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Ashley vs Brooklands Date: 14th June 2008 Venue: Toss won by: Ashley Batted First: Ashley |
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Match Report Match Ball Sponsor: Peter Steptoe Roberts
(Ashley recently retired veteran and supporter) Ashley rolled out the red carpet for the Whitehall Road high rollers,
and they duly gave further weight to the theory that money can buy you a
title as first shown by Blackburn, more recently by Chelsea, and more locally
by Oulton Park. The former county league outfit convincingly beat Ashley by 8
wickets in a 66 over match. Home skipper Ian Barber won the toss and elected to bat on a good firm
deck and shades were most definitely required on a lovely summers day. Knight
and Smith started well with both players looking secure and untroubled until
the 11th over when Christian Hart pull off a blinding one handed
catch at gully to dismiss a stunned Smith. This saw the fall of a trio of
quick Ashley wickets as Knight clipped a Hart full toss to mid-on when it should
have been smashed through midwicket. Ian Barber departed almost immediately
in Singh’s first over following one slanted across his him from the
impressive tall left armer. At 35-3 Dave Deans and Liam O’ Doherty were then
left to rebuild the innings with Liam continuing his fine form on the way to
a fine unbeaten knock of 67 whilst at the other end Deans was flailing away
like a blind man against the quality seamers of Singh early on. He eventually
managed to get some wood on it and the two began to reclaim some authority
taking Ashley to 89 before Dixie forgot how good Hart was at gully and
slapped one straight at him. Seamus Sons got another start before being run
out as a result of a great piece of work off his own bowling by Singh.
Debutant Dave Baythorpe and Liam remained unbeaten as the home side posted a
below par 150-5 though it has to be said that the visitors gave an
outstanding fielding display which was perhaps worth 30-40 runs and with a
couple of minor aberrations aside which included a fluffed run out chance of
Dixie, certainly set the standard for the rest of the league to follow. The home side knew that the early wickets of the Brooklands hired guns Birchall and Sharma were the key to any chance of victory but it was the amateur Christian Hart who had impressed on his previous visit to the Railway Field who set off like a train driving beautifully particularly straight and was advised by his adversaries to consider putting a chitty in to join the paid ranks if he carried on playing like that. Unfortunately for him, he missed his chance for a brown envelope when he edged Woods to slip to bring an end to a brief but exciting knock. At the other end the John Birchall quickly assessed the pitch and bowling and cashed in big time, perhaps in a rush to get to the nightsafe to deposit his match fee. He played superbly all round the wicket as befitting a man playing probably 3 divisions below his standard, with several big sixes though the most memorable shot being a back foot extra cover drive off the leg spin of Dave Alves. Unfortunately Ashley spilled the one tough chance he offered to cover, and from thereon the Ashley hearts sank as he moved swiftly towards his century and inevitable bonus. Vishal Sharma, the visitors overseas player who had already been fortunate enough to find several free flights to the UK lying around was then the beneficiary of some average bowling as he smashed a quick fire 25 all through or over the mid-wicket area before dragging another one round the corner and was caught on the edge by Knight. Visiting skipper Madden ignored John Birchall’s vast bank of adoring supporters and the clause in his contract that he score the winning runs by lifting Deans to the Church End as the boundary to deservedly claim the 25 points. This was a disheartening game to play in for Ashley
as they produced a decent performance but were always going to be up against
it. Though the pro’s in the Brooklands side were obviously the key players as
they stormed to victory in a mere 21 overs, it would be easy to overlook the
importance of the bowling performance of M. Singh who returned figures of
16-6-35-2 and bowled superbly swinging and seaming the ball both ways. It is
also worth reflecting that Potter figures probably didn’t do him justice as
he also bowled very well. The majority of the Brooklands side were probably
under 21 years of age and certainly bowled and fielded well so it bodes well
for the future of BCC as long as they get chance to gain experience and test
themselves before the funds dry up and they have to do it all for themselves.
For Ashley’s part this was a respectable batting performance especially from
Liam again against an attack that although not featuring Sharma’s off spin
has dismissed every other side this year, the bowling was perhaps less
impressive though not without merit against a top quality bat.
There was also a major blow for Ashley 1X1 keeper Matt Wilson who badly dislocated his middle finger in the warm up prior to the game. Thanks to the staff at Wythenshawe A&E who broke his knuckle putting it back which is something that we could have done for him at the ground. Also thanks to John Birchill’s partner for her professional advice as a physio and John Griffiths’ wife Sarah for running him to the hospital and allowing them to make a right fist of it instead. Next week Ashley must turn things round at what has been a
recent graveyard for them at Ashton who despite losing this week are also at
the business end of the table. Meanwhile the skipper has thrown the league
rule book in the bin and is eagerly seeking a wealthy benefactor to allow us
to compete on a level playing field. |
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FIRST INNINGS |
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SECOND INNINGS |
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Result: Brooklands Professionals CC (25pts)
beat Ashley Amateurs (9pts) by 8 wickets |
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