Southwick Wanderers Cricket Club

SWCC v Ashdown Forest – 23^rd May 2010 by Antony Preston

From the arctic Lingfield to tropical Ashdown Forest, or, put another way, from 8° - 28°  (interestingly, only about 5 miles away from each other) in 14 days.

The responsibilities attendant on family life took a serious toll on Wanderers’ resources, and we took the field with probably the weakest team for a number of years, in (see above), roasting temperatures.

Fielding first, and with a borrowed player from our opposition (in the very best tradition of Sunday cricket they had 12 and we had 9) plus a sub fielder, it promised to be a long afternoon. Mark Scholfield bravely donned the gloves, and did a creditable job, not having kept for several years (apparently he is now able to climb the stairs again, having developed a strange rigor mortis in his legs for several days after the match, and frightening his children with his eerily accurate impression of Frankenstein’s monster as he shambled round the house). Well done, Mark!

Back to the action. Jamie opened the bowling, and Ashdown’s opener, Malajczuk a left-hander from somewhere down-under, launched into his third ball, but didn’t middle it, succeeding only in hitting it straight up in the air to a great height. Jamie got himself into position, but even from the slips I could see it was swirling and spinning (no, I can’t use the Beefy-ism, however true it might be!! – anyone who wants to know what it is, consult senior Wanderers). Jamie suddenly had to adjust and move to his right, and was unable to pouch it.

Malajczuk, obviously a good bat, then proceeded to knock us to all corners of the ground (although there was a certain amount of streakiness in a lot of his shots). Both Jamie and Luke toiled manfully, Luke in particular beating the bat time and again, and indeed, he struck first, clean bowling Summers. Jamie then weighed in, inducing Sweet to play on. Jamie replaced himself with Darren, who generated some decent pace, and got Rose caught by Jamie. Malajczuk eventually perished, scoring 58 of the first 65 runs, clean bowled by the excellent Luke. The heat was draining, and all three bowlers bowled commendably. Luke was in a class apart, bowling 15 overs in one spell, clean bowling all his 4 victims for 44 runs. Wickets were falling, and at one stage we felt we might limit them to around 150.

Then another overseas player, Marshal came to the crease. Another left-hander, he was clearly intent on taking a leaf out of the opener’s book, and with a promising youngster, Bradford, moved the score along rapidly. It was highly unfortunate that we had no other bowlers at all apart from ‘Golden Arm’ Scholfield, who was behind the stumps. Steve Gagola, who had turned out at the last moment to help us put out a team, but who had not played for 5 years, had a try, but his two overs went for 35, and Jamie came back at the end. Ashdown Forest’s score had however raced on to 213, and it was pretty clear that we would struggle to overhaul them.

Tony and Kim opened the innings after tea, but Kim was unable to repeat his heroics at Lingfield and was bowled for 1. Darren came in at 3 and, putting his previous innings behind him, showed a lot of promise in moving to 18 with some classy shots, before being well caught off a full-blooded shot to leg. This was not before Tony, who had become bogged-down, and stuck on 6 for about half an hour, tickled the excellent youngster Rose, bowling left arm leg-breaks, to slip who gratefully took the catch. Jake King, Ashdown’s 12^th player and our 10^th, stayed there for a while before being bowled by Rose, who ended up with 4 for 17 off 13 overs.

Jamie, in next, batted well and hit 3 towering 6s and 5 fours in an entertaining innings of 47, before being adjudged LBW to Malins. Luke was promoted to the heady position (for him, at least) of 6 and batted well, scoring 10 then perishing to Rose, which brought Gemma to the crease. She batted with great resolve, and played some nice defensive strokes, very nearly seeing out the innings to the end, but being caught (again off  Rose) for 2, having been completely surrounded by the Ashdown fielders.

Steve Gagola was bamboozled by Rose, and didn’t trouble he scorer, and Charlie Almond and Mark had to negotiate the last over in order to claim what (in my opinion, at least, given our limited resources) was a merited draw. We made 93 – 8.

Here’s to our return visit to Hammerwood!

Ashdown Forest Innings

Name	How Out	Bowler	Score
Malajczuk	Bowled	Hyde	58
Summers	Bowled	Smith	4
Sweet	Bowled	Hyde	4
Jeffrey	Bowled	Smith	14
Cooper	Bowled	Smith	9
Walmsley	Bowled	Hyde	0
Malins	Bowled	Smith	2
Rose	Ct Hyde	Radford	5
Marshal	Not	Out	69
Bradford	Not	Out	21
Blandford	DNB
		Extras	25
		Sub-total	188
		TOTAL	213

SWCC Bowling

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Hyde	14	2	87	3
Smith	15	2	44	4
Radford	7	1	32	1
Gagola	2	0	35	0

TEA

SWCC Innings

Name	How Out	Bowler	Score	4's	6's
A Preston	Ct	Rose	6	1
Aspindale	Bowled	Sweet	1
Radford	Ct	Sweet	18	3
J King	Bowled	Rose	2
Hyde	LBW	Malins	47	5	3
Smith	Bowled	Rose	10	2
Manvell	Ct	Rose	2
Scholfield	Not	Out	4
Gagola	Bowled	Rose	0
Almond	Not	Out	0
		Extras	3
		Sub-total	90
		TOTAL	93

Ashdown Forest Bowling

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Sweet	9	4	21	2
Blandford	9	4	13	0
Rose	13	9	17	4
Malins	6	1	35	1

Sunday 16th May 2010

Wanderers wobble but they don’t fall down - by Jeremy Preston

The picturesque Hammerwood played host to the Wanderers on the day that England secured 20/20 World champion status!! Another fresh afternoon out in the field for the Wanderers as Hammerwood set about their task to set a target…….

Jamie and Luke opened up and both immediately found line and length, restricting the opening pair to the occasional scrambled single. It was Luke that struck for the wanderers first with a straight fast one that took out Amaya’s off stump as his lack of patience was his own undoing. He departed for 1. This brought “chatty man” Page to the crease, and it was he who began to get the score moving more quickly with some powerful blows to the boundary. As he began to score more freely and his constant “banter” became more annoying, it was apparent that the Wanderers needed to remove Page, sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, Hicks held up the other end driving some text book shots to the fielders without ever being a concern. He eventually went the same way as Amaya, being bowled by Luke with a perfect delivery, eluding Hicks’ forward defensive for 4. A short interlude as Richard “Chuckles” O’Neill adjusted his twins in Page’s eye line before the best opportunity was fashioned. Luke bowled a riser that caught Page’s leading edge, popping up an easy caught and bowled and 45-3……..wait Luke dropped it!!! Incredibly, it was put down as Page had resigned himself to a stroll back to the pavilion and everyone else was celebrating his demise……but it wasn’t to be. Luke was to be instrumental for Page’s departure in far greater style later in the innings.

Richard lost his fight for survival succumbing to a Luke delivery bowling yet another victim. Page the prize man, however was still at “large”. Darren Radford came on for Jamie and bowled a very tidy but ultimately luckless spell. Mark Scholfield meanwhile, once again lived up to his tag of “golden arm” by taking 4 wickets, the first of which was Page with a full toss that was bludgeoned to the long on boundary. Luke moved swiftly to his right to cling on to a pearler of a catch that had all his teammates in raptures. Page departed for a creditable 63.

The youngster Robin showed some class during his innings with some incredibly straight batting. Ali clearly didn’t want to hang around and showed his intentions early, dancing down the wicket to Mark Scholfield with an aggressive swipe and miss and in a blink of an eye John whipped off the bails with just 5 to his name. Three further wickets fell in quick succession. Jamie had seen enough of Robin and snaffled a sharp caught and bowled opportunity seeing the youngster shuffle back to the pavilion with 33 to his name.

He took the next wicket bowling Ray for a duck. The next over saw Mark get his fourth and Hammerwood’s last wicket with Mark B pulling straight into Jez’s grateful hands. There were notable performances in the field by Gemma who looked sharp and by Richard in the deep making some tumbling stops.

122 all out and tea……….

Southwick’s opening pair of John Bird and Tony Preston strode to wicket to begin the response. John dispatched his third ball over square leg for 6 and followed that up with a 4 and he and Tony were looking comfortable early on keeping the scoreboard ticking over. John on 12, however pushed forward at a delivery from Spencer which evaded the outside edge and tickled the off stump. This brought Dave “Errol” Noakes to the crease who immediately set about the Hammerwood attack with some ferocious power hitting. He and Tony settled into a lucrative partnership (60) and looked like they would complete the job for the Wanderers, but Dave was bowled for 38 as he began to tire.

Richard O’Neill joined Tony in the middle understandably nervous ahead of his first match for the Wanderers. His second ball was powerfully cut and as the spectators were expecting to see the bushes rustling on the far side of the ground, Richard reached down and picked the ball up from between his legs. He was bowled the next over by a good, full Ali ball, sadly without troubling the scorer. Jez joined his Dad at 79-3 and settled down after a shaky start with a couple of tickled singles. The pair had accelerated the scoring by another 50 runs and to within 2 of victory and then the wobble………..

Tony was undone by Page as he attempted a tickle around the corner as he was trapped LBW, departing for a very well crafted and welcome 42. Darren Radford followed next ball as he attempted to finish things off in style. He was stranded down the track and was stumped for 0. Mark Scholfield couldn’t have been relishing the prospect of facing hatrick ball with just 2 runs required for victory, but he confidently blocked his first ball and calmly cut the next ball for the winning runs.

The game typified an early season encounter, but ended in comfortable victory for the Wanderers.

Hammerwood Innings

Name	How Out	Bowler	Score
Hicks	Bowled	Smith	4
Amaya	Bowled	Smith	1
Page	Ct Smith	Scholfield	63
Richard	Bowled	Smith	9
Robin	Ct & Bowled	Hyde	33
Berry	Bowled	Scholfield	7
Ali	St Bird	Scholfield	5
Mark B	Ct J Preston	Scholfield	0
Ray	Bowled	Hyde	0
Spencer	Not	Out	0
		Extras	0
		Total	122

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Hyde	10	2	46	2
Smith	10	4	31	3
Radford	6	1	20	0
Scholfield	5.2	0	29	4

SWCC Innings

Name	How Out	Bowler	Score	4's	6's
Bird	Bowled	Spencer	12	1	1
T Preston	LBW	Page	42	6
Noakes	Bowled	Amaya	38	6
O'Neill	Bowled	Ali	0
J Preston	Not	Out	20	2	1
Radford	Stumped	Page	0
Scholfield	Not	Out	2
Hyde	DNB
Smith	DNB
Manvell	DNB
		Extras	13
		Total	130

FoW 18 Bird-12: 78 Noakes-38: 79 O'Neill-0: 129 T Preston-42: 129 Radford-0

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Spencer	5		22	1
Berry	4		19	0
Robin	3		8	1
Amaya	5		17	1
Ali	4		17	0
Mark B	3		14	0
Ray	2		9	0
Page	1		9	2

Too close to call!!! - Match Report - SWCC v Lingfield Sunday 1sts     9th May 2010

Welcome to summer!

Wanderers' first match in anger of the 2010 season was conducted in Arctic temperatures at Lingfield, and what a great advertisement for Sunday cricket it turned out to be.

Both teams had only ten men, including, in the Wanderers case, two guests, Ian Wainwright and Charlie Almond.

Jamie lost the toss and we were inserted (!?). The openers bowled reasonably well on a good wicket and after a straight drive for 4 (where did that come from?) Tony Preston departed caught behind (why is the journey back to the pavilion always so much further than the outward version - discuss). 13-1. Kim Aspindale was at 3 and immediately looked at home, opening his innings with a boundary. Anthony Higgs was bowled by a fast yorker and we were 21-2. Jeremy Preston trembled his way to the wicket (naked fear and hypothermia in equal measures). Once at the wicket, however, he looked very good and struck the ball beautifully (writes Preston senior), moving to 16 in 4 scoring strokes.

The score moved quickly to 46, when the Lingfield skipper brought on Rigg, a precocious 16 year old, bowling pretty quick left arm over from the pavilion end. Kim negotiated his first over without scoring, but then, in his second, disaster struck. Jez tried to pull a shortish ball which did not bounce and was bowled middle stump. 46-3. Darren Radford was in next, but was surprised by the extra pace and was caught one-handed in the covers for 0. 46-4. Jamie in next, got an absolute peach, and was bowled middle stump first ball. 46-5. So, from the comparative comfort of 46-2 to 46-5 in one over.

Ian Wainwright was in next, and although looking far from comfortable initially, started rebuilding the innings with Kim. Kim batted with great resolve and authority, and gradually the score moved forward. Rigg could not repeat his exploits and was taken off after 4 overs (an ECB  requirement at his age - personally I would have sent him straight to bed without any tea). Both batsmen began imposing themselves on the bowling (although both were dropped in the slips in the same over - a wake-up call), and we reached 117 before Ian departed for an invaluable 29. Mark Johnson in next fresh from his slogfest in the InterClub day. Hmmm, would that one could report a repeat of those heroics, but sadly no, with a passable impression of DG wielding his Gary Nicholls he was caught for 0. Luke Smith in now, and hit a beautiful 4 straight back past the bowler, moving the score to 128 when a by now obviously tired (but at least warm) Kim was finally caught behind for a very good 44. A great innings and one that should set him up for the season. Charlie Almond came in at the tail, but did not trouble the scorer, being neatly stumped. So, a topsy-turvy innings closed at 128.

The Lingfield innings got under way after a nice tea, and Davey and Lloyd were men in a hurry. At 58-0 I was starting to think we might (would) lose by 10 (sorry 9) wickets, when we got the breakthrough. Both Luke and Jamie had been bowling well notwithstanding the score, so it was well deserved when Jez snaffled both openers behind the stumps, one each to Luke and Jamie. Hooker, Lingfield's no 3, was a class act, and began hitting some beautiful shots. It was clear we would need to see the back of him to have much chance of winning.

Jamie brought Darren on, who after 2 overs, started to find a good length, and some decent pace. Luke struck next, however, Darren taking a stinger at deep mid-on. 78-3. We fielded excellently throughout, taking every chance that came our way, Charlie Almond in particular saving loads of runs in the deep. Darren weighed in next, clean bowling Rigg. 80-4 and we felt in with a chance. Hooker was still there, and he and Obary advanced the score to 105, Darren then striking again, having Obary caught by Ian. 105-5. Then Ian (replacing Darren), induced a rash stroke from Hooker, gratefully accepted by Jez for his third catch behind the sticks. He departed for a good 34. 111-6. Game on! Luke was replaced by Jamie, coming back on, and it was soon 114-7, Ian catching Hendry off Jamie. There was still another twist when Ian clean-bowled Robertson to make the score 122-8, Lingfield still needing 7 to win, with one wicket left. Mitchell, Lingfield's skipper, was last in, but he is clearly no mug with the bat, and he and the cool under pressure youngster Hanna saw them home with 2 overs to go.

This was a super game played in the right spirit, with the result in the balance until the end. May the sun now come out!

SWCC Innings

Name	How Out	Bowler	Score	4's	6's
T Preston	ct wk	Hendry	6	1
A Higgs	Bowled	Ovray	1
K Aspindale	ct wk	Hendry	44	6
J Preston	Bowled	Rigg	16	4
D Radford	ct	Rigg	0
J Hyde	Bowled	Rigg	0
I Wainwright	ct	Hooker	29	3	1
M Johnson	ct	H Mitchell	0
L Smith	Not	Out	4	1
C Almond	st	Hendry	0
		Extras	28
		Sub-total	100
		TOTAL	128

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Hendry	7	3	15	3
Ovray	8	1	20	1
Hanna	5	1	23	0
Rigg	4	2	8	3
R Mitchell	4	0	9	0
M Robertshaw	4	1	17	0
H Mitchell	5	0	24	1
Hooker	3	1	4	1

FoW 13 Higgs-1: 21 T Preston-6: 46 J Preston-16: 46 Radford-0: 46 Hyde-0: 117 Wainwright-29: 117 Johnson-0: 128 Aspindale-46: 128 Almond-0

Lingfield Innings

Name	How Out	Bowler	Score
Dovey	ct J Preston	Smith	17
Lloyd	ct J Preston	Hyde	34
Hooker	ct J Preston	Wainwright	34
H Mitchell	ct Radford	Smith	7
Hendry	ct Wainwright	Hyde	7
Rigg	Bowled	Radford	3
Ovray	ct Wainwright	Radford	2
Hannah	Not	Out	13
Robertshaw	Bowled	Wainwright	1
R Mitchell	Not	Out	0
		Extras	11
		Sub-total	122
		TOTAL	133

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Hyde	10	0	50	2
Smith	8	0	29	2
Radford	7	2	22	2
Wainwright	7.4	4	18	2

We have created a special page on the swcricket.com website as a tribute to Ian McLeod. You can access this new page by clicking the link on the menu bar above or by clicking here;- http://www.swcricket.com/ian-mcleod

Please note there is a new tribute from Robin Wood, who knew Ian McLeod from childhood.