TEAMS - SAT 30TH JULY

SAT 30TH JULY

1ST XI V Byfleet (H)

1 Ali 2 Davies © 3 Tong, I 4 Raza 5 O'Mahoney (+) 6 Maddoc-Jones James 7 Cronin 8 Tong, G 9 Abeyrante, Vishva 10 Tughral, Zam 11 Shinde

U: B. Sissen S: A. Whitcher

M: 12:30 S: 13:30

2ND XI V Old Paulines (A)

1 Cole 2 Tughral, Zo 3 Crowther 4 Clements 5 Jackson 6 Soppitt 7 Copeland H (+) 8 Charlton, E 9 Tanveer, Fahad 10 Webster © 11 Lown

U: S. Riley S: N/A

M: 11:30 S: 13:00

3RD XI V Thames Ditton (H)

1 Singh © 2 Hirsch 3 Lloyd 4 Haddock 5 Edmonds 6 Rudolph, Matt + 7 Breakwell 8 Unsworth 9 Selves 10 Ilyas, Aqeel 11 Linter

U: N/A S: N/A

M: 12:00 S: 13:00

Good luck to everyone involved...

WICK

England vs India - The Recriminations

"India's fielding - about as mobile as an order of aloo gobi"

Indian supporters on Cricinfo are hurting today. A comprehensive roasting at Lords on a pretty blameless surface has rather dented the hype. No Sachin ton, India fielded like an order of aloo gobi and the stony faces on the oppo balcony spoke volumes of professional misery.

MSD in his post match interview with Athers claimed that India suffered some cruel misfortune. And he's probably right. But no-one wants The Little Master suffering from Camden Colon or Zaheer's hamstring to detract from a brilliant England win.

Pietersen, Trott, Prior and Broad all batted out of their skins at high pressure moments. The bowlers took 20 wickets on what was a good track without the help of DRS. We survived a terrible insertion on the first day when the ball was hooping round corners.

Interestingly you have to ask if Duncan Fletcher is relishing this challenge. He looked fairly inscrutable up there on the Indian balcony. But he looks like he's got a tough job to do to get India into the right frame of mind.

Zaheer looked anything but fit. In fact he looked like he'd had too many coories. Samit Patel must be kicking himself he's English because if Zaheer can get a game looking like a 42 year old Elvis while Jimmy Anderson has to slim down to Amy Winehouse size, he'd have played 100 Tests by now. (Oh - okay - he's not that good). And the rest of them didn't look in peak physical condition either. Contrast the look of the England lot - the bowlers all fresh no doubt from some shoot or other with a magazine with pink in its badge, the batsmen all looking like they've spent as much time as Tremmers on the rowing machine - and you begin to wonder whether India have some fundamental issues with team ethic and desire.

A couple of commentators have pointed to the lack of warms ups, the desultory netting, the wearing of sweaters while bowling and the general brainlessness of some of their match play at key moments (funny how Pietersen and Prior could score at will in a Test Match situation but Prior can't get it off the square in a 50 over game) and you wonder whether Dunc can turn it round or whether he's just a really clever babysitter that needs to wait for some of the egos to leave the team before he can create change.

"Whatever" Wickman says. Unless everyone is completely gone in the head (Dravid didn't look that way, and Suresh Raina looked class [if a little chubby of cheek]) there's no way that India will continue to obligingly fall over when batting and Wickman was never sure why Munaf Patel or that strange chipmunk like fellow Sreesanth weren't picked so he's expecting some sort of resurgence on Friday...

TEAMS - SAT 23RD JULY

SAT 23RD JULY

1ST XI V Wallington (A)

1 Ali 2 Davies © 3 Day 4 Raza 5 O'Mahoney (+) 6 High 7 Maddoc-Jones James 8 Crowther 9 Tong, G 10 Abeyrante, Vishva 11 Tughral, Zam

U: K. Nicholls S: A. Whitcher

M: 11:30 S: 13:30

2ND XI V Woodmansterne (H)

1 Cole 2 Rashid 3 Fudge © 4 Tughral, Zo 5 Byrne, Dan 6 Soppitt 7 Copeland H (+) 8 Tanveer, Fahad 9 Shinde 10 Goodwin 11 Lown

U: S. Riley S: G. Unsworth

M: 12:00 S: 13:00

3RD XI V Ashford (A)

1 Risman 2 Jackson 3 Singh © 4 Lloyd 5 Ratnage S 6 Clements Tom (+) 7 Oliver, Robbie 8 Charlton, E 9 Ilyas, Aqeel 10 Donnelly 11 Linter

U: K. Bryan S: N/A

M: 11:30 S: 13:00

Good luck to everyone involved...

WICK

2011 HWRCC CLUB DAY...

It's Coming... The Club Event of the Year is nearly here!!

2011 HWRCC CLUB DAY - THE SIXES SHIELD

This years Fancy Dress Theme; Pop Stars/Bands.

Club Day Includes;

Fancy Dress 6 aside competition - BBQ Lunch - Live DJ - Hot Tub* - Pimms Bar - Corona Bar - Slow Race - Man of the Tournament - Prat of the Tournament - & Much, Much More...

Don't miss out on the best social of the year!!

HWRCC 2011 CLUB DAY - TEAMS

SIMPLY RED

P. Hibberd © D. Fudge K. Raza M. Mackie J. Breakwell G. Unsworth D. Lown

KISS

G. Tong © A. Day F. Murray H. Copeland F. Tanveer P. Miles M. Bal

TBC

T. Crowther © M. Davies I. Tong V. Abeyrante P. Linter C. Powell S. Riley

TBC

J. Lloyd © N. Ali M. Cronin S. Ratnage R. Oliver E. Charlton A. Ilyas

TBC

C. High © I. Rashid Zo Tughral C. Edmonds D. Soppitt S. Shinde D. Bendall

TBC

A. Crane © A. O'Mahoney T. Clements J. Hirsch Zam Tughral N. Weerakoon C. Appleyard

WICK

* Please note that the Hot Tub may not be hot. It may not even be a tub.

Daddy Hundreds

Wickman was watching a fantastic interview with Alastair Cook on Sky this evening - Charles Colville asking the questions - before suddenly being sent into a terrible rage by THE most irritating piece of cricket speak ever devised.

Now Wickman knows that cricket is no longer played by Gentlemen and Amateurs. He has been guilty down the years of some use of fruity urban language on the pitch, the balcony and in the bar. He realises that the correct response to a 19 wicket test match haul is no longer to hitch up your cream flannels and shake hands with your skipper. He knows that the England captain is no longer likely to have been to Eton or Harrow (although the current Test Captain did go to Radley which Wickman believes to be acceptable and the one day captain went to Bedford Modern [which sounds ghastly but dates back to the 16th century]) and probably won't have a Blue.

The fact that modern cricketers call a Bosie a Googly and that for some reason commentators now call the new ball in a Test Match the 2nd new ball when in the old days we all knew that the new ball was the one you got after 80 overs because you couldn't start a Test Match with anything other than a new ball occasionally causes Wickman to thrash around in his sleep. But he is seldom moved to abused the television.

However the "Daddy" hundred takes the biscuit, drops it on the kitchen floor in a pool of dog spittle, picks it up and eats it. Wickman was brought up on Graham Gooch. For much of Wickman's early cricketing education the moustachioed one was at one end with Boycs, Brearly, Broady or someone else at the other. He scored big runs. He smashed it. He muscled it. He had a big eff-off moustache that was the rival of any Australian soup strainer.

Goochy's had, as the modern parlance would have it, a shocker with the... Wickman can't write it again... oh... Daddy hundred. What in God's name does it mean? Why is a big hundred a Daddy? What hideousness in Essex can have caused Gooch to come up with this execrable piece of badinage and to feed it to his disciple Cook? Did Obi Wan Kenobi (say it quickly and the word wank is heard) come up with something similar? No - he talked of the force and managed to misdirect the weak minded to look for other droids. He did NOT talk of Daddy lightsabres and the like.

Wickman is lead to believe that the phrase originates from the common vernacular of saying "Who's Your Daddy?". Wickman has heard it said that this is not an enquiry to be asked of young Scrotes as one apprehends them scrumping in your orchard (obviously the correct usage would be "father" here), but is used by young men to display authority as they copulate with loose moralled young women. Although even in Essex it escapes Wickman as to why you would want to remind a young lady of her father in such delicate circumstances.

Wickman now imagines a chubby Goochie smashing Kapil Dev and the others around Lords in 1993 thinking "I really need something to say to them which will subdue them and remind them of their submissive situation" and being at a loss for words. Later, post retirement, he stumbles across the phraseology and passes it on to Cook and the other England players. Now they imagine themselves astride the Aussies, the Sri Lankans and others shouting "Who's your Daddy?" at the top of their voices, giving it the old Brokeback Mountain treatment to some poor bowler.

It's just wrong. It's even more wrong coming from the mouth of Cook, Strauss and Swann in interviews. You can tell they are trying to establish it as vernacular, as argot as part of the game. And it stinks. It stinks like fish left out in the midday sun infested with maggots. It sounds pathetic, juvenile... like a playground thing. If Sachin Tendulkar scores a double this Summer will he describe it as a "Daddyji"? Would Brian Lara ever call his 401 a Daddy score? Steve Waugh? Mark Taylor? Boony? Len Hutton? Bradman? Hayden? Anyone but a modern English cricketer?

It's an abomination. Do NOT use it.

1s Triumph to Open Up 44 Point Gap to 3rd Place - Match Report by Matty D

1xi vs Guildford City
Guildford City 156 (32 Overs)
HWRCC 1xi 158-4 (22.5 Overs)

Scorecard

''Guildford Cricket'' was invented in 2006 in homage to the Wick's performance against Guildford City on the last game of that season. We needed to either get 4 points or stop GC winning to secure promotion for ourselves. Having got 184 (and therefore maximum batting points) they declared, leaving us a difficult chase. We were soon in the shyte at 28-6. Were we going to cock it up right at the last, having been unbeaten and top the league all year? No, thereafter ensued the most almighty block-session. The likes of Ewen and Tughral (one of only three surviving players in this fixture) fought their way to 76-8 off 45, meaning we didn't lose (and GC didn't win) - and we were promoted.

Last year our game against GC was abandoned due to the pitch being deemed unfit for play. Yours truly was playing in that game, and was going quite well, until one reared from a length and hit me in the face.

You could say this fixture has history.

2011 was no different. On the balcony Coley called it "the greatest win he'd ever seen down the Wick". Thats some statement.

The day started for me on the Number 4 bus heading from Highbury to Waterloo. Text from Fudgey suggesting I "get down the Wick and get the covers off".

'Since when do we have covers?'. Since Nomi spent 3 hours on Friday folding up the old ones (with holes in), in an apparently vain attempt to protect the pitch. A week of warm weather was to be replaced with heavy rain overnight on the Friday. This isn't surprising because statistically it does actually rain more at the weekend than during the week. Stephen Fry said so on QI once [Must be true - Ed].

Fudgey was convinced it was game on. Arrival at 1130 suggested otherwise. It was Duck weather. The cover however was still in place and if Nomi had applied it correctly, there was a fair chance that the track would be moist but more than playable. The outfield, as always, was fine. The square however was getting puddlier by the minute and it was almost getting stupid.

Firstly credit to Guildford City - they were keen to play. And despite Keith's best efforts at Square protection, he was convinced otherwise and it was game on at 1610 - the latest time we could start. We assumed (wrongly as it turned out) that most games would be off, and so the need to get a game in (and potentially win) could make or break the season, especially following a below par run-out fest last week which ended in a thoroughly depressing draw.

Secondly, credit to most of the boys who worked their t*ts off for over 2 hours trying to soak up and move the surface water away from the track. Groundsmanship is boring and tiring, but it can be very rewarding.

You must be getting bored now...

I won the toss and decided to bowl - unsurprisingly. The track was fine, the outfield a bit dank in places, and the skies looking evil. But it was dry for the moment. Daisy and Tongy started things off, the latter showing more control, and being rewarded with two important early wickets against some bats with good eyes. Nomaan had a go, as did Tongy jnr. Both showing control on a good surface. Wickets fell regularly, and the run rate slowed, but GC would have a total to defend. We nailed a few last on the keep the score to 156, which we would have 23 overs to get them in. No chance, or so I thought.

We decided to go for it. If we got rolled, we would still get 4 points (the same as if the match had been abandoned). After taking one look at the leggie from the Millennium Wood end I decided if I was to score it would be off the seamers. Or I would get bowled... I got bowled. This brought Tongy Jnr in with Ali - both of whom played good attacking but sensible cricket. It's hard to be bowled out off 23 overs, so whilst the run rate was building, wickets in hand meant that a late biff could mean 20 points.

They put on nearly a ton, Tong being replaced with Raza, who came in a hit a quickfire 10. Ali got a wonderful 74. Needing 9 an over for the last 10, and consistently getting it right to the last, I could barely watch. Then it became 30 off 24. 25 off 17. 18 off 12. 9 off the last....

5 off 3. They take out fine leg and Daisy plays a paddle and top edges it. Boney gallops like a hare and it's 3. 2 off 2. Boney misses and it flicks off the pads between slip and the keeper. The appeal goes up but the finger stays down. WICK WIN WICK WIN WICK WIN! The boys go radio rental.

The 4 teams below us in the league either lost or had their games abandoned. I couldn't have written the script any better. Keef loved it too... hee hee

TEAMS - SAT 16TH JULY

SAT 16TH JULY

1ST XI V Guildford City (H)

1 Ali 2 Davies © 3 Day 4 Raza 5 O'Mahoney (+) 6 Tong, I 7 Maddoc-Jones James 8 Cronin 9 Tong, G 10 Abeyrante, Vishva 11 Tughral, Zam

U: K. Nicholls S: A. Whitcher

M: 12:00 S: 13:30

2ND XI V Cranleigh (A)

1 Cole 2 Rashid 3 Fudge © 4 Mackie (+) 5 Crowther 6 High 7 Byrne, Dan 8 Soppitt 9 Tanveer, Fahad 10 Shinde 11 Webster

U: S. Riley S: N/A

M: 11:00 S: 13:00

3RD XI V Pyrford (H)

1 Risman 2 Goulborn 3 Singh © 4 Jackson 5 Tughral, Zo 6 Lloyd 7 Ratnage S 8 Clements Tom (+) 9 Ilyas, Aqeel 10 Donnelly 11 Linter

U: K. Bryan S: N/A

M: 12:00 S: 13:00

4TH XI V Riverside CC (A)

1. Hirsch 2. Edmonds 3. Rudolph, Matt + 4. Oliver, Robbie 5. Miles 6. Charlton, Ed 7. Chaudhry, Sohail 8. Bendall © 9. Bal, Mohit 10. McNab 11. Sadiq, Zeesham

MEET 13:00

START 14:00

WICK

Team News - 4xi vs Turnham Green Poly

4XI for Saturday 9th at Home to Chiswick. Meet 13:00.

1. Hirsch, 2. Edmond, 3. Rudolph+, 4. Miles, 5. Tanzeel, 6. Selves*, 7. Benndall, 8. Sohil, 9. Mohit, Bal, 10. Swain, 11. McNab

Historic Moment - 1st 4xi Match Report on the blog - By Selvesy

Much time could be spent looking for a quote or coming up with something profound to say about the Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club 4XI taking to the kingsfield on Saturday 2nd July 2011. However, breaking from the strange feeling of writing a match report including yourself in the third person, a day like Saturday is not a day for soundbites, we can leave those to the home balcony, but I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder with respect to this.... (not the writer's poor grammar. Points for anyone under 25 who knows that quote.). Anyway, the 4s fielding 5 under 19s from the WICKS thriving colts set up and former colt Charles Edmonds took to the field against Teddington Town 3XI. There hadn't been a toss as such, but a lot like back in Stormont the decisions were made before the ceremony when Selvesy informed the opposition skipper that the batting was light today.

Sohail took the new ball and plugged away up the hill finding some good lines but with no luck. Alisdair McNab came down the hill and after a first over finding his lines bowled a tight spell with a very tidy clean bowled to take the first wicket for the 4s in their brave new world. Zeesham came on for McNab and also took an over to find his straps but then, like McNab, found his lines and picked up a nice clean bowled. Teddington 46 for 2 from 12 after hard running up the hill by Sohail and two great little spells from two of the WICKS promising youngsters. Selves, feeling all this young talent may have him needing to start a 5th XI next year to get a game, plodded up the hill and Rob Swain making his Saturday debut for the WICK came down. A neat catch from Will Taylor off Selves followed by a cheeky lbw had Teddington 4 down before Swain got in on the act forcing a chip to mid off.

Mohit came on up the hill and bowling some good lines picked up a couple of clean bowled. Charlie Pilcher came down the hill for Swain and after struggling to find his lines produced a peach of a ball and took an even better catch to pick up his first senior wicket. With the ball turning Will Taylor came on for Mohit and bowled a great little spell at the death halting what was becoming a quick scoring number 3 who had carried Teddington through their innings. Phil Miles then brought on his experience to wrap up the last few overs down the hill.

Teddington ended on 182 for 8. Held together by a great knock of 70 by their number 3 and with extras being their second highest scorer there is work to do in the wides, no ball and byes area. However the ground fielding would have put other sides in the club to shame and not one dropped catch for the bowlers to moan about. Tea. We may be the 4th XI but we eat like the 1st XI.

After tea Phil Miles stepped up for the boys and opened up with James Dann and both looked good seeing off the new ball before Phil had one sit up on a pitch that was starting to behave like a new born baby (topical reference for the writer. For the bulk of the players at the club that means erratic and not doing anything you expect or want). Charles Edmonds started well playing what is fast becoming his trademark clips off his pads until he missed a straight one. Selves joined Dann and together they saw off the rest of the opening bowlers until having done the hard work and looking set Dann edged the last ball of the openers spell to the keeper. Alisdair McNab came out and leaned the hard way about playing on the back foot on the kingsfield. At not many for 3 Sohail helped steady the ship till drinks when the decision was made to up the rate. Two overs at 8 plus an over had the 4s back on the run rate until Selves missed one. Rob Swain continued the fight but when he and Sohail fell Charlie Pil and Will Taylor could not stop Teddington with the bit between their teeth. Zeesham hung in there but ran out of people to hang about with. The loss was not as bad as it looks on paper and with such talented youngsters coming through the 4s have a prosperous future ahead. The commitment, skill and attitude of the colts, who for many were making their senior bow, was a credit to each individual and the system in the club that has brought on such a great bunch of young players who all look to have promising futures at the WICK. With several seniors back this week the side has a better looking balance between bat and ball. Although it is good for all players to know that there are keen talented colts pushing them for their places and making the step up to senior cricket.

Match Report - Shepperton vs 1xi - by Rowan Atkinson

Shepperton 213-9 (52 Overs)
Wick 214-3 (30+ overs) Stallone 80, Atkinson 53
Wick 1s wick Shepperton 1s by 7 wkts.

Scorecard... you'll need it... Without googling, which two of these films was not filmed at the famous Shepperton Film Studios?

a. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
b. Ghandhi
c. The Guns of Navaronne
d. Shakespeare in Love

If Saturday was a film, this is how it would go:

Shepperton have gone well thus far, but we have good memories from last year, and are in great form, so were confident. Rowan Atkinson won the toss for the first time this season and was delighted to invite Shepperton to bat on an extremely flat track. Sylvester Stallone felt it might turn a bit but Atkinson wasn’t so sure. Either way we knew 10 wickets would be a tough ask, even with our bowling attack.

Jonny Depp, his brother The Fonz on debut and Vin Diesel turned up at 1320. Apparently they had left at 11am and the traffic was ‘bad’. Yeah no sh*t, Atkinson wasn’t happy, and The Kung Fu Panda was fuming, but these things happen. The start was all a bit of a rush, but Stallone and Diesel made an excellent start with the new ball – both finding admirable control on a pitch that wasn’t offering anything. The new ball was used well, and both were soon finding the edges, with Atkinson and Depp failing to hold onto chances. On the plus side, Stallone did hold one at 2nd slip for Diesel, who also sneaked one through the defences. Stallone himself then brilliantly cleaned up the aggressive #3 and at 50-3 we were going well. Depp replaced Diesel although by now nothing much was happening and batting was getting easier.

The Fonz had a go and was joined at the other end by Tom Cruise who set the field back to see if he could induce a false stroke. He did, caught on the boundary, much to the surprise of the catcher – Matt Damon. The ball before he had fumbled around like a teenage Keith (Justin Timberlake) having seen his first boobie, and it had gone between his legs much to his embarrassment. The Fonz also got one to nibble to Macourlay Culkin behind the sticks. His girlfriend (Sandra Bullock) was most impressed when he turned up with his mum (Jennifer Coolidge) to cheer the boys on.

5 down and more changes were needed – the track was still easy-peasy to bat on. In fact it seemed to be getting easier. Panda had a go, as did James Brown, whose reverse swing seemed to tie down the late order well. Hard work in the field for the boys, with the ever vocal and enthusiastic Taylor Lautner keeping the boys going. A few lusty blows from Shepperton at the end saw them to a below par but admirable 213-9 from the full allocation of 52. Wickets were shared around so no-one really stood out with the ball. Perhaps Diesel was the pick.

Teas – well... controversially I'm going to give them a 9. Not only was there variety and volume, you had napkins and the option of cordial drink as well as Tea – something often forgotten by many-a-tea creator. A great mix of staples and home made fare. Also, I do enjoy a good old fashioned tea lady (as opposed to Brian Blessed that we have) and for that they score very highly. Unfortunately Atkinson wasn’t able to eat much due to nerves.

Said nerves were however soon lost upon the start of the Wick innings. Stallone, surviving a chance 2nd ball, soon got into things. The tactic of the old ball wasn’t working. Especially as said ball was soon lost over cow and a new (but not new) ball was needed. Atkinson wasn’t far behind and when the new ball did come both were seeing it like a Pair of DDs and were in no mood to see off the shine. The partnership was over 130 off less than 20 overs before Stallone clipped one to midwicket for 80. Diesel joined in – the atmosphere being one of Sunday resignation. Robert De Nero behind the sticks got involved and nailed Diesel and Atkinson soon followed having brought up his 50. It was then left to the classy Panda and Culkin to see us home off 32 overs without any fuss. Bullock seemed very impressed. Special thanks again to Eliza Cuthbert whose pretty patterns in the scorebook continue to make a mockery of Chedwards attempts on Sundays.

And thats a wrap.

Oh – the answer is d.

T20 Side vs Kempton

1. Mackie, 2. Jackson, 3. High, 4. Clements, 5. Crane, 6. Murray (TBC), 7. Edmunds, 8. McMullen (TBC), 9. Bendall, 10. Charlton, 11. Pradeep.

5.30 meet at Kempton for a 5.45 start.

Huge Weekend for the Club... Preview

,

"A jaundiced club secretary looks forward to the weekend's fixtures" - Ed

,

So already we've reached the mid season point... or thereabouts... and this weekend represents a potential watershed for two teams.

Many clubs will find themselves ever so slightly stronger as the season enters its second half with returning University players up for selection and talented colts free of school commitments. With luck, holidays won't play a part. So this weekend could very well see a change in fortunes for many clubs and it's important to capitalise now.

The 1s are at home to Sanderstead. This match sees the two unbeaten teams in Fullers Division One 1st xi clash and though there are many challenges ahead, the bragging rights for the season are on offer right here, right now. The teams are currently separated by the difference between the points gained for a tie (Sanderstead) and an abandonement (The Wick).

With both teams more than two wins clear of the chasing pack, another win here would leave one club unbeaten and needing to score only 120 points from a possible 160 to secure promotion.

The 2s travel to group leaders Carshalton and after results didn't go quite their way last week, need a positive result to make sure that they stay in touch with what is a very tight promotion battle. With strong availability this week and some weather around, this could be a crucial weekend.

The 3xi are sitting pretty at the top of their table. With a sizeable gap opening up between them and the fourth placed team, they travel to bottom half club Farnham. A win would give them breathing space and allow them to approach a Uni and Colts rich second half of the season with some confidence.

Wickman is drooling Homer Simpson like at the prospect...

Teams - Saturday 2 July

Shepperton vs 1xi

1 Ali, 2 Davies ©, 3 Day, 4 Raza, 5 O'Mahoney (+), 6 Mackie, 7 Tong, I, 8 Tughral, Zo, 9 Tong, G, 10 Abeyrante, Vishva, 11 Tughral, Zam

U: A. Moore
S: A. Whitcher

M: 12:00, S: 13:30

2xi vs Old Hamptonians

1 Cole , 2 Rashid , 3 Fudge ©, 4 Jackson, 5 Clements, 6 Soppitt, 7 Weerakoon, Naveendra, 8 Copeland H (+), 9 Fahad, 10 Shinde, 11 Lown

U: S. Riley
S: G. Unsworth

M: 12:00
S: 13:00

Oxted & Limpsfield vs 3xi

1 Risman, 2 Goulborn, 3 Singh ©, 4 Byrne, 5 Ratnage S, 6 Lloyd, 7 Hirsch +, 8 Charlton E, 9 Donnelly, 10 Smith, G, 11 Linter

U: K. Bryan
S: N/A

M: 11:00
S: 13:00

4xi vs Teddington Town

Miles, Edmonds, McNab, Dann+, Selves*, Chaudhry, Chapman, Zeeshan, Mohit, Swaine, Taylor

M: 13:00
S: 13:30

Match Report - Dorking vs 2xi by Fudgey

More positives than points…

HWRCC WINNING DRAW (4 POINTS)

Dorking 233/7 (55.0) Tanveer – 5/61
HWRCC 206/3 (45.0) Fudge 78, Rashid 67 (Winning draw target 191)

2 weeks without cricket is a looooooong time and unfortunately that is exactly what the 2nd XI faced after the disappointment of an abandoned game at home to Maori Oxshott last weekend. Saturdays in the summer without cricket are like gin without tonic or strawberries without cream, it just doesn’t feel right. So after an unsettled week and a downpour on Friday night we were relieved to arrive at Dorking on Saturday morning to find it was very much game on!

And it was game on, in every sense of the word as the top 6 teams in the league (now only separated by 11 points) did battle on a weekend where losing wasn’t an option.

Dorking C.C. is a proper club. Steeped in History, the ground itself is situated at the foot of Boxhill and provides fantastic views of the rolling Surrey Countryside. They have 4 teams that represent them on a Saturday, one on a Sunday, another midweek XI and thriving colts section. Most of those colts seemed to be representing their 3rd & 4th XI’s, just as it should be. Their 2’s are a solid team with no real weak links therefore it was a surprise to us all that they were relegated in 2010 after just on season in Division 4.

Their pitch had been covered yet it was still fairly soft and had a more than a tinge of green about it. On first inspection it promised to do a little early on, especially with the new ball, so winning the toss and bowling was the only option. We did exactly that and Unsworth & Lown opened up. Known to their team mates as Leggsy and Lownsy this can cause serious problems amongst the rest of the team as they set about encouraging the pair between deliveries. The skipper is easily confused and amongst trying to sort out his fields and stay one step ahead of the game he can often be heard to shout “Well bowled Leggsy boy” after Lownsy has beaten the outside edge and “Areas Lownsy” as Leggsy nips one away towards the slips. To their credit both Leggsy and Lownsy just pull the face and get on with their work, and it was only injury to Unsworth that stopped this charade from going on for over after over.

Unsworth is suffering from a “Pectoralis Muscle Rupture”. To you, me and everyone else he has tweaked his tit!! Not a common injury I hear you say, but it is a pain in the breast when it comes to trying to bowl right arm, medium-fast. He managed just 3 overs on Saturday and although he did grab the wicket of the opener caught at second slip by Tom Clements we were very quickly without the leader of our attack for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. Fahad Tanveer (not easily confused with Leggsy or Lownsy) replaced Unsworth and struck almost immediately, as the new ball was offering just enough assistance despite the pitch's apparent lack of pace. Tanveer would strike 2 more times in a devastating 1st spell and with the help of miserly overs from Lown at the other end Dorking were rocking at 49/4.

I mentioned that the pitch was slow, but in Tanveer we have a bowler who is quick through the air and he caused problems to a Dorking top order that all seemed to be in something of a hurry. None of them showed the application required of a top order batsman and their skipper’s team-talk, asking the batsman to be “selfish” had obviously fallen on deaf ears. It was left to the middle order to try and re-build a total.

With the ball now approaching 25 overs old, the pitch became very flat and offered very little in the way of sideways movement. It was left to Fudge (replacing Tanveer) and Breakwell to try and keep a lid on the scoring a restrict Dorking to anything under 200. Fudge returned 0/31 from his 11 overs and Breakwell 0/17 from the same number at the other end and although no.’s 5 & 6 were digging in, the WICK were well in control of the run rate. Neither of these batsmen was blessed with an immense amount of stroke making ability however they played the situation perfectly and towards the end of their 100+ partnership their follow throughs began to lengthen the boundaries were threatened. This was the perfect example of what “occupying the crease” does for you and proof that even batsman with limited ability can be difficult to dislodge.

Tanveer returned to eventually get rid of them both and ended up with career best figures of 5/61 from 14. Before no.’s 7 & 8 threw the bat at the end and damaged Breakwell’s figures with some lusty blows. The decision of Dorking’s captain (batting at the time) to bat the full 55 was an interesting one. If he knew anything about our first 6 games he would know that we haven’t had to chase anything more than 150 all season and historically we don’t do draws so he may have been tempted to leave us a more gettable target in an attempt to produce rash shots and collect early wickets. As it was he went the whole hog and left us with just 45 to chase down 233.

Tea – 2009 isn’t that long ago but I am pretty sure that the teas were of a slightly higher standard back in the day than they were on this occasion. Plenty to go round and all pleasant enough, but a bit like the home team's bowling attack, it lacked variation and any real sense of mystery. 6.5/10

The 2s welcomed Imran Rashid into the ranks for Saturday’s game, a selection that would hopefully benefit the team and more importantly the individual involved. Rashid is pure class!! You won’t see a higher elbow or a bigger stride in the whole of the Surrey league. He reminds me of Matthew Elliot (former Australian Test Batsman) who albeit was left handed, shares the same upright, fluent style and unquestionable desire when it comes to churning out big runs. At the halfway point skipper Fudge had set his and the team’s eye firmly on reaching the winning draw target of 191. And thoughts of winning the game outright were parked until we found ourselves in a position to do so. 191 from 45 is still 4.2 an over and a sensible target in a league where 4 points could become crucial.

Rashid opened with the dependable Cole and the two of them were joined in the middle by Unsworth as the umpire called play on the second innings. Despite some indifferent batting this year, this wasn’t a new tactic dreamt up to bamboozle the opposition by opening up with three batsmen, (although now you mention it…) but Unsworth was purely there to help facilitate Cole in the running between wickets after he had earlier picked up a hamstring injury when diving to stop a ball at short extra cover. Unsworth was ultimately chosen after a process of elimination that involved working out who was the least knackered. The skipper had initially picked keeper Copeland (youngest in the team, despite previous warning) but after being told where to go by his young keeper (no respect these days) it was decided that even a torn tit couldn’t get Unsworth out of this one. In a week where the ICC outlined plans to stop batsman from having runners, Unsworth was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but manfully took one for the team, donning pads, gloves, bats and even a helmet, to match Cole’s attire. It’s a good job it wasn’t too hot!!

Cole and Rashid looked a really solid opening partnership, playing straight and seeing off any problems the new ball may have caused. Both kept the scoreboard ticking and racked up a 50 partnership to dent Dorking’s early intent. The pair almost made it too drinks (25 overs) before Cole (and Unsworth, now puffing quite profusely) was dismissed for 28 trying to loft spinner Quinn over the infield. Fudge joined Rashid and pushed the score on to 98/1 from 30 overs. The WICK required another 93 from the last 15 overs to secure the winning draw and they were favourites to do so as Fudge and now Rashid were starting to hit the smaller of the two boundaries with more regularity. Fudge brutally greeted 2 bowling changes as Subesh & Rogers were hit out of the attack after just one over spells. He bought up his 50 with a lofted 6 over extra cover and more than little help from fielder, Lane. Rashid too had reached his 50 and was looking like really going on, before he dragged on the impressive Lane (2/52) for 67. The WICK reached the winning draw target with 2 overs to go and as Fudge fell going for another maximum on over the short offside thoughts of a win disappeared with him back to the pavilion. Weerakoon & Crowther were left to knock around the final few deliveries and the WICK went home with a well earned 4 points.

MOM – Rashid A near flawless opening display, Rashid provided the 2’s (and opening partner Cole) with exactly what we had been missing. Rashid displayed great technique, a sense of calm and a desire to turn a good start into a well made half century. The 2’s batting clicked this week as they made 206 in good time against a decent attack. This added to another near flawless fielding display and a bowling effort that did well to recover from Unsworth’s injury and restrict Dorking in a mammoth 55 overs provided us with plenty positives heading into this weeks re-match against table topping Old Hamptonians.