Tag: Chipstead Coulsdon & Walcountians Cricket Club

By Captain Scott

Always bat first, Always!

Statistics from the Cricket World Cup, which at the time of writing, is three games away from finishing, clearly show the team that bats first has a better chance of winning the game (two thirds of the time) and it’s an unwritten Scott’s rule that you bat first. That being said, with the Skipper late once again (you can blame Kyle Pack, having to be picked up at the train station, this time), Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians CC deciding to leave the square uncovered over a wet Saturday night and stand-in-skipper-for-the-toss, Jamo-Love, actually winning the toss, it was decided we’d field first. In Jamo’s defence, the nine other players told ordered Jamo to bat first if he won the toss, after they’d all cast an appraising eye over the damp strip.

The Skipper was so horrified by the decision to field first, he decided that he’d only field for the first 16 overs, leaving Jamo-Love to step in as the Jadeja-esque substitute and do the remaining overs. It turned out to be 26 more overs, as it was a timed game and Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians CC were bloody well going to bat until tea or until all their wickets fell, whichever arrived sooner.

Tight lines, tactical bowling changes and good catching kept Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians CC to 174/7 dec after 42 overs. 42 overs – what do you think about that Sprat?

Tea was taken and we figured we’d get about 33 over back with the final 20 overs starting at 18:30. 5.3 per over – could we do it? Our first two wickets fell with only 19 on the board. As one of these wickets was the Skipper, and he was off to New York the next day, in love, and having to see his daughter before he flew out, he showered, packed his kit and left a couple of tyre marks as he peeled out the car park, leaving the rest of the team to face the consequences of not batting first. They would have to learn the hard way!

However a third wicket partnership of 72 saw us work our way back into the game. We weren’t far off our estimates as we were going to receive 35 overs in total as they’d bowled 15 by the time 18:30 arrived. The fourth and fifth wickets fell for 113 and 147 respectively, and Prateek was out for 78.

We were also moving along at the required rate, but things were beginning to look rather close. Was the Skipper correct – should we have batted first? Wickets were falling regularly and trips to the change room to pad up were becoming more frequent. But, with Kaps keeping his head and rotating the strike and Ayman hitting a quick-fire 15 from 9 balls, after Jamo-Love fell, restored calm to the camp, well almost. Ayman managed to get himself out with the scores tied; it was up to Mr Pack to see us home with a only single needed from the last three overs. Aidan and Billy, numbers 10 and 11, having loads of faith and composure in their compatriots out in the middle, were furiously looking for their kit and putting it on a fast as they could.

Kyle’s first ball, a dot, his second, a HUGE heave across the line. So big the wicketkeeper had to take evasive manoeuvres and proceeded, just like Kyle, to completely miss the ball, and so a bye was run and the match was won with 3.4 overs spare.

A. Successful. Run. Chase! Though, I can see why the Skipper prefers batting first as the tension cannot always be good for everyone’s heart and fingernails.

One last thing; be wary of an angry Prateek! He felt Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians CC were taking the proverbial, batting for as long as they did. Our umpire, while at square-leg, got to hear first hand at how incensed he was and left nothing to the imagination when describing their approach to the game. After Tea, he was heard to be saying “Hulk Smash” to himself while putting on purple pants and padding up. After the first wicket fell, he strode out to the middle, like an angry dad stomps into a child’s room to spank their naughty bottoms, and spank them he did! I not sure, but I also think Prateek agrees with the Skipper. Always bat first!

The detailed scorecard can be found here.

By David Watson

Scotties show their strength in depth to make it 4 and 1

Temporary Captain James Reilly has entrusted me with the responsibility of commiting this week’s game to the annals.

I must say, that when Dan and myself rocked up to Chipstead and Coulsdon CC at 1.45pm, there was a general sense of foreboding among the Scotties with both Our Glorious Leader and our Glorious Communications Officer declaring themselves unable to take the field on the morning of battle.

Many wondered, what kind of beating would the Scotties receive without these cumulative decades of experience, skills and general athleticism around the park? Some wondered, when was the last time the Scotties had overcome Chipstead and Coulsdon – if ever? One or two wondered (J Reilly), would the Scotties in fact do better??

There was certainly one unusual feature, which was that all 11 Scotties had arrived and were ready for action at least 5 mins before the official start time!

We lost the toss and the oppo decided to bat, understandable given the road-like nature of the track and the c 27 degree temperatures.

I admit to thinking, ‘well, at least we’ll all get a bat when they hit 300’. Happily, Ant and Ayman had other ideas and kept it superbly tight, with the oppo on around 80 after 18 overs. Tight bowling increased the pressure on their openers and Jim took our first wicket at 80-1 as they looked to accelerate. Chipstead’s danger man had clearly got the instruction to get a move on as he skipped down the wicket to hit Ayman for four to bring his score to 71 and the team to 136-3. Ayman was unamused – middle stump removed from the ground next ball.

Doc’s left arm orthodox then came into play, with both their no 4 and no 5 holing out to long on and deep mid wicket respectively, leaving Chipstead at 165-5. Dan’s catch at deep mid wicket was a decent one for a rapidly aging guy. I note, however, he did shell their danger man at first slip off Ayman (presumably incurring a significant fine).

Chipstead reached 175-8 before, generously, declaring after 38 overs. We would probably have batted a bit longer in the circumstances. We would have about 45 mins plus 20 overs to bat, chasing 176 to win.

Ultimately, Chipstead missed their main bat from last year, who recently signed a contract with Harlequins rugby team.

Jim and Dan opened up with their 22 year opener showing some decent nip. Unfortunately for Chipstead, an archilles issue kept him to 4 overs. Jim and Dan laid a solid platform with some nice driving and cutting, Jim eventually falling on 49-1. Chris picked up the baton with the two going strong until Chris was bowled by their off spinner when we on 96-2. Dan continued to rack up 105, clattering the ball to all parts until he was caught (playing his favourite game of trying to hit the tree which is inside the pitch at deep midwicket) when we were 172-3. Ayman and I got the rest, featuring some classic glory hunting by Ayman at the end.

As far as Sunday games go, that brings us to 4 wins, 1 loss!

Full Scorecard can be found here

By Brett Hawson

The Season Opener

Under the only dark and damp clouds of April we managed a game against Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians Cricket Club for the first time in at least two seasons.

It was the Scotties least favourite format, a timed game, but hey you can’t have everything your way. The Skipper won the toss (100% for the season, so far) and put the home team in the field. The opening pair of Jim and Jim (Slatts and Hunt) started off briskly, giving us a platform to build from. We lost Slatts after a brisk 27, with Jim Hunt playing the anchor role, others began to play around him. Kaps started brightly but then suffered a back seizure which forced him off the field. After that wickets fell regularly until Kaps returned to farm the strike and elongate the tail and make sure we set a decent total. Skipper declared with the 217/9 after 41 overs. Kudos with the bat go to Kaps with 58 not out, Aidan falling on 44 and the two Jims (Hunt and Slatts) scoring 32 and 27 respectively.

We took to the field at 17:17 according to the pedantic, eccentric and thoroughly mad umpire to attempt to take 10 wickets and secure a win. The skipper marshalled the bowlers at his disposal and some tight lines and aggressive bowling saw the home team retract into their shells and no amount of friendly sledging by our Wicket Keeper, Grant, could cajole them out of their shell and attempt to chase down the 217.

Mr Naude, not content with scoring runs also started with a great spell of bowling with figures of eight overs, three maidens, 19 runs for 1 wicket. It shall also be stated that he should keep his “Shane Warne” ball in the locker, as it has no place on the field. The two new boys, Alastair Smail and Dan Clark both performed exceptionally with figures of 5-1-19-1 and 3-1-9-0 respectively. Dan also worked well with young Aziz and a diving Slatts to engineer a great run out. Alastair has an aire of Phil Tuffnell about him, with “Com’on Tuffers” and “Great ball Tuffers” being heard in the outfield. Dan’s geriatric looking run-up belies his line and length and his subtle adjustments of pace also unsettled the batmen more than once. Doc and Brett also chipped in with a wicket each looking like they hadn’t been away (considering how many nets sessions they attended it wasn’t surprising).

Unfortunately with the opposition batting for the draw and not playing many shots they only lost five wickets in the 35 overs they faced for 144 run.

So with it going down as a draw in the book, Scotties took the scant consolation that we had a winning draw on the account of a superior run rate. On dark days like this Sunday, we’ll take that as win!

Our official scorer also scored her first game after completing official ECB Scoring training in the off season. Not only did the book balance at the end of the innings, we could also tell you how balls each batsman faced and we could actually read what the book said. Thank you Laurie and we hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did safe in the knowledge that the book wouldn’t be trust in our lap at some point during the game – what a relief!