Scorecard

Cosby Cricket Club 2nd XI v Rothley Park II on Sat 04 Jun 2011 at 1.30pm
Cosby Cricket Club Lost By 7 Wickets 5 Points

Match report 4th June 2011, Cosby II vs Rothley Park II

Following 2 positive results in the previous 2 weeks it would be fair to assume that the C2 Unit approached their home fixture with newly promoted Rothley Park with a degree of confidence. I am assuming this to be the case as this report writer was not selected for the fixture this week and arriving 10 overs in can only speculate on the pre match mood of the 2nd XI. However one thing was for certain Fuhrer Wood lost the toss (nice to see his regular form returning with the coin) and the 2s had been asked to bat on a strip that had more than a tinge of green to it.

On my arrival things had obviously not gone to plan for the 2s in the early encounters as Cosby were 40 for 3 after 10 overs with the skipper, Gok and Thorpey already back in the pavilion and Oddsocks and CBB were at the crease. Some rebuilding was going to be the order of the day and Russ and Curt were digging in to try and get the Unit in to a position where they would be able to post a challenging score on what the 2s were making to look like a tough pitch with more than a little help from some further good bowling from the Rothley openers.

The pair had moved the score into the 70’s when CBB became the first victim of Rothley’s young slow bowler when he attempted to hit him over mid off. The ball was hit more up than towards the boundary and the general consensus on the boundary was that Russ had got away with it. However when the ball eventually fell back to earth the catch was taken by the Rothley skipper who made it look a lot easier than it was. Curt was joined at the crease by Wretch (making his season’s debut for The C2 Unit) and the pair were looking in watchful mood. The scoreboard was creeping along at this stage and the Cosby cause was not helped any when Wretch attempting an almighty slog in to the leg side over reached himself, over balance and appeared to pull his hamstring in his attempts to get back to the crease. Following his “injury” Wretch was soon back in the pavilion when he became the young slowys 2nd victim when he was caught in the Gully. Vice Captain Andy Gray soon became the 3rd member of the 2s to fall to Rothley’s spin king (or should that be non spin king considering he barely turned the ball) when he was well caught at slip for just 5.

The C2 Unit were 100 for 6 and this was soon 105 for 8 as Oddsocks was out for a patient and hard fought 21 and then Uncle Ben Cox for a patient and hard fought golden duck both falling to the young spinner who now had a 5 for. Alex “Gnomeo” White was in with Big Phil Needham and it was the2s answer to Justin Bieber (Whitey not Phil for those who were wondering) that showed the rest of the Unit how they should have been batting. Playing the bowling with what appeared relative ease and punishing what was increasingly becoming some extremely average bowling from Rothley’s 5 wicket hero, hitting him to the boundary on a number of occasions including a monster 6 into the children’s play area. Big was offering steady support at the other end and the score had moved up to 140 when Phil became the 9th member of the 2s to lose his wicket when he was bowled playing an ugly looking shot to a ball that kept a bit low for 8. Last man in was Michael “I’ve got a Mangina” Whitehead but unfortunately Trig didn’t last long as he was harshly given out LBW for 0 and the 2s had been bowled out for 143 in just 40 overs with Whitey finishing on 28 not out.

The 2s retreated to the dressing rooms for their dressing down from a less than impressed captain after what had been a less than impressive batting performance. The rumours emanating from the dressing rooms suggest Woody was also less than impressed by the attitude showed by some of the Unit during the innings to which one brave/hardy/foolish/oriental soul attempted to lodge a protest. Schoolboy error. In the captains words (or rather Brian Clough’s) they discussed the matter then decided Woody was right all along.

After a fine tea the 2s went out to field knowing they would have to bowl and field like demons if they were going to stop Rothley chasing down the modest total on what was a better track than the 2s had made it look. Given the honours with the new ball this week were Stumpy and rather surprisingly (for those on the boundary at least) Sheriff. The move to open with a slowy appeared to have got an early dividend when Rothleys senior member and opening bat went back to ball that kept low and appeared to hit him full on the pad in front of middle stump. You could not wish to see a plumber LBW yet somehow the youngster that Rothley had sent out to umpire turned the appeal down much to the dismay of the 2s and especially Andy who appeared to be having a temper tantrum in the middle of the pitch.

After few more testing overs from Gnomeo and Sheriff the 2s were at last able to get their breakthrough when the other opener was caught behind off Sheriff and Rothley were 30 for 1. The Rothley number 3 came to the crease and despite only appearing in his teens he also appeared a more than capable batsman as he dug in and batted sensibly with the opener as the pair nudged and nurdled their way towards the victory target. Nudging and nurdling is in fact doing them a dis-service as they were more than capable of punishing any wayward deliveries that came their way.

Woody rang the bowling changes bringing on Big and Oddsocks and despite the odd testing delivery from both neither was looking overly threatening and Rothley were steadily making their way towards the 144 runs they needed for victory. As they made their steady progress the number 3 was beginning to look an increasingly good batsman as he went past 50 and the 2s were appeared to be a bit devoid of ideas at this stage. Trigger was belatedly brought into the attack (by all accounts still suffering with his Mangina) and when he did come on he looked the most threatening bowler on the day for the 2s. He was able to pick up a couple of wickets removing the Rothley opener for 41 and their captain as well. This was a mere blip on Rothleys march to victory though as despite further efforts with the ball from Thorpey and Uncle Ben they managed to reach the 144 runs they needed with 10 overs to spare and with their number 3 batsman finishing 77 not out.

Result: Lost by 7 wickets

Points: Cosby II 5 points, Rothely II 24 points

MOM: Not many contenders this week for the MOM honours, Trig looked the pick of the bowlers when he eventually got the ball in his hand but MOM goes to Alex White who showed the rest how it should be done with the bat, bowled a tidy 8 over spell and never gave up in the field.

Verdict: A pretty poor performance after 2 pretty decent ones the previous 2 weeks. The 2s cannot afford to let their standards slip in this division when they do they are usually on ass end of an ass kicking and this once again proved to be the case. Players need to apply themselves, focus on their own performance and at times show a bit more fight than they did this week. Need to bounce back next week against Quorn.

Cosby Cricket Club 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
143		        
Nigel Meredith Bowled  4
Paul Wood Caught  18
Dave Thorpe Bowled  13
Russell Sullivan Caught  17 1
Curtis Holloway Bowled  21
Matt Wright Caught  6
Andy Gray Caught  5
Alex White Not Out  28
Ben Cox Bowled  0
Phil Needham Bowled  8
Michael Whitehead Lbw  0

Rothley Park II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Rothley Park II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 3 wickets
0
144 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Cosby Cricket Club 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Alex White8.012000.002.50
Andy Gray9.0127127.003.00
Phil Needham6.003400.005.67
Curtis Holloway4.001600.004.00
Dave Thorpe3.011500.005.00
Michael Whitehead5.01623.001.20
Ben Cox3.002200.007.33

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    super simon cooper