Scorecard

Olney Town Cricket Club Olney Town CC 2nd XI v Ivinghoe & Pitstone CC on Sat 30 May 2009 at 1:30pm
Olney Town Cricket Club Won by 20 runs

Match report 2nd XI beat top of the table Ivinghoe and Pitstone in edgy 20 run thriller

Well in 18 years of playing adult cricket, I thought I'd seen it all – but not all in one game. This had everything from dodgy LBW decisions (Sorry Chairman, but now I've got that out of the way) to some pretty heavy sledging, plenty to keep an ICC Match Referee busy anyway.

Bernie won the toss and in pretty extreme heat (for a red-head in May anyway) – we batted. Hurley and Hurley opened the batting and for the first over I thought that I'd be referring to Salsa-Dave as 'Father-of-Jon' the way Jon was dispatching the ball to the boundary. Unfortunately for Jon their opener sorted out his length in the third over and sent Jon back to the pavilion for a speedy 10. This brought Chairman Harrison to the crease to join Salsa-Dave. I was enjoying my umpiring, watching Mr Hurley trying to edge their bowler who was bowling a foot outside off stump. Fortunately he seemed to be missing. Unfortunately I thought that the straight one that hit Chairman-H on the pads was hitting the stumps. Apparently nobody else apart from the bowler did – so I think I might have got that one wrong. My only defence to 'he got a good stride in' is that he has little legs… Anyway – we have to move on…

This brought Bernie to the crease – who looked in fine touch and was eventually joined by Griff just as the FA Cup Final kicked off. Time of dismissal for Hurley: 3 pm, time of Saha's goal 3 pm + 25 seconds, Griff's first ball 3 pm + 60 seconds… You've got to feel for him really. Still it seemed to do the trick as Griff and Bernie put on a seasoned combination of nudge and fine stroke play to really increase the run rate and start to put pressure on a young but effective and quality Ivinghoe attack. Eventually both Gallyot and Griffin succumbed but left Olney in a good position to make hay with wickets remaining. Most of those were spurned but young Jewson, never one to quail in the face of opposition sledging, hit a fine 25 in quick time, including a very productive last over, to see the score to 225 for 9 off the 44.

After what was reported by Gratland/Griffin as the 'poshest' tea he's ever had at Olney (another fine tea, thank you Michelle – and I'm not just saying that because I triggered your husband. Thanks too to Badger for umpiring all day.), Olney took to the field, fully expecting to have to fight to win.

With a strong wind blowing across from the river, accompanied by a strong sun still high in the sky, things were looking good in the first 7-8 overs as the combination of in-swing from James and out-swing from Macdonald yielded a quick couple of wickets – one of which was from one of the worst balls I've bowled all season… oh well. But I&P came fighting back as their middle order started to dispatch the ball to the boundary with some ease and Olney were reminded that our ground is a good one for the batsmen and that to bowl a side out, you have to bowl well.

A change of bowling saw Griff come for some punishment and the Big-Mac continuing to trouble the batsmen for another couple of wickets. As the pressure increased, so did the I&P total with some fine batting, but Olney kept chipping away with a great catch at long on by Gary Brown (we'll not mention the one he ran in under and let go over his head…) and vital wickets from Chairman-H, Hurley (J) and a couple from Bernie in a very experienced spell. The tension was palpable, with a missed run-out opportunity descending into farce between umpire and mid-on… I've looked up the term 'bell-end' apparently it's the end of the rope that attaches to the bell in the church tower… It looked like Ivinghoe were going to chase us down but a timely wicket from Gratland left us with one to go but with the chase still on as their tail was still wagging the ball to the boundary. But it was still a one ball game and I'd had enough of all the on-field crap, so the coup-de-grace was delivered and we won by a mere 20 runs.

I don't know about the rest of the guys, but I knew I had been in a scrap and I could see why they were top of the table – a young, quality side. But a few elated but tired old heads in the changing new that our mix of experience and youth had won through. Generally we bowled too many 4-balls under pressure but our fielding was much improved in a well balanced Olney side, with a more even distribution of age than usual. Young Hurley's exploits have been reported above, Nick Freestone (Freestone? I though he was at least five) put in a fine performance in the field and Master Jewson had another good day with the jaws, sorry gloves. A tip from a senior Jack, let your cricket do the more of the talking – your end-of-innings 25 runs proved invaluable (look at the winning margin) but some of the banter was actually motivating the opposition – we'll work on the balance and it might just save you from a shooing!

Poor old Bernie had his work cut out but did a fine job as skipper – some timely changes in the bowling attack, and knowing when to drop the field and when to squeeze had a really important contribution to the win. I'm also going to recommend him to the Nobel committee for a Peace Prize given his success in preventing war breaking out on field. Still sometimes to beat tough opposition you have to front up and front up we did – I'm looking forward to the return game now.

3 and 3 for the season and unbeaten at home – let's keep pushing guys. We're 4th in the table (as we go to press and only one point behind our nearest neighbours who are in 3rd) – we're in amongst it. Bring on Little Horwood next week.

Olney Town Cricket Club Olney Town CC 2nd XI Batting
225 for 8
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Dave Hurley Caught  24
Jon Hurley Caught  10 1
Dave Harrison Lbw  10
Bernie Gallyot Caught  41
Andy Griffin Caught  75
Gary Brown Bowled  5 1
Jack Jewson Not Out  25 1
Simon Gratland Bowled  1
Gray Macdonald Caught  0
Iain James Not Out  0
Nick Freestone  

Ivinghoe & Pitstone CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
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Ivinghoe & Pitstone CC Batting
205 for 10
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Olney Town Cricket Club Olney Town CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Iain James8.1142314.005.14
Gray Macdonald8.0128214.003.50
Andy Griffin5.002900.005.80
Dave Hurley3.001800.006.00
Dave Harrison4.0015115.003.75
Jon Hurley5.0036136.007.20
Bernie Gallyot3.0021210.507.00
Simon Gratland2.00818.004.00