The Cricketer Cup

(aka Colapso Cricket)

The Rovers entered unchartered territory with a first visit, certainly in living memory if not ever, to Bedford School for the 1st Round of this year's competition on a blisteringly hot and humid day. Losing the toss didn't help and we were invited to take the field, the President having to field for the first over due to a late arrival. Given we had no fewer than eight absentees who would have been strong contenders for places Hector did a great job to get 12 on duty, five of which were making their Cricketer Cup debuts, and following a rousing call to arms from one of them Felix, we took to the task.

 

Matty Lee opened up with an interesting mix of deliveries, some on target, others less so, but the upshot of the 9 ball over being the President didn't have to field any longer than necessary. Fifteen off the first over kind of set the tone for the majority of the 49 to follow - but it's worth pointing out that five of the aforementioned eight absentees can bowl! It was very tough going to be fair with drinks necessary after 17 and 35 overs due to the extreme conditions. The umpires were also very harsh on leg side wides which didn't help, we bowled 33 of them, along with a further 13 other 'sundries'. Disco and Barney H shared the keeping duties, and George N took a couple of blinding catches. Three of their guys scored half centuries including former Northants player Charlie Thurston, but none could kick on to three figures. Hec was the pick of the bowlers taking 3-50 off his 10 overs, Lewis F also bowled well finishing with 1-49 off his. Alas, Freano, Frankie T, Jeff K-D, and Matt despite their best endeavours all went for at least seven an over and the Old Bedfordians finished up with a monster 361-7 off their 50 overs.

 

So AJ and Hec set off chasing them down, and after 11 overs at 66 without loss we were ahead of the OBs (63-2). Hec struck a number of glorious cover drives, and whilst AJ wasn't as brutal the two of them were ticking over nicely at virtually a run a ball until on 42, and the score on 99, Hec was caught in the 19th over. What ensued is barely believable.

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W...W .....1 ..W1.. 4.W.W. .WW.1. 2..W.. 1.1.1. 1...1W

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Nine wickets for 14 runs, erm, game over? To be fair to Midge I'm not sure how he kept up in the scorebox! Notty, Disco, Freano and Jeff all failed to trouble the scorer, and had Lewis (10*) and Frankie not put on ten for the final wicket, it could have been embarrassing. It should be pointed out that AJ scored a fine 50 amongst all the carnage. So not to be but well played to the OBs, and while we obviously went there to win, just getting a side out was no mean feat, and just as important for the integrity of the competition and the reputation of the club, so well done all those involved.  

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PS: Elsewhere in the 1st Round there were six sub 150 scores, and two teams failed to make three figures - no one lost by such a good margin though!

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congratulations

To...

Mr & Mrs Gane who 'took delivery' of a bouncing baby girl, and future Roverette recently, good luck with those sleepless nights Plod and don't forget Rovers Week if you need some time off!

Joe Shinners who recently tied the knot which, when announced on the Whatsapp group, prompted a number of incredulous responses - it would appear Div 2  is  now playing in the Premier League.

And finally Ryan Maskell and the young ladies of Bognor Regis who now have to listen to cricketing stories from the new Premier League Batting Award recipient. Ryan finished the season with 870 runs @ 58.0 including four centuries, three halves, and a high of 178.

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Alice heads down under

Congratulations to Alice who has secured a contract to play in the Women's BBL this winter playing for the Melbourne Stars.  The group stages of the competition run from Oct 13th to Nov 20th and Alice will be looking to showcase her talents to a new audience, we wish her all the best.

 

Ryan smashkell

Looks like Bognor's wicket-keeper captain is back in the runs! Three weekends ago against Eastbourne he scored a chanceless 110* off just 77 balls, then the following week against Three Bridges he racked up an even more impressive 178 off just 143, 122 of them coming in boundaries! As if that wasn't enough, last week he scored a run a ball 125* against Horsham in a successful chase of just 214 (honourable mention for Ballas who took 4-29 in that match).

Can he make it four on the spin against Middleton this weekend?

Loves a chase does our Ryan! 

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Capsey's corner

Since making her England debut last month Alice has unsurprisingly carried on her good form. In her seven internationals to date she's racked up 160 runs @ 26.66 including a half century. After what ultimately proved to be a disappointing Commonwealth Games campaign, losing out to NZ in the bronze medal match, Alice 'got back on the horse' in The Hundred playing for the Oval Invincibles, scoring 20 or more and taking at least one wicket in each of the three games played so far. The other night she scored 20 off 18 and took 3-15 prompting yet more coverage in the media hailing Alice as a superstar of the future - having just turned 18 at least she can celebrate some of her player of the match awards now!

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Guernsey make strong start in vantaa

Our man Nighters stars with the bat as Guernsey win their first T20 World Cup Qualifier. Tom top scored with 40 off 24 balls including four 4s and a couple of maximums, and picks up the Player of the Match award in the process as Guernsey beat Bulgaria by 52 runs.

Next up Luxembourg today - Mission accomplished, another win, this time by 17 runs, 28 more for Tom. Huge game Wednesday against table toppers Austria. An angonising loss to Austria by two wickets with just two balls to spare, a great scrap given the winners were 100-3 in the 9th! Next up Slovenia tomorrow, the 28th, good luck. Bosh - dispatched by 9 wickets, come on Guernsey. I think that means Guernsey are in th