Your English Cricket Season: 2008

[Neil Pickup]

Upottery IIs 105 (A. Button-Stephens 21*, F. Drew 14, Chubb 10, D. Prettejohn 10)
Thorverton IIs 78-7 (D. Prettejohn 3-10, F. Drew 2-20)

With the titanic clash between Cricket Web's two DCL heavyweights unfortunately stillborn by Neil breaking his finger and being in Guernsey, I faced his team. Well it wasn't really his team, because Thorverton were playing 6 first teamers, since their fixture had been abandoned the night before. Upottery, on the other hand, had several IIs regulars missing. We batted first. The ball was swinging a lot, and I came in at 7-1. I was playing alright, getting my foot outside the off stump to an inswing bowler, but stupidly I fell straight into a leg-side trap set by a medium-pace bowler called Moreton- he moved a man out to deep square, bowled one outside off which I defended, then dropped one short down leg- I went for the pull and top-edged it straight to the guy he'd had out there. Pretty soon after that we were 60-6, then 78-9, but Buttons (who is of the same ability level with the bat as me but was batting 11 because he was late) played well to get us up to 100+. When we were 70-9, I told a Thorverton first-teamer who was watching that we'd "score a hundred then bowl you out for 70". I believed 105 would be enough.

And it certainly looked it when the Thorverton top-order, packed with first teamers, collapsed to 19-5. We bowled superbly. One of the first-teamers drove a ball in the air to mid-off and was dropped, and as I walked past him I said "That wasn't very first team, was it?" He muttered something under his breath, which I doubt would be repeatable, and two balls later he lined up a massive drive and missed, his stumps getting castled. Two of Thorverton's younger players, including Neil's replacement as keeper (another first-teamer), put together a good partnership to get them up to 70-5, but we struck back, getting them both. I should add most of this was happening in driving rain, but because both sides believed we could win we stayed out there. However, when the Thorverton No. 9 tried to smash one to leg, the bat slipped out of his hand and went cartwheeling away to square leg. It was obvious we couldn't continue out there.

I can understand why Neil chose to play at Thorverton, they have an excellent ground next to the river, a good little pavilion and what seemed like a good atmosphere. It was a shame this game had to end the way it did, since it was a real thriller. But I think both sides will be relatively happy with the way the points split- Thorverton 11, Upottery 10, but Thorverton must ask serious questions about bringing in first-teamers rather than trusting their own second team boys, who seem to have done okay.

No, I don't know why we went for the first-teamers option either.

Upottery 105 (A Button-Stevens 21no; J May 2-12, A Maughton 2-13, S Bayley 2-33), Thorverton 78-7 (D Reddick 27, G Greed 24; D Prettejohn 2-31, S Drew 2-29). Rain stopped play. Thorverton (11pts), Upottery (10).

All of those bowlers name-checked are second team players. Greed admittedly isn't, but D Reddick doesn't exist and is either Sam or Alex, both second team.

 

[open365]

All of those bowlers name-checked are second team players. Greed admittedly isn't, but D Reddick doesn't exist and is either Sam or Alex, both second team.

Is that intentional or a mistake? Last year when i wasn't registered i had to play under two different assumed names in the 2nds but the second time the board found out and we got fined a tenner.

 

[Chubb]

No, I don't know why we went for the first-teamers option either.

Upottery 105 (A Button-Stevens 21no; J May 2-12, A Maughton 2-13, S Bayley 2-33), Thorverton 78-7 (D Reddick 27, G Greed 24; D Prettejohn 2-31, S Drew 2-29). Rain stopped play. Thorverton (11pts), Upottery (10).

All of those bowlers name-checked are second team players. Greed admittedly isn't, but D Reddick doesn't exist and is either Sam or Alex, both second team.

I liked the look of your bowling attack, certainly the conditions were helpful but the blond opener in particular swung the ball very late into me- I was lucky to get outside the line because they'd probably be knocking middle stump out.

Today, I finally played for Kilmington v. Seaton ((I should have played five times already but for the rain) and scored 51 against ex-Somerset chairman Peter Anderson, their Aussie overseas player, and two kids- TBH most of the runs came off the kids. Last five innings- 58, 46 (touring friendly), 42 (Touring friendly) 10, 51. And just now I got asked to play for Axminster tomorrow, recommended to them by Kilmington. And I'm likely playing for Upottery on Tuesday and Kilmington on Wednesday as well. Working mornings has its compensations.

@ Open 365 The standard of cricket journalism in Devon is not very high, and there are always masses of typos and mispellings, and indeed gross factual inaccuracies. For example Kilmington have two guys called Gooding in their team, and have done for about six years, and they still get called "The Gooding brothers" even though they have been telling them they're not related for all that time! Also in the report Neil quoted, I know for a fact Prettejohn took 3 wickets, and it should have been F. Drew. S. Drew is the captain of our firsts.

 

[open365]

Today, I finally played for Kilmington v. Seaton ((I should have played five times already but for the rain) and scored 51 against ex-Somerset chairman Peter Anderson, their Aussie overseas player, and two kids- TBH most of the runs came off the kids. Last five innings- 58, 46 (touring friendly), 42 (Touring friendly) 10, 51. And just now I got asked to play for Axminster tomorrow, recommended to them by Kilmington. And I'm likely playing for Upottery on Tuesday and Kilmington on Wednesday as well. Working mornings has its compensations.

Haha, that's harsh Chubb, scoring runs of the little kids.

 

[no1_gangsta_786]

I havent posted in this before so thought i might aswell start and tell about my cricket season. I play for the Blackheath 4a's and we are doing well this season. My bowling has been on the decline for a few months now so i am very happy with the way i have bowled for the last 2 weeks. Last Saturday(21st July) my figures were 8-3-16-3 and this saturday(28th July) my figures were 8-4-13-4.

 

[Neil Pickup]

I liked the look of your bowling attack, certainly the conditions were helpful but the blond opener in particular swung the ball very late into me- I was lucky to get outside the line because they'd probably be knocking middle stump out.

Today, I finally played for Kilmington v. Seaton ((I should have played five times already but for the rain) and scored 51 against ex-Somerset chairman Peter Anderson, their Aussie overseas player, and two kids- TBH most of the runs came off the kids. Last five innings- 58, 46 (touring friendly), 42 (Touring friendly) 10, 51. And just now I got asked to play for Axminster tomorrow, recommended to them by Kilmington. And I'm likely playing for Upottery on Tuesday and Kilmington on Wednesday as well. Working mornings has its compensations.

@ Open 365 The standard of cricket journalism in Devon is not very high, and there are always masses of typos and mispellings, and indeed gross factual inaccuracies. For example Kilmington have two guys called Gooding in their team, and have done for about six years, and they still get called "The Gooding brothers" even though they have been telling them they're not related for all that time! Also in the report Neil quoted, I know for a fact Prettejohn took 3 wickets, and it should have been F. Drew. S. Drew is the captain of our firsts.

The standard of cricket journalism is woeful at times. The Reddicks have had their names spelled at least six different ways, and Sam is currently nicknamed "Steve" after the Echo decided to misprint his first name rather than the surname.

Regarding "ringers", having examined the scorebook yesterday at Uplyme, we had one first-teamer last week, the wicketkeeper - and that was purely as we have no back up keeping and it would've been farcical to proceed with a very weak keeper when someone could come it and bat down the order. The others were genuine IIs players, who had all played at least once for the IIs earlier in the season.

We ground out a losing draw at Uplyme yesterday to keep our cushion over the drop zone at "breathing space": it didn't help that eighth-place Feniton beat Honiton, but Chubb's boys lost to Ottery and they're being dragged into it now. In fact, it's ridiculously tight between 4th and 8th...

Ottery 219
Axminster 194
Woodbury 174
Kilmington 144
Upottery 138
Honiton 137
Feniton 137
Thorverton 132
Uplyme 119
Cullompton 33

We have Kilimington (H), Honiton (H), Woodbury (A) and Feniton (H) to play.

Today saw stage one of my comeback from the broken finger, playing for the Sunday Friendly XI against Newton Poppleford. I bowled a wide variety of rubbish, wides, long hops and full tosses and was fairly lucky to escape with 0/27 off my four. Fielded well in a range of positions from slip to long on and even managed a throw in from the boundary with just one bounce. Newton made 187/5.

Pads were on after two overs, batting at five, as our opener became the first of many to be bowled not getting forward. I then had 18 overs' viewing and waiting as we limped to 77/3 at halfway. Had a little hit early on, including a one-bounce single to long off, before settling down to scamper singles and defend the fifth ball of the over as Tim Keeler made 78. However, when he fell to a skier at 137 there wasn't much batting left.

It showed. Despite some increasingly desperate efforts from myself, I wasn't left with much support from the tail. In fact, numbers seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven contributed zero, zero, zero, zero and zero not out. We were bowled out for 158 in the 36th over as I tried to repeat the slog sweep that had brought me a one-bounce four in the previous over: with 29 needed off as many balls, I didn't really have many options... Nice to have batted well, but frustrating not to have got there.

 

[Matteh]

Badsey - 170ao
Shipston on Stour - 174/8

Shipston win by 2 wickets.

Opened the bowling and got 8-2-27-0, which i'm fairly happy with economically. Had an edge dropped and there was a runout off my bowling too. Didn't get to bat in the end as we got home comfortably really.

 

[Chubb]

The standard of cricket journalism is woeful at times. The Reddicks have had their names spelled at least six different ways, and Sam is currently nicknamed "Steve" after the Echo decided to misprint his first name rather than the surname.

Regarding "ringers", having examined the scorebook yesterday at Uplyme, we had one first-teamer last week, the wicketkeeper - and that was purely as we have no back up keeping and it would've been farcical to proceed with a very weak keeper when someone could come it and bat down the order. The others were genuine IIs players, who had all played at least once for the IIs earlier in the season.

We ground out a losing draw at Uplyme yesterday to keep our cushion over the drop zone at "breathing space": it didn't help that eighth-place Feniton beat Honiton, but Chubb's boys lost to Ottery and they're being dragged into it now. In fact, it's ridiculously tight between 4th and 8th...

Ottery 219
Axminster 194
Woodbury 174
Kilmington 144
Upottery 138
Honiton 137
Feniton 137
Thorverton 132
Uplyme 119
Cullompton 33

We have Kilimington (H), Honiton (H), Woodbury (A) and Feniton (H) to play.

Today saw stage one of my comeback from the broken finger, playing for the Sunday Friendly XI against Newton Poppleford. I bowled a wide variety of rubbish, wides, long hops and full tosses and was fairly lucky to escape with 0/27 off my four. Fielded well in a range of positions from slip to long on and even managed a throw in from the boundary with just one bounce. Newton made 187/5.

Pads were on after two overs, batting at five, as our opener became the first of many to be bowled not getting forward. I then had 18 overs' viewing and waiting as we limped to 77/3 at halfway. Had a little hit early on, including a one-bounce single to long off, before settling down to scamper singles and defend the fifth ball of the over as Tim Keeler made 78. However, when he fell to a skier at 137 there wasn't much batting left.

It showed. Despite some increasingly desperate efforts from myself, I wasn't left with much support from the tail. In fact, numbers seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven contributed zero, zero, zero, zero and zero not out. We were bowled out for 158 in the 36th over as I tried to repeat the slog sweep that had brought me a one-bounce four in the previous over: with 29 needed off as many balls, I didn't really have many options... Nice to have batted well, but frustrating not to have got there.

Okay, well, I guess it was more important that we believed they were first-teamers than whether they really were, since it meant we had a backs-to-the-wall, "let's show them our second team is stronger than their first team" mentality when we had to defend that small total- we really raised our game, and we probably annoyed the batsmen with the first-team oriented yap. Whatever, it was a great game.

Upottery IIs 112 a/o (A. Button-Stephens 25, I. Drew 23, Chubb 11)
Ottery St. Mary IIs 115-3

I have never been more upset with a team performance than with this one. They won the toss and put us in. Our opener was bowled off the thrid ball of the game, so I came out at 0-1. Buttons and I then had a good partnership of 46- we tend to bat well together. The ball was swinging a lot, so we waited for the bad ball and tried to put it away. Unfortunately on 46-1 I got a good ball, an offcutter that clipped the top of off stump- I couldn't believe I hadn't covered it, I was seriously pissed off. Anyhow a few overs later we were 55-6, an absolutely shambolic collapse. I will not name names, but none of our batsmen showed any application at all, it was a joke. They threw their wickets away. Buttons was unlucky because he was run out by his partner, which just punctured the innings completely. We were a weaker side than usual anyway, but this means the regulars have to perform more responsibly. When they batted the clouds had burned away and it was a cakewalk. I felt like they were laughing at us, I really did.

However, musn't get too downhearted. We play Uplyme next week, and victory there means they will be further detached from the mid-table group and make them firmer favourites to follow Cully down to E East.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Wouldn't complain at all if you gave Uplyme a good stuffing next week - don't really care who takes out P9 so long as it ain't us! Pitch on Saturday was a bit two-paced but mainly slow and low. Both sides lost a few to the shooter; their number three (Brimacombe) made a very good hundred but there was little else, and the bowling offered little.

I note J.Faulkner (the same guy who took 7-fer against us) took five against you boys on Saturday. I faced him for two balls and he really wasn't that good... I left one easily and pushed the other to cover (then swore a lot due to the lack of functioning finger). Thoughts?

 

[Chubb]

Wouldn't complain at all if you gave Uplyme a good stuffing next week - don't really care who takes out P9 so long as it ain't us! Pitch on Saturday was a bit two-paced but mainly slow and low. Both sides lost a few to the shooter; their number three (Brimacombe) made a very good hundred but there was little else, and the bowling offered little.

I note J.Faulkner (the same guy who took 7-fer against us) took five against you boys on Saturday. I faced him for two balls and he really wasn't that good... I left one easily and pushed the other to cover (then swore a lot due to the lack of functioning finger). Thoughts?

Well I only faced five balls from Faulkner, as I got out to Biggs the over after he was brought on. He was bowling outswing at medium pace. I played and missed the first ball, then played inside the line and watched it swing. He dropped short once and I swished off the back foot- should have cut it. I figured the next over I'd bat out of the crease to negate the swing and see what he did, but I didn't get the chance.

I know loads about Kilmington, maily because I use my friendly games as a spy mission.

1) their top order is on paper the best in the division, some combination of Watts, Parr, Stenning and Baker, all of whom are destructive and heavy-scoring at this level. Fortunately, all these gentlemen are short of confidence, and Stenning in particular is throwing his wicket away trying to rediscover his form. Parr's strength is the cut, but also his weakness as he'll hit it in the air- but he can't always play and may not be up for the long trip to Thorverton.

2) The middle order depends on their first team selections. It will possibly include two of their younger players, such as S. Thomas (also a fine bowler) and W. Wilmott. Both these players are dangerous. So to for C. Seward, but he is more of your village slogger as a bat than anything else.

3) Their bowling mainstay is D. Lavender, who is slow but numbingly accurate and extremely cricket-smart. He varies the pace and flight of his deliveries a lot, but his main weapon is simply accuracy- your boys will have to be on the top of their game to counter him, I've never seen him go for many runs.

4) If some combination of H. Cook, T. Wallis, S. Morris, S. Thomas or C. Seward play (and they may all be in the firsts) you'll need to watch out- all are medium-to-fast, Thomas is more of a bounce bowler, but Cook, Morris, Wallis and Seward are swing.

So, on paper KCC are a good side, but their batsmen aren't performing and the strength is in the bowlers. Good luck.

 

[The Baconator]

I got a wicket.

Could have got two more, but for dropped catches

 

[Neil Pickup]

Saturday...

Kilmington 140
Thorverton 43

Disaster. We bowled and fielded well as a unit, on an admittedly testing wicket, to restrict relegation rivals Kilmington to 140 all out with three overs to spare. Extras was, however, a major contributor as our bowlers sought to test out just how well recovered my finger was by spraying the ball everywhere - second slip, leg gully, half way down the track, beamer... you name it, we had it. There was only the one instance of five wides, our fastest bowler sending his first ball through second slip's legs.

I had a catch - top-edged cut, straightforward but a big relief to hold on to after four weeks out - and a stumping that I was very pleased with. It's the first one I've had that has been genuinely good glovework following a slight error from the batsman (lunge forward, heel raised) rather than a charge down the wicket and a routine bails-off.

Then it all went wrong. I was batting at four (on merit... that tells you enough). We had two thirteen-year-olds. I was in after 1.4 overs after both our openers fell for a duck. I was out after 2.1 overs for three. All my shots were defensives - a miss/play inside the line down legside, another outside off that nearly went for four through cover, and one that ballooned to midwicket. New balls go a hell of a long way off a cricket bat, and I never really appreciated that... never having faced one in the DCL before.

The card read: Cudby 1, Hussey 1, Moughton 8, Pickup 3, Woodman 7, Choules 0, Browning 4, Miller 5, May 2*, Reddick 0, Farrell 6, Extras 6. The best thing that can be said about the day is that we got five points for bowling them out.

It's now Upottery 145, Honiton 144, Feniton 138, Thorverton 137, Uplyme 132. One from five will go down, and that first-ball duck at Honiton is really nagging at me again. Had I survived just two deliveries there, both ourselves and Honiton would sit on 139.

On Saturday we face Honiton again, and Upottery face Feniton in another massive match. Uplyme travel to Cullompton (if Cully can raise a side) and will almost certainly take 20, as Cullompton are rubbish, so next weekend could very well decide survival.

Remaining fixtures...
Upottery: FENITON, Kilmington, AXMINSTER III
Honiton: Thorverton, UPLYME, Cullompton
Feniton: Upottery, CULLOMPTON, Thorverton
Thorverton: HONITON, Woodbury, FENITON
Uplyme: Cullompton, Honiton, KILMINGTON

 

[Chubb]

I played for Kilmington on Sunday, and I asked them about the game. They said the pitch let you down, because they thought it was a good ground apart from that. I asked them who Thorverton's wicketkeeper was and Lavender said "a gobby little bloke in glasses".

Uplyme and Lyme Regis IIs 237-3
Upottery IIs 180-5 (D. Kennard 72*, D. Crabb 27, Chubb 10)

This was a tough day. The pitch was very flat, with only the merest hint of uneven bounce and no movement to speak of. We didn't field well, dropping three simple catches. I made a few good stops, but no catch came to me. We felt we could chase the total, but needed a quick start. I opened because our leftie opener wasn't available, but only scored 10. I nhad a swing outside off stump and nicked it to slip. I feared the worst, as I always do, but fortunately Kennard came in and played extremely well. He is a naval officer, and had gotten off his ship at Devonport only Friday evening. He'd been in Scapa Flow ("midges like B-52s!") for three months prior to this. We couldn't keep up with the rate though and we settled for the draw. If we'd won the toss it might have been different.

Personally I fancy Uplyme to survive, so Thorverton need to watch out. I can't play next weekend as I'll be in Vienna, but I hope we can win. Problem is I think Feniton are stronger than us. I'm really looking forward to the next match against Kilmington- I have not played against them since I left, and want to beat them.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I played for Kilmington on Sunday, and I asked them about the game. They said the pitch let you down, because they thought it was a good ground apart from that. I asked them who Thorverton's wicketkeeper was and Lavender said "a gobby little bloke in glasses".

 

[Neil Pickup]

I played for Kilmington on Sunday, and I asked them about the game. They said the pitch let you down, because they thought it was a good ground apart from that. I asked them who Thorverton's wicketkeeper was and Lavender said "a gobby little bloke in glasses".

The plus point there is that he didn't make any comparisons with Matt Prior. Someone's got to make some noise... no one else was doing it! During the interval, we were discussing the disproportionate amount of chatter that comes from my direction, and our fast bowler said to one of the U13s, "that's what he's like all the time". The kid's response was, "but it works, though."

 

[Neil Pickup]

Today I broke my finger again. You couldn't make it up.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Like Hussain tbh...

 

[Chubb]

Upottery 99 (I. Drew 37, Chubb 0, D. Lavender 4-16, G. Dixon 4-28)
Kilmington 100-6

Of all the games I have ever played, this has to be one of the most disappointing. I paid 35 quid to come back and play this match, because it was against Kilmington. I could have stayed in Essex and played for Hutton, but no, I had to try to beat my old/ part-time team, to prove that they were wrong about me not being good enough (even though I've proved that playing for them).

Kilmington's pitch has been ruined by the weather this year- it's normally a beauty, but there has been a lot of variable bounce around. This was the worst I've ever seen it.We lost the toss and got put in, losing our opener, who's just got back from a year coaching in Australia, in the second over. I came out to bat at 16-2, then suddenly we were 16-3, then in the next over I got an absolute beauty from Dixon that came back in past my outside edge and knocked the top of off stump. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. Then we were 20-5. Drew, with some support from Buttons, managed a short recovery, but we still got shot out for less than a hundred. I tried to give some advice about the Kilmington bowlers, particularly Lavender (i.e "never go back!" "wait for the bad ball") but he did his usual trick of forcing batsmen to try to hit out and picked up 4.

We bowled well, but it the end they got there. Maybe just 20 more runs would have done the job. I guess I built this game up far too much in my own mind, in fact everyone on my side commented how fidgety and nervous I was, which isn't like me at all these days. It was one of the stranger experiences, having gone to Killy so many times on the home side- I accidently went in to the home dressing room 3 times!

Now we're in serious trouble viz promotion- fortunately Uplyme lost and I hope Thorverton sans Neil lost, which would give us some leeway next week against Axminster IIIs.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Thorverton sans Neil got mullered. Two points. Needing Uplyme to lose on Saturday.

 

[Chubb]

Upottery IIs 288-7 (P. Legge 115*, I. Drew 41, B. Inglis 38, Chubb 11)
Axminster IIIs 203 a/o (M. Kellow 5-55)

We needed to win to be safe, and we did. Legge batted superbly, making up for his duck last week, and the others played around him. I came in at 230-4 with 10 overs left so second ball from their fast bowler I walked down the track and deposited it for six into the playground, nearly maiming some kids in the process. I miscued a pull to mid-on in the next over, but it didn't matter except we didn't break the 300 barrier. They were never in the hunt after tea, but we only took the last wicket in the penultimate over- Buttons taking diving forward from silly point to take the catch.

Both Thorverton and Uplyme won, but Neil's side survive by three points. The bottom of the league finished like this:

Upottery 174
Feniton 169
Thorverton 165
Uplyme 162
Cullompton 38

In other, amazing news, our first team played Newton St Cyres and Tom Wyatt smashed an incredible 201*, it must be a club record, even though I think people have made slightly higher scores in that division. Also, Kilmington Is escaped relegation by bowling out the third-placed side in the league for just 58. Fantastic weekend.