Pre season do is coming

The eagerly awaited pre season do is nearly here, bigger and better than before (well that’s the plan…) 13th April 7.30-8.00 at the Stoneleigh Village Club, Vicarage Road, CV8 3DH

All welcome, friends, family, neighbours, acquaintances, people who like cricket, people who don’t like cricket….

 

Mixed fortunes for Stoneleigh team as summer makes an appearance

With the weather we have had this summer, it seemed possible that we wouldn’t play again this season…. but the sun did shine on Stoneleigh’s green and pleasant cricket land this weekend.

And with it came a Saturday game which we should have won comfortably but for Stoneleigh’s Achilles heel this season i.e. consistent batting performances in the league. Chasing only 116 after a really good perforce with the ball (B Bains, Mark Reading) and in the field, we failed to chase down the total that should have been eminently gettable.

Putting the disappoint of defeat behind us, we had another home game the day after to try to put things right with the bat especially.

Stoneleigh batted first and reached 168-7 (P Chapman 55 and P Lazenby 49) and set about defending the score.

Things were looking good as wickets fell pretty regularly except for their number 3 batsman who was becoming more and more comfortable with the surface and not looking like getting out. He compiled 117* to get the side within striking distance of chasing down our score.

Needing 9 off the last over and with Mark Reading to bowl we felt we had a good chance of stopping them getting the runs. A huge LBW decision threatened to derail our attempts as Mark (wearing his Dennis Lille headband) felt it necessary  to ask the umpire why it was not out….. you had to be there to appreciate his tone of voice may not have been in the spirit of the game…..

With the scores tied and with 1 ball remaining, Mark bowled the final ball with the field up to save the single. In a great sporting gesture the centurion batsman blocked the ball and declined the single (after which he recognised that the LBW was probably out and this was a fair way to end the game).

So the game was tied with the spirit of the game left intact. Mark later apologised for his actions but in the heat of the moment things can be said that are not meant to offend those involved.

All in all, it was good to get back on the field and play some cricket. Just need to get the batting sorted and get points on the board in the league (maybe we should buy a new net for practice?)

Sunday team up and running

After Saturday’s league victory over Afro Caribbean, it was down to the Sunday team to continue the winning ways.

After again electing the bat on another scorcher of a day, Stoneleigh began brightly with P Chapman scoring a run a ball 21 before being bowled off his foot to a full delivery that would have missed leg stump.

With Andy Waite coming in at 3, he anchored the innings with assistance from Udara to put on a 105 run partnership for the fifth wicket. The following information has been provided by Goose-stats:

“The fifth wicket stand of 105 between Shaggy and Udara was only the fourth century partnership for the fifth wicket since records have been available.

For the record, the others were – 107 Dave Ball & Mark Connor v Bilton at home on 14/9/1997 106 Bob Bains & Smudger v Leek Wootton at home on 15/9/2007

And finally, I expect everyone will think I made this up – 106 by ‘The Groundsman’ and ‘The Goose’ v Telecomms Leamington at home on 5/8/1984”.

Thanks to this partnership, Stoneleigh were able to post and more that respectable 193 off 40 overs.

A tight opening spell by Andy Waite got Stoneleigh off to a good start and the introduction of our latest recruit, Venkat, turned the game in our favour. Recording 6 wickets in his debut match is surely a record for Stoneleigh??

Only one batsman stood in the way of a Stoneleigh victory, and he scored a very impressive 70-odd but was quickly running out of partners, and skied a catch late in the innings looking for another big shot.

In the end, Stoneleigh won by 40 runs to record the first Sunday win of the season! Only a couple of dropped catches took the gloss off a good team performance, something to work on in training I guess (they are on Tuesday evenings 6.15…)

2 wins in 2 for Stoneleigh as Sun finally starts to shine!

With temperatures reaching a balmy 25+ degrees, Stoneleigh had two home matches over the weekend to take advantage of some fantastic weather to play cricket, as well as a fantastic pitch on which to play.

First off was the league match against Afro Caribbean. With only 5 of the away team at the ground at 2pm the match was delayed after Stoneleigh won the toss and decided to bat first. After losing 2 early wickets, Stoneleigh rallied with excellent contributions from Matt Beale and KP Bains to post an imposing 237 after 40 overs.

With only 35 overs for the away team to bat (due to the late start) Afro knew they needed a quick start, and a 6 off the second ball of the innings set the tone for their innings (cheered on by their team mates every time they connected with the ball over the ropes).

The big hits kept coming but without the partnerships that were needed to chase down the score set by the home team. Early wickets came when they were needed, with B Bains utilising his slower ball to great effect. 4 wickets for P Chapman meant that their middle order could not carry the team over the line.

The fact that Afro had scored their 140-9 off only 22 overs meant that if they had continued as they were going without losing wickets, this would have been a very close game.

One “controversial” moment of the match came after one of the Afro batsmen was given out caught behind much to his displeasure.

The following response from the batman to umpire B Waite after being given out can only be classified as “bringing the game into disrepute”! (I think section 18 sums up the situation pretty well)

http://www.lords.org/laws-and-spirit/laws-of-cricket/laws/law-42-fair-and-unfair-play,68,AR.html

In the end a (relatively) comfortable victory for Stoneleigh and first win in the league this season, sending the team to 5^th in the table.

Report on yesterday’s match to follow….

When Gladstone met Stoneleigh CC

In only the 3^rd game of the season thanks to some pretty miserable weather, Stoneleigh played a Sunday match against a BBC Midlands team with a special guest player. None other than former England test fast bowler, Gladstone Small (seen on the far right of the photo below back in his England days).

Batting first, the BBC team reached a more than useful 175 off 40 overs thanks to a quick-fire 47 from Mr Small (only after being dropped 3 times….but we won’t go into that) This was a good score on a slowish pitch, and given that Stoneleigh had bowled tightly in the first 20 to restrict them to only 50 odd runs. This included a tight spell from  James “run-maker”Whittingham early on in the innings.

In reply P Chapman (47) and P Lazenby (15) put on 57 for the first wicket to give the home side a good chance of chasing down the target. However the middle order struggled to maintain the run rate against an experienced bowling unit and good fielding from the opposition.

The sight of Gladstone Small bowling to Smudger off his short run and hitting him for a couple of boundaries will I am sure live long in the memory (for the batsman at least!)

In the end, Stoneleigh only managed to get over 100 as batsmen came and went without any decent partnerships being made.

It was a match played in a good spirit at all times and the opportunity to play against a former England player made the occasion even more entertaining.

Seeing him flick a full length ball into the field with minimal effort shows just how easy these players can make the game look!

Stoneleigh EGM

Thanks for everyone who came to the EGM last night. I will be emailing everyone a summary of what happened and a pros and cons list of the idea of changing leagues.

If you can all email me your opinion on this based on the summary and your own thoughts that would be great and we will decide on the best way to relay the results once everyone has replied. If people can do this as soon as possible that would be great.

Please do not reply via this blog but to my email address once you have seen the email I am about to send: philip_chapman23@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks

Phil

Sunday team sign off in style

Stoneleigh’s score of 329-5 on Sunday was the third highest club innings total.  It was also the highest ever in a non-league match.  All credit to Dunchurch as they battled on with great good humour whilst conceding 232 runs off the last 20 overs.  They were bowled out for 165 with the wickets shared around.  Andy Edg picked up 2 in 2 balls and took an excellent catch to help his Dad sneak home with most wickets (31) for the season.

The six hitting ‘contest’ ended in a tie with Hal and Andy Edg both finishing with 28.

And finally, is it some sort of a record to have a father and son, two sets of brothers and a pair of cousins playing in the same team?

Information provided by Goose-stats.

A long Waite ends but a Tiger is wounded

Congratulations to Andy Waite who made 64 on Sunday – his first 50 for SCC in 261 innings since 1995.  Promoted to open, he compiled a patient and competent knock to help us amass 244-8.  The Sutcliffe brothers were on form again, Greg making 43no (8 fours) and Hal 33 while Deano clocked up a handy 29.  Hal’s three sixes put him only one behind Andy Edg who could not add to his total of 26.  That duel will go down to the wire!

Old C.C. (from Northants) were dismissed for 179.  Chappers P. took 3-39, Deano picked up 2 and Shaggy weighed in with 2-10 which actually takes him to the top of the bowling averages.

Sadly, Tiger Thompson badly injured his knee again while batting and that will finish his season.  Our best wishes for a speedy recovery Luke.  Hope you can still get to Spain.

Six hitting

After Sunday’s epic encounter against Heckley which we won by 4 runs with significant  contributions by just about everybody, the question was raised as to who had hit the most sixes in a season.

The answer is Mark Connor who bashed 43 sixes in just 16 innings in 2002.

In total, Mark hit 185 sixes in 9 seasons 1996-2004.

Paul Price managed 38 off 22 innings in 1995 while Chappers J  hit 30 in 18 innnings in 2009.

Andy Edg is coming up on the rails with 26 so far this season.

More details with the end of season stats.  Don’t forget you can get the full stats for our league matches on the Play-Cricket pages – see the link on the right.  You’ll need to restrict matches to season 20011 and league only.

Info supplied by ‘The Goose’  (best six hitting 3 off 26 innings in 1987).

 

Unicorn Cup 2011

The great fundraising day has come again. Pedro Mackenzie has relinquished the captaincy to Twin B.

Who lost the toss and put the Unicorns into bat.

Part time cricketer, David Glager, for arriving late, has already been fined £50 for the club for turning up 30 minutes late.

25 for no loss off 6 overs. Almost unheard of in these circles.

The locals earlier.

At the end of day, it didn’t really matter what the result was the real winners were Compton’s team by 5 wickets. Although as a team they have paid £220 to Stoneleigh so thanks for parting with your cash and dignity.

The presentation begins…

Atkinson hugging Ed’s mum, whom he almost killed.

Stuie gets man of the match.

Ed Compton ungraciously accepts the 2011 Unicorn Cup.