It was a day of disaster in Tamworth as my City United club were spanked by arch rival Bective Easts in all four grades. Hammered, slogged, flogged ... where Bill Lawry when you need him?
Firsts were playing the first club game to be played under lights in Tamworth. They got 4-300 off 45 overs, we replied with 175.
Seconds gave up 3-236 off 40 and replied with 105.
Thirds recovered to get 155 when our young fast bowler spanked 41 at No10. Bective lost three wickets getting their.
Fours managed only 110 and were passed with only 5 wickets gathered.
Rough reckoner - they scored 800 odd for the loss of 15 and we replied with 445 for the loss of 40.
Oh well. We had a ovely BBQ after the games!
Some days nothing will go your way, will it Lango?!
ReplyDeleteOur As and Bs were washed out both weeks of their games. To be honest B grade is out of the race for finals but with the Adelaide test weekend being a bye for the association, then a scheduled 2 week bye for us as a side withdrew, two weeks in a row missed due to rain (the last two), then xmas and new year – B grade misses 7 weeks in a row! With all the work many of us put in each week at training (personally I am there 3 hours each Tues and Thurs night doing throw-downs etc) this amount of lost cricket is not good enough.
Not too long ago As and Bs had both one and two day cricket in the season. Now with an odd number of teams in both grades, 4 weeks off due to public holidays and the test match; both grades miss at least 6 weeks every season. There is a bit of uproar around the Adelaide Hills about this and there is plenty of support from other teams to re-introduce one-day cricket which would mean 7 two dayers and 7 one-dayers. Unfortunately some Sundays will be required but the feeling is most people will support the concept as it will mean more cricket.
Fortunately for me I filled-in for C grade on Sat as they were playing with one short a bit away from the Hills where it wasn’t as wet. The heavens opened at about 4 and that brought an end to the game anyway. As B grade was washed out there were no team sheets put in so I’m clear to play the two weeks B grade has a bye in C grade! I’m so stoked to be getting two more hits. I even got two overs on Sat for 3 runs with a caught behind not given (apparently as I didn’t hear a thing!). I felt good with the bat before spooning a full toss to square leg on 19 – arrggg.
Mixed bag there Lango & Lefty. Cricket is cruel indeed. I was representing the 4's again this week on what could only be described as a cow paddock the size of a primary school oval. The gradient would make Lords look like a billiard table too. I actually had difficulty keeping my balance behind the stumps at one end.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we started well with a wicket in the 2nd over from a great skied catch that moved around in the air. We had them 2 for at drinks and 3 for at tea. After tea we had a strange occurrence. First the batter skies the ball to fine leg off a full toss that goes straight down the fielders throat. It is subsequently called a no ball for over the waist (VERY late). Both batsmen are at the same end and the ball is thrown back to the bowler. He calmly takes off the bails and we all appeal. The batsmen is given out and he cracks it on the way off saying the ball was dead. I tell him if it wasn't out them you MUST make your ground just like any other run. He whinges a bit more and our captain calls him back. I ask you all, what would you do?
We roll them for 145 in 42 and being a postage stamp things look good. We are 0 for 25 of 6 and cruising, then the wheels fall off. We lose 2 in 2 balls and 4 overall for 50 odd. I am yet to bat having been told to go in at 6 but too slow to kit up I didn't make it on after the 4th wicket. Lets hope the weather holds up and I can get a bat. I was dreading going in as the rain came and the sky darkened. My eyes just aren't that good any more. Especially since their opener was express and bowling well....
i don't want to speak for you Nospmas, but those last few minutes before the rain WERE always going to see wickets fall...i know, coz it happened to me!
ReplyDeletewe did a tidy job in the field getting the opposition all out and limiting them to 138 in 34.1 overs.
once again i didn't get asked to bowl, even though i returned everything to the captain when he was bowling with a back of the hand rip/picked up some grass and checked the breeze when changing ends/inspected the pitch at the same time/and said "when am i gonna get to use this perfect breeze" when a pair were set and the bowler at my end couldn't land a ball!
the bottom line is, this bloke (cap) as a former leggie, didn't have faith in his own wrist/finger/flight and so clearly doesn't have faith in anyone elses! he even told me that he thought it (leg spin) was too hard, that is why he became a seamer! i told him i was the reverse- seam bowling was not challanging enough, that is why i became a leggie!
anyway, on the upside, i took what was easily the best catch for the team of the season so far: an absolute blinder at mid on- full stretch/horizontal/fingertips/with enough time to give a "fist-up" with the catching hand before landing! TOPS!
on the downside, i pulled a muscle in my quad- not taking the catch- as i was scooping up a ball at cow corner causing me to accidently lob the ball up for what looked like a silly miss-field. and so when we batted i asked to drop down from 3 (now my regular spot) to 11 and bat only if needed.
we started well, but as wickets fell and then 3 ducks in a row saw me padding up, the hope the heavens would open was high. it was evident that it would because it was so dark!
so with 40 odd runs needed, heaps of overs, and the drizzle starting i limp out and refuse the runner Captain myway wants me to take. there is no point; it WILL dump down any minute.
i block out the over apart from the loose last ball that i glance down through the empty slips.
As the cap is umpiring and see that it is getting much heavier during the change of ends i stall a bit by wiping my bat and look to see when we will go off... no such luck!
the bowler that took all of the ducks is comming in, it is dark, turned from drizzle to rain and i decide to bloke this ball and walk off. in doing this i'm not fully paying attention, the lefty gets it to swing at a good length from leg to take out my off stump -not that i can see it very well!
we lose!
the team talk is disgusting; we are told that the bowler that cleaned up is a puffcake-piechucker and didn't deserve his results. he tells everyone it wasn't swinging
and we can only blame ourselves; no word of him running himself out!
i'm, also dirty with him because i took central umpiring duties for the first 16 overs and he had a go at me for smiling at the opening bowler who had 4 very close appeals for LBW against one batsman when the bowler said, "i'll trap him." the bowler was a good sport and accepted (and agreed with) all of my judgements.
so there is dissent in the ranks!
i can't get a game in the other teams because i can't get to training due to my wifes work commitments. but over the school holidays, i will train and ask the Prez if i can play 2 games in the 3rds or 2nds in that time.
we'll see!
stoph
i believe i'm a good sport Nospmas, but i would NOT have called the sook back.
ReplyDeleteMy god what a baby! Nospmas, what the hell is wrong with your captain? It’s not like a bowler ran into him, stopping him from making his ground. If the ball is called a no-ball when it’s caught the batsmen can still run and risk being run-out. That’s the law of the game, simple. If those two batting were too stupid to make sure they made their ground they deserve to be out. There’s no way in our league any captain would have called them back. It could be said your captain in Mr Nice Guy but I’d be dark that he was so sportsmanlike. That is going too far.
ReplyDeleteStoph, I feel much the same as you with my (lack of) bowling in B grade. Our skip generally brings himself on if we need to change up the pace. I told him after the last game, ‘I need to bowl to you in the nets’. He understood what I meant. I’m not sure I understand who you’re talking about, Stoph, after ‘We lose’. Did your captain get pissed off at you for smiling, tell everyone the ball wasn’t swinging etc that brought on disgusting team talk? If your skip ran himself out he should really acknowledge that. I don’t speak too highly of our captain at times but he puts his hand up when he hasn’t done well enough.
we lost the game... after i was bowled in the piss pouring rain.
ReplyDeletehe got pissed off about me smiling at the bowlers remark about trapping our batsman.
i was pissed because he tried to make out like everyone else was hopeless because the bowler was no good, and wasn't swinging the ball.
i say the talk was disgusting due to his bad attitude and finger pointing/bullshitting and bad leadership.
he also doesn't get to training so he hasn't seen me bowl to the firsts when i've had the chance.
Ah, I see. I thought as much but wanted to be sure before I say………
ReplyDeleteYour captain is a dickhead.
Blaming all and sundry for a loss is poor sportsmanship, childish, poor leadership and plain stupid. Everyone sees it for what it is – sore losing. How this guy can captain when he doesn’t train also amazes me. If my captain put me at 10 and hadn’t seen me bat I’d let him know what the score was.
After playing under the C grade skip on Sat I can see why some players are disgruntled with him. I barely heard him utter a word. Players need to be able to look up to their captain, even if he’s not the best player around, and get positivity from him. I’ve played in so many beltings over the last 8 years and as soon as the captain’s head drops so does everyone else’s. Singling out players in front of a group or lambasting them on the field is disrespectful and ultimately unhelpful. I used to speak about batsmen not valuing their wicket or bowlers not sticking to plans as way of explaining what had happened. Also giving credit to the opposition when due. What does bagging the opposition bowling do for blokes that had got skittled by him? It’s not giving constructive criticism for them to work on.
Time to go up a grade Stoph! That point about the moron not bowling you because he thinks wrist spin is too hard is hilarious. Imagine Ponting saying to Johnson ‘don’t worry about the in-swinger back into the right hander; it’s too hard – I’ve tried it’.
this one day comp is new for our club, so when captain couldn't train he obviously couldn't captain his normal 2nds side, so he was offered this gig as a way of having him play and getting some 'experience' in the new side.
ReplyDeleteanyway, i'm a bit stuck because i can't train either, until school holidays, then i'm gonna show my stuff and push for a few games where i can bowl some spells and then push my case in further one dayers. plus i'll enjoy batting more as batting up the order has allowed me more time to get settled and then make runs.
we'll see
roll on school holidays!
thanks for your input and interest Lefty.
26 days to go!
Yeh I tend to agree Lefty, my captain is a bit soft for calling him back. It was pretty straight forward. The batter knew it was a no ball, he said as much when they were both up the same end. Then he realised that he had to run when our fielder told the bowler to take the bails off. Whether it's an accident or not you SHOULD know the rules and it was none of our doing. The ball wasn't a no ball anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the first time I have been disappointed in our captain anyway. He totally ignores advice even when it's to put out a little protection at 3rd man because the batsmen are edging it through the gaps behind square. He bowled himself to 1/125 last game because, and I quote "The batsmen aren't really doing any damage". He considers a bottom edge into my box when I am keeping up as a dropped catch. And he got a young kid suspended because he thought he wasn't running fast enough after a ball that had already gone for four late in the day. This after he scolded him like a child in front of all and sundry.
I am determined to make some big runs this week and get out of this side. It's onward and upward for me.
Stoph I can sympathise with you about your captain too. I played one day comp a few years ago and my captain was also a keeper, well he called himself that anyway. I once caught a deflection off his gloves (one of many grassers) at 1st slip. He wouldn't let me keep even though he was sh1t. He actually batted me at 10 the last game because "I thought I would give the young fella's a game" but I suspected it was because I was in the running for batting average. He made a duck, I made 20 odd and he then proceeded to nut out a formula that eventually gave him the award. He devised that because not all players had played every game each would be given points as to what order they finished the day in the number of runs. 11 for highest, then 10 etc. He won it by 1 point because I missed 2 games. He honestly must have stayed up ALL night thinking of that one. I left the club that year.
ReplyDeleteCaptains can be frustrating sometimes. Most times in club cricket it is merely the senior player that gets it, not the best for the job.
Nospmas, I assume you're talking about a different match?! And your former captain sounds a little obsessed, vain and paranoid.
ReplyDeleteThe talk of captaincy is quite prophetic with the debates of Ponting, Gayle etc and the role itself. I wonder to what extent Gayle's declaration of the unity in the West Indies side is true. Despite all the set-backs before and while touring Aus so far, if Gayle has the young and inexperienced lads fired up, there's enough power to win a test match. I hope Gayle takes his own batting more seriously - especially if he opens - to support these same young West Indian fellas.
Nice chatter lads. Unfortunately, I don't have playing stories to add these days as I just wander the grounds and take photos of the fellas to put on the website. I generally get to hear most of the gripes too. Still after 17 years away from grass roots cricket, its nice to back and involved. The chairman of selectors rang mid morning saying we are desperately short and would I still have gear to pull on in an emergency. I didn't tell him I've had my kit and clothes in the car every Saturday!
ReplyDeleteHilarious Lango - absolutetly classic!
ReplyDelete