Result: Kibworth CC - 1st XI Winning Draw 11-30

Date: Sat 31st Jul 2010 @ 13:00

Ground: Kibworth CC

Type:  League : Leicestershire County Cricket League - Everards Leicestershire Premier Cricket League

Toss:  Loughborough Town CC - 1st XI won the toss and decided to bowl

1st XI

			R	B	4s	6s
Matt Craven	LBW	b Robert Cook	77	96	11	0
Tom Burton		b Harry GURNEY	13	31	1	0
Greg Smith		b Harry GURNEY	0	5	0	0
josh cobb	ct James Bull	b Neal Gamble	10	25	2	0
Andrew Smith *	ct Mitchell BUCK	b R Sharma	28	57	3	0
Darren Shaw		b Harry GURNEY	22	26	1	0
Simon Renshaw	ct Mitchell BUCK	b R Sharma	18	12	1	1
Tom Driver	Not Out		1	1	0	0
Daniel Broughton	Not Out		4	3	0	0
steve matthew +	Did Not Bat
Russell Spiers	Did Not Bat
Extras	( 4b  3lb  22w  6nb  )		35
Total	(7 wickets, 50 overs)		208

 

Fall Of Wickets

38-1 Tom Burton (Matt Craven*); 40-2 Greg Smith (Matt Craven*);
103-3 josh cobb (Matt Craven*); 138-4 Matt Craven (Andrew Smith*);
179-5 Andrew Smith (Darren Shaw*); 195-6 Darren Shaw (Simon Renshaw*);
203-7 Simon Renshaw (Tom Driver*); -8 ;
-9 ; -10 ;

Bowling

	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd
Harry GURNEY	13	0	44	3	6	5
oliver freckingham	8	1	34	0	0	2
Neal Gamble	8	0	38	1	0	5
Martin Gidley	12	1	40	0	0	9
Robert Cook	5	0	24	1	0	1
R Sharma	4	0	21	2	0	0

 

Loughborough Town CC - 1st XI

			R	B	4s	6s
Anish Patel	ct steve matthew	b Tom Driver	9	12	2	0
James Bull	ct Darren Shaw	b Tom Burton	6	11	1	0
Kyle Saddington	ct Andrew Smith	b Tom Driver	6	11	1	0
Martin Gidley	ct Andrew Smith	b Russell Spiers	27	73	5	0
Nemesh Patel *	Not Out		69	124	6	0
Mitchell BUCK +	ro Tom Driver		38	40	3	1
Robert Cook	ct Simon Renshaw	b Daniel Broughton	15	15	1	1
oliver freckingham		b Daniel Broughton	0	2	0	0
R Sharma	ro Russell Spiers		0	0	0	0
Neal Gamble	Not Out		1	9	0	0
Harry GURNEY	Did Not Bat
Extras	( 1b  5lb  6w  )		12
Total	(8 wickets, 50 overs)		183

 

Fall Of Wickets

10-1 Anish Patel (James Bull-1*); 20-2 James Bull (Kyle Saddington-4*);
23-3 Kyle Saddington (Martin Gidley-0*); 78-4 Martin Gidley (Nemesh Patel-24*);
155-5 Mitchell BUCK (Nemesh Patel-58*); 175-6 Robert Cook (Nemesh Patel-63*);
176-7 oliver freckingham (Nemesh Patel-64*); 180-8 R Sharma (Nemesh Patel-68*);
-9 ; -10 ;

Bowling

	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd
Tom Driver	14	1	46	2	0	3
Tom Burton	7	2	12	1	0	0
Daniel Broughton	11	3	31	2	0	1
Simon Renshaw	5	0	22	0	0	0
Russell Spiers	11	0	50	1	0	0
Darren Shaw	2	0	16	0	0	2

Match Report

Following the double success of the previous weekend, spirits were high at KCC. The Weds night boys had secured the league title and also had the league cup final to look forward to. The under 15’s had the national finals on Monday, the 3rd’s are marching to league success (fingers crossed) and the previous week still meant the selectors boy’s were in the title hunt as well as a league cup final to play.

Team news. With Chuckle brother Cobb fit again, he would be re-united with his comedy partner. After an 8 week absence, Renno would rejoin the team, having amassed enough brownie points for several stag do’s, nights out, having become a domestic god during his injury lay off. Greg’s inclusion would mean that the much better, more consistent and likeable KCC through and through Aadil, would miss out.

The visitors were a quality Loughborough outfit. Challenging for the title as usual and with Harry Gurney, Frecklingham, Gidley & Gamble, it was one of the most useful bowling line ups in the league. The visitors normally bring an annoying pointless bloke with them called Reg. He wasn’t attending, so Kibworth provided one in the shape of Greg Smith.

Also returning from a highly important cultural exchange was the catalyst. A trip to the races whilst on the no games of cricket medbourne cricket tour, would lighten the catalysts wallet to the tune of £300. Putting money on something with absolutely no hope of success would potentially put the catalyst in the position of putting money on greg scoring a run.

So with Aamir serving his 2nd weeks punishment, the boys were primed to do battle with Loughborough. Because the county boy’s have so much time on their hands because they don’t really do any proper work and have no responsibilities in life at all, they often socialise together to discuss how to improve their techniques and become more accomplished and established professionals in their chosen sport. Well that’s what the real ones do, we have the chuckle brothers!. Loughborough thought well ahead of the fixture and thoughts that if Gurney could entice the chuckle brothers into a late night drink fuelled frenzy, they would be utterly useless. It was a great plan, as the empty headed duet fell for it and dutifully turned up worse for wear and with limited enthusiasm or commitment (yes I know it could be any saturday!)

So what better way to focus the mind than by batting first. Dips opted for the tried and trusted method of points gathering by bowling first and then looking to knock them off.

The badger and stringy would off course open the batting. Badger thinks it’s totally unfair that burty also gets to open the bowling and has publically stated he will leave the club next week if he also doesn’t get to open the bowling as well from the other end. To be honest he has more variation and accuracy and 20mph more pace than burty, so it could be a good call.

Gurney and Frecklingham shared the new ball and with cloudy skys and humid climate, the ball would move around and seem about, giving the opening partners plenty to contend with. Without a lot of pace in the deck, it would be a tough task and both went about their business with determination. Burty would have perhaps wanted to get on the front foot to one which he misjudges and was bowled by Gurney.

Had Burty lost his off stump 15 minutes earlier, our number 3 batsman would have had to go to the crease with a towel round his waist as Greg decided it would be the optimum time to shower and chuckle 2 at number 4, departed to the downstairs throne room with Nuts magazine and an upset stomach.

Luckily Burty had compiled 13 giving time for Greg to pad up. At the other end the badgers reverse V was in full flow. Dips was clearly getting frustrated as the seemingly hexagonal face of the badgers bat, had the ball passing through gaps that no captain could plug when the badger is playing his unique batting style.

Greg looked superb and got behind the ball, timing the bad delivery with the full face of the bat. He seems to be blessed with sublime vision and picks up the line and length so early. The shot selection was imperious and every slightly off line delivery was punished with an effortless punch and drive and the scoreboard rattled on. Greg was in a bubble and it was evident that he wasn’t going to give his wicket away and help the badger build an unassailable partnership.

And then the balcony awoke from it’s little snoozy dream and we were back in the land of reality. Greg was cleaned bowled by a bloke he practices against every single day and knows exactly what he bowls. Greg added nothing to the score and would be replaced by Cobb.

The bowling changes would see sharma and Gamble into the attack but not before Gurney could have a blast at trying to remove teammate Cobb and get himself a chuckle double, which would be about as hard at touching your own nose with your hand. Cobb opted for attack and having struck Gurney for a lofted straight drive for 4, it would look at though one of the chuckles would be delivering. That wasn’t to be the case as the gentle wobblers of Gamble would see Cobb caught by Bull for 10 runs. The hardly surprised selector in at 5 would now partner the stubborn badger. Not concerned at playing and missing, the badger put away anything that was remotely loose. Leaning back and with as much carving as an all you can eat Sunday roast, he continued to add runs to his Total as one of the premier leagues all time leading run scorers (facts and statistics used courtesy of Badgerdatasystems.com)

Experience is key in these clashes and with the Kibworth Boys led by the all time record number of appearances in the premier league since 2003, the Selector was in no mood to cheaply throw his wicket away casually and senselessly like greg, so dug in. Selector may indeed by able to challenge the badgers stats had he not divided his time between being a decent cricketer and totally average footballer. A footballing career blighted by injury and lack of talent hasn’t deterred Bitteswells 43rd favourite son from turning out for the famous Welford something or others in Division 8 of some hackers league.

Anyway, selector kept the badger company for 28 solid runs before snicking off to keeper buck. Unusually the selector would not be stumped, but if he had have in this instance used his feet and not remained welded to his crease in fear of being heckled by FK for being stumped again, he might have reached a higher total. What it did mean however is that the most perfect pairing since Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakely were back together again. POTS and the badger rolled back the years when they were part of the famous Hinckley team that they managed to get relegated and then leave to get relegated again.

It had to be said it was like Poetry. Well POTS was, Badger continued to provide more chips than McDonalds and eventually would perish LBW to Cook. And yes the same as every other week, he wasn’t actually out as he middled it into his pads. Blah Blah Blah (your out!)

A scrabble of padding up for the sloggers and various potential batting orders after Renno went to the middle. It was perfectly set for the big man to slam us big quick runs and having reached 18 reasonably swiftly, he was taken to a decent catch by keeper buck and then the catalyst and broughts would both have the final say after POTS was bowled by the returning Gurney. The 2 left handed sloggers added a quick scrambled 5 runs and we closed on 208 with max batting points reached. An unusually untidy 22 wides from Loughborough would cost them in the wash up, something the KCC boys would look to avoid from previous weeks experiences.

The boys watched some cricket during the lunch interval before Spiro decided we needed to prepare ourselves and so hared off to get changed. Russ isn’t one to string out his lunch.

The new ball would be taken by Burty. It would be a momentus day for the under 17’s skipper and not for cricketing reasons. Post game the Trotty Botherer would take his place under the conical shaped water dispensers in the room at the back of the changing room with the drain at the side. Yes Stringy would have his first shower of the season!! Unfortunately for him it would be in all his whites having being dragged in by a semi naked badger. Please note to all, this in no way contravenes any Child Welfare issues and the badger is fully CRB checked as a qualified level 3 coach. So back to the game!

The catalyst would also take the new ball as a competition as to who was the best tom would take place. Contrasting styles as the Burly left handed kitchen creator and master craftsman the catalyst would run in off his trademark 5 paces with a heavy ball, back of a length and burty would hustle in, blonde wig bouncing in the breeze bowling his little meds with some away swing and cutters with FK up to the stumps.

It wasn’t long before the top 3 were all back on the balcony. A snick from Anish Patel was taken by FK of the catalyst and 2 good catches in the ring were taken by POTS and Selector so they were 21 for 3 off the first 34 balls of the game and it looked good if we could drive home the advantage. However the Loughborough batting line up is very strong and with Gidley and skipper Dips at the crease there was utter determination to see it through. Gidley in particular robot like and refused to join in the general good humour in the field. He faced 73 balls in his innings and managed a weak smile at something greg said. (gregs 1 and only contribution of the day was to extract an almost grin from Gidley. Well done Greg.)

Daniel Broughton, aka, (the Northamptonshire Visiting Umpires liaison officer) was steaming in, egged on by Greg. With mad burning eyes and a stare that could make kids cry, he was getting plenty out of the track that had yielded little else for other bowlers. His enthusiasm and effort had looked to have paid off, as Gidley shuffled in his crease and was absolutely stone dead with the ball definitely hitting middle and off, ¾ of the way up the stumps. The kind of LBW that the batter at the other end knows is out and the batter thinks he could probably walk for. The only person who didn’t think it was out was the visiting northants umpire. Clearly there is some sort of local rule in their league where LBW’s are not permitted. Now having bowled at his hairy best, you could say that the big man was reasonably disappointed. What you then don’t need from the officials is an explanation of why it was not out, that even the most gifted story teller couldnt make you believe. Paul McKenna couldn’t have hypnotised us to believe that is a) had pitched outside the line, and b) was going down. All that did go down was a complete shocker of a decision. Almost as bad as someone picking Greg Smith for the county this weekend.

Anyway, broughts huffed and puffed and departed to 3rd man. If the umpire thought the ball that flew over his head in the next over thrown by broughts was an intentional aim, he certainly hadnt seen much of broughts fielding over the years. How can those enormous spindley levers whirling around, actually guarantee any accuracy and so it wasn’t a deliberate wild one, just a regs broughts chuck.

Having had some banter, Gidders the cheerfull eyed up a drifting delivery from the Ledge and fired it to short mid wicket to be well held by selector. Getting his hands closed round one. He would get another chance in identical fashion later on, so would clearly be ready to take it.

Skipper dips continued to defy all the efforts of mixed bowling changes, swopped ends and numerous appeals for leg before and was Boycottesque in his obdurate innings. The arrival of Mitch Buck to join him changed the game as the usually fluent and clean hitting Buck started to look dangerous. Having played all his junior county age group cricket he would surely know that the catalyst bats left handed, bowls left handed and throws overarm left handed, but like a strange freak of nature, he thrown underarm right handed? He clearly had forgotten this as he took a cheeky single to the big man, only to see him swoop majestically like an eagle and in his right talon, pick up the ball and run out Buck for a swift 38 from 40 balls. With Patel and buck at the crease it was looking like a comfortable task as the small kcc total was being counted down with no trouble. With Cook and freckingham still to bat, it was still looking like Loughboroughs game.

Cook would get a few glares from Dips as he attempted a couple of unnecessary slogs and ride his luck. A nice 6 was followed by a few heaves and despite possible warning of impending violence, he ignored his captain and continue to swing, for broughts to pick him up via the safe buckets of renno the weekend housemaid. It was his second chance as in the previous over he clipped one to short mid wicket which was being patrolled elegantly by selector. As the ball sailed to him of a lowish middle, it appeared that the selector hadn’t seen it and didn’t move is hands at all. Instead the ball proceeded without interruption to thud between the selectors breasts, with a noise like dropping a bag of sugar onto a drum. ( I say breast but as the selector has more bones than a KFC family bucket, I am being unfair as the skipper is built more like kate moss than Katie price) Cue much chuckling and banter and selector pulling up his top to reveal his new 3rd nipple.

That got them to 175 for 6 and with dips in determined mood. Freckingham was blasted away by broughts and sharma tried backing up a bit to far and as dips drove the ledge down the wicket, the ledge picked up the drive and ran out sharma who was gambling on it beating the ledge, who fortunately hadn’t eaten too much quiche at tea and reacted swiftly. So at 180 for 8, Dips decided that it was too risky to keep going for the win and shut up shop with Gamble doing likewise at the other end. They finished on 183, giving the selector 17 points and an even more crucial game next week against table toppers Harborough.

A very disciplined bowling performance with just 6 wides and a good team performance with the exception of greg who just occupied a space in the changing room. Just like him, we will all be watching to see how he gets on for Leicestershire this week, or actually pulling out our own eyelashes with tweezers which is more preferable.

Same time next week and remember guy’s violence is not the solution to having respect for your captain.