England League and Cup Discussion

[spark]

J. Uma (lm) 8-0-37-2, B. Gardiner 2 (2b), A. Patterson 27 (24b)
End of over 40 (6 runs) - Ruff Royals(210-7) RR 5.25

A very decent total although I thought we were going to get more at one stage. 100 for Bullock but he got run out coming back for the 2nd so it wasn't as much of a celebration as he would have liked.

It'll be interesting to see how the bowlers do considering I've taken a risk and kept 2 spinners in on a green pitch.

[spark]

B. Gardiner (rws) 2-0-14-0, S. Mac Oburu 23 (29b), D. Vadher 30 (41b)
End of over 15 (12 runs) - Danger Hotspurs(70-1). 141 runs required from 25 overs. RR 4.67 RRR 5.64

They were generous enough to drop an F.Bullock twice early on and it looks like my players have decided to return the favour and have dropped Mac Oburu twice early on.

[spark]

Danger Hotspurs Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 7,732 6,762
Batting - Middle Order 6,814 6,297
Batting - Tail 3,922 3,229
Bowling - Seam 7,309 (32) 7,036 (24)
Bowling - Spin 8,226 (8) 8,853 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 9,141 9,101
Overall 134,835 128,046

Danger Hotspurs won by 7 wickets

In the end, it wasn't even close with Danger Hotspurs showing their class. A fair amount of bad fielding on show from both sides despite good ratings. My spinners were poor, particularly Gardiner, who never seems to perform as well as he should (albeit he can use the pitch as an excuse this time). I felt our scoring slowed down towards the end of our innings and that meant we only got a decent total rather than an excellent total.

Danger Hotspurs now 8 points clear at the top which means we can focus more on playing players for experience. That leaves a question mark over Gardiner as I was originally thinking of keeping him for seniors but his relatively poor average and lack of batting means I might be better off selling. However, at some point in the future, I'd then need a to buy a wrist spinner for the senior side.

[wolfberries]

Knight Watchmen wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 7,038 6,871
Batting - Middle Order 5,005 6,366
Batting - Tail 4,626 3,430
Bowling - Seam 7,682 (24) 6,372 (24)
Bowling - Spin 7,456 (16) 6,816 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 8,014 9,201
Overall 124,052 123,589
Club Champion / Fantasy Points

Result: wolfberries won by 2 wickets

Close ratings and close match, but thankfully we came out on top.

[spark]

Home South London's Number One CC
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Selhurst Park
League One Day 1.1
Date 03 Jun 22 10:00
Crowd 14,814
Weather Sunny
Pitch Uneven

It's top against bottom so I'm bound to help eagles get their first points in this league this season. They've decided to bat first which is what I would have liked to have done. Oh well. Let's see if we can get off to a good start anyway. I'll be interested to see how Clouston gets on as he pushes for a regular starting spot.

[eagles123]

Haha think you'll win this quite comfortably, I sold my top all-rounder in the week and playing a couple of rotational players. Don't think we'll rate much higher than 220K. For some reason our players are playing like it's a T20 game despite the fact I had my openers both on D 65/3 from 11.

[spark]

Haha think you'll win this quite comfortably, I sold my top all-rounder in the week and playing a couple of rotational players. Don't think we'll rate much higher than 220K. For some reason our players are playing like it's a T20 game despite the fact I had my openers both on D 65/3 from 11.

P. Massey (lfs) 3-0-12-0, M. Olise 6 (16b), S. Foster 49 (56b)
End of over 22 (1 run) - South London's Number One CC(99-6) RR 4.50

I'm happy with the wickets we've taken so far but Foster is looking like he'll get a century if the others can stay in with him. I'm not sure what we'll rate; possibly 230k.

[eagles123]

Well Foster has played very well for his century, and pleased with Olise's patient 31 at number 8, but would be quite surprised if 183 was enough. Feel like Gootjes is gonna have to bowl really well if we're to have any chance, been very quiet so far this season so he does owe us

surprised to see it's Foster's first century in any format! About time!

[spark]

Really struggled to finish things off once we got you to 6 wickets down, Eagles. I wish I hadn't been right when predicting Foster's century! And now I really wish I'm not right when I predicted that you'd win!

It's the sort of total that we should be able to successfully chase but if it's one of those days where an uneven pitch is practically a minefield then it could go badly wrong from my perspective.

[wolfberries]

Home wolfberries
Away OU812
Ground wolfberries CG
League One Day 3.3
Date 03 Jun 22 10:00
Crowd 16,803
Weather Sunny
Pitch Green

Toss: OU812 won the toss and elected to bat.

Top of the table clash today!

D. Ylyett (rm) 10-0-42-3, N. Hardie 7 (4b), A. Archibald 0 (2b)
End of over 40 (2 runs) - OU812(142-8) RR 3.55

Looking good

F. Hills (rm) 10-1-42-1, N. Hardie 39 (43b), A. Archibald 19 (24b)
End of over 50 (6 runs) - OU812(195-8) RR 3.90

Oh

Well that's us fucked then!

[wolfberries]

E. Denness (lfm) 1-0-6-1, T. Gregg 7 (18b), L. Lawrence 0 (0b)
End of over 10 (6 runs) - wolfberries(35-4). 161 runs required from 40 overs. RR 3.50 RRR 4.03

Truly fucked!

[spark]

Home wolfberries
Away OU812
Ground wolfberries CG
League One Day 3.3
Date 03 Jun 22 10:00
Crowd 16,803
Weather Sunny
Pitch Green

Toss: OU812 won the toss and elected to bat.

Top of the table clash today!

D. Ylyett (rm) 10-0-42-3, N. Hardie 7 (4b), A. Archibald 0 (2b)
End of over 40 (2 runs) - OU812(142-8) RR 3.55

Looking good

F. Hills (rm) 10-1-42-1, N. Hardie 39 (43b), A. Archibald 19 (24b)
End of over 50 (6 runs) - OU812(195-8) RR 3.90

Oh

Well that's us CENSORED then!

It's good when it happens in your favour (probably about once for me ever and that was this season). It's certainly painful when it goes against you though.

[spark]

Ruff Royals won by 4 wickets

South London's Number One CC Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,914 14,162
Batting - Middle Order 10,936 11,724
Batting - Tail 4,556 4,611
Bowling - Seam 12,116 (40) 12,994 (30)
Bowling - Spin 14,515 (10) 14,655 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,871 16,786
Overall 226,666 236,029

That was just the sort of performance I was looking for from Liberatore; he needs to do that a lot more regularly. So 88 not out for Liberatore and 60 for Clarke. Thankfully, they had got most of the runs needed before my two best bats (Best and Issa) were out quickly.

We remain top of the league by 2 points.

[eagles123]

Ruff Royals won by 4 wickets

South London's Number One CC Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,914 14,162
Batting - Middle Order 10,936 11,724
Batting - Tail 4,556 4,611
Bowling - Seam 12,116 (40) 12,994 (30)
Bowling - Spin 14,515 (10) 14,655 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,871 16,786
Overall 226,666 236,029

That was just the sort of performance I was looking for from Liberatore; he needs to do that a lot more regularly. So 88 not our for Liberatore and 60 for Clarke. Thankfully, they had got most of the runs needed before my two best bats (Best and Issa) were out quickly.

We remain top of the league by 2 points.

pretty much the story of our season so far, reasonable performance not miles away, another 30 runs and who knows? Only once have we truly been thumped, 7 losses out of 7 and a NRR of -0.59 is quite remarkable really. Somehow we're only 2 wins off 6th, but to have a chance I think we're gonna have to win 5 out of the last 7 and I just can't see us doing that. I'm weighing up selling off Guaita and Gootjes to save on wages and give the youngsters more experience. Would also hopefully give us the funds to get our Academy up to a 7 rating when they merge next season whereas at the moment it would be a 6 ... but doing so would give us no chance whatsoever of staying up whereas now I guess we do still have a minor chance ... hmm ...

[spark]

Ruff Royals won by 4 wickets

South London's Number One CC Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,914 14,162
Batting - Middle Order 10,936 11,724
Batting - Tail 4,556 4,611
Bowling - Seam 12,116 (40) 12,994 (30)
Bowling - Spin 14,515 (10) 14,655 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,871 16,786
Overall 226,666 236,029

That was just the sort of performance I was looking for from Liberatore; he needs to do that a lot more regularly. So 88 not our for Liberatore and 60 for Clarke. Thankfully, they had got most of the runs needed before my two best bats (Best and Issa) were out quickly.

We remain top of the league by 2 points.

pretty much the story of our season so far, reasonable performance not miles away, another 30 runs and who knows? Only once have we truly been thumped, 7 losses out of 7 and a NRR of -0.59 is quite remarkable really. Somehow we're only 2 wins off 6th, but to have a chance I think we're gonna have to win 5 out of the last 7 and I just can't see us doing that. I'm weighing up selling off Guaita and Gootjes to save on wages and give the youngsters more experience. Would also hopefully give us the funds to get our Academy up to a 7 rating when they merge next season whereas at the moment it would be a 6 ... but doing so would give us no chance whatsoever of staying up whereas now I guess we do still have a minor chance ... hmm ...

Wait until next after next week to see if you get a win against Sledgingshire who'll be without their best keeper. This advice has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they're a title rival of mine and I really want you to beat them. Honest!

Joking aside, I have had seasons in the past when we've really struggled in the first half of the season and then been great in the second half (and vice versa). I suspect you'll struggle to come back from where you are but you never know.