England League and Cup Discussion

[casperj]

At 175-2 we looked on for a decent score, but then the match engine did it's thing:

R. Chinu (lfs) 8.3-2-22-5, Ü. Zörker 2 (4b)
End of over 47 (maiden) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(199-10) RR 4.23

Looks like our 1-day struggles are going to continue. Was playing two alrounders but still lost the last 8 wickets for 24 runs.

[Atko]

Well, that's us screwed -

End of over 50 (8 runs) - Egham Town CC(226-8) RR 4.52

That's way too much to concede on a humid/sticky. Egham batted perfectly and we bowled underwhelmingly. In fact, the majority of the wickets were stolen in the final overs when the oppo started their spank-a-thon; we're lucky not to be facing a target of 250+ .

If batting first I would back us to score close to that total, but going second, the ME is going to put us in panic mode from the outset

Oh well, I give us odds of 3/1 against. Let the fun begin

[casperj]

At 175-2 we looked on for a decent score, but then the match engine did it's thing:

R. Chinu (lfs) 8.3-2-22-5, Ü. Zörker 2 (4b)
End of over 47 (maiden) - Crestfallen Sidekicks(199-10) RR 4.23

Looks like our 1-day struggles are going to continue. Was playing two alrounders but still lost the last 8 wickets for 24 runs.

Surprisingly won with a bit to spare. They consistently lost wickets, and once the 7th went down their run rate dried up completely - their 8th wicket stand was 20 off 49 balls - till the run rate got too much. Wierd match really. Our 2nd wicket stand of 132 stood on its own. Neither side could manage another partnership over 30. It's lifted us out of the relegation area for now, but another tough '8 pointer' next week against Snakey.

Sledgingshire Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,108 13,090
Batting - Middle Order 11,548 12,215
Batting - Tail 5,137 6,097
Bowling - Seam 13,360 (30) 12,882 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,015 (20) 13,552 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,241 15,768
Overall 228,870 232,568

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 42 runs

[wolfberries]

Camberwell Carrots wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 13,571 13,651
Batting - Middle Order 11,043 12,160
Batting - Tail 5,419 5,101
Bowling - Seam 12,228 (40) 12,298 (40)
Bowling - Spin 13,909 (10) 12,955 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 15,430 16,879
Overall 223,830 231,339

Result: wolfberries won by 7 wickets

Cruised to victory today, which was a surprise but a happy one.

[Atko]

End of over 49 (1 run) - The Raging Speed Horns(170-10). 57 runs required from 1 overs. RR 3.47 RRR 57.00

Egham Town CC won by 56 runs

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Egham Town CC
Batting - Top Order 14,338 14,522
Batting - Middle Order 10,985 11,642
Batting - Tail 5,297 5,280
Bowling - Seam 13,433 (30) 13,886 (40)
Bowling - Spin 15,028 (20) 12,880 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 18,014 17,406
Overall 241,583 241,139

A poor performance. Especially the spinners, who got tonked all over the place - and yeah, humid, but these guys are world class on a sticky, and have delivered before in these conditions. The bloomin' opposition LFS managed to!

We needed another seamer and/or to bat first, but kudos to Egham, they got the job done, and they've taken top spot from us. One positive to come from the game was Vinnie Saxon's 3-34; it sure would be nice to have another strike bowler in the attack - medium pacers and RFS's leave you exposed, especially during Nats weeks. I've found them useful for building pressure, but without a genuine threat bowler they can be a liability.

Once again Charlton (youngest and least experienced bat) top scored - what can ya do?
(for that matter, Saxon, our capable summary number 10 got third top score of 22 )

MKMC tomorrow on a humid/crumbler, and this game has given me food for thought...

[spark]

The Spitfires Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 12,280 13,044
Batting - Middle Order 11,917 10,925
Batting - Tail 5,126 4,738
Bowling - Seam 12,236 (50) 12,780 (33)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 13,978 (17)
Fielding/Keeping 14,197 16,419
Overall 215,940 225,288

Ruff Royals won by 93 runs

It's been a rare clean sweep of wins this week in all formats and it's especially rare as I've got 3 players away. I was a bit worried about this match especially as we're slightly more spin orientated.

I took a bit of a risk with the selection too as I picked an allrounder to open the batting and bowl 3 overs. He didn't do great with the bat but did stick around for 12 balls and took some of the heat from the early bowlers, plus he picked up a wicket for only 4 runs in his 3 overs.

We were made to bat first which I was happy with and we scored a very good 273 on an uneven pitch. 74 for Bullock, 99 for Dickerson (disappointing to miss out on a century there), and a rapid 47 not out in 26 balls for up-and-coming batter Leslie Durham.

We then took early wickets and they never really looked like keeping up with the run rate required. 4-28 from Combs was the best of our bowlers.

Back to winning ways for us but still level on points in 1st place. One of the other teams level on points with us are Goondwindi and we play them next week.

[Atko]

Passamaquoddy Bay Angakkuqs vs The Raging Speed Horns
Cup Matt Krevs Memorial Cup

Weather Hot
Pitch Crumbling

It's MKMC round 5 - and this week we jetted off to Canada to play Passamaquoddy Bay Angakkuqs, who henceforth shall be known as "the oppo" .
I was intrigued by this one - the oppo rate around 230k+, running a squad of 25 and 26yos; they always play on crumbling and always bat first. With humid weather predicted all week for this match, added to Saxon (RF) 's performance in our last league match, I was ready to swap out one of the old guard to field an RF/LF attack. I was also toying with throwing in one of my (admittedly weak) AR's as a pinch hitter. However, the weather changed to hot, and I thought, "Bugger it, go with default."

They won the toss and elected to bat, coming out of the traps aggressively, spanking boundaries from the off. Well, it didn't last long, and with Max Speed back from National duty, wickets were knocked over with pleasing regularity. Our favourite LF bagged himself 5-45 (along with MotM), as we bundled them out for 142. Murray Calver (LM) nabbed three , and the two finger spinners got one apiece. We lost four wickets on the way to victory, but it was never in doubt.

Result: The Raging Speed Horns won by 6 wickets

Match Ratings
Passamaquoddy Bay Angakkuqs The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 13,351 14,378
Batting - Middle Order 11,618 10,716
Batting - Tail 6,338 4,380
Bowling - Seam 13,936 (30) 14,565 (30)
Bowling - Spin 13,409 (20) 14,262 (20)
Fielding/Keeping 16,483 17,808
Overall 236,968 239,160

Round 6 next week, and it starts to get brutal as we face No 7 seed Chesney Champions - stay tuned ....

[spark]

Home Inchigeela Angels
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Tir na Spideoga
League Youth Twenty20 1.1
Date 09 Sep 24 10:00
Crowd 8,488
Weather Hot
Pitch Hard

Life after Pithey is looking tough so far.

I. Milton (rfm) 3-0-34-0, F. Gorry 17 (14b), T. Coates 67 (46b)
End of over 16 (8 runs) - Inchigeela Angels(158-3) RR 9.88

We have slowly been getting that run rate down but I expect to be chasing more than 200. Anything more than 180 and I don't see us doing it.

[wolfberries]

Home Danger Hotspurs
Away wolfberries
Ground White Hot Lane
League Youth Twenty20 2.1
Date 09 Sep 24 10:00
Crowd 9,124
Weather Hot
Pitch Green

Toss: Danger Hotspurs won the toss and elected to bowl.

A. wa Murungi (lm) 4-0-31-1, E. Tucker 72 (55b), L. Bloomfield 3 (3b)
End of over 20 (12 runs) - wolfberries(144-5) RR 7.20

Not sure we are going to defend that total with our bowling in these conditions.

[spark]

D. Buck (rfm) 4-0-27-2, R. Bates 3 (3b), C. Atkins 6 (4b)
End of over 20 (8 runs) - Inchigeela Angels(183-6) RR 9.15

It's not an impossible chase but I think we're going to struggle as we lack a bit of power. We're going to need to get off to a great start.

[Atko]

The Raging Speed Horns vs Bathaloner
League Youth Twenty20 2.2

Weather Hot
Pitch Crumbling

At home to fellow strugglers Bathaloner today. A win would push us 8 points clear of the drop zone, although our rubbish NRR meant a loss might land us right in it! Well, there was no need to worry in the end as we secured a 40 run win against a much weaker Bathaloner.

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Bathaloner
Batting - Top Order 5,913 5,779
Batting - Middle Order 5,995 4,780
Batting - Tail 3,976 3,546
Bowling - Seam 6,141 (6) 5,646 (14)
Bowling - Spin 7,012 (14) 5,197 (6)
Fielding/Keeping 8,246 7,444
Overall 118,057 102,763

[spark]

Inchigeela Angels Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 7,350 7,378
Batting - Middle Order 5,138 5,027
Batting - Tail 3,387 3,596
Bowling - Seam 6,720 (16) 6,233 (16)
Bowling - Spin 6,922 (4) 8,528 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 7,491 8,562
Overall 116,392 119,557

Ruff Royals won by 5 wickets

Quite a big ratings drop but that won't just be missing Pithey as I also need to get games into one of my other bowlers and, with the conditions today, it seemed a decent enough day to replace my second spinner.

A mini collapse from 172-2 to 176-5 has the nerves jangling but, thankfully, we managed to get the last 8 runs within the 8 balls remaining. Buck was the best of my bowlers with 2-27 whilst Macrow got us off to a great start with the bat with 57 from 37 balls. Then Howe got 58 from 37 balls and Foot raced to 51 from 27 balls.

12 points clear of the relegation zone and we're level on points with top spot but 2nd place on net run rate.

[spark]

Home Topmen
Away Ruff Royals
Ground Topmen CG
League Twenty20 1.1
Date 10 Sep 24 10:00
Crowd 20,646
Weather Hot
Pitch Sticky

We might struggle today as I decided I needed to rest my captain and we don't really have a back-up. I decided to use Mwai as my captain which meant taking out Combs who would have been okay to play but wasn't on rested. I also chose to bowl first after winning the toss which might prove a mistake.

Can we overcome the usual glut of batting triggers from Topmen?

T. Zondeki (rf) 2-0-13-1, B. Baha 6 (6b), F. Boyle 0 (3b)
End of over 3 (4 runs) - Topmen(15-1) RR 5.00

Too early to tell if this is going to go my way.

[Atko]

The Raging Speed Horns vs Middlesex Gurus
League Twenty20 3.3

Weather Hot
Pitch Sticky

I often feel with T20 - at least where the sides are evenly matched - that it's win toss, bowl, win match. So you might be wondering why I won toss, batted, lost match? - me too

Gah! Forgot to change up orders from my aggro smash-and-grab failed experiment. Middlesex Gurus duly said, "Thanks very much." and gave us the spanking we deserved. Surprisingly, we managed to squeeze out 122-10 from every ball of our twenty overs, so I can't moan about commitment. But the total just wasn't challenging enough, and the oppo chased it down with 5 balls and 3 wickets to spare.

We continue to languish in the relegation zone with one win from six games, and I'm contemplating just letting us drop to 4 this season and let the team find its own level, rather than bringing in 1st XI players to save the day in the latter games. We'll see how it goes (must change those bloomin' defaults now!) ...

Oh well - les numeros -

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Middlesex Gurus
Batting - Top Order 11,344 11,722
Batting - Middle Order 8,188 9,538
Batting - Tail 5,878 4,162
Bowling - Seam 11,112 (16) 11,478 (16)
Bowling - Spin 11,239 (4) 11,320 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 15,274 14,399
Overall 197,273 197,961

[spark]

Topmen Ruff Royals
Batting - Top Order 13,435 14,727
Batting - Middle Order 10,694 12,103
Batting - Tail 5,830 6,317
Bowling - Seam 12,240 (12) 12,512 (8)
Bowling - Spin 13,141 (8) 13,360 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 15,547 17,424
Overall 223,654 243,652

Ruff Royals won by 8 wickets

We did fine without a proper captain. The bowling was decent enough but it was the batting that really excelled.

They were looking like they'd get 150+ but Westerveld did well at the end with 4-15 from 3.1 overs so we were only chasing 129. That's still challenging on a sticky pitch but Laurence got us off to a good start with 31. House was the star of the batting with 64 not out from 47 balls. Dickerson also hit 28 not out as we got home with about 3 overs to spare.

We somehow find ourselves 4 points clear at the top.