Monday 26th August 2002
Monday 3rd June 2002

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Monday 26th August 2002

Northampton Exiles 6-A-Side

Report by: Alan Barnard

After the disappointment of Saturdays defeat at Birkbeck College, and Sundays non event in the Sun at Broxbourne, we started our 3rd successive day of cricket at Northampton Exiles annual 6-a-side tournament, where we were hoping to improve on last years 4th place. The weather was pretty awful, with rain in the air, and no chance of improvement, it was looking like being a short days cricket. The first game was against Fives, and after winning the toss, skipper Barnard elected to bat against the team that beat us in last seasons 3rd / 4th place playoff.

Barnard and Steve opened up, and Barnard looked in particularly patchy form, whilst Steve was hitting the ball cleanly, both batsmen made 25 with relative ease (partly helped by the number of wides bowled against us). Notching up a reasonable total of 56, Doddsy opened up the bowling, and bowled well, but Steve went for a few too many runs of the second, despite Northern taking an absolute belter of a catch, diving full length to get underneath a skier at long on.

It was going to go down to the wire, and with good overs from Cheese and Varley, it was up to Scarlett to produce the goods in the final over. Unfortunately, he couldn't bowl the thing straight, and 4 wides later; the target of 56 was well within reach for Fives. Barney just about managed to get it together, as we limped home happy to take the win against one of the weaker sides in the group, but knowing that we would have to improve significantly if we were to progress beyond the group stages.

The second game was against North London Colts, despite the fact that we had more colts in the side than them (5). They looked one of the better sides in the group, and this time, losing the toss we were forced to bat first. Barnard opened up with Steve again, and managed to score well of the first over, with about 10 wides forcing the score over 20 after 1. Barney was then superbly run out from the boundary, but Steveo, Cheese and Goddard batted well to push our total up to 54.

On taking the field, Barnard decided to change the bowling order, and it paid off. Everyone bowled excellently, but special mention has to go to Chris Goddard, who took a very smart reflex diving catch behind the stumps to dismiss their skipper of Steve's bowling. Cheese bowled well, as did Barney, so with the last over looming, it was up to Northern to do the business, and he didn't let us down, keeping his cool, and bowling straight to see us into the semi finals with a few runs to spare. All eyes were on the Waltham Cross Rosedale - Fives game, as if Fives won, we would avoid the favourites, Holtwhites in the semi.

Unfortunately, this was not to be, and we took on Holtwhites, losing the toss, and being put in the field, we bowled and fielded excellently to restrict them to 55. It was a case of battle of the supporters, as we both had quite a vocal contingent in the crowd; every wicket was greeted by a huge cheer from the Edmonton crowd, spurring on our players. Their opening bat, the Chilean crashed Steve for some huge sixes, as he strayed slightly off a good length, but we recovered well, and were happy with 54, although their bowling would make this total difficult to attain.

Stevo, facing the first ball, was surprised by the pace, and hit in the face off his thighpad, but recovered to run a single, and let Barnard face the Chilean opener. He managed to take 10 off the over, and take the strike, and the second over was even more productive. The short fella, who Ray Dodds and most of the rest of the Edmonton support wanted to fight bowled a series of wides, and half volleys, which Scarlett crashed around, and he soon reached 25, and had to retire. Goddard came and went, and it was down to Stevo and Cheese to do the business, with the odds stacked completely against them.

What followed was one of the best moments in my time at the club, with about 20 Edmonton supporters, and just about everyone else backing us, our Colts took apart the tournament favourites, and booked a place in the final. Steve was the star of the show, and given that he had been hit in the face earlier in the innings, it showed amazing character to do what he did. Between them, him and Danny Bilson managed to take about 16 off the 4th over, Steve crashing 2 straight boundaries and Cheese 1, sending the Edmonton fans in to a state of delirium.

It has to be said, we completely lost the plot at this stage, and all we needed was 6 from the last over. Chants of "you're getting beaten by kids", "you're not singing anymore" and "F*ck of you cocky w*nkers" (from Ray) were ringing around Barowell Green. Unfortunately, there was a sting in the tail, Holtwhites last bolwer was quick and accurate, and Cheese didn't look like getting bat on ball. From 6 off 6, he managed to squeeze out a single, and made it 5 needed from 3. Stevo facing, left a quick Yorker down the leg side, which flew for four wides, and all hell broke loose. Absolute class!

With a place booked in the final, we had secured ourselves a minimum of £100, and a chance to play for the glory of winning the tournament, and £350. Sadly, it was not to be, and we were beaten comprehensively by an excellent AJ Sports side, that batted and bowled as well as I've seen in 6-a-side cricket. The deserved winners of the tournament took the lion's share of the prize money, but we were content with the Semi final performance, and the £100 cheque. Great work boys, and lets make sure we win it next year! Team Alan 'Scralett' Barnard, Steve 'Stevo' Sivathasan, Chris 'Adam Ant' Goddard, Daniel 'Little Cheese' Bilson, Ciaran 'Doddsy' Dodds, Mark 'Northern' Varley.

Monday 3rd June 2002

Enfield 6-A-Side

Report by: Alan Barnard

The date was Monday 3rd June, the venue was Lincoln Road, home of Enfield CC, and the occasion was the annual 6-a-side tournament. Edmonton fielded an inexperienced looking team, filled with youngsters, and were not expecting to get much out of a tournament with 4 strong looking teams. Our hopes were further reduced when we turned up to find that we were drawn against last season's losing finalists, Holtwhites, and a strong looking side called senator, containing a couple of Enfield 1st teamers.

After the first innings of the first game, a certain Enfield CC Scorer / 3rd teamer was seen chuckling to himself at Edmontons misfortunes - more on this later. It has to be said, we bowled very badly in the first game, and the two Holtwhites openers quickly rattled up 25 each, as they piled on the runs to score 75 in 5 overs. The only bowler who came through it with any dignity was the excellent Ciaran Dodds who took a wicket for 10 runs. We had visions of us losing by 50 runs, and going home from the tournament in disgrace, but it was not to be.

Barnard and Hinnigan opened the batting, and set about rattling up the runs with a series of fours and sixes, the pick of which was a straight drive for 6 into Lincoln Road by Dave. With both openers retiring for 26, we had a platform, and Micky Bilson managed to hit a couple of fours to get the total up to 74 - a superb effort, and a score that would have been the highest ever in the tournament had Holtwhites not scored 75. It was a great effort from all the batsmen to get us that close, of the bowling and fielding was up to par, we would have won at a canter.

With Senator beating Holtwhites in the second game of the group, it seemed that we would be playing Mayfield in the 5th / 6th place playoff, but again this was not to be. Put into bat by Senator, we posted a respectable total of 57 with Barnard carrying his bat for 17, and this time, our bowlers were upto the task. Ciaran Dodds was again the pick, but special mention to Mark Varley, who after bowling out a Senator batsman shouted "F*** off back to the pavilion" - a questionable thing to do considering both the outgoing batsman and non-striker were about twice his size. After apologies were made, and a beer was promised, Varley completed his over to ensure that we won by 5 runs.

Unexpectedly, the groups were decided by runs scored divided by wickets lost, and against all odds, we managed to top the group and book a place in the final against Enfield, who had won both their group games. Losing the toss again, and being put into bat was not a good thing, and the team management and captain had a tough decision on who to omit from the side. It was decided to stick with the winning side from the last game, so Mini-Smith and Mini-Daz missed out, and the team that took the field was Barnard, M Bilson, D Bilson Hinnigan, Dodds and Varley.

We started badly, losing Dave Hinnigan in the first over, as Mini-Gatting restricted us to 7 runs, uprooting Dave's off stump with a peach of a Yorker. This brought Big Cheese Bilson into bat, and he scored well off ex Edmonton colt Greg Garners bowling in the second over. Tim Burles bowled the 3rd over, and Barnard dispatched him for two sixes, the first of which was still rising as it cleared the trees in Lincoln Road. With Barnard falling to a caught behind off Higgs, Little Cheese Bilson came into bat, and he whipped a four off his legs first ball amid cries of "Go on the Cheese" from the Holtwhites fans who had stuck around to support us in the final. With a large Edmonton contingent in the crowd we had excellent support throughout, and we were in with a chance of winning after scoring 63.

Dodds bowled the first over exceptionally well, going for an obscenely low 3 runs, and that set us up nicely for what was to come. Bilson went for a few runs, but we were just about on top after two overs. The third over was tidy from Barnard, and Bilson scored a direct-hit run out from the boundary to run out Rob Burles, and then a ball later caught out Higgs in the deep to give us hope. This brought Big Gatting to the wicket, with Dave Hinnigan Bowling, last season, Gatting hit him for a towering six to book Enfield's place in the final, but this year was slightly different. Gatting was clean-bowled first ball by 'Dodgy' Dave, and to be fair the skipper completely lost the plot at this stage, running all of 50 yards to join in the celebrations with the team. I've never seen Hinnigan look so surprised, and pleased. By this stage, we knew the game was almost won, but not to be outdone by Bilson in the fielding stakes, 2 direct hit run outs from Barnard in 3 balls ensured that they had no chance, with Mini-Gatting batting 'last-man-standing'.

Northern bowled the last over tightly, and Enfield finished on 43 to give Edmonton the unlikeliest of wins against all odds. It was particularly pleasing to see Ed Barnard after the game, who after Edmonton were smashed for 75 in the first game was chuckling at our misfortune - nice. It's safe to say that even though only 3 of our team were above drinking age, we managed to knock back a hell of a lot of beer, with most of the supporters joining in too. Varley was so pissed that he thought Rhino only weighed 13 stone - try doubling that one mate! The celebrations went on long into the night with Barnard, 'Catch-like-Kenway', Alice and Rhino seen in the Stag & Hounds propping up the bar. In fact we bumped into Dave H in the Stag, and Barnard pissed off his bird by making her shake his hand and call him a hero about 30 times.

All-in-all a very good day for the club, and one that proves that we do have a good bunch of youngsters who are committed to the club, and prepared to stick around to help us progress. Squad: Barnard, D Hinnigan, Mardell, M Bilson, D Bilson, Varley, C Dodds, S Sivathasan.