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Saturday
5th July 2008 Buxton, Home. |
We have
decided that, rather than toss a coin, we need to
find an alternative way of deciding who should bat
first. Heysy's suggestion is that the opposing captains
should enter into a bout of jousting. The rest of
the team agreed, especially as Gibbo lost the toss
on a very difficult pitch. The covers had probably
saved the game after a lot of rain in the morning,
but one end was very lively (as Ed demostrated by
top edging one into his eye) whilst the other end
had the sort of bounce that can only be described
as subterranean. Indeed the Buxton opening bowler
from that end might just as well have described
his action as "right arm under".
It came as no surprise then that wickets fell regularly
at the top of the order. Without Dec Ryan, we di
not make much progress. Luke again batted with great
responsibility and Ed was on 20 and looking to cut
loose when he mistimed a dreadful long hop straight
to point . Again the innings looked like collapsing
before Peter Crowley, batting very sensibly, pushed
us past the hundred mark. He was last out, for 21,
with the score on 124. We had managed to use 44
of our overs.
Batting was no easier for Buxton, however. Heysy
removed the opener in the first over, but the other
Buxton opener held the key to their innings. At
57 for 2, things looked bleak, but an inspired decision
from the skipper to switch Colin and bring Pikey
on paid immediate dividends. Pikey's reduced pace
was unplayable and 4 wickets from him (including
the crucial lbw decision that got rid ot their opener)
paved the way for a victory. Colin also took 4 wickets
as the oppostion were dismissed for just 102.
Another tight game at New Horwich Park and another
victory for us defending a releatively small total.
4th place now. Let's see how things go over the
summertime. Assuming we get a summertime, that is....
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Saturday
28th June 2008 Charlesworth, Home. |
Guess what?
Gibbo lost the toss and we were put in to bat. And
guess what? Apart from Dec Ryan, the Whaley top
order failed again. Dec made a useful 31 and Luke
Schofield scored a very encouraging 22, batting
responsibly and showing the promise that has been
evident in his progress in junior cricket this season.
However, Whaley were teetering on the brink until
we were rescued by a magnificent innings of 48 by
Alex Atkins. Scholesy hit the ball to all parts
and his very entertaining partnership with Colin
Wild (26 not out) meant that Whaley made a respectable
total of 170. The highlight of the innings was a
lofted off drive from Colin which stopped just short
of the boundary. Unfortunately, both Colin and Scholesy
felt that running was not required and a curious
combination of high-fives, morris dancing and ballet
ensured that only 1 run was taken, amidst great
mirth from the pavilion.
When Charlesworth went out to bat, however, the
Whaley bowlers ensured that wickets were taken with
regularity. Only the Charlesworth opener managed
to stick around, and with Colin taking three wickets
and the rest being shared around meant that Charlesworth
never really kept up with the clock. Eventuially
they were dismissed for 114, with the Whaley second
teram season starting to show signs of recovery.
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Saturday
21st June 2008 Hollingworth, Away. |
Quite remarkably,
on one of the wettest days of the alleged summer,
Hollingworth represented something of an oasis in
the desert. Not a phrase, often associated with
the Hollingworth ground, I know, but the rain managed
to stop enough for us to make a start. As is traditional,
our skippper lost the toss and we were put in to
bat on a difficult pitch. Only Mike Madden really
came to terms with the track and his 43 formed the
bedrock of a total of 159. Tom Cottell, who has
made the No.11 berth his own this season, batted
with great responsibility at the end, taking a wild
swing to ensure that we (a) missed another batting
point by 1 run and (b) failed to use up our overs.
After tea, a tight but unlucky opening spell from
Nick Heys kpet the pressure on. Mick took a great
catch in the first over but Hollingworth batted
steadily. Their opener was starting to cut loose
when he fell victim to a brilliant flying catch
at cover by Matt Morten. In the meantime, Matt Slack
and Heysy were both bowling with consistent hostility.
How Slacky did not take several wickets I will never
know. Whaley were bowling and fielding well and
the match was delicately poised with Hollingworth
needing another 36 with 5 wickets standing of the
last 9 overs before the rains finally came and killed
the game off.
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Saturday
14th June 2008 Broadbottom, Home. |
A cool day
at New Horwich Park and Gibbo lost the toss, meaning
Whaley were inserted on a hard, wearing pitch against
a young but very enthusiatic Broadbottom team. Dec
Ryan made an excellent 51 as Whaley made steady
progress at around 3 an over through the innings.
Unfortunately, no-one could get a hold of tight
bowling towards the end of the innings and wickets
fell steadily to leave us on 140-8 after 45 overs.
That total seemed to be rather inadequate as the
Broadbottom openers picked off TC and Matt Slack
in the early overs. In fact, when Ed took the first
wicket, Broadbottom were 57 from 12 overs and things
did not look good. An inspired decision from the
skipper to bowl a prolonged spell himself paid dividends
though. Gibbo had no luck as a series of chances
fell just short of the fielders and a couple of
curious umpiring decisions went against him. Ed
was managing to take wickets at the other end though,
and Broadbottom got increasingly bogged down. By
the time they lost their 8th wicket, they still
needed 10 or so to win and overs were running out.
With two overs to go, Gibbo had taken 3 wickets
and Ed had 6. The opposition needed 2 to win. Unfortunately,
their last man lofted Gibbo towards the boundary
for the winning runs and we had lost by 1 wicket.
A great game to play in was spoiled by the result.
However, we all felt a lot better after Mrs Schofield's
magnificent cakes at tea time. Gibbo took it upon
himself to ensure everything was sampled and pronounced
himself very satisfied. Have we found, at last,
the solution to the problem??!!
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Saturday
7th June 2008 High Lane, Home.
A cool but mercifully dry day and Gibbo winning
the toss were the ingredients to a solid team performance.
An inspired decision to insert the opposition led
to an uninspring opening as High Lane failed to
score a run of the bat for the first seven overs,
Tom Cottell and an inspired Nick Heys putting the
ball on the spot. Nick finally got the breakthrough
he deserved and the High Lane batsmen continued
to struggle against steady Whaley bowling and one
or two inspired umpiring decisions. Ed Kitchen was
the main beneficiary, claiming 4-19 and some suicidal
running meant that High Lane were eventually dismissed
for just 97 with about 10 overs to spare.
Nick Latham and Dec Ryan opened for Whaley. Dec
took a three early on and Rigger, obviouosly deciding
that his days of running threes were over, took
a swipe at the next ball and got bowled. This brought
TR Wild to the crease. Fresh from celebrating no
dropped catches, TR played an anchor role while
Dec laid the foundations of the innings, scoring
a polished 28 before he was out. Mick Madden then
joined TR and, as a steady drizzle set in, it seemed
that Whaley may become stranded. Normally such daring
strokemakers, both Mick and TR seemed content pushing
their ones and twos until Mick was out for 27.
Whaley still needed 26 to win and the 2nd team's
notoriosly fragile batting meant that High Lane
were sniffing an unlikely victory. Ed Kitchen, though,
scored the next 22 runs before TR played an elegant
leg glance to complete a comfortable 7 wicket win.
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Saturday
17th May 2008 Hadfield, Away. |
Arriving
at Hadfield in a fairly steady drizzle, hopes were
not high that we were going to get much of a game.
The mood was lifted shortly afterwards by the arrival
of TR Wild who admitted to be suffering from a severe
case of piles. The only cure, apparently, being
to drink bitter. Russ seemed quite happy to pay
the prescription charges!
Whaley lost the toss and we were inserted on a fairly
wet and uneven track. TR and Nick Latham opened
and both got starts but it was the sort of pitch
where batsmen were never going to feel entirely
comfortable, especially as the outfield did not
look as if it had been cut in May, so runs were
hard to come by. Sure enough frustration led to
the fall of most of the Whaley batsmen, with only
Mick Madden being able to hold his head up with
a score of 24. Once again, though, wickets kept
on falling at regular intervals and an unsurprisinglylow
score of 93 all out was posted, with Whaley failing
to use up the last 11 of their overs.
5 overs into the Hadfield innings, though, made
us feel like 93 was a massive total. Young Tom Cottell
opened the bowling and in no time had reduced the
opposition to 4 - 4. He bowled 2 brilliant spells
with a lot of pace, bouce and hostility, ending
up with 5 - 13 from 10 overs. It was this which
did the damage and Hadfield never really recovered.
Only towards the end of their innings did they show
any application, but by then it was too late. Ed
Kitchen with 3 wickets and Colin Wild with 2 mopped
up the tail to leave Hadfield all out for 65 and
a first win for the seconds was well deserved. Lets
hope that TC continues to improve and build on his
success, and that Declan comes back to keep wicket,
so giving Russ "Ooh, me Chalfonts" Wild
a well deserved break behind the stumps.
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Saturday
3rd May 2008 Woodley, Home.
We Lost!!!!!!ot
and humid day Romiley entertained Whaley Bridge
in a top of the table battle. Romiley won the toss
and elected to bat. After a wayward first over from
Matt Slack he soon started to find his length and
had the opener Leach in trouble with a lifting delivery
which was well taken by Darren Crompton, under the
helmet at short leg. Dale Jones opened the bowling
well from the other end, and bowled well except
for a few loose deliveries. Simeone Colton had to
leave the field of play after splitting the webbing
between his fingers attempting to take a difficult
catch off the bowling of Matt Slack. He bravely
returned to the pitch after several overs having
had his fingers taped up. After 10 overs and the
score on 47-1 Matt was withdrawn from the attack,
having bowled 5 overs 1 for 28, and was replaced
by Charlie Holden. The score moved along steadily
until Charlie had his first victim trapped LBW playing
across the line, when the score was on 82.
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