2014

Put into bat on an unpredictable wicket Hatch End started well putting on 30 before 3 quick wickets put the Ives on top. But despite wickets continuing to fall Hatch End, with 63 from Lawrence, together with good support from the other batsmen, closed on 185 for 9 and a higher score than looked likely at one point and one that looked like it might be difficult to chase down. There were wickets for Ciaran, Andy H and Earle, and 3 each for Adrian and Richard with catches for Earle, Joe and Richard.

In reply Andy H went early before Ciaran and Den put on 48 for the 2nd wicket. A quick fire 22 from Richard gave hope of chasing down the Hatch End score but it was not to be with Ives finding themselves on 106 for 8, and with Chris P unable to bat a 9th wicket stand of 35 from Adrian (14no) and Malcolm (16) was not enough to win the game.

After a couple of seasons break from the Aldenham grinder we played them at their picturesque village ground on an ultimately sunny June day, after torrential downpours earlier in the morning.

The format was a timed match and Aldenham batted first and after an opening stand of 66 (Letts 31; Burrows 48), Ivanhoe bowled and fielded well to constrain the score to 185. The exceptional highlights were Phil K’s outfield catch from a stratospheric smash and Adrian’s 6 – 74. In addition there were good spells of support bowling from Ciaran (2 – 53) and Andrew (1-31) plus some fine outfield catches from Richard and Ciaran. Ivanhoe departed the field full of optimism.

If a thunderstorm had have swept in and terminated the Match then it would have been a far far better thing that what followed.

Ivanhoe batted and were out for 63.

Phil K batted well for 36, striking some mighty blows, but everyone else failed. C Munroe got a hat-trick to finish with 5- 15, D. Knight mopped up the tail with 3-13.

Oh Well, a resounding loss but some good beers had at Aldenhams pub after the match.

Can’t seem to buy a win at the moment. Another good batting performance on an unpredictable wicket, built round a fine 64no from Bob, 24 from Den and contributions from Andy H, Phil P, Richard & Matthew, was still not enough to see off Star CC.

Closing on 161 for 6 and then reducing Star to 87 for 7 a first win of the season looked odds on, but an 8th wicket stand took Star within 12 runs of victory (aided by a disputed run out that the umpired failed to give that might well have won the match for the Ives), and they eventually ran out winners by 2 wickets in the 37th over. Mention must be made however of 3 fine catches behind by Bob, one from Ciaran and good bowling performances by Richard (3 for 23), Adrian (4 for 44), Andy H (1 for 22), Den (0 for 23) and Ciaran (0 for 28).

Again despite the defeat another good performance by the Ives. A change of luck however would be welcome.

A change in the weather, hopefully a change in results for Ives who going
into the game were 3 games into the season, with 3 losses. After two games
where good performances had not brought about the right results, AD
returned, and decided Ives would open the batting.
AD (25) and Den (21) opened the batting, and after a solid opening
partnership was ended by a good piece of bowling by the Rivetts seamer,
Bob (10) joined Den at the crease. A further decent partnership ensued
with Ives one down by the drinks break, leaving a 180 score a real
possibility. After drinks however the batting began to collapse, with only
a late flourish meaning Ives posted a 157, well short of what felt like a
good score.
In reply Rivetts got off to a great start, not keen on playing themselves
in, the opening Bat put the pressure back onto Lawrie (3-0-31-0) with 3
consecutive 6’s. Ciaran received a bit of luck (8-0-28-1) getting the
wicket of the opening bat, helped by a great catch by Richard (soon to
become the theme of the day). Wickets continued to collapse, but with such
a great start for Rivetts reducing the target run rate to less than 2.5 an
over, Rivetts were always in charge. Good bowling from Richard and Andrew
combined with some exceptional catching by Richard (4 Catches) made an
Ivanhoe victory a possibility. However by the end it was a lack of runs
which led to another Ivanhoe loss for the season. 4 from 4.
Despite 4 losses there are some positives this season. Ives have regularly
posted over 150 this season, and in general are bowling and fielding
better than previous seasons. Players are working on their weaknesses and
trying to help out and cover the obvious cracks in the team.

Deja Vu

A week on but same place and same result.
This week Ivanhoe were inserted during a time game. GWR’s opening bowlers were swift though a little erratic so the score kept moving. Nevertheless they induced a rare failure from Evans (6), followed by Glen (2), who had enjoyed a promising start. Opener Jaleel AL-DARRAGH, making his Ives debut soon settled in and with Collins put on 49. All Darragh was just in the process of taking apart the leg spinner when he pulled a ball to mid on, departing for a very valuable 44, leaving the feeling that Ives could have done with him batting for another 5-10 overs. With boundaries hard to come by on a pitch (reused from last week) the score moved on at c 4 an over. Useful contributions from Parnell (Malc) (20) and Woodcock (11) with Collins unbeaten on 41 brought up 170 –7 (4 more than last week).

Again the bowlers started very well with useful spells from Hausler, Woodcock, Evans and Parnell’s R and MA. Good catches from Parnell R, Woodcock and Collins gave hope but as always catches are the key and unlike last week the fielding was flawed with a missed stumping and too many chances going begging. With the GWR century maker from last year progressing to an aggressive half century the returning bowlers could not contain the batsmen and in the end GWR won with a couple of overs to spare.

Overall a good match with some promise but we must get the basics right (i.e. catches) if we are to turn near things to positive results.

To end on the positive.. the opposition were a great bunch to play against – absolutely the right spirit – and teas from Joe and Ciaran went down well.. with sandwiches left over .. a rare event.

Man of the Match : Jaleel AL-DARRAGH

An excellent match played in good spirit but unfortunately lost with only 2 balls of the match to go.

On another cold blustery day Ives won the toss and elected to bat with Den and Andy H leading off. Andy went after a quick 9 but Den (30) batted on with Bob, who was to remain unbeaten on 46 at the close as they put on 37 for the 2nd wicket and then Bob and Phil P (21) put on 61 for the 3rd to take the score to 121 for 3 allowing Richard and Ciaran (9) to raise the Ives score to 166 for 5 at the close.

Ives took the field a bowler down after Richard was accidentally hit on the head by a stray throw whilst batting and was unable to field (no lasting damage and will be back next week!) and that was to prove the difference as despite a good start with Andy H taking 3 for 14 in his 8 overs and Ciaran bowling a tight opening spell, and fine catches from Matthew, Den, Ciaran, Phil P(2)and Bob behind the stumps, Uxbridge recovered thanks to 62 from Bader and 28 from Tinsley. Lawrence came back to take 2 for 19 in 7 overs and Den 1 for 25 in 6 with Matthew taking 2 wickets as Uxbridge were 8 down before the winning hit with 2 balls to go.

A typically cold & windy first match welcomed in the new season with Ives taking the field on a remarkably hard wicket bearing in mind the rain of a few weeks ago.

Ashford started well scoring at more than 6 an over for the first 10 overs as Andy H and Ciaran opened the season, but with the introduction of Lawrence and Richard an element of control was established as Richard bowled an excellent spell of 8 overs 2 for 22 and Lawrence 6 overs 1 for 34 and the scoring rate fell away as Ashford were reduced to 88 for 4. As they regrouped there were wicket each for Matthew and Denis and with Andy H coming back to finish the innings and take his first wicket of the season and Ciaran chipping in as well the Ashford innings closed on 186 for 8 after 40 overs. Mention must also be made of fine catches by Joe, and Adrian behind the stumps, and a brilliant run out by Matthew with a direct hit from close to the boundary.

In reply 2 wickets fell quickly for 14 before Richard and Den put on 20 for the third wicket. More wickets then fell regularly and it was left to Ciaran (22) and Earle (8) with a stand of 34 to bring up the 100 and respectability to the score as the innings closed on 119 all out.

A loss but encouraging performances in the field on a cold day and with more to come from the batsmen as the season warms up.