24/04/2011 v Horsmondon

won

Record victory

Match report to follow from Tim , however I can confirm that this is the highest score we have made batting second to win a match..

Tims Report

It was a day of records.

It was the hottest April weekend since records began. What better weekend to start our 50th season?

Playing cricket is about the day of Sunday. It's not just the game, it's the meeting up, the driving in convoy, the arrival at the ground, the preparation and then the game itself.

As we met at Crayford station I was initially pleased to see that James Denman had now reached the age to be able to drive and was making his own way to the game with a number of the younger players. My initial pleasure was tempered slightly when the dozey twonk (only 3 minutes into the journey) slammed into the back of my car having tried to set the sat nav and drive at the same time. You don't need a sat nav to tell you when the car in front brakes, you should also follow suit. I suggest that this is one of life's 'you live you learn' moments. For the purpose of the legal claim I would like it noted that Amie, Tamsyn, Billy and I all suffered significant neck injuries, head aches, nightmares and post traumatic stress. I have spoken to the National Accident helpline and they confirmed that Denman's birth was indeed an accident and I was in no way responsible and I should have a claim. It is therefore unfortunate for Denman that I happened to be writing the match report.

We arrived at the ground safely although I admit I winced everytime I got to a junction on the way there but credit to Denman, for the rest of the journey he successfully managed to brake at appropriate moments and never again did he crash into me.

Back to the cricket. Richard walked out and he won the toss. Throughout this season I think we should record and measure our tossing success as a team and as individuals in order to find the biggest and best tosser. So far: Tosses tossed (Richard): 1 Tosses Lost: 0 . Percentage success: 100% .

Richard chose to put the oppo into bat first in the knowledge that we had a strength, resilience and capacity to chase down anything they posted. Was he mad? Time would tell.

The pitch this year was close to the clubhouse and there was significant potential for run scoring and the odd six. Bowling the right line was important. Denman and Charlie opened the bowling. I was understandably concerned that Denman might have been having a bad day and could have brought this into his cricket. Admittedly Denman struggled with his consistency but this could be said for all of our bowlers who although had periods of effective bowling didn't really find consistency of line and length and at no point during the game did we build up concerted pressure in the way that perhaps Bob so often achieves.

After an inconsistent start Charlie took the first wicket of the season with an edge finding the safe hands of Shaun who had to endure a game of inconsistent bounce with the balls randomly changing from heading towards his face to heading towards his toes. The inconsistent length of our bowling meant there was no right point for him to stand but he admirably got his body in the way as much as possible throughout.

Charlie took the second wicket smashing the stumps (It can't be overstated how important and effective you can be at this level by bowling at the stumps and not necessarily at 90 miles an hour. Richard didn't bowl today but is a prime example of someone who doesn't slam the ball down at speed but repeatedly bowls in the same spot over and over again and many time over the years we have seen him walk away with a significant number of wickets as a result of the pressure he puts on batsmen and the increased opportunities of getting wickets when the ball is put in the right area.)

With a fantastic blend of youth and experience, one of our more experienced bowlers was brought into the fold. Good old Martin (no offence intended). With the boundary so close I said to Brad I didn't think Richard had brought him on at at the right end. I said to Brad that this was my opinion and that we would reconvene at the end of the over. Well, we were in the country, near some farms, someone get me an egg and smash it on my face. First over and Martin had taken the important 3rd wicket. At the end of the over I told Brad that I had in fact been wrong. Following Martin's second over and another wicket I was able to tell Brad that I had in fact been very wrong. Following Martin's 3rd wicket I could barely look Brad in the face.

Billy had been brought on and in line with the most of the other bowlers had been inconsistent. Richard decided that this be Billy's last over and that Brad would come on for him next time. It was at this point that Billy decided that he should actually get some wickets as time was running out. Interestingly from where I was standing (and I think this was a point Pete also noted as he mentored little Billy through his bowling spell) was the fact that Billy was trying to bowl faster than he should. The interesting part was that when Billy stopped forcing the pace ( and maybe he needs to see this from side on on video) his technique had a natural fluidity that hand in hand resulted in his best spell of bowling and wicket taking. Billy found himself having taken two wickets in two balls and then out strolled their smallest player. Someone commented that he was a small player which was met with the comment "Billy's not too big himself no problem", so we all crowded round the small batsman, suggested to Billy that he keeps doing what he was doing and then watched as he bowled a beamer at the kids face. The potential hatrick spoiled and the batman pants soiled.

There was some good bowling from Jason, which although a little inconsistent, created the type of pressure that our youngsters maybe did not achieve so well. I think Jason took one wicket and at the end of the game Brad finished off with some good bowling of his own with his wicket coming on a ball with a little bit of pace taken off (are we learning something here guys?). There was some good fielding in the game, most notably some good work from Charlie and Pete and perhaps myself, Pete working hard to be quick off the mark and give no singles away.

A suggestion here that as a team we try a little bit harder to react quicker in the field. Sometimes you can do things to make you seem quicker than you are, to be a little bit louder, to sprint to the ball when maybe only a jog would do and to create an atmosphere on the pitch to the batsmen that no runs will be easy to come by. There is no one better at doing this than Clive who did not play today. When he does play lets compete with him. See who can do the best Clive impression and by that I mean work hard, be quick and inspire your team. The oppo posted a 234 in just under 40 overs which would always be an ominous total but not inconsistent with the short boundary which they were able to exploit.

I suggest for this season that we also have a tea of the year competition. Marks can be scored on quality, choice, quantity and overall dining experience.

Quality: 8 - Some good sandwiches, nice sausage rolls and some nice cake (externally supplied from local pub) Quantity: 8 - Good amount of sandwiches, could have had a bit more scotch egg Choice: 7 - Nice spread 5 types of sandwiches, scotch egg, sausage roll, some crisps Overall Dining experience: 7 - Lovely people serving let down only due to problems with their urn and thus the cups of tea was late Final score: 30 - Respectable start to the season, all well fed

Batting (yes doesn't this report go on and on and on)

It was decided that Jason and Richard would open the batting. A perfect steady start was created by these two, scoring at a steady rate from bowling that suffered from the same inconsistency that we had. Richard was first out scoring only 8 but that shouldn't detract from the fact that he supported Jason for a time who was scoring a little faster and by the time Richard was out we had set ourselves in a positive position and kept the opposition in check. I was next in and was able to take advantage of the inconsistent bowling and my new front foot approach to batting that paid dividends. Although trying to think defensive, having pulled a flat six to the long boundary I made the mistake of playing an attacking shot that should have been defended. I was out for 27 off 16 balls having scored only one single, the rest as boundaries. The impetus was now in our favour. Jason continued scoring steadily and solidly and for a long period, the importance of which cannot be understated. Jason succumbed in the end for 40ish and was followed a little later (if I have got this the right way round) by Shaun who inputted a healthy 27 of his own getting out to a spinner in a way I saw coming. We come from similar stock Shaun and I!

Charlie seems to get better and better with the bat and you can see the confidence. Displayed a very positive middle order batting performance. I have no idea of his score for the purpose of the email but for those of you reading the website please see below).

Now Brad entered the middle with us in a good position but wary of our potential to collapse with approximately 75 needed to win. Without doubt the team enjoyed witnessing what was the batting performance of the day, hitting the ball for six to areas of the ground that made me look like a small hitter. Mature, controlled, aggressive, it was the kind of performance quintessentially representative of a Batsman and not just a man who has gone out to bat. The opposition could not deal with the regularity of the run scoring with us achieving approximately 9 an over when we only needed about 5. They were demoralised and like a shark spelling blood Brad saw the prey and finished it off.

We reached the run chase total of 235 finishing off with a boundary, to record what we believe to be our highest ever run chase. Following consultation with the record books what a fitting time to be breaking records, what a great win to start this important season and what a great way to do it. There were some fine performances as mentioned but this seemed to be a game where everyone chipped in, not least Denman with my car bumper and Shaun breaking my bat. It's the beginning of the season so we won't run away with ourselves but you can't do any better that beating what's in front of you and together we did that. Smiley faces all round- (Tim I can't do smileys easily in raw HTML)