CURTIS-BENNETT 2016 – QUARTER RESULTS
York’s @ Humberside v Cheltenham No 2s
Keighley CC ground, sun drenched day. No 2s won the toss, elected to bat. CraigBaker and Mark Febery assuming the positions versus young left armer swinger Mo Pandoor and evergreen Ritu Ghose.
The former set the days tone by working over the top batting order. First shooting outFebery lbw 0 and Callum Wilson bowled 2.Ghose chipped in despatching Craig Baker bowled 14. 9 f 1, 19 f 2, 21 f 3.Robbie Baker came and went for 2, bowled Pandoor. 4th wicker down at 25. Outlook seemingly grim for Chelts. Need some backbone, steady the listing ship. Hey, hey a minor stand between Bradley Attwood and Gerald Baker puts on 16 runs. Alas Bradley on 8 caught & bowled by, yes that man again, Pandoor. 45 f 5. Soon to be followed by Gerald Baker caught off the bowling of Y&H skipper Myers. 50 f 6. Tight bowling by Myers and Newton 9 runs in 5 overs and the screws were on. Newcomers to the crease Tony Pope and Matthew Edwards get stuck in. Oh dear Edwards dropped immediately at slip off Myers. Followed by another chance off Myers as the ball passed between keeper and 1stslip. Would Y & H rue thechances? Score rising. A brighter outlook on the horizon. Steady and sensible batting, the odd scare but good stuff. 100 up. Looking better. Overs no problem, yet. Alas Edwards down the wrong line bowled Myers but 27 priceless runs. 106 f 7. These two had put on 56 runs in 14 overs. Pope still there26. Steve Griffiths in, one ball and out. Myers bowls him. 106 f 8. Can the last batsmen do something, anything to support Pope? Answer not a lot. Stuck on 26, unable to get to the bowling end. Lewis Febery caught via bowling Newton 1. 109 f 9. Pope. Last man John Garrett no helpin gone in oneNewton again. Pope stranded on 27 a sterling effort. Innings closes 109includingleg byes 4, wides 15, and no balls 1.
Bowling: Pandoor 10-3-19-4, Ghose 6-1-16-1, Newton 9-3-16-2, Myers 10-1-30-3 and Hickman 4-1-22-0.
Sumptuous refreshment, back to the fray.
With usual captain and opener Jon Trower sunning himself in Portugal, it was left to Tony Leighton to step up accompanied by experienced, some might even say veteran Phil Sharples. Against Garrett and Pope. Not much rest for the latter. A breakthrough, Pope continuing his good day, slipped a crippler through Leighton’s defences, gone for 9 including 2 x fours. 13 f 1. Sharples yet to register his first run. Incoming Ryan gets embroiled in a good partnership. But 33 runs later stranded, smartly stumped by keeper Craig Baker off the impressive bowling of Lewis Febery. Yes 13 definitely unlucky for some. 42 f 2. Humphries in. Score moves to 62. Newton 6 misjudgesbowled Lewis Febery.62 f 3. Humphriesstayed but a short while before falling caught Attwood to Newton 72 f 4. Seven runs later the hitherto untroubled Sharples miscued and is caught Garrett off Febery. A solid most impressive 39. Score 79 f 5 and half the total to dear old Phil. It’s true you know there’s life in the old dogs yet! Wow. And he lives in Halifax, somebody has to. So a glimmer of hope for No 2s? Left to Hickman batting lower down the order than his usual number 5 slot due to injury. Together withPotter these two bring home the bacon without further loss.13 and 15 runs respectively. 9.4 overs to spare.Innings closes at 110 f 5 includes 12 wides. Roger the lodger over and out.
Bowling: Garrett 5-0—17-0, Pope 6-2-19-1, Lewis Febery 10-2-24-3, Callum Wilson 4-1-19-0-, Steve Griffiths 5-0—28-1and Bradley Attwood 0.2-0-2-0.
Thought before the game it would be a close affair. Events on the day proved otherwise. Batting not that easy. One major difference in NO2s innings only 6 fours and one 6 were struck compared with that of Y & Hs 15 fours. Some very good performances i.e. Pandoor’s 4 f 19 including overs 5, 6 and 7 maiden, wicket maiden and maiden.Perhaps a future lies before him and Myers 10 overs 3 f 30. Not forgetting “Mr Reliable” Phil Sharples holding the innings together a fine knock 39 to his name. Last but not least what proved to be the winning partnership Matt Edwards and Tony Pope, 56 for the 6th wicket to see Y & H home?
Not to be ignored No 2s Lewis Febery’s 3 f 24 off 10, Tony Pope’s 27 not out and his 1 f 19 off 6. Good all-round performance.
A good day at the office it was not for No2’s but a different kettle of fish for Y & H who march on to the semis.Never did get that ride on the Keighley and Worth Valley heritage steam railway. Shades of the Railway Children. Another day perhaps!
Merseyside Dynamos v Bolton
Venue New Brighton CC.The other side of the river, the posh side I’m am told. Any truth in that certainly not getting involved.
A terrible week of weather led to much trepidation the match would even be played. A wash out looming? Not so, the New Brighton ground staff had put in a tremendous effort ensuring the game could be played. An excellent pitch to boot. A real batting treat. Bolton current holders of the CB Shield had a tad of bother raising a full side but they manfully turned out with their depleted team. Dynamos first knock. Pennington and Coonan opening against Patel and Bowden.
A steady start saw 40 up in even time but one run later change bowler Umarji produced a peach of a ball to dismiss Pennington for 27. Forty one f 1. This brought Bell in and it proved the catalyst for an early Bolton wicket haul. Bell 12 caught Bowden bowled Patel. K Pennington lbw to Bowden 1, Barnes caught and bowled Patel 3, Holliday run out 1. For the addition of only 23 more runs. 75 f 5. Four wickets falling in the space of a trice mainly to a series of rank bad shots and poor running left Dynamos rocking. Bolton bowling superbly at this stage and when the 6th wicket fell immediately after drinks the score stood at 98 f 6. Bolton in to effect the kill. One man stood in their way, opener Coonan steadily accumulating his runs seemingly not affected by the timber crashing down around his ears. He notched up his half century scoring steadily with a series of twos on the large outfield and by keeping strike. His 100 on the cards. Supported by latter batsmen Newton and Graves the score mounted appreciatively. Graves then produced an exquisitecover drive to shouts of “shot of the day”. Obviously went to his head. Removed by Bowden the very next ball attempting a legside four but his 13 runs and support to the cause had been invaluable. Coonan reached his century soon after.Dynamos 200 up and counting. Coonan continued on his merry way scoring freely. Newman bowled Umarji 17, M Graves bowled Bowden 7 and Bushnell 0 falling to Umarji saw the score to 220 f 9.Coonan aided by last man Redhead added a further 18 runs before Umarji finished off the innings bowling Redhead nine. 238 all out including 20 extras. 5 balls left in the locker. Coonan 129 not out.What an innings.
Bowling: Bowden 10-1-31-3, Patel 10-0-51-2, Miles 3-0-31-0, Umarji 9.1-1-40-4 and Royle 7-0-81-0. Miscellaneous extras 20.
After a tea good enough to set before a King, Bolton got down to it. At this stage it needs to be remembered Bolton only had six bona fide batsmen. The other 5 were the also rans, the make up the side men. Unable to bat.
Royle and Bowden scoring quickly, freely, finding gaps in the field amassed 40 plus in the first 4 overs. The expensive Holliday taken for 25 off 2 overs was taken out of the attack replaced by K Pennington in an effort to tighten up and slow things down. Immediate breakthrough. A leggy shot from Royle saw him caught inside the boundary by Barnes off Pennington.Bowden moving like greased lightning accumulating runs like fury. New batsman Patel tried to follow but was soon out caught Bushnell from Pennington, 5 runs. Two down but Bolton gave the impression it was well within their capabilities to chase down Dynamos score, about 5 an over at this stage. Bowden going at such a rate of knots you’d have thought the Devil Incarnate wassitting on his tail. Umarji joining Bowden scored impressively reaching 26 before an excellent throw from Bell left him well short of his ground, run out 26. But the general feeling was there was stillplenty of time left to score the runs. Interesting at this point there were already 20 extras in the pot. Bowden playing extremely well absolutely itching to maintain the strike at the end of each over. Holliday returned for one last throw of his dice. Success as he trapped Vaid in front for a duck. Bowden dropped on 61 and 79 reached his century and continued to hog the bowling understandably. As Bolton neared the target 49 from 90 balls there was a happening. Bowden popped a return catch to Holliday who claimed the catch. The umpire’s finger rose but the square leg umpire was in disagreement. In the reigning confusion Miles at the non-strikersend left his crease to steal a single leaving fielder Bell to gleefully removed the bails. Further confusion reigned over who was the last man out. It was eventually agreed Miles would have to go. And sadly with the 5th down and no other batsman to follow victory thus fell into Dynamos hands. Bolton 199 f 5 in 24.5 overs.Bowden 129 not out. What a thrash he so nearly succeeded in gaining victory for Bolton. Oh for the other five. It should have been a Glen Hoddle, a doddle.
Bowling: Holliday 6.5-0-65-1, Barnes 7-0-49-0, K Pennington 16-0-38-2, A Pennington 4-0-30-0 and Bushnell 1-0-5-0. Miscellaneous extras 28.
In a strange game in many ways two highly entertaining 100s scored. Runs galore. In all the mayhem splendid bowling returns by Bolton’s Umarji 4 f 40 and Bowden’s 3 f 30 not forgetting his 129 not out or was it 132 run out. Likewise Miles the last man out for 0 or was it 0 not out. Technical matters, no point in asking me I’m as confused as the rest. However with a full side, 15.5 overs left and only 40 runs to victory the game must surely have swung in Bolton’s favour. Still on this weird day The Gods decreed otherwise. Suffice to say all played in a very friendly manner and a great day had by one and all. Holders out, Dynamos march on to dare I say, more testing games.
Cheltenham No 1s v HASSRA Wales
Cheltenham sports ground. Home side winning the toss elected to bat. Adrian Mayes and Gordon Wint versus BryanThomas and Nigel Morse. No 1s take the battle straight to the heart of HASSRA. Mayes taking advantage of Wales’s straight up and down trundlers. Particularly severe on anything loose or was it anything at all? Rattling along in excess of a run a ball. Fours his speciality. Liberally spraying the red cherry to all parts of the field. Ably supported by Wint batting in a more sedate manner, as the perfect foil. Change bowlers had no real effect the score whacking on remorselessly along. Good fielding managed to hold things down for a short period but there was no holding Mayes. 100 up on the scoreboard in rapid fashion How to apply the brakes otherwise an extremely high score could be on the cards. Success with the score on 124 Wint left his leg in the way and departed lbw 37 to Bryan Thomas. Mayes not out 67. Wales mopped theirfevered brows, what next. Nothing changed the hammer continued to fall with monotony. Incoming batsman Matthew Barrett took up where the innings had temporary halted. Run rate continued unabated. Barrett getting into the swing of things got into the knocking fours act. Mayes at the other end in matching stride. 150 on the board. Bowling changes abound. To no avail. Mayes nearing his 100. Disaster strikes. Phil Harris slips one in and Mayes is bowled for 99. Oh dear, if any one deserved a century it was Mayes. Still he left the field with a smile on his face, job well done but the one run would have been the icing on the cake. Goodness knows what he said back in the hutch! Super innings Mr Mayes your 99 runs a real treat. 73 balls, 19 fours. Obviously not one for running quick signals on this day. So 172 f 2 Barrett on 14. Enter Ben Gaskin No 1s keeper. How would he fare with the bat? Didn’t take long to find out. The boundaries continued. Past 200 onto 250 and beyond but at 272 Barrett sent one towards Tom Tippett who pouched the catch comfortably curtesy bowler Roger Langley. 84 runs, 8 x 4s, approximate average 2 per ball or 47 balls in all. Some little comfort to the HASSRA bowlers but a wicket is a wicket. Beggars can’t be choosers. 272 f 3. Ben Homer 49 not out. Billy Parker to the crease. Run a ball brought him 11 runs at which stage he proffered a catch gratefully accepted by Harris off Tippett. Light relief smiles around but No1s well out of sight. 321 for 4. Gaskin 83 no, could he reach three figures from the few remaining deliveries. Unfortunately no as the last balls fell to James Hill11 off 8 bringing the innings to a close at 333 f 4 including 8 wides and 4 no balls. Gaskin 84 no including 8 x 4s and 4 x 6s and Hill 11 no.
Bowling: Thomas 10-1-30-1, Morse 3-0-37-0, Daley 4-0-35-0, Flynn 3-0-36-0, Harris 5-0-30-1, Morgan 5-0-36-0, Tippett 5-0-48-1, Langley3-0-46-0 and Roberts 2-0—21-0. Extras:
Wides 8no balls 4.
And so to tea, welcome refreshments. A chance to put the feet up but not for long. HASSRA soon out to face the music. Surely a chase too far. And so it proved to be.In no time at all HASSRA found themselves floundering in deep mire.
On a normal day HASSRA can always be relied on to pass the three figure mark and more. But this day was not a normal day. Their batting went from bad to worse. Suffice to say 26 all out including one wide in 13.2 overs sums up the total disaster.
Bowling: Hill 3-1-5-3, Harrod 3-0-5-2, Homer 3-1-5-2, Bridge 2-1-2-2, Parker 1.2-1-0-1, Robinson 1-0-1-0.
For Cheltenham went the day well. HASSRA the reverse. Very bad day at the office. A one off. Just remember every side suffers from time to time so no need to dwell on this longer. Nevertheless game played in very good spiritand happy to report despite this defeat HASSRA are champing at the bit and will be back next season. Well done chaps. “Who could ask for anything more” 1940Pal Joey, Frank Sinatra.
Blackpool & Fylde v HMRC/RCLS
Thornton-Cleveleys fine weather. HMRC first to the oche.Let the darts begin. Oops sorry wrong game.Understand HMRC may have had to incorporate some committee members into the team? If so suggest it could only have been for the greater good! Barrass and Cooper face up to bowlers Thomas and Parker. Maiden by Thomas. Cooper caught Blampied, wicket to Thomas. 9 f 1. Clarke hurries in. Barrass bowled Parker 6. 13 f 2. Batsman no 4 (name unreadable-Thompson?) joins Clarke. Short stand of 20 brought to an abrupt halt. Clarke caught O’Rourke off Thomas 7. 33 f 3. HMRC in a spot of bother so to speak. Batsman no 5 (name also unreadable) to the wicket. Thomas bowling with accuracy, first 5 overs gives him a return of 2 f 12. Good work. A stand required pretty quickly. 4 and 5 duly oblige. Workman like partnership develops. Good running between wickets liberally sprinkled with fours to bring the 100 up in the 20th. But all good things must come to an end. No 4 miscues caught Watts from Laird. Splendid 57 includes 4x4s and 2x6s. 143 f 4. This stand worth 110 runs gets HMRC back on track.Laurence strides in. Now how many times do you hear the old story lose a wicket and another follows, precisely so. Laurenceon 9 offers one to Ian Davies, accepted gratefully wicket to Parker. 156 f 5. No 5 still there.Another 30 added at which point batsman No 5 falls caught Davies off the returned opening bowler Thomas. An excellent innings just when needed. 54, 6x4s and one 6.Score 156 f 5. Game swinging back to Fylde.In the balance might you say?Another 30 runs later Hayward out caught Davies off Parker for 9. 184 f 7.The last three wickets by coincidence accumulate yet another 30 runs. Marks and Thake see the innings to a close. Final total 214 f 7. Extras included byes 11-leggies 1-wides 23-no balls 4. This will take some catching.
Bowlers: Thomas 8-2-29-3, Parker 6-0-49-2, Davies 8-0-48-0, Ball 6-0-46-0 and Laird 4-0-32-2.
Break and tea.Feeding time at the zoo. Scrumptious.
Blampied and Hisloplooking to deal with Thake and Laurence. Slow start early wicket. Hislop having struck a 6 puts one in the air Thompson takesit wicket to Laurence. 13 f 1. Parker next in 14 runs added before Blampied16 is caught by Thompson again from Thake. 29 f 2. Clarke next in soon goes for the early bath. Thompson once more does the honours takes the catch Clarke the wicket. 41 f 3. Fylde in a not dissimilar positon to HMRC at this point in the innings. Ball joins up with Parker the latter of who is still soldiering on peacefully. Fylde need a pick me up if they are to get anywhere near 200 runs.Ball goes caught Clarke off Laurence for 5. 48 f 4, things not looking good. Now it’s Lairds turn. What can he do? Answer not a lot. 54 f 5 his share 6. Ian Davies to the rescue? Meanwhile disaster befalls the hitherto solid Parker. In a knot gets his wires crossed finishes up caught and bowled Clarke. 26 runs. 67 f 6. Writing on the wall. Fylde hopes deteriorating fast. 214 a long way away, a jolly jolly long way away.The last three wickets, batsmen, were unable to contribute much adding only 12 more runs to the total. Final score 78 all out including byes 1- leggies 3 - wides 5.