June 2012

On what has become the norm for this summer, a windy, wet day, Ivanhoe CC looked to avenge the comprehensive beating they had been given by Bamville CC the previous year. Woodcock and Parnell opened the bowling, after keeping it tight in the opening overs, Ivanhoe had Bamville with less than 50 runs coming in the first 16 overs for 2 wickets. However from then on, Ivanhoes game changes completely. Sloppy errors in the field, combined with Lazy fielding Ivanhoe let Bamville build up an important partnership, with quick singles a plenty due to some lack lustre fielding.

The partnership was broken when Skip putting himself on to bowl, opened with a magic delivery which managed to stay just low enough to not be called a no ball, but a wicket none the less. This was then followed up by some excellent bowling by the Skip providing him with the rewards of a 5 wicket haul. Evans kept it tight from the top end, and his accurate bowling helped to keep the score lower than what was once threatened. However Bamvilles innings was consistently helped by a poor Ivanhoe attitude in the field, which gave Bamville a total of 173 for 7.

The task of chasing down this total was opened by Dancer and Evans, who put on a brilliant opening partnership of 101, ending with Dancer on 41 and Evans 58. Evans then got out at 61, continuing the brilliant form he has shown all season. Having set Ivanhoe up with the hopes of victory, there was little help from the rest of the team as although R Parnell and Kenchington made a good start, both could not deliver the big score that the victory would require, so with an ever increasing run rate Ives fell agonisingly 11 runs short of a victory all out for 163.

Some may say that more passion was shown in the pub discussing the game and what went wrong, than what had been put into the game, with different criticisms ranging from needing better players to the need for improvement from the players on the day. It can be looked at the scoring 163, better than 4 an over is a very positive step by Ives and shows a big improvement. Personally I felt that we let this game slip away, as from two positive positions we failed to deliver when we should have, with a mixture of poor fielding and slow run rates combining to deliver defeat.

It has been decided that before each home games, the players should arrive one hour early to work on batting and fielding. There is no quick fix going to come, and no Matt Martin about to paper over the cracks in our batting line up. The solution has to come from within. Chris Baddeley is a prime example of someone who has put the effort into his game, and is reaping the rewards, if we could all do this, Match reports would be a lot more positive, and the game more enjoyable. However talk is cheap, so it will be interesting to see if Ivanhoe practice before games, and if this makes a difference.

Ivanhoe have the chance to avenge the loss next week, so hopefully this is a different story!

The first fixture after our tour brought us to Hawridge & Cholesbury CC. A last minute fixture but a great spot thanks to ‘The Fox’!

Not too sure now but I think skip won the toss and put us in the field. Anyhow, we were fielding first!

Hawridge’s batsmen looked as though they were digging in well with two and three racking up a decent partnership. At one point it looked like they would be finishing around the 190 mark. However, apart from a scratchy start from the field, some good bowling saw ‘Beast’ take a couple of wickets but Andy CCCCCCCC gets the hat trick! All said and done, Hawridge left us a respectable score to chase of 154.

After a fine tea, Badders and Evans were sent out to open Ives account. Evans facing, picked up some early fours from a short bowling spinner. Badders on the other hand, just couldn’t see the ball. Evans put on a respectable 24 before being bowled and Badders managed a slow and boring 15!

Collins put on a slow but satisfactory 31 but it was left to Skip to significantly boost Ives account with a hard 51. Due to the oppo scoring, poor old skip didn’t get the recognition he deserved in achieving his 50 but we made up for that later. Sorry Skip!

It seemed as though it was all over but with Ady and Beast (n.o) going for it, we needed 8 off the last over. It was not to be with Ady being bowled leaving six to achieve.

All in all, a well suited oppo of which we might like to see on the fixtures card in seasons to come!

After continual rain for virtually the whole of the previous 36 hours the chances of playing this match after the previous day’s washout looked slim. However thanks to the oppo’s artificial strip the match was able to go ahead as planned on what turned out to be a dry sunny afternoon.

Playing against a generally young Knowle side Ives batted first and after Malcolm departed early firstly Chris B (21) and Adrian 23 kept the score ticking.   The tempo was  increased by  a returning ‘for one game only’ Nick James (21) and  a cameo 32 from Andy C.  It was during this that the presence of our very own Barmy Army supporters club became apparent. Made up of non playing opposition players sitting on the boundary they kept up a continual chant in support of the Ive’s throughout the afternoon which was much appreciated by all.

A quick fire 11 from Richard and with first Tim  (12) and then Andy H (6)putting bat to ball at the end supported by Bob (19no) the  innings closed on 170-8 from 40 overs.

With the constant support from the Barmy Army, Ciaran took a wicket with the first ball of the innings and with Adrian bowling a superb opening spell of 4 for 9 in 8 overs at the other end the opposition quickly found themselves 5 down with nothing to speak of on the score board. With two wickets for Andy H (2 for 9) the match seemed over with 20 overs to go with Knowle 7 down and only 50 on the board.  However an 8^th wicket stand for looked for a time that it might upset the result until Tim (1 for 26) nipped in with a wicket and Nick James finished off the opposition with two quick wickets as Knowle closed on 107 all out and a 63 run Ives win.

On a glorious May day Ivanhoe played Jaguar CC, a late selection from the fixture list, but hopefully lesser components given their vegetarian preferences versus the red-bloody carnivores of Ives. Alas it was not be, carnivores or not, 3 bad omens soon appeared. 1. They arrived early. 2. They were practicing. 3. They were a third of our age. Skip won the toss and put the vegetarians in to bat. The start was good as often it is, with 3 cheap wickets gained (Lionel 2, Christie 1) through good catches from the Duke/Bob and the author. Later their opener fell for 32 to a cleverly disguised (well the cow in the field next door didn’t pick it) slow ball from Christie. From there on it was all downhill with some big hitting from their next 2 batsman who scored 61 and 95. Their tail-enders chipped in and their final score was 262. The pick of the bowlers were Richard (2-19), Skip (2-32) and Christie (2-35).

Tea was taken. Then Ives resolved to show the youngsters the way cricket should be played!! Laurie, Den, and Bob (0/6/0) gave textbook examples of how not to bat. Adrian showed some resolve, hit some nice 4s before falling for 13. It was left to our resident Yorkshireman, Chris “Boycott” Baddeley to show what could have been with a well constructed 35no, demonstrating patience and picking off the loose ball for 4 when warranted.

The oppos skipper cleaned up the tail cheaply with Ives all out for 95.

Oh well – the tour to follow and hopefully some better results to be had.