Monthly Archives: July 2024

Er, wow!

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Bedouins v Pedmore – Wednesday 17 July

Bedouins won by 42 runs

What a remarkable game. This was possibly one of the best Bedouins bowling performances ever and will go down in history together with the time Andy Hill took a hat-trick up in Halifax and David Thomas bowled the perfect spell in Worthing.

Pedmore always provide a stiff challenge and this game looked like being no different. Beds batted first and opened with Lippitt and Stanier (despite needing a hip replacement – we let anybody play in our team). The latter was little unlucky to be given out LBW on 4 when he had feathered the ball into his pads, but off he had to trudge. What followed was a fine partnership with Lippitt being joined by Ludlow. Both batsmen look in fine form and managed to find the boundary several times on what is these days a very large ground.

Pedmore were no slouches with the ball and indeed their youngest player, who looked about 12, had the batsmen playing thin air at times. It was great to see.

Not much of any great note happened during the Bedouins innings. Lippitt and Ludlow both retired; Susman continued his miserable form with the bat; Gregory flourished a couple of balls to the boundary before missing a straight one; and it was good to see Hill A back in the Bedouins ranks. His 6 not out together with Bastable’s 2 got Bedouins to a total of 108 for 3.

On the face of it, that didn’t really seem enough of a total to set a team like Pedmore. How wrong can you be?

With Beds being a couple of players light, Brain Pearsall was drafted in for his second appearance. He fits into the side well like he’s always been a Bedouin. He it was who opened the bowling together with Robertson. We we witnessed then was probably the most brutal spell of Bedouins bowling any of us can remember. By the time this pair of opening bowlers had both finished their  four over spells, Pedmore were reeling at 8 for 5. Pearsall was unlucky to only take one wicket, beating the bat on many occasions. He finished 1 for 5. Robertson brought carnage to the Pedmore side and finished with 4 for 7.

That was effectively game over. Only the Pedmore number 8 showed any resistance to a Beds fielding side that was in fine form. There were only a couple of blips. Hill A dropped a dolly and Susman came out in sympathy and also put one down.

It didn’t matter really. Pedmore limped to the final over and finished on 66 for 7. Well I didn’t see that coming.

Landlords serve notice

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Bedouins v Enville O40s – rematch – Wednesday July 3

Enville won by 51 runs

After losing several games against the Bedouins in recent history, Enville came to win this one. With a sprinkling of first and second team players in their side, it was always going to be a hard slog for the Beds. And that it was. So I’m going to skirt over most of this game as it turned out to be a bit of a farce.

Enville’s innings – well they finished on 142 for 3. There weren’t many highlights for the Bedouins except to say that Smith N, deputising behind the stumps made two very sharp stumpings, both off Gregory who bamboozled the batsmen with flight and swing. He finished with 2 for 24 from his 4 overs. Branch was skipper for the night as Jono had legged it to Benidorm, and the former was the only other bowler to claim a wicket although Robinson only conceded 15 off his 4 overs.

In reply there was really only one highlight and it wasn’t Susman’s second ball duck. Ludlow in at 3 again showed what a classy batsman he is, playing some nice shots in his 32 retired. in truth Bedouins never looked like getting anywhere near Enville’s total and the game petered out with Bedouins finishing on 91 for 3.

Tenants v Landlord – The Nail Biter!

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Bedouins v Enville O40s – Wednesday 19th June

Bedouins win by 3 runs.

Another pleasant, warm and sunny evening saw the Bedouins take on the Enville Over 40’s this week in what turned out to be very exciting game, right down to the very last ball.

The team was already depleted and got worse throughout the Wednesday afternoon with Susman and Aston both falling foul to injury and illness. In stepped Weaver Senior and Weaver Junior (Ollie), both neighbours of Neill Smith, and also Brian Pearsall who stepped in at the eleventh hour. Many thanks to Lippo for this introduction, of which proved a fantastic inclusion, as Brian just happened to be an opening bowler for Worcestershire Over 60’s. All 3 inclusions fitted in to the squad straight away.

The toss was won by the skipper and the Bedouins were to bat first. There was a good opening partnership between openers Lippitt and N.Smith, only for the latter to get out caught by an awful delivery, but a superb catch at Gully. Lippitt was back to his very best with an array of lusty 4’s and reverse sweeps, retiring on 32.

Chris Ludlow came in at 3 and showed off some of his very best shots, including 2 superbly timed 6’s on his way to a very composed 30 not out. The middle order of Taylor (13), Weaver (2) and Bastable (6) had time at the end of the innings for some lusty blows to bring the Bedouins innings to a close at 123 for 2 at the end of 20 overs.

Enville this year had a good mix of young and old starlets, and from years gone by, the Bedouins were aware of some very dangerous players at the top of the order, namely Tonks and Cox. The top and middle order were no match for the bowlers however and the beds were able to keep the score down and take wickets just at the right time.

Cox was bowled by Bastable for 2 runs and the experienced opener Tonks was caught by the skipper at cover off the bowling of Pearsall, who bowled beautifully at the Enville top order with figures of 4 overs, 1 wicket for 11 runs.

It’s fair to say that Austin Gregory lives rent free in Enville skipper Z. Mahmood’s head, with once again the bowler getting the better of the batsman with a looping in swinger that clipped the bails. Gregory finished his spell of 4 overs for 18 runs and 3 wickets, one wicket of which was expertly stumped by N. Smith, who deputised very tidily for Howells this week. The other end was held up very well by Chris Rudge who was also a relative newcomer, and was unlucky to get a wicket in his 4 overs. A noble mention to Enville chairman Rob Miller who scored a solid 30 in amongst the falling wickets.

In the last 5 overs Enville required 47 to win off 30 balls and it was down to some canny death bowling from Lippo and the skipper himself to keep the score down. Enville continued to attack the target, even though there was a couple of wickets shared between Lippitt and Hill. However, a good partnership between 2 Enville youth lads wasn’t quite enough, and Lippo kept the runs down in the final over, including just a single off the last ball with Enville needing 4 to tie the match. Enville finishing on 120 for 7.

A nail bitter down to the last ball, and as usual the game played exactly in the right spirit. The game was watched by a very pleased Bedouins Chairman, who stayed to the very end to watch the beds clinch the win.

Fingers crossed for a re-match on 3rd July.