Chris

A replacement fixture arranged late in the preceding week against potentially much stronger opposition was made into an excellent traditional game of timed cricket by the opposition captain and his very good natured team. A weak Ivanhoe rose to the occasion, appreciating positive but friendly opposition.
Pinner batted first and set off as in a 20:20 game. Whilst Christie held his nerve and figures, whenever Prasad slipped form his line and length he was severely punished. Starting with only 9 fielders did not help protect the bowlers and despondency increased amongst the Ives ranks until the first drinks break brought a change of fortune and 78 off 15 overs soon became 78-3. Ives fielding was outstanding with Prasad hitting the stumps from a very difficult angle to run one of the leading batsmen out; Kenchington and StePHen (editor) Parnell ran miles and saved so many runs. One major misfortune occurred when a ball was creamed at Matt Parnell achieving a bullseye, or in this case a ballseye, and such was the blow that this was the end of the game for him. We sympathise and wish him well. (H and S note- fielders may in future choose to wear a box when fielding).
With Christie’s marathon 12 over spell finished (and the ball had to be prised from him) the other bowlers joined the party and Abrahamson, Dancer and R Parnell all had an impact on the scoring rate. Of course one more bowler deserves mention with (RSPCA John) Loveday taking his second wicket for Ives, courtesy of a slow motion stumping. This success had the effect of bringing his average down to 100.
Pinner rallied with a slower scoring rate but ensured that their innings did not finish early. Declaration took place after c45 overs, with 231 on the board.
Special fielding mentions are needed for C Parnell, rushing to the game straight from work and Benjamin Abrahamson making his Ives debut .. at 10 years old.. if only all of us were such keen fielders!
Tea, courtesy of Earle and family.
Ives reply began slowly with Pinner finding much more sideways movement than Ives. Still Dancer and Abrahamson blunted the initial surge before Abrahamson edged a lifter to slip. Dancer and R Parnell then settled in and the scoring rate increased significantly. Some excellent drives were seen by both batters. With 20 overs to go Ives were 98-1. Having put on 74, though, R Parnell (36), played around a straight one and the middle order fell away. Dancer remained obdurate and looked as though he would carry his bat, but Pinner opened the game up in search of wickets and Collins (21*) and Dancer put on 64 rapidly, until the opening bowlers returned and the scoring rate declined. With this tight bowling Dancer’s century hopes dimmed and with 4 balls to go Dancer was bowled …. probably by tiredness! A fine 89 to record the highest score of the season to date. Prasad swathe last 3 balls off successfully and Ives finished at 193-6, but with only 3 wickets in hand.
A draw but an excellent game.
MoM: Adrian Dancer (despite the jug avoidance)

R Collins

14-5-2017

A new team picked up at short notice – a mixture of Sunday friendly players with a few first teamers thrown in.

Ground was nice (but noisy near the A10)

Pitch was a good batting wicket. And the field was HUGE (pity those fielding on the boundary)

Ciaran won the toss and put the opposition into bat.

Their first 3 bats scored 59,34,45 and at one stage a large total was in the reckoning.

But some tight bowling from Andrew, Alasdair (newbie from the Vets college) and Prasad plus some
excellent Leg spin from Luke (another new face) restricted their innings to 178 for 6.

Pink cap went to Bob (Justice really after last weeks two Murders by runout)

After a great tea we set about chasing the runs down.

At this point reality departs and we find ourselves in a parallel Universe as normally totals of 178 are a challenge for Ivanhoe.

An opening partnership of 107 from Luke and Phil.K (23 including 1 magnificent 6) put the result beyond doubt. After Phil and Steve departed it was left
to Alasdair (13*) and Luke to win the match with 12 overs to spare.

Luke ended not out on 127 (22 Fours + 1 Eight!!) – a truly excellent knock.

We celebrated in good style at the oppo’s clubhouse.

Verdict – Lets play these guys again!!!

This was a replacement fixture for Bentley Heath who pulled out. The highlight obviously was Andrew’s Tea (Because I’m writing this).

Ives batted first and started slowly as we are prone to doing.Bob (30) and Richard (19) moved the score along nicely after some classic stonewalling from Chris (6).

Later on there was a 35 run partnership between Phil.K (35*) and Andrew (11*) which got the score to 189 which for Ives felt like 250!

It’s possible Extras was the Highest scorer – there was a serial Noballer, funny little tubby guy, who gifted us quite a few runs.

Perhaps the total could have been even larger if there had not been some silly runouts – Max & Richard (surely Bob earned the Pink cap)

We did have the Opposition on the ropes for a while when they came out to bat with Wickets from Andrew(2), Richard(1), Ciaran(1).

Also towards the end Saqib picked up 2 wickets before being most unfairly substituted by that cruel captain of ours. Some dropping of catches started creeping in.

But unfortunately a couple of lads from the opposition played themselves in, and in 20-20 style proceeded to hit an impressive (unless you were on the end it)
array of Sixes motivated I’m sure by getting back early to watch to the Boxing (or was it the Manchester derby). In the end winning with 8 overs to spare.

A mention is merited of Phil.K’s bravery in attempting to stop 200mph missiles heading his way to the boundary.

The Ivanhoe Pink Plonker cap was passed around several times between Prasad/Phil/and Steven.

Think we may vote to offer a fixture again (despite them being a bit stronger than us?)

Opposition batted first and got 182. At one stage they looked to be getting away but our bowling tightened up towards the end.

Ciaran was the pick of the bowlers – 1 wicket for 13 off 8 overs.

Some nice swing bowling from Matt earned himself 2 wickets. Andrew (2), Prasad(1), Richard(1) also chipped in.

We batted solidly but could not score at a fast enough rate ending up with 7 for 108 at the end.

Bob (18), Ciaran(14) and Phil.K (17) all occupied the crease for some valuable runs.

Opposition was a nice bunch and we would vote to return I’m sure

What a month September proved to be. First the game against Cross Arrows and then the Centenary Dinner. 11^th September dawned under a pure blue sky and stayed that way throughout the day. Lord’s could not have looked more picture perfect. The Cross Arrows team (drawn from MCC members) played the match in an excellent spirit and were excellent hosts off the field. Unsurprisingly they proved strong with the bat, ratcheting up 422 – 6 off their 50 overs (one six landing on the top of the roof of the Media Centre) but Ivanhoe was certainly not disgraced in responding with 172 all out. Stats for the game are on the website under ‘Averages’. Credit must also go to the two umpires, Charlie Puckett for Cross Arrows and Peter Hinstridge of the Hertfordshire Association of Cricket Officials for Ivanhoe, for entering into the spirit of the occasion. Not least, they and Cross Arrows permitted Ivanhoe to have a revolving 11^th man in the field, enabling an additional three of our members to experience the unique atmosphere.

Then, on the 24^th, the Centenary Dinner, attended by our guest speaker John Emburey, and Robbie Book, Chairman of the Club Cricket Conference. Robbie’s congratulatory message to Ivanhoe is on our website (the ‘100 Not Out’ page). It was rewarding to see so many eras represented – from the ‘50’s to the current day, tennis, football and cricket – and friendships renewed, as well also as the presence of members from Bamville, Arkley and Kidbrook, with whom we have enjoyed many encounters

Away  – WON by 2 wickets

A case of déjà vu on turning up at this Chandos Road ground, but this proved accurate on remembering that Whittingdon share their home ground with Arkley, where we narrowly lost earlier in the season, on what seems to have been a very different track.

Skipper won the toss (amazing) and set his team to field in the heat of an August day. This proved the right decision as batting was not productive, with uneven bounce and long boundaries.  Nevertheless Ivanhoe had to bowl well to keep the batting side’s run rate down. Woodcock had one of his best spells of the season with three maidens in his 1-17 off 8 overs and the eternally unlucky Christie conceded just 18 off his 7 overs with 2 maidens (and needless to say no wickets!). This pressure led to wickets but only after bowling changes, which skipper made mercilessly, not caring whether you had just taken a wicket or not. In all 8 players bowled, with Dancer and Hausler Senior taking 3 wickets each (Hausler Senior’s spin figures were the impressive 4-2-5-3). Fielding was impressive and some stunning catches were held by Ivison (caught and bowled), Ben Hausler and Hausler Senior taking a fantastic catch at 1^st slip to set a high standard, R Parnell and keeper Collins. However the most surprising moment was the dropping of the easiest chance of them all, with the usually safe hands of Francique failing to grasp a dolly with no sun in his eyes. Ben Hausler was the pick of the outfielders with his whippet like running suggesting he should have been in Rio instead of Whetstone. Eventually Whittingdon were prised out for the Nelson figure of 111, though the time saved was not granted to the side batting second. Still an early (and magnificent) tea was welcomed by all – not least for its traditional nature and low cost compared with some lesser menus of recent times.

Then Ivanhoe took to the field with an hour and 20 overs to score just the 112! Plenty of time and a strong batting line up, so no problems anticipated.  Skipper imaginatively mixed up the batting order and it must have been a proud day for Hausler (umlaut omitted) Senior to open the inning with Hausler (umlaut omitted) Junior. There was no danger of Hausler Sr (10) being caught for his swishes and swings rarely got anywhere near the ball. It was down to Hausler Jr (21) to lead the way with some excellent boundaries picked up off the hostile and rapid opening bowler. But as we all know 1 wicket brings 2 and in this case 3 and then 4.

Parnell P and Collins (25*) then took on the bowling and steadied things before the loss of the former for 12. With 2 more rapid departures Woodcock (10) took the initiative with an all run four – easy for him, but more of a struggle for his partner. Worse still the next ball generated an easy 3 for Woodcock but only 2 could be run with Collins struggling to breathe. With his departure the run machine that is Dancer (12*) arrived batting at lowly number 9 and proceeded to make things look easier than anyone before him. 8 needed off the last 2 overs led to 4 off the last and Dancer’s decision to strike the first ball for 4 .. which he did  effectively, to bring victory by just 2 wickets and extend the unbeaten run to 7 games.

MOM = Team effort with contributions from all

Batting first Adrian opened with Richard and continued the fine form of the previous week as an opening stand of 84 put Ives in early control thanks also to some wayward bowling from the opposition. After Richard departed for 21, Ciaran carried on with Adrian until the latter was unfortunately run out for 40. A couple of wickets then fell cheaply but with Ciaran scoring 23 and Matthew 20no and Andy H 13no, at the end Ives innings closed on 188 for 9.

After an excellent chicken curry for tea Church Boys quickly found themselves 2 down with Andy C making the breakthrough and Asif taking the catches on both occasions. From there however runs flowed and although Ciaran nipped in with a wicket it took the introduction of the Ivanhoe ‘spin twins’ Andy H and Adrian to turn the tide. With overs in hand the odds were still on Church Boys coming out on top but with Andy H taking 2 for 33 and Adrian taking wickets regularly at the other end they were reduced to 169 for 9 with 5 over remaining. Then at 177 for 9 needing only 2 to win Adrian finally  bowled there no. 4 for a fine 64 for the closest of wins by 1 run and fine figures of 5 for 30 in 7.1 overs for Adrian.

Man of the Match:  Adrian

A game of firsts and miracles. – Max turned up, Richard hit a 5, Ives win,
and Bob ran a 3.
Ives started with only 8, with Ciaran and Richard opening the bowling. A
solid start saw Elite CC 2 down within the first 6 overs. Solid bowling
continued with Andy H and AD both came on, who bowled well, but without
any real luck. A lack of wickets meant that Ives were under a lot of
pressure for the last 15 overs. Still bowling well, Ives kept the score to
185 from the 40 overs. A tough ask given the batting of late.
AD and Andy Watson opened the batting, and endured a 14 ball opening over.
Needing 4.5 an over, the openers settled into wearing down the bowlers.
The stage was then set for Max and Richard, who then set about the Elite
bowling. However the departure of Max, Ives needed 100 from the final 15
overs. This saw Ciaran and Richard really open up, running quickly between
the wickets to frustrate Elite CC. With Richard falling for 48, the game
was in the balance, however Ives saw it home with Bob 18 NO and Ciaran 39
NO.
Finally a win.

Bamville 212 – 8

Ives 191 – 8

Bowling

Richard 2 for 29,  Andy C 3 for 34, Prasad 2 for 50, Ciaran 1 for 49, Saqib 1 for 31, Andy H 1 for 16.

Phi K 3 catches, Richard 2, Saqib 1 Andy C 1

Batting

Bob 57, Richard 45, Prasad 18, Ciaran 11

Time match

Ivanhoe 133 all out in 41 overs.  Chesham  93 for 8 in 38 overs,

Match Drawn

Adrian 36

Richard 5 for 16 in 11 overs

2 catches for Bob keeping, and Ciaran, Phil K  and Richard with one each.

Good to see Andy C back bowling with his first spell of the season

A number of half chance catches missed which might have won us the game

Pizza and ‘Kentucky’ fried chicken for tea!