Back on the field!

Well this weekend saw me finally get back on the field, after 2 weeks of fucking about due to my finger. It's still not completely fixed, it's still swollen, but I can bend+move it without pain so I felt I was ready to go back on. We lost the toss on Saturday against Caistor and were put into bat. It was a very green pitch, and we were 2 down within about 2 overs, losing Rak and Sam in that order. Andy and Kev put on about 40 to get us to 46-2, albeit off about 21 overs. What came next was a collapse of Sri Lankan proportions! 46-2 became 46-4, then 48-6, then 53-7. I walked in at 9, with the previous 3 wickets falling for ducks. I saw out the over comfortably enough, and hung around with Edwin, chipping in with a 4 through mid-wicket . Edwin fell for 7 at 61-8, and after myself pulling a 2 through midwicket, we lost 2 wickets at the other end for no runs. All out 63, me 7*. I could have done with keeping the strike on the last ball of the previous, but there was no single on offer really. We had 6 ducks, 5 of which occurred in the last 6 wickets that fell.

Teas were good, Caistor don't mess about when it comes to food! We walked out there knowing that we needed to take early wickets. Unfortunately, we didn't have that luxury. The first and only wicket fell on 49, I took a fairly simple catch off Deegs, their opener trying to sweep a ball and top-edging it to short-fine leg. I bowled 5 overs, the first 3 of which were all maidens. At one point my figures were 3.3-3-0-0, but in my next over and a half I bowled a wide ball which the batsman cut for 3, and a lovely full bunger the batsman put away for a boundary. The captain took us off, in pursuit of wickets, and brought on a couple of part-timers but it didn't help, we lost by 9 wickets. Picked up fielder of the match though, decent return for my work in the field!

On Sunday the match was a different affair. Well, sort of. We headed to Reepham, where I knackered my finger in the first place. Needless to say, everyone told me that if I did it again they wouldn't forgive me! We lost the toss and bowled first, And Ben B set about trying to run through the opposition. We had them one down fairly quickly, Ben picking up a wicket in the 7th over. After that, their opener and no.3 laid the foundations for a decent innings, before Lenny picked up the latter for a decent 25. The opener went on through to make 50, and I came on with them at about 80-2 in the 24th over. I got a breakthrough fairly early on in my spell, and continued to bowl fairly well throughout, not giving anything away. Ben came back at the the other end to take a couple of wickets, and I picked up another 3 to leave me with figures of 7-1-21-4. Reepham ended up at 156-8 off their 40.

Teas were once again decent, the home-made scones in particular going down like a house on fire.

With the bat, we started off well enough, lost a couple of quick wickets in the first 15 overs but we were on about 70-2, with Ben B going well again, hitting 20 off about 7 balls, before playing a loose shot and skying one. Once again, that led to a procession of wickets, and ended up with me walking in at 100-7 with about 15 overs remaining. 4 an over, doable normally, but with only 3 wickets left...? I headed in, saw off the first couple of overs for not many runs, before losing Pete at the other end, leaving us 110-8. Lenny came in and held an end up for a couple of overs, hitting a decent 4 and a 2 as well. At the other end, I was playing well! Picked up a couple of 4s through the leg side, and rotated the strike well, before Lenny got out to a pitched up delivery, leaving us on about 125-9. Gooders walked in at 11, no Chris Martin with the bat, so I felt a bit better about it. We started to work the strike, and I picked up another few runs, as well as running the extras and wides. With 29 needed off 3 overs, Gooders picked up a 4, as did I, and we were left needing 12 off the last over. Gooders ran a single off the 2nd ball, and I hit 2 4s in 3balls, leaving us with 3 to get off the last ball. Unfortunately, the bowler (also a left-arm spinner) speared it in short and quick, on the leg stump, and with 6 (yes 6!) fielders on the leg side, I couldn't get it away, and Gooders was ran out trying to force the fielder into making a mistake. Absolutely gutted. All out 154. Left on 26*, a personal best, with 5 leg side 4s and a total of 2 scoring shots on the off side. Was chuffed with the effort, but having dropped 4 catches in the field (including their opener who made 70, when he was on about 30), and collapsing so rapidly, we shouldn't have even been in the situation we were. A good effort though from the lower order considering where we were at!

My stats for the season are:

Batting: 6 innings, 5 not outs, 61 runs, top score of 25*, average of 61 (one for the scrapbook!), strike rate up at 70 (apparently, I'm unconvinced!)

Bowling: 45 overs, 10 maidens, 138 runs, 10 wickets, best of 4-21, strike rate of 27, average of 13.8. 1 catch in the field.

Decent enough start, need to get some more runs, wickets and catches mind. And a few wins would be nice too!

It's been a while...

So I thought I'd get up to speed on here. Since 8th May, I have played a game for the Uni side, a midweek game for my club back home, and nothing since then. But all will be explained...

Uni game. Bowled first, I came on after about 7 overs. Facing a decent batsman that I had earlier dropped, hard chance mind you! Also previously ran the wrong way to field the ball at long-on, could barely see anything from the sun. Sorry Ryan... But anyway, came on, and my fir

st over was fairly on the spot, went for about 7 though. Second over, beat the batsman in the flight, but Joe couldn't get to the stumping (it had turned down leg, after pitching about middle, difficult take!) and so he lived on. For 2 balls, when he slapped a full toss straight down the fielder's throat at long on. Shit takes wickets n' all that. The ball was fairly difficult to grip because of the rain before the game, so inevitably a few full tosses came out, which (probably) I wouldn't have normally bowled! Picked up another one in my 3rd over, slapped for a 4 and a few singles as well. Ended well for me though. 3-0-15-2. Will happily take that! Didn't do much with the bat, out for 2 I think after Sir Garfield called me through for one which may have been there, but didn't feel like it at the time! Best moment of the day was definitely Karl's reverse-sweep for 4 off the final ball. Outstanding tekkers. Lost by 20 runs or so.

Ahh, the midweek game. Where the problems started. We batted first, I was next

man in at the end (as usual!) and we scored 93 off our 16 overs. Then, after fielding for 5 overs at point, I got one hit out to me on the bounce, and in trying to get underneath it to pick it up, I dislocated my finger! Bollocks! Whisked off to hospital by one of the WAGs (well, the only one there) and got it popped back in place, at the expense of an awful lot of swearing. Fuck it hurt! Here is an x-ray of the offending digit...

As you can see it is fairly out of place! And for the past 2 weeks I have been resting it, and I've declared myself fit for the weekend. Bored out of my skins at the weekend since!

On a boring note, Uni's almost finished. My year abroad placements are in Binic (in Brittany), and the Alps. Sweet Jesus I am excited. That's about it for this update though. Ciao!

What the funk?!

You know when you have one of those days where fuck all goes right? Yeah, I had one of them. Where to start... Well, my train was cancelled, so I had to wait an hour. Then, I realised I'd left my sun-cream, water and breakfast in Hull, so I was thirsty, hungry and prone to burning like Rich Clarke... Oh well! Got to the ground, to find it was drier than we thought it would be. Had a bowl at Sam in the nets beforehand, and felt in good touch. So we lost the toss and were put into bat. Looked a good toss to lose, was hard underfoot. Raky and Andy put on 75, SEVENTY-FIVE! For the first wicket. In 15 overs. Which, for us, is like a miracle. a) an opening partnership, and b) actual quick runs! Andrew was out first, and Rakesh the next over. Sam and Deegs put on 32, before Deegs got out to a fairly piss-poor decision. And from there we just, well, collapsed. I walked in at 124-6, and everyone else hit out (and got out), whilst I couldn't find my timing, and couldn't force the pace against some of the better bowlers we've faced this year. 142/10, myself left not out with a gutsy (by which I mean "horribly out of form and couldn't get the ball off the fucking square) 4 off 25 balls. Test-match.

Teas were quality. Standard Owmby!

Ahh, to the field. Danny started off with some really good areas, and got the well deserved wicket of their opener (another shit LBW shout, but still...) and then quickly followed it up with the other opener, a much better delivery beating his outside edge and hitting top of off. I was brought on as first change, after 10 overs, and picked up a wicket in my first over. Back through the gate, and it trickled onto the stumps. My next 3 overs were a mixture of some very good balls (beating the edge, leading edges, etc) and one bad ball an over, duly punished. 4 overs, 1-15. My 5th over was a whole different story. First ball, blocked back. Second ball, swept to deep square for 1. 3rd ball, short and cut for 4. 4th ball, legside and slogged for 6. 5th ball, low full toss drilled through cover. 6th ball, good length ball driven for 4. Arse. 5 overs, 1-34. "Have a rest Ben" came the inevitable call. Ah well, we all have bad days. This was the first real bad one I've had for the best part of 2 years, so I can't really complain... On the up side, I had a blinder in the field for the first 26 overs, the last 2 overs I missed one that I should have stopped (considering I view myself as a very good fielder when I get my head down), saved about 10 runs in the point area. So it wasn't a truly terrible day, it's just that my main ability let me down. Oh well.

Got 2 matches next weekend, a midweek game on Wednesday (16 8-ball overs!) and maybe another game tomorrow. Need some improvement! Will update sometime this week. BT x

Finally, a win!

So I played 2 games this weekend. Saturday, at home, against Alkborough. hadn't lost against them in 6 years leading up to this game. Won the toss, and in similar conditions to last week, bowled again. Argh, why?! Anyway, our opening bowlers haemorrhaged runs. Again. After 8 overs, when I came on, they were 50-0. My first 4 overs went for 13, bringing a semblance of calm to the game. I was brought off after 6 overs, to try and change things up, but the seam attack just got smashed around the park, so I was brought back on. I picked up a wicket in my 11th over, cleaning up the opener with an arm-ball. There was a little bit of spin, not a lot, and a bit of bounce when you looked for it, but quite low when you didn't. The opener made 73 off 96. The other lad was unperturbed, and went on to record a very well made century. The number 3 (who really wasn't a number 3 I don't think, he didn't look like he could bat a lot) played across the line to me and I cleaned him up. I bowled through, and they ended up on 221-2 off 45. I dropped the centurion off the last ball of my spell, didn't pick up the ball til late on, and it was probably the keeper's catch, but I still should have held it. My figures were 15-2-55-2, quite good considering the total innings RR was almost 5/over!

Teas were, once again, outstanding. As usual!

In reply, we lost Sam for a duck, and then Andy and Kev put on 80 for the 2nd wicket. When Kev was out for 33, Ciaran came in, and went on to score a run a ball 40. However, this is where the problems began. Their skipper is a notorious pie chucker, but also a wicket-taker. His array of full tosses, long-hops and the occasional length ball did for our batting. He ran through the middle order on his way to 12-0-56-7. I wandered in with us on 157-7. I lost Pete the next over, and Dan an over afterwards, leaving us 168-9 needing to stay 9 down, otherwise they would get all 20 points. I managed to safely navigate it, along with the Doc. I ended up 8* off 17 balls. Never in any real trouble, as I seemed to be the only one capable of not swinging across the line or playing another silly shot... So that didn't go how I planned it! On to Sunday then!

So, Sunday away at North Scarle. And it was in the middle of nowhere. Looked like a random field as well, terrible wicket. Moss on it and everything! We lost the toss and batted first. Sam was out for 10, and then Ben B followed 5 overs later for 13. Neil was out for a very hard-grafted 10, and wickets tumbled at a slow but steady rate, with me walking in at 99-6, on a hattrick ball, and 3 wickets going down for no runs. I survived the hattrick ball, and between me, Pete and Charlie, we put on 16 runs in the last 4 overs, taking us to 115/7. I got one ball that pitched full, and got up and hit me in the grille! Had no idea what was going on. Contrasting that was Ben B's dismissal, out LBW to a pea-roller! Very tough pitch. ended up 2* off 10, couldn't pierce the field!

Teas were truly dreadful, I got there and there were 3 ham sandwiches, some egg, and cheese savoury? What the hell is that?! A few bits of cake and that was it. Barely enough for 1 side, nevermind 2. Bollocks.

Got into the field, and with Ben B back, we had a feeling he could go through their batting line-up. And so it proved. With our premier quick bowler back, we ran through them like a dream. Their collapse from 11-0 to 29-9 was stuff of real, real village cricket! Ben bowled his way to figures of 8-2-10-7, and his younger brother Jamie bowled equally well to figures of 6-2-10-2. I took one catch in the field, and saved a few runs by diving about on the minefield. Dan picked up the final wicket to bowled them out for 40. In short, a well deserved win, nice to get off the mark in the wins column this year!

Only one game next week, at home to Cleethorpes 3rds, need to get a win in the Saturday league to get us going! Ciao for now! x

Saturday, April 24. Away v Caistor

First game of the season, and I have one question: How the f**k did we lose that?! 15 hours afterwards I'm still asking it!

We won the toss, and the skipper (God knows why) put us in the field. We didn't find that out til after teas though, typical! So in 27 degree heat, we got going. One of the openers was a bit expensive/erratic, and came off after 5. Dan at the other end was finding quality areas, and our veteran seamer came on at the other end. He got 2 breakthroughs, leaving them about 40-2 after 15. Drinks couldn't come quickly enough! I got lose after about 18 overs, came on start of the 21st. Cue this big lad coming down the track and taking me for 4,0,4,2,2 off the first 5 balls of my over. Bugger. Godd'im with the 6th though, down the track, foot out the crease, beat the bat, stumped. May have gave him a send-off. Dick shouldn't hit me for 12 off 5 then should he?! Found my rhythm after that, with a maiden next over, and 2 off the next 2 overs to put me at 4-1-14-1. Really put the squeeze on after that, bowling this lad through the gate in my 5th over. Bowled through until the 43rd over, picking up another wicket, to leave me with 9-4-20-3, which is handy. They were all out 121. My fielding was good, hung back on one where they snook a single but made up for it, saved about 5 runs in "quick singles" at backward point. Standaaard.

Teas were quality, and as usual I ate far too much. Glad I bat down the order...

Batting was a calamity, to say the least. 4/0 became 8/3, became 24/4, 40/5, 56/6, 75/7. After 35 overs! I walked in, not sure what I was gonna do to be honest! Kept out their skipper for 3 balls, then got an outside edge (all along the floor, soft hands and all) for 4, silly bugger didn't have a 3rd man in! Leggie on at the other end, and my tactic of taking a step down the track to make them drop it short worked, took 7 off 6 balls against him over 2 overs. They brought back this dreadful seamer, took him for 4 off the first 4 balls of the over, and then played all around one that was even slower than his usual dross on an even slower wicket! Thought it was going down, with me batting on leg, but understandable given the shot I played, and that I ask for middle not leg... Silly bollocks! After that, we lost our last 2 wickets for 10 runs and were all out 10 short. Cat got 22 off 36, batted very sensibly for him!

Game today against Scunthorpe, gotta get us off to a start this season! 'Mon the Owmby!

Easter Holidays!

I've been quiet on the posting front recently, mainly because there's not been a lot going on! I've spent a bit of time at the nets, but I've been visiting people as well while I'm off so that's understandable. On to the cricket!

My bowling is coming on, had 3 net sessions and in all 3 I've consistently found a good area, with a bit of turn and, more surprisingly, a bit of bounce, although that may be because of the nets that I play on! I've been beating the bat quite a bit too, which is always comforting. Not a lot to say on my finger spin really. I was experimenting with Chinaman and Seam-up last night, and both were very effective. I got a lot of turn with my "leggies", and I got my topspinner and googly going quite nicely. Obviously I dropped it short a few times, but that was very interesting to see, and if a lefty comes out in a match I may be convinced to give it a go! I was bowling genuinely quick with my seamers, quite skiddy, couldn't get a bouncer going like the other lads but it was sharp, with late inswing, and I bowled 3 or 4 people out with late inswinging yorkers. My control isn't brilliant, I think my action is like Mitchell Johnson (and my accuracy!) but it was fun to bowl, and if we need someone to open the bowling I may even get a shout for that, and then going on to bowl spin!

My batting has really improved, in 3 sessions I've been bowled out once, and that was a terrible shot, trying to work it to leg, but taking it off off-stump, I must have lost my guard because it was a filthy shot. I was hitting the ball wonderfully last night in particular, pulling off Jamie (he must be late 60's, early 70's mph) and hitting really nicely off my legs, which I've never done before! Things are looking up!

My fielding was good in the one fielding session we had, dropped one absolute skier but it went higher in the air than I've ever seen, I'll practice that though.

First game of the season (competitively) on Saturday, exciting times ahead! Will blog again after the weekend! Ciao!

A quick catchup

It's been a while, been a bit busy with Uni assignments but thought I'd bring you readers up to speed. I've had 3 net sessions at Uni, where my bowling has been strong, and my fielding as well, my batting has been a bit hit and miss. Getting more into line, but some of the Uni bowlers are still a little quick for me. Oh well, we'll get into it sooner or later.

Had a friendly match on Sunday, wasn't too bad a game. green pitch, stayed low, but decent enough for me. Got a bit of purchase now and then, but was bowling with just my index finger gripping, as opposed to the index and the middle finger, mainly through confidence because it was the first game of the season. Control wasn't too bad. Took a catch as well, fielded quite well, some chasing, some standard stuff coming straight to me as well. Lost by 2 wickets, should have pushed them closer, but it was just good to be out in the field to be honest!

Back at home, had my first net with my mates. Bowling was good, considering the net is built on concrete! Got bounce, but more importantly, got turn. Beat the bat on a few occasions, got a lot of turn to beat people in the flight and get catches to go to (hypothetical) fielders. Batting was, as well, a MASSIVE improvement. everything felt right! Hit some lovely cover drives, played straight, waited for it, defended tightly, and leathered everything short. Had a couple of short balls that were quick, that I sort of struggled with, and then got cleaned up when I had a slog, but apart from that it was a top session!