Eltham CSSG
Sunday 3 August 2003
Warwick Castle won the toss and elected to bat
Warwick Castle 168 all out off 35.0 overs (Cavanagh M 49, Qureshi T 32, Whitrod 3-13, Crawford 1-18)
Dodgers 162/7 off 35.0 overs (Crawford 70*, McBarron 39, Syed 3-9, Cavanagh M 1-29)
WARWICK CASTLE WON BY 6 RUNS
A sweltering day in South East London produced a game packed with incident containing blood, sweat, and possibly the odd tear. Prior to the start of the game it appeared that the Dodgers would be happier sitting in the clubhouse all afternoon rather than run around in the unrelenting heat, so it was no surprise that whoever won the toss would elect to bat first, even though the wicket showed the promise of some variable bounce.
Fredricks, sporting his usual warm weather attire of a fleece-like jumper, called correctly and promptly consigned the Dodgers to the field. More than at least one eyebrow was raised (and a few chuckles heard!) from the fielders as Qureshi T strolled to the wicket to face Crawford's first ball. However the makeshift opener managed to compile a decent 32 before being undone by a typically nagging length and line by Cooper. Qureshi M at the other end was unlucky to fall to a Hilary delivery that shot along the ground off a good length. Syed again played an all too familiar brief innings, which threatened to be destructive, but a lack of concentration led to Hilary bowling him through the gate. One feels that more application at the crease is bound to produce results for this promising yet at times infuriating young player. It was once again put upon Cavanagh M's shoulders to hold the Warwick Castle middle order together, and in recognition of the lack of batting to come after him, he played a diligent innings even though it lacked some fluency. In partnership with Cavanagh D (Mark's nephew) Warwick Castle threatened to post a total in excess of 200. The acceleration never really came and despite a couple of good hits from Fredricks batting down the order, the end total was perhaps a good 30 runs short of reasonable expectation. This was due to some accurate bowling from the Dodgers in the final third of the innings, Whitrod managing to pick up three useful wickets, backed up by good catching from Hilary in particular. However this does not excuse some of the poor shot selection and general unwillingness to graft for runs, which has undermined the Warwick Castle's efforts in recent seasons.
Chasing close to 5 runs an over, the Dodgers must have been fairly confident of reaching their target, as long as a couple of their frontline batsmen could build a partnership. Despite being one genuine bowler short, the Warwick Castle attack always looked capable of taking wickets and apart from Crawford none of the Dodgers batsmen looked entirely comfortable. McBarron played yet another trademark McBarron knock, painstakingly accumulating runs, before being victim to a stunning caught and bowled by Fredricks late on in the innings. Good spells from Cavanagh M and Cavanagh D, who finally seems to be running into some late season form, kept the Dodgers batsmen in check early on. But the outstanding bowling of the day came from Syed who pitched the ball well up to the bat and with good pace, and fully deserved his figures of 3-9. The second of Syed's victims, Priest, certainly seemed slightly miffed at being given leg before, which in most first class games would have invoked the full wrath of the match referee! Carr was unfortunate to be out with Syed's next ball as he played on. Next man in Crawford came close to winning the game for the Dodgers, with some powerful hitting all around the ground, particularly taking a liking to the occasional off spin of Fredricks. Indeed the Warwick Castle skipper may well have allowed himself to bowl at least one over too many after being buoyed by his earlier caught and bowled. An unfortunate incident took place towards the end of Spud's spell when an unintentional beamer hit Hilary just above the eye via an edge, extraordinarily the ball travelled a fair distance to square leg where it was reliably dropped by O'Donnell, fortunately for O'Donnell it was called a no-ball anyway. Although Hilary's face and whites were covered in blood, I understand he was well enough to drive himself home. The very next ball from Spud was also a beamer, which led Whitrod at the non-strikers end and Spud to politely exchange a difference of views. The game reached a tense climax as Warwick Castle appeared to be haemorrhaging runs, and to the almost audible relief of the Dodgers, Qureshi T was left to bowl the last over. With 16 runs required Qureshi T managed to restrict danger man Crawford to just the one boundary, as the Dodgers fell short of the target.
All in all it was a thoroughly entertaining game played in good spirit, and hopefully the first of many fixtures between the two teams.
Sunday 3 August 2003
Warwick Castle won the toss and elected to bat
Warwick Castle 168 all out off 35.0 overs (Cavanagh M 49, Qureshi T 32, Whitrod 3-13, Crawford 1-18)
Dodgers 162/7 off 35.0 overs (Crawford 70*, McBarron 39, Syed 3-9, Cavanagh M 1-29)
WARWICK CASTLE WON BY 6 RUNS
A sweltering day in South East London produced a game packed with incident containing blood, sweat, and possibly the odd tear. Prior to the start of the game it appeared that the Dodgers would be happier sitting in the clubhouse all afternoon rather than run around in the unrelenting heat, so it was no surprise that whoever won the toss would elect to bat first, even though the wicket showed the promise of some variable bounce.
Fredricks, sporting his usual warm weather attire of a fleece-like jumper, called correctly and promptly consigned the Dodgers to the field. More than at least one eyebrow was raised (and a few chuckles heard!) from the fielders as Qureshi T strolled to the wicket to face Crawford's first ball. However the makeshift opener managed to compile a decent 32 before being undone by a typically nagging length and line by Cooper. Qureshi M at the other end was unlucky to fall to a Hilary delivery that shot along the ground off a good length. Syed again played an all too familiar brief innings, which threatened to be destructive, but a lack of concentration led to Hilary bowling him through the gate. One feels that more application at the crease is bound to produce results for this promising yet at times infuriating young player. It was once again put upon Cavanagh M's shoulders to hold the Warwick Castle middle order together, and in recognition of the lack of batting to come after him, he played a diligent innings even though it lacked some fluency. In partnership with Cavanagh D (Mark's nephew) Warwick Castle threatened to post a total in excess of 200. The acceleration never really came and despite a couple of good hits from Fredricks batting down the order, the end total was perhaps a good 30 runs short of reasonable expectation. This was due to some accurate bowling from the Dodgers in the final third of the innings, Whitrod managing to pick up three useful wickets, backed up by good catching from Hilary in particular. However this does not excuse some of the poor shot selection and general unwillingness to graft for runs, which has undermined the Warwick Castle's efforts in recent seasons.
Chasing close to 5 runs an over, the Dodgers must have been fairly confident of reaching their target, as long as a couple of their frontline batsmen could build a partnership. Despite being one genuine bowler short, the Warwick Castle attack always looked capable of taking wickets and apart from Crawford none of the Dodgers batsmen looked entirely comfortable. McBarron played yet another trademark McBarron knock, painstakingly accumulating runs, before being victim to a stunning caught and bowled by Fredricks late on in the innings. Good spells from Cavanagh M and Cavanagh D, who finally seems to be running into some late season form, kept the Dodgers batsmen in check early on. But the outstanding bowling of the day came from Syed who pitched the ball well up to the bat and with good pace, and fully deserved his figures of 3-9. The second of Syed's victims, Priest, certainly seemed slightly miffed at being given leg before, which in most first class games would have invoked the full wrath of the match referee! Carr was unfortunate to be out with Syed's next ball as he played on. Next man in Crawford came close to winning the game for the Dodgers, with some powerful hitting all around the ground, particularly taking a liking to the occasional off spin of Fredricks. Indeed the Warwick Castle skipper may well have allowed himself to bowl at least one over too many after being buoyed by his earlier caught and bowled. An unfortunate incident took place towards the end of Spud's spell when an unintentional beamer hit Hilary just above the eye via an edge, extraordinarily the ball travelled a fair distance to square leg where it was reliably dropped by O'Donnell, fortunately for O'Donnell it was called a no-ball anyway. Although Hilary's face and whites were covered in blood, I understand he was well enough to drive himself home. The very next ball from Spud was also a beamer, which led Whitrod at the non-strikers end and Spud to politely exchange a difference of views. The game reached a tense climax as Warwick Castle appeared to be haemorrhaging runs, and to the almost audible relief of the Dodgers, Qureshi T was left to bowl the last over. With 16 runs required Qureshi T managed to restrict danger man Crawford to just the one boundary, as the Dodgers fell short of the target.
All in all it was a thoroughly entertaining game played in good spirit, and hopefully the first of many fixtures between the two teams.
Warwick Castle
Qureshi T b. Cooper 32
Qureshi M+ b. Hilary 10
Syed b. Hilary 8
Cavanagh c. Hilary b. Whitrod 49
Beech (1) b. Crawford 0
Cavanagh D c. Hilary b. Priest 27
Fredricks* b.Whitrod 14
O'Donnell c. McBarron b. Whitrod 4
Spud Run Out 5
Beech (2) Not Out 1
Extras 18
TOTAL (35 overs) 168 all out
Bowling:
O M R W
Crawford 7 1 18 1
Hilary 7 2 24 2
Hall 4 0 29 0
Cooper 7 0 32 1
Dave 4 0 27 0
Whitrod 3 0 13 3
Priest 3 0 19 1
Dodgers
McBarron c.&b. Fredricks 39
Jacobs b. Syed 13
Priest lbw b. Syed 8
Carr* b. Syed 0
Crawford Not Out 70
Dave c. Cavanagh M b. Spud 0
Hilary Retired Hurt 0
Whitrod c. Qureshi M b. Cavanagh M 11
Hall Run Out 1
Extras 20
TOTAL (35.3 overs) 162 for 7
DNB: Cooper, Matthews+
Bowling
O M R W
Cavanagh M 7 0 29 1
Cavanagh D 7 0 27 0
Syed 7 1 9 3
Spud 7 0 38 1
Fredricks 5 0 35 1
Qureshi T 2 0 14 0
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