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| Carter Stars as Banbury Fall Short In the Rain
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Henley v Banbury
Date: 6th September 2008
Venue: The Brakspear Ground
Weather: Initially breezy, dry and cloudy, rain showers later turning to longer spells of rain and increasingly gloomy
Toss: Won by Banbury
Result: Match drawn
Highlights: Paul Carter’s 64, Paul Taylor’s 5 – 67, Chris Smith’s 59, Benji Hector’s 49, Craig Haupt’s remarkable slip catch (for a big chap)
Catering: A “Grande Bouffe” day featuring Rita’s signature dish, an epic Chicken and Ham Pie, which was greatly appreciated by all. An excellent tea kept the wolf from the door until the “Last Supper” – starring a choice between Rita’s home made curry and rice (accompanied by some excellent pickles and popadoms) and/or chilli con carne following which there was a choice of wonderful home made desserts contributed by ladies various and/or cheese which was the work of Mrs. Admiral. All in all, an excellent feast and convivial social event.
Report:
Picking up on the Catering Report, and on a slightly more serious note than usual, the Last Supper was not just an excellent meal in gastronomic terms. It embodied and reflected the excellent and invaluable esprit de corps that runs through the Club and is the reason why Henley is successful not merely on the field but also in terms of a burgeoning membership and why people want to be part of it. This is due in no small measure to the hard work over many years of many people who have each contributed and continue to contribute vital component parts of the whole.
Like goodwill, it is hard won and needs to be maintained and there is more work to be done – speaking of which does anyone out there (members or not) fancy the full time job of First Team Scorer for 2009? An understanding and enjoyment, if not a love, of the game of cricket, its rules and of scoring the game is highly desirable, but no actual qualification is necessary. A willingness to give up 18 Saturdays between May and September also involving travel to the depths of Hertfordshire and to Banbury is a must. A sense of humour also helps. On the plus side, this is a very high standard of cricket, there is remuneration and free lunches and teas (nine of which at home are excellent and most away from home reasonably decent at least). All enquiries to Club Chairman Paul Bradbury, 01491-574903 or e-mail paul@bradburyassociates.com
Enough of all that…… Shaun Udal’s musical tastes are unknown – to your correspondent at least, but it is quite possible that last week he was strolling along St John’s Wood Road humming the late, great "Queen of the Blues" Dinah Washington’s 1959 Grammy Award Winning hit “What A Difference A Day Makes” (released on the Mercury Record Label) and thinking what a difference a season makes. Put out to grass by Hampshire at the end of last season as being surplus to requirements, Udal was scheduled, nay contracted even, to make his debut at the Brakspear Ground when the hand of fate, in the form of Middlesex CCC, intervened to make him a very lucrative offer he could not refuse. Naturally Henley could not stand in his way and his performances throughout the season have served only to underscore what an asset he might well have been had be spent his summer with us – though how it would have turned out, we shall never know. Anyway, not even he could have predicted the turn of events last week as he was appointed Captain at Middlesex to see out the season against a background of internal strife at various levels in the Club and talk of Mickey Arthur or Angus Fraser taking the helm in some capacity or another. It just goes to show how unpredictable life and fate and especially sport can be. If anyone had told Udal last September that he would be skippering Middlesex this September he would surely have laughed in their faces…. But there it is…. and at least he thereby avoided a lager-sodden Fines Evening at Henley after the Banbury game.
So yes….. we are at the bittersweet part of the season. Is it not better to travel than arrive? Is not parting such sweet sorrow? The season has come and gone, gone are all the hopes, aspirations and expectations and all we have are results, averages, statistics and memories, and in the case of the Second XI, a championship. No championship for the First XI in a season that promised much but delivered less (rather than little), more of which in the Season Review coming soon. We have said au revoir but not adieu to Toddy (see "Farewell to Todd Ferguson" under News and Seniors' News) and to Bill Waldron, and there will probably be a few other yet to be confirmed departures over the winter. Dick Keeble and his merry men will soon be putting the Brakspear Ground out to grass and packing away all the kit whilst the rest of us will have to find things to wile away the hours on Saturdays that were previously so entertainingly occupied.
This coming weekend for example, one could take in the Henley Hawks at Dry Leas, or, if men in white coats leading remarkably groomed and clean farmyard animals around a ring and related country purusits is your bag, then the Henley Show at Hambleden is an option though, doubtless, with all the rain, it will be like the Somme and wellies (green of course) will be a must along with the obligatory Barbour or DrizABone.
And, despite everything, we did get a game on Saturday which is more than can be said for just about anywhere else locally and further afield. Given the torrential rainfall on Friday, it was a something of a miracle that the Week 18 and final game this season in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League home to Banbury took place at all. But after a spot of mopping up, the match was under way at 11.40, having been reduced to 100 overs.
Banbury, still very much in the mix to win the Championship, won the toss and invited Henley to bat and it was not long before former England bowler Paul Taylor was firing for effect as he claimed the wickets of Adrian Greyvenstein, Chad Keegan, Chris Ellison and Bjorn Mordt as Henley slumped to 44-4 with only 14 overs gone. Both Ellison and Greyvenstein demonstrated some attractive strokeplay before having their off-stumps removed and Mordt was caught at forward-short-leg. Keegan meanwhile was unfortunate to be given out caught behind. Mark Alleyne joined Todd Ferguson, the latter playing his last game for Henley, and the pair saw things through to lunch (67-4) the arrival of which coincided with the first rain shower of the day.
When play resumed, Alleyne chipped one to Hole at midwicket and soon after, Ferguson closed his account with Henley, courtesy of a sharp catch by Craig Haupt at slip, the score now 70-6. This brought Paul Carter and Dave Allaway to the middle. Carter soon reminded all present that he is an extremely strong and clean striker of a cricket ball as he wasted no time in unleashing a volley of cuts, drives and straight hits down and around the ground. Following another rain delay, Carter brought up his 50 in some style with two sixes and a four off the spin of Jimmy Phillips before Phillips exacted revenge by bowling him an over later – Carter scoring a fine 64 off 50 balls, including 6 fours and 3 sixes, as he and Allaway put on 81 for the seventh wicket.
Carter’s departure coincided with yet more rain and a further reduction in overs to 93. When play resumed, Euan Brock joined Allaway. Just getting into his stride and having hit an excellent cover-drive four, Brock was out bizarrely, blocking Newhook’s next delivery which spin up and over his shoulder and dropped behind him, striking his wicket before he could react. Meanwhile, Allaway, warming to his task, had just despatched Nathan Hawkes back over his head and the Pavilion for the biggest six of the day, but was rather annoyed with himself as he slashed at the next ball and chopped it on to his stumps. One wicket remained and it was Taylor who capped an excellent bowling performance to remove Dave Griffiths’ off-stump but not before Nick Denning had brought up 200 and secured another batting point in some style, smashing the hapless Hawkes down the ground for a six and four.
Only outright victory would be good enough for Banbury if they were to have any chance of winning the title. It was therefore somewhat surprising that with the top prize on offer and rain threatening, they went about things in an extremely circumspect and cautious manner. Hole’s wicket, a golden duck lbw to Griffiths’ second delivery, was scant reward as both batsmen, Smith in particular whose bat was serially beaten, rode their luck but were otherwise watchful and restrained.
At tea, Banbury were 63-1 after 21 overs with 26 over remaining. After tea and some more rain, the scoring rate rose as Hector and Smith, and after him, Haupt, took a bit more of a chance against the bowling of Alleyne and Mordt. Smith was caught by Allaway at short mid-on off a leading edge, but as the gloom descended and the rain increased, playing conditions deteriorated to a point where it was unsafe to continue and the umpires led the players off for a further delay which turned into the end of the game, the result a draw. Banbury had to settle for runner up spot behind High Wycombe but had themselves to blame for not going for it from the off, having nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So, as the refrain goes in the Grateful Dead’s iconic song “Truckin”, “what a long strange trip it’s been”. As predicted in last week’s report, Wycombe are indeed champions and Reading join Falkland in Division 2. Some observers have queried whether Wycombe are the best side and whether they are worthy champions, but it would be churlish to deny Wycombe the credit they deserve for their achievement this season. The way it works is that the team with the most points are the Champions and that’s what was what Wycombe achieved and well done for doing so. Wycombe have a core of experienced players who have played for the club over many seasons, they have strength in depth and along the way they appear to have recruited prudently and for the most part successfully.
In truth, the rain was as much the final arbiter of the winners and losers as anything else. Oxford did all they could to retain their crown, dismissing Radlett for 94 all out as Jack Brooks had a glory day with figures of 9 – 39. But rain enveloped Cowley as the game was abandoned with only 17 Oxford runs on the board so putting paid to Oxford’s chances. The game between Tring and Reading lasted but an over, so Reading, reinforced by Ben Howell plus Danny Housego as well as returning skipper Dave Barnes, did not get the chance to slip the net of relegation nor did Tring have the opportunity of a tilt at the title. Not a ball was bowled at Wash Common as Falkland v Slough was abandoned, so Slough survive. Finally, in an interesting game at Welwyn, Wycombe, 9 wickets down at the death, almost lost. Had they done so, they would have been one point ahead of Banbury so if Banbury had secured another batting point by passing 150, they would have been champions, the points tied, but Banbury having lost one less game than Wycombe – just goes to show……
On the relegation front, it is very difficult to make an immediate return unless a team retains a solid nucleus of players. Over the winter there will doubtless be comings and goings all around the League but the prospects for both relegated clubs is going to depend to a great degree on just how many core quality players they can hold on to now they find themselves in Division 2.
Finally, Henley ended the day as they began it in 6th place, 25 points behind the eventual champions. The Season Review is for another day but what a difference there might have been had not the rain intervened at Banbury in July when the home side were 43-7 and had play been possible at Falkland when that game was rained off and no one else’s was....??? The answer (probably rather than possibly) is 32 points.... we are back to what adifference a day makes.
Scorecard:
Henley
Chris Ellison B Paul Taylor 21
Adrian Greyvenstein B Paul Taylor 11
Chad Keegan ct Ian Hawtin B Paul Taylor 0
Todd Ferguson + ct Craig Haupt B Ryan Newhook 16
Bjorn Mordt * ct Simon Hole B Paul Taylor 2
Mark Alleyne ct Simon Hole B Ryan Newhook 19
Paul Carter B James Phillips 64
David Allaway B Nathan Hawkes 29
Euan Brock B Ryan Newhook 12
Nicholas Denning Not Out 26
David Griffiths B Paul Taylor 1
Extras ( 3lb 1nb ) 4
Total ( all out , 45.1 overs) 205
Fall Of Wickets:
12-1 Adrian Greyvenstein (Chris Ellison-1*); 12-2 Chad Keegan (Chris Ellison-1*);
40-3 Chris Ellison (Todd Ferguson-7*); 44-4 Bjorn Mordt (Todd Ferguson-9*);
67-5 Mark Alleyne (Todd Ferguson-13*); 70-6 Todd Ferguson (Paul Carter-0*);
151-7 Paul Carter (David Allaway-14*); 163-8 Euan Brock (David Allaway-14*);
192-9 David Allaway (Nicholas Denning-14*); 205-10 David Griffiths (Nicholas Denning-26*);
* = notout batsman,
Bowling
Ryan Newhook 16 2 57 3
Paul Taylor 18.1 4 67 5
Craig Haupt 4 0 19 0
James Phillips 5 0 39 1
Nathan Hawkes 2 0 20 1
Banbury
Christopher Smith ct David Allaway B Bjorn Mordt 59
Simon Hole LBWB David Griffiths 0
Benjamin Hector * Not Out 49
Craig Haupt Not Out 15
Nathan Hawkes Did Not Bat
Jamie Noble Did Not Bat
Luke Ryan Did Not Bat
Ian Hawtin + Did Not Bat
Paul Taylor Did Not Bat
Ryan Newhook Did Not Bat
James Phillips Did Not Bat
Extras ( 2lb ) 2
Total (2 wickets, 33 overs) 125
Fall Of Wickets
1-1 Simon hole (Christopher Smith-1*); 94-2 Christopher Smith (Benjamin Hector-33*);
* = notout batsman,
Bowling
David Griffiths 11 1 45 1
Chad Keegan 8 2 14 0
Mark Alleyne 8 0 29 0
Bjorn Mordt 6 0 35 1
Umpires: Cliff Pocock, David Tysom
Scorers: Bill Waldron, R Clarke
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| A Damn Close Run Thing at Sonning Lane (as the Duke of Wellington Would Have Put It)
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Henley v Reading
Date: 30th August 2008
Venue: Sonning Lane
Weather: Hot and sunny
Toss: Won by Henley who elected to field
Result: Win for Henley, Reading 202-9, Henley 204-8.
Highlights: Dave Griffiths’7-51, Bjorn Mordt’s 82 including 50 and 55 run partnership s with Todd Ferguson (again excellent behind the stumps) (31) and Paul Carter (29); Tom Fray’s 80, Ross MacAdam’s 54no and David Hartley’s 4-51.
Catering: Historically, bringing one’s own food to Reading has been a must, but there have been changes on the catering front, for the better it seems, and a commendably tasty Lasagne accompanied by salad with fresh fruit for dessert was the order of the day. An acceptable tea followed although quantities of sandwiches and volume of the fillings could have been greater. All in all, a pleasant surprise.
Report:
Paul Heaton, formerly of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South, and now plying his trade as a solo artist, has penned more than his fair share of memorable lyrics ranging from light hearted ditties (“Perfect 10” will always be your correspondent’s favourite) to much darker themes. “Liars’ Bar”, an example of the latter from the “Blue is the Colour” album, deals with a subject dear to Heaton’s heart, or rather his liver, for many years – drink. In the opening lines, Heaton describes sitting in a bar where no one knows your name as being like “lying in a graveyard wide awake”.
Your correspondent has often been reminded of that analogy watching cricket in the featureless open spaces of Sonning Lane where, normally, the lack of atmosphere and buzz is palpable. So Saturday was a bit of a revelation as a well attended Sponsors’ Lunch did much to boost both attendance and atmosphere and the balcony and area in front of the pavilion were thronged by people enjoying both the game and an afternoon drink or two. There was also a good turnout from the Henley faithful, many of whom made the short journey across the river to view proceedings.
Another weekend of scoring for your correspondent in the continued absence of Bill Waldron en vacances in Padstein, Cornwall and Tom Scanlan being in no fit condition to undertake the task, having recently had his hip op from which we wish him a speedy recovery. This week’s co-scorer was a fit again Roy Arnold, a delightful and knowledgeable chap with plenty of amusing anecdotes to tell. All in all, a good day’s scoring, marred only by several who shall remain nameless, but who should know better, standing in front of the scorers in little worlds of their own, oblivious of the need for scorers to see what is actually going on. Plus ca change eh!!
As I write, Captain Kev and his men are busy seeing off the South Africans at Lords to continue Kev’s unblemished start as England’s Captain Marvel. The plaudits will roll in from the same pack of journalistic hyenas that will be on him in a trice if things start to slip. Doubtless some who played with and against Kev in the Birmingham League in 1999 and in his Notts days will regard his ascent to these dizzy heights as having a certain hallucinogenic quality about it and are doubtless still rubbing their eyes in disbelief. But there he is, running about, patting players on the backside, whispering sweet nothings in their ears and bigging up Big Harmy and it is all going along swimmingly. Comparing Pietersen with Ian Botham, as some do, is in fact misplaced. The real Botham of the side, the wayward talismanic talent with bat and ball, is of course Freddie Flintoff, back it seems to full fitness and form with bat and ball. Might it not be that Kev’s “magic touch” as skipper is in fact no more or less than the return of the prodigal son at full power? We shall see, but it is fair to assume that Michael Vaughan, now left with no excuse for not doing DIY or going shopping or gardening (a dreadful fate awaiting all who give up involvement one way or another in cricket) wishes that Freddie had been back in his pomp long since – were it so, he might still be Test skipper.
In recent weeks, Chad Keegan has brought a similar talismanic (but not wayward) quality to Henley but just as Keeganmania looked set to take hold, he was, this week, unavailable to set about the opposition and Henley had to make do without him. In the event, it made no difference to the end result as there was a victorious outcome to Henley’s Week 17 derby game away at Reading in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League as Henley edged home in a tense and tight finish which may well condemn Reading to relegation with one game to go next weekend.
Both Clubs fielded weakened sides, variously owing to injury, illness and unavailability, and in Henley’s case, the needs of the Second XI. Reading were however reinforced by Dan Housego, making one of his rare appearances for his new club, and on paper at least, Reading’s top-end batting order looked perfectly capable of posting a good score.
All that reckoned without the pace and seam movement which Dave Griffiths extracted during his first spell. Whilst Mark Alleyne tied down one end with miserly bowling, Griffiths terrorised the Reading top order and wickets fell in steady succession. Perkins was caught at slip, Housego and Le Roux clean bowled, Barr brilliantly caught behind and Kang played on as Reading slumped to 32-5 by the 19th over. Only Fray survived, fortunate not to face as much of Griffiths as the others.
Once Griffiths was taken off (5-27 at the end of his first spell) Fray, assisted first by Turk and then by Zaman began to make progress and upped the scoring rate quite markedly before Griffiths returned shortly before lunch, this time from the Pavilion end, to remove Turk who had hitherto dealt only in boundaries but found himself lost in the corridor of uncertainly as he edged one which Alleyne parried and Mordt caught. At lunch, with Reading on 73-6, an early finish looked likely.
When Griffiths bowled the hard-hitting Zaman to claim his seventh victim of the day, it did indeed look all up, but Fray, who had been cautiously but steadily accumulating, was joined by 16 year-old Ross McAdam. Displaying a degree of maturity and application well beyond his years, McAdam ended the innings unbeaten on 54, the only blot on his copybook being an unseemly spat with his elder and better, Mark Alleyne. His innings contributed to an excellent partnership of 86 with Fray who was eventually bowled for an impressive 80 (including 10 fours) by Mordt who also accounted for Edwards. Thus it was that Reading saw out their 66 overs which was mainly due to Henley’s lack of a cutting edge in the bowling department, with Chad Keegan absent and Tom Lambert playing but unable to bowl. Griffiths bowled his heart out as his figures of 22 overs, 7 maidens, 7-51 demonstrate.
Somewhat against the odds, Reading had been allowed to post a defendable total. Henley soon found themselves 2 down for only 18 runs as first Chris Ellison and then Lambert, in an unaccustomed role as opening bat, fell victim to Edwards. First team debutant Stuart Davison was just beginning to find his feet when he was stumped, bringing together the experienced duo of Todd Ferguson and Mordt. A 50 run partnership did much to lay the groundwork for victory before Ferguson became Le Roux’ first victim of the day. When Alleyne soon followed, Reading must have sensed an opportunity, but Carter now joined Mordt for another key 55 run partnership before the wily and evergreen Hartley had Carter caught at slip. With Mordt, now joined by Dave Allaway, striking the ball to the boundary with ever greater authority, victory looked a formality – until Mordt skied one to Le Roux and mid-on and, next ball, Stewart Thompson was trapped lbw.
At 185-8, the game was on a knife edge, but Griffiths is no mug with the bat and both he and Allaway kept Le Roux and Hartley at bay, scampered ones and twos and found the boundary to keep the score ticking towards eventual victory with six overs to spare. All a bit nip and tuck at the end, but Henley were the more depleted side and Reading were left to regret the early batting collapse.
So, at long last Henley have moved up from 7th to 6th in the League following Welwyn’s defeat by a once again resurgent Banbury. Slough and Falkland both lost (to Tring and Radlett) but Reading have closed the gap slightly on Slough with a better points haul. Falkland are definitely down and it is now all between Reading and Slough next weekend as they travel to Tring Park and Falkland respectively. Early indications are that the weather will hold and, as Tring are in with a real shout of the championship, Reading can expect no quarter. Falkland will be playing for pride but Slough do have the quality to prevail if they can get their act together.
Elsewhere, High Wycombe beat Oxford in the top of the table clash and are the new leaders so it will all be decided next weekend. Banbury, having been saved by the rain in the corresponding fixture at White Post Road, will not be relishing a trip to Henley in their current form. Oxford entertain Radlett and Wycombe travel to Welwyn. Your correspondent’s predictions are the Wycombe will be champions and Reading will join Falkland in Division 2, ironically to be replaced by Farnham Royal – to whom, it will be recalled, they so generously ceded 10 wickets on the last day of last season - which was still not enough to save Royal. Next season will also see the return to the top Division of Potters Bar who thankfully beat Bishops Stortford in the top of the table clash in Division 2 East on Saturday – all of which means that we will not be travelling virtually to Cambridge to play Bishops Stortford in 2009. Notably though, this will bring to five the number of Herts clubs in Division 1, so ending the former hegemony of Berks/Buck/Oxon.
Scorecard:
Reading
Jonathan Perkins ct Bjorn Mordt b David Griffiths 1
Heinrich Le Roux b David Griffiths 11
Danny Housego b David Griffiths 3
Tom Fray b Bjorn Mordt 80
David Barr * ct Todd Fergusonb David Griffiths 8
Sukhi Kang + b David Griffiths 2
Paul Turk ct Bjorn Mordt b David Griffiths 16
Raheel Zaman LBW b David Griffiths 17
Ross Mcadam Not Out 54
Gareth Edwards st Todd Ferguson b Bjorn Mordt 7
David Hartley Not Out 1
Extras ( 1lb 1w ) 2
Total (9 wickets, 66 overs) 202
Fall Of Wickets
6-1 Jonathan Perkins (Heinrich Le Roux-5*); 14-2 Danny Housego (Jonathan Perkins-10*); 16-3 Heinrich Le Roux (Tom Fray-0*); 26-4 David Barr (Tom Fray-1*);
32-5 David Barr (Tom Fray-6*); 71-6 Paul Turk (Tom Fray-29*);
92-7 Raheel Zaman (Tom Fray-33*); 178-8 Tom Fray (Ross Mcadam-39*);
200-9 Gareth Edwards (Ross Mcadam-54*); 202-10 ;
* = notout batsman,
Bowling
David Griffiths 22 7 51 7
Mark Alleyne 16 6 41 0
Bjorn Mordt 15 2 55 2
Paul Carter 7 0 31 0
James Yandell 6 1 23 0
Henley
Chris Ellison LBW b Gareth Edwards 8
Tom Lambert ct Danny Housego b Gareth Edwards 2
Stewart Davison st Sukhi Kang b David Hartley 10
Todd Ferguson + LBW b Heinrich Le Roux 31
Bjorn Mordt * ct Heinrich Le Roux b David Hartley 82
Mark Alleyne ct Sukhi Kang b Heinrich Le Roux 4
Paul Carter ct Tom Fray b David Hartley 29
David Allaway Not Out 14
Stewart Thompson LBWb David Hartley 0
David Griffiths Not Out 9
James Yandell Did Not Bat
Extras ( 4w 11nb ) 15
Total (8 wickets, 48 overs) 204
Fall Of Wickets
9-1 Chris Ellison (Tom Lambert-0*); 18-2 Tom Lambert (Stewart Davison-5*);
31-3 Stewart Davison (Todd Ferguson-17*); 89-4 Todd Ferguson (Bjorn Mordt-25*); 98-5 Mark Alleyne (Bjorn Mordt-30*); 154-6 Paul Carter (Bjorn Mordt-51*); 185-7 Bjorn Mordt (David Allaway-5*); 185-8 Stewart Thompson (David Allaway-5*);
-9 ; -10 ;
* = notout batsman,
Bowling
Gareth Edwards 14 3 52 2
Ross Mcadam 5 1 6 0
Raheel Zaman 5 0 17 0
David Hartley 10 0 51 4
Heinrich Le Roux 10 0 58 2
Danny Housego 4 1 20 0
Umpires: John Reed, Peter Tomlin
Scorers: Roy Arnold, Michael Roberts Snr
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| Slough Put To The Sword By Keegan
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Henley v Slough
Date: 23rd August 2008
Venue: The Brakspear Ground
Weather: Initially very hot and sunny, thence sunny with the odd cloudy spell during the remainder of the day.
Toss: Won by Henley who elected to field
Result: Henley won by 8 wickets
Highlights: Chad Keegan's 116 Not Out, including 10 sixes; Todd Ferguson's 47 Not Out and his run out and stumping; the loss of innumerable balls; Nilantha Cooray's 72 (also including some big sixes)
Catering: Rita’s super duper Cottage Pie held centre stage and was much appreciated by all who partook of it. All the other usual lunch suspects were present and an excellent tea was duly hoovered up. Those in the know are already lobbying for Chicken & Ham Pie for the last day of the season.
Report
The contrast with the corresponding fixture earlier this season could not have been greater in terms of the weather, location and ambience. The Brakspear Ground was bathed in sunshine and looking an absolute treat thanks to Dick Keeble’s tireless and ceaseless efforts. There was plenty of good company and a jug or two of Pimms, courtesy of our Ground Chairman. And since the side has performed consistently to its potential, spectating has become a more enjoyable and less nerve wracking experience. All in all, an ideal way to spend a Saturday, though, as The Admiral has observed, it will all come to an end in two weeks' time and we will have to find other activities to fill the void. It all seems to have gone very quickly and here we are at, as David "Bumble" Lloyd would describe it, the “business end” of the season. Thankfully, since the team bucked up its ideas, we have no business with the bottom end of the Division and at the other end, we may just be out of range for the big finish but are well positioned to make further ground and Move On Up, as Curtis Mayfield might have put it.
At the beginning of this season, we welcomed Chad Keegan back to the fold. A Henley resident and a Henley player in his younger days, Chad joined Middlesex in 2001 and spent 7 seasons with them before being released at the end of 2007. His first class career was plagued by injuries which contributed to its untimely end. In the course of his career, he was regarded by those who are qualified to make these sorts of judgments as a real England one day prospect and it is not hard to see why that was. On his day, he strikes the ball with timing, power and venom that is the equal of some of the “greats” of this game, his fielding is top draw, and latterly, we have come to see what he was all about with ball in hand. He is still very rapid indeed.
Now that he has tempered his batting with a degree of control rather than hitting three or four spectacular shots and getting our cheaply, he has the ability to put any bowling attack to the sword and turn a game single-handedly.
As at Radlett last week, so this week, he was yet again on song as Henley completed the double over Slough in their Week 16 encounter at the Brakspear Ground in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League in a convincing 8 wicket victory starring Chad who thrilled those watching with an undefeated knock of 116 that included 10 sixes.
Slough lost the toss and were invited to bat, getting off to a terrible start as their opening pair perished successively in the first two overs. Quereshi was brilliantly run out as an off-balance Todd Ferguson took a return catch one-handed and swiped off the bails and Khan was Keegan’s first victim of the day caught behind. Tom Burrows and Michael Payne sought to restore order and both batsmen displayed some attractive stroke play until Payne, beaten for pace by Keegan, lost his middle stump.
Nick Stovold quickly followed falling to a stunning diving catch by Mark Alleyne at slip. At 34-4, Slough skipper Bobby Sher joined Burrows and the pair added 44 for the next wicket. With a pull shot here and a straight drive there, Burrows had begun to accumulate until Alleyne cleverly opted to come round the wicket and deceived Burrows with one that jagged back and took out middle stump.
When Bobby Sher fell victim to a world-class stumping by Ferguson, the end looked nigh at 86-6 as Slough’s Sri Lankan all-rounder Cooray was joined by Jamshad, but the pair saw it out to lunch (109-6). It was now essential to clean up the remaining wickets as cheaply as possible but this was not to be as Henley failed to maintain pressure and lost the initiative for a while. Initially Dave Griffiths and Keegan bowled quickly but firing balls over the batsmen’s heads was never likely to get a wicket.
As the deck flattened out, Cooray exacted a high price off the bowling of Mordt and Azeem Hussain as he peppered the Little Angel with some big sixes. It took Paul Carter to finally break a 98 run partnership, bowling Jamshad middle stump for a supportive 23. Unfortunately for Cooray, a ball from Hussein had damaged his right foot which contributed to a degree of immobility as Alleyne trapped him lbw an over later. That was that as Alleyne had Amin lbw in the same over, and Griffiths removed Aeri caught by Dave Allaway at wide mid-off.
Set 198 to win, Henley suffered an early reverse as First Team debutant Euan Brock, deputising for an unwell Michael Roberts, opened his account with a sublime square drive for 4 only to be adjudged lbw next ball. His replacement Keegan was soon in the groove as his first six was nonchalantly flicked over the boundary, soon followed by a swept six dragged from leg which was still climbing as it passed over the poplar trees and into the allotments. Chris Ellison looked well set until he chased one widish delivery too many from Arif and was caught at slip, bringing Ferguson to the crease.
In 5 overs, Keegan, stalking the crease like a caged tiger, doubled his score to 79 as he shelled Remenham Lane with a volley of sixes, mainly off a limping Cooray, one of which cleared the houses on the other side and landed somewhere beyond. Several balls were lost. Keegan’s 100 came up in the 30th over off 79 balls including his ninth 6 which rapped crisply on the front door of one of the houses, the score on 179 There was just enough time for another Keegan 6, as Ferguson who had scored steadily and sensibly, including some big shots of his own, struck the winning boundary.
This was not a slogfest by any means as Keegan, heeding Ferguson’s advice, played circumspectly and selectively, despatching the balls that were there to be hit, leaving the ones that were not and running ones and twos made available by the unsurprisingly defensive fields. Slough simply had no answer and the game was all over in 36 overs.
Henley’s inability to move from 7th in the League despite continuing success has echoes of Groundhog Day as Henley now have 221 points and are equal with Welwyn, comprehensive winners over Reading on Saturday, but who have lost fewer matches. Elsewhere, the wheels fell off the wagon at White Post Road as Banbury were well beaten by Wycombe. Tring shook off last week’s bashing to beat a Radlett side that seem to be slipping out of contention by 8 wickets. Finally, Falkland’s mini-revival continued as they held Oxford to a draw at Wash Common. It would take a brave man to bet heavily on Falkland surviving the drop, but they were the Houdinis of Division 1 last season and were Slough and Reading to lose next weekend and Falkland to win at Radlett, that would make for an intriguing, indeed cliffhanging finish to the season when Falkland entertain Slough. Reading meanwhile must face Henley next weekend and end their campaign with the unenviable task of visiting Oxford. Relegation for the first time from Division 1 of the HCPL since it was created is staring Reading firmly in the face. The reasons for this state of affairs must await another day but (i) an inability over time to attract quality players to the club (Housego apart, but then he only went for the money, and, in the event, he has featured little and done little when he has), (ii) an inability over the years to keep quality players at the Club and (iii) an overdependence on youngsters this season must figure prominently. In fairness, all the “old guard” there have chipped in over the season and their overseas, the impressive Heinrich Le Roux, has done his bit, but it takes more than that to be successful at this level.
The Championship is still wide open and is probably between Oxford, Wycombe, Banbury and Tring. 50 points from the last 2 games for Henley are unlikely to deliver the Championship unless a series of other results fall mathematically into perfect place but 3rd or 4th spot remains a realistic goal. As Henley entertain Banbury on the last day, they will certainly influence the destination of this 2008 championship.
Scorecard
Slough
Fahum Quereshi ro 5
Gheyas Khan ct Todd Ferguson b Chad Keegan 2
Tom Burrows + b Mark Alleyne 36
Michael Payne b Chad Keegan 15
Nick Stovold ct Mark Alleyne b David Griffiths 0
Zaheer Sher * st Todd Ferguson b Nicholas Denning 19
Nilander Cooray LBW b Mark Alleyne 72
O Jamshad b Paul Carter 23
Vishi Aery ct David Allaway b David Griffiths 9
Nheem Amin LBW b Mark Alleyne 0
Usman Arif Not Out 2
Extras ( ) 14
Total ( all out , 54.1 overs) 197
Fall Of Wickets
7-1 Fahum Quereshi; 7-2 Gheyas Khan; 32-3 Michael Payne; 34-4 Nick Stovold;
78-5 Tom Burrows; 86-6 Zaheer Sher; 184-7 O Jamshad; 197-8 Nilander Cooray;
192-9 Nheem Amin; 197-10 Vishi Aery;
Bowling
David Griffiths 13.1 1 48 2
Chad Keegan 12 2 36 2
Mark Alleyne 12 3 35 3
Nicholas Denning 6 1 24 1
Bjorn Mordt 5 1 21 0
Azeem Hussain 2 0 12 0
Paul Carter 4 0 12 1
Henley
Chris Ellison ct Nilander Cooray b Usman Arif 26
Euan Brock LBW b Nheem Amin 4
Chad Keegan Not Out 116
Todd Ferguson + Not Out 47
Bjorn Mordt * Did Not Bat
Mark Alleyne Did Not Bat
Paul Carter Did Not Bat
David Allaway Did Not Bat
Azeem Hussain Did Not Bat
David Griffiths Did Not Bat
Nicholas Denning Did Not Bat
Extras ( ) 8
Total (2 wickets, 36 overs) 201
Fall Of Wickets
4-1 Euan Brock; 68-2 Chris Ellison;
Bowling
Vishi Aery 5 2 26 0
Nheem Amin 6 0 29 1
Usman Arif 7 0 31 1
Nilander Cooray 5 0 39 0
Zaheer Sher 5 0 37 0
Michael Payne 6 0 33 0
Umpires: Dave Burden, M Southerton
Scorers: Roger Garfath/The Admiral, Bob Lane
|
| Radlett Rattled By Keegan
|
Henley v Radlett
Date: 16th August 2008
Venue: Cobden Hill, Radlett
Toss: Won by Radlett who elected to bat.
Result: Henley won by 4 wickets
Weather: Quite pleasant overall, much better than predicted; sunny cloudy but quite breezy, becoming sunnier after tea
Highlights: Chad Keegan’s batting, bowling and fielding and…. his aerodynamic efficient, streamlined shaved head. Todd Ferguson’s 56; Heath Paynter's performance for Radlett.
Catering: Elevated to the status of scorer in Bill’s absence on holiday at Trevone (Kernow), your correspondent shared an excellent lunch with the Umpires and Radlett scorer/legend Doreen Browne of roast chicken, roast potatoes, sweetcorn, green beans and gravy. Tea turned out to be a stupendous Tour de Force. Massive platefuls were devoured by the usual suspects, notably D Allaway and The Admiral. The best tea we have had away from home and one to threaten even the primacy of Rita!! – that’s how good it was.
Report:
And so it’s off to Radlett, yet another pretty long journey distance-wise into deepest Herts, albeit one made temporally short and sweet by empty and trouble-free motorways. Off at Junction 22, a B road takes one to the Northern end of the High Street. Radlett High Street, boasting four mini roundabouts and as many pelican crossings, turns out to be a mix of Mock Tudor, Art Deco, and some more contemporary architecture mixed in with some turn of the (20th) century and older buildings – overall pleasing to the eye. Though not part of John Betjeman’s Metro Land, it has a similar feel to it.
It is also an example, like Marlow, of the benefits of on street parking and not opting for pedestrian zoning and has a busy and prosperous feel to it with a wide variety of shops, pubs and restaurants, refreshingly free of “chain” retailers and betting shops which blight certain small market towns one could mention (because they are the only ones who can afford the rents….)
Radlett High Street is also part of the historic Watling Street, originally a Celtic trackway which the Romans later paved to form part of a route which enabled Caesar’s legions to make their way to Hadrian’s Wall and, sometimes, an uncertain and grisly future beyond it. The excellent Cat & Fiddle pub was not present in those days to slake travellers’ thirst, and, of course, according to John Major (More Than Just A Game, The Story Of Cricket’s Early Years; Harper Press), the invention of cricket lay far in the future. Formed in 1884, Radlett settled at their present home in 1937. An easily missed narrow entrance takes one into their well presented and maintained Cobden Hill Ground with its attractive pavilion which dates from the 1930s and is currently inhabited by a jolly nice and amusing bunch of club members, many of whom are quite partial to a drop of well kept Fullers London Pride.
Radlett are still very much in the mix to win the League though the received wisdom of knowledgeable insiders is that this is unlikely. Certainly Henley had the better of the corresponding fixture earlier this season, which should have been won had not Barker and Jenkins been allowed to become too comfortable for too long. There have been some changes in personnel this season with some old heads being replaced by more youthful and inexperienced heads, and, for sure, they are a different side without Gareth Berg, now spending most of his time with Middlesex.
Thus it was that the journey to Radlett was not without hope and expectation and so it proved as Henley recorded their fourth victory of the season in their Week 15 game in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League by 4 wickets, effectively banishing any notions of relegation and lining up a potentially strong finish to the season. Highlight of the game was a top-notch all-round contribution by former Middlesex star Chad Keegan.
Winning the toss, Radlett elected to bat. Their opening pair of Toor and Randall made a steady start and although Randall was troubled by the bounce extracted by Billy Taylor, Toor, warming to the bowling of Mark Alleyne, began to accumulate as the first hour passed and the new ball was seen off. Just when a wicket looked unlikely, a change of bowling made all the difference. Keegan removed Randall’s off-stump and Toor carelessly clipped a Nick Denning delivery to Azeem Hussain at mid-on and Radlett were 49–2. Dill and Radlett skipper Berger sought to consolidate, but Keegan deceived the dangerous Berger, caught by Chris Ellison at gully. Patel soon followed when he could only parry a slower ball by Keegan to Paul Carter
Dill and Radlett keeper Jenkins survived through lunch (87-4) but just as a valuable partnership looked in prospect, Jenkins nudged one into the covers and called Dill through for a run. Overestimating his partner’s fleetness of foot and underestimating Keegan’s razor sharp fielding, a direct hit removed Dill. Jenkins soldiered on with some success until he fell to a brilliant diving catch by Todd Ferguson off the returning Alleyne. An over later, Keegan’s alertness in the field did for Walker as he bulleted a return to Ferguson who swiped off the bails with Walker well short of his ground and Radlett were 159–7.
It now looked increasingly unlikely that Radlett would see out 66 overs and so it proved as Bjorn Mordt bowled Barker and Keegan’s raw pace proved too great for Sachdeva and Paynter, albeit not before Paynter in particular had mounted some plucky resistance to get Radlett over the 200 mark and give them some 20 or so more runs than they should have had. Keegan’s figures of 9.1 overs, 3 maidens, 5-22, speak for themselves as, in all, seven bowlers shared the work.
Set 210 to win, Henley suffered early setbacks as Ellison was adjudged lbw and then Michael Roberts was caught behind. Ferguson joined Keegan and their ensuing 138 partnership went most of the way to winning the game. Keegan, whose cavalier instincts were kept in check by the wise words of Ferguson, accumulated steadily and on occasions spectacularly all around the ground. However, it was not without giving several chances and he could have been out on 22 as Barker failed to hold a viciously struck shot off his own bowling and suffered a badly broken finger instead. Later on, Randall failed to hold a high-altitude skier and another one dropped over his head and over the boundary, but it was third time lucky as Randall finally got his man at long-off, but not before Keegan had struck 85 runs off 88 balls including 9 fours and 2 sixes.
Ferguson unfortunately followed in the next (36th) over, having patiently and, until then, chancelessly accumulated 56 (including 7 fours), the score on 165. Radlett, who had become very flat indeed in the field, were galvanised by the two wickets and Henley’s ascent to victory was not without a hiccup or two as Paynter had Alleyne and Mordt caught behind, and he and Toor restricted the scoring rate.
Another wicket might have made a difference but with plenty of overs in the bag, Carter and Dave Allaway knocked off the required 29 runs Both batsmen showed commendable care and attention but a classic cover-drive for four and a six down the ground by Allaway ended Radlett’s resistance with six overs to spare.
Henley are now equal on points with Welwyn who helpfully held Slough to a draw at Upton Court Road. Even more helpfully, Banbury defeated Reading in the glamorous surroundings of Sonning Lane. Reading might have felt that had done a reasonable job scoring 253-8, but reckoned without Benji Hector and Jamie Noble scoring 114 and 58 not-out respectively. Meanwhile, in the even more glamorous surroundings of Cowley, Tring Park set a new HCPL Lowest Score record (previously it was 80 v Oxford and Horspath in 2002) as they were shot out for 58, thanks to Jack Brooks' 6-22 as Oxford cruised to a 10 wicket victory. Finally, Falkland must have wished they had played more like it earlier in the season as they held High Wycombe to a draw at London Road. Heath and Chapman both scored centuries and Wycombe were 8 down at the end. Does this presage another Falkland end of season jailbreak?
All this means that Oxford are the new leaders and they and Banbury have opened up a small but appreciable gap to Radlett and Wycombe who likewise have a small but useful lead over Tring who scored “nul points”. Form and results have been variable throughout and the championship will go to the side that maintains consistent and winning course and speed from here on in. With 75 points up for grabs, Henley are not out of it which only serves to underline how things might have been had the first half of the season been different…….At the bottom, Henley cannot now be caught by Falkland, nor, realistically, by Reading. Falkland escaped relegation last season when all seemed lost and it would be nice to think they can do it again. Were that not to be so, the remaining relegation berth looks to be a straight fight between Reading and Slough.
Next up, Henley entertain a Slough side who are still in relegation trouble, but, so the rumour goes, may be reinforced by Barbados and West Indies paceman Tino Best – we shall see. At the time of writing, Slough have not posted their results on the Play Cricket website, so it is unclear whether Best played against Welwyn – if he did, he did not make much of an impression as Welwyn rattled up 329-4!
Anyway, Henley will be looking to maintain their current form and complete the double over Slough. Falkland are home to Oxford, and Reading are away to Welwyn and there are crucial matches between Radlett and Tring and Wycombe and Banbury.
Scorecard:
Radlett
Kabir Toor ct Azeem Hussain b Nicholas Denning 32
Simon Randall b Chad Keegan 11
Graham Dill ro 23
Shane Burger * ct Chris Ellison b Chad Keegan 13
Anish Patel ct Paul Carter b Chad Keegan 0
Tom Jenkins + ct Todd Ferguson b Mark Alleyne 41
Felix Walker ro 26
Paul Barker b Bjorn Mordt 8
Atul Sachdeva b Chad Keegan 14
Heath Paynter b Chad Keegan 26
Stuart Browne Not Out 0
Extras ( 8lb 7w ) 15
Total ( all out , 62.1 overs) 209
Bowling
Billy Taylor 12 4 20 0
Mark Alleyne 14 2 46 1
Chad Keegan 9.1 3 22 5
Nicholas Denning 6 2 22 1
Bjorn Mordt 11 1 43 1
Azeem Hussain 9 1 35 0
Paul Carter 1 9 13 0
Henley
Michael Roberts ct Tom Jenkins b Shane Burger 6
Chris Ellison LBW b Stuart Browne 8
Chad Keegan ct Simon Randall b Heath Paynter 85
Todd Ferguson + ct Sub b Kabir Toor 56
Bjorn Mordt * ct Tom Jenkins b Heath Paynter 11
Mark Alleyne ct Tom Jenkins b Heath Paynter 8
Paul Carter Not Out 14
David Allaway Not Out 17
Azeem Hussain Did Not Bat
Billy Taylor Did Not Bat
Nicholas Denning Did Not Bat
Extras ( 1b 1lb 1w 2nb ) 5
Total (6 wickets, 50.5 overs) 210
Bowling
Shane Burger 6 0 23 1
Stuart Browne 14 2 57 1
Paul Barker 0.2 0 0 0
Atul Sachdeva 7.4 0 46 0
Felix Walker 1 0 10 0
Heath Paynter 11.5 1 36 3
Kabir Toor 10 2 36 1
Umpires: Bob Blake, Cliff Pocock
Scorers: Doreen Browne, Michael Roberts (Snr)
|
| Rained Off Again
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Henley v Oxford
Date:9th August 2008
Venue: The Brakspear Ground, Matson Drive, Henley
Toss: Not taken
Weather:Rain and yet more rain, chilly and dank, felt more like November
Result: Match cancelled owing to weather and concomitant unfitness of the pitch
Highlights: Lunch
Catering: Days like this bring about an early lunch which was much enjoyed by all who participated. The meat pies were especially popular on such a chilly day and soup was in much demand. As usual, a stellar lunch – the highpoint of the day.
The weather could yet prove to be a if not the determining factor as to the winners and losers in the HCPL. One more weekend of abandonments/cancellations across the board like Saturday and Falkland are almost certainly down; two more weekends like this and Reading’s only hope of survival will then be to overhaul Slough, for whom, so it is said, reinforcement, in the form of West Indian paceman Tino Best, is on its way. Henley’s chances of advancement to the top have been dented by the loss of the opportunity to obtain 50 points over the 2 recent weekends but there must be no let up in endeavour, effort and recent form in the coming 4 games to ensure that come the last Saturday of the season, we are not fighting to stay up – as in 2007. Besides, the ability of the top 5 clubs to slip up from week to week and drop points means that all bets are still on.
There was no play in Henley’s Home Counties Premier League Division 1,Week 14 game against Oxford at the Brakspear Ground as rain fell throughout the morning and into the afternoon. After several pitch inspections by the umpires and the two captains, and with the rain showing no sign of letting up on a day which had a chill, autumnal feel to it, the game was finally called off at 2.30pm.
All other games in Division 1 were either abandoned or cancelled which means that each side received 6 points and there is no change in the standings. Next week, Henley travel to Radlett and will seek to continue the form they have shown in recent weeks before the weather intervened. Radlett are very much in with a chance of the championship and will doubtless be going all out for the win which makes for a potentially exciting contest. In the corresponding fixture earlier this season, Henley undoubtedly had the better of the day but Radlett just hung on for the draw with one wicket to spare.
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| Lords For A Day
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Berkshire v Devon
Date: 6th August 2008
Venue: Lords
Weather: Overcast and sultry in the morning giving way to a glorious afternoon.
Toss: Berkshire win the toss and elected to field.
Result: Devon won by 40 runs
Catering: An excellent lunch was had by all those that attended Box 17 on the Mount Stand courtesy of Mr. John Grout, who himself had a fine liver and bacon and all the trimmings, lunching elsewhere with the Great and Good. Your correspondent was treated to a perfectly acceptable soup (fluorescent carrot and coriander) and a range of sandwiches, tea, coffee and soft drinks in the Media Centre as the Henley Standard’s special correspondent for a day. Our Chairman and his good lady refreshed themselves with an excellent pie and some sandwiches.
Off to Lords we all went, a sizable contingent of the Henley CC faithful, to support Berkshire and our three present players and one former player in that side. For the chaps the new and very smart Club Tie was de rigeur and widely worn. Having experienced some traffic problems in the High Wycombe area, Grouty and your correspondent arrive a tad later that we might have wanted but still in good time. The system had worked and your correspondent collects his Media Pass for the day at the North Gate. So after a quick hello to Bjorn and a brief chat with Dave Morris, resplendent in a fine green Berks blazer, its off up the lift to the space age Media Centre to observe proceedings. All mod cons including wifi are on offer and the view is terrific. The press (local press only plus local TV and Radio on the upper deck) are relatively thin on the ground so conditions are far from cramped. One can see however that things would be pretty tight with a full house of journos on a big match day.
The game is played on the penultimate track on the left side of the square looking from the Pavilion End so the Grandstand boundary is ludicrously short whilst the boundary rope on the Tavern Stand side is pulled well in and there would be enough room for a kids’ game of Quik Cricket to progress at the same time out there.
A goodly crowed turns up which swells throughout the day and, in parts, becomes more vocal as the lager begins to take effect. Although it looks a bit sparse in the wide open spaces of Lords, the attendance is excellent and far better than for the average county 4 day game, marred only by some of the usual moronic footie chanting as some refugees from the Reading and Exeter terraces took the opportunity to tune up for the coming season.
And what a good day’s cricket it was, 540 runs in a day, an excellent advertisement for Minor Counties cricket and more excitement and entertainment than many a turgid Pro 40 game that appears on Sky. Long may days like this continue, though if some within the ECB get their way, it will not. Ironic really, they chant the mantra of making cricket universally popular and attractive and open to all but if you do not provide these pinnacles of achievement for players at this level and other levels within the club and minor game, you are simply not going to sustain people’s enthusiasm. Trouble is, all these guys can see is the Sky Pound, the Stanford Dollar and selling the Shirt. It was perhaps revealing and indicative that this game received no billing or an ECB Press Release in the national press and there was no Live Score for it on the ECB Website.
A captain’s innings of 79 from Henley and Berkshire skipper Bjorn Mordt allied to a 90 run partnership with Paul Carter could not prevent Devon winning the Minor Counties Knock-Out Final by 40 runs as they dismissed Berkshire for 250. This was Devon’s seventh final since 1991, but their first victory since 1998.
On an overcast and sultry morning at Lords, Berkshire won the toss and elected to field. Henley’s Tom Lambert, bowling from the Nursery End, drew first blood when Allen was snapped up at slip by Craig Crowe for 8. Fellow opener Mole, riding his luck, surviving a very compelling appeal for lbw and a catch off a no-ball, was joined by Devon skipper Dawson who showed plenty of aggression and intent from the off. Berkshire’s cause was not helped when an injury to Richard Johnson brought about an unheralded change of bowling, but Lambert and Steve Naylor stuck to their task, Lambert, himself suffering from a side strain, returning excellent figures of 10 overs, 3 maidens 1 – 30.
Wickets were however in short supply as Dawson and Mole, the latter initially tentative but growing in confidence following Dawson’s lead, got down to building an innings. Both batsmen, Dawson in particular, made excellent use of the invitingly short Grandstand boundary, bringing up half-centuries as Berkshire kept the scoring rate in reasonable check but leaked too many wides for comfort.
With the score on 196, Dawson, now 4 short of a century, chased a widish ball from Craig Crowe and was caught behind. Any notions that a wicket that would bring about some form of collapse were soon dispelled as Neil Hancock came to the crease. Although Court went cheaply for 3 when Dave Barnes, stationed at mid-on, brilliantly held on the crisp on-drive, Hancock and Lye really went for it in the closing overs. Hancock’s 53 off 24 balls, including a massive 6 that disappeared over the top of the Grandstand, made all the difference as Carl Crowe, then Mitchell Stokes and Naylor were put to the sword, 41 runs coming off the last 2 overs.
291 runs for victory was undoubtedly a mountain to climb, but on a used but true deck, and Lords now bathed in sunshine, as it was for the whole of the Berkshire innings, Berkshire, with all their batting, rightly regarded it as an attainable target.
Four balls into the Berkshire innings, Barnes was heading back to the pavilion, having cracked a ball to Barlow at midwicket. Craig Crowe joined Stokes and the pair set off at a high rate of striking, exhibiting the full range of shots down and around the ground. For a while it seemed as though they were untouchable as the score raced to 67 in just 9 overs, only for the complexion of the game to change in a trice as first Stokes, going aerial just once too often, was superbly caught by Lye at deep midwicket and a ball later, Crowe drilled one to Dawson at short cover.
Mordt survived Bishop’s hat-trick ball and set about building the best innings of the afternoon. He was accompanied in that endeavour all too briefly first by ex-Henley player Jonno McLean who chased a wide delivery from Hancock straight to Hudson at deep backward point, next by Naylor, bowled by an unplayable delivery from Bishop and then by Jamie Morris adjudged lbw.
At 102 – 5, and 30 overs remaining, the gradient now became steeper for Berkshire as Carter now joined Mordt. The circumstances called for a degree of circumspection, which, allied to some tight Devonian bowling, pegged back the scoring rate. Against a spread field, Carter and Mordt scampered singles and twos and pushed the score on. Mordt’s 50, including 4 fours and a six, came in the 34th over, as Carter, more conservative than usual, chipped in as well. Whilst this pair were at the crease, victory always looked possible as 200 came up with 10 overs to go. An over later, disaster struck as Carter was run out. Johnson then completed a miserable day with a golden duck and when Mordt was acrobatically caught by Hudson at backward point, the writing was on the wall.
Lambert and Crowe put up some spirited resistance, but after a Petersonesque reverse sweep or two and several big hits to the boundary, Crowe chopped a Hudson delivery onto his stumps and that was it as Devon ran out worthy winners with 2 overs to spare.
After the game, Mordt was naturally disappointed. Enforced bowling changes, some soft serial dismissals and a generous helping of extras had not helped, but, as he rightly pointed out, Berkshire were well in the hunt for the best part of their innings. A case, therefore, of defeat but no dishonour as both teams contributed to a very entertaining day’s cricket watched by a substantial and noisy crowd.
Scorecard:
Devon
C Mole c Barnes b C D Crowe 67
A Allen† c C P Crowe b T Lambert 8
R Dawson* c B Mordt b C P Crowe 96
N Hancock NOT OUT 53
D Court c C P Crowe b S Naylor 3
D Lye NOT OUT 25
A Proctor Did Not Bat
J Hudson Did Not Bat
T Anning Did Not Bat
1 Bishop Did Not Bat
S Barlow Did Not Bat
Extras: 38
Total: (4 wkts, 50 overs) 290
Best Bowling: T Lambert 1 – 30
Berkshire
D Barnes c Barlow b Bishop 0
M Stokes c Lye b Bishop 42
C P Crowe c Dawson b Bishop 21
J McLean c Hudson b Hancock 4
B Mordt†* c Hudson b Hancock 79
S Naylor b Bishop 9
J Morris lbw b Barlow 1
P Carter Run Out 31
R Johnson b Hancock 0
C D Crowe b Hudson 29
T Lambert NOT OUT 8
Extras: 26
Total: (All out in 48 overs) 250
Best Bowling: Bishop 4 – 40, Hancock 3 - 63
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| All Washed Out At Wash Common
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Henley v Falkland
Date: 2nd August 2008
Venue: Wash Common, Falkland
Weather: Rain and more rain, clearing up into a nice afternoon by which time it was all too late
Toss: Not taken
Result: Match cancelled owing to weather and concomitant unfitness of the pitch
Highlights: None
Catering: Players and officials sat down to an early lunch comprising an excellent curry and rice served up by the resident chef at the Bowlers Arms. The curry hand an excellent depth of taste and a real edge to it in terms of heat. Top stuff!! The ham egg and chips also looked very good. Next time, no need to take a picnic!!
Longish trip down to what is currently the Western extremity of the Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League at Falkland CC – though for how much longer is another matter as Falkland are now firmly rooted to the bottom of the League and, although nothing is certain in this life, look increasingly unlikely to get out of jail. A shame really, because they are a great club and the ground is excellent. It is perhaps idle (and tempting fate) to speculate on who will be relegated at the end of this season but there must be a very real prospect (unless Finchampstead or Wokingham can catch and pass Farnham Royal) that Henley will be the only Berkshire club remaining in the League Division 1 when the musical chairs stop at the end of the season – a sobering thought indeed in a week in which the primacy of Berkshire as a minor county is reflected in the forthcoming Minor Counties' one day final at Lords on Wednesday (play starts at 11am).
Driving down the M4 in thick spray against a horizon of very low cloud, the chances of a game of cricket being played looked very slim indeed and so it proved as Henley’s Week 13 game in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League at Wash Common against Falkland was washed away as steady then heavy rain during Saturday morning left the pitch saturated and, despite the best efforts of the ground staff, ultimately unplayable. Henley thus suffered their first cancelled game of the season, which, though a vast improvement on the serial cancellations of 2007, was very disappointing, not least as this game was the only game not to take place in Division 1 and Henley had to content them selves with just 6 points when current form suggested that Henley might have added to their tally of wins and taken the full 25 points on offer.
Henley thus remain in 7th place with 165 points, but only 14 points behind Welwyn Garden City who could only draw at Oxford. Last week’s leaders Radlett were beaten at home by a resurgent Banbury and that was enough to allow Tring Park, who drew at High Wycombe in a rain-shorted game, back to the top of the League. Elsewhere, Slough beat Reading at Upton Court Road to close the gap a little on Henley and put some daylight between themselves and fellow strugglers Reading. Reading were once again without D Housego and it remains to be seen whether he still features in Reading's plans or whether there has been any parting of the ways. Either way, Reading will now have a much clearer understanding of why it was that Henley did not try and hold on to him when he indicated that he did not feel “wanted” at Henley (code for “Please pay me”). At least his move to Reading meant that Reading paid two seasons or so of unpaid subs to secure his registration.
Anyway, all of the above means that things are getting ever tighter at the top of the League with Banbury closing down the gap to the top four title chasing clubs. Just five points now separate fifth-placed Banbury from top of the table Tring with Radlett, Wycombe and Oxford sandwiched in between.
With five games to go, the Championship is wide open and if Henley can string together some wins in the coming weeks against sides above them, anything remains possible.
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| More Bling Than Tring
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Henley v Tring Park
Date: 26th July 2008
Venue: The Brakspear Ground
Toss: Tring Park won the toss and elected to bowl
Result: Henley won by 82 runs
Weather: Hot with long sunny spells, sultry and humid
Highlights: Mark Alleyne's 55, Dave Allaway's 49no, Dave Griffiths' 4 – 46, 5 catches for Todd Ferguson; Keith Dutch's 5 – 77, Andrew Wynd’s 50
Catering: Rita kept her burgeoning following (including some welcome visitors from Tring) replete and happy with a stellar chicken and ham pie (complete with Rita’s secret special ingredient) and amongst the cold offerings, some very lean corned beef made a welcome return. Viennese Whirls complemented the usual high standard tea with plenty of different sandwich fillings on offer. To cap it all, Rita was able to muster up a plateful of chilli con carne and rice from goodness knows where for Human Hoover S. Davison Esq. on his return from 2’s duty at Hurst.
Last Thursday in The Times, James Ducker reported on a rare interview given by Paul Scholes, the Manchester United footballer. Scholes is a modest and self effacing man who does all his talking and self expression on the pitch to great effect in what has been a long and illustrious career, spent entirely with the same club. He plainly regards himself as having been very lucky to have the career he has had with United and regards players who leave or want to leave as taking step down or backwards. All of which brought Ducker to a certain Christian Ronaldo, currently sunbathing himself into the colour of a pickled walnut at various glitterati haunts around the world while he recovers from injury and awaits the outcome of the tug of money and war of words between his present club and Real Madrid.
As Ducker observed, whilst Scholes and Ronaldo are kindred spirits on the field, the contrast off the field could not be greater. Scholes is a quiet family man who lives very contentedly in Saddleworth, a moorland village high up on the Yorkshire Lancashire border. His idea of a night out, says Ducker, is quiet pint in one of Saddleworth’s pubs topped off with a fish and chip supper.
Unwittingly perhaps, there was a degree of condescension in describing Scholes as a throwback to a generation of footballer “seemingly long gone, modest and humble” evoking black and white, if not sepia tinted images of footballers with long baggy shorts, short hair cuts, Brylcream etc. Anyone who has read Gary Imlach’s excellent “My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes” (Yellow Jersey Press) will know that being a footballer in the so called “golden age” on a maximum wage was little better than being a tied serf.
Although the balance in terms of footballer’s wages has tipped obscenely in the opposite direction, it is noteworthy that there are similar sepia tinted mutterings these days among the cricketing Establishment as the awful prospect of hugely paid globetrotting 20/20 cricketers looms over the horizon to destabilise the long entrenched hegemony of the county game. One suspects that the espousing of Adrian Stanford and his millions, compete with Stanford landing, US President like, by helicopter on the Nursery Ground and much bowing and scraping at the ensuing press conference, has been done through gritted teeth on the basis that it is better to try and control the juggernaut than let someone else drive it off in another direction.
In a side bar, Ducker had a bit of fun contrasting the off-field styles and activities of Ronaldo and Scholes. When it came to fashion sense, Ronaldo was described as Gucci, Prada and lots of jewellery. Scholes on the other hand was s described as “About as bling as Tring, Herfordshire’s small market town”. Ducker’s association with Tring, if any, is unknown and one suspects that he simply used the word because it rhymed with bling, not least as he deemed it necessary to explain what and where Tring is. He plainly is not acquainted with Tring Park’s rather bling pavilion, nor moved by the beauty of the verdant Chiltern Hills that surround Tring, and should take time to visit the Natural History Museum, the Parish Church with its Herfordshire Spike, and other notable buildings such as Pendley Manor, and the Louisa Cottages.
All that said, when it comes to contrasting the two sides on Saturday, there was definitely more bling about Henley’s game than Tring’s as Henley steamrollered the then League leaders in their Division 1 Week 12 match in the Home Counties Premier League in yet another display of high intensity, confident cricket and sharp, superior fielding.
Losing the toss and invited to bat, Henley got off to a fast start as Adrian Greyvenstein combined some classy straight and cover drives with other streakier boundaries to race to 32 before holing out at square leg, for once late on a pull shot. Tring skipper Paul Atkins soon replaced the expensive Harper with the more effective Tom Brooks and then abandoned seam and pace altogether in favour of spin as, apart from a short spell from Van Vuuren, Keith Dutch and Richard Byrne shared the bowling for the rest of the innings. The advent of spin certainly slowed the scoring rate. Todd Ferguson was Dutch’s first of five victims as he clipped one to Lloyd Brooks at short mid-on and Tring were jubilant when, next ball, an aggrieved Bjorn Mordt was adjudged caught at short leg. Michael Roberts who had put in the hard yards seeing off the new ball, was next to go as Byrne got one to spin back which Roberts helped on to his stumps trying to work the ball to the legside. Lunch beckoned as Mark Alleyne and Paul Carter played themselves in only for Carter to serve up a soft catch to Tom Brooks at short cover. So at 97-5, it was Tring that trooped into lunch with their tails very much up.
For Henley, the key now lay in not being rolled up and seeing out 66 overs. Chad Keegan’s usual fireworks were short-lived as, having slog-swept a 6 into Remenham Lane, he skied one for bowler Dutch to take. If Tring thought the end was nigh, Dave Allaway and Alleyne had different ideas as they put on 64 for the next wicket. For a while, tight spin bowling held down the scoring rate to one an over. But Allaway and Alleyne grafted for runs and boundaries came, particularly during Van Vuuren’s pricey spell which featured some big hitting by both players. In the face of increasingly defensive fields, Alleyne brought up his 50 with another big 6 over long-off only to be run out soon after, but the durable Allaway saw out the overs, just missing out on his half-century.
207 runs meant that Henley now had something to bowl at. Early wickets and removing the potential big guns was the order of the day. Dave Griffiths, generating real pace from the Pavilion End and unsettling the batsmen, struck first to remove Bowyer, caught by Carter at backward point. Next to go was Lloyd Brooks who had looked all at sea for his 3 runs, courtesy of yet another of those tricky low slip catches that Alleyne makes look so easy. When the destructive Dutch nicked one through to Ferguson low down, it was jubilation all round as a reluctant Dutch was sent on his way. Next, Keegan removed Harper, caught behind, and Alleyne’s deceptive and varied bowling soon accounted for Van Vuuren c&b. When Azeem Hussein made up for his first-ball dismissal with a first-ball lbw to remove a sweeping Tom Brooks it was 52-6 at tea and Tring were in deep trouble.
After tea, it was really a matter of time as only Tring keeper Wynd mounted any enduring resistance in the course of which he took a real shine to some pretty inviting spin bowling to register several 6s. In the meanwhile, Griffiths was now running in flat-out from the Remenham Hill End terrorising first Atkins and then Stillwell into nicking balls to Ferguson. Carter exacted revenge on Wynd by running him out thanks to a great return throw by Griffiths. Lambert then closed out the game when Stanway completed an excellent day for Ferguson behind the stumps. Stanway and his skipper were a bit grumpy about the decision but straight as a dye Aussie umpire John Attridge called it as he saw it and that was that.
Skipper Mordt was delighted with the day, highlighting the performances of Allaway and Alleyne and Dave Griffiths and Tom Lambert. He was however concerned at the number of soft dismissals but looking forward said “Man for man we are the best team in the League and we have got to keep believing.” Chairman Paul Bradbury commented, “At last the side is beginning to click and show a level of determination missing in the early part of the season.”
So, another 25 points for Henley who nevertheless remain in seventh but now have Banbury and Welwyn firmly in their sights and the bottom three receding fast from contact. Henley are also now only 41 points behind new leaders Radlett and with 6 games to come, anything is possible. Radlett recorded a fine win at Reading (for whom Heinrich Le Roux scored 125) chasing down 281 with one wicket to spare after being 100 – 5. Paul Barker, who stood firm against Henley a few weeks ago, was the man of the match with his unbeaten 110. If Radlett win the League by a few points, they will surely regard this match as a defining moment. Elsewhere, Slough went down pretty tamely to High Wycombe at Upton Court Road, Banbury held on to draw with Oxford, and Falkland held Welwyn to a draw at Digwells Park, Jamie Morris and K Zafar recording centuries. So nothing should be taken for granted this coming Saturday at Wash Common as Henley seek to atone for the abysmal home defeat at the hands of Falkland earlier this season and make further progress.
All this means that it is tighter than ever at the top. Only 6 points separate the top four and though Banbury and Welwyn are still in contention, they have not made the sort of ground they really need to of late to mount a challenge and now have Henley breathing down their necks. Exciting times!
Finally, another good day from the spectator point of view, plenty of people visiting and watching and enjoying thespectacle and the weather. Spectator of the day was Daisy, a Parsons Jack Russell terrier, who sat contentedly all day with her owners and observed the game with rapt attention.
Scorecard:
Henley CC
Michael Roberts b Richard Byrne 16
Adrian Greyvenstein ct Lloyd Brooks b Thomas Brooks 32
Todd Ferguson + ct Lloyd Brooks b Keith Dutch 18
Bjorn Mordt * ct Paul Atkins b Keith Dutch 0
Mark Alleyne ro 55
Paul Carter ct Thomas Brooks b Keith Dutch 10
Chad Keegan ct Keith Dutch b Keith Dutch 14
David Allaway Not Out 49
Azeem Hussain LBW b Keith Dutch 0
David Griffiths Not Out 5
Tom Lambert Did Not Bat
Extras ( ) 8
Total (8 wickets, 66 overs) 207
Fall Of Wickets:
45-1 Adrian Greyvenstein; 72-2 Todd Ferguson; 72-3 Bjorn Mordt; 76-4 Michael Roberts; 97-5 Paul Carter; 119-6 Chad Keegan; 183-7 Mark Alleyne; 190-8 Azeem Hussain;
Bowling
Simon Stanway 9 2 24 0
George Harper 4 12 4 0
Thomas Brooks 7 4 9 1
Keith Dutch 24 1 77 5
Richard Byrne 17 4 36 1
Morne Van Vuuren 5 0 30 0
Tring Park CC
Matthew Bowyer ct Paul Carter b David Griffiths 8
Lloyd Brooks ct Mark Alleyne b Tom Lambert 3
Keith Dutch ct Todd Ferguson b David Griffiths 15
Morne Van Vuuren ct Mark Alleyne b Mark Alleyne 13
George Harper ct Todd Ferguson b Chad Keegan 3
Thomas Brooks LBW b Azeem Hussain 4
Andrew Wynd + ro Paul Carter 50
Paul Atkins * ct Todd Ferguson b David Griffiths 9
Oliver Sidwell ct Todd Ferguson b David Griffiths 0
Simon Stanway ct Todd Ferguson b Tom Lambert 2
Richard Byrne Not Out 13
Extras ( ) 5
Total ( all out , 44.4 overs) 125
Fall Of Wickets
9-1 Matthew Bowyer; 27-2 Lloyd Brooks; 27-3 Keith Dutch; 41-4 George Harper;
43-5 Morne Van Vuuren; 51-6 Thomas Brooks; 92-7 Paul Atkins; 94-8 Oliver Sidwell; 112-9 Andrew Wynd; 125-10 Simon Stanway;
Bowling
Tom Lambert 9.4 4 8 2
David Griffiths 17 5 46 4
Mark Alleyne 5 2 12 1
Chad Keegan 3 2 4 1
Azeem Hussain 5 1 29 1
Paul Carter 5 1 21 0
Umpires: Dave Burden, John Attridge
Scorers: Bill Waldron + the Chap with Indigestion (name not known)
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| Captain Fantastic and His Green Grass Cowboys
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Henley v High Wycombe
Date: 19th July 2008
Venue: The Brakspear Ground
Weather: Sunny and Breezy for the most part, sometimes cloudy and cooler and a hint of rain around lunchtime which came to nothing.
Catering: When the Good Cricket Lunch and Tea Guide comes to be written, Rita will be right up there. An excellent lunch featuring a distinguished cottage pie plus all the usual suspects. As for tea, which was a bit of a celebration, a great cuppa plus a wide range of tasty sandwiches. The scones with jam and cream were also a bit hit.
Apologies for the title of this week's Article go to Bernie Taupin but skipper Mordt is just that at the moment. Where would Henley be without the 600+ runs he has scored so far this season to lead the batting stats in the Home Counties Premier League?? His example is one which all with batting aspirations must follow.
Back home again, after a few weeks on the road, to the delights of the Brakspear Ground on a summer’s day, home cooking, Rebellion Beer, plenty of familiar faces and convivial and knowledgeable conversation. The Royal Regatta, with its wonderfully quaint dress code firmly rooted in a pre-war if not the Edwardian era, has come and gone. So too have the Festival, the Trad Boat Rally and the Henley CC Annual Summer Ball, held this year further down the river at the Henley Management College. Only the Town Regatta is left, following which all the tentage and attendant paraphernalia will be removed, the bunting taken down and Henley will revert to its usual status as a sleepy market town with traffic and parking issues and, if the local press is anything to go by, a retail graveyard for clothing boutiques which appear to be closing weekly, doubtless to be replaced by yet another coffee shop chain.
As all will recall, in the encounter with High Wycombe earlier his season, Henley just managed to scrape a draw in appalling wet and cold weather conditions. Ironically, Wycombe were all out that day for less than they were this time around but it was Henley that ended up holding on to stave off defeat. This was always going to be a very different game, given the performances which Henley haveput inin recent weeks, and it was time to reap the full reward.
As it was, Henley chalked up their second win of the season in some style in their Week 11 encounter with High Wycombe at the Brakspear Ground, dismissing their opponents for 136 and then getting the required runs in just 26.4 overs. At long last, another good all round performance finally produced the full measure of points. Though Henley remain in seventh place in the League, they are evermore distanced from the relegation scrap.
Once again Henley had skipper Bjorn Mordt to thank for another towering performance with the bat to see off Wycombe, but the foundations for this victory were firmly laid by a compelling and dominating bowling performance allied to superior fielding, Hampshire’s Dave Griffiths marking his return to first team action with a 5 wicket haul.
Winning the toss, Mordt invited the opposition to bat in breezy and mainly sunny conditions. On a slow and softish deck, the Wycombe batsmen found it hard to get the ball away and there was plenty of playing and missing as the ball nipped about off the seam. Griffiths drew first blood when Taylor played down the wrong line and was bowled, and a couple of overs later, he collected the other opener, Fallis, thanks to a sublime catch by Todd Ferguson diving far to his left. If the openers and Gregg Pooley found the going slow, Paul Sawyer had other ideas and was just beginning to look dangerous when he nicked one to Mordt at slip off Mark Alleyne’s first over. Between them, Mordt and Alleyne choked off the runs and when Mordt clean bowled Gitsham to remove another potentially dangerous batsman shortly before lunch, Henley could claim to have had the better of the morning, the score at 86 – 4. Much though remained to be done and the next hour after lunch would be crucial.
Too often in the past, Henley have done all the hard work to reduce sides to four or five wickets down for a modest score, only to let them off the hook. This was not one of those days as the remaining 6 wickets fell for just 50 additional runs. Tom Lambert opened and closed his account for the day deceiving Morgan with one that nipped away and into Ferguson’s gloves, and an over later, Pooley whose 28 overs in the middle had netted just 18 runs, was finally put out of his misery, trapped lbw by Griffiths. Newell waived his bat at a widish Griffiths delivery and was caught behind, Wycombe newcomer Arshad chipped one out to the waiting Dave Allaway at mid off and Alleyne bowled Sketchley. It was all over in the 51st over when Mordt ended Cranfield-Thompson’s spirited resistance with a caught and bowled.
Early wickets fell in the Henley reply as Michael Roberts’ enterprising start came to a premature end when he edged a yorker from Sawyer, which held its line, to slip. Adrian Greyvenstein soon followed, adjudged lbw, again to Sawyer. Both Sawyer and fellow opening bowler Tim Cece interspersed some decent bowling with a liberal helping of no-balls which did the score no harm as Ferguson and Mordt proceeded with some initial caution. Mordt gradually found the range with a fluent cover drive here and an elegant cut shot there and as the score steadily mounted, the Wycombe morale and resistance drained away. The experienced Sketchley could not stop the rot and Arshad soon found himself smashed to the boundary by Mordt. Sketchley swapped ends and Gitsham was brought on. But it was all to no avail as Mordt doubled his score in the last 4 overs, taking Sketchley to the cleaners and dispatching the hapless Gitsham to all parts of the ground, finally closing out the game before tea with a massive 6 over the sidescreens at the Remenham Hill End, a viciously struck 4 and a final 6 over long on.
Yet again, this was a game in which the level of commitment and intensity displayed by the Henley team as a whole and individually was far superior to that of their opponents. Henley were far sharper in the field. Wycombe’s defeat sees them drop to fourth spot, but things remain very tight between themselves, Oxford, Banbury, Radlett and Welwyn. Tring, who just held on at home to Welwyn, remain in the lead, 15 points clear. At the bottom, Falkland are now firmly in what the French call the “lanterne rouge” spot, thanks to yet another drubbing at home, this time at the hands of Banbury who won by 9 wickets. Elsewhere, Slough and Reading (still minus a certain D. Housego) achieved creditable draws at Radlett and Oxford respectively. Reading are now 2 points behind Slough who are on 93 points, but the good thing from Henley’s perspective is that though Henley still have some ground to make up on Welwyn and the chasing pack Henley are now 40 points clear of Slough.
As with Wycombe this week, so with Tring next week, Henley will be a very different proposition from the encounter in the first half of the season, and as recent results show, Tring have faltered in recent weeks. Another 25 points would be wonderful.
Finally, apart from the usual diehards that turn up, it was good to see more people turning up to spectate – the more the better!!
Scorecard
Result: Henley won by 8 wickets
Toss: Henley won the toss and decided to bowl
Highlights: Bjorn Mordt's 80 Not Out & 14 - 2 Dave Griffiths' 5 - 51
High Wycombe
Leo Sandino-Taylor b David Griffiths 18
Patrick Fallis ct Todd Ferguson b David Griffiths 13
Gregg Pooley LBW b David Griffiths 18
Paul Sawyer ct Bjorn Mordt b Mark Alleyne 23
Mathew Gitsham b Bjorn Mordt 12
Mark Morgan * ct Todd Ferguson b Tom Lambert 8
David Cranfield-Thompson + ct Bjorn Mordt b Bjorn Mordt 18
Keith Newell ct Todd Ferguson b David Griffiths 2
Zeeshan Arshad ct David Allaway b David Griffiths 2
Christopher Sketchley b Mark Alleyne 9
Timothy Cece Not Out 0
Extras ( ) 13
Total ( all out , 51 overs) 136
Fall Of Wickets
28-1 Leo Sandino-Taylor; 32-2 Patrick Fallis; 56-3 Paul Sawyer; 83-4 Mathew Gitsham; 96-5 Mark Morgan; 98-6 Gregg Pooley; 104-7 Keith Newell; 114-8 Zeeshan Arshad; 136-9 Christopher Sketchley; 136-10 David Cranfield-Thompson;
Bowling
David Griffiths 17 6 51 5
Tom Lambert 15 2 42 1
Mark Alleyne 9 5 16 2
Bjorn Mordt 8 1 14 2
Azeem Hussain 1 1 0 0
Paul Carter 1 0 3 0
Henley
Michael Roberts ct Mathew Gitsham b Paul Sawyer 9
Adrian Greyvenstein LBW b Paul Sawyer 10
Todd Ferguson+ Not Out 24
Bjorn Mordt * Not Out 80
Mark Alleyne Did Not Bat
David Allaway Did Not Bat
Paul Carter Did Not Bat
Chad Keegan Did Not Bat
Azeem Hussain Did Not Bat
Tom Lambert Did Not Bat
David Griffiths Did Not Bat
Extras ( ) 18
Total (2 wickets, 26.4 overs) 141
Fall Of Wickets
14-1 Michael Roberts; 31-2 Adrian Greyvenstein;
Bowling
Paul Sawyer 7 0 31 2
Timothy Cece 7 0 25 0
Christopher Sketchley 6 1 27 0
Zeeshan Arshad 4 0 19 0
Mathew Gitsham 2.4 0 33 0
Umpires: Cliff Pocock, Kevin Beaumont
Scorers: Bill Waldron, A Kingshott
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| Henley Get The Better Of The Draw Against Lacklustre Welwyn
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Henley v Welwyn Garden City
Date: 12th July 2008
Venue: Digwells Park, Welwyn Garden City
Weather: A gloomy morning and a stiff shower gave way to sun at the start of play. After later showers, a mostly sunny and bright evening, save for occasional dark spells when rain threatened but came to nothing.
Catering: A perfectly acceptable lunch of roast pork and salads and a good tea with nice sandwiches and cakes.
First trip for Henley CC, and indeed for all who travelled, to Digwells Park, home of Welwyn Garden City CC which is very much out on the far frontier of the HCPL and the longest trip of the campaign. For some of the more geographically challenged, finding the ground proved a difficult task. A Greyvenstein in particular would like Sat Nav in his Christmas stocking but, rather surprisingly, Bill Waldron also found locating the ground, hidden away as it is in the middle of a housing estate, a bit of an ordeal.
As everyone knows, Welwyn Garden City, as its name suggests, is a garden city, founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, and designed by Louis de Soissons. Following the establishment of Letchworth Garden City and prior to the commencement of Welwyn Garden City, Howard wrote:
“A city will arise as superior in its beauty and magnificence to our first crude attempt as the finished canvas of a great artist to the rough and untaught attempts of a schoolboy.”
Whether Howard achieved this and whether his creation has survived the rigours of post-war urban planning, development and general bad taste must await another day as a visit to Digwells Park via Junction 6 of the A1(M) does not take one through the town itself.
Anyway, a very pleasant spot Digwells Park proved to be, a nicely proportioned ground surrounded by mature woodland, boasting a good sized and modernish pavilion with all the accoutrements required to keep two cricket teams entertained (TVs, pool table, dart board etc) while the state of the pitch improved sufficiently to enable play to occur. All in all, an agreeable location for a day’s cricket and, on a social level, an affable bunch the Welwyn members proved to be. The only downside to the day was the theft of Todd Ferguson’s cricket spikes from the dressing room by an extremely audacious robber.
Henley’s Week 10 match away to Welwyn Garden City in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League proved to be another weather affected game with a consequent reduction in overs which made winning the game a difficult task. As it was, Henley achieved a winning draw taking twice as many points (10) as Welwyn which reflected overall superiority in all departments.
Heavy overnight rain resulted in flooding to the square, leading to a delayed start at 2pm and a reduction in overs to 77 (42/35). Invited to bat, Henley were soon in trouble as early wickets fell. Gavin Baker accounted for Chris Ellison, Todd Ferguson and Bjorn Mordt, all variously caught in circumstances where Bakers’ haul of wickets owed more to the generosity of the batsmen than the quality of his bowling.
Meanwhile, Adrian Greyvenstein rode his luck as his wholehearted all or nothing approach resulted to in two catches going begging. It was therefore somewhat ironic that he should be adjudged caught behind having made no contact with the ball. Greyvenstein’s wicket was to be Hewitt’s only success of the day in a wayward spell which twice leaked 5 wides. Indeed, and unlike the opening game of the season, there was a certain lack of performance and intensity by Welwyn who set defensive fields from the off and then batted with little ambition when their time came. Hewitt apart, Derek Tate in particular had a quiet game by his standards and was decidedly out of sorts.
Still at 34-4, some repair work was necessary and Mark Alleyne and Paul Carter duly obliged with a partnership of 111. Their efforts were interrupted in the 26th over as the heavens opened. In order to save the game, early tea was taken, and although both skippers had misgivings about the pitch, the umpires declared it fit to play.
The game was now reduced to the minimum 70 overs (39/31) so any further stoppage would lead to the abandonment of the game. Although rain threatened, it stayed away and the rest of the game was mostly bathed in evening sunshine. Alleyne eventually fell victim to Tate, caught and bowled, and an over later, Carter’s fine and valuable innings ended, but not before he had deployed his trademark big hitting and reverse sweeping to good effect. It was no surprise that he should be caught on the boundary rope at deep mid-off trying for another maximum.
It was left to Chad Keegan and Dave Allaway to see out the innings, Keegan in particular being ideally suited to the task, nonchalantly swiping a couple of sixes back over the bowler’s head to contribute to a healthy 176 which generously included 22 extras.
If the Welwyn fielding lacked intensity, the same could not be said for Henley as sharp and energetic fielding allied to excellent bowling by Billy Taylor and Tom Lambert soon had Welwyn pinned down and leaking wickets. White and Tate went for ducks and Alleyne made a difficult catch at slip look easy to dismiss Hewitt.
Lamb and Laraman batted on steadily without ever showing any great desire to go for a run chase, but when Laraman pulled a fairly innocuous ball from Azeem Hussein straight to Greyvenstein at square leg, that was the effective end of the contest. In their defence, Welwyn would doubtless say that they made sure that they did lot lose a game going for glory, but it all made for rather dull fare.
Hussein was fortunate to pick up the wicket of Dan Blacktopp, harshly adjudged lbw notwithstanding the woodiest of sounds, and had both Taylor and Keegan pitched the ball up a bit more in circumstances where runs no longer mattered, a few more bowling points might have come Henley’s way. It was not to be and as the shadows lengthened, the game petered out into a draw. It was unsurprising that the home side ended up with a point less than if the game had been abandoned.
Elsewhere there were some interesting results as Tring Park slipped up away to a resurgent Banbury, Craig Haupt recovering his form and dignity with an unbeaten 86. Neither High Wycombe nor Oxford were able to capitalise on Tring’s reverse as Wycombe were held to a draw at home by Radlett and Oxford’s game at Slough was abandoned due to rain. Down in the basement, Reading and Falkland drew on the windswept steppes of Sonning Lane, all of which means that Falkland stay bottom on 75 with Reading and the Slough just above them on 82 and 86 respectively. Henley now have 109 points but still remain a bit in no mans land, somewhat detached from the midfield and upper echelon but still not sufficiently distanced from the relegation zone. A few 25 pointers anytime soon would do no harm at all!!
Scorecard
Result: Draw
Toss: Welwyn Garden City CC won the toss and decided to bowl
Henley CC
Chris Ellison ct James Southgate b Gavin Baker 0
Adrian Greyvenstein ct Daniel Blacktopp b James Hewitt 10
Todd Ferguson + ct Daniel Blacktopp b Gavin Baker 6
Bjorn Mordt * ct James Hewitt b Gavin Baker 4
Mark Alleyne ct Derek Tate b Derek Tate 41
Paul Carter ct James Hewitt b Gavin Baker 67
Chad Keegan Not Out 16
David Allaway Not Out 10
Azeem Hussain Did Not Bat
Billy Taylor Did Not Bat
Tom Lambert Did Not Bat
Extras ( 1b 7lb 13w 1nb ) 22
Total (6 wickets, 39 overs) 176
Fall Of Wickets
2-1 Chris Ellison; 23-2 Todd Ferguson; 23-3 Adrian Greyvenstein; 34-4 Bjorn Mordt; 145-5 Mark Alleyne; 147-6 Paul Carter;
Bowling
James Hewitt 7 2 15 1
Gavin Baker 10 0 43 4
James Southgate 10 2 42 0
Simon White 9 0 36 0
Derek Tate 3 0 32 1
Welwyn Garden City CC
James Hewitt ct Mark Alleyne b Billy Taylor 10
Simon White ct Todd Ferguson b Billy Taylor 0
Aaron Laraman ct Adrian Greyvenstein b Azeem Hussain 19
Derek Tate ct Chris Ellison b Tom Lambert 0
Nick Lamb Not Out 27
Daniel Blacktopp + LBW b Azeem Hussain 1
Gavin Baker Not Out 0
Ben Frazer Did Not Bat
James Southgate Did Not Bat
Martin James * Did Not Bat
Raymond Hodge Did Not Bat
Extras ( 1b 7lb 3w 2nb ) 13
Total (5 wickets, 31 overs) 70
Fall Of Wickets
7-1 Simon White; 10-2 James Hewitt; 12-3 Derek Tate; 68-4 Aaron Laraman;
70-5 Daniel Blacktopp;
Bowling
Billy Taylor 11 6 18 2
Tom Lambert 6 3 9 1
Mark Alleyne 3 0 11 0
Chad Keegan 4 1 21 0
Azeem Hussain 6 3 3 2
Bjorn Mordt 1 1 0 0
Umpires: Mick Southerton, Bob Blake
Scorers: Richard Hill, Bill Waldron
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| Henley Make Light Work of Osterley in the Sun
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Henley v Osterley
Date: 15th July 2008
Venue: The Brakspear Ground
Weather: Overcast humid and breezy at the start, soon giving way to bright and hot sunshine.
Catering: What needs to be said? One of Rita’s stellar teas.
There should be more midweek cricket. What an agreeable way it was to spend a Tuesday afternoon either watching or playing in a game played in genuinely hot and sunny conditions (it is summer after all).
Henley eased to victory in their Group 12 encounter with Osterley in the Cockspur National Knockout Cup at the Brakspear Ground in Tuesday afternoon. In a game which produced over 500 runs, there was no shortage of entertainment as the allotments were regularly peppered with sixes, courtesy of the short boundary on that side.
Having won the toss and inserted Osterley, Henley seized the initiative with two early wickets as Tom Lambert had Armad caught behind and Keegan removed Rizui’s middle and off stumps. But Osterley regrouped, and courtesy of some rather benign bowling by skipper Bjorn Mordt and Adrian Greyvenstein, F. Armed and A. Armed motored on in the hot sun for a partnership of 113 as both reached 50s. It took the advent of spin to break the deadlock and although Paul Carter and Chris Ellison took some punishment along the way, the wickets began to mount up. When Ewan Brock took a difficult catch at deep long-on to dismiss Dharamraj for the seventh wicket, it looked as though Osterley might not see out their 45 overs. But sides like Osterley often have a surprise or two down the order and so it proved as Nain, a decisive and clean striker of the ball, spanked 66 runs off just 38 balls. Tom Lambert returned to pick up the wickets of Manoj, caught by Michael Roberts at mid-off and Shekeel, bowled, but Nain was not to be deterred and Osterley closed their innings on 251.
In reply, Henley made light work of chasing down the score. Aided by some indifferent fielding, Henley never dropped behind the required rate and got the job done with 3 overs to spare for the loss of only 4 wickets. Ellison and Greyvenstein got off to an excellent start, scoring steadily until Ellison was caught behind on 47, the score on 103. Keegan, moved up the order to inject some firepower, duly obliged with a series of huge sixes and other viciously struck boundaries. Meanwhile, Greyvenstein looked as though a century beckoned until he was bowled around his legs for a fighting 72. Shortly after, Keegan was run out and Dave Allaway joined Michael Roberts. Whilst the pair took the singles that were by now readily available with the field spread, Dave Allaway mounted an aerial bombardment of his own, striking 42 runs off 29 balls including the biggest 6 of the day which ballooned over the gate into Remenham Lane, bounced off a car and was never seen again. Roberts was out lbw in the 40th over, but by then, it was all over bar the shouting as Allaway and Mordt closed the game out with plenty to spare.
Overall then, a pretty straightforward win for Henley, but that is to take nothing away from a plucky Osterley side which contributed hugely to an entertaining game of cricket played in an excellent spirit.
Scorecard
Henley won the toss and elected to bowl
Osterley
L Armad ct S Davison b T Lambert 11
A Rizui b C Keegan 0
F Armed b C Ellison 51
A Armed lbw b P Carter 58
M Dharmaraj ct E Brock b P Carter 21
M Qaiser ct B Mordt b P Carter 1
M Sohi ct S Davison b C Ellison 1
Manoj ct M Roberts b T Lambert 17
Nain Not Out 66
Shekeel b T Lambert 6
Aman Not Out 7
Extras: 12
Total: (9 wkts) 251
Best Bowling: T Lambert 3 – 30, P Carter 3 – 48, C Ellison 2 – 30
Henley:
C Ellison ct Qaiser b Shekeel 47
A Greyvenstein b Rizui 72
C Keegan Run Out 54
M Roberts lbw b Shekeel 19
D Allaway Not Out 42
B Mordt* Not Out 2
Extras: 16
Total: (4 wkts) 252
DNB: P Carter, P Smith, E Brock, S Davison, T Lambert
Best Bowling: Shekeel 2 - 31
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| Henley Cruelly Robbed of Victory by the Rain
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Henley v Banbury
Date: 5th July 2008
Venue: White Post Road, Banbury
Weather: Overall, horrible. Very blustery, bordering on gale force at times, mainly cloudy, punctuated by the odd sunny spell and short, sharp showers, finally turning to persistent rain which brought about the end of the game.
Catering: An excellent lunch of chicken cordon bleu and salads and a commendable tea.
So much for watching cricket in England in High Summer, two words which evoke mythical, golden hot unending summers of the pre-1914 Edwardian era. There was very little of summer, high or otherwise, about on the prairies of North Oxfordshire as a nagging and incessant wind blew in from the west/south-west all day, a bit like a Mistral, albeit from a different direction and without the attractions of Provence to mitigate the harshness of the occasionally gale force blasts. Some years ago, Banbury moved out of town to their current home and this new ground with its attractive Cotswold Stone pavilion and ample parking has much to commend itself. The only trouble is that its exposed position and lack of shelter (apparently the Club would like to erect further trees but the locals object – words fail one) make days like Saturday almost unbearable. Little wonder then that most spectators remained in the pavilion for the duration. There is much to be said for Blustery Banbury seeking to twin with Chicago. Although American visitors to White Post Road might understand little of proceedings in the middle, the windy weather would at least feel like home from (sweet) home.
In last year’s encounter, Banbury scored about a million runs as an under-strength Henley bowling attack wilted in the heat of gorgeous summer’s day. Hector and Smith both got centuries and Henley were thankful to scrape a draw thanks to Chalkie White’s unbeaten 48 allied to a lack of ambition that day by Banbury in batting on far too long and then setting defensive fields. This year, along with the weather, we were treated to very different fare.
As it turned out, Henley were cruelly robbed of victory by the weather in their Week 9 clash away to Banbury in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League.
With Banbury in complete collapse at 43 – 7 and all their big guns back in the pavilion, the rain which had intervened in the form of short sharp showers several times during the day, finally arrived in a more persistent form, preventing Henley from mopping up the remaining three wickets in the twenty-one overs that would otherwise have been available. The game thus ended in a draw and certain victory went begging, depriving Henley of a further 13 points.
This dramatic outcome had looked far from likely earlier in the day as Henley, who had won the toss and elected to bat, lost Michael Roberts, Todd Ferguson and Adrian Greyvenstein in short order. At 49 – 3in the 16th over, it was time to dig in. Skipper Mordt and Mark Alleyne almost saw it through to lunch before Alleyne was extremely unfortunate to be adjudged out lbw. At 84 – 4, Banbury had had the better of the morning session. When Paul Carter became Ryan Newhook’s third victim of the day, the need to consolidate and see out the remaining 35 overs and prevent a rout became evermore pronounced. Mordt was ably assisted in this cause by David Allaway.
It was gritty rather than pretty as Mordt and Allaway toughed it out in cloudy, chilly and blustery conditions which were no fun for anyone. A couple of near run-outs apart, both batsmen were however relatively untroubled as Banbury rang the changes, using six bowlers in total.
Mordt took the lead in terms of scoring, again recording not merely the highest Henley score of the day but also yet another excellent innings that includednine 4s andone 6 before former England bowler Paul Taylor ended his resistance in the 51st over as Mordt tried to hook him out of the ground in consecutive balls and was caught behind.
After Azeem Hussein had come and gone, the durable Allaway was joined by Nick Denning. As the innings drew to a close, both batsmen opened their shoulders and found the boundary with some eye catching shots. Eventually trapped lbw by Taylor, Allaway’s contribution in the course of a long innings in which he faced 109 balls was immense in terms of enabling Henley to achieve a creditable and defendable score. The second rain shower of the day brought the innings to a slightly premature end and shortened the game still further, leaving Banbury with 50 overs to get 215 runs to win. As things turned out, Banbury were in for a nasty surprise.
In an inspired piece of captaincy, Mark Alleyne took the new ball, bowling into the wind from the pavilion end, leaving the strike bowlers to work with the wind from the other end. This tactic paid early dividends as Simon Hole was brilliantly caught by Carter off the bowling of Billy Taylor. Benji Hector, keen to get a move on, misjudged Craig Haupt’s pace and ability to make his ground, the latter, much to his annoyance, run out by a stunning direct hit by Denning. Edwards was Taylor’s second victim of the day caught behind, and when dangerman Hector was outstandingly caught behind by Ferguson standing up to the stumps off Alleyne, Banbury were rocking at 14 – 4 . Tea and rain arrived but not before Luke Ryan was adjudged lbw to Alleyne. Now on 20 – 5, any thoughts of victory were receding fast.
After tea, Banbury tried to cling on but Smith was Alleyne’s third victim, caught behind, and when Paul Taylor looped one to second slip which Greyvenstein theatrically pounced upon, the end looked nigh as Tom Lambert now ran in with menace. It was not to be however as the weather gods had the last word and Henley, albeit blamelessly, were left ruing yet another win that got away.
At least however, Henley looked like an outfit capable of beating anyone in the League on their day and this they must take forward into the second half of the season.
Elsewhere in the League, Tring Park had a comprehensive win away at Reading who were once again denied the services of Danny Housego who was apparently “resting”, just when Reading need him most. Plus ca change eh. Anyway, that win enabled Tring Park to consolidate their position at the top as Wycombe and Oxford were soundly beaten by Welwyn and Radlett respectively – Radlett’s Middlesex pair of Toor and Berg most definitely not resting and contributing mightily with the bat. Meanwhile in the basement battle, Slough beat a Falkland side that put up plucky resistance before going down to an excellent performance by Slough’s Sri Lankan all-rounder Cooray who took a leaf out of Bobby Sher’s book of winning games single-handedly, scoring an unbeaten 112 and then taking 5 wickets. Apparently star reinforcements are in prospect at Slough including, so it is rumoured, West Indies’ star Tino Best, so things may be looking up for Slough who have not been the same without Nantie Hayward and Chris Lewis to sort it all out for them.
Behind Tring Park, things are now ever tighter between Radlett, Wycombe, Oxford and Welwyn with Banbury now slightly adrift but not far away all the same. Henley now have 99 points, and lead Slough on 80, Reading on 75 and Falkland on 65. A win on Saturday would have put Henley in a much healthier position on 112 points which makes the result all the more galling.
Still, there it is, and every point has to be grafted for. Welwyn will be certain to go all out for victory next Saturday as the Herfordshire clubs make an increasing impact on the League and Henley will have to be on their mettle.
Scorecard:
Toss: Henley won the toss and decided to bat
Result: Match drawn. Henley 12 points, Banbury 6 points
Highlights: Bjorn Mordt 82
Henley
Michael Roberts ct Ian Hawtin b Ryan Newhook 3
Adrian Greyvenstein LBW b Craig Haupt 28
Todd Ferguson + ct Craig Haupt b Ryan Newhook 1
Bjorn Mordt * ct Ian Hawtin b Paul Taylor 82
Mark Alleyne LBWb Paul Taylor 10
Paul Carter ct Ian Hawtin b Ryan Newhook 4
David Allaway LBW b Paul Taylor 43
Azeem Hussain b James Phillips 0
Nicholas Denning Not Out 23
Billy Taylor Not Out 2
Tom Lambert Did Not Bat
Extras ( 4b 9lb 4w 1nb ) 18
Total (8 wickets, 63.1 overs) 214
Fall Of Wickets
17-1 Michael Roberts (Adrian Greyvenstein-13*); 29-2 Todd Ferguson (Adrian Greyvenstein-24*); 49-3 Adrian Greyvenstein (Bjorn Mordt-12*); 70-4 Mark Alleyne (Bjorn Mordt-23*); 84-5 Paul Carter (Bjorn Mordt-33*); 159-6 Bjorn Mordt (David Allaway-19*); 160-7 Azeem Hussain (David Allaway-20*); 212-8 David Allaway (Nicholas Denning-23*);
-9 ; -10 ;
* = notout batsman,
Bowling
Ryan Newhook 11 4 30 3
Edward Smith 6 0 21 0
Craig Haupt 12 4 25 1
Paul Taylor 14 2 49 3
Olliver Murrey 8.1 0 35 0
Luke Ryan 6 1 21 0
Edward Phillips 6 1 20 0
Banbury
Simon Hole ct Paul Carter b Billy Taylor 5
Benjamin Hector * ct Todd Ferguson b Mark Alleyne 6
Craig Haupt ro 3
Edward Phillips ct Todd Ferguson b Billy Taylor 0
Ian Hawtin + Not Out 15
Luke Ryan LBWb Mark Alleyne 0
Edward Smith ct Todd Ferguson b Mark Alleyne 9
Paul Taylor ct Adrian Greyvenstein b Mark Alleyne 0
Ryan Newhook Not Out 2
Olliver Murrey Did Not Bat
James Phillips Did Not Bat
Extras ( 3lb ) 3
Total (7 wickets, 28 overs) 43
Fall Of Wickets
9-1 Simon Hole (Benjamin Hector-4*); 14-2 Craig Haupt (Benjamin Hector-6*);
14-3 Edward Phillips (Benjamin Hector-6*); 14-4 Benjamin Hector (Ian Hawtin-0*); 20-5 Luke Ryan (Ian Hawtin-4*); 36-6 Edward Smith (Ian Hawtin-10*);
38-7 Paul Taylor (Ian Hawtin-12*); -8 ;
-9 ; -10 ;
* = notout batsman,
Bowling
Mark Alleyne 14 6 23 4
Billy Taylor 10 4 13 2
Tom Lambert 4 1 4 0
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| Ellison the Star as Henley Blitz Oxford in the Cockspur Cup
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An extremely well disciplined bowling performance and outstanding batting meant that Henley CC comprehensively knocked Premier League frontrunners Oxford out of the Cockspur’s National Cup on Sunday. Henley now progress to the Regional Final to be held at Marlow CC this Sunday due to the Regatta.
Henley started well in the field with Tim Chamberlain bowling at a good pace, just short of a length meaning the batsmen struggled to get the ball away. At the other end Andrew White bowled extremely effectively to a well set field. No wickets fell in the first 10 overs but scoring for Oxford was slow which undoubtedly created pressure resulting in the run-out of Oxford captain Jason Harrison. When Henley changed to a spin attack the pressure told further. James Yandell, right arm off-spin and Chris Ellison, left arm slow, bowled well from both ends, opener Cook (65) fell to Ellison, having hit him for two sixes and attempting a third, he holed out to deep mid wicket. Cook’s replacement Jobson also fell to Ellison first ball. Yandell pitched in with two wickets which he thoroughly deserved from his tight nine over spell. Young left arm spinner Euan Brock bowled well and took one wicket as did captain Bjorn Mordt. Chamberlain was rewarded for his opening spell that had given him no wickets by taking two in the final over of the innings, leaving Oxford on a total of 213 for 9 wickets off their 45 overs.
In reply Henley openers Chris Ellison and Mike Roberts started with the chase with no doubts in their minds and Ellison particularly took the Oxford opening attack to task. The score raced to 65 from less than six overs when Ellison had his half century. Roberts was prepared, at first, to sit back and play the supporting role, but as the innings continued he too played aggressive but considered shots. Indeed Oxford were forced to make bowling changes earlier than they might have wished - their spinners did in fact, slow the run rate down but Henley continued chasing at a rate of over six runs an over.
Chris Ellison reached his century, one of the finest spectators are likely to see in this competition, in the thirty-third over. He finally fell for 111 off 114 balls with the score on 190 in the thirty-sixth over. Henley lost a quick flurry of three wickets but finished the game in style with a straight six struck by Darren White with three overs remaining. Mike Roberts finished the innings undefeated on 73 and it was he and Chris Ellison who should be especially commended for their batting performance.
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| A Winning Draw Against Reading as Mordt Breaks Records
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Henley v Reading
Date: 28th June 2008
Venue: Brakspear Ground, Matson Drive, Henley
Weather: A lovely sunny breezy day
We have our chairman Bradders to thank for this week’s report, your usual correspondent being absent, following the morning session, at a very enjoyable and entertaining wedding, more of which anon. Apart from missing the rest of the game, the other downside to this early departure was that your usual correspondent also missed Rita’s Chicken and Ham Pie (with Rita’s special secret ingredient) which apparently received several Michelin Stars and rave reviews from the assembled faithful.
Reading showed up minus erstwhile Henley player Danny Housego. Apparently fatigued by his efforts on Friday night in scoring 18 in the 20/20 against Surrey, Dan was apparently advised to rest and sat this one out. Had he fronted up against his old muckers, on his recent HCPL form at least, he would have been undoubtedly overshadowed by his erstwhile skipper Bjorn Mordt who, in scoring 146, comfortably eclipsed the previous record Henley CC individual HCPL record score held by Dave Taylor (135 v Potters Bar, 15th May 2004). Not only was this a key innings in the context of the game, but it reflected a level of performance which no one has really matched this season at the Club and to which all must aspire. Congratulations Bjorn on an outstanding innings!!
It was nice too to welcome John Dykes to the Scorers’ Box on Saturday. John is one of the great characters of Berkshire cricket at all levels and his presence at a game is always illuminating, enlivening and entertaining.
Bradders writes…..
In their eighth league game of the season against local rivals Reading CC, Henley were surprisingly inserted having lost the toss. The early departure of Ellison and Roberts made Reading’s decision appear to be the right one with Le Roux bowling well. However, the departure of the openers brought together Ferguson and skipper Mordt who proceeded to put on 128 runs for the third wicket. Ferguson played his best innings of the season and Mordt was in commanding form from the start, in spite of having been confined to his bed with influenza for much of the week. Unfortunately for Reading, Le Roux had to depart the field to go to hospital with a broken finger suffered as a result of a hard straight drive by Mordt. In his absence, the Reading attack lacked bite though Hartley did put the brakes on the scoring rate for a period of time before and after lunch.
With lunch taken at 138 runs for 2 wickets off 31 overs, Henley appeared to be in a commanding position. However, Ferguson quickly fell to Beavon and Alleyne fell with the score on 165, playing on to his wicket from a lazy dab to a ball outside the off stump. Sometime later, Carter also fell to Hartley and at 178 for 5, Reading appeared to be back in the game. However, the reliable Mordt and a sprightly Allaway had other ideas. The latter, who has not enjoyed the best of form all season, proceeded to play a cameo innings of 27 before he was unluckily adjudged to be lbw. Both he and Mordt were particularly strong off the front foot in putting on 50 for the sixth wicket. In the 55th over, Mordt reached his 100 off 142 balls, before cutting loose with a flurry of boundaries. By this stage, the Reading fielding had become ragged with a series of misfields contributing to the large total. With the score on 310, Mordt was eventually caught on the boundary edge for a wonderful 146, the highest score achieved by any Henley player in the Premier League.
Reading’s response soon faltered with Fray falling to an excellent slip catch by Alleyne off the reliable Lambert. With the score on 41, Perkins also fell to a superb catch by Ellison, the sort of catch which Jonty Rhodes would have talked about for a month. Again, Lambert was the successful bowler. At 41 for 3, Reading appeared to be in trouble, but Le Roux and Barnes steadied the ship, the former getting an excellent 51, in spite of his broken finger, before falling lbw to Alleyne. Good support was also provided by Kang with 53 n.o. and Barnes who displayed his usual skills batting sensibly for 44 runs. Meanwhile, wickets fell to Hussain, Lambert and Taylor. However, Henley were unable to drive home their advantage, with neither spinner Hussain or Carter looking dangerous. After a few more flurries and the occasional piece of excitement, and in spite of Henley’s domination of all but the first half hour of the match, the game petered out into a somewhat tame draw with Reading on 201 for 8, enabling Henley to | | |
