Ivanhoe v Church Boys – 30 July 2016

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

Ivanhoe v Mayfield – 23rd July 2016

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

Ivanhoe v Elite CC – 17 July 2016

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.