Leavenheath Cricket Club

Scorecard

Leavenheath Cricket Club LCC v Wickham St Paul on Sat 18 Apr 2015 at 1.30pm
Leavenheath Cricket Club Won by 19 runs

Match report Match Report – Leavenheath CC vs. Wickham St. Paul (Saturday 18th April)

A wise man – I think maybe Andy Carr – once said: “If you haven’t donned this (LCC) shirt, you haven’t played proper cricket my son!”. Those are some very meaningful words, but if you are struggling to tighten the trousers/tent of (a person who shall remain nameless for fear that I won’t have any moving body parts next Sunday) who very kindly gifted them to me back in 2013, I’m going to look like a right plonker regardless of the aura of the shirt. Thankfully I managed to tighten them sufficiently enough so that they were around my waist rather than my ankles and off I set, arriving at the ground slightly later than planned, which was good as I missed out on having to do any ground duties!
Looking to put last Sunday’s crushing (definitely), down-to-the-wire (not so much) loss to West Bergholt behind us, as well as the dramatic mid-week episode of Eastenders – Ep. 6045: A ruthless debt collector doggedly pursues the residents of Walford, who have all mysteriously moved to Suffolk, to settle some outstanding debts. Galileo, the hapless happy-go-lucky member of the Brannigan clan, is in for a particularly rough time having innocently provoked the debt collector’s ire the most – we entertained Wickham St. Paul on a lovely, sunny April day. With Logey away on family business (a leisurely 18 holes of golf whilst we toiled, sweated and bled), Wellsy resumed the captaincy.

The toss was lost and we were put into bat. An under-the-weather Gallo was bowled for a duck in the first over, completing a most chastening week for him. Skinner joined Carr at the crease and both proceeded to bat well, Skinner getting 27 before being bowled by a peach of a delivery and Carr 20 before being caught. Gordon and Little Snr. picked up where Tris and Andy had left off, playing some great cultured shots before Dave (who actually played a more measured, well-crafted innings rather than his usual ‘Arrr, I’ll bloody whack that, thanks very much’ shots) lost his concentration, being bowled trying to hit the ball out of the ground. Sherriff scored five before departing caught off their chain-smoking spin bowler, which brought Wellsy to the crease, well lubricated with lager. Both Bev and Stewart seized the initative, increasing the score rate by running singles well, rotating the strike and hitting some fine boundaries. A huge six over cow’s corner by Bev took his score to 49 before he made his fifty off the very next ball. The rest of the innings very much followed in this vain until with the last ball of the innings Bev was bowled trying to hit a four/six. So, Leavenheath 185-6 off 40 overs – Bev (72), Wellsy (34 n/o). Would this be a big enough total to defend?

After tea – refreshed, fed and hydrated (scoring is a tiring business) – we took to the field. Wellsy opened from the Recreation End and yet again bowled very well for no reward (the wickets will come!). Whilst our ground fielding had improved markedly from last week, our catching continued to let us down. Four catches went begging - three being eminently catchable - off Bev’s bowling from the Pavilon End before, finally, Gallo took a patented (as of 18/04/2015) ‘catch, tuck and roll’ worthy of 9.6 in the floor discipline at extra cover.

Tris came on and bowled well, snaffling two wickets. He was unfortunate not to get another wicket due to a rather bizarre incident. Having beaten the batsmen with a snorter of a delivery, the ball hit the stumps with a big thud, only for the bails to remain perched on top? Another amusing incident (although it could have been nasty) occurred when Wellsy almost took out Chris Jackson, our umpire. Throwing in from the boundary, Stewart saw that the ball’s trajectory was going to hit Chris’s head and was fortunately able to fore-warn Chris, who managed to duck just in time. Wellsy – we need Chris if we want to chill in the pavilion drinking tinnies!

The Berryman then came on, bowling well and most economical of all. He got a wicket off one of his few poor balls when Rob caught a blinder at backward square leg. The look of surprise on Rob’s face said it all, but somehow we were entering a purple patch of well-taken catches with Bev having already taken a well-judged one in the deep.

With roughly 12 overs left and WSP needing 80 odd to win, I came on to bowl. I lured the batsmen into a false sense of security by cunningly (not) bowling a couple of dross balls before taking my first wicket of the season when Bev took a superb low catch running in from deep mid-wicket/cow’s corner.

Bev then returned to the bowling line-up to partner me for the rest of the innings, bar the final over. He bowled brilliantly, bowling their No. 7 before Tris took a catch at long-on, and then bowling their No. 8, effectively sealing the match with 2 and a bit overs to go. He deservedly took the man-of-the-match award with 72, 4-40 and two fine catches.

Thus, the last over belonged to Chris Little. With 25 runs needed, there was still a possibility of WSP winning the match, so there was a bit of pressure. He bowled very well with only four runs conceded off the over. Afterwards, the point was made in the changing rooms that, had it have been Little Snr. bowling, we would have probably lost the match!

So…a win by 20 runs! Everybody who asked us in the pub afterwards whether we had won was surprised when we said yes! Is it that rare? Oh, and keeping with the mantra that you should never break up a winning side, Logey, I’m afraid you’re out of the team next week. If you want to make an issue of this, we will refer it to the Chairman who will have the final say on this matter!

Next Sunday we travel to Sudbourne Hall (Aldeburgh way) for our first away game…a fair distance. Book your seats now (hurry, they’re going quick!) to travel in style with Gallo in the Green Hornet. Grrr! Apparently it purrs like a kitten and is a babe magnet! Very Austin Powers.

Nets are this Thursday 7-8:30pm at Littlegarth School. We are expecting a big crowd as Logan and Gallo re-enact the infamous Donald-Atherton show-down. It’s £3.50 for prime- time viewing. Pay up! Or else the debt collector’s henchman, menacingly known as ‘The Enforcer’ – or even more frighteningly ‘Big Dave’ – will be waiting for you the next time you dare to set foot on the hallowed turf of LCC, silently chewing gum and gently patting a cricket bat.
Match Report by ‘The Chownster’

Leavenheath Cricket Club LCC Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
185		        
Andrew Carr Caught  20 2
Matthew Gallo Bowled  0
Tris Skinner Bowled  27 4
Bevan Gordon Bowled  72 6 1
David Little Bowled  22 3
Rob Sherriff Caught  5
Stewart Wells Not Out  43 6
Dave Webb  
Chris Chown  
Chris Little  
Tim Berry  

Wickham St Paul Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Wickham St Paul Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
166 (40.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Leavenheath Cricket Club LCC Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Stewart Wells10.023000.003.00
Bevan Gordon9.0040410.004.44
Tris Skinner10.0038219.003.80
Tim Berry5.0014114.002.80
Chris Chown5.0031131.006.20
Chris Little1.00400.004.00