Scorecard

Hinckley Amateur II v Cosby Cricket Club 2nd XI on Sat 22 May 2010 at 2.00pm
Match was Drawn Winning 15 Points

Match report 27 May 2010 : Thorpe stars with bat and ball as 2nd XI secure winning draw against Hinckley Amateurs

Hinckley Amateurs II vs Cosby II, 22nd May 2010

The C2 Unit arrived at Hinckley with their leader sidelined with a prolapsed disc (age catches up with us all in the end Woody), Nazir making his bow for the 2s, Kirbo making his first appearance of the season and Frank mysteriously absent. After some fervent ringing around it was discovered that Frank was actually unavailable and Chris Griffin wannabe Billso got an 11th hour call up to the team. After an interesting ride to the ground (on route Woody admits he shouldn’t be driving because of the tablets he’s on and was unable to look to his right) Billso arrived and the Unit had a full complement of players.

With regular skipper Fred reduced to the role of umpire/cheer leader/Harrop it fell to Vice to lead the 2s and he had obviously been copying Woody’s technique at the toss as on the hottest day of the season so far he promptly lost it. However much to every ones surprise the Hinckley skipper decided fielding was the order of the day and the 2s had got their wish of batting first. After his knock of 72 the previous week Cindy’s Baby Boy/Girl opened the innings once again this time assisted by Data from the Goonies aka Gok aka Nige. Things got off to a dodgy start as the Hinckley opening bowler started in frugal form and Russ was quickly heading back to the pavilion when he popped one up to short leg for an easy catch as he was out for 0. Things went from bad to worse for the unit as the nip was shortly following Lily back to the hutch as he lost his off stump having made just 2 and the 2nd XI were 7 for 2 after 5 overs.

The 2s were looking in deep trouble as Neil Measures went out to join Umar at the crease and re-building the innings was definitely now the order of the day. Scoring opportunities were proving hard to come by with wides making a very healthy contribution early on as the run rate crawled along. The first half of the innings was a very turgid affair as both Thorpey and Neil played few shots and protected their wickets at all cost and despite a few chances being given the pair had taken the score up to 50 for 2 off 20 overs. As the day progressed the Hinckley bowlers and fielders could be seen to be visually tiring under the hot sun as Gandhi and Measures Senior got more and more scoring opportunities as the score board started ticking over with increased regularity. There were a couple of controversial incidents on the way as the Fish Head (now umpiring) gave Neil not out twice, once for a caught behind (quite rightly) and once for a run out (it was close). Now the Tiddly may have been right on both occasions but he managed to upset the Hinckley bowlers with his terminology rather than his actual decisions. With Neil having had his reprieves from Gok he and Umar continued with the steady scoring as the pair took the score up to 115 before Neil departed for 40 hard earned runs in 33rd over. Foxy came out to join Gandhi in the middle and looked to up the run rate. This they did briefly before Foxy was perhaps controversially given out caught behind by Woody for 8.

Thorpedo was joined in the middle by Calypso Cox and it was soon after that he went past his 50. Thorpey and Coxy continued pushing the score along nicely and the 2s were looking set for a score of around 166. Thorpey eventually fell for 62 after batting for nearly 40 overs in what was a crucial innings for the C2 Unit. Tom Measures came in at number 7 and was quickly back in the pavilion having made just 3. Making his first ever start for the Unit Nazir came in at number 8 and alongside Calypso our Afghani proved to be explosive as the pair took about plundering the Hinckley attack who were showing the strain of a long afternoon in the field. Naz got things going with a straight 6 and Coxy soon joined in the fun hitting a maximum of his own. It was at this point another controversial not out decision upset the Hinckley fielders further as ambling 3 runs Coxy was given not out by Vice(who had failed to get in to a decent position to make the call) despite looking short of his ground. Coxy then rubbed things in a little further by whacking the next ball in to the trees for another 6. Calypso and Naz continued with the pyrotechnics as they managed to hit the 2s up to 191 with Naz finishing 20 not out off only 10 balls and Coxy finishing with 23 off 12 balls as he was bowled with the last ball of the innings.

Thanks to the sensible batting of Neil and Thorpey and then the fireworks from Calypso and Naz the 2s had got themselves up to a decent score and took themselves in to tea more than happy with themselves. Despite the ice lollies the Hinckley Amateurs tea was not a contender for the Tea of the Season award and the 2s went out confident they could push home for victory with a competitive score on the board.

The 2s started off in the field with Tom Measures opening from the top end and the Afghani Express from the pavilion. The 2 youngsters opening overs were in stark contrast as Tom was pretty much on the money from ball 1 whereas Nazirs 1st over contained more wide ones than a list of Alex Whites past conquests. Despite the early wayward deliveries the Unit kept plugging away as the Hinckley batsmen attempted to get them off to a decent start. The 2 youngsters caused plenty of problems but the breakthrough would not arrive as the Hinckley openers batted sensibly and waited for the bad balls to score off. Kirbo replaced Tom at the top end and Umar fresh from his 40 over innings came on at the pavilion end. The pair managed to slow the scoring rate down and Kirbo finally got the breakthrough the 2s were after as Hinckleys left handed opener hit a Kirbo full toss to Thorpey at mid off who took a smart catch (you just can’t keep Umar out of the game). The pair continued the good work and managed to slow the scoring down however further wickets were not immediately forthcoming as Amateurs reached the first drinks break at 60 for 1.

After the drinks break the game continued along the much the same pattern as what had proceeded the drinks break as the Hinckley batsmen stayed just about on the run rate as the 2s toiled for wickets. The score had moved up to 92 after 26 overs when the Hinckley number 3 hit a cover drive very low to Neil Measures at short cover off Thorpey and Senior Measures nearly took what would have been one of the catches of the season as it bounced out of Neils hand as he hit the floor and Hinckley got a single instead. That was the last ball of a Thorpey over and off the 1st ball of the next over from Kirbo the number 3 attempted the same thing again but this time got underneath it more and this time Neil dived up and across to take what surely will be one of the catches of the season. Hinckleys number 4 came in and hit as couple of early boundaries and this caused Vice to decide to try a bit of spin and brought Oddsocks on for the Kirbonater.

Umar continued working away from the pavilion end and was eventually rewarded when he removed Hinckleys opening bat thanks to a smart catch at slip by Tom Measures and Hinckley were 110 for 3. The pair of quick wickets put a spring in the 2nd XIs step and they started getting through their overs and put the Hinckley batsmen under increased pressure. The pressure appeared to be paying dividend as the run rate began slowing up and a tight finish was looking on the cards. The pressure began to tell even further when the dangerous number 4 tried to hit Curt out of the park only to find Kirbo at long off who took a step in then a step out (we do the hokey cokey and we turn around, that’s what it’s all about) and then took the catch with ease having not really needing to move at all. Things improved even further for the unit a couple of overs later when Gandhi picked up his 2nd wicket with arguably his worst ball of the day when the number 5 cut the ball in the air only for Gok to use all the ninja training in diving to his right and taking a smart catch at point.

All of a sudden Hinckley were 120 for 5 with 12 overs remaining and the C2 Unit were beginning to sense an unlikely victory. The Hinckley skipper was now at the crease and was looking dangerous as he attempted to hit Hinckley to their victory target. However his batting partner provided little resistance as he was soon out stumped off Curtis and the 2s were looking the more likely team to force victory. The score had been moved up to 145 in the 38th over when Umar continued his heroics as he bowled the Amateurs skipper for 28 and Hinckley were 7 down. To their credit Hinckley continued batting in positive fashion looking to score runs whenever the opportunity arrived in an attempt to get as close to the 2s score as possible. However at times they were probably a little too gung ho considering the number of wickets they had lost and this was increasingly evident when they lost their 8th wicket. In an attempt to push the score along the Hinckley number 8 pushed one into the leg side to where the club Cow Whisperer Billso was stationed at square leg, there was never a run there but despite this the non facing batsmen took off like a bat out of hell and Billso was faced with the simple task of throwing the ball to the bolwers end and run him out by the length of the pitch.

With Umar on the point of exhaustion he was replaced at the pavilion end by Kirbo and Tom Measures was brought back on for Curt at the top end. Kirbo was able to pick up the 9th wicket in spectacular style when the Hinckley number 9 attempted to drive him through cover where Naz was stationed. The ball however appeared well out of reach of our young overseas signing but he stuck out an arm and just with his best Stretch Armstrong impression he somehow got a hand to the ball and knocked it up in the air and caught it on the way back down. A career at Fred Carno’s circus as a juggler surely awaits Nazir. This left the 2s with the best part of 4 overs at Hinckleys last pair despite the best efforts of Tom and Kirbo the final wicket did not arrive as Hinckley finished on 162 for 9 and the Unit had got a well deserved winning draw.

Result: Winning Draw

Points: Hinckley Amateur II 7 Points, Cosby II 15 Points

Tea Rating: ** Despite the ice lollies, definitely not a contender.

Quote of the Day: After his cheap dismissal Gok wasn’t seen for a while and the rest of the Unit got concerned about his welfare, well curious where he was at least:

Billso: Where’s Gok?

Vice: He’s committed Hari Kari, fell on his samurai sword.

Curt unveiled a new catchphrase, made funny by his comic mis-timing:

Gok: We need to start pushing the run rate on a bit.

Oddsocks: That’s what she said.

MOM: Honourable mentions for Neil Measures and Gaz Kirby who made key contributions, but only 1 main contender with 62 runs and 3 wickets in a 15 over spell MOM goes to Dave Thorpe.

Verdict: A well deserved winning draw for the C2 Unit built on the back of a great partnership between Thorpey and Neil. The 2s then responded with probably their best bowling and fielding performance of the year taking some great catches in the process.

Cosby Cricket Club 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
191		        
Russell Sullivan Caught  0 1
Nigel Meredith Bowled  2 1
Dave Thorpe Bowled  62 1
Mark Foxall Caught  8
Neil Measures Caught  40 1
Ben Cox Bowled  23
Tom Measures Bowled  3 1
Nazir Merzaman Not Out  20 1
Curtis Holloway  
Gary Kirby   1
Matthew Bills   1

Hinckley Amateur II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Hinckley Amateur II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
162 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Cosby Cricket Club 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Measures10.012200.002.20
Nazir Merzaman6.002500.004.17
Dave Thorpe15.0263321.004.20
Gary Kirby9.002438.002.67
Curtis Holloway6.0027213.504.50

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    Simon Cooper