September 2014

Let’s get tea out the way first; another excellent one scoring highly on the Andy H ‘quotient meter’.

Turning to the match, having won the toss Leyhill elected to bat, and a good opening stand of 46 looked as if it might threaten a score in excess of 200 at one point. However with Richard (4 for 42) taking a wicket with his first ball to a fine legside catch by Phil K and Ciaran (1 for 18) bowling an excellent 8 over spell backed up by Max, Lawrence, Andy (1 for 36), and guest Jason (1 for 10) and good fielding (catches for Phil K(2), Richard(2) and Earle), Leyhill relied on a 5th wicket stand of 80 to set a score of 181 for 7 in their 40 overs.

Probably for the first time in more years than the two players would care to recall, Lawrence (32) and Malcolm (28) (and that’s not their ages!) opened for the Ives and set the stage for the innings with an opening stand of 53 in 13 overs. Max and Richard (23) pushed the run rate along and after Richard departed, Phil K joined Max in a decisive stand of 71 to take Ives within 2 runs of victory before Max fell on 49 trying for his third consecutive 4 leaving Phil K unbeaten on 39 and Matthew to hit the wining 4 with 6 overs to spare and an excellent win,

A beautiful late season afternoon as Ives took to the field. Fine opening spells from both Andy and Ciaran ( 13 overs 2 for 45 )kept the run rate against strong opposition to under 3 runs per over for the first 20 overs with the added bonus of 3 wickets falling including a catch at the 2nd attempt by Matthew. As expected Little Berkhamsted batted well down the order and on a fast outfield as every shot or edge that went past the infield went for 4 they quickly accumulated runs despite the best efforts of Adrian 2 for70( ) and Richard (2 for60 ) and with Andy coming back at the end to finish on 12 overs 1 for 50.

After an excellent tea Ives Den opened with Jamie but quickly found himself having to temporarily retire with a shiner having diverted the ball of his arm into his left eye. Phil P and Phil K and Matthew all seemed to be heading for scores only to depart leaving Ives 53 for 5 it was left to Adrian (39 ) and Jonathan with an excellent knock of 68 to put the innings back on track with a 6th wicket stand of 104 with Jonathan unlucky to lose his wicket in the last over of the match and an encouraging draw as the innings closed on 176 for 7 to be followed by hot sausage rolls and beer. What more could a person want!?

Time game this week. Aldenham are put in. Good opening spells from both Ciaran and Andy. Andy ending up with 2-31 from 2 spells of 13 overs, as good as his bowled all year. Ciaran from his two spells of 13 overs ending up with 1-51 and what I can recall plenty of drop catches he could have bagged 5 this week. First change bowlers Lawrence 1-51 and Richard 1-56 and again drops of his bowling.

Ground fielding a vast improvement from last week, shame about the number of dropped catches. Aldenham are 188-5 from 45 overs.

Batting. Opening this week with Den is Jamie. After a early exist from Den, Jamie is joined by Richard. A fine 2nd wicket partnership of 74 with Jamie scoring 22 and Richard with overdue 54 from some solid blows.

At the 20 overs mark we are all set up for a tight end, but with the change of bowlers scoring gets harder. With the departure of Jamie and then Richard, followed by Phil k; Phil p and AD at the crease.

With runs getting harder to get and the bowlers not taken wickets, the needle starts. Wicket Keeper/Captain starts up, with the sledging backed up from the field and the bowlers. After that Phil and AD DIG in and ride the storm, with the score at 128-4 from 36 OVERS.

HAPPY DAYS