Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club

Scorecard

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI v Waltham St. Lawrence on Sat 21 Jun 2014 at 1:30 pm
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Won by 5 wickets

Match report Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club 1st 192-5 beat v Waltham St. Lawrence 191-8 by 5 wickets.

WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE

Saturday, 21st June, 2014: a historic day in C&CWCC’s short history, the first 1st XI home game. This was a top of the table grudge match with arch-nemeses, Waltham St Lawrence. Crowthorne CC has a long-standing rivalry with Waltham St. Lawrence, they did the double against us in 2012 – rumour has it this rivalry is just as intense in the sleepy village north of Bracknell, which will come alive upon the return fixture August 23rd. Put it in your diaries.

Colonel Cluett didn’t fancy getting a duck batting first, so instead decided to send Waltham in on a tumultuous track. While looking flatter than the M4 it held within it many demons - ‘look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’.

Jeff ‘Jaffa’ Cluett and Alex ‘Psycho’ Sykes were the first players to grace the St Seb’s bowling creases, but ‘strut and fret their hour upon the stage’ they did not. Each bowled with control, skill and aggression. Apart from a few drives from the token pinch hitter, the Waltham wagon wheel was weighted heavily toward the third man region. Psycho ended the chirpy slogger’s brief knock with a straight one, while Jeff bowled well with little luck. Fear not, reader, Jeff would be back.

Psycho was especially happy when the Waltham number 3, somewhat reluctant to push forward against the hostile Crows attack, was trapped in front by a 2008 vintage Nirav in-ducker. What came next will go down in the annals of C&CWCC history.

The date was June 3rd 1993, a fresh, as yet unenhanced, face changed the art of leg spin bowling forever. Shane Warne’s first ball on English soil, the ‘ball of the century’ was replicated (somewhat) by club legend Dan Partridge. Partridge celebrated a wicket with his very first league delivery at St Sebastians. 3 down for not many, Waltham then staged a rearguard action – slowing the tempo of the game to ensure wickets in hand coming into the final 10 overs. Ashton and Riazuddin rotated the strike and occupied the crease, building a partnership before Partridge struck again, bowling the cut-happy Ashton with an inswinger - to close to cut.

Enter, Mr. Gujjar. With his railway sleeper of a bat, he set the tone of his innings early with several straight, bludgeoned boundaries before dispatching Nirav over his head, over the trees and indeed into another postcode. Ant also bowled but we won’t go into that. Please do not accuse me of treason against our Dear Leader, Colonel Cluett – I will highlight what may have just been the best piece of captaincy in cricket history: seeing the inconsistencies of the pitch, the Colonel moved Outram into the squarest of gullies (a silly point, if you will). The very next ball, the batsman obliged to edge the ball just out of Outram’s reach. The Colonel is ‘the hero Crowthorne & Crown Wood deserve” and, unlike Gotham, he is the one we need right now … “A watchful protector, a dark knight.”

Re-enter, Sir Jeffery Cluett Esq and Psycho, who cleaned up the lower middle order and tail to finish with 3 and 2 wickets respectively. Soon it was Partridge who was left cleaning up as he was viciously attacked by a flying cricket ball in dismissing the dangerous Gujjar, leaving bloodstains all over his coveted #9 shirt. He caught it, by the way.


The Tea, wow. Thanks mum for producing a tea the likes of which BCL Division 1 will not see again until the next time she makes one.


The mood in the Crowthorne & Crown Wood camp was buoyant. However, Harris of Waltham St Lawrence started their defence of a slightly below par 191/8 with aggression and, it must be said, a fair slice of luck. The Colonel managed to drag a short, wide one back onto his stumps while prize scalp Barron was equally perturbed and then dislodged by the tennis ball bounce of the St Seb’s track. Fresh from a match-winning partnership at Reading Uni against West Reading, Outram was reunited with Davies at the crease. It wasn’t to be, however, as the scratchy Davies was put out his misery by a good length ball from Harris. Izzy seemed right at home on the St Seb’s dustbowl, tucking into some short stuff before succumbing to the genuine all-rounder Gujjar

At 4 for nowhere near enough, in came the ice cool Azarudeen ‘Mahela’ Mahroof, who, upon entering the St Seb’s cauldron, was a man possessed by a desire to be there at the end. Outram, who had played some fine shots on his way to 28, was stumped. “Who will save us now?” was the cry from the inconsolable Colonel. The spectators and Crows players alike were distraught, staring down the barrel of a first 1st XI defeat for the new, merged entity. Defeat, however, could not have been further from the minds of Azza and - yep, you guessed it - that man Sir Jeffery once again who oozed confidence from the moment he lofted the Waltham spinner into the deep to get off the mark.

The partisan Crowthorne crowd went from despondency to quiet confidence as Azza and Jeff took the score past 100. When the bowling was good, the boys shut up shop, when bad balls were offered, they were dispatched. A phenomenal finish from Azza ensured what looks to be, on paper, a comfortable Crows win with overs and wickets to spare, the relief amongst the camp afterwards, however, revealed that this was anything but.

In an exclusive interview with club legend Alan Brown, this reporter probed about the form of the skipper, Colonel Cluett. With upmost confidence that runs are around the corner, Brown responded ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’. Jeff Cluett was unable to provide an interview as he was swamped by adoring fans while coming off the field, although this reporter definitely heard him utter the now famous line which tends to follow a miraculous Cluett display: ‘standard’.

Waltham St. Lawrence Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 2b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
7
191 (45.0 overs)		     
hawkins ct  J.CLuett b Partridge 22
harris b  b sykes 20
evans lbw  nirav 7
ashton b  b partridge 33
riazuddin ct  ct + b sykes 25
gujjar ct  ct partridge b J.Cluett 49
ali ct  ct Mahroof b J.Cuett 1
sharpe ct  Ct Nirav b J.CLuett 7
connor Not Out  13
herbert Not Out  7
   

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jeff Cluett12.0347315.673.92
Alex Sykes11.0050225.004.55
Nirav Upadhyay7.0225125.003.57
Dan Partridge7.0029214.504.14
Riyas Rajab4.011000.002.50
Anthony Cluett4.002600.006.50

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 7w 12b 4lb 
for 5 wickets
24
192		        
Anthony Cluett b  harris 0
Richard Barron b  harris 4
Nick Outram st  kumar 28
Joe Davies ct  harris 8
Mohamed Izzadeen ct  gujjar 22
Azarudeen Mahroof Not Out  65 1
Jeff Cluett Not Out  41 1
Riyas Rajab  
Alex Sykes   1
Nirav Upadhyay   1
Dan Partridge   1

Waltham St. Lawrence Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
harris9.4067322.336.93
gujjar10.0034134.003.40
kumar6.0024124.004.00
ali6.002700.004.50
herbert4.00900.002.25
evans2.001500.007.50

  • Umpire :
    Alan Brown
  • Scorer :