2012

As with last week Ives found themselves facing a team with a sprinkling of 1^st team players which was always likely to make it a difficult match and having elected to bat Den, Earle, Chris B and Richard quickly found the extravagant swing of Hillingdon’s opening bowler too much to handle as they all departed with only 15 on the board.  Bob steadied the ship with 25 and with good knocks from Ciaran (24) and Andy H (29) the innings at least went the full 40 overs to close on 117 for 9.

Despite the best efforts of Ciaran and Richard (1 for 26) in the opening overs and excellent spells from Den (1 for 28) and Andy C (2 for 33) Hillingdon were never in danger of losing and won in the 20^th over by 6 wickets.

With one match to go interest turns to the Parnell/WilsonTrophy where Richard currently hold a small advantage over Andy H but where Adrian could still run out the winner.

For the Weatherburn/Martin Tankard thanks to Andy C missing a chance of Richard in the Hillingdon game he, Ciaran and Malcolm are currently sharing the lead on 8 catches with Richard only one behind.

Finally a reminder to everyone that as matters stand the AGM is on Sunday 14 October.  Venue to be confirmed

Charge of Ivanhoe brigade
Cannon to right of them,Cannon to left of them,Cannon in front of them ,Volley’d and thunder’d; Storm’d at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well,Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell , Rode the eleven .
OTT maybe, but it seems to sum this season up for me .
Not for the first time this season, we turn up to find the Oppo has a ” COUPLE OF FIRST TEAMERS ” playing .Straight away we know its going to be another tough match, and so it proved to be !!!
Bob ( captain standing Marvel) has done so well to get another team out….11 bodies, injured , aching and battered men…..Where is are young superstar teenager !!!!
So into battle we go, Oppo bat first…off to a flier, but lose wickets regular…at 110 for 5 , game in the balance, but big hitting batsmen keep coming no’s 6 , 7 ,8 , 9 ..big bats and big shots. With only 5 bowlers, all bowled well CW 2 FOR 28 (my bowler off the season ) AH 3 for 48 , DE 1 for 35 , AC 2 for 38 ….and poor old PP 1 for 70, in his first spell of the season and suffering a big chest infection ( A GREAT TEAM PLAYER) Oppo close on 221 for 9…..you know its a tough game, when you think you have done well to keep down to 220 !!!!!!
So chasing 221 , Ives get off to a bad start losing Den ( run machine) early, then lose regular wickets to the very good bowling attack . Only a good knock from MP, some super off drives, PK 23  and some big hits AH 20 N.O ….Ives 110 all out
No disgrace considering the Oppo.
So another tough match, in a very tough season……In my opinion , somehow we need to arrange matches more on our standard. WE are an weak to med over 40’s team ( with a couple of stroppy teenagers) Then , hopefully , we can enjoy closer and more entertaining cricket !!

Having won the toss Bob elected to bat on another hot afternoon but after 2 overs with the score 6 for 2 he must have wondered whether that was a good decision.  However 3^rd and 5^th wicket stands of 85 each firstly by Phil P (28) and Richard (40) and then Phil K (33) and the skipper himself(46no), together with a generous helping of extras allowed Ives close on 187 for 6 at tea.

The Mayfield reply opened in a similar way and 3 wickets for Ciaran with only 17 on the board looked likely to give Ives the edge but some big hitting by Patel with 78 aided by Morara with 45 eventually saw Mayfield home with overs to spare with only a returning Andy H with 2 late wickets and a run out by Ciaran disturbing their march to victory.

Ham is a long way to go for a game of cricket but it was definitely worth it.  Ivanhoe had a bat first while we waited for the stragglers to negotiate the M25. Traffic delays meant a 35 over game. Openers Chris B and Dennis worked hard to stave off a quality Sheen bowling attack.  Once the hard work was done it was time for the run makers.  Step up Bob with a steady 47 and Richard P with a solid 63 not out and Ivanhoe posted a fairly achievable 151.

Post tea Sheen started impressively and 151 was looking woefully inadequate. Ivanhoe weren’t daunted though despite a bowling shortage.  Ciaran (27-2) took the Sheen skippers wicket while Lawrence P (49-4) took the lion’s share.  Sheen advanced ever closer with wickets in hand, but a valiant all round effort in the field meant they needed 7 to win in the final over.  Step up Lawrence P.  Ball 1 was a fumbled stumping by keeper Phil K. Dot ball. Ball 2 was another swing and miss. Dot ball. Ball 3 was the stumping ball 1 was meant to be. Two more runs left Sheen needing 4 to tie from the final ball but it was not to be. Another win for Ivanhoe in a game which could easily have gone the other way.

After Saturdays emphatic win down to earth with a bump as Bourne End racked up 250 for 5 in a time game.  With wickets hard to come by after the first wicket fell to Ciaran with 11 on the board an excellent opening spells by him and Andy C the floodgates opened later in the innings as Bourne End put their foot down with all but their captain, caught behind for on by Bob  for 0 in Ciaran’s second spell, scoring heavily and apart from an excellent run out by Kabir the only other wicket falling to Den assisted by a catch from Malcolm at deep mid on.

Bourne End showed they also have an excellent bowling attack and after Den (19) & Malcolm (24) put on 38 for the first wicket it was really a rear guard action all the way as Andy (18) and completing 100 runs for the weekend,  Kabir (11) and Daniel (8) playing his first game, it was left to Lawrence (13no) and Ciaran (1no) to see the game home for very much a ‘losing’ draw.

With thunder rumbling and lightning in the distance the threat of this match being abandoned was never far away but despite this for the 2^nd week running, and after seeing off a good opening spell from Crouch End, a maiden half century was scored for the Ives, this time a fine 82 by Andy H around which the rest of the team put together a  score of 180 for 7 in 40 overs . There were good contributions from Den (23) and Richard (21) with Andy H in stands of 80  and 54 Richard respectively.

Having taken tea during an earlier rain break their was an immediate turn round and the story then is one of Andy C and Richard matching each other ball for ball as Crouch End collapsed against excellent spells as they shared the first 8 wickets for only 15 runs finishing respectively with Andy 4 for 14 in 8 overs and Richard 4 for 5, aided by 3 catches for Bob, 2 for Malcolm and a superb low one at short cover  for guest player Paul Barnes.  With Crouch end’s last man absent through injury it was left to Ciaran to finish the innings in with the 4^th ball of his first over as Crouch End were bowled out for only 22.

With the temperature in the 30’s not a day to find yourself in the field with only 5 bowlers at skipper Bob’s disposal  first but that was the situation that Ive’s faced after losing the toss.

Bob took the view correctly to bowl all the bowlers in short bursts with Richard opening with Denis.  On a wicket offering very little to the bowlers Denis struggled with his line in this spell but came back well later in the innings to finish with 3 for 39 from 8 overs aided by catches by Andy C, Malcolm and a caught and bowled. Richard bowled tightly in both his spells without any luck, conceding only 22 runs in his 8 overs as wickets early on were hard to come by with the first not falling until 49 were on the board and the second at 124 at which point a score well in excess of 200 looked likely for Old Citizens. However following Den’s intervention the scoring rate dropped and aided by a wicket for Lawrence (1 for 32 in 8 overs), Andy C (1 for 56) and Ciaran (0 for 36) and with two run outs Old Citizens declared at tea on 189 for 7.

The effects of fielding in the hot conditions quickly showed as Ives reply got off to the worse possible start with Earle and Andy H departing early with only 2 on the board followed by Malcolm (9) at 23. Three further quick wickets fell to leave Ives on 36 for 6 and facing a heavy defeat.  However Phil K (8) and Richard put on 57 for the seventh wicket and with Richard scoring his first 50 for the club before departing with one ball of the innings to go, Ives achieved a draw as Lawrence (5no) and Ciaran (1no) saw the innings home on 114 for 7.

Not a result to improve the skipper’s knee.

Having won the toss and elected to bat the Ives innings looked to be off to a good start as Denis (10) and Phil P (19) put on 29 for the 1^st wicket.  Unfortunately from there the score quickly took a turn for the worse and after 17 overs 5 wickets had fallen with only 46 on the board and time for a rescue mission.  Malcolm (17) & Richard (19) started the recovery with a stand of 30 with Earle then joining Malcolm for a further stand of 18.  Malcolm departed with 8 overs to go and with 92 on the board it was left to Earle (24no) and playing possibly his best innings to date and Andy C (34no) to add 50 to the score in only 8 overs to post 144 for 7 at the close.  Probably 30 short of what was  a par score but at least one that gave Ives a chance of victory.

Unfortunately apart from Andy C early on and in particular Denis (8 overs 1 for 21) the other bowlers continually fed the Corinthians opener  Shah with short balls which he took delight in pulling for boundaries to square leg as he scored 94 before being well caught by Earle in the deep but by then the game all but over as the match was lost in only 27 overs as Corinthians recorded 145 -3.  The only other high points were another wicket for Badders in the closing overs and one for Ciaran well caught in the gulley by Den.

A lesson to be learned to pitch the ball up and not feed the batsman’s best shot on a hard wicket!

In the absence of injured skipper Adrian and vice captain Bob, backpacking somewhere in Australia, Ciaran took the helm for the first time and having won the toss inserted the opposition on a very damp track for a timed match .

With Andy C (8 overs for only 24 runs) and Lawrence bowling tight opening spells runs were restricted in the first half of the Chaseville’s innings and although no wickets fell everything was going well.  After the drinks break however the Chaseville innings took off and despite sterling efforts from all the bowlers and Lawrence coming back to finish with 1 for 45 a century from Barrel for Chaseville in the last over left allowed them to finish on 201 for 2 with Ciaran being the only other wicket taker.

In reply Ives inning got off to a good start with Den(20) and Phil P (44) putting on 51 for the first wicket and with the final 20 overs coming up the score was 88 for 2 with an unlikely win still on the cards. Phil and Malcolm (25) kept the score going aided by Andy H (11) but as Chaseville tightened up their bowling runs became harder to come by. However Kabir playing his first match showed a good eye for the ball to finish on 25no and with Ciaran’s brother, Dominic (14) also scoring well followed by Richard (15no) the innings closed on 170 for 5 for an honourable draw, the thought of what might have been, and a well done to Ciaran in his match as skipper.