Barford Cricket Club

Barford found themselves back at Kenilworth Wardens for a second week against Christchurch (who still haven’t managed to play a game at their home ground this year!). The pitch was the same as the previous week but would hopefully play a bit better after a week’s more or less dry weather – so on winning the toss I of course chose to bat.

It didn’t take long for me to start regretting this decision – two balls in fact as Simon D was back amongst the garden furniture after “missing a straight one, hearing the ball thud into the keeper’s golves and turning around to watch his off-bail descend to the ground” (expletives removed). He was less than chuffed to put it mildly, but Jake and Matt started to repair the damage via a series of edges and lobs between fielders. Until that is, Jake decided to unleash a straight drive which Matt decided to field with his thigh, thus saving the oppostion four runs and rendering him prostrate on the wicket.

The bowlers were managing to extract both sideways movement and variable bounce from the pitch and Matt was soon bowled afterwards. Paul and Jake set about taking advantage of some loose deliveries and managed to post the 50 for the loss of only two wickets. However a combination of good bowling and some indifferent batting saw the next 4 wickets (Jake, Simon H, Paul and Nick) lost quickly as a succession of batsmen were castled by balls that cut back sharply and/or kept low.

Shawn and Mark, the Barford youth policy, hang around for a bit without scoring too much before little Rabbit lost his head (and his wicket) to a leg-spinner. Mark was also clean-bowled (making it 7 from 7), before Tim attempted a kamikaze run to square leg and was comfortably run-out by the proverbial country mile, much to the amusement of all those involved. Andy swatted some useful runs in his own inimitable style before relinquishing the strike to Tiger who was promptly caught at slip, to leave Barford on a disappointing 97 all out.

At tea I was still hopeful that are bowler-heavy team (all 9 of them) would be able to make some early inroads. Tim and Mark opened up tidily enough but without extracting the same life from the wicket that the oppostion had obtained. However, in evading (or trying to) a short ball from Tim one of their opener’s tweaked his back and had to retire hurt with less than 20 on the board.

I just knew it wasn’t going to be our day when Andy, replacing Tim, dropped a comfortable caught and bowled in his first over. He kept plugging away and bowled a tight if unthreatening spell. At the other end, Nick came on for Mark and bowled with great accuracy and some intermittent sharp turn. He bowled both of the set batsmen with classic left-arm orthodox deliveries, and finished with very respectable figures of 6-1-16-2.

We had managed to put a bit of a squeeze on them, but Christchurch continued inching towards their target. Shawn tried his luck and managed to get some prodigious turn when landing the ball in more or less the right place, but a few loose deliveries and some dropped chances by the skipper meant that the runs kept coming. Even Tony’s donkey-drops were picked off remorselessy as Christchurch squeezed home by 7 wickets with plenty of overs to spare…

Paul Johnstone

The best day of the year so far bought the Barford team together with the daunting task of trying to beat a Martins side for the first time in the clubs history. This was going to prove even harder after the skipper came second in the toss and not surprisingly we found ourselves in the field. The Martins team were going to take full advantage of a beautifully prepaired ( by myself and the Tango man ) batting wicket.

With plenty of bowling options to choose from skipper O’Reilly decided to open with Simon Morgan and Andy Hawkins. Both started quite well and apart from the odd one or two wayward ones which were duely punished kept the Martins openers rather quiet. Ironically in the middle of two good spells, it was the duff balls which bought wickets. One apiece for our opening two and it was Barford who had started the best. The bowling change saw James Beaven and new boy Nick Saunders take over the attack. Both bowled superbly and were so unlucky not to take more wickets than the one which James picked up. But what they had done was put the brakes on the Martins batsmen. A team who had previously hit 250 plus were struggling on 56 for 3 after 22 overs.

The skipper decided to keep spin at one end and introduced Richard Jones who bowled a full eight overs and use the medium pace of Gary Dunn and Mark Williams from the other. While Gary got hit for a few runs he was really unlucky not to pick up a couple of wickets as dropped catches cost him dearly. Though not as dearly as Simon Morgan as the catch he dropped off Gary’s bowling would later cost him the T.F.C. award. Mark’s bowling was neat and tidy but the damage was being done at the other end. Wiley fox Richard Jones again bowling beautifully and picking up another 3 wickets to add to his seasons tally. Richard Johnson was given a few overs at the end and not wanting to be outdone by anyone returned excellent figures of 3-1-1-8.

A superb team effort in the field had restricted the usual high scoring visitors to an all time low of 154/7 off 40 overs. Could there attack defend the total? That was the question going through everyone’s mind as they went for tea, and what a mighty fine tea it was too. I guess I have to say that, as I was the one who prepared it.

On such a glorious day and after having spent 3 hours in the field one or two people myself included wondered if skipper O’Reilly had caught too much sun when he asked me to open the batting with Mark Griffin. “Are you sure skipper, I’m not known for my patience at the crease you know”. But if that’s what he wanted that’s what I would do.

So chasing 155 to win me and Mark headed off to the crease. It was a slow, frustrating and somewhat painfull start especially for me as you all know I like to swing at everything. As Mark could see the tension building up in me he tried to keep me calm by telling me to keep cool and wait for the bad ball, but all I wanted to do was remove my glove and chew my fingers off to see if that was as boring and painfull as playing defensive shots, ha ha. Still the score was ticking over and we were using up the overs of the Martins quickies. The bowling change bought the luck Martins were after as Mark was unfortunately run out for 9. This bought Chris to the wicket with some crazy idea about running quick 1’s ans 2’s. Well if I ever needed an invite to hit boundaries that was it. Running in that heat, was he mad ?

Drink’s were served after 15 overs as it was such a hot day and a glance at the scoreboard showed that our innings was being perfectly paced as we were now on 39/1 and ahead of them at the same point. As we restarted it was time to hit a 4 here and another one there and so on as I really did’nt fancy the idea of running up and down and then to my surprise there was an almighty cheer and a round of applause from the home support as I hit 50. Yippee. I use the term yippee very lightly as I cannot print what I actually said to myself.

Chris however didn’t last much longer. The only consolation in being dismissed if there is one is that it was to an excellent one handed catch. Still the skipper had gone for 6 and it was time for James to join me in the middle. This wasn’t to be a lasting time together as after adding a few more runs to my total I was finally caught going for another big shot. Still we had 80 odd on the board just over 22 overs left to bat and plenty of wickets remaining. The platform had well and truly been laid, it was up to the other guy’s to cross us over the line.

Richard Johnson joined James in the middle and was a tad unfortunate to be bowled for only 6. All of a sudden however the pressure was on as after another quick wicket, in the back of everyone’s mind was surely this isn’t the start of another notorious Barford collapse. Not if Mark Williams had anything to do with it. Making his annual appearance for the team he was determined to stick around and score some runs. James was next to go after a great knock of 23 and at the next drinks break after 30 overs we were on 129-5 and edgeing closer to our target. New boy Nick Saunders was up next and if he could bat anything like the way he bowled surely he and Mark could get the 20 odd runs needed with 10 overs still to play. Six overs later we all gathered at the side of the pitch waiting for the winning run to be hit and with the second almighty cheer and applause of the day, there it was. Mark 21 and Nick 13 had steered the ship accross the line for a convincing and historic victory.

This has to be one of the best all round team performancies in the club’s history. Everyone played a huge part. The bowling was superb the fielding was great with only 1 or 2 minor blips and the batting was strong, paced to perfection and for once with no panic or a collapse in it. Ha ha. Well played guy’s. As for the fantasy awards the T.F.C went to Simon Morgan and while there were plenty of options for the M.O.M award it was given to me. If you have’nt checked up on the fantasy league in a while i’m lead to believe that Simon Morgan has been knocked off the top spot and that there is a new sheriff in town.

Simon International

The first proper summer’s day saw an excessive outbreak of sunscreen and short wearing, and Barford taking on Rugby Oakfield at Leek Wotton.  Oakfield are a traditionally strong opponent and first impressions were not good as a succession of younger and fitter cricketers trooped into the opposition dressing room.   For some unknown reason (although I have my suspicions), I’d been selected to lead the motley collection of individuals chosen on a whim by none other than Captain Morgan himself.

Losing the toss was not an auspicious start but at least I had an excuse to give the team when they discovered they’d be running around in the heat of the day.  A couple of late changes meant that we were now definitely a bowling rather than batting side and so would be better off chasing than setting any targets (at least we’d make the game last until the tea interval).

The opening attack of Paul Stacey and Andy Hawkins set about the Oakfield line-up and suffocating bowling and fielding made sure that they didn’t get off to a flyer.  Andy Hawkins picked up a couple of clean bowled while Paul Stacey, justifying his tag of the “unluckiest bowler” went passed the edge and the stumps again, and again, and again…

Simon Hawkins and Gary Dunn then picked up the baton and continued the good work, so that after 20 overs Oakfield were struggling at 65-4.  There was the usual comedy Barford fielding effort as Shawn Harrison and Gary Dunn collided when trying to catch a top-edge off the bowling of Simon Hawkins.  Fortunately no damage was done, as he then bowled same the batsmen a couple of balls later.

The wheels nearly came off when a “tired and emotional” Shawn Harrison was called on to bowl and delivered a succession off pies, the majority of which were dispatched by the batsmen.  After he was summarily hauled off, Simon Hawkins carried on with a the diet of rubbish only to pick up another three wickets thanks to a series of inside edges and outfield catches thereby securing the first 5 wicket haul of the season.  Meanwhile Richard Johnson was keeping things relatively tight at the other end, and chipped in with a couple of wickets.  Oakfield closed on 170-9, which reflected a good all-round bowling and fielding effort.

After a delightful tea courtesy of the treasurer and his good lady, a replete Sandy Peirson and Nathan Haynes started the run-chase, well run-canter really.  The Oakfield attack was even more miserly than our own and after half the overs both openers and Matt Cobb, who was unluckily caught off a full-blooded drive, were back in the pavilion with a mere 30 runs on the board.

Things picked up slightly as the change bowlers came on and tried to test out the middle of the wicket, but Richard Johnson dragged on one to his stumps and was quickly followed by the “unluckiest batsmen” Paul Stacey for golden duck, the ball apparently defying the laws of physics on it’s way to demolishing off stump.  Phil Morris avoided the hat-trick but then perished to the next ball in a triple-wicket maiden.

Meanwhile, at the other end I’d been carting a number of short balls through midwicket and in company with Simon Hawkins at the other end, the score had grown from embarrassing to merely disappointing.  An ugly smear at their leg-spinner saw me depart for 32 and left the Hawkins brothers to try and inch us towards respectability.

However, disproving the old adage that twins are telepathically connected, Andy ruthlessly ran out Simon before his topspin forehand picked out mid-on.  Gary Dunn joined a now (more or less) sober Shawn Harrison who rescued himself from the TFC award by clubbing a few runs and ensuring Barford’s reply ended in three figures.

MOM went to Simon Hawkins for his first ever 5 wicket haul (5-31), and the book is now closed on him doing a unique double of Batsman of the Year followed by Bowler of the Year…

Paul Johnstone

We took the pitch fielding first, Skipper Griffin having strategically won/lost (make up your own mind here) the toss. S Hawkins opened the bowling and was immediately smacked over mid off for two, only the wet outfield (and the lightning legs of Peter Romyn) preventing a boundary. “Oh dear” we thought, “is this going to be a long afternoon?” Well the rest of the over was pretty lean and we pegged them back. Jolly then opened at the other end and was similarly economical. This vein continued and some seemingly dubious LBW decisions added to a tense atmosphere. The breakthrough came with the first change in the bowling with B Griffin trapping the opener leg before for 14 and P Johnstone C&B their No2 for 13. It was 33 for two after somewhere between 14 and 27 overs*

Tony “Slow Hand” Timms then made an impact cleaning up No 3 LBW for 14. On came their No 5 and proceeded to smack it around a bit. At the other end we were keeping the run rate down though and Henricians were struggling to build a big total. Timms then struck again with the most sensational catch that Mark Griffin has probably ever taken in his career. It astonished everyone, including the batsman who hung around in his crease before eventually resigning himself to the fact that he’d been Timmsinated. The ball flew vaguely towards Griff who was somewhere between gully and point. An arm shot out, reminiscent of a chameleon catching a fly and the ball was snapped clean out of the air by the veteran fieldsman ;-). Paddy Power and Suffs have stopped taking bets on Catch of the Season: 49 for 4.

J Farquar come on for a tweak, with Keeper N Haynes stumping No6 and Farquar bowling No 7 with some lovely offspin. Hawkins then joined in the rout, bowling 8 & 9 for 6&1 respectively and Henricians were 98 for 7. A catch by Morris, covering at least 30 yards to take it, off the bowling of Griffin and a final C&B by Timms signalled the end of Henricians in the last over, for 103. This was looking positive/nervy/a foregone conclusion (insert your own adjective here).

Tea was served in fine style by M Griffin who was still buzzing about the catch he took. The ball by this time apparently travelling at close to mach 3 and still accelerating!

Skipper Griffin then had an attack of benevolence and as consolation for fielding Morris at Mid/Long on at both ends, invited him to open the batting. Fancying himself to play himself in for a while Morris immediately accepted the challenge and he and Haynes took to the field. Haynes kept out the first over without troubling the scorers. Morris then kept out 5/6 of the second over before succumbing to a ridiculous catch, having previously given the oppo an equally ridiculous sighter. He slumped off with a head resounding to quacks all round: 0 for 1.

B Griffin came out and he and Haynes set about chasing them down. Ben eventually being bowled for 15 and we were 19 for 2. Could we muck it up from here – you bet we could? On a wicket which was drying out, but still taking some movement it was foxing a lot of our shot choices. But out came Farquar, swinging his logo-less willow and in his inimitable style he picked out the boundaries with some regularity. He was bowled by their pace man Pedley for 35 and there was a definite Brett Lee moment of bowler intimidation – which all added to the spice – 83 for 3.

Out came the catcher in the gully point, M Griffin. At the other end, however, Haynes was tootling along like a drunken bird in the Newcastle Bigg Market on a Friday night **. He and Griffin pressed on and were not out for 32 and 13 respectively and Barford were 104 for 3, winning by 7 wickets.

Simon International ended the day with a further presentation of ducks to Peirson (x2), Jolly (x1) and Morris (x2) and an enjoyable afternoon’s cricket was complete. Thanks to Skipper Griffin for some excellent tactics, a sound field and some really quite good bowling. It’s just a shame that so many of Tim Jolly’s balls were “nearly” wicket takers only and so will never show up in any scorebooks. Still, Tim, there’s always tippex and delusion eh!

*the scorebook is not fully complete so a certain amount of supposition is required.

** making steady progress but you know it could all fall over, tits up, with the slightest lapse in concentration

Phil Morris

Ed – As my dear old granny used to say, “There are always to sides to a story”, and the oppositions can be found here

Finally summer had arrived and on a boiling hot afternoon our dear leader managed to win the toss and correctly decided we should put our feet up and watch Nathan Haynes (making his first appearance in 2012) compile a huge score with his new bat. A plan which was carried out with almost military precision except for one minor flaw. Nathan was brilliantly caught for 15 in the gully as he attempted to guide the ball to the boundary after a bright start with Neil Carter (3).

This brought Martin Lusby and Mark Griffin to the crease who began to build a healthy partnership in the sunshine at around 4 per over before Mark was bowled for 18 with the score at 72 off 18. Martin was joined by Chris O’Reilly until an over by the Unity’s Jackman (soon to become our nemesis) claimed both Lusby (34) and Sandy Peirson without scoring.

Another rebuilding phase began with Chris and Paul Henderson with plenty of overs left, but (Hugh) Jackman was withdrawn in favour of some less challenging but more random bowling. Extras also started to contribute with wides and quadruple bouncing no-balls but with the odd delivery threatening the stumps it was difficult to get the ball away (honestly). With O’Reilly obviously in the form of his life, the strike was manoeuvered and he effortlessly went towards and then blasted through his maiden Barford half-century.

With plenty of batting still left in the hutch I decided to go large against Jackman and heard the death rattle falling for 28. O’Reilly couldn’t convert his 50 into a ‘daddy’ hundred and also fell to Jackers for a tremendous 66. Paul Stacey (5 no) and Simon Hawkins (3 no) were left with the tricky task making runs at the end, but a score of 198 was a good total, if slightly contrived – and at least we hadn’t had to field in the heat of the day.

Stuffed with Mrs Johnson’s finest cakes we took to the field and almost immediately regretted that extra slice as Mr Jackman came out to open and put strike bowlers Stacey and Hawkins (and everyone else who to whom Chris threw the ball) to the sword. Simon did claim the wicket of the other opener with a high hanging catch taken magnificently by Sandy at mid-off, and another lbw finishing with 2 for 33. But the J-Unit kept his relentless assault going – bringing up his 50 with barely 60 on the team’s total. There was a fleeting chance of a stumping but he obviously hadn’t had enough cake at tea time as he tucked into bowling of Henderson and Harrison.

He also seemed determined to keep the strike from his less able colleagues, perhaps having a prior appointment to keep, and despite some noble efforts in the field and a change of ball the writing seemed to be on the wall from an early stage. Shawn and Tony Timms did get a wicket each but with the run-rate at 6, 8, 10 runs an over at times ( I lost count) even when Mr J graciously retired on 119 the result was sadly inevitable. Neil Carter’s spell was probing and economical and he was very unlucky not to snaffle a wicket or two.

The total was reached with 12 overs to spare and there was plenty of time to contemplate the man-of-the-match (Chris O’Reilly) and ‘thanks for coming’ award (Sandy Peirson) as nominated by the Aston Unity’s captain (so Chris tells me). We also enjoyed Chris’s jug of Doom Bar for his 50. Anyway, it was all played out on a lovely day in front of a capacity crowd* at the Leek Wootton Oval.

*Mikes Ireland and Suffield in full flow

Paul Henderson

I tossed the coin for the first time this season and true to indoor form lost. So on a beautiful evening the Barford team took to the field. But would it be a beautiful start to my midweek role as captain? Well it was the Snitterfield opening pair that got off to the better start, as they were soon hitting the ball around much to the despair of Morgan, Johnson, Beaven and Johnstone. Hawkins and Griffin tried to end the partnership but the breakthrough finally came when little rabbit, angry at having been bashed for two sixes dismissed the first one with an excellent caught and bowled. The second opener was soon on his way back to the pavillion after being run out and the Snitterfield runs had stopped. Overs from Carter and Farquar ended the innings and Snitterfield had finished on 122.

With a strong batting line up I was confident we could chase down the target and after a quick pep talk in the dressing room openers O’Reilly and Farquar took to the wicket. The plan was simple as the best ones often are, take your time, have a look for a ball or two then smack them out the ground. Thats exactly what Jake did, swung at the first then smashed the second into the kids play area at the side of the pub. Thats how it continued for the next 5 or 6 overs, Jake smashing fours and sixes all over the place and somehow hogging the strike while poor old Chris at the other end, like everyone else could only watch. Our opening two were laying the perfect foundation and at 88 for 0 off 8 overs it looked like it would be all over inside 10 overs.

But things in a game of cricket can quickly change especially if you play for Barford. Jake was caught for 78 and Ben joined Chris. However Chris soon followed Jake caught for 10 and we were 92 for 2. With Ben and Paul Johnstone at the crease and only needing 31 to win surely even we couldn’t lose this one, could we? Ben went for 10 and James Beaven for a duck (which was presented to him after the game ) and we were now on 104 for 4 off 11 overs. Simon Hawkins joined Paul Johnstone and only wanting 19 off 4 overs it still looked like an easy win. However a couple of tight overs and the pressure was on us, it was now 110 off 13 overs. But Simon and Paul showed nerves of steel knocking up 12 runs with 1 ball to go in the penultimate over which went for a bye and signalled Barford’s first win of the season. It got a bit nerve racking towards the end but after such a good start we were always favorites to get there in the end.

Well played lads. As far as fantasy cricket goes, Richard Johnson was awarded the TFC by the opposing skipper and the man of the match went to Jake. However as Jake is not yet included in the fantasy league the man of the match award now goes to Ben Griffin for being second top run scorer with 10 and being joint top wicket taker with 1.

Simon International