the target with just loss of one wicket. Nigel’s
attempt to reduce Mat’s average to more manageable proportions having
clearly backfired, he now faces the problem of what to do with a player
who returned after some weeks away to take 2 for 11 off 8 overs and who
carried his bat through the entire innings for 51. It
would be wrong to read into the above that the bowling served up by The
President’s XI was particularly easy to face – rather I feel that there is
about Twineham this season a deep vein of confidence, both within
individuals and in the team as a whole, that relaxes us at the crease.
Several times we have successfully chased totals, admittedly not many of
them of great magnitude, but nonetheless we have held our nerve, batting
second, through to several victories that in previous seasons might have
proved a challenge too far. Retiring to the Royal Oak, to find Tim still in his whites keeping wicket behind the bar, we finished off the day with a couple of pints of Harvey’s and all was well with the World once again. All players, both those victorious and those defeated, enjoyed reliving their afternoon in the Sun playing in front of a significant crowd, some of whom, upon close questioning, might even have professed to have been watching the cricket. |
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| Moulscombe Wanderers v. Twineham and Wineham August 13th
2006
Fearing the worst we set off with the Editor most properly refusing to credit the rain with enough penetration to warrant anything than an intermittent wiper-response, into the far reaches of East Sussex, to try and get lost on the way to Hadlow Down. Failing even in that we arrived in good time, and, happily, the weather seemed to have a different agenda to that we’d left behind. In East Sussex the Sun seems to hold to its agreement about Sundays, and Nigel lost the toss in what, at the pavilion, appeared to be bright sunshine, although we could only guess at the conditions further up the hill. Hadlow Down cricket pitch, it should be explained, is formed out of a slightly mown Alpine meadow, with ski-lifts provided for the more severe slopes up to the snow-line and beyond to the peaks themselves. In our standard of cricket the team that loses the toss generally find themselves batting first. There are obvious advantages to batting second, the main one being that, post tea, the ability to run about is severely curtailed. Also, any team batting second faces a finite challenge which is easier towards which to pace a reply, and many teams will testify that, if they’re batting after Twineham, their challenge is even more finite than they’ve any right to expect. So – to the match itself. Well… it’s difficult to know where to start with this, and it would be easy to blame the pitch. So, yes; I think we should start by doing that. The pitch was, by any normal horticultural standards, poor, and by cricketing standards, awful. The ball was removing cubic inches of soil as it pitched, and deliveries were either stopping, flying high or lying low, in no particular order. I don’t believe that the Mouslcombe bowling was particularly short, it was just that the length that on a normal wicket might have caused a ball to bounce just above waist height was, on occasion on this pitch, causing the ball to fly through at head height and above. We were expecting this of the Hadlow Down pitch, having met with this on our previous visit to the ground, but it didn’t help us in the run-accumulation stakes. James and Tony, however, did manage to see out a respectable number of overs, and to score a few runs, and for a blissful few minutes Twineham seemed as if they may on their merry way. The boundary was close at hand and any shots that missed a fielder almost always went for four. James, however, had got a little lost on his way to the ground and was padded up and sent out to open within a minute or two of arriving, and this rushed preparation may well have contributed to a relatively early dismissal. With James out after scoring an uncharacterisitc 8 runs, we were considering becoming a little worried. Then; who was seen walking to the wicket? It was Jim, and the Worry Level was declared critical. He would testify, however, to claim to have been moderately comfortable right up to the moment he got out. I know because I've asked him. But although he might have appeared to have been dealing with the vagaries of the pitch quite well, any serious student of the game would have noted that he never faced a single ball at the problem end of the pitch. Tony was taking these tricky and unpredictable deliveries, some keeping low and some flying about his temples. One particular delivery sticks in my mind, and that was one that was quite well pitched up but which kept very low, and, from the other end, I was very impressed by the way Tony’s reaction to the poor bounce not only allowed him to keep the ball from hiting his stumps, but he changed his shot and pushed it to wide mid-off for two. Very classy I thought. In the end it was the pitch that did for Tony; a shortish ball stuck in the mud, reared up, and caught him in the ribs as he ducked. The ball then rolled up across and over his back and trickled off onto the ground behind him. In slow motion it nudged agaisnt the base of the middle stump, and a bail dribbled off. Up to this point Tony had dealt with the problem as well as anyone could, and there was nothing wrong with how he dealt with the ball that somehow got him out. Tony was simply unfortunate, as many others were who followed, and left the crease having scored a worthwhile 18 runs that had all the hallmarks of being the begining of a major contribution. Jim, on the other hand, receiving easier bowling ended up getting a good delivery that he managed to turn into a yorker by trying to repeat an off drive that had brought some runs earlier on. I think it was case of simply missing the ball, which doesn’t help, and the off bail fell. Out for 17. As we're in danger here of trying the patience of both readers (yes, both of you!) and TWCC's Award-Winning Cricket Correspondent's stamina, it is perhaps best if I restrict myslef now to just a few of the lowlights of the rest of the innings. Many of us were out for not much, and though Nigel, Mikey and a visitor; Jack Lyndsey-Charlton all scored above ten, no-one in the entire innings reached 20 or more. Jack, whose prowess on the tennis courts of Sussex is well respected, came to the crease, with some sort of endangered species of small cat in his helmet with him for good luck, andproceeded to smack the bowling about in a most inspiring fashion. One particular top-spin lob was sent off towards the mid-wicket boundary, so disguised as to leave all the fielders stranded as they ran in towards the net. Mikey, once again, showed great composure with his batting ending up with a joint top score of 18. He also, presumably inspired by the terrain, sparked off an impressive round of sledging. Twineham are, as we know, accustomed to winning, and our belief was still strong as we wrapped ourselves around a few sandwiches. One of the performances of the day, I must mention, came from Mikey Pierce at tea. It’s a wonder that he made it up the hill at all after putting himself about so successfully, and, if there had been bigger plates available, I don’t think he would have been able to move at all. Eager to continue with our fielding reply, Twineham were up and ready well ahead of schedule, and we carried on where we left off; lots of chances just not sticking – and we began to realise that this just wasn’t going to be our day as catches fell short or just carried over fielders and snicks went for four. Nigel and Sam continued to be aggressive, though I felt that the break over tea can’t have been easy for them. Eventually it became clear that we should try something else, and Nigel tried James. Covering the leg-side boundary as best we could, James valiantly offered up perfectly good balls that stood up after pitching, and which were dispatched over the close boundary by the Moulscombe in-form batsman who was taking the match away from us. Edward, replacing Nigel, was always likely to be effective from the tricky end, and did put a bit of a break on affairs, but, again, although several chances were created, this just wasn’t Twineham’s day. James’s over was over and Jim bowled for a bit, but by the time Jim and Edward were bowling quite well together the match was over and there was nothing to do but to take our medicine like men and walk off. I think, in the circumstances we should pass over the bowling figures as they make the batting look good. In the end an unbiased observer would, I feel, conclude that, although the pitch was poor, Moulscombe simply played better on it. Unused to such a wicket Twineham’s batsmen were unable to greet the stopping ball with the tiniest of pauses that was required in order to play effectively. Shorter pitched balls, and they weren’t overly short in length, were slowing down as well as getting high. I think Moulscombe's batsmen, with some experience of playing on this wicket, alowed themselves that little bit of extra time time when a ball was coming up at a steeper than normal angle in which to adapt to the fact that the ball had slowed as well as climbed. The Moulscombe bowling did play on this, but it was also noticeable that the bowler who was asked to be a little less dangerous at one time, was more successful when he pitched it up than he was when bowling short. Our batting became a little desperate in the face of some unusual cricket, and our fortune failed us in the field on several occasions. |
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| Warninglid v. Twineham and Wineham August 20th
2006 Happy Skipper Nigel Ingram led from the front as Twineham and Wineham Cricket Club once again returned to their winning ways. An overcast afternoon on Sunday greeted both teams as TWCC and Warninglid locked local-derby horns in the latest game at the Twineham Ground. Twineham and Wineham took to the field first and skipper Nigel Ingram marshalled his depleted but willing side with great success as he himself bowled his opening spell from the Pavilion End with figures of 8 overs, 4 maidens, 2 wickets for 20 runs. Warninglid found themselves up against it early on. This brought Stanton and Cripps (Capt.) to the middle, and they set about a much needed consolidation. Matt Steinke opened convincingly from the Downs End, but failed to find his best form at just the time that the "'Lid's" No. 3 and 4 batsmen found their feet. A difficult ground to defend at the best of times it proved a particular problem for TWCC with their 9-man side. Matt bowled 6 overs for 24, and Jim, replacing Nigel at the Pavilion End fared even worse with 30 runs coming off just 6 overs. Steinke Senior, ever reliable, brought some frustration to the batting side and bowled an impressive 12 straight overs taking 2 for 46 through a spell of play during which the batsmens tails were up and the ball was despatched with some regularity on anything loose. And not so loose; a 9-man side leaves many gaps! With Jim not having managed to tie either batsman down, Paul replaced him and began to make Jim feel a bit better about his bowling - it was a run-scoring period (in our defence.) Paul's third over was, however, a wicket maiden, as he pointed out with some vehemence, leaving others to conclude that the other three overs must have been particularly special to have had 39 runs scored off them. Meantime Warninglid's No.3 had been replaced by Halsey who, amongst some full-blooded shots, impressed with the subtlety of some of his glanced shots, not played too hard but many steered away off a length. Halsey's 33 before being bowled by Paul was a major contribution to the Warninglid total. Meanwhile Warninglid's skipper was appearing to be quite serious about amassing a major score, and he smote the ball about for quite long enough before holing out deep off Phil's bowling for 70 runs. A cheerful player and fun to have about in the mddle, even if he ultimately outstayed his welcome. Warninglid began to offer batsmen of lesser ability, though, although their rate of scoring began to decline as Twinham made some further inroads into their tail, 204 was Twineham's target at tea. A total in excess of 200 for 7 wickets; a fine display. A steely resolve descended on Paul as he padded up after tea as he decided that it would be interesting to see if he could avoid getting out, and he did wait for the fifth ball before clipping a ball for four. Then James, facing his first ball, opened up with a towering straight six that visibly dented the morale of the opposition. James and Paul proceeded to put on a century opening stand which saw heads drop in the field as their bowlers could make no impression on Twineham's resolute opening pair. Eventually out for 39, James finally tried to work a straight ball to leg that evaded his bat, and was given out LBW. Steve, one of the natural choices for No. 3 was unfortunate in that not only had he worked hard all morning creating a lovely tea, but he was also given the opportunity to wash up. This meant the next man in was Jim. Who was also the next man out. Put yourself in his shoes; the bowling side already tired, plenty of time to bat, a brightening sky and a reachable total to achieve. How disappointing, then, for him to be relatively incapable at the crease and to then glove a ball to the keeper. Sympathetic weeping was heard in the middle as he made his way back to the club-house. As if a bowling performance to be reckoned with wasn't enough, Nigel's batting at No.4 proved a decisive blow. He took at least two deliveries before setting about the remaining runs required. Returning to the form that saw TWCC romp home in several fixtures towards the end of last season, Nigel's true eye and swashbuckling style saw the poor ball streak to, and frequently high over, the boundary as he and Paul brought Twineham and Wineham a crunching, hard-hitting, victory; Nigel not out for really fast 43, and Paul not out for a magnificent 103 with 13 fours and three 6's. Both Paul and Nigel deserve every congratulation on their innings. Nigel for taking the game by the scruff of the neck and forcing an early victory, and Paul, of course, for the magnitude of an innings long on concentration and determined hitting. Warninglid have always been one of the teams Twineham and Wineham most like to share their Sundays with, and, fielding a team perhaps a little short on depth of bowling, deserve every thanks for an enjoyable day's cricket. Top Of Page |
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| Bolney v. Twineham and Wineham September 17th
2006
When one wins a game of
cricket the day is somehow complete - after a pint of
After taking his wicket Phil found the opposition getting on top of his bowling
and the score ran away to some extent calling for a change. Taking himself off
Phil rewarded Richard Brock for some recent good form by putting him on as
first change and Richard responded well to the challenge, creating many chances
as he boldly embarked on a series of unusual and original bowling experiments.
Mid way through his spell he engineered a catch at long-off which Edward took
several times, and although Richard closed his spell with an unflattering
1 for 51 off 8 he, together with Mat, tied up Bolney for an important period of
the innings. Of interest was a single over from Sam, at the end of the innings, in which he demonstrated how effective sheer speed can be as he ran down the hill giving it everything. The unfortunate batsman who faced him simply wanted nothing of it and got out of the way to a straight one and he was bowled. Bolney then sent in a youngster which meant that Sam had to bowl his leggies, which was a shame as it would have been nice to see him in full flight for at least a full over. Tea was taken as Bolney closed their innings at 214 for 5.
TWCC's roving reporter was lucky to catch Paul before he began his innings,
(and would have been even luckier to have caught him during it - Ed.), and Paul
was clearly looking forward to a long stay at the crease. With this
clearly in mind he cracked the third ball of the match for
4 and then fended the fifth up into the grateful hands of mid off and was
back in the pavilion before Twineham's reply was an over old. Paul's demise was
too quick for The Gazette's photographer and so goes largely unrecorded. Had he
been a less equitable soul I suspect we would have heard a bat thudding into
the pavilion wall and an expletive or two, but, as he isn't all we got was
relative silence for an over and then he was able to put life into it's proper
perspective and realise that it only mattered a lot. James scored in a typically
controlled manner before succumbing to the temptations offered by the slow but
persistant offerings from Bolney's young opener, a diminutive A. Bennett, being
out, caught, for 23 runs that included 3 fours and lots of well taken ones and
twos. Jim, having joined the fray as
Tony left the middle, found everything quite good fun until, like the others
before him, he didn't. Cricket is such a sudden game... Out for 23, plumb LBW,
as he tried to recreate a surprising four off a slow ball up the hill, there
were a few good strokes but another innings fell short of what might have been.
So; a Bolney win, on the very last ball. A deserved victory, really, with our
bowlers not able to stop the runs flowing too freely, and with our
batsmen not able to play for long enough with appropriate concentration and
application. Twineham were asked to reply to a total of some magnitude, and
fell short. Asked to survive we also fell short, but only just. Opting for a
consolation pint at the Bolney ground, TWCC regrouped and realised that life
wasn't about cricket anyway - it's about beer and avoiding being in a shop with
a woman. |
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| Twineham and Wineham v. Streat September 24th
2006
Jim and Sam opened the
bowling for Twineham and Wineham on a brightening September day as TWCC took on
Streat at the Twineham Ground under the captaincy, once again, of Phil. Streat,
mindful of their defeat at the hands of Twineham earlier in the season,
appeared to be cautious in their approach and applied themselves to the task of
not getting out. Or so it seemed to at least one of the opening bowlers, who
couldn’t get anyone out. Sam, on the other hand, managed to both encourage the
batsmen to have a go and to take a wicket. He bowled with good pace, and though
a few fours were scored off genuine strokes, a couple more were only achieved
with edged shots behind square and these could easily have resulted in a wicket
or two. Indeed, it was Sam who achieved the first breakthrough with an poorly
timed push lobbed up to James in the gully. Sam’s spell continued to provide
chances, though none fell to hand, and the runs began to dry for Streat as he
homed in on the stumps – apart from the wides of course. Ending with 9 overs 1
for 33, Sam’s figures, as is often the case with a faster bowler, don’t fully
indicate the nature of the bowling performance as runs often fly off faster
balls even though the batsmen may not ever have been comfortable. Brocky replaced Sam at the Downs End to his usual good effect, taking a wicket in his first over, and having 2 for 16 by the end of his spell – the kind of contribution that Twineham have been able to rely on this season and which has been clearly been a factor in the run of success that TWCC have enjoyed. The first of Richard’s wickets was notable for the fine catch that Edward would have taken at first slip, had not Steve made it into an even finer catch before him. Reaching high to his right, Steve’s quick and accurate glove-work was certainly one of the memorable moments of the day. Jim, still plugging away from the Pavilion end, was more economical than penetrative, and helped ensure that Streat didn’t really score enough runs during this period of the game. (Personally I thought that this spell was a lot better than it might have looked. Ed.) Jim, closing with 13 overs, 1 for 18 was replaced by Joe Phillips who troubled the batsmen on occasion during four good overs, but who then contracted an attack of wideitus (not the first outbreak of the day) and finished his spell of 5 overs, 0 for 7 (of which 6 might have been wides). (Well; alright, they were.) Joe was, in turn, replaced by Edward, whose first ball caught both the batsman and first slip (Brocky asked me not to name the fielder) off guard, as he found some lively bounce from just short of a length. Had this stuck, who knows: maybe his figures of 4 overs 0 for 27 would have been substantially different? TWCC, always pleased to have anything to do with the licensing trade, were pleased to see Mat Peacock coming on for a spell after Brocky at the Downs End. Though clearly a tough competitor with the ball in his hand, his groin proved less resilient and he had to come off after just one over with an awkward strain. In spite of his close association with The Royal Oak, Mat was unable to find any team-members to assist with the Deep Heat. Phil had yet to bowl himself and this delay was, I think, a significant feature of the game: just at the point when Streat, who must have been aware that a score in the very low hundreds was unlikely to be sufficient, tried to accelerate the run-rate, on came Phil who is never going to be easy to score off without the batsmen taking chances. Sure enough, two wickets in two balls gave Phil figures of 4 overs, 2 for 10 right at the end of the match just when Streat would have liked something a bit more juicy than a score of 121 for 6 to take in to tea. James and Steve opened the batting for TWCC after tea, and James set about carving an innings out of what there was to be had from bowling that was difficult to get away. Steve, on the other hand, set about getting it away and scored a fast 20 runs before being caught behind as a ball on a good length moved away. James’ continued presence in the middle was a comfort as he steadied himself, choosing the right ball to hit as is his strength (including a six to horse corner), and his 32 scored over a difficult period of the game, was another of the highlights of the day. Streat chose to bowl their two openers for long spells, 12 and 19 overs, and with good reason as they took their toll on Twineham’s No.3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 who scored just 19 between them. Edward, Joe, Mat, Tony (Hill) and Jim were all soon umpiring, leaving Brocky to pick up the pieces. Not out, in the end, for 8, Richard stabilised the Twineham chase, instructing Sam, coming in at No 9 with just a few overs to go, to resist all temptation and to definitely not get out to Stan as he offered up his usual innocent temptations. Ever mindful of instruction, Sam got off the mark with a four at the start of an exciting and, as it proved, match-winning innings. Sensing trouble, as Stan went for 9 in an over, Streat replaced him with D. Christmas who had previously swung the ball into the right-handers at modest pace to good effect, and Sam picked him up for 6 to square leg. The runs began to stream off Sam’s bat, and, as he straight-drove the Pavilion End’s opener, who had stayed on for the entire match, for another 6 the end was suddenly in sight. Then, with no time to really appreciate how close to the end we were, there we were at the end as the very next ball followed for another six; the final runs of the match. Sam’s innings of 33, scored in no time at all at a time when Streat had legitimate hopes of a win, was inspiring to see and I would like to thank his Father, without whom this performance would not have been possible, for letting him use his bat (for the last time). Another win, in a tight game, to add to Twineham and Wineham’s run of successes this season. The Twineham Ground, where a well-struck ball generally produces either a single if hit straight to a fielder or goes for four, was quite different with the grass not cut short, and Streat struggled from the start to get a score going, and this was ultimately the reason they lost the game. With a small total to attack, Twineham set about falling short of getting it with their usual application, saved only by good solid runs from James and Steve, and some extraordinary runs from Sam whose innings lifted the hearts of all. Top Of Page |
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| Twineham and Wineham v Brighton Beamers October 1st 2006 It's an ill wind, it is said, that blows no good. ...This is a phrase of some ambiguity, and, I'm coming round to the way of thinking that it's almost impossible to usefully quote it in the context of this match report and I now wish I hadn't tried. Perhaps it will simply have to serve as a bit of whimsy with which we can pad out the closed season - something to ponder as we light the first fires of Autumn and break out the sloe gin. It was, in any case, very windy on Sunday as Twineham took on their customary end-of-season sparring partners, the Brighton Beamers, a fine collection of well-organised Thinking-Man's cricketers who often prove a difficult team to beat. The match began in intermittent sunshine and Nigel, having won the toss and opting to field first, opened the bowling from The Downs End and with him charging in, batteries full following his holiday, with the wind behind we soon saw the bails fly. We tried to get them to stay on, but the gale was just too strong. With Jim bowling from the Pavilion End both openers created early chances that just failed to result in wickets. Nigel bowled 5 overs 0 for 9 before taking himself off; an early change, but his pace with the following wind was such that any edges weren't flying through close enough to any catchers behind to be safely gathered in. A short spell, but clearly we would see him again at a later stage. Meanwhile Jim continued on causing the odd problem and proving difficult to get away. A caught and bowled wicket in his pocket he finished having bowled 8 overs, 1 for 10. Replacing Nigel, Phil embarked on a trademark spell from the Wind End. He took a wicket in his first over, had figures of 4 for 3 off 9 overs, and finished with 4 for 17off 12 overs, some quick boundarys coming from his last two overs. If the Beamers had hoped to ease the run-rate up they soon realised that it was only a strong and well-timed shot that went for four. Their innings was 22 overs old before the first boundary, and by then the Beamers were well aware that they were only going to score a modest total. Joe Phillips, following on from Jim's spell at the Pavilion End, caused some problems, but mixed in a bit of width which the Beamers began to score from. It was the time in their innings when a few runs needed to be scored as at one time it looked as if they might not reach a total of much above 80. They took the opportunity to capitalise on the occasional width and Joe finished his spell with figures of 6 overs 0 for 18. Mat, trying from both ends, found little luck in the conditions and closed his bowling contribution with figures of 6 overs 0 for 23. Nigel put himself on again, this time bowling into the wind, and immediately found himself both more at home and amongst the wickets. His speed may have been diminished but the ball, with more time to move about on its way to the batsman, found the stumps twice in quick succession and his second spell of 5 overs 2 for 9 gave him combined figures of 10 overs 2 for 18 and the Beamers closed their innings at tea on a round 100 for 8. James and Paul opened the batting for Twineham, and it was immediately clear that a total of 100 was quite enough runs to chase. Neither batsman found it easy to get the ball away, putting the Beamer's innings into immediate context. With just a sprinkling of runs scored in the first half hour or so Twineham were, at least, able to take considerable comfort in the fact that all wickets were intact. Then Paul got out. I think that the track, though not grass, does have some changeable characteristics when wet, and these include the ball stopping a bit and not coming onto the bat. Consequently Paul'sforward stroke ended up spooning to cover point where it was taken comfortably and he was out, having built a platform for those to follow. Steve, recently amonsgt the pick of the Twineham batters, went in at No. 3 and proceeded to steer Twineham towards home. James and Steve created some calm in the TWCC dressing room and Steve even managed to score some runs. In retrospect, however, this proved to be the golden time in our run chase. James, eventually caught for 4, Steve bowled for a gutsy 18, and then, after an interlude, Nigel with a fast and potentially match-winning 22 were the pick of our response. Jim and Joe failed to add much at all to our total and, with the light failing, others followed who fared no better. Eventually, in the gloom, Mat showed what a promising striker of the ball he is - yet to let us down - and brought the game, once again, back towards Twineham. Appropriatly, given the influence of the wind on the game, it was the elements that finally had the last word in the outcome of the match. With Mat and Phil barely able to see the ball, and the fielders equally at risk, the game was brought to a close with three overs to go and with the Beamers needing just one more wicket for a win, and with Twineham just 10 runs short of a winning total. In fairness to the batsmen, who couldn't see the ball, and to the Beamers who could hardly be asked to provide Mat and Phil with easier balls to hit, a draw was accepted with good grace by both sides. It would only be fair to admit that the Beamers were the more likely to have emerged as victors, but Mat and Phil, given good light, are more than capable of scoring big boundarys, and who knows whether more light would have allowed some of the TWCC batters who got out a bit more of a chance too, so a quirky but fair result closed both teams' seasons. Performance of the day goes to Rob Nicholls of the Beamers who took 6 for 16, though the Editor's wicket coincided with a freak second of really poor light and so these figures need to be looked at with this in mind. Phil, of course, with his 4 for 17 also deserves special mention. Steve, James, Nigel, and, during difficult times, Mat's batting was almost enough to allow another Twineham and Wineham win, but, as both sides showed, end of season batting does seem to be a difficult business, as the grass grows long and the runs are harder to get. In overview TWCC did well to limit the Beamers scoring so effectively, and should have had little difficulty in overtaking the Beamers total. As it was, a good Beamers performance, along with a less than perfect Twineham reply (gulty as charged) almost presented the game to the visitors. The result, had the light lasted better, might have gone either way, but in any case ended up with both teams in the Royal Oak so that can't be bad, can it? 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| 2006 Season Retrospective The wind, rain, a wet ball, and the lack of light were ultimately the most decisive factors in a game that brings to a close another TWCC season - one that may well already be in the history books as our most successful one for many years. The captaincy of Nigel, rumoured to be drawing to a close, and the vice-captaincy of Phil have brought us many wins and many good games during the year. Nigel, obviously a good tosser, put our opponents in first on most occasions, and that proved to be a successful ploy in the main. The many victorys were never achieved without sportsmanlike gestures from our captain(s), and the balance between trying to win and in giving both our various opponents and our team-members a good game was always well managed. All in all this is the end of a memorable year's cricket, the only cloud over which was the difficulty faced by the captains to sometimes raise a full side, but, on the other hand, it is always fun when George, Mikey, Ollie or Matthew are part of the team. It might be worth reflecting on how often we have bowled a side out - maybe not more than once or twice this year? Bowling first it is of less importance, obviously, and we won't have had many opportunities to pressurise a team into surrendering wickets as they chase totals, but it would be interesting to compare results against toss-wins. Performers of the year? Not my place to comment really, but for what it's worth I'm not sure that anyone in particular has been more effective than anyone else over the season as a whole. James, Paul and Tony have frequently played most valuable innings at the top of our order; Steve has rarely failed with the bat and has kept wicket extremely well during the year. Our middle-order batsmen may have not had such a good time this year, overall, and this is something that I'll try and improve on next year... Again. Our bowlers have all bowled well, and the whole side fields well, which often puts our opponents behind a good run-rate from the off. In different games different bowlers have turned in match-winning performances, though without the scorebook I can't accurately state who did this and when, though I can recall some individuals having had some remarkable games. Brocky has had a particulrly good all-round season and may well end up with statistics with which he can prove it. Not an exhaustive resume of the season, and it's not my place to try and provide it, but The Gazette thought some editorial was in order. Perhaps the Winter will provide more of an opportunity to improve upon it. Anyway; well done team! Top Of Page |