2011 - Game 12 - Sat 23/07 - KSCC 1s @ Barrington

“Good teams win ugly” is a sporting cliché that belongs in the great pantheon of sporting clichés (along with “It was a game of two halves”, “we will take the positives from this loss”, “one game at a time”, “I didn’t know she was a hooker”, “yo comí una vaca contaminada entera”).  Manchester United, particularly in 2010/11, are a team that has specialised in this ability throughout their existence.  The second placed team of  1987/88 played such an objectionable and unconvincing brand of football that most people could not stand within a 1 mile radius of the stadium for 90 minutes (plus stoppage time) or risk a severe mental breakdown of the sort suffered by Mr and Mrs Rooney on that one unmentionable drunken night in January 1985 while on their honeymoon in Manchester (budget airlines still being over 10 years away).  Surely the most famous example in cricket history of winning ugly was Australia’s whitewash of England in 1979-80.  This series included several memorable incidents including:

• Dennis Lillee fending off a  rampant Ian Botham for 105 balls in the second innings of the first Test with what appeared to be an oversized salmon.
• Ray Bright bowling 11 maidens in the second innings of the same match as the batsmen were unable to even set eyes on the ball they were of such turgid quality, eventually forcing the umpire to insist that the ball be wrapped in a brown paper bag
• Graham Gooch being run out in the first innings of the third Test having passed out from exhaustion running on 4 consecutive ‘tactical’ overthrows

Kilmington and Stourton have certainly been winning ugly this year, each victory punctuated by a couple of outstanding individual performances.  Such is the overflowing bounty of KSCC’s all-round capabilities that this has also been extended to losing ugly in 2011, from the self combustion of the Castle Cary game to the horrific loss to Middlezoy which was so offensive on the eyes that it has been invited to join the second series of Geordie Shore.  However, even out of fluent form, they have found ways to win and continue a successful campaign in the upper echelons of the league ladder.

Barrington are a fellow National Trust team, having their lovely tree-lined ground situated on the grounds of Barrington Court.  On arrival, it provided idyllic surrounds including a rustic thatched pavilion.  The pitch looked a bit mossy and under-used, except for the efforts of a couple of rabbits that had dug holes around and in it which required some field surgery.  On winning the toss, Your Brave Leader (TM) had no hesitation in sending the opposition to bat with the hope of blasting them out early.

The initial overs from Tommy B and The Strangler were tight.  A couple of the times the batsmen opened up to break the shackles and a couple of other times the ball nearly flew to hand, but the partnership stayed intact.  After Toms very economical first spell (7 over, 9 runs), the Barrington openers looked to up the tempo with 50 runs coming from the next 10 overs without a wicket.  The surprise packet of the innings was a great marathon 7 over spell from Biffer Burles with his archaeology-grade left arm seamers.  He had both openers dropped (one an appallingly disappointing effort from the skipper) only for The Destroyer to mop them up from the other end each time, in what was proving an up and down spell that had a bit of everything in it.  Luckily, Tom Barton’s hands were still working and he was able to secure a very good catch on the boundary while still remaining in play.  However, KSCC were unable to capitalise on these important breakthroughs.  Barrington began to plunder runs from a variety pack of KSCC bowlers, including a returning Tommy B.  Their cause was aided and abetted by a substandard KSCC fielding performance which offered up a full house of drops, overthrows, standing on our heels, unsighted boundary riders and dodgy field placement.  Amongst the runs, Tommy B punched through the two set batsmen to open up the middle order, but it was all too late.  El Capitan took the ball for the last over and delivered an all action over, claiming 10/2.  The early plan had been soundly tossed out the window as Barrington ended their 45 overs on 224/6.

In the egg sandwiches available at Barrington we may have found a challenger to the legendary egg sandwiches of Bagborough, each wedge containing enough salt to allow Spencer to perform his amazing “Jesus On Water Spectacular” on Stourhead’s lake for a sell out week.  The run chase began with a bang as 13 runs were plundered from it.  However, El Capitan fell playing at the wrong length in the 5^th over with the score on 30 and Ballistic Tomlinson played an uppish cover drive straight to the man at cover a mere 8 runs later.  What happened after that was one of the great impact partnerships of the modern KSCC era.  The Anternator produced a bag full of trademark power drives, punctuated with some typically loud shouts and some well run 1’s and 2’s.  At the other end, Livewire Benny laid bat on ball, thwacking the ball through and over the leg side.  He also found his legs and hared between the wickets as the pair completely demoralised the previously upbeat Barrington attack.  Just as it began to look like they would blast the score in record time, both men fell after a partnership of 115 in 12 overs.  Ant was the first to go, bowled through the gate by the first ball from the spinner (who had opened the bowling from the other end bowling away swing).  Not long after, Livewires defences were pierced by the young quick, who couldn’t decide whether to bowl wides or peaches.  Barringtons tails were up when Sammy G got one of those peaches early, a ball that seamed a mile to bowl him between bat and pad.  The Professor and Biffer Burles then commenced the rear guard action, as the light faded and the sun shone through mottled trees right behind the bowlers arm.  Both men fought hard for their runs before Biffer was given out going back to a straight one from the left arm around spinner.  It might have been straight, but debate rages whether it was high and with the author’s recent umpiring form that could be entirely true.   As The Professor scratched ones and superbly struck boundaries, the required score crept every closer (the required rate long forgotten thanks to the earlier blast).  The Golden Boy never looked in and, when he holed out early, Barrington were in raptures and could sniff a win...but that would be the last of the wickets.  Escorted by Tommy B, Jon Rowe took control and saw KSCC past the post, eventually passing the total to be 229 for 7 from 38 overs.

To describe the effort as patchy would be a disservice to Andy Murray’s beard, but thanks to the big partnership that came and went in a flash, we made it home to take the win.  There is plenty of room to improve and we could probably do with a complete performance at least once this season.

Bowling:                               o             m            r              w

                T Barton               12           4              38           2

                S Churchill           9              0              43           2

                C Hansen             1              0              10           2

Batting:

                A Williams           67

                B Chant                44

                J Rowe                  34*

                C Hansen             22

2011 - Game 11 - Sat 16/07 - KSCC 1s v Wedmore

I recall a good friend of mine back in Australia reading the Lonely Planet Guide when preparing to come to the UK.  She nearly snorted with laughter when she saw the climate referred to as ‘mild’.  The world over knows that in England in rains, how can that be mild when you come from Perth?  However, having been lucky enough to travel into the snow encrusted north of Sweden in the heart of winter and stood in the desert of Death Valley in the US, I now understand what mild means.  Not particularly hot, and not particularly cold.  Whether it is raining or not is neither here nor there.  For the first few summers I was in the UK, both travelling and then to settle down and live, the summer months were glorious.  A long summers day in England is worth 2 sunny days in Perth for their length and rarity, Pimms and beer flowing through the day and into the evening, completed with a mad dash for the last train which you didn’t know was coming because the sun was still up and, boy, I seem to have missed a couple of meals there....I hope I remember to turn before I hit that wall.  However, it’s safe to say that, more recently, the summers have been absolutely pants.  The kind of pants that are both too tight and too loose at the same time.  The kind of pants that won’t stay up but will still desperately try to bury themselves in your keister.  In short, one pretty annoying pair of pants.
Rain is the curse of the home team captain.  It means endless fretting about the state of the wicket, regular runs down to the ground to check on its condition, beavering through countless conflicting weather reports for areas that aren't really that close to where you are but as close as you can get and wondering if other fixtures around the county are going to go ahead, thus allowing your rivals to gain extra points on the day.

Rain had fallen for most of Friday night and, late in the morning, became quite heavy.  Luckily, due to the diligence of The Chairman and The Gentleman Farmer, the covers had gone on the previous night and had actually done their job.  Hidden on the sodden and slippery square of mud was a rock hard wicket waiting to be unleashed.  So, much to the surprise of the arriving Wedmore CC, we were ready to play right from the 2pm start.  Wedmore won the toss and sent us into bat, which was exactly what we didn’t want to do.

El Capitan nicked one past his inside stump early on, and then the very next ball he faced made the correction and nicked the identical delivery straight into the sticks.  The visiting Marley Pelham joined Ballistic Tomlinson at the the crease and the two started a tidy partnership with both showing solid form.  Marley was putting on a leg glance exhibition that was a thing of elegance and beauty, while Ballistic preferred the impact approach, with a voraciously pulled flat 6 and some destructive driving.  Then came the rain...first a short break for a shower and then, after a couple of overs, a proper downpour that had the boys scrambling to get the covers on.  The team were saturated but we learnt that our new KSCC cricket sweaters were fairly water proof*.....only in England, next year we might have to find a proper Gortex version.

The partnership resumed after the loss of an hour of playing time.  With the league rules in place it meant a loss of 15 overs for the team batting second but the very realistic possibility of playing out a draw (i.e. the chasing team failing to make the target but having wickets in hand after losing overs without a drop in target).  KSCC like losing wickets in sets.  First Mr Pelham was caught after a lazy sky and then Biffer had a complete meltdown and swung past a straight one.  This time, though, the damage stopped at 2 wickets.  Ballistic and Sammy G settled in to a partnership that was a joy to behold.  Sammy G punctured the field at will and Mark continued to crash pull shots with remarkable power.  Ballistic finally holed out after passing the half century for the first time in KSCC colours (white).  The Professor once again played junior partner to his junior partner as the score continued to tick over.  In the typical way of these things, he perished not long after team instructions to up the scoring pace, trapped stone dead in front.  Sammy G changed gears with the arrival of his partner in crime, Livewire Benny.  He started advancing down the wicket and dispatched the ball through midwicket on several occasions.  Benny looked good until he was controversially sent on his way by some cack handed umpiring that gave him out off a bump ball.  The umpire didn’t even ask the square leg umpire to confirm and the umpire can still barely believe it as he writes these very words!  Sammy G sadly fell within touching distance of maximum batting points and it was up to the Fabulous Barton Brothers to make the last handful of runs to pass 200.  With the completion of the 43^rd over and with the score on 201/7, there was the unusual occurrence of the umpire offering a declaration to the fielding captain.  This would mean that Wedmore would have 2 extra overs to make to the runs or survive....

...and attack they did.  Only 1 run came from the first over but then both openers started unleashing broadsides.  The Strangler in particular found himself in for some punishment as the giant Cave carted him and then Tommy B for two monstrous sixes.  A quick change brought immediate success though, with The Golden Boy looping one up outside off to Cave who swung around it and found his bails disturbed.  It was a welcome wicket maiden, with the score having raced to 41 at the end of the 5^th over.  He then followed up with a similar wicket in the following over to peg the other opener, K Wall.  Wedmore continued to chase runs but the damage had been done.  The Golden Boy and The Destroyer combined to tie down the batsman and see the required run rate climb alarmingly.  The Destroyer in particular was choking the life out of the run chase with a disciplined spell.  He was eventually rewarded with a wicket that ricocheted pinball style off every available surface before ball and stump finally met.  From there, Wedmore looked to shut up shop to protect the draw and El Capitan began to ring the changes.  Livewire was all over the place, but buried a couple of absolute beauties in the mix to clean bowl one man.  The returning Snooky also got some of his own back, sneaking through another batsman.  In a desperate attempt to weasel a wicket, The Destroyer, Ballistic, Biffer and Your Brave Leader (TM) all chipped in for one over spells but without luck, though Biffer and El Capitan would argue that they had very adjacent shouts turned down.  In fact, with rain starting to come in, bowling the last over and the opposition desperate to get off the field of play, El Capitan managed to bowl the most boring of six dot maidens that contained 1 wicket and 2 wides.  Both teams dashed off at the end with the rain lashing down once again.  Finishing on 113/5, Wedmore had secured valuable draw points as had KSCC.

Unbelievably, all the other games in the division were completed, but the covers helped us get in a game that might not have happened otherwise in our corner of the county.  Although we lost points to our rivals, damage was limited and KSCC still sit in second spot with plenty to play for.

Batting:

                S Gillatt                 67

                M Tomlinson      65

                C Pelham             17

Bowling:                               o             m            r              w

                F Barton               8              2              28           2

                S Churchill           6              1              11           1

                B Chant                3              0              9              1

                S Snook                5              0              29           1

*To be more accurate, thick and water absorbent...it just took a long time for the water to make its way all the way through and thus took quite a while to dry afterwards.

2011 - Game 10 - Sat 09/07 - KSCC 1s @ Wincanton

I can vividly remember a time, oh so long ago now, that will live with me forever as an era never to be revisited.  It was the summer of 1940* and I can clearly remember standing there in an open field, the sun beating down on my browning skin for the fifth straight day and the eager warmth of the morning sun energising me to make another dash to see if I could clear the stream, having already had several failed attempts.  Just as I prepared myself, feeling that my threadbare socks were just about dry enough, a thrilling sound drew my eyes towards the heavens.  High above me, two glinting fighters wheeled and sliced through the amazingly bright blue summers sky, a colour so rich it defied to be contained in those 4 banal letters.  I knew that within those graceful beasts of war two young men, not much more than the boy I was myself, were straining every sinew to gain an advantage on the other.  It was a battle fought between the two sides countless times before, though not often with the same protagonists.  For these two, in that tiny moment, the eventual outcome was uncertain and could mean the difference between eventual victory or a lifetime lived within seconds, wrestling with unresponsive controls to stop a terminal dive.

And yet here I stood, a few counties away but still in the south of my beloved England**, in what seemed a different world.  The easy turns of fast jets arcing their way back to Yeovilton took place against a drab grey sky that hung low and suffocated the very life from the day, lending a monochrome wash to proceedings that was more Pathe News reel than the vivid colours and excitement of that summer.  Eventually, my eyes drew down to Earth and I began the long walk from the pavilion, down the grassy hill and into our own field of battle.  My partner and I, grizzled veterans both, bore little resemblance to the young fighting men that had taken to the skies.  However, standing there, in a quick glance to the door of the weathered pavilion or to those that awaited us on the freshly mowed cricket square, were a new generation of young men ready to fight their cause and lock horns with their willing opponents.  Unaware of the consequences, caring not for what the future might hold, ignorant of the burdens of the past, desperate for victory in that moment, on that day.

Local legend says that the meetings of local rivals Kilmington and Stourton CC and Wincanton CC are of such voracity that they draw in the very heavens themselves.  To be fair though, the clouds and rain are usually already there waiting for us when we arrive.  At least this time, the Wincanton wicket was still firm and looked like it would take a fair amount of moisture.  As the KSCC openers prepared to walk out to the wicket they were duly rewarded with a short shower.  However, it wasn’t much and play began on a dry wicket.

Your Brave Leader and Ballistic Tomlinson made a solid start to the innings, seeing off the opening bowlers  and finding the odd boundary to keep the scoreboard ticking over.  The introduction of spin slowed things slightly but the situation was still comfortable when the skipper played one loose drive too many and popped a simple chance to cover to end the opening partnership on 63.  That act triggered a horrible 6 over period for the KSCC machine.  Ballistic missed his favourite pull shot and was bowled, suggesting it might not have been there to pull despite his compact stature.  The Anternator was out caught off the bat/pad in a situation that demanded replay, hotspot, internet radio and just about any other technology we could throw at it to figure out exactly what happened.  Biffer Burles limited himself to one mighty Biff before finding his stumps distributed and to be the 4^th wicket to fall with less than 10 runs separating them.  Sammy G has proved himself to be a master batsman in the making this year with his solid and composed stroke play and he joined a scratchy looking Professor to try and resurrect the innings.  When The Professor tamely tapped an easy catch to waiting Wincanton hands, KSCC had descended from a comfortable 63/0 to 97/5, tempting local pundits to suggest that the decision to borrow the Sri Lankan test teams Official Winter Training Programme may have been a mistake.  So it was left to the brave young men of The General Kilmington Area Squadron to fight a brave battle to save the day for KSCC.   Sammy G’s sumptuous stroke play was matched by the energy and excitement of the Livewire Benny Show.  The two of them resurrected the innings through counterattacking play and soon had Wincanton on the back foot.  Nearing the end of the innings, Sammy G got more adventurous as both men found runs over midwicket on several occasions.  Livewire was unlucky to hole out in the last over in the chase for maximum batting points, but an amazing recovery had been made.  The partnership had been completed with a total of 96 runs to it's name.  Somehow, KSCC had thundered to 197/6 after looking like 150 might be a stretch.  In doing so, the young pair had broken the back of the Wincanton fight.

Just before the end of the first innings, the cricket ball had been sent over the fence and into the river, supposedly never to be seen again.  At the break, the Wincanton Forensic Diving Team headed into the river area and fetched it back.  The result, with only one ball being used for the match, was that the thing that the bowlers held at the start of the innings looked like some imitation cricket ball made in Korea using locally caught squid.  Tommy B somehow still managed to beat the bat with it, but the gamble to open with the spin of The Golden Boy was quickly abandoned.  El Capitan tried to struggle through an end while the ball dried, but Tommy B continued to threaten and struck twice to get the defence started.  Rabbit obviously liked the cut of El Capitans gib as he played a carbon copy loose drive and offered an easy catch.  Then Tommy B was too quick for Tom Hatcher and blew through his stumps, cracking the top of the stump while he was at it like a cannonball through a mast on the high seas.  He nearly had a 3^rd as Brimble edged to slip but Snooky defied the odds to drop a simple catch that went straight at, but not into, his normally safe hands.  Livewire took the ball once it had dried a bit and made it work from the start, bowling with a good line, length and pace.  He rattled the stumps and KSCC looked to go on the attack.  The Strangler also saw immediate success as he replaced Tommy B, but Brimble and Mitchell looked to settle in and form a counter attack of their own.  The Destroyer was twirling from one end but all of the destruction happened at the other.  After a Wincanton had compiled a partnership that looked to break the match wide open, Snooky finally found his way through to claim 3 wickets in 2 overs and tear the game back.  Snooky usually looks a little lost in the wicket column at the best of times but this year he has been claiming most of his wickets bowled, with all four of his wickets registered as bowled on this day.  Still, the Wincanton resistance was not broken and, in fact, they could have finished it all in one ball.  There is a tree in play at Winci and club veteran Tony Coombes effortlessly lofted Snooky high and into the tree...where the ball stayed.  After much confusion, the ball was declared a 6 but history shows that in times past, the batsman may have run indefinitely given that the ball was not technically lost (as we could see it) and was still in play.  The partnership of Coombes and Dan Hatcher looked like ot could take the game away before the return of Tom Barton brought an end to proceedings.  He had both men bowled, split by a needless run out, to close out the game and secure another win for KSCC, leaving them secure in second place of SCL Division 2.

Batting:

                S Gillatt                 79*

                B Chant                41

                C Hansen             36

                M Tomlinson      20

Bowling:                               o             m            r              w

                T Barton               10           1              23           4

                S Snook                12           2              51           4

                B Chant                6              2              19           1             

               

*Note that a side effect of reading this blog is that you may experience some temporal and spatial displacement of childhood memories.

**Just in case the UK Border Agency are reading.

2011 - Game 9 - Sat 02/07 - KSCC 1s v Wells

Following on from last week’s shocking revelation that the KSCC income from illegal bookmakers could be coming under threat from its fellow clubs, the Board have been forced to conduct emergency meetings to secure future income.  This lead to a rather last minute effort to secure a crossover marketing deal with the Tour de France to tap into the ever burgeoning “old men in lycra” market that appears to be spreading through the expanse of England like a disease (a disease that is very hard to look at when it doesn’t have its legs crossed).  At 1:30pm on Saturday, the mighty Kilmington and Stourton Cricket Club First XI burst from the changing rooms, often literally, dressed in the cycling regalia of the major teams of the Tour.  It was a truly amazing/terrifying sight that captured the imagination and nightmares of the general cricket going public in a way not seen since the sides promotional agreement to support the opening weekend of the Borat movie in 2006.  Initially, the move looked to be an on-field as well as off-field success, with several of the opposition players not able to take the field for the start of play, unable to control their gag reflex as a motivated KSCC squad performed their first warm up stretching routine in nearly 48 years.  However, the game was up when it was suggested that the team were in breach of several indecency laws, the rapidly unravelling stitching of The Stranglers outfit, pieced together from 4 regular cycling shorts and an unspecified motley collection of jerseys, being suggested as exhibit A.  Reluctantly, we changed back into our regular cricket kit and took the field.  However, we hope to still play our ceremonial last match of the season on the Champs Elysees, though it does tend to play a bit two paced and the local proprietors aren’t too keen on the threat to their shop windows.  KSCC once again won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a very flat and dry wicket.

Things didn’t start well when Ballistic Tomlinson missed a straight yorker early on to Wells’ very own Strangler clone.  El Capitan looked scratchy and proved once again that he has all the hallmarks of a quality batsman, out caught off the most poorly disguised slower ball since ex-Prime Minister John Major sent one down in a moustache and monacle during the now defunct Young Conservatives v Coal Miners match of 1964.  There ensued a series of steady but minor partnerships that saw contributions from a rejuvenated Anternator, a typically calm and collected Sammy G and the fluent Jon Rowe.  A large partnership failed to materialise however, as each batsman found a way to get out just as they got set.  Once again, Biffer Burles found himself anchoring the middle innings with wickets and runs in relatively short supply.  Livewire and Freddie came and went with hardly a murmur and it looked again as though KSCC would struggle to put up a decent total.  With singular will, Biffer Burles kept KSCC in the hunt with his unique style of energy expenditure v energy conservation.  Each missed opportunity for a quick second because of a strolled first was matched by an almighty heave that found or cleared the boundary.  Looking increasingly beaten up as his innings went on, it was only when The Destroyer came to the wicket that he found a partner in crime.  Spence was the perfect foil, his nurdles punctuated with some sumptuous stroke play that belies his number 10 allocation.  The pair compiled a quick 50 partnership in the last 5 overs to boost the score to 188/8 and provide their team with momentum into the tea break, with everyone jogging briskly in for some BLTs and cake.

The jog out was somewhat less brisk and less momentous, but Simon Snook cares not for these things....the man is more about torque than pure speed and delivered 3 maidens to get warmed up.  From the other end, Tommy B was finding things a little tougher than normal, but these things are relative and he was only going for 3 an over before a couple of 4s in the last over of his first 7 over spell.  The Strangler, in the mean time, was finding himself once again in the unfamiliar surrounds of the wicket column.  He set up a possible hat trick with one of the balls of the year that was full, swung away and then seamed in to clatter the poles with the final delivery of his 5^th over.  Unfortunately, he got confused and was only able to follow that up with a maiden M instead of a W.  Combined with a suicidal run out calmly handled by The Anternator, who summed up events and realised he could beat the batsman to the stumps, Wells had lost 3 wickets with the score stuck on 27.  It didn’t take long for The Destroyer to get started, once again confusing batsman, fielders and viewers alike and dislodging the bails with an orthodox/googly leg/off spin with some slight hint of top/back spin.  Price and Thompson looked to stabilise the batting innings, mixing defence against a controlled line from both The Destroyer and The Golden Boy with some aggressive shots to break the shackles.  The game was meandering along before The Destroyer called into fire control and rained death on 3 batsman in 2 overs, including both of the set batsman.  Amongst the wickets was a catch to El Capitan at point, leaping like a salmon to take a well judged catch at the peak of his aerial journey (some photographic evidence suggests that this may have only been 3 inches off the ground but the effects of fore shortening through the camera lens is well documented, in particular in David Gower’s riveting biography ‘Gower : The Guy Who Talks About The Lens Foreshortening Thing Whenever It Comes Up on Sky Sports’).  Some late hitting from the Snooky clone, Gerrish (surely a new KSCC opposition hero, known as Bungle to his team mates), entertained the crowds but the end was quick.  Spence picked up his 5^th wicket to slip, Freddie found a way though the gate and the recalled Tommy B only required one delivery to shatter the stumps and put an end to resistance.

In the end, it was a comfortable win that masked the fact that we struggled with the bat for most of the day once again.  Tommy B has quite rightly asked when we think we might choose to post a decent total!  And for another week it was a very enjoyable game to play with some good banter with the opposition followed with cold beers as, you guessed it, the sun crept out from the clouds just in time for us to finish the game.

Batting:

                D Burles               62*

                S Gillatt                 32

                A Williams           27

                S Churchill           18*

Bowling:                               o             m            r            w

                S Churchill           12           1             32          5

                S Snook                10           4            27         2

                T Barton               7.1          1            27          1

                F Barton               9              1           40          1

2011 - Game 8 - Sat 25/06 - KSCC 1s @ Castle Cary

The great teams in world sport are those that innovate.  Pushing the boundaries of the norm in their chosen sport, this may take the form of a genuinely new approach to a certain task, borrowing methods from other sports, capturing alien technology from remote space stations or the successful implementation of wondrous and ancient rituals (we have the Mayans to thank for the ritual goat sacrifice visited upon the soils of the Middlezoy CC in 2010 and hopefully the ECB will come their senses and reimburse the costs of shipping the goat from Central America as part of our youth training programme).  Most often than not in village cricket, the innovation is about spotting and embracing trends in world cricket that can be best applied to the local game inside the modest budget and aspirations (and effort based inclination) of the participants.  The reign of Your Brave Leader (TM) at KSCC has brought with it success and prosperity on the back of grasping one of the most popular trends to take first class cricket by storm.  By embracing spot-betting and the more traditional art of match fixing, KSCC have been able to visit upon its players such riches as once were only the dreams of men of equal or lesser financial means (exact figures yet to be processed).  To see Tommy Barton overstep on the third delivery of his 4^th over, or to see The Destroyer bowl 4 leggies, 1 offie and one ball that could have been either, or to jump up in anticipation of the captain running himself out when a big score looked in the bag, or the amazing feat of Snooky promising to bowl the opener between bat and pad with an off cutter with the last ball of his 12 over spell....these are events of calculated artistic beauty and reflect the highest achievement in game craft today.  However, a team cannot rest on its laurels as it is only a matter of time before the league catches up and you must strive for that next big thing.  Anyone have any ideas?  I’m all out.

In defiance of recent years, the Saturday of the Glastonbury/Wimbledon weekend (normally cursed with drenching rain) had fine-ish weather, though it was preceded by a week of rain.  The view from the top of the hill at Castle Cary was stunning with Glastonbury Tor in the distance and a decent days cricket looked in store.  Once again the captain extended his amazing winning streak at the coin toss and elected to bowl first with the hope of firing out the Castle Cary outfit early.

The initial battle between bat and ball was gladiatorial.  Tommy B was thundering down the hill with alarming pace which tied down one end.  The Strangler crawled up the hill from the other, nearly on hands and knees, unveiling a beguiling mix of away swingers and off cutters that sealed up the other.  For the first 12 overs the Castle Cary openers were struggling to keep the runs above the overs on the scoreboard.  Though they upped the rate ever so slightly, they were still only on 21 at the end of Tom’s first 7 over spell and in the very next over, Snooky found a way through with a cutter to send the first opener back.  A short spell from The Professor indicated that a bung finger isn’t the most fun to bowl with and he was soon replaced by The Destroyer so that all of old Camelot might tremble beneath the power of his mighty appeals.  While all this was going on, an increasingly bedraggled and stumbling Strangler continued to potter up the hill to good effect and it was in his 12^th and final over that the next wicket fell, the other opener finally smashing a ball to short backward point where El Capitan had been patiently waiting all afternoon for one.  Snooky tottered to first slip having put in a monumental performance and we can be reasonably sure he will now look at the hill he trundles up at KSCC with delight after losing 3 sherpas and a helicopter rescue team on the steep slopes of Castle Cary.   Someone had to follow the show, and the captain decided to lead by example and take up the mantle.  The dangerous looking D Wood top edged a pull from his second over that sailed high over the wicket keeper and looked to be falling safe halfway back to the boundary, but as the clock stood still and physics took a quick toilet break, Biffer Burles came charging in from stage right to take a spectacular sliding low catch.  It was one of several big energetic efforts from the big man on the day which proves that Friday night at the Twenty20 with plenty of cider is the way to  go for fielding drills from here on in.  The Destroyer finally twirled his way into the wickets column, again thanks to the buckets of Biffer Burles, and things were looking very positive indeed with the wickets falling and the total score failing to spark with the home side 84/4 from 30 overs.  However, the friendly giant of Castle Cary, A Henley, had other ideas.  He took to the KSCC spin twins with relish, The Golden Boy Freddie Barton having replaced El Capitan who was already broken after a massive 3 over spell up the hill.  After Freddie disappeared for 28 in 3 overs, it was time for El Capitan to try again while it was also time to finally bring Tommy B belatedly back into the attack.  Tommy ripped through the supporting player to open up the tail, but Henley continued to swing hard at anything he could reach, which was anything within the boundary ropes pretty much.  Luckily, he missed one and was bowled for an innings defining 62 that had put KSCC on the back foot.  Unfortunately for him, the tail did not wag and instead offered 3 friendly batsman’s assists to Your Brave Leader (TM).  Each man stepped back to take a swing and failed to make contact as 3 men were clean bowled in the 5 balls of the 44^th over.  In the end, it was a sub-par total of 166, but more than they could have hoped to have got halfway through the innings.

After tea, battle resumed with full bellies and willow in hand.  After a circumspect start, KSCC looked to dominate the Castle Cary bowling attack from the 5^th over.  Your Brave Leader (TM) looked to drive anything in his half of the pitch and Ballistic Tomlinson showed that a small unit with a powerful pull is a very dangerous prospect indeed, not to mention a great tag line for a line of custom West Coast Tractors.  Things were looking easy at 64/0 before Hansen fell in the 15^th over, returning the favour to the opposition by playing down the wrong line with a drive and having the woodwork reworked.  Still, there was plenty of batting to come, signalled by a typically towering 6 from The Anternator and another devastating pull shot for 4 from Ballistic.  However, there was a serious stumble to come.  Ant chipped a lazy ball to point before Mark and then Sammy G fell to lbw decisions of varying quality.  The left armed spinner who only had a stock ball, but was turning it perfectly, completely tied down the KSCC batting unit.  The Professor fell cheaply from the other end to unveil a string of right handers to face the spinner.  Biffer Burles looked to be backing up his effort in the field with a solid contribution with the bat, controlling the game with 1s and 2s punctuated by his bread and butter 6’s.  However, he lost an organised looking Oli Horner cheaply and then himself prodded a soft catch back to the spinner with work still to do.  His departure saw Castle Cary lifted from the resignation of defeat to the hope of victory, despite KSCC confidence in their lower order.  The Fabulous Barton Brothers immediately kicked into gear, putting pressure on the field and running like giant mutated hares.  However, The Golden Boy departed before they could really get going and was immediately joined back in the hutch by Spencer who self destructed and found himself run out for nought.  Snooky and Tom stood gallant at the end, with dreams of victory still in the air...Tom striking a beautiful lofted drive four to show that there were still runs to be had....but it proved too much, Tom holing out to leave KSCC 13 runs short of the expected victory at 154 all out.

It was another disappointing batting effort, but the game was once again played in tremendous spirits and more than a few cold beverages were shared after the game as the sun crawled its way out from under the clouds.

With the shock of defeat came the shock of other results around the league come Sunday morning.  In a weekend of monumental upsets all of the underdogs mauled the top sides and so things remained as they were at the top.  It was a definite shot across the bows that we may not be the only ones in cahoots with the Indian bookmakers and will, hopefully, spur us on to look to make the changes our side requires to continue to be a success (like changing the rules or rescheduling matches to take place at 1am without telling the opposition).

Bowling:                               o             m            r              w

                C Hansen              6.5          2              24           5

                S Snook                12           3              26           2

                T Barton               10           3              25           1

                S Churchill            9              0              42           1

Batting:

                C Hansen             41

                D Burles               27

                M Tomlinson        26

2011 - Game 7 - Sat 18/06 - KSCC 1s v Horrington

It rained.

2011 - Game 6 - Sat 11/06 - KSCC 1s @ South Petherton

It was another typical English summers day, with clouds about and a gentle sprinkling of rain in the surrounding areas.  The pitch was looking OK if a little soft after mid week rains.  Familiar conditions indeed.  The toss was won by KSCC who elected to take the ball to start with and make use of some bowler friendly conditions.

To the great amusement of his teammates, the new ball was taken by Biffer Burles.  In former times, Biffer was a formidable quick left armer and his captain fancied turning back the clock one more time.  He huffed and puffed his way in for 3 solid overs, with the ball boomeranging around completely out of control.  There were no wickets but it was a decent effort by the big man.  From the other end, Tommy B made an amazing start.  Thinking they were in a test match, he sparred with the left handed opening batsman for almost his entire first spell.  The first run off the bat from his end came in his 7^th over, and signalled the first runs for the batsman also in only the 11^th over of the game.  Snooky had resumed normal duties at the other end, but was choosing to mix his dots with a light smattering of 4s.  The book also makes remarkable reading from his end, dealing exclusively in dots, boundaries and wickets throughout his 12 over spell except for a small hiccup in the 9^th over where he conceded a 2 and a 1.  The early going proved an arm wrestle until Snooky finally secured the first wicket, clean bowling the slow scoring left hander.  He then secured a spectacular diving caught and bowled that was felt for miles around and noted in the match reports of almost all of the other games in the county.  As a follow up, he clean bowled the other opener as he started to look dangerous and then disturbed the wicket of the new batsman to take a quick 4 wickets in 4 overs.  Things were looking good for Snooky.  He found his fifth wicket from his last ball to round off an old style 12 over spell from The Strangler.  The Golden Boy provided the home side with a glimmer of hope, dishing up some juicy full tosses and watching them disappear into the surrounding crops as he gave up 27 in 2 overs.  Luckily, The Destroyer and Livewire combined to wind them back a few steps.  Benny kept it pitched up to the captain as he was hitting his stride and was rewarded by having him caught at long off.  South Petherton counter attacked with some aggressive running to stymie KSCC’s push to close out the innings.  El Capitan thought he saw something in the way the batsmen were hopping around to Benny and brought back Tommy B for Spence...but it seems he saw wrong.  The batsmen survived a veritable fast yorker assault from the fearsome youngster and only succumbed in his last over.  There were a couple of run out chances missed as the chase got more deperate, but Your Brave Leader (TM) finally hit the stumps from a range of about 2 meters and then clean bowled number 10 in his one over spell to put KSCC in with a chance of getting all 10 wickets.  Livewire duly obliged, finishing a long 8 over spell by clattering the stumps of resistance with the last ball of the innings.  It was a decent effort but still felt like we had given the opposition a few too many runs, letting them make their way to 180.

What followed showed that we probably could have given them twice as many.  While Sammy G looked classy and comfortable early on, his captain decided to take matters into his own hands.  Bowlers came and went out of the attack as each was clattered to the boundary (or in the case of one left arm spinner, sliced through the batsman’s own legs to the square leg boundary).  It was brutal stuff as the opening partnership passed 100 just before Your Brave Leader (TM) chipped meekly to midwicket having made 81 from 64 balls.  Sammy G followed soon after for 16..but that would be all the celebrating that South Petherton would get.  The Anternator completely destroyed the attack with some trademark straight artillery shots that put him back into contention for the sixes trophy.  One short armed jab effortlessly cleared the club house.  He beat his skippers pace to 50 by four balls when his came up after just 32 deliveries.  By the time he and The Professor, who also made a tidy 24 including 3 sixes, wrapped up the innings, The Anternator had 56 from 36 deliveries.  In the end, KSCC had chased the total for the loss of 2 wickets in just 27 overs.  A dominant batting effort against a bowling unit that lacked variation and a genuine strike bowler.

Bowling:                               o             m            r              w

                S Snook                12           4              48           5

                B Chant                8              0              38           2

                T Barton               12           3              24           1

                C Hansen             4              0              13           1

Batting:

                C Hansen             81

                A Williams           56*

                J Rowe                  24*

                S Gillatt                 16

Media reports : Match reports lacking in quality and substance

Captain agrees.  Promises that he will try harder.  Caught with fingers crossed behind back.
Apologies for the dip  in quality this year...really struggling to get into/out of the right head space.  Hopefully next year might be better.