Saturday 31st May 2003
Saturday 24th May 2003
Saturday 17th May 2003
Saturday 10th May 2003
Saturday 3rd May 2003

Any views expressed in these reports are the views of the author, and may not necessarily reflect the views of Edmonton Cricket Club, its committee or its members. If you find anything offensive or inaccurate in the content of these reports, or if you have any queries reagrding the reports, please contact us via email, stating the report you're referring to and the date so that we can take any action deemed necessary.

Saturday 31st May 2003

1st XI vs. Sudbury Court

Report by: Chris Barnard

On a hot & humid day Edmonton won the toss & elected to field. Opposition scorebox comment was that they would have chosen to bat as fielding too demanding in such hot conditions. This would have adverse effect through heat exhaustion when time came to bat. So Sudbury Court full of confidence.

Sudbury Court were correct in one way as the Edmonton scorer was affected by the heat & opposition noise (in the scorebox - I hope it did not distract the fielders too much).

Difficult to pick out any incidents in Edmonton fielding just a good all round team effort. All the bowlers stuck to their tasks well (Matt Worton, John Street, Neil Roche (best figures 2-15), Tony Willett & both R + E Lewis (long containing spells in hot tiring conditions). 2 smart catches by David Hinnigan, 1 excellent slip catch by Tim Beeden & a skier taken well by John Street at the Long On boundry. Sudbury Court posting a final score of 177 all out in 47.2 overs.

Tim Beeden & Owen Oldroyd opened the Edmonton innings needing about 4 runs per over & built steadily with both batsmen playing safely & sensibly. The total reached 50-0 with Tim & Owen on similar scores in the twenties & required run rate just over 4 per over. Tim then upped the tempo, including scoring three 4s in one over, he quickly progressed to 43 runs before losing his wicket. David Hinnegan (in excellent form) was next & carried on from Tim, scoring a quickfire 35 with some great shots especially against the spinner & when he was out the required rate had dropped to just under 3 per over. Simon Roche then came in to accompany Owen who all the while held the anchor role, giving no chances, with good shots from bad deliveries. Owen was finally out for a valuable 57 - a valuable, sensible inning which took us within reach of victory. Barrett Ganji arrived & with Simon saw ussafely to the 30 points with 5 overs to spare.

Sudbury Court were as usual a volatile, highly motivated team - not quiet but then there is nothing wrong with motivation if it is channelled in positive ways to improve performance.

There were 2 incidents when Edmonton were batting at the latter stages of the game - perhaps worth mentioning. I must point out that as they were observed from the scorebox, some distance from the game, they may not be entirely accurate.

There was an all run (5) when the fielder apparantly gave up injured & his colleagues had to travel extra distance to retrieve the ball which seemed to take them an eternity. This was followed by loud verbal infighting between the fielders & appeared to charge the atmosphere of the game. Some fielders were positively motivated putting more effort into the game but unfortunately most were negative & spent all their efforts in unnecessary comment & barracking.

Then whilst Barrett was batting, just as the bowler let go of the ball, the wicketkeeper shouted "well bowled" or words to that effect. Barrett was obviously put off & pulled away from his shot - it was lucky that the bowler was inaccurate as dead ball was not called by the umpire. Barrett quite correctly (in my view) made comment to the offending wicketkeeper, I would guess along the lines of "I say old chap do you mind waiting until I have had a chance to play the ball, before you congratulate your bowler - what what" (or similar equivalent "Australian" dialogue). This seemed to upset the opposition & the umpire had to intervene & try to regain the control & composure of the game. After this the appeals came thick & fast & although the evening temperature was cooler you could sense the temperament heat out on the pitch. The umpire seemed to take more than his fair share of the fielders wrath.

But enough of this trivia - in summary a good all round team effort in testing conditions & 30 points for a victory. Well done.

4th XI vs. Alexandra Park

Report by: Alan Porter

The Es took the field a man short because Arrowsmith was making his way back from chester after an amorous couple of days with a perspectve lawyer.With anew recruit from North Enfield in Trevor(forgotten his second name)openig the bowling we soon had AP under a bit of pressure and the scoring was abit slow and AP seemed to want to slow the overate at every oppotunity with one of the batsmen having to put helmet and gloves on and off at the end of every ball.Trevor got his first wicket for the club with awll taken caught and bowled,but we were conceding to many extras and the total began to mount.John Cresse came onto bowl and took amagnificent caught and bowled to get rid of probably there best player.John took acouple of further wickets.The pie chucker AP came on to bowl and for some unknown reason Alex Park seemed to see the red mist before ther eyes and batsmen came and went at regular intervals

Although AP were still scoring runs Carl Langdell came onto bowl but is that unfortunate bowler who comes onto the bat nicely and was despatched for 27 rins off 2 overs and with the extras we conceded we prbably let AP off the hook and they scored 50 runs too many.James arrived from his night up in front of the law and bowled quite well but we really could have done with him from the off. Phil langdell opened the batting with Kevin Furrse and gave the Es a steady start putting on 66 before Phil was caught behind of one that lifted outside the off stump Kevin quikly followed and we started to get behind the run rate Trevor and Mickey Billson came together and the runs came at a pace and we were slowly getting ourselves into a position wher we could win the game.Unfortunatly with the overs running out Trevor was out going for abig hit was caught at long on and he was quickly followed by Mickey who was bowled hitting across the line Carl Langdell was run out and Graham Brooks was caught and ths left A Porter and Arrowsmith to fight out the last 4overs to gain a draw and this they did effectvely with James seeing out the last over with 11 men round the bat and with good judgement gained the Es a reasonable draw.

Sunday 3rd XI vs. North Enfield

Report by: Ray Dodds

A matched conference game for once! Edmonton won the toss and batted first. Two quick wickets fell 2-2 when in marched the Inzaman Al Haq of Edmonton, Alan (The Panther) Porter who batted magnificently for 90, it's even said he ran (?) some two's for the first time since Noah released the dove from the Ark. Andy Belcher batted well for 22 and then Joe Suloola came in and crashed 50 off of 17 balls for Edmonton to declare on 225-9.

North Enfield then had to face Edmonton's new fast bowling sensation Andrew (Rocket Arm) Cooper. He terrorised N. Enfield's opening bats, I'm not sure if it was his pace or the terrible grimaces he pulled during his run up. His analysis of 3-18 was magnificent but his stamina ran out after 5 overs, obviously we have to wait 3 years until his mother returns and feeds him properly before we see the very best of him (kebabs and Chinese takeaways do not a fast bowler make!) Ashley Perrera bowled well to take 2 wickets (a good young prospect). The highlight of the innings however was a catch taken by Mickey (The Pres) Smyth to dismiss Richard Barber. Mickey had his shoes taken at teatime and someone left behind a bigger pair. With his feet free to move in the bigger shoes he flew, like Gordon Banks had done in the World Cup to deny Pele, to two handed catch a full blooded out from Richard. Well done Mickey! North Enfield 97-6, then we blew it dropping Ben Conway three times on his way to a magnificent 100 and North Enfield ran out winners by 4 wickets in pouring rain at the end. Ah well, there's always next week.

Saturday 24th May 2003

1st XI vs. Hanwell

Report by: Alan Barnard

With a defeat and a rained off fixture in the first two games of the season, the first XI were looking to get some points on the board and leapfrog up from second bottom in the table, a position which a team of our calibre should not find itself. The fixture was Hanwell away, a team that passed us on the way up to division 1 two season ago, but have struggled since, losing some good players along the way. Boasting a stronger looking bowling line-up that previous weeks, with the return of Matt 'who's the daddy?' Worton and John 'Quality' Street, we lost the toss, and were put in.

The wicket played quite well, given the amount of rain we'd had this week, but it was not an easy wicket to score runs on. Tim 'Mrs Mac' Beeden opened up with debutant Gavin 'Mini-Smith' Mardell, and looked comfortable against the two medium paced openers. Gavin Batted well for 72 minutes, seeing off the new ball, and the openers, to bring on the two spinners that would bowl for the remaining 45 overs. We were not progressing quickly, but as we had lost no wicket, this was not a major issue.

Gavin fell first, and then Tim shortly after, for a well rounded 41, to bring in Dodgy Dave Hinnigan, and Alan Barnard at 4. Barney fell without troubling the scorers, and Barrett '12th Man Cab Driver' Ganji also fell for 4. This brought in Tony Willett, who batted excellently with Dave for 35, we were pushing the score along at this stage, and a brief cameo from New Recruit Emille Lewis, and some later hitting from Matty Worton and Mark Varley brought the score up to 192 all out in 54.4 overs. The highlight of the innings was a well-constructed half centaury from Dave Hinnigan.

At this point it's worth raising the issue of Matty's mobile phone. Matt's partner is 8 and a half moths pregnant, so the phone was left with Mr and Mrs Barnard in the 'scorebox' awaiting 'the call'. At tea, when he checked his phone, he saw that there was one missed call, but it turned out to be something else, so he was able to continue playing. At this point, Mr and Mrs Barnard were placed on high alert for the mobile phone, and promised to answer every call… more on this later.

After the best tea in the division, we came out to bowl somewhat heavier than we should have been. Streaty opened up, and took the wicket of one of their danger men early on with some tidy line and length bowling. Matty started slowly (it was his first game after all), but soon got into his rhythm, taking 2 wickets in 2 ball, including their in form bat, who had scored centauries in his last two innings. Matt got another with a peach of a slower ball to leave them reeling at 20-4, effectively ending any chance they had of chasing the total.

Ricko Lewis replaced Streaty from the top end, and bowled immaculately through to the end, taking 3 wickets, the highlight of which was a very sharp caught and bowled. The rest of the wickets were shared around, Emille took 2, and Wills took the final wicket, which Dodgy hung onto somehow in the gulley. All in all a spot on fielding and bowling performance, skittling a good looking Hanwell side for 92, and forcing us higher up the league.

We stayed for a couple of beers, and saw England wrap up the Zimbabwe tail, before retiring to Hydeside, where we found out that the second XI had cruised to a win inside 25 overs - a good day all round for the club. I can't close this report without an update on the Mobil Phone situation. Two further incidents occurred, the phone rang on Matts Hat-Trick ball, leading to a bit of a dilemma, but fortunately when Chris answered, it was a mate of Matts who told him to go ahead and take a hat trick. The last incident was due to his ringtone… Matt has a bird whistle ring tone, which is great in a pub, but when you're in a ground surrounded by birds, it can lead to random bird noises causing panic amongst the scorers. In all, they tried to answer the phone about 20 times due to actual bird noises, when nobody was actually calling. Comedy genius.

Team: Willett, Beeden, Mardell, D Hinnigan, Barnard, Ganji, E Lewis, M Worton, R Lewis, Street, Varley

3rd XI vs. Wembley

Report by: Alan Porter

The saturday 3s entertained Wembley on saturday with an home league game.With the absence of the skipper for the 2nd succesive week it was left to colinturner to stand in at the toss whether we won or lost the writer doent know because colin never says. But wembley batted on a damp but perfectly playable wicket and started slowlt with some good overs from Macarthur and Baker and wembley found scoring hard going, but unfortunately the second string bowlers bowled to many 4balls and wembley began to get away after being tied down for long periods and finished on 223-7 with Baker taking 4wickets.The score was probably 50 runs more than we should have aloud them to get but on the small pitch if we batted sensibley wqas perfectly getable.

The Es innings started well with Furrse and Turner opening and sorig freely with some welcome boundaries before both batsmen fell quickly,This brought Hazell and Baker together and with some hard hitting set abought the run chase but with Baker on 28 a disastrous runout sent Baker back to the pavillion and with wckets falling steadily Hazell went in another runout and the chance of victory seemed to go woth him.The final pair at the wicket and 40odd runs wanted a victory was alon way off but with Macarthur attacking the bowling abley supported by Squires who batted well the target was reduced to 17 of 2overs Archie hit agood 6 and and John a lusty 4 and this lead to us needin 4 off the last over 2 was squirted round the corner which meant we neede 2 off 5balls but it was not tobe as Archie struggled to get the ball away and was stumped off the last ball thus sending the Es to defeat by 1 run.

Enfield 6-A-Side

Report by: Alan Barnard

Monday brought about the annual May Bank Holiday 6-a-side tournament at Enfield CC. Edmonton went into the tournament as defending champions, but not favourites, as a very strong looking Senator side clearly held that position. Drawn in a group with Winchmore Hill, and late entrants North Enfield, we opened up against the Hill in the first match of the day.

It was always going to be a tricky fixture, and losing skipper Barnard in the first over to a juggled caught and bowled was not a great start. Dodgy Dave Hinnigan and Danny Hare were left as our only remaining specialist batsmen, and the face of some good bowling responded superbly. Dave, who was excellent with the bat throughout the tournament, crashed 25 in double quick time, whilst Danny rattled up a brisk 20 to leave us with a respectable total of 53.

We bowled and fielded superbly, to restrict Winchmore Hill (including at least 1 first teamer) to under 40. Barney, Northern and Danny Hare were all economical. The fielding display was capped off by a sublime catch by Barney, which was to win him the champagne moment award at the end of the tournament. In reality, if he had started going backward instead of forwards initially, it would have been a more routine effort. At any rate, we had comfortably won our hardest group game, and could look at least to a place in the semi finals.

Second up were North Enfield almost too soon after the first game, winning the toss for the second game running Barney elected to bat, and by the end of the 5 overs, was justified as his team rattled up 70 in double quick time. Dodgy Dave, showing his 1st XI class accelerated to 25 whilst Barney was only on 7, content to push singles for the big hitter. Danny Hare came in next, and he and Barney saw the score up to 70, both finishing unbeaten in the 20's.

Once again, our bowling was excellent, Ciaron Dodds taking 2 wickets in one superb over, interspersed by a direct hit run-out from Barney. North Enfield were shell shocked, and South African Heinrich Sinclair underlined this for going for next to nothing in his over from the bottom end. At the end of their innings, North Enfield had managed only 30 runs, a record winning margin of 40 for the E's. Could they continue this excellent run of for into the finals?

Drawn against Enfield in the Semis, skipper Barnard (A) tossed up with skipper Barnard (E) and was put into bat. After a solid start of just over 10 an over, the innings petered out after Dodgy Dave retired at 25. Unfortunately Danny Hare spent much of the last 2 overs at the non-strikers end as Edmonton lost a succession of wickets as they stuttered to 44 off 5.

Or bowling had to be excellent, as 1st teamer and ex-Edmonton player Stuart Clohosy bolstered Enfields ranks, along with former England skipper Mike Gatting. The game was wrestled from our grasp in the first 2 overs as Stuart crashed 25 in sublime fashion, setting up an easy stroll to victory. Barney caught Gatting off Heinrich, but the game was up, and it was left to Ed Barnard to slice the winning runs through third man.

All in all our first two performances were as good as we'd played in any 6-a-side competition, but we peaked to early, and could not handle the pace, and expectation that we would reach the final. Fitness proved to be a problem, after most of the team had played both the two previous days, and then had a close to 3 hour break between their second and 3rd games. Credit to Enfield though, who showed they were keen to beat us after last years famous defeat in the final, despite Ed Barnard having the final word in winning the game, Alan Barnard won the personal battle, taking 5 off 2 balls faced from Ed.

At least we have something to take back to Hydeside this year, after it was confirmed by senior members of Enfield's committee that we could take the champagne home with us, unlike the trophy we 'won' last year. Obviously Edmonton is a bit too dodgy an area for the trophy?? All in all an excellent day, and well organised as ever… Thanks to Enfield for the invite, we'll be back and raring to go next year. Squad: Alan Barnard, Dave Hinnigan, Danny Hare, Chris Godard, Ciaran Dodds, Mark Varley, Heinrich Sinclair.

Saturday 17th May 2003

2nd XI vs. Birkbeck College

Report by: Alan Barnard

With the First XI game away to Birkbeck College called off as early as 10am due to a waterlogged pitch, I was enlisted into the 2nd XI for their home fixture against the same side. I must admit, I really enjoyed the whole game, despite being fined heavily for numerous discrepencies, although not as much as skipper Kevin Lawrence, who was stung for £4 for turning up 2 minutes before the start. Vice captain Pat Carr tossed up, and we were given the good news that we were in the field. With Kev getting onto the pitch just before the start of the first over, we were at full strength as Ciaran Dodds opened up from the top end.

Doddsy bowled impeccably and deservedly picked up 4 wickets, including several batsmen that looked like they might threaten a big score. Anil opened from the bottom end, and struggled for a few overs with a thigh strain. It was not easy to bowl up the hill into the wind, and Barney took over from that end, and struggled with his line early on. Not helped by an umpire determined to give wides to deliveries that went over leg stump, and an uncontrolable amount of swing, he bowled 11 overs through to the close of innings for 2 wickets.

After Ciaran had done the damage to the top order, Mark Varley took over from the top end to immediate effect. Two wickets in two overs, plus a run-out effectively ended their chances of getting a big score on the board. Varley bowled with good pace and worried several Birkbeck batsmen with some hostile bounce, so much so that mid-way through one of Barnards overs, the non striker wanted to get up to the other end, and some smart fielding from Heinrich Sinclair led to an easy run out. A good catch low down by Heinrich off the skippers bowling wrapped up Birckbecks innings for 101, and seemingly onlt the weather could threaten the result.

We changed round straight away, and had 4 overs at us, losing Patt Carr to a mis-timed drive, before the rain came, leaving us needing 81 to win with a potential 3 and a half hours of play left. We took tea, watched the F.A. Cup Final and watched it pour down… all I can say is thank goodness for the covers, without those, we would not have had any more play that day. After the rain stopped, unsuprisingly they weren't keen on getting back out in a hurry, and we were. Their umpire was pretty adament that the game should be called off, as the square was saturated. With 3 hours to go until the close of play, and the sun starting to poke through, our umpire Ray Dodds insisted that we waited 30 minutes, and then we'd start, assuming there was no more rain.

We stayed outside waiting, and despite some pretty menacing-looking clouds, play started 40 minutes later, even though their umpire was insisting that it was still spitting. Face it mate, your team were going to be beaten by the better side on the day, you could at least be a little gracious about it! We came out with instructions to get a move on, and Anil did just that, crashing 35 before getting run out by a mix up between Dominic Harte and Patt Carr (Anil's runner). Barnard came in and gave it some tap, falling to the penultimate ball. It was upto Heinrich and Dominic (a very solid unbeaten 28) to guide us home with 18 overs of the final 20 to spare.

All in all an excellent win, and fully deserved, Doddsy, Northern bowled impeccably, we fielded well, and batted with controlled agression to see it home before the weather closed in. It was left to us to pay our fines, and retire to that well known Wood Green nightspot for a few shandies (see the Forum for the gory details). 2 games, 2 convincing wins, a good team spirit, solid batting, attacking bowling, strong captaincy… Division 1 next season anyone? Can't imagine anyone putting money against it. Team: Lawrence, Harte, Carr, Sharma, Barnard, Sinclair, Goddard, A Bilimoria, Mardell, C Dodds, Varley

4th XI vs. North London

Report by: Alan Porter

The weather was always going to be the winner in ths match as with no protectoin for the small square, any heavy rain wuold be likely to cause the abandoment of the game. The game got under way with a very old Es side apart from youthful Graham Brooks and the quickly ageing Andy Cooper. Creese opened the bowling and bowled tidily as did Brooks. There was not much adventure from the opposition and the scoring was slow.With the ever darkening skies Es started to make some inroads into the oppos batting with Smyth bowling a marathon spell of 21-4-58-2 which was quite remarkable, with the Es bowlin there overs quickley the 52overs were completed by 4-15pm but the rain came and flooded the square and probably deprived the Es the only chance of a win this season.

Sunday 3rd XI vs. Hadley Green Sports

Report by: Alan Porter

With another cloudy start this game was not expected to finish due to a poor weather forecast and with the 1st X1 game being abandoned after 5overs we were lucky to get a game. The Es fielded witha young side with several colts making there sunday debuts.The pick of these was Ashley Perrera who opened the bowling and bowled very well taking his 1st wicket in senior cricket and with hadley at 24-2 it was looking good but this only flattered to deceive and the Hadley 3&4 bats proceeded to take the Es bowling attack a part and putting on a mammoth patnership of 250plus.The bowlers stuck to there task manfully apart from Danny Muschamp who did aremarkable impression of eddie lucas by declaring he couldnot bowl any more and was retiring from cricket at an early age.Hadley stacked up a score of 306-3 which was going to be far to many for the inexperienced Es side.

The started ther innings with J Bennedetti and A Porter opening the innings against ahalf decent bowling attack scoring was not quick but comfortable and an openig partnership of 58 was put on before Justin tried a big hit but was cauhgt for14 Andy Belcher came and went after a good cathc on the boundary for 9 but Porter was keeping the score going with some lusty blows.Sam Miller who was also making his debut looked good until he tried abig shot off a slow bowler who was slower than AP and was caught,this brought Danny to the wicket who decided he was going to smash the ball to all parts but aftersome lusty blows but was caught going for another big shot but was caught at mid on with an exellent catch.As he left the field Danny was heard to mutter cant bat cant bowl not worth playing. While all this was going on Porter reached his 50 with a four but was finally out trying to hit the left armer over the top but missed and was bowled for 62. Ashley came in and scored a creditable 22 before being caught behind.Skipper Ray Dodds came and hit some lusty blows and scored 28 before beig run out off a ball hit by Paul Hare which he thought was going for 4 and was the last man out,with the Es considering the side scored a creditable 170.

Saturday 10th May 2003

1st XI vs. Polytechnic

Report by: Alan Barnard

It seemed like the first league game of the season was on us doubly quick this season, with most of the First XI not having had any match practice prior to this game, our lack of time in the middle cost us dearly. Skipper Tony Wilett won the toss on what looked to be a belter of a wicket (aided by the fact that we’d hardly had any rain leading up to the start of the season) and decided to put Poly into bat. Our Bowling line-up was weakened by the withdrawal of Matt Worton (back) and Neil Roche (work commitments), and Dave Baker and Micky Bilson were drafted in accordingly.

Martin Loveday and Tony Willett opened the bowling, and bowled tightly, taking a couple of wickets along the way, and a change in bowling brought Ricko Lewis on from the top end, and he bowled an impeccable line and length for 18 overs, taking some stick from the batsmen. Barnard was brought on from the bottom end, and he started his spell impressively, going for 12 of his first 7 overs.

At this stage, Poly were 90 off 35 overs, and struggling, but their no. 4 was still in, and looking good. A series of slogs and proper shots followed, and before we knew it, lapses in concentration in the field, and some indifferent bowling led to us facing a total of 230 off 55. Willett was not happy, and rightly so, we will have to be a lot more competitive in the field if we’re going to progress this season.

Their Number 4 normally looks good for 30 or 40, then gifts us his wicket, but he rode his luck to score 115 not out, a big blow. Without him, I doubt they would have been able to push their total close to 200, let alone 230. Highlights of the innings were a superb (showboating?) one handed catch from Micky Bilson, some smart fielding by Barnard to run out their number 5 and tight bowling from Martin Loveday and initially Ricko Lewis.

230 was always going to be a difficult ask, especially given our lack of time in the middle, although with a strong looking top order, we were in with a chance. Poly had other ideas, and with a sharp new opening bowler steaming in, we were reeling at 40-4, with Simon Roche, Tim Beeden, Barnard and Dave Hinnigan going cheaply. Barnard was undone second ball, whilst Rochie scratched around for 30 minutes without getting off the mark. Things were looking bleak at this stage, and we were looking to salvage as many bonus points as possible from a desperate situation.

New recruit Kumar was in at number 4, and batted well, looking comfortable for his 20, and Willett and keeper Barrett Ganji offered some resistance, but it was too little, too late, and we were skittled for 130, Willett top scoring with an accomplished half centaury. All in all, this performance was not good enough, and we need to turn it round for the next game, or I suspect that there will be wholesale changes in the line up. The night was improved by some comedy from Ricky and Terry Smyth, and the news that the 2nd XI had won at a canter brightened up our day… perhaps it’s going to be their season again…

Onto Sunday, and the traditional early season National Cup pounding from superior opposition, who actually give a toss about the competition. It nearly didn’t happen though, thanks to John ‘Home and Away’ Street, who had us down as plying Slough away at 2pm. We were nearing Slough at 1.00, when I received a call from Andy ‘Happiness’ Cooper telling me that Slough had turned up at our ground for a 1.00 start. After quickly checking the National up draw, we did a u-turn, and headed back to Hydeside.

Slough won the toss and decided to field (told you they were taking it seriously) and after we were reduced to 50-4, we were threatening an embarrassment. Barnard came to the crease with Dodgy at this point, and played a supporting role, whilst the youngster played a number of expansive shots to force the score into three figures. Despite some un-called for sledging, Dave moved onto 92 in double quick time, and played excellently especially after taking a few blows early on.

We were looking at around 150, and the sledging increased as Ciaran Dodds came into bat with Chris Goddard. One bowler, who was giving it particularly large particular came into bowl to Chris, who produced an amazing pull / hook shot to smash the ball into the Grocers… strike one to Edmonton. Ciaron Dodds didn’t want to be outdone, and hit their premier quick bowler for consecutive sixes to leg to get the crowd going mental. Even if we were to lose the game, we’d not collapsed, and the youngsters, Ciaran, and especially Dave had shown a massive amount of fight in a difficult situation to move the score onto 202-8 in 45.

Bowling-wise, we looked ok, and fielded competitively up until the last, but 202 was never going to be enough with the bowling we had against a side as good as Slough. Mark Northern Varley opened up with Ciaran Dodds and Ciaran took a wicket with his second ball, dismissing their premier batsman after being smashed for four off the first. Ciaran took another wicket, and Mark bowled well with little luck from the other end but they were looking strong with 18 overs gone.

A double change brought on Barnard and Barrett, Barney took a wicket with a long hop smashed to Tim Beeden to take a sharp catch at mid-wicket. Barrat bowled well too with little luck. After Ses Jayasena had a quick spell, it was left to Gavin Mardell to continue with Tim Beeden. Gavin took a wicket to a sharp catch from Chris Goddard, and Beeden might have made it two in spectacular style, but just put down a tough one-hander on the boundary. Slough eased to victory, but we were by no means embarrassed, and it was an enjoyable, competitive game that had many more pluses than minuses.

We settled down to watch Heinrich smash 130 not out to guide the 2nd XI to within a whisker of a win against a vocal Southgate Adelaide side, and the retired to the bar to grab a few beers. Teams: Saturday: Tony Willett (c), Barrat Ganji, Simon Roche, Tim Beeden, Dave Hinnigan, Kumar, Alan Barnard, Dave Baker, Micky Bilson, Ricko Lewis Martin Loveday. Sunday: Alan Barnard, Gavin Mardell, Ses Jayasena, Dave Hinnigan, Barrat Ganji, Alan Barnard, James Hazell, Nick Hubbard, Chris Goddard, Ciaron Dodds, Mark Varley

Saturday 3rd May 2003

Report by: Alan Porter

With a lack of availability from the the ones abd twos players as usual we only managed to get acouple of teams out sat &sun.The teams consisted of mainly 3rd 4th and 5th team players with the odd 1st and 2nd X1 players thrown in.Against Brondesbury 3rd X1 we managed to restrict them to a lowish total although there seemed some arguement as to how many the opposition actually some say it was 174 others 170.either way with a team that should be expected to beat Brondesbury 3rds we again contrived to lose agame we shoul have won.With Barratt the only one performing with the bat and some tdt wicket keeping from same.Stav bowled well and took 4 wickets and Archie 3 but apart from that our performancewas preety poor.With a vets side playing on the small square faired a little better until they were confronted with a batsmen who was far and above 3/4th taem standard came in and smashed aquick 80.,but with runs from John Hinnigan and Colin Turner this ensured the Es of a draw.

On sunday we had afurther 2 games at home and again we had a lack of our stonger players but those who turned out aquitted themselves well against a pinner side containing several of there sat 2s side.Pinner bowled there overs very slowly taking nearly 3hours to bowl 45overs it left the Es very little time to bowl them out.Gavin Mardell having his first outing as skipper did extremely well with bowling and field placings and theEs just failed to secure a victory and with the help of some more experienced players will probably be an excellant skipper. Ray Dodds will report on the 3rdX1 game.