Cricket match reports 2011
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Saturday 30th April,  Hillingdon Manor

First game of the season has arrived and gone, away to Hillingdon Manor 1sts who play in the Thames valley league Div 3.
Stuart wins the toss and elects to bat, hmmm great confidence in his team or just the fact he didn't want to chase a huge target, i'll let you make your mind up on that one.
Stuart opens the batting with Rich T, they negotiate the opening 4 overs. Rich is bowled in the 5th for 1, 9-1.
Haroon in at 3. Haroon mainly moves the score on for the next 13 overs with some very nicely timed shots. Stuart is bowled in the 18th for 13, 73-2. Guy D in at four. Haroon passes his fifty. Guy is pretty much bamboozled by his first couple of deliveries from Hillingdon's paid overseas player (west indies). Guy gets his eye in and they move the score to 159, when Haroon's innings finally comes to an end caught for 98. 29 overs gone. Omar falls next over for a duck, and Guy falls the next for 31 both caught. 166-5 from 31. This brings Mark and Kash to the crease. Mark bowled in the 34th for 4. 167-6. Nick is in at 8 and moves the score on to 175 before he is bowled for 6. Myself and Dave S out in the last over for 6 and 4 respectivley and we finish on 191-9 from 40. Much better than we expected with there overseas player taking 4-76 from 14. Tea was taken.

Haroon And Dan open the bowling. We have a number of lbw shouts in the 1st couple of overs all turned down. Haroon gets fired up by one plum decision turned down and bowls there No 2 in the 5th and No3 in the 7th. 27-2. Dan unlucky not to get a wkt finishes his spell 5-1-19-0. Rich t replaces him and has there No4 (o/s player) caught behind off his 1st ball. Apparently he hit Tino Best for 36 off 3 overs a few weeks ago. 44-3 from 12. dave takes a catch at square leg next over of Haroon and its 45-4. Rich bowls there No5 in the 18th 64-5. Can we win this !!!!!!!! I replace Haroon, and bowl there No6 81-6, Rich follows suit soon after and there No8 is gone, 85-7. Hillingdons next two batsmen try to take control of the game, Mark replaces Rich 7-2-28-3 and Dave takes over from me. The score moves to 135 when i take a catch coming in from the boundary off Dave and we have there No7 out for 32, Mark bowls there No9 next over and they are 135-9. Kash replaces Dave 4-1-28-1. He has no joy as the last 2 hit out and he
Saturday 14th May,  Bourne End

Won the toss & elected to bat on a pitch that looked poor and which looked like it was only going to deteriorate. Jacko opened up on the bowling immediately and got us off to a great start and we motored along to 47 before Jacko was bowled for 36. From 47 for 1 - we fell apart and we were all out for 101, with nobody else reaching double figures. This felt like at least 70 runs too short and their scorer, never short of advice, assured us it was at least 100 too short!
Well, deciding to have a go at them before taking tea, we got stuck into them with a great spell of bowling from Rich, Dan & Guy who all picked up a wicket and we had them 3 down for 28, before taking tea. However, the opposition put something in our tea (bromide I think) and we failed to
Saturday 21st May,  Bradenham

Away this week at Bradenham, a new venue for us and if you like a nice scenic ground this is the one for you. The toss is made and Stuart wins again, and were fielding first this week. Dan opens and Rich to try from the other end. 6 runs from the 1st and 7 from the 2nd. Dan strikes in the 3rd with a lbw decision 17-1. Rich gets in on the act next over caught by myself at mid on. 21-2. Rich strikes again in his next over lbw 25-3. Not to be outshone Dan clean bowls there No3 in is next 29-4 off 7. A couple of quite overs follow. I then manage to hold on to a rocket again at mid on ( thumb twice the size of normal at the mo) of Rich 37-5. In his next Omar takes a sharp catch at point 46-6 from 12. No more joy for Dan (7-1-22-2) and he is replaced by Guy. Rich (8-1-31-4) tries for his 5 fore but is the replaced by myself. Third ball i get a plum lbw and its 68-7 from 18. In my next Omar snaffles another at point 81-8, then in my next Neil( on league debut) takes one at short square leg 84-9. Guy wraps up the innings next over with another lbw. 84 a/o from 22.1
Guy 4.1-1-12-1 Ed 3-2-8-3.

A quick turn around and its Stuart and Macca to open first over is a maiden we then lose Stuart bowled in the 2nd for a duck Macca lbw in the 3rd for 4 and Omar in the 3rd another duck and were rocking at 5-3. Guy and Dicky steady the ship and manage to see out the next 10 overs. Guy then gets caught (one handed at mid off) in the over before tea for 38-4. Tea is taken. Neil now in for Guy. With Dicky the score moves along to 72 both having been put down which were sitters compared to the ones we had taken. Unfortunately Neil is caught for 13 and the usual Phoenix chaos ensues Mark bowled for a duck 72-6. Dicky gets run out for 32, 74-7. I then get bowled for 1 80-8. This leaves Dan to hit a nice straight drive to win
Saturday 28th May,  Frieth

Stuart wins the toss again (on a roll) and elects to bat. Jacko and Macca open this week. This week we get off to a good start and were 45 before Jacko gets caught for 13, next over Macca suffers the same fate for 33, 49-2 from 10. Omar in at 3 and Stuart at 4. Omar out 9 overs later caught for 3, 69-3. Guy D in at 5 and takes on the young spinner and hits 3 big 6's he is also caught for 34, 114-4 from 25. Dicky in now he hits six singles and falls also caught, 130-5 from 30. Stuart makes his 50 but is caught a couple of runs later (53) 171-5. From 42 overs. Mark joins Dave at the wkt and see out the final 3 overs, Dave finishes 28 n/o and Mark 9 n/o. 195-6. Tea is taken. And now it starts to rain, 3 overs are lost and out we go.

Jacko and Macca open the bowling, no joy in the opening couple and Rich replaces Macca for the 4th over, still no joy so i replace Jacko for the 11th. 30-0 from 10. We finally get the breakthru in the 15th where i get an lbw decision, 47-1. Stuart takes a low catch in my next and we have both openers 57-2. Mark replaces Rich. Dicky takes a rocket at square leg off Mark and there 71-3. This becomes 4 when i bowl there No5 for a duck. 72-4 from 21. Mark gets a c&b next over and its 81-5. No joy in the next 7 overs as the oppo bat for a draw. Guy replaces Mark 6-1-24-2. I take a catch at mid on to get Guy a wkt 90-5 from 29. Next over i bowl there No7 92-6. My spell ends 12-2-28-4 and im replaced by Dave he gets a caught behind (Dave I ) in his 2nd over 108-8 from 38. 5 overs to go Rich replaces Guy 3-0-3-1 and Jacko has another go from Dave 3-0-11-1 but we are unable to
Saturday 4th June,  Downley

Weather forecast dry & warm, pitch looked like a batting track, so when I won the toss, it was a no brainer and we were batting. Andy & Macca got us off to a flying start, playing shots to all parts and racing to 60, before Marshy sent Macca lbw for 29. Alan then out for 0 (61 for 2). I'm in next and Andy mainly takes the score on to 126, before I fall for 10, bowled by some rubbish, playing a terrible shot...doh. David comes in and plays a few nice shots and then a horrible one, bowled for 12 (153 for 4). Omar in next but again bowled playing a bad shot for 5 (165 for 5). Guy in next and is bowled for 2, playing too early (173 for 6). Dicky comes in and tries to support Jacko but is bowled for 8 (210 for 7). At this stage, I am thinking that we will declare at 225 and hope that we can get it as quickly as possible. Mark replaces him, hits a nice four and is then bowled for 4 (220 for 8). Dan in next but is bowled first ball (220 for 9). Richard comes in and defends!? Time to declare after 43 overs - 224 for 9. Well, with only 4 of us reaching double figures & 8 out of 9 wickets bowled, you might be wondering where all the runs came from? Thankyou Andy Jakson. In at 13.30 and still there at the end of the innings, 3 hours later, with 134 not out. A fantastic knock, which put us into a great position.
After a very nice tea - thankyou Downley ladies - Dan tears down the hill and has their opener lbw without scoring. Then goes a bit wobbly before getting it together and removing number 3, caught Jacko and number 4 caught Guy. Score is now 56 for 3. Richard then chips in and has number 5 with a caught and bowled, yes Richard can field but only off his own bowling! 65 for 4. Alan replaces Dan (7-0-37-3) and removes their number 6 with his first ball, caught by Guy, 98 for 6. Mark replaces Richard (7-0-47-1) and clears out their number 7, caught David and follows this up with their number 8, with a low catch by Dicky (114 for 7). Alan removes number 9 with a great catch by Macca, with the gloves, down leg side (121 for 9). David & Mark combine to run out their number 10 and with their number 11 unable to take the field - due to pulled hamstring, it's another win for Phoenix Old Boys and 29 points in the bag. Alan finished with (4-0-14-2), Mark finished with (3.3-0-10-2). A good team performance, Jacko's knock was fantastic, great performance from the bowlers with some excellent catches. Thankyou to Marshy for umpiring (3 points) and Den for scoring      
Saturday 11th June,  Prestwood

Stuart losses the toss and were put into bat, Jacko and Macca to open. Unfortunately Jacko is out in the 3rd for his first duck for the club 4-1, Dicky in at 3 he hits a couple of 4's then plays on in the 5th for 10, 20-2. Stuart in at 4 and steadies the ship, we move on to 68 then we have both batsmen at the same end and Stuart is just run out for 16 from 19. Guy B in at 5 another 10 overs pass Macca finally out ct for 54, 105-4. Dave I in at 6 and gets off the mark with a 6, Guy hits a screamer back at the bowler who hangs on somehow and he is out for 32, 129-5 from 35. This soon becomes 7 as Mark and Neil fail to trouble the scorers. Dave S in at 9 gets off the mark with a 4. Dave I gets caught for 20 in the 41st 153-8. Dave S out next over for 5, 153-9 leaving Dan and myself in, we get to 160 and Dan is ct for 1, Ed 6 n/o. From 42.5.
Tea is taken supplied by Dave and Dan this week.
Dan and Guy open the bowling this week, No joy in the opening 8 overs 33-0. I replace Dan 4-0-17-0. No joy in the next 6, 53-0. Mark replaces Guy. We finally get the breakthru in the 15th when Dave I takes a snick behind from my bowling, 53-1 from 15. Mark takes a catch at point and we finally have the other opener in the 21st, 76-2. Dave S replaces Mark for an over but gets hit for 10 so Jacko takes over and gets his 1st wkt of the season 4th ball ct Stuart. 117-3. Guy replaces me 12-4-43-2 but we are unable to prize anymore batsmen out, as they reach there total in the 37th over. Guy 10-1-36-0, Mark 5.3-0-26-0 Jacko 5-0-28-1.
Saturday 18th June,  Hampden

Stuart loses the toss and are asked to field, Dan opens with a wide and thats it for the opening over 1-0. Rich opens at the other end and gets a wkt 5th ball, bowled 1-1, Dan achieves the same next over and its 1-2, low and behold 5th ball of the fourth, Dan takes a catch and its 2-3 happy days. Unfortunately the next 8 overs pass by without a wkt falling 40-3 as there late arrivals look as if they can bat a bit. I replace Dan 6-1-22-1. I manage to get their lefty lbw in the 17th and 3 balls later Mark catches their stubborn No3 62-5 from 17. Guy B replaces Rich 8-2-36-2. My next over Guy B catches their No7 for a duck 64-6. In my next this becomes 7 as their No8 is bowled 70-7 from 21. Both Guys combine in the next to get their No9 for a duck 72-8. Meanwhile their No6 is doing his best to hold the innings together while trying to hit us out the park. I drop him in the 30th (sorry Guy) But Dicky gets him 2 overs later off Guy D bowling 109-9, this becomes 10 next over when i trap their last man lbw. Guy B 6-0-18-1. Guy D 2-0-13-1. Ed 10.3-2-18-5.
57 overs to get 109 then is our task.
Andy and Macca open the batting and were on 7 after the 1st over, now it starts to rain and we take an early ish tea. We manage to get going after tea and we race along to 77 from 12, by this time its raining again Andy caught 5th ball for 45, at this point the umpires bring the players off. The weather teases us after an hour of waiting the umpires decide we can resume in 5 mins at which point the heavens open again and after another
Saturday 25th June, Lacey Green

Home to lacey green we lose the toss and are asked to bat. Andy first to fall for 14, then Stuart for 4 and Alan for 1. Macca and Guy D steady the ship scoring 60 and 69 respectively with some impressive strokes. Dave I out for 1, Neil for 2, Ed for 2 and Dan for 9. Omar holding the tail together last man out for 43. Rich 7 n/o. 225 all out from 41.
Tea is taken supplied by Rich this week. Thanks.
Lacey green never attempt to chase the score down. Dan manages to get 4-45, Ed 2-36 with Jacko and macca claiming the other two wkts. They finish on 157-8 from 49.
Sunday 26th June, Tinpot

Home to Tinpot
Due to the extreme heat we decide to play two twenty20 games. I win the toss and we field first.
We manage to bowl Tinpot out for 121 in the 16th. Dave S 3-11, Ed 3-11, Rich 2-21 , Dan 1-24 and a run out for Dave get the wkts. We win the game off the last ball as Dave sees us home. Top scores Malcom 33 Dave 20n/o, Ed 16.
Game two
We bat first and score 132 from our 20. Neil 41, Ed 38, James and Malcom 10 are the main scorers. Tinpot chase the score down in the last over. Dave 2-31, Rich 1-11, Dan 1-19 and Gary 1-22 take the wkts and a run out for James.
two very enjoyable games and both went to the wire
Saturday 2nd July, Widmer End

Away to Widmer end this week.
We lose the toss and are asked to bat, Jacko and Stuart open this week and see out the opening 3 overs for 2. Stuart is bowled for a duck in the 4th and Dave I is caught last ball for a duck. 3-2. Omar falls 2 overs later also for a duck, 8-3. Guy and Jacko move the score onto 34, Jacko is finally caught for 13 after being dropped 3 times, 34-4 from 15. Guy given out lbw in the 19th for 17, 41-5. 43 -6 when Kash fails to trouble the scorers, then 7 when Dicky is bowled for 5, then 8 when Gary joins the duck club, 46-8 from 24. I join Mark in the middle and we rattle up a partnership of 62 from 12 overs before i get run out off a smart bit of fielding for 39. Rich and Mark add another 11 till Rich gets caught for 4 leaving Mark n/o 16. 119 from 37.4.
Jacko and myself have a couple of overs before tea with no joy. Tea is taken.
Guy and Rich take the new ball after tea, but the batsmen take advantage of the extra pace and move there score on. I replace Guy 3-0-18-0 And Jacko takes over from Rich. We finally get the break through when Dave takes an edge behind off me. 67-1. Nice to see a batsman walk. Jacko strikes next thanks to a good catch from Guy. 75-2, Dave takes another one behind off myself and its 75-3. I manage to bowl 2 of there leftys 97-5. I take a low catch off Jacko and its 107-6.At this point we go down to 10 as Dicky hurts his back in the field and is unable to continue. We both finish our spells Jacko 12-0-48-2, Ed 12-6-19-4. Mark comes on my end and as there No8 tries to get off strike pulls a calf muscle so retires hurt. Rich then induces an edge and Dave gets his third catch of the day 115-7. Unfortunately Widmer manage to get the last 5 runs without any more trouble.
8 points gained which drops us down to 5th.
Saturday 13th August, Prestwood

With difficult conditions looming, we headed over to Prestwood - by far the best team we have come up against this year. We were unfortunately missing both the skipper Stu and the pivotal fielder Omar.

Stand in skippy Jackson decides to tactfully lose the toss and we are sent in to bat - against our original plan of chasing a total.

Off to a flying start, Jackson (33) racks up the usual start before giving first slip some catching practice. With the score at 43-1, Macca has a small panic as Allan "Dave Gorman" Strickland strolls to the crease. Four overs later, Sir Strickland (0) decides to suicidally run a two and is run out leaving the score 52-2.

DIve (0) steps out to steady the fort however the steadiness was overshadowed by his "lack of balance" leaving him stumped. Good, sharp work from the keeper along with the usual walking shot from DIve makes it all too easy for the second placed favourites.

Guy Burford rocks out at number 5 with the internationally known grin before being swiftly dismissed for 0 at 64-4. A once promising start has taken the usual Phoenix turn leaving everybody home by 18.00 hours. As you can imagine at this point, Macca (currently on 28) has had to play a rather sensible and cultured knock to keep some hope alive.

Billy Long has entered the crease at 6, full of confidence, before being dismissed for 2 from a reasonable ball. In honesty, it should have gone for twelve, but Billy playing the resilient innings from within has defended it for the ball to roll on to the stumps. 71-5 and the 18.00 cider looking more than optimistic.

In at 7 is Mark "The Beautiful Man" Kelly. After a few long overs, Mark decides to get off the mark with a sweetly timed hoik to cow corner for 6. Macca, Marshy and the rest of the English speaking world (except of course Barry who has apparently moved north!?), all looking bemused, just watched in awe as the ball continued to sail upwards. A further four was struck before the unfortunate event of a spitting cobra off the wicket leaves Mark (10) chipping a soft ball straight to the good spinner. 83-6.

Dickie enters the game and after a nice chat with Macca, gets off the mark with a similar scoring shot to the beautiful Mr Kelly for 6. After 7 more overs and a partnership of 42, Macca was unfortunately dismissed by an absolute jaffa off a ball nicked to first slip with the best catch seen this season. A beautifully etched and crafted innings from the centre-pole leaves him raising his bat at the adoring fans once again for 60/61 (blame Marissa). Phoenix are now 125-7 and Dickie has a license to score as many runs as humanly possible.

One four and two overs later, Dickie (19) plays the cow corner lofted slog drive which unfortunately didn’t connect. In his exact words (and i quote), "If that had connected, that would have went!" I must agree although the scoreboard did then get updated to 130-8.

Nick Edge (0) strolls to the middle before being quickly dismissed be another spitting cobra, gloving the ball to an excellent diving forward catch from the keeper. 132-9.

Finally Richie (0) gets a chance to make his mark. Being the team player he is, we were swiftly entering the pavilion for lunch and cuddles which were enjoyed very much! Phoenix finishing 132 all out. Dan Sturgess 2*.

With the time being 15.40, we took straight to the field for a little spell before lunch. Dan Sturgess (7-0-18-0) and Billy Long (9-2-20-5[rabbits]) open up and leave us heading off for lunch with a score of 34-1 off of 8. Long managing to dislodge one of the openers with a loopy ball to Allan.

After a nice lunch staring at Stacey the receptionist and watching results coming through on final score, we reluctantly took back to the field. A few overs in, Jackson (8-0-28-2) dismisses their number 3 for 12 with a ropey Marsh LBW (plum) decision. The batsmen then decide to get a move on and race to 104-2 with some aid from Guy Burford (1-0-1-0) and Richie Tyler (1-0-20-0).

Allan is asked to have a little spell from the angry farmer end where after 3 overs he luckily pulls a hamstring. Battling through to finish his over (and not making a meal of a potential serious injury like a partly bruised elbow), relinquishes his duties leaving an open spot for a handy off spinner to spin it to win it. In a moment of desperation, the skipper turns to Macca "The Partnership Breaking" Hynes (2-0-12-1).

Billy Long draws the remaining opener into playing a daft shot, held onto by Nick Edge leaving the opposition 104-3.

Macca sets a field for what he wants to bowl to and luckily, through a pre-planned miss by DIve keeping, the ball runs on to Allen. Their ridiculously keen youngster (presently on 42) tries to push the single but Allen's guns win the battle. He fired to the ball in to Macca who took the ball superbly, before dislodging the bails in expert style leaving the home side on a formidable 108-4. The win still looking an extreme outside chance. A further dot ball bowled followed by a lucky outside edge for a straight four leaves the home side's star batsmen on 46 and looking more than certain to win them the game.

Skipper Jackson looks to Macca and unanimously agree that Mark Kelly should boundary ride at cow corner. Not because he has a safe pair of hands, but because we simply could not handle his hotness in the circle anymore. Macca once again bowling to his field, bowls a slightly straighter ball for the youngster to drill it down Mark Kelly's throat. A small moment of panic and soiled pad-mans but he takes a superb second attempt catch in the deep. Phoenix have a huge lift in the field and all does not seem lost. 112-5.

To cut a long story short, Billy Long rattles a few rabbits and Macca gets axed for the skipper to also pick up a further wicket to leave Phoenix with a superb win of 5 runs.