OGC Cricket Team 2009

Innings 1

The toss was lost by Dave and Oadby were fielding. Since the team had never played a match before they were not sure which they would prefer, although it is always nice to get runs on the board when it looks like light might start to go towards the end of the night. The pitch did not look brilliant so Oadby were confident of taking some early wickets with big Neil Whittenbury running into bowl. Neil played a lot of cricket at a decent standard a few years ago, ebing a very quick opening bowler. Neil eased off the pace a bit and ran in off a short run up, bowling nowhere near full pace. It was still quick enough for this level of cricket, although there were a few boundaries off the first over due to the outfield being ridiculously fast. Ben Hall opened the bowling from the other end, and although there were no wickets between the opening pair, they both bowled quite tight opening spells, with Neil bowling 2 and Ben 3. Daz Read came on to replace Neil at the pavillion end, and Daz bowled a good spell of 3 overs, taking a wicket with his final ball. Darren keeps wicket for Countesthorpe First Team on a Saturday so doesnt normally bowl, so I think it was a nice change for him. If Daz had of been keeping wicket for Oadby there might have been a few more dismissals, although Ed Eley did enjoy it behind the stumps even though he has not kept wicket for years, a job he used to do week in, week out. Oliver Fletcher-Warrington was the man who replaced Ben Hall at the playground end, and Oli bowled the spell of the day, finishing with 2-10 from his 3 overs, with his first over being a wicket maiden. Oli was the man who got the breakthrough because as mentioned Daz's wicket did not come till his last over. Oli's brother Adam replaced Daz and he took 2-17 off 3 overs, another very impressive spell. Eley took a stumping off Adam, something he was very happy with considering the amount he had missed (only joking Ed.) The other bowlers who bowled the last four overs were Dave Goodman, who took 2 wickets in an over, Brian Fletcher-Warrington, whose over went for 13 but managed a wicket, and Dale Baker who bowled a solid over. Ben Hall also bowled his 4th over at the end of the innings and took a beat of a beating in his last over, pitching too short. Oadby suffered an injury scare during their innings with Gary Smith, who did some damage to his knee. That meant Gary would have to bat at 10, and his knee is still suffering a few weeks after the match. Only three batsmen really got going for the opposition, with both openers eventually having to retire on 25 before coming back in. Greenwood made 31 in the end while Josh Radford was 36 not out. Lees also retired on 25 before coming back in, and he was 33 not out at the end of the innings. Some good bowling and average batting meant Oadby would need 127 to win the match, and the match had been reduced to 18 overs per side as the light situation was not looking good. Oli Fletcher-Warrington was the pick of the bowlers for Oadby with Lees Radford the pick of the batsmen, both playing their shots with aggression, scoring quickly.
Innings 2
Oadby felt confident of scoring the runs required, and Goodman made sure the batting order was set out in a way that people who didnt bowl much woul get a chance. Gary Smith was not going to bat is he could avoid it, and Brian Fletcher-Warrington kindly agreed to umpire for the innings, only batting if required. Dave Goodman put himself down the order despite not bowling much, with the captain deciding he would rather other people get more out the game as he plays more often that most (apart from Daz.) A very unselfish move from Goodman. Neil Whittenbury and Oliver Fletcher-Warrington were tasked with the job of opening the batting, and both did the team proud at the top of the order. Both played very good cricket shots, taking it to the opening bowlers and setting Oadby on their way in the run chase. Oli was eventually dismissed for 15, giving him a very good all-round performance in the match. Former County opener Ed Eley came in at number 3, and the way he batted for the the first 10 balls you would have thought he needed to survive 100 overs without scoring. It took Ed about 10 balls to find the confidence to go after the bowlers, but once he found that confidence he hit 5 boundaries on his way to 26 retired. In the time while Ed was batting Neil had got to 27 and had to retire, while Dale Baker came in and hit a fantastic drive for four before being dismissed. Dale had never batted against a hard ball before and was quite nervous, but he got unlucky after a great drive. Daz Read was in at 5, and Daz played a holding role, working the ball for singles and twos after eley had found his form. Ben Hall came in at 6 after Eley retired, and decided he was going to attack from the start, although he was very close to edging behind first ball. After that he got very lucky. He hit a very quickfire 18 off about 12 balls, but only found the middle of the bat once which went for 6. He hit two further boundaries, and was also dropped twice, to relatively easy catches. It was not a preety knock to watch but Ben got some quick runs just in case the light got bad. When Oadby needed five to win Ben went for it in style, and was way to early on the shot, giving the bowler an easy caught and bowled. Adam Fletcher-Warrington was next in, and he and Daz saw the side home with 1.2 overs left, Adam taking a few balls to settle, before hitting a cracking leg-side drive for 4 to give the team victory. Dave Goodman was in next, and Dave has been in fantastic form for his team on Saturdays this year, scoring at least 3 half centuries and averaging over 50. His good form seemed to start after this match, it was obviously a massive confidence boost for him, watching how it is done from the pavillion.
Summary
In the end Oadby won by 7 wickets, with the man of the match award having to go to Oliver Fletcher-Warrington, for his all-round performance in the match. A big thanks goes out to everyone who came to support Oadby, and to Brian Fletcher-Warrington for umpiring through the Oabdy innings. The biggest thank would be to Dave Goodman, who organised the match, and then captained the side well on their way to the victory. The team would also like to thank the opposition for playing the match, and hopefully there will be a re-match arranged soon.