Irregulars v Mexican Taverners : Sunday 28 May 2011

On Bank Holiday Saturday the 28^th of May the sun shone down on the Leyland Arms where the Irregulars and the Mexican Taverner’s met for the surprise 30^th birthday party of Ant Doyle.

As the families arrived at the Leyland Arms the rest of the Irregulars gradually arrived (Mansoor got lost again) the sun came out and Llanelidan started to warm up. The outfield was soft as a result of two week’s overnight rain and the wicket had a low bounce. As we were about to do the toss the clouds drifted over the sun and the wind began to make it cold. The sun never came back to give any appreciable warmth throughout the rest of the game.

The Northop Irregulars won the toss and initially elected to bowl when the captain Graham realised that Mansoor was missing so he decided to bat instead. The openers Ushan and Pete Langham got off to a steady start with an partnership of 55 when Pete 30 (from 42) got bowled by Bruce so in came Ali (son of Ushan) who kept the scoreboard ticking along nicely until Ushan 29 (from 45) chipped one straight to Farnsworth, bowled Simber. So the man with 2 shots came in and… Got a duck off three balls, bowled Simber. In came Joe the new local game keeper who was helping us out to make a full team got a duck as well, off three balls, bowled King. The Irregulars were under pressure now at 64-4 when in came Tony our debutant who was convinced that he wouldn’t score anything.  So when he hit the ball and got his first run everyone cheered. Ali continued to stand firm at the other end. Soon Tony 2(9) was caught and bowled by the birthday boy. Ali was pushing some more runs now with Mansoor getting quick singles. Ali finished on 36 not out and Mansoor on 5 not out. Some of their best bowling was from the birthday boy Ant with figures 4-0-1-10 and Simber who got figures of 4-0-2-5. The Irregulars finished on 110-5 off 30 overs, top scorers were Ali 36* and Pete Langham 30.

Before the turn around we went back to the Leyland Arms who had provided tea and drinks, lots of sandwiches, garlic bread, pizza and lots and lots of alcohol that may help to explain some of the batting that followed.

When we started the second innings Graham let Josh (other son of Ushan) open the bowling because to the surprise to most of us it was his 10^th birthday! He bowled a great over fooling Ant with full pitched balls with only 1 extra coming off his over. Then Mansoor came in for the second over, the last ball of the over kept low and took Bibby’s middle stump for a duck. Dave then replaced Josh and couldn’t find his line until the last ball of his over where he bowled Simber (4) leg stump. Ant and Edwards steadied the ship. Pete Jones came in to the attack replacing Dave took a wicket in his first over, Edwards bowled for 3. Ali replacing Mansoor kept the pressure on at the other end. Then in Pete’s second over a pull to square leg sent the ball straight at Dave, Murray called yes but Doyle said no and Dave pinged it in to Graham who took the bails and the square leg umpire gave him Run Out (2). Ali was the next to strike with a very full pitched ball King came down the wicket to smack it over his head but missed and he was clean bowled for 6. Ushan was next to bowl and in his 3^rd over he got the important wicket of Ant, bowled, who had played well for his 16 from 16 overs. Tony the debutant got a chance to bowl his first over for the Irregulars where in his first over he got the wicket of James for a duck.  However Tony’s second was a little wilder which included 4 wides. Then we had a keeping change for Graham to Ali and my Dad put
himself on to bowl and he struck in his first over,  forcing cannon to play a sweep which he top
edged and Ushan caught it at third man for 6. Graham then let the younger ones bowl. Henry bowled a tidy over just going for six. Then he put Ben his son on who with the run chase now on conceded singles with one boundary (clearing Pete J with a chance) for 9 off his over. Then Graham came back to bowl the penultimate over and bowled dangerous Farnsworth for 11. The last over of the day from Mansoor kept the scoring down with the Mexican Taverners finishing on
86-9 off their 30 overs. Top scorers were left hander Yates on 23* and Ant who held the first half of the innings together with 16. The best bowling figures were Graham with 2-0-2-8 and Ushan 4-3-1-2.

Result the Irregulars won by 24 runs.

The champagne moment (awarded by the writer – Ben Aveyard) was when Tony got his caught and bowled. Graham said he looked really excited because the ball was coming to him, then he look serious because he thought it was going over his head, then delight realising that it was dipping so that he could stick his hands out and take his first wicket. His face showed he’d been through 3 emotions in ½ a second. Man of the match was Ali for his 36 not out which held the middle part of the innings together and for his bowling figures 5-0-1-17 and for keeping wicket.

 

Irregulars v Chester Asians : Sunday 8th May 2011

Heavy overnight rain in Northop threatened Irregulars’ second game of the new season but eventually clear skies and a drying wind enabled an on-time start.  The question however of what was “on-time” became dubious as the agree start of 1300 had slipped to 1415 by the day before the game.  Still, it gave Pete Jones an extra hour in the pub before the game so every cloud…….

To the consternation of the more “experienced” Irregulars, the new regime appears to have introduced a warm-up consisting of more than a few gentle flexes of the calves and pelvic thrusts.  A fiendish mixture of orienteering and coconut shy greeted me on my exit from the clubhouse with puzzled teammates apparently being instructed to move from cone to cone while propelling the ball in random directions. Messrs Langham, Jones and Hamilton took the decision to
have a light net instead of risking their athlete’s muscles.

Irregulars took first use of the wicket and Graham and Pete L strode out to the wicket purposefully.  Graham strode back slightly sheepishly having had it pointed out to him that he had forgotten his pads.  Seriously!

Take 2 and off went the openers to face the expected pacey Asiansattack.  We weren’t disappointed.  Openers Nag and Chetan had slightly more pace than direction in the first over and Pete L went LBW in the second over to a Bartlem-esque decision from Wayne.  Kenny Totty joined Graham and set about using the pace of the ball to get the board ticking. The pair added 38 before Graham snicked one to the decent leggie Barkat.

Dev was in at 4 but almost as soon as he had arrived, Kenny went slightly lamely to a miscue to mid-off for 24 attractive runs.  Dan came and went again without troubling the scorer, seemingly proving his claim that he hadn’t had a net all winter!  Dev and Wayne batting together always has people paying attention, especially owners of cars in the car park.  Wayne though didn’t come off this time and Dave Hobbs went soon after giving a passable impression of a statue holding a stick in front of him!

Barkat was now in the middle of an excellent spell where he turned the ball significantly and varied his pace well, giving him 4 for 27 of 7 overs.  Dev and Ushan nudged and nurdled well for 9
overs adding 42 before Dev finally succumbed for 26 having missed virtually the first straight one he had been dealt.  Ushan continued for a couple more overs showing that a straight bat and
timing away the bad balls is always the way to do it.  Finally though, he too fell to the spinner
Barkat.

Time for the crowd to put their pints down as we had the enticing prospect of Phil Hamilton and Pete Jones at the wicket together.  The Irregulars’ Bash Brothers do not do defence and Cow Corner prepared itself.  However, the fun didn’t last long as Phil followed a lusty blow for 4 with another which was well caught in the deep.

Mansour came out to join Pete who possibly confused by instructions to play out the overs, inexplicably went against type, played a textbook late cut, and dashed off for single like a young thing.   Problem was it went straight to backward point who threw down the stumps with Mansour not in the frame.  134 wasn’t a bad return against a useful varied attack, and the 37 extras contributed by the Asians (including 22 wides) were welcome if a bit over-generous.  You couldn’t help feel though that it might be at least 30 runs short given what we knew of the Asians batting.

Tea-time, always the highlight of the Sunday home games, was extended to breaking point but the Irregulars were eventually dragged back out to start the defence of their total.

Mansour and Kenny opened and both started with dangerous maidens full of lift and movement as the pitch suddenly started to look a bit spiteful.  A couple of very close LBW shouts were turned down, but both bowlers then took wickets in their second overs.  Mansour got Krishna and Kenny got Pavan, both LBW with shouts which the most one-eyed ump couldn’t refuse.  Mansour then got Dev (the Asian version!) in his third over and tails were most definitely up.  And that’s pretty much where the excitement ended!

Nag and Chetan (the opening bowlers!) teamed up at 5 for 3 and proceeded to take the score to within single figures of the win.  Both played excellently, defending the lifting ball well and punishing anything off line or length.  Chetan went through to 57 before retiring and Nag remained undefeated at the end with 46.  Wayne bowled 3 good over for 8 before having to retire to put some ice on his groin.  He claimed he had a strain but he just seemed to be having too good a time with that ice for us to believe him.

Special mention to Dave Hobbs who bowled his 7 overs straight through in the middle of the innings.  With his bouncy approach to the wicket “Skippy” kept 2 in form batsmen tied down getting through his overs at a cost of just 25.  12 of these came from 3 boundaries, leaving just 13 singles taken from 39 deliveries.  Just reward arrived with his last delivery when he bowled Arun.  A great performance under the circumstances.

Defeat arrived in the 21^st over by 6 wickets which I guess most neutral observers would call a bit of a spanking.  However, it felt like we were in the game until quite late on when excellent batting took it away from us.  Many positives to take.   Several commented on the Irregulars’
fielding which was both sharp and committed.  I expect there were many skinned knees and elbows being nursed.  The bowling attack will I’m sure trouble many sides this year and there is good depth if everyone is available.

Man of the Match was close for me.  Dev, Kenny and Ushan for their batting and Louise for the tea.  However, I give it to Skippy Hobbs for his bravery and persistence under heavy fire.

Champagne Moment : again, a difficult one.  Honourable mentions : Wayne with ice where no
ice should ever be forced to go; Graham’s slower ball which was just about picked and dumped over the pavilion; Neil’s 2 over 12^th man appearance – until we decided that Ben Aveyard’s mobility and stronger arm made him a better choice.  For me though, it has to be Graham deciding to bat against the quickest attack we will face all year without his pads.  I sort of wish I’d let him get to the middle before telling him!!