2016

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

Another scorching day and Captain Ciaran luckily won the toss and opted to bat. Rich P and Adrian D opened and rapidly put on the runs on a flat wicket with a short, fast outfield.  There were some good performances with the bat with Rich P reaching 42 and Max F just shy of his half century, falling on 48. However the batting performance of the match has to go to Adrian D who edged closer to his first ever century just to be denied at the close by Old Father Time, finishing on 99 not out. Ives closed their innings on 227 for 4.

Ives turn to field and it was spin that seemed to be the order of the day as Andy H and Adrian D took six wickets between them (including two stumpings from rusty keeper Philip K).  The regular fall of wickets,combined with some excellent bowling contributions from Prasad (21 off 5), Andy C (19 off 5) and Max F (11 off 3 for 1) helped keep Mayfield’s run rate down and at one point Ivanhoe looked to be in with a good chance of a win. However a couple of dropped catches denied Ivanhoe their second consecutive victory of the season and the game finished in a draw with Mayfield on 181 for 8.

Man of the match – Adrian D

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!

First, it was great to have Andy C back after his sabbatical and hopefully this was the first of many more games to come for him.

As to the match after losing the toss on a blustery day at Mayfield and being put in the field, this was arguably decided by a first wicket partnership of 53 on what was an unpredictable wicket, not helped by a couple of difficult chances going down in the field.

After Richard broke the opening stand with a spell of 2 for 1 in 5 overs, Adrian bowling unchanged for the remainder of the innings from the top end took 5 for 34 in 14 overs, aided by good catches for Richard,  Andy H and Prasad and with Prasad (1 for 19) and Saqib (2 for 13) at the other end picking up  3 wickets between them the remaining 9 wickets fell for only 79 runs to leave Mayfield on 129 all out from overs.

After an excellent tea, Ives never really got to grips with the wicket with only Adrian (20) and Richard (13) making double figures as we were bowled out for 77 in only 27 overs which although we could have done better was possibly a par score for the conditions on the day.

First match of Ives centenary season on an unusually hot day for the time of year saw Ives take to the field resplendent in their new Centenary cricket shirts.

An excellent bowling and fielding performance from everyone followed restricting Arkley to 177 in 46 overs thanks mainly to a  run  wicket stand, Adrian (3 for 39) Andy H (1 for 28), Richard (1 for 35) and Saqib (1for 26) were allin the wickets and although a couple of catches went down which might have restricted the Arkley total further, catches were picked up by Ciaran, Adrian and Bob behind the stumps.

In reply Ives quickly found themselves 6 for 2 with Ciaran and Richard back in the pavilion. Bob (32) and Adrian (14) put the innings back on track with Phil P pitching in with 19 before both he and Bob departed in the 2 balls either side of tea to halt the Ives momentum.  Phil K with a fine 44 and Saqib (22) put the innings back on track with a 67 run stand before, following their departure, a flurry of wickets fell to leave Ives 162 all out with 3 overs to play.

Despite the loss all in all an encouraging start to the season with hopefully more to come.