A Thread on the joys of village cricket

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Only 9 games out of the scheduled 43 survived Saturday's rain and the oasis that is Cottam Hall was one of them, as with last week against BAE a shortened game was on the cards and the toss woul;d be vital.
Needless to say we lost the toss and were inserted much to the joy of the visiting players.
By the time Si on Pollard arrived which coincided with another rain break we were 11-2 Chris D chipping one to mid wicket and John M being LBW to Rawlings, John being particularly miffed as we were told to get teh cpvers ready and as soon as he was out off we went.
Game now down to 30 overs Ambrose Hallett swapping the charms of the sunny Middle East for swampy Lancashire wafted his way to 6 and we were now 29-3 when he departed.
The first real and probably only decent stand of the innings now took place as the Steve's Clayton and Richards they put on 35 before Steve Richards departed for 16, Phil C lasted 1 ball not overly happy with the decision, nxt out was Steve Clayton hamoered by a groin injury was well caught at mid on for 28.
Messers Conn and Mackay rallied the score to 77 before Alex was slightly unlucky to be run out following a fine stop and throw from a grounded position.
Mick B went for 2 and the final two wickets didn't last long, with Andy M unbeaten on 13 at teh end
The total of 88 probably wasn't enough and so it proved

A decent start by the visitors although both openers got a life from two half chances which went to hand but did not stick, Alex C finally took his first wicket of the season aided by a catch behind by John M standing up to the wicket Elphick soon followed Parry back to teh pavillion the same combination for us and 32-2 we were in with a sniff however Clarkson and Martin took the score to 62 before Clarkson was adjuged to be run out for 23, Martin then scopped Dave L to Alex and short cover 75-4 no further wickets and Postill's only scoring shot was a six which finished the game.
Fair play to the visitors they bowled and fielded well and our total was probably about 30 runs shy of what would have been a decent score.
A rest for teh seconds this weekend so no doubt the weather will be scorchio.

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The trudge back after a first ball duck we lost will do match blog later

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Ingol at home have played against them for four seasons and have only been on the winning side once, so Saturday's defeat was not unexpected given they are top of the league and unsurprisingly we are not.
An odd pitch green to look at and soft to the touch, team discussion best bet was to lose the toss and let the opposition decide what to do, Bingo lost toss and fielding.
Smith and Dennis opened and as is the Ingol way look to score at a rapid rate, put on 26 in quick time before Smith edge one over the head of the ever static first slip(Me) and was caught by Dave Lever running behind me. Bonus next we get Helm LBW very decent player both wickets to Steve Richards
Dennis found Hallett at cover to give Dennis his first wicket in two season he made 40. Three quick wickets and they were 122-6 and we were in here well we thought we were. Danny Carter's wicket of Houghton leaving a ball which bowled him behind his legs provided much hilarity, claimed he didn't see it.
However Healey and Frost we could not dismiss, Healey being the main man getting 81 before yours truly got him. He had just hit me for an massive six not joking it went miles but playing the shot he got cramp. Two balls later hit the ball to mid off and depart he did.
Chapa hit a six over cover and in teh end they totalled 209-8

The thing about Covid is you have to provide your own teas which has taken a large part of the traditional part of village cricket away hopefully this will be back soon

We opened with a 50 partnership although painfully slow was an achievement in itself for us Messers Duffield and Carter, it did get under the visitors skin and for a while there was a bit of tetchiness from Ingol talking behind the wicket as the bowler runs in carter departed first bowled for 20 before another decent partnership between Duffield and Richards took us to 87 Richards went for 29, Duffield followed soon after for 30.
We were not going to win but we were aiming for some bonus points Hallett blasted his way to 18 and we were 120-4 needing about 25 from 4 overs to get a points 6 runs and 6 wickets we were all out in the last over for 126 aniother successful collapse it's the Wyre way.
Enjoyable game to play in they can be a bit spikey at tiems but decent set of lads have Ingol

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41 players signed on cannot raise a side for a second team friendly this Saturday

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Batting collapse but for whom White Coppice Cricket club

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A bit late apparently system issues with the league up loading site. a trip to White Coppice is always a delight, marathon car journey through the back lanes to the East of Chorley, area is popular with walkers and very few spaces were available to late comers on the
car park
We won the toss elected to bat and lost the wicket of Walters hooking at a short delivery (note no idea when wickets fell as it is the home side Walton Le Dale to put them in and obviously they didn't)
The skipper made 10 before forgeting o hit the ball and Messers Amos and Bruce departed sharpish. Luxton and Conn took us up to about 50 before Conn departed followed quickly By Mr Hankey.
Yours truly arrived and with Mr Luxton put on about 30, as you can see from the card after hitting two fours and a two apparently was out caught for 7. Again I had sight screen issues however these were more than made up for by the Amazon delivery gitl in what can only be described as tight shorts. It is hard enough concentrating on the bowler when behind him is a lass bending over, dirty job but was handled with aplomb.
Luxton went for a good 39 before Ackers hit two fours at the end and a total of 123 was pretty reasonable Valaluwala took 5 wiockets for Walton.
Given these Covid times you have to take your own sandwiches, stumper Jimmy Bruce went one better he brought his own camping grill and the smell of bacon wafted over the ground.
We soon took an early wicket but Newton and Bolton put together a useful stand, Newton scoring 99.9% of his runs on the leg side was the domiminant of the two given he scored 50 however we got in at the other end and chipped away finally getting Newton there was yours truly actually running someone out a miracle and apart from a bit of a brief flurry from Benyon we wrapped up our second victory of the season.
Lever 5-40 but with able support from Walters and Conn

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The first of a double header against Charnock Richard on a warm afternoon and a non too shabby pitch with a bit pace and bounce in it. Consensus win toss and bat which is exactly what Charnock did. A cautious start losing their first wicket at 25 enter Anwar first scoring shot was a stunning shot over cover which went for four to say he was not going to hang about was an understatement although he lost Bond, he hit the ball to all places before holing out on the cover boundary for 37
Brown and skipper Ball steered the ship up to 123 before Ball went, Brown meanwhile stayed the coarse he ended up with 80 helped by Roberts took the score to 192-8 a more than useful score however has to be said our inbility to catch a ball did cost us quite a lot of runs, we also had a coupe of refusals
Ackerman 4 wickets the right type of wicket for leg spin, however the pace Mick Bevridge put in as now got him the nickname of the Ginger Jofra Archer
We got of to a good although slow start losing our first wicket at 37, al the top order contributed which was unusual for us although our painfully slow run rate meant there was absolutely zero chance of getting the 193 to win, so it was about getting batting bonus points The Charnock bowlers Anwar, Mitchell and Meadows gave nothing away all accurate on or just outside off stump, as good as any bowlers in this division.
Bevridge came in whacked his way to a rapid 44 but received scant resistance from the tail and we fell short of a bonus point.
Michell 4 wickets Anwar 3 and the points duly went to Charnock as they also did today.

Another of my unusual ways to get out, standing at the non strikers end, Scott Taylor middles one staright back to the bowler who drops the catch however the power on the ball meant it his the stumps at teh other end, yep out of the crease didn't even wait the Umpires finger or the Hancock as it is now known. Match report on this epic later

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It looked a belter didn't play like it, lacked pace

The second match against Charnock ended like the first and back to the bottom of the table we go. In truth 73 was never enough, winning the toss we crawled along at snails pace.
Steve Clayton first to go at 16(Steve wandering back pondering his dismissal and loss of his phone, he was later to pull his groin epic day not)



Andy Bamford didn't last long soon followed by the skipper 30-3 a decent stand between beveridge and Dennis took us to the giddy heights of 43-4 with little batting to come the thoughts of an early finish started to kick in. Dennis, Bruce and Myself fell in the space of two runs 60-7 and a bit of late order slogging by Lever and 74 year old wicket keeper Willets took us to 73

After a socially distance tea which now means absolutely nothing Charnock started their run chase lost the early wicket of Dilcock caught well by Warburton off Taylor, this brought Anwar who slogged a quick 17 to break the back of the total, soon got rid of Brown but opener Higham and Weir took them home.
Weir has the oddest stance in cricket looks as if he has never played in his life but he survived personally gave hm some declaration bowling to get the game over with.
Onwards and downwards only, no game for the next two Saturdays means I can rest my body

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Covers have been vandalised

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New Longton




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Penwortham 4ths





A rarity a double header on what probably the hostest weekend of the season, both games away against sides that play on other teams grounds both in the Southport area so two round trips of about 60 miles in successive days .
The New Longton was played at Tarleton and the Penwortham game at Bretherton, both smallish grounds.
We actually got to ue the changing room at Tarleton a first this season. Odd looking wicket been used before a bat first first wicket, as it looked like it would get worse as the game progressed. We won the toss and batted half the job done or it would have been if we had actually batted well, we didn't only Mark Luxton with 15 looked to have any hint of permamnance however your truly ran him out, also ran Jamie Hughes out however Jaamie can best be described as a rabbit and I was just trying o get the strike back that's my excuse.
So 75 never really looked a good score although the usual Wyre inability to catch a ball. Both long on and off spilled one in the first three overs.
We got a couple of early wickets but Pepi and Tynan put on nearly 30 to get them to 48-3 which menat common sense batting would take them home. More catches spilled including 2 in the first two balls from me, I had an smile on my first as I trudged back to the boundary at the end of the early, A 46 finish from my bowling meant the end of the game.
Went in a pub the Cock and Bottle Tarleton, get a table go to the bar order your beer and they bring it too you, still prefer the old ways.

Sunday rinse and repeat although Hallett's innings of slogging should have led us to a better totale but the rest of the team's inability to bat again reared it's ugly head although Penwortham had a leg spinner Orikhail who was without doubt the best bowler we have played against this season. I got a bueaty pitched turned and bowled however some got out to dire shots.
With the sun burning down catches were spilled again and short boundaries on either side meant pitching short meant lost balls.
Carried on in the same vein with the bowling first two bals went 46 first over went for 20 as Padmananabha 43* kept putting me into orbit.
They won with ease as we cement our position at the bottom of the league.
And the pub across the road wasn't open Shameful

Will do yesterday's epic later in the week did the wheel's fall off the Wyre wagon? Too right they did

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Can actually class this as one that got away we had them at 121-8 with a shed load of overs left, if we had got Rob Walmsley out even earlier probably might have been in a even better position to win, however the aforementioned Walmsley was LBW to yours truly for a really good 56 BAE were actually only 64-3, got Hashmi next ball on a hat trick and 64-4 did not get the hat trick although nearly got another the ball later.We started to whittle through them and 121-8 in clover then the wheels started to come off big time. Kavi and Vara started to put together a useful partnership with Vara feasting on some generous dross by sending three sixes over the Preston Blackpool railyway line, not as impressive as you think the wicket was pitched about 30 yards from the track, they added 81 for the 9th wicket and to say this flattened us is an understatement.
Stuart Walters bowled well for us with scant rewarded whilst yours truly rocked up with 3-32
Chasing 209 was always a tough task
Mark Luxton soon went and a few lusty blows from Ambrose Hallett gave the score a respectable look, but no one could stay with Stuart Walters who on top of his bowling scored 54 only Neil Hankey got double figueres as we fell to a 90 run defeat
Walmsley and Hashimi both took 3 wickets

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Today was not a good day, playing at a school about a mile from were I live on a knackered artificial wicket, we lost the toss and stumbled our way to 93 all out a score that was about 200 short of being a respectable total, only Dave Wright with 44 and me with 16 seemed to sugeest any permanence. Wright was last out and I was out brilliantly caught by the stumper off an inside edge going down leg side. It was however mainly a procession, give them credit they bowled and fielded well on an outfield with was marked with a 100 metre runnig track, by the way it looks a massive distance, also had football markings and rabbit holes.
We didn't actually bowl to badly dropped a couple of chances however the two openers took them home to an easy win, Brown with 73 not out.
A friendly tomorrow then a week off followed by a trip to the league leaders and apparently I'm captain, what could possibly go wrong

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A souvenir from Saturday

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We ended up chasing 353 yesterday we didn't get them

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Well a weekend in Kabul might have been a better option than this massacre, as skipper for the day hospital pass from the committee could be the phrase however when the first team skipper goes on holiday and two of his sons both first teamers also go, the second team skipper is also away and a lack of availability meant a slightly weakened first team meant a even weaker second team. The team selected didn't look two bad but the two first teamers we had were suddenly whisked elsewhere meant may be a long afternoon.
However Saturday dawned off to the league leaders and the fact there was rain forecast meant we had a greater chance of surviving grew. Winning the toss was key and I duly did that
The wicket was a road and by the 18th over they had rocked up 150-0 we had dropped 1 chance a catch behind of Steve Clayton who seeing he hadn't bowled this season put in a pretty decent spell.
The gplden arm of the captain bowled Hain and in the over we got the other opener Veera for 75 and 69 respectively, back in the game well almost from then on in it was carnage as Goodin and Fiddler sent the ball to all parts of the Globe although we did have Goodin stumped but as bowler didn't appeal we didn't get the decision he was about 20 at the time personally thought it was an interesting interpretation of the rules given I was 20 yards away and didn't know.
Our fielding wasn't the best our wonderful ability to misjudge the bounce the ball on the boundry cost us about 40 runs. As the innings wore on the fielding understandibly got worse, catches went down not easy when there is snow on the ball, ended up bowling to three men straight behind the bowler, a couple of late wickets and they declared having broken the Division 6 record.
Good point though none of them got a century
So we had 51 overs to get 353
An opening stand of about 70 was a good start however it did take about 30 overs, Steve Clayton scored 51 his first fifty for teh second team, Rob Abbott a bright and brezie 20 and Andy Bamford a qquick 18.
Steadfast at one end was Tony Horsfall who was playing his first match of the season to ensure this was the 55th consecutive season he had played a game. Tony likes to occupy the crease played in a game were he got 5 from 109 balls
He got 17 as the procession to and from the wicket began, with 7 balls to go we are 9 down and have the chance to deny them 3 extra points. Instructions to Jimmy tell Tom to block the last over out, first ball Tom, takes a run, next ball Jimmy is out guess there was something of a message confusion somewhere along the line.
Next week we have even less available

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In the old days the scorebook was king however now the scoring app is king hence the scorecard of the game played today. Had a slightly stronger side out this week although only just, wasn't helped by having two batsmen late arriving which given I'd lost the toss and having been put in meant a change in the batting order.
So I opened setting a captain's example of leading from the front well for two balls at least, the opening bowler for Blackpool was a girl of about 14. First ball lifted a bit got bat on it, second was slightly further pitched up and a hapless swing across the line and it was 0-1
we rallied a little and the second wicket went down 2-2
A decent partnership between Beveridge and Dennis with Beveridge hitting some lusty blows 39-3, enter Matt Westhead usually Matt has gone in low down the order but given the latish arrivals he went in at 5 and did a very good job shared in a good partnership with Steve Dennis who had opened took the score to 67 before Dennis was out for 29.
Scoring wasn't easyand wickets started to tumble Westhead got 15, Clayton 20 however the tail didn't wag and we were all out for 95



Opening for Blackpool was Kieran Newcombe who two seasons ago scored a century against us on a day when there was a 70 mph gale blowing and two our lads fielded with coats on under their cricket sweaters it was the coldest I've ever been playing the summer game

Newcombe and Galligan put on 45 for the first wicket, they batted well had a bit of luck especially after an excellent spell by Beveridge who bowled at pace and got some lift, Dennis at the other end bowled better after a loose first over although teh app has it down as Steve Clayton
The aforementioned Clayton did break the partnership by bowling Galligan, Sainsbury looked like he would depart at any time and both he and Newcombe went in quick succession to Clayton after a few overs of pace turned to leg spin.
Fighting back I took two wickets but they got home by 5 wickets. Great performance in the field by us made them fight especially seeing it was raining for most of the time when we were bowling