Bedouins v HMP Birmingham at Enville – Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Match abandoned

Bedouins went head to head with HMP Birmingham on what started out as a bone dry Enville ground. Shame it didn’t stay that way.

Bedouins batted first by default as come start time they only had seven players. Hill A. who had recently been threatening to retire from the game due to not seeing the point in buying a pair of new boots at this late stage of his cricketing career, opened the batting with Gregory who had been kind enough to loan an old pair of his boots to Hill Snr. A lot of good it did. Hill Snr was out for three.

Skipper joined Gregory and the two set about putting a bit of a stand together until Gregory played all round a straight one. Hill J. looked set to bag some runs until being tricked with a cunning slower ball and he departed for three.

Hancock came to the crease and had his half-hour. (Sorry, got that one out of my system now). He signalled his intentions with a classic lofted drive over mid-off and thereafter proceed to attack every ball. This fired the Bedouins into life a bit as the run rate had been a bit slow but unfortunately when on 13 he played and missed and the fun came to an end.

Branch made the crease although he was some what unwell and perhaps that is why he departed again on just six. Although, to be fair, he went to what will be one of the catches of the season at square leg. At this point it had started raining. The skipper retired on 30 and so young Lockley came in and showed what a class act he is, making a quick-fire 26 not out. With some very hard hitting and one six in the process.

George failed to trouble Mr Scorer and Pearson finished one not out. By this time the rain had got pretty heavy and although the teams waited it out there appeared to be no chance of getting the HMP Birmingham innings under way and it was decided the best thing to do was retire to the pavilion for tea and a pint and call the game off.

Shame – Bedouins had finished their innings in a strong position with a score of 121 for 6 but such is life as a cricketer. We’ll have to await the return fixture later in the season to see who gets the bragging rights.

Alveley Over 45s v Bedouins at Alveley – Sunday, 23 May 2010

Bedouins won by 10 wickets

It was a sunny and very hot recreation ground at Alveley that hosted this Sunday fixture against Alveley Over 45s. Originally intended to be a 40 over-a-side game it was agreed that due to the heat it would be reduced to 25 overs.

Alveley batted first and got off to a flying start. Pearson and George opened the bowling and got some stick from the Alveley batsmen which resulted in Alveley making 51 for the loss of one wicket off the first 8 overs. At this point it looked like the Beds were going to be chasing a hefty score.  George had removed the dangerous Mick Wall earlier but Pike and Butler were still clocking up the runs.

The first bowling change heralded a complete change in the game. Dewinski removed Butler in his first over and after that Alveley started to capitulate. The bowling and the wickets were shared around  – Dewinski weighed in with 2 for 9 from his 4 overs, Susman 2 for 10 and Johnston 1 for 5 but the plaudits went to Gregory with 2 for 2 and debutant Matt Hall with 2 for 1, one of which was Pike who had a great knock of 46 for Alveley.

Alveley were eventually all out for 94 in the 22nd over. Strangely eight of the Alveley wickets were clean bowled, the other two went to good catches (yep, things are looking up) from Bywater and Hancock. The champagne moment as far as fielding goes was Skipper for the day, George, leading by example and making a highly athletic stop at square leg when he looked to have been wrong-footed.

There’s not really much you can say about the batting performance apart from it was outstanding. Branch and Hall opened and finished the game off in the 16th over with 32 from Branch and a powerful display and some big hitting from Hall to finish on 52. An impressive debut from the youngster and hopefully we can secure his services again.

All in all an excellent day. Alveley looked after us well and they have some great facilities there. We’ll look forward to playing them again next season. From a personal point of view it is always great to play on the ground where my talents (or lack of) were nurtured as a youngster and to still see some of the old faces playing the game. Long may it continue.

Bedouins v Chancers at Enville – Wednesday 19th May 2010

Bedouins lost by 5 wickets

Bedouins took on a new side in the the form of the Chancers and it proved to be quite an even contest although the Chancers won it by 5 wickets.

Bedouins batted first, opening with Branch and Moxon. Moxon wasted little time and attacked from the off; the fact that he couldn’t see the ball only hindered him slightly. At the other end Branch uncharacteristically failed with the bat and was bowled having made only 6.

The Skipper joined Moxon at the crease and the two put on a bit of a stand until Moxon finally succumbed on 28. He sportingly walked after edging to the wicketkeeper. No less than you would expect from a Bedouin.

Hill junior made 6 and Gregory 7 and it was left to Bywater to wrap up the innings with the Skipper. Both finished not out making 10 and 23 respectively. A score of 98 looked about par but with the Chancers looking like a team who knew what they were doing (most had played for Wombourne previously) another 20 or so on the board would have been good.

Spratters and George opened the bowling with George particularly looking in good form and keeping the batsmen tied down. Spratters was struggling with an injury was not quite his usual accurate self.

Hill senior was absent, being shacked up in some dodgy dive in Luton, so Hill junior took over the gloves having never done the job before. His goalkeeping skills proved useful and some of his old man’s talents have obviously rubbed off as he did a good job.

It was a good all-round bowling performance with wickets tumbling at regular intervals. The highlight was Bywater’s 3 for 18 from his four overs. Currie also put in a good stint with 1 for 16 from 4 overs.

The Skipper left the field in a delicate state so what happened in the last quarter of the Chancers innings is not clear, however in the 20th over they made their target of 99 with five wickets in hand.

It was a good even contest against a good bunch of blokes who we will no doubt play again next season and hopefully reverse the result.

Bedouins v Higgs at Enville – Wednesday, 5 May 2010

Bedouins won by 28 runs

Bedouins kick-started their 2010 season in style with a 28 run victory over Higgs on a very drizzly and overcast Enville ground.

Both sides fielded 10 men with the Bedouins including young Rhys Lockley and even younger (14 years old) Mike Saxon who was making his Bedouins debut – and an impressive debut it was too.

Bedouins lost the toss and were put into bat and it was the usual opening pairing of Branch and Hill who gave the Beds a solid start. Hill was suffering from Man Flu and in the dressing had been making excuses about not having picked up a bat for 9 months and blah, blah, blah……. He was soon back in the pavilion having made an excellent 30 not out.

Branch was joined by Goodman and they carried on a steady accumulation of runs before Branch, who had hit the only six of the game, was bowled for 24. Goodman was joined by the skipper but was bowled on 12 as the pair tried to up the run rate. Saxon entered the fray and aided the skipper in trying to tot up some quick singles until the skip was bowled on 14 and Saxon was the victim of a controversial run out decision from his own team mate – no names (Lee Bywater) – having made 5.

Gregory and Lockley were left with not much time to do anything and the Bedouins finished on 99 for 4. Not a bad score considering the poor conditions.

In return the Bedouins put in a very tidy bowling performance. Higgs certainly had players in the side capable of winning the game but the they were frustrated by accurate bowling from every Bedouins bowler. George (0 for 10 off three overs) set the trend and Bywater followed suit. Higgs suffered an early blow when Coleman was run out. This left a dangerous pairing of Dudley and Bond at the crease but they were kept quiet. Currie took over from George and bowled a tidy 4 over spell for just 17 runs.

Bywater (1 for 11 from 4) claimed the scalp of Dudley in his last over and was then replaced by Saxon, bowling his first overs for the Bedouins. He excelled taking 2 for 6 from his two overs; both wickets were cleaned bowled and all in all it was a good debut from the youngster. He even held a catch and we don’t see that very often from a Bedouin these days.

Once Moxon was bowled by Saxon it looked like only McConnell was going to offer any stern resistance for Higgs and indeed he finished on 22 not out but simply ran out of partners and overs. Gregory finished with 2 for 17 and the skipper 1 for 8 and the players finally departed the field in near darkness.

The big question is now – have we seen the last of Hill snr for the Bedouins? He has often impressed us with the fact that he has been wearing the same pair of boots for the last 22 years and has always said that once the boots give out, he will give up. Last night the sole of one said boot became severely detached from the rest of it. Is it repairable? Is Hill snr repairable? – he suffered a painful blow to the hand whilst dropping a chance at slip and he was only fielding at slip because his back had given out – and that on top of Man Flu.

Anyway, watch this space.