Match 15: 19/07/2021 - Aviva Vikings v All Out Chemists
Vikings 147-7
Stondale 35 Retired Not Out
Baggaley 35 Retired Not Out
Iqbal 4-0-30-1
Sharma 4-0-22-0
Marden 4-0-14-3
Duckett 3-0-24-3
Thompson 2-0-34-0
Chemistry 72-5
Lynam 35 Retired Not Out
Iqbal 13*
All 10 outfield players for Vikings Bowled 2 overs.
Vikings batted will with the two openers making a good start, despite tight bowling from Iqbal and (after his first over) Sharma, they punished anything vaguely wayward. A really tight spell on first change from Marden was a real highlight bowling left arm over the wicket, finding good swing. Duckett also bowled well with two bowled (both being drag-ons). Thompson’s bowling was not suited for the track and when he found his line, the ball sat up and was hit to leg. However, the opening stand did the damage with Vikings 82-1 off the first 10.
Chemistry’s reply did not start well with Marden being caught a slip off the first ball and then Sharma being caught at cover off the second ball so we were 0-2 off the first two balls. Young hit a couple of lusty blows before being caught and Drysdale held up an end. Lynam was in the second over batting at 5 and accumulated, especially on a sparsely-populated leg side, he retired on 35 not out in the 19th over (I think). Francis made 6 and Iqbal hit some lusty blows to give chemistry a respectable total. The two overs from S Sharma were both Maidens, returning 2-2-0-0.
Match 12: 05/07/2021 - All Out Chemists v Plongé
Overcast conditions threatening both rain and deteriorating light meant that on winning the toss Chemistry elected to bat. However they were never able to break free of the iron grip imposed by the Plongé attack, sharp fielding and a lush outfield which resulted in just 2 boundaries in 20 overs. Curran 1-8, T. Dancer 2-15, M. Dancer 2-6, McDougall 0-10 and Marsh 1-9 all bowled a tight line with only 1 wide and 1 bye conceded. Sharma (4), Lacey (0) and Iqbal (0) all went in the first 4 overs leaving them on 8 - 3. Lynam and Francis pressed on but Francis fell to a superb catch off Curran for 5 and shortly after Lynam was bowled by M. Dancer for 13. 25 - 5. This brought together the oddest of couples. Simon Duckett who first played in 1987 and was returning for his first game in 4 years plus Raj Matharu, the 14 years old son of the Chemistry academic. He was soon bowled playing down the wrong line in the 15th over (33-6). but Duckett joined by Dillon (9 n.o.) rolled back the years top scoring on 17 n.o. with an array of attacking shots. However the 20 overs were completed with Chemistry on just 49 - 6.
50 is not an easy score to defend so Sharma and Iqbal opened the bowling to Hex and Lock. They took their time but reached 24 off 6 overs for the loss of Hex for 7. Reayatt then fell to a brilliant caught and bowled by Iqbal for 11 and Lock was bowled by Matharu for 2. 27-3 might have been a good start normally but Thornton 17 n.o. and Renwick 5 n.o. quickly reached their target in the 11th over. A convincing win for Plongé by 7 wickets. Iqbal had 2-11 and Matharu 1-1.
Match 11: 01/07/2021 - CGP v Bioaccumulators
In slightly cloudy conditions on a dry pitch, CGP batted first and made 149 for 4 with Milner, Mawdsley and Holliday all making 35 runs and Ford with 28. Amar, Arun and “Harry” each picked up a wicket with Amar’s ball to Vinegrad pitching outside off and seaming to hit off stump being a highlight. The Bioaccumulators reached 79 all out in response - partly due to some good bowling but also because they were unlucky to pick out the few fielders in the CGP team capable of catching a ball with 6 of the batters out caught. Harry made 33 with some great shots and Amar hit 19 before succumbing to a ferocious dipping “yorker” from Milner😉. Holliday was the pick of the bowling picking up 3 wickets with the other bowlers all contributing.
Big thanks to Mike for some great photos!
Match 10: 28/06/2021 - Phoenix Rollers v Aviva Vikings
Before the match started the rain began to slowly trickle down creating a damp wicket, at the toss Charlie won he decided to bat first while using a brand new pink ball.
The first over of the match was given to Andy Acaster left arm 90mph bowler. Steaming in to bowl it went that far down leg it would of missed on 3 pitches along. Back to his mark he came in to bowl again and this time landed on the pitch rattling the pad of Walton with a huge 'HOW IS THAT?!?!' appeal the umpires finger went up in the air. Earlier wicket for the Vikings in comes Emily Harper Bowling the 2nd over was young 13 year old leg spinner Raj who was pitching middle and turning that much the umpire was giving wides, also claiming the wicket of Harper in his over. In comes Jubb. Andy returning for his 2nd over Jubb took a fancy to his bowling hitting 13 off one over with some quality fielding from Praf at deep square leg putting has body on the line to let the ball travel passed him beyond the boundary. Raj returning for his second over claiming the wicket of Jubb with the most unfortunate dismissal, stepping back to hit to leg and hitting his own wickets. In comes star man Carl Hodgson to face young spin King Raj. Returning again Raj gets the wicket off Chantry. New batsmen Charlie Linfoot-King. Overs 7 and 8 not much happened. The cannon fodder captain came on and in his first over Charlie lifted one towards Tim Owen who then sent a heat seeking missile at the stumps as they went for a quick single umpire decision of out. Tim entered the attack swinging the ball in and away from the new batsmen moss before taking out his stump. Clean bowled. Enter Ravi 'Dilshan'. Tim on his second over get the huge wicket of Carl for 22 runs. Ravi then decided to have some fun scooping the ball round the leg side before falling for a respectable score of 15. Rob Stonadge then bowled tighter than a Yorkshire man's wallet 4 overs 0-11. Batsmen Daniel came and hit 14 runs before getting caught out.
Vikings time to bat.
Rob and Martyn opened the batting like men possessed. Hitting shots all over the field both retired on 35 & 38 respectively. Once Rob retired in came Praf to face Harper who had him stumped for 2 as he tried to come down to a ball that was floating to the moon and back. Brilliant bowling. 61-1, 9 overs in. Matt and Jamie Baldock soon entered the middle and both shortly departed, Matt bowled by harper and Jamie stumped trying to hit one before walking out his crease. 85-3 with 2 retired in the hutch. Ali and Moeen both single fingers of 7 and 8 runs. 100-5, entering was Gazz who first ball should of been caught but for an uncharacteristic drop from Charlie. Lofting a ball over the closed up ring looking for 2, young Raj slipped only getting 1 run. Next ball of Moore, Raj tries to launch this shot into orbit and gets stumped in the process. 101-6, 2 runs needed to win, nerves tingling, surely Vikings couldn't throw this away.... New batsmen Andy takes to the none striker end wanting 1 run to get on strike to try and win it. Jenkins bowls one onto the legs and clipped for a single leaving Andy on strike 102-8, 1 run to win. Jenkins dot ball... Next ball he comes in bowls it smashing Andy on the pads huge appeal GIVEN!!!! 102-7, 9 balls left. In walks Tim with just a single pad on walking with intent. Jenkins comes in bowls it and Tim hits this one nearly cutting Gazz in half at the none strikers end in what can be described as his first star jump in years ball goes for 4 Vikings win a very close game.
Well played everyone involved.
Match 7: 17/06/2021 - CGP v Phoenix Rollers
Batting first, CGP scored at a steady rate against some decent bowling. Mawdsley hit 29 with Ford and Holliday also batting very well further down the innings with 35 and 34 respectively. Daniels was the pick of the Rollers' bowlers with 3 for 22.
The Phoenix Rollers struggled against some good bowling but managed to get close to the required total of 132 by keeping the score ticking over. Sunil (18), Jenkins (17) and Harper (17) helped get Rollers to 121 for 9 but were left 11 runs short of the total required. Ford had the best bowling figures of 3 for 7, backed up by Mawdsely who managed to pick up 2 for 14 despite struggling to find a good length and Schofield, taking 2 for 14, both his wickets moving off the seam and clipping the top of off stump.
The game was cheered on by a group of rowdy students towards the end of the game which added to the atmosphere as Gowda played some particularly inventive shots.
Match 4: 07/06/2021 - Aviva Vikings v CGP
A great game between the Vikings and CGP. Vikings batted first making a steady start with the loss of early wickets but reached 103 with the help of innings of 20 and 21 from Tim and Gazz. Milner took 3 for 24 and Schofield took 4 for 1. In response, CGP struggled to maintain the required run-rate thanks to some tight Viking bowling and, despite Mawdsley hitting 35, they fell 14 runs short, all out for 90 in the final over. Sunil took 3 for 26 and Raj took 2 for 10 but all the bowlers made valuable contributions. A competitive game played in good spirit!
Match 3: 03/06/2021 - All Out Chemists v Phoenix Rollers
What a week in the Staff League. Two days ago the match between Biology and Plonge went to the penultimate delivery and last night, against all the odds, it happened again. Phoenix Rollers who in their previous incarnation of Heavy Rollers won the League in 2018 and 19, batted first against the Chemists. After losing Daniel early, Chantry and Harper made steady progress against Wood and Marden reaching 45-1 at the 10 over stage. They both went soon after Chantry for 20 and Harper for 17. Walton (15) and King (11) took the score to 95 after 16 overs but their hope of pushing on was dashed when R. Matharu the 13 year old son of Chemistry's Dr. Matharu returned to take a hat trick in his 4th over finishing with 4-11, 3 stumped by J. Lee. So after 17 overs the Rollers were 96 - 7. Poyer, Moore, and Johnson scampered 19 off the last 3 and Rollers closed on 115 - 9. Apart from Matharu, Marden bowled well with 1 - 10.
In reply the Chemists lost Young early to Johnson but Lynam and Sharma made steady progress to 50 off 10 overs. Lynam went bowled by Poyer for 27 in the 12th and Sharma retired on 35. Spicer and Thompson needed 38 off the last 5 overs. On the large pitch on 22 acres they ran lots of 2s and needed 17 off the last 2 overs. Thompson was run out for 21 and Marden joined Spicer. 9 needed off 6 balls. It was Marden (7 no) who finished it off from the 5th delivery with a thumping 4 over mid-off. Spicer 12 no. All the Rollers bowlers kept things tight, Johnson 1-12, Walton 0-22, and Poyer 1-22, ensuring another exciting finish.
When Rollers won the League in 2018 and 19 they lost 1 match in both seasons so they aren't relinquishing their title just yet!
Match 1: 27/05/2021 - CGP v All Out Chemists
On a soggy pitch and slow outfield, CGP batted first. After Rajad took Milner's wicket in the second over and Ford made a quick 15, Vinegrad and Mawdsley batted well to make a partnership of 80 runs, retiring on 37 and 38 respectively. Souter added 11 before CGP ended on 128 for 7. Pick of the bowlers being Rajad with 1 for 11, Nasim 2 for 8 and Burns 0 for 8.
Chemistry struggled to keep up with the run rate due to some tight bowling from CGP. However, Rajad played well to retire on 35 and Lynam hit an impressive 27. Francis and Marden hit 13 and 11 at the end of the innings but it wasn't enough and Chemistry ended on 102 for 5. The best bowling was from Keely with 2 for 27, TBC 1 for 23 and Millner 0 for 7.
CGP were grateful to Chemistry for lending them 2 fielders as they were a couple of players short. It was great to be back playing and both teams headed to the Deramore for drinks after the game.