BOTWCC First XI v Leicester Caribbean 2nd XI
Saturday 28th April 2007
The King is dead. Long live the King. OK, well Fish may not quite be royalty (even though he now has his own lttle princess - awwwwww), and he certainly isn't pushing up daisies quite yet, but Saturdays match did see the start of a new era at the club, with Rob Dunn taking charge for the first time in a competitive fixture.
And what a start it was, with Caribbeans being the visitors to Towles field, and duely being sent on their way with their tails between their legs after a good old fashioned thumping. Put in to bat after losing the toss, they struggled from the start against some good tight bowling, and on a pitch that was a little up and down.
With Lang and Penton opening the bowling, there were very few scoring opportunities, and the ball flew past the edge with amazing regularity without actually ever finding it. A winter spent gyming and netting from Lang (errr what?!?) obviously paid off, as he reeled off 14 overs on the bounce, returning fine figures of 5-31 to decimate the Caribbean batting.
With good back up from all the other bowlers, Penton, Shipman, Child and old Sicknote himself all registering their first victim of the season, Caribbeans could do no more than struggle along to 84 all out in the 33rd over. Even the fielding was good, and we don't often get to say that, with some good catches being held, and a run out too into the bargain. OK, so we grassed 3 difficult ones, but let's not dwell on those.
This left us in the unusual situation of having to go out and bat for 10 overs, before we got the chance to sample the first tea of the season, loving prepared by somebody paid to do it on his behalf by Dibs. Probably.
The usual pair of Gary & Dibs strolled out to open the reply - no surprises there. And no surprises either that Gary played himself in by pinging the first ball he received straight over point for 4. Second time lucky for the bowler though, as an attempted repeat shot later in the over just resulted in a nick through to the keeper. 1 wicket down in the first over, Caribbean spirits were up, and there were certainly no chickens being counted in the Burton dressing room. Just cakes, which were looking in decidedly short supply on the tea table.
What we needed at this point was some no-risk cricket, to take the heat out of the game, and with Dibs & Mike at the crease, that was exactly what we got. No, honestly, that really is what happened. Unbelievable as it may sound, Dibs gave everything the full face of the bat, and Mike decided to take the nick behind out of the game by deliberately playing 6 inches inside the ball at every opportunity.
Tea came and went with Burton nicely placed at 28-1, and all that was left to do was to get through the first few overs after tea with no mishaps, and then push on to victory. And the job was very well done, both players improving as their innings went along, punishing anything over-pitched in particular. A lovely straight 6 from Mike illustrated the batsmens dominance, and victory was duely brought up with a minimum of fuss. And excitement. Dibs finishing on 35, Mike on 32, sharing an excellent unbeaten partnership of 77 against some tidy bowling on what was not the easiest of pitches.
So a comprehensive victory for the new skipper, but just how did he perform on his debut? Is there room for improvement, or has he peaked too early in the season? Let's take a look at our expert analysis of his first game.
Team Selection 9/10
Picked a good balanced team, though must be said helped by the fact there was no 2nd XI fixture. Only really Lee and Malc missing, so loses a point for each of those. Admittedly would have been tough to get Lee to choose Burton over Barnsley and nigh on impossible to prise Malc out of Christine's arms on his anniversary. A bit harsh perhaps, but undoubtably fair. Gets a bonus point for picking Jack Snr. as scorer though.
Punctuality 4/10
Shocking!! Despite living in the village, still turned up well past 1:00, leaving several of the boys hanging around outside the clubhouse. Must have a word with Mrs Skip next week, to get his dinner on the tabler earlier.
Tossing 10/10
well won, need we say more.
Pre-Match huddle 8/10
It didn't seem to work for England in the World Cup, but obviously did the job for us. Even Dibs managed to get out of the pavilion in time to here it!
Bowling Changes 9/10
Raised a few eyebrows with his opening pair, but shown to be right.
Field Placing 6/10
When I want a man at deep mid-wicket, I expect to get one!!!! hmmmmmpphhh. Thanks for the 5 slips though :-)
Fielding 7/10
held 3, dropped 2. Thats 60% in my book. Gets a bonus mark for at least being in the right place.
Batting Order 7/10
Not a lot to go on really as we only lost 1 wicket, will be tested more when setting, or chasing bigger scores.
Overall 7/10
A good start from the wee fella', bodes well for the rest of the season.
MoM (Man Of The Match) - For ripping through the Caribbean top order, and setting up the game as a stroll in the park for the batters, Mr Lang for his 5/31.
DoD (Donkey Of The Day) - Has to be Sicknote, had 8 months, yes 8 months, to get fit over the winter, then injures himself on the morning of the game playing golf. Too many cakes I reckon!
Ian Lang 30-4-07
MATCH STATISTICS
League Match
Burton on the Wolds First XI v Leicester
Caribbean First XI
|
|
|
|
|
|
84 for
10 (32.3 overs)
|
85 for
1 (26.2 overs)
|
|
Batsman
|
|
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Mins
|
4s
|
6s
|
S/r
|
A
Walters
|
|
b G Penton
|
10
|
27
|
31
|
1
|
0
|
37.04
|
M Millett*
|
lbw
|
b I
Lang
|
12
|
16
|
21
|
1
|
0
|
75.00
|
M Chauhan
|
|
b I
Lang
|
7
|
17
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
41.18
|
|
c R
Dunn
|
b J
Child
|
9
|
20
|
25
|
1
|
0
|
45.00
|
V Somaya
|
c R
Dunn
|
b I
Lang
|
5
|
18
|
24
|
1
|
0
|
27.78
|
R Kamudyariwa
|
run
out (M Simmons)
|
|
7
|
11
|
18
|
0
|
0
|
63.64
|
F Hafajee
|
|
b I
Lang
|
6
|
19
|
27
|
1
|
0
|
31.58
|
S
Johnson
|
|
b I
Lang
|
15
|
19
|
31
|
2
|
0
|
78.95
|
A Razak+
|
c R
Dunn
|
b A Simkins
|
0
|
28
|
36
|
0
|
0
|
0.00
|
R
Jones-Walters
|
c I
Lang
|
b J
Shipman
|
5
|
16
|
15
|
0
|
0
|
31.25
|
F
Muhammad
|
not
out
|
|
0
|
3
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
0.00
|
Extras
|
1nb 1w
1lb 5b 0pen
|
8
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional Score For
Innings
|
84
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Penalties awarded following
Innings
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total
|
84
|
for
10
|
|
|
|
|
||
Bowler
|
O
|
M
|
R
|
W
|
Wd
|
Nb
|
S/r
|
Econ
|
I
Lang
|
14.0
|
4
|
31
|
5
|
0 (0)
|
0 (0)
|
16.80
|
2.21
|
G Penton
|
6.0
|
0
|
18
|
1
|
0 (0)
|
1 (1)
|
37.00
|
3.00
|
J
Child
|
6.0
|
0
|
27
|
1
|
1 (1)
|
0 (0)
|
37.00
|
4.50
|
J
Shipman
|
4.0
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0 (0)
|
0 (0)
|
24.00
|
0.50
|
A Simkins
|
2.3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
0 (0)
|
0 (0)
|
15.00
|
0.00
|
Batsman
|
Fall
of Wicket
|
Partnership
|
Batsmen
|
Over
|
M Millett
|
21-1
|
21
|
M Millett (12) A Walters
(9)
|
6.5
|
A
Walters
|
30-2
|
9
|
A
Walters (1) M Chauhan (7)
|
9.1
|
M Chauhan
|
34-3
|
4
|
M Chauhan (0)
|
10.4
|
|
44-4
|
10
|
|
15.4
|
V Somaya
|
46-5
|
2
|
V Somaya (0) R Kamudyariwa (2)
|
16.4
|
R Kamudyariwa
|
56-6
|
10
|
R Kamudyariwa (5) F Hafajee (4)
|
19.4
|
F Hafajee
|
64-7
|
8
|
F Hafajee (0) S Johnson
(6)
|
22.3
|
S
Johnson
|
75-8
|
11
|
S
Johnson (11) A Razak (0)
|
26.1
|
R
Jones-Walters
|
84-9
|
9
|
R
Jones-Walters (5) A Razak (0)
|
31.3
|
A Razak
|
84-10
|
0
|
A Razak (0) F Muhammad
(0)
|
32.3
|
|
Batsman
|
|
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Mins
|
4s
|
6s
|
S/r
|
G
|
c A Razak
|
b F
Muhammad
|
8
|
6
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
133.33
|
R Deabill
|
not
out
|
|
35
|
76
|
98
|
5
|
0
|
46.05
|
M
Simmons
|
not
out
|
|
32
|
82
|
95
|
3
|
1
|
39.02
|
Extras
|
4nb 3w
1lb 2b 0pen
|
10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Provisional Score For
Innings
|
85
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Penalties awarded following
Innings
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
Total
|
85
|
for
1
|
|
|
|
|
||
Bowler
|
O
|
M
|
R
|
W
|
Wd
|
Nb
|
S/r
|
Econ
|
F
Muhammad
|
12.0
|
4
|
31
|
1
|
0 (0)
|
0 (0)
|
72.00
|
2.58
|
V Somaya
|
6.0
|
3
|
10
|
0
|
2 (2)
|
1 (1)
|
0.00
|
1.67
|
F Hafajee
|
1.0
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
0 (0)
|
0 (0)
|
0.00
|
4.00
|
R Kamudyariwa
|
5.2
|
0
|
26
|