Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club

Scorecard

Yateley Manor Staff v Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Midweek XI on Wed 15 Jun 2011 at 6:00
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Lost by 7 wickets

Match report Crows T20 side suffered a very rare defeat in the miserable mirth at Yateley Manor on Wednesday night against a Yateley Manor School staff team

Having needed either a degree in geography and/or some knowledge of breaking into Schools and/or reading their emails. the Crows T20 XI all finally made their way to the rain-soaked ground. The Crows “won the toss” and batted first. 6-a-aside and T20 specialists Dan Partridge and Nick McDonagh bullishly strode to the crease as the steady drizzle of rain continued to fall. Talk of “abandoning this charade and retreating to the Pub” were soon quashed by the authoritative Peter Daines who had worked tirelessly to ensure the fixture went ahead as scheduled.

The Pitch was very green and very plastic. The stumps were very old and very brittle, the ball very red and very wet. The Crows Openers wasted no time in setting about the bowling attack with a flurry of boundaries all around the wicket. McDonagh in particular putting the opening bowlers to the sword. Whilst Partridge proved an awkward customer for the opening bowling pair of Left-arm slinger Tristan Morris and right-arm paceman Aaron Walters with his erratic array of “shots”

Once Mcdonagh had retired on his obligatory 25*, Partridge continued his onslaught before succumbing to the cunning ploy of the wily Cluett who bolwed a devilish slow straight one to dismiss Partridge for an entertaining 21. Mark Knight was then controversially adjudged leg before by home Umpire “Tucker” Daines. However this only galvanized the Crows ranks and Club Legend Adam Elrick, making a rare outing for the club and leg-side specialist Dave Shaw set about building on the platform the openers had provided. Yateley Manor Skipper “Lloydy” juggled his bowlers but none could contain the deft touches of Elrick nor the more simplistic but no less effective approach of Shaw, both of whom reached the retirement mark of 25 with little fuss.

MacKenzie, making his T20 debut failed in his mandatory attempt to hit a 6 first ball and perished for 1 having been run out in typically comical circumstances. Then came the real farce. If Mackenzie’s demise had been absurd, then Tim Leach’s was ridiculous, run out by the apologetic Pete Clarke without facing a ball. Leach was furious having taken 2 hours to find the school and eventually make it to the pitch. The short leg-side boundary looked mightily inviting to the powerful left-hander so his disappointment was both visible and understandable. His sorry end added to Skipper McDonagh’s woes as he powerful hitting had been held back for the latter overs to push Crows to a huge score. As it was he was back in the hutch without contributing and a more modest total was beckoning.

Clarke made amends in a small way by farming the strike with T20 power hitter Harry Stent in the closing overs. Crows posted a reasonable score of 168 although with short boundaries and tough bowling and fielding conditions, Yateley Manor would have felt it a gettable target. As the players stopped for a short break, enhanced by a fine selection of cakes provided by the Yateley Manor Female Teachers, many of whom were in attendance, the rain continued to fall. The players seemed oblivious to the deluge as they tucked into Mrs. Bates’ Chocolate Cake and Victoria Sponge and Mrs. Bole’s Carrot Cake the delights of which the Crows players rarely get to sample.

The players emerged from refreshment with the sky still gloomy and the outfield sodden. A feral fox was added to those already in attendance and the scene was set for a scintillating run chase. A fired up Tim Leach opened the bowling and conceded only 5 runs from his allotted 2 overs including an unheard of maiden. At the other end Simon Sheppard, bowling in his cap to protect his coiffured hair from the elements, managed to sneak one past the bat of Cluett and rattle the timbers.

Wicketkeeper/Opener/Deputy Head, the appropriately named, Simon Head crafted his way to 25 before making way for “Lloydy” and the hard hitting Edwards. Both of these batsmen had clearly and unfairly played a bit before and they proceeded to make light of the tough fielding conditions as well as a wet ball that was almost impossible to bowl with. Edwards was looking set for a retirement score, but Mehul Patel also making his Crows debut literally demolished his stumps, with the off stump cartwheeling through the air (despite being originally attached to the spring-back stumps that had bleary eyed Crows harking back to their school days.)

Things got no easier for the Crows as next up for the YMXI was Martin the Eversley CC batsman who also looked good for his 25, before succumbing to the guile and craft of Brendy “The Frenzy” MacKenzie who bowled him to give the Crows a foothold in a match that was rapidly getting away from them. This inspired Crows to make a mini resurgence and Elrick turned the screw even further with 2 miserly overs of spin. However Mackenzie then let himself, his teammates, his club and his village down by being smashed for a total of 20 runs off his 2 overs. However YM had sent in the youthful and big hitting Morris, who survived a scare first ball when he got a big edge off Partridge and the even more youthful and no less big hitting Aaron Walters who saw the home team to their target with 9 balls to spare to consign the Crows T20 team to their first defeat for several seasons.

Crows Skipper Nick McDonagh: “We’d like to thank Yateley Manor for their hospitality and despite our defeat, this is a fixture we certainly look forwards to next year, too. Despite the rain we were pleased to have been able to get a complete match in” Yateley Manor team Supremo and Umpire Peter Daines was delighted to win and get one over his Crows club mates. However he was unavailable for comment.

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Midweek XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 5 wickets
0
168		        
Nick McDonagh Not Out  27
Dan Partridge b Cluett 21
Mark Knight lbw Martin 15
Brendon MacKenzie Run out  1
David Shaw Not Out  26
Adam Elrick Not Out  26
Simon Sheppard ct ? b. Murray 8
Peter Clarke Not Out  10
Tim Leach Run out  0
Harry Stent Not Out  8
Mehul Patel  

Yateley Manor Staff Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Yateley Manor Staff Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 3 wickets
0
171 (0.0 overs)		     
Cluett b Sheppard 9
Head Not Out  27
Edwards b Patel 18
Lloyd Not Out  29
Martin b MacKenzie 23
Morris Not Out  25
Walters Not Out  20
MacFarlane Not Out  0
   
   
Murray  

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Midweek XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tim Leach2.01500.002.50
Simon Sheppard2.0027127.0013.50
Mehul Patel2.0018118.009.00
Peter Clarke2.001700.008.50
Dan Partridge2.001700.008.50
Nick McDonagh2.002800.0014.00
Adam Elrick2.001100.005.50
Brendon MacKenzie2.0020120.0010.00
Mark Knight1.30900.006.00
David Shaw1.001400.0014.00

  • Umpire :
    Peter Norman Daines
  • Scorer :