Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club

Scorecard

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI v Woodcote on Sat 30 May 2015 at 1:30 pm
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report As a mixed May drew to a close, Matchday Five saw the Crows return to St Sebs for a tasty fixture against an experienced Woodcote side that boasted a decent recent record, a match-up that promised to be a much sterner test than the previous week’s domination of BCS Grosvenor. After their last visit home had resulted in an unfortunate defeat (courtesy of a freakish injury reducing CCWCC to nine men for the majority of the match) the breaking news that Shak had been struck down by illness and forced to pull out at the eleventh hour led to mutters amongst the Crows faithful of a “curse of St Sebs” that had struck for a second time. The depth in the squad is such though that they were able to call upon 2012 Bershire League Young Player of the Year Smokin’ Joe Davies for his first taste of Premier League action, meaning it was still a very strong eleven that readied themselves in the warm spring sunshine.

Despite yet another lost toss, it was with some satisfaction that the Colonel strode back from the middle as his Woodcote counterpart chose to bat first, showing the naivety of an opposition captain that has never before faced the ‘fearsome foursome’ of Crows pace bowlers who were full of confidence and eager to take advantage of the pace and bounce offered by the St Sebs track. He soon did know about them though, as a superb display of hostile swing and seam bowling was almost comical in its supremacy over an outclassed Woodcote batting line up. Jaffa and Ash restricted the opening pair to just 19 off their first 12 overs, that meagre run rate testament to the accuracy and skill of the bowlers and not the efforts of the batsmen who swung hard at times, but consistently failed to make contact with the singing new ball. After these countless plays and misses the batsmen breathed huge sighs of relief at their good fortune in getting through that opening salvo unscathed, but what is now clear is that if Cluett and Fowles don’t get you Syko and Muzza will.

It was the latter who struck first, when in a remarkable opening over he took three wickets in five balls, including a sharp slip catch from the Red Barron to dismiss the number three first ball and the simplest of caught and bowled chances to send the Woodcote skipper back also without scoring. This set the tone for the rest of the innings, as while wickets had been hard to come by initially, they fell with regularity for the remainder. Two noteworthy catches from Davies saw Jaffa and Sykes take the scalps of the two most dangerous looking middle order hitters, both of whom had briefly threatened with some agricultural heaves, and Fowles claimed his first too with a hard-earned LBW to dismiss the incredulous Woodcote keeper. Through all of the carnage at the other end (including two more wickets for Syko) the resolute opening batsman Mayo defied everything that was thrown at him, and he cut a forlorn figure as he stood at the non-striker’s end to see “Aberdeen” Angus Murray claim his fifth scalp, and more importantly his club baggie green, to complete the demolition job. Muzza finished with an excellent 5-17, supported brilliantly by the other three bowlers and the whole Crows’ fielding unit in containing Woodcote to 103 all out in 40.4 overs.

The Crows’ chase had its wobbles, and the Woodcote bowling line-up was impressive in attempting to resurrect their chances in the game, but there was little doubt in what the final result would be after such a small total was posted. Barron was cleaned up in the first over and Smokin’ Joe contrived to run himself out, slipping as he turned back trying to make his ground after turning for an unlikely second run having played another in a short series of fantastic shots. Albino Nick and Ravi were the calm heads to steady the ship at this point though, both chipping in with lengthy stays at the crease, having to grind it out in tricky circumstances and showing great determination in doing so. Nick eventually fell for 18, and Ravi 29, but the platform had been laid and it was Barrymore who came in and launched off it, racing to 32 not out and smashing some seriously good shots along the way, including a cracking lofted drive to win the match with plenty of overs to spare.

Questions were asked after the Crows suffered their first defeat of the season, but two consecutive crushing wins against established Premier League opposition have gone a long way to answering them.

Woodcote Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 4w 1b 6lb 
for 10 wickets
12
103 (40.4 overs)		     
Mayo Not Out  42
Gordon b  Murray 15
Stroker ct  Barron b Murray 0
Knox ct  c & b Murray 0
Henderson b  Murray 1
Van Heerden b  Sykes 11
Boulby ct  Davies b J Cluett 8
Silver lbw  Fowles 0
Rafaqat ct  Davies b Sykes 11
Brouard ct  J Cluett b Sykes 3
Mathmore ct  Mahroof b Murray 0

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jeff Cluett12.0520120.001.67
Ashley Fowles11.0234134.003.09
Angus Murray8.421753.401.96
Alex Sykes9.022538.332.78

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
7w 4lb 
for 4 wickets
11
104		        
Richard Barron b  Knox 2 1
Joe Davies run out  (Rafaqat) 12 2
Nick Outram b  Henderson 18
Ravi Godbole b  Rafaqat 29
Chris Allwright Not Out  32
Azarudeen Mahroof Not Out  0 1
Anthony Cluett  
Alex Sykes  
Jeff Cluett   1
Angus Murray   1
Ashley Fowles  

Woodcote Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Knox8.0025125.003.12
Van Heerden12.032700.002.25
Henderson8.0322122.002.75
Bowlby5.002600.005.20
Rafaqat1.01010.000.00