July 2019

After a number of close losses Ivanhoe finally prospered with its first win of the season.

It was an emphatic victory. We played at Bentley Heaths lovely ground in the Wroxham Park estate.

The pitch looked a bit dodgy and so it transpired with the ball shooting up and down unpredictably for both sets of batsmen.

Bentley Heath were weaker on the day but that should not detract from our performance.

Ivanhoe batted first with temporary captain Collins (until our regular tosser Woodcock arrived) loosing the toss.

The first two partnerships of 77 (Richard a steady 37 before trigger-finger Loveday gave an lbw) and 80 (Collins 66 and Max 52) were
the foundation of our Innings with not much else to write home about (Woodcock 11 and Nathan 10).

Ivanhoe finished on 191 for 7.

Of special mention was Bobs record breaking run of 14 consecutive singles!!

After a nice Tea, Bentley Heath started their Innings.

It was finished in 26 overs, all out for 54! None of their batsmen reached double figures. Ivanhoe fielded well with 2 catches for Max and 1 for Hausler.

Best bowling for Ives were Hausler ( 3-12), Loveday ( 2-10), Woodcock (1-5) and Richard Parnell (3-13).

Man of the Match would be a close call, with Richard’s all round performance being pipped by Bobs excellent Innings and Singles record.

Andy H.

Nearly 400 runs for13 wickets: not a bad afternoon for cricket but Ives were on the wrong side of the result, a match they had not looked like losing for long periods.

On winning the toss Ives batted on a used but benign strip. Openers Abrahamson and Kenchington faced the strongest bowling of the day and both perished. Parnell R struck some useful blows but also had to go. Dancer and Woodcock made progress, but when the former departed Ives were just 60-4. Woodcock (37) and Collins, the anchor, (41*) rebuilt and took Ives past 100. Parnell M (26), at number 7, struck one over particularly savagely, and Ives passed the 175 target early. Despite losing Zee and Saqib (4) (excellent boundary drive) Ives were able to declare 10 mins early, with Loveday showing he had learned the importance of a not out, defending the last 5 balls! A total of 195-8 was the highest of the season and Ives had plenty of overs to dismiss Octopus.

Tea courtesy of Earle and the Abrahamsons went down well before Octopus found themselves 12- 2 of about 10 overs. Everything was going to plan, but the next pair dug in and it was some time before the next breakthrough. However with 20 overs to go Octopus were 5 down with over a 100 needed. Eight bowlers were used (well 7 plus Zee!), a couple of catches missed, and the 6^th wicket pair, though they looked unorthodox, got their eyes in and creamed everything, finishing with individual highest scores and winning with 3 + overs to spare.

A disappointing result against a team we should play again. With hindsight, maybe on that pitch, we should have bowled first, but batsmen like to bat and dictate the game and there were no complaints at the start. Excellent fielding by Octopus saved many runs, and we could have batted longer, but we went for the win and with everyone fully involved it was what is was – a good match! 

R Collins