AMERSHAM CC

Scorecard

Fleet v AMERSHAM CC Saturday 1st X1 on Sat 25 Jul 2009 at 13:30
AMERSHAM CC Won by 10 wickets

Match report HUGH'S HEROICS LEAD AMERSHAM TO VICTORY

Amersham experienced one of their more unusual Saturdays this week; the most normal thing about it was the control exerted by the bowling attack and the 20 points collected at the end of the game.
There was no sign of the trauma to come as the team gathered at Shardeloes at 1045. Fleet is the furthest flung corner of the Thames Valley League that we visit at present, but we had not planned for a car fire on the M3. The three hour journey time was at best an irritation, although a certain amount of Dunkirk spirit was in evidence. A game of hard shoulder cricket was about to begin when we finally moved from our position on the slip road between the M25 and the M3. Brief research has yielded the information that a 3 hour journey could bring you to Scunthorpe (by car), King's Lynn (by train) or (if you were already at Heathrow) Reykjavik or Marrakech. We only got as far as Fleet, on the Surrey/Hampshire border.

Our late arrival in North Hampshire meant that the game was reduced to 90 overs in length to ensure completion before dark. This meant the toss became even more important and Luke Jackson promptly lost it. However, the Fleet captain sprung a surprise by opting to bat, exactly what we would have asked them to do had we won the toss. This can clearly be identified as the instant in the day when the cricketing gods stopped throwing thunderbolts at us and started smiling on the men from Amersham.

Alex Lines and Chris Cann, fresh from an hour curled up in the back of Hugh Jackson's VW Golf were immediately pressed into action to open the bowling. A certain amount of waywardness was evident initially, but they both soon found a good line and length. Fleet's openers were not shy of playing their shots, although many of their aggressive strokes spent time off the ground. This proved to be the undoing of Russell Black, who mistimed a drive off Cann (1-19)to the safe hands of Richard Stephenson, who had clearly made good use of his enforced 90 minute solo warm up. Gurney repeated this trick, hitting Alex Lines (1-15) to Luke Jackson at mid off, who also caught Parker, undone by a wily full toss from Andy Viney (1-19). This made the score 54-3, and the spinners were introduced to the attack.

David Atkinson (4-23) conceded a run in his first over, but not again until his 7th over, and claimed Ferguson's wicket, LBW, in the same spell. Fleet skipper Tim Downes (18) tried to impose himself on the spinners, but soon guided one into the gloves of Rob Viney off Abhay Mayer (3-9).

One feature of Mayer's game is his impassioned appealing, which reached new theatrical heights at Fleet. One appeal was delivered, as Shakespeare put it, "with spritely fire and motion, whose simple touch is powerful to raise King Pippen" (All's Well that ends Well). Unfortunately King Pippen (the umpire) was not as keen to raise his finger on this occasion, but did oblige later as the Fleet tail subsided to the combined guile of the two spinners.

Chris Fleming (66*) and Andy Viney (26*) demonstrated a different approach to scoring the runs. Fleming was particularly harsh on anything off length, hitting 12 boundaries in his 66, which came off 59 balls, while Andy Viney interspersed his usual watchfulness with punishing offside shots, finishing the game with a punch through backward point for 4.

A quick drink and a stop at the Fleet branch of KFC and we were able to reacquaint ourselves with the M3, now moving freely, as another strange day in the annals of ACC drew to a close.

My man of the match is Chris Fleming because I enjoyed watching him plunder runs more or less at will.

TFC this week is at first sight a tough one, since we won by 10 wickets. However, closer inspection reveals that it is, in fact, no contest. Early contenders Chris Owen & Luke Jackson took two catches each while Rich Stephenson was at his diplomatic best in managing the late arrival of 91% of the team & took a catch. This leaves Hugh. Hugh's crucial decision was to join the rest of the team at Amersham rather than go direct. Game time this week: 4.5 hours. Travelling time to and from Amersham (including visit to KFC) 4.25 hours. Hugh's extra travelling time: 2 hours. Hugh's total travelling time 6.25 hours. Put another way, this is just under 5 minutes on the road on Saturday per league run scored this season. I think this is a truly heroic performance.

Fleet Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
96 (0.0 overs)		     
R Black ct  Stephenson b Cann 8
A Parker ct  L Jackson b A Viney 25
D Gurney ct  L Jackson b Lines 2
D Ferguson lbw  Atkinson 9
M Lee ct  Owen b Mayer 9
T Downes ct  R Viney b Mayer 18
S Morgan ct  Owen b Atkinson 1
P Talbot b  Atkinson 3
J Curd lbw  Mayer 4
P Singleton b  Atkinson 0
G Chalkley Not Out  0

AMERSHAM CC Saturday 1st X1 Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Alex Lines7.0115115.002.14
Chris Cann6.0019119.003.17
David Atkinson14.572345.751.55
Andrew Viney5.0019119.003.80
Abhay Mayer9.05933.001.00

AMERSHAM CC Saturday 1st X1 Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 0 wickets
0
97		        
Chris Fleming Not Out  66
Andrew Viney Not Out  26
Abhay Mayer  
Chris Cann  
Luke Jackson   2
Richard Stephenson   1
Hugh Jackson  
Chris Owen   2
Robert Viney   1
Alex Lines  
David Atkinson  

Fleet Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
P Singleton9.014100.004.56
G Chalkley4.011500.003.75
S Morgan3.002700.009.00
P Talbot2.10900.004.15

  • Umpire :
    League
  • Scorer :
    None