Dodgers v BSI

BSI won by 7 wickets

Having lost the toss, and been put in, Dodgers never recovered from the shock of having to open their innings without the delayed McBarron. The BSI attack was not fearsome, but very accurate, backed up by some athletic fielding. Carr was first to go, well caught in the gully for a duck, and after eleven overs, Dodgers found themselves 30-5. Hilary hit the only boundary of the innings, a crashing backfoot drive, but was promptly bowled by an unplayable yorker. Hilary was also involved in the fourth wicket to fall, as umpire, showing a theatrical touch to send Crawford on his way LBW for a duck, much to the batsman’s dismay. With only nine players, Dodgers were forced to try and bat out their overs. The latecomer McBarron was the man for the job, and well supported by the tail, Dodgers managed to survive. However, runs hardly flowed, McBarron’s 27 being made entirely of singles and twos. 61 was never going to challenge BSI.

On a rare appearance this year, Crawford made up for his disappointment with the bat, by bowling a full length at good pace to take two early wickets, including the opener, who was clearly a good batsman. And when Matthews did well to gather a throw from Hilary to effect a run out, BSI were 21-3, and the door was ajar. Unfortunately the other bowlers could not back Crawford up (one or two looked like they fancied an early drink for once), and BSI cruised to their target without further loss, and with more than 9 overs to spare.

Dodgers Innings
 
Benn      caught  b Terry       5
Carr(*)   caught  b Elliot      0
Hilary            b Elliot      6
McBarron          Hopkinson    27
Crawford  lbw     b Hopkinson   0
Cooper    caught  b Hopkinson   0
Qureshi           b Terry       6
Cousins           Not Out       2
Matthews(+)       Not Out       0
EXTRAS                         15
TOTAL                          61-7
 
Riaz        4-0-9-0
Elliot      4-0-18-2
Hopkinson   4-1-5-3
Terry       4-0-9-1
Ward        3-1-8-1
Charleston  1-0-3-0


BSI Innings

62-3 off 10.4 overs

Bowling figures
Cousins  4-0-28-0
Crawford 4-0-10-2
Benn     1.4-0-11-0
Hilary   1-0-10-0

Kempton Park Photo Gallery

Dodgers social trip to Kempton Park Races

What are the chances?

Not two of our horses...

JC surveys the form

Dodgers v Ombudsman

Chiswick

Result: Dodgers won by five or six runs

A fluctuating match that Dodgers looked to be winning comfortably for a while but in the end was decided only in the last over. There is a discrepancy in the scores, hence the uncertainty over the winning margin.

Dodgers batted first and our opening pair of McBarron and Priest started comfortably but slowly. Phil in particular struggled to get going and took 16 overs to amass his 22 runs. After Neil was out in the 11th over we suffered a mid-innings collapse and sixteen runs were added in four overs while three wickets were lost. Batsmen 3, 4 and 5 were all out for single figures and it took a brisk, hard-hitting innings by guest Simon Gundry to give our score an air of respectability. His knock of 35 included four fours and a six.

We weren't sure whether a score of 109 was going to be enough but we had plenty of bowling. Gundry followed his innings by taking his frustration at being dropped by Superstars out on the Ombudsperson's batsmen. His two wickets in three overs, backed up by one for Will Streatfeild and some tidy overs from Henry Hilary and Matt Leach had the opposition rocking at 24 for 4. However, Parsons and Robson added 36 for the fifth wicket and gave their team a chance. After I accounted for both of them, Copeland and Armstrong kept the score ticking over. Both Matt and I had bowled tidily but our last overs cost us nine and eleven runs respectively. There was now a chance that we might lose but two accurate overs by John Cooper sealed the win. The opposition claimed they wanted five to win off the last two balls (I make it seven) but a dot and a wicket for John shut the door.

Dodgers innings 
 
McBarron           ct        b Patel     22
Priest             ct        b King      21
Westhead           ct        b King       7
Carr               lbw       b Patel      3
Cooper             ct        b Copeland   7
Gundry             retired               35
S. Birch                     run out      2
H. Hilary                    not out      2
Streatfeild                  not out      0
Extras (b1, lb3, w6, nb1)                11
Total                                   109*                                
Did not bat: Leach, Pope
(*I know it adds up to 110 but it was 109 at the time
and that is the score the opposition chased.)

 
Bowling
              o-m-r-w
Armstrong     4-0-16-0
Johnson       4-0-10-0
King          4-0-24-2
Copeland      4-0-31-1
Patel         4-2-26-2                

 
Ombdusman innings
 
Carberry         ct Priest     b Gundry        8
Parsons          st Priest     b Pope         21
Lillywhite                     b Gundry        1
Tattersall                     b Streatfeild   2
Hodson           ct Carr       b Leach         0
Robson           ct McBarron   b Pope         23
Troost           ct Carr       b Leach         3
Copeland         ct Priest     b Pope         10
Johnson                        not out        18
Armstrong        ct Priest     b Cooper        3
Extras (b1, lb1, w9)                          11
Total                                        103*
Did not bat: King
(*the opposition said it was 104 but I can only find 103)

 
Bowling
              o-m-r-w
Gundry        3-1-2-2
Streatfeild   4-0-20-1
H. Hilary     3-1-9-0
Leach         4-0-28-2
Pope          4-0-32-3
Cooper        2-0-10-1

Man of the match: Simon Gundry

SUPERSTARS v DODGERS

Superstars won the toss and elected to bat

Superstars 185/3 off 20.0 overs (Perera 72, Gigg 54, Cooper 2-42, Cavanagh 1-19) Dodgers 143/4 off 20.0 overs (Cavanagh 71, Taylor 2-22, Perera 1-12, Patten 1-14)

SUPERSTARS WON BY 42 RUNS

Dodgers Man of the Match: Mark Cavanagh

328/7 off 40 overs - now that's entertainment. Unless of course you are a bowler.

This second match in this year's series against Superstars saw us fall to two down with two to play, although this was a much better showing than the first game.

Even though Captain Carr was delayed it was business as usual as we lost the toss and had to field on what looked like nothing more than an average batting track. Superstars promptly racked up the biggest score we have conceded in a twenty over game, just passing the FSA's 181 of the week before. Messrs Crawford and Roper will no doubt be pleased to have missed both encounters, a fact pointed out at least 83 times by Neil Benn.

Although some of the bowling was wayward to say the least and our fielding was down to its usual standard this huge total came largely due to some excellent batting from Superstars. Gigg (54) batted better than we have seen for several seasons and although Perera (72) started slowly he too was soon dispatching the ball to all parts. You know you are in trouble when Lomas (15*) comes in and smashes his first ball through the covers for four and by the time Whitrod appeared to face only the last ball of the innings few would have bet against the resulting six over mid-wicket. For Dodgers Cavanagh (1-19) was the pick of the bowlers bowling at a lively pace and nearly taking Perera's head off with a great bouncer. Cooper picked up a couple of wickets at the end and Henry Hilary bowled well once he found his range.

Facing the daunting prospect of 9 an over and with Gundry promising to bend his back McBarron graciously offered to drop down the order to give others a chance for a bat. Facing the daunting prospect of chasing 9 an over and with Gundry promising to bend his back it seemed likely plenty of others would get a chance anyway, so this kind offer was equally graciously declined by the Skipper.

So it was that Priest and McBarron re-formed their now familiar opening combination. Gundry was true to his word and bowled four quick and hostile overs, although Phil got us off to the best possible start by snicking the first ball through slip for four. This set the tone as almost all of the 18 that Gundry conceded were to the third man area. However, with the required rate soon well into double figures we clearly had them worried as for Gundry's third over Superstars had five men on the boundary.

The entertainment of Gundry's spell (more entertaining from the boundary than from 22 yards I suspect) hid the fact that Patten also bowled very well from the other end and it was Patten who made the breakthrough in the eighth over to bowl McBarron for 6. This only served to set the stage for the entry of Mark Cavanagh who proceeded to play one of the best ever Dodgers' innings that I for one have ever seen. Mark smashed eight fours and three sixes on his way to 71, leaving Priest in the somewhat unaccustomed support role. In the middle of the innings four overs from Andrews and Goram went for an incredible 72, only 15 of them to Priest. By now Superstars were seriously worried and at one point had nobody saving one on the leg side. We were starting to believe that we (ie. Mark) could pull it off. Of course, it wasn’t to be and as so often it was Taylor (2-22) who did the damage, Priest going to a top edged pull and Cavanagh caught not long after by Perera.

In the end we finished on 143/4 which would have been easily enough on almost any other night - it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we’d scored them batting first. There was of course no doubt about man of the match and Kav looks a bloody good player to me. Let’s hope he keeps turning out.

Quote of the week:

I can't remember anything really funny (although Superstars' Paul Andrews mistaking Phil McBarron for Phil Patten raised a smile), so hear are some other sports related quotes that seem to fit in with the Dodgers ethos...

Bill Shankley on Martin Chivers: "The big lad is deceptive. He's slower than he looks."

Trevor Bailey on Compton: "His calls while running are merely a basis for negotiation."

George Foreman on fighting for the world heavyweight crown aged 42: "Holyfield has never fought a true heavyweight. When he fights me he is taking on every burger franchise in America."

Neil Armstrong after his own gut was compared to other physically perfect astronaut specimens: "I believe we are born with a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I am going to waste mine exercising."

Superstars
 
Gigg*          c. Matthews    b. Cavanagh    54
Perera         c. McBarron    b. Cooper      72
Conway+        c. Hilary H    b. Cooper      29
Lomas                         Not Out        15
Whitrod                       Not Out         6
Extras                                       10
TOTAL (for 3 wickets off 20.0 overs)        185


Bowling
               O   M   R   W
Benn           2   0  16   0
Streatfield    3   0  25   0
Cavanagh       4   0  19   1
Qureshi        2   0  30   0
Hilary H       3   0  21   0
Cooper         4   0  42   2
Hawton         2   0  26   0


Dodgers

McBarron                   b. Patten       4
Priest         c. Conway   b. Taylor      39
Cavanagh       c. Perera   b. Taylor      71
Carr*                      Not Out         7
Cooper                     b. Perera       3
Benn                       Not Out         0
Extras                                    17
TOTAL (for 4 wickets off 20.0 overs)     143
DNB:  Hawton, Matthews+, Qureshi, Streatfield, Hilary H

Bowling
           O   M   R   W
Gundry     4   0   18  0
Patten     4   0   14  1
Andrews    2   0   36  0
Goram      2   0   33  0
Taylor     4   0   22  2
Perera     4   1   12  1

St Andrews Photo Gallery

St Andrews v Dodgers

Addington Park

Dodgers (226-1, 40 overs) bt St Andrews (179 all out, 36.1 overs) by 47 runs

An easy victory for Dodgers against outclassed opponents, played at a new venue (for Dodgers) on the rural fringe of Croydon. Marred only by an inability to finish the game quickly once it was clear it was won.

Winning the toss, Dodgers opted to bat and, thanks to solid innings from McBarron and Hilary , who retired unbeaten on 69 and 68 respectively, and Benn (28) quickly established a solid platform for the Dodgers innings, helped by dismal St Andrews fielding which contributed some 18 byes to the Dodgers total. Following the retirements, which coincided with a short break in play for rain, Kavanagh slogged a quick 36, ably supported by Matthews at the non-strikers end, taking Dodgers to a total of 226-1 - a good score for a team missing the batting of Carr, Priest and Roper.

Following the usual fine St Andrews tea of ham sandwiches and Mr Kiplings cakes, washed down with orange squash, the home side never looked likely to approach the Dodgers’ target. Crawford (0-16) and Qureshi (1-23), opening the bowling, were economical but lacked penetration, sharing just one wicket between them. However a change of bowling quickly paid off as Kavanagh (2-9) took two wickets and quality Dodgers fielding (a rarity this season) delivered two run outs. Having secured the first seven wickets for only 84 runs, Dodgers made heavy weather of finishing off the innings. However, eventually the tail was wrapped up by Cooper (1-39) grabbing a fine caught and bowled, three wickets from Leach (3-42) and one from Pope (1-41), who captured the valuable wicket of Clark, the only St Andrews player who looked capable of bringing the Croydon team back into the match.

Dodgers innings
 
McBarron (c)   retd                         68
Benn           ct Hockborn     b Seagal     28
Hilary         retd                         68
Matthews (w)                   not out       1
Cavanagh                       not out      36
Extras (18b, 1lb, 1w, 4nb)                  24
Total (40 overs)                           226

(did not bat:  Crawford, Cooper, Qureshi, Leach)

Bowling
             o   m   r   w
Ashish       8   0  29   0
Mummery      8   1  41   0
Seagal       8   0  45   1
Hockborn     8   2  30   0
Clark J      5   0  38   0
Whitton      3   0  29   0

 
St Andrews innings
 
Salesh                         run out (Hilary)      10
Pawarod                        b Cavanagh            10
Hockborn                       b Cavanagh            22
Pay            ct Benn         b Qureshi              2
Clark M        ct Matthews     b Pope                61
Munnery        ct Matthews     b Leach                7
Whittam                      c&b Cooper               0
Clarke S                       run out (Matthews)     0
Burbridge      ct Benn         b Leach               17
Clark J                        not out               13
Seagal         ct Matthews     b Leach               23
Extras (5b, 4lb, 4w, 1nb)                            14
Total (all out, 36.1 overs)                         179

Bowling
            o   m   r   w
Crawford    6   1  16   0 
Qureshi     7   0  23   1
Leach      7.1  0  42   3
Kavanagh    5   1   9   2
Cooper      5   0  39   1
Pope        6   0  41   1

Man of the Match: Cavanagh

FSA v DODGERS

(Author Phil McBarron)
20 OVERS MATCH, CHISWICK, 3 JUNE 2003
Result: FSA won by lots.
Dodgers Man of the Match: Mark Kavanagh

HAMMERED (TWICE)

The second occasion was last night at Kempton Park races where Capt Carr and I failed to find a single winner and suffered combined losses of £255. The first occasion was at Chiswick 24 hours earlier where a plucky Dodgers side was annihilated by a very classy FSA XI.

We had never played FSA before but word of their strength had emerged before the toss and Capt Carr very sensibly allowed them to bat first by agreement. The FSA captain had already stated his intention to retire his batsman "when" they reached 50 (he didn't say "if" such was his confidence on observing the riff-raff ranged against his boys). Play commenced under fairly overcast skies and Dodgers took the field with only 10 players having been unable to raise a full side. Being one light in the field clearly didn't help but such was the quality of the batting it would have made little difference if we had 15 fielders. FSA opener Stigent (who has played for the full South African U-19 side) was particularly impressive and reached his 50 in 10 overs. It wasn't a chanceless innings but such was the timing and power of his shots that we were not able to cling onto the two half chances he offered. Sillet and Friend (two first XI club batsmen) were only marginally less impressive and destructive in scoring 51 and 46 respectively.

Our bowlers actually stuck to their task very well despite Benn's attempts to feign injury and persuade Carr to "give McBarron an over or two skip". Although we conceded numerous boundaries these were usually the result of good shots rather than bad balls. Although 181 is many more than we have ever conceded in 20 overs, we have never had to cope with sustained batting of this calibre. In the end we were relieved to keep them below 200 and Cooper and Qureshi picked up a wicket apiece. We were playing on the 'A' pitch in the middle of the square and so the side boundaries were extremely long, otherwise 200 plus would have been inevitable. Despite his short and deceptive run up, new boy Mark Kavanagh bowled a particularly brisk and hostile spell and was probably the quickest bowler on view all night. Even Stigent didn't seem to relish a couple of short balls that flew past his nose.

It was also good to see Henry Hilary return to the fold and he bowled perfectly respectably. It was clear that Henry has accelerated his training regime for the forthcoming "World's Most Pissed Bloke Championships", and on Tuesday's evidence he is our best contender since Doylee and Priest in their drinking prime managed a bronze in the pairs event. The champagne (or Kronenburg) moments were Henry falling over and being unable to regain the use of his limbs after attempting a catch, followed a few balls later by running in the opposite direction to the ball when it was hit towards him (some of you will recall another drinking legend Spencer Broadley doing much the same on a Superstars tour to York a few years ago). Henry is a top bloke and a good cricketer so let's hope we see him a few more times this season.

It would be fair to say that we were not much looking forward to our turn to bat. We knew the target was way out of reach, the skies had darkened and it seemed inevitable that FSA would have some seriously quick bowlers who would have noted the short pitched stuff from Kavanagh. Capt Carr was keen to avoid the complete humiliation of being rolled over for something desperate like 30 or less and gave the order that we should "simply bat sensibly". In the absence of any other volunteers he decided to open the batting himself with McB. As expected the FSA seam bowling was accurate and quick enough. Fortunately, it was not seriously quick (more hit the pitch and hit the bat hard kind of stuff). The Dodgers openers were able to survive reasonably comfortably but found the bowling, backed up by some very keen fielding, much harder to get away. After 10 overs only 32 runs had been scored, although Carr was benefiting from much needed time at the crease. With total humiliation avoided Carr gave the order to press on and 31 runs were scored off the next 5 overs. At 63-0 after 15 overs, Carr decided that he and McB should retire. The game was clearly lost and there was no point in carrying on and denying other Dodgers the chance of at least a brief hit. At this point Benn was heard to mutter in reference to McB - "I don't believe it, the bastard is opting for a red-inker". That of course is an incorrect interpretation - this was yet another selfless act by McB, following captain's orders and denying himself a probable 50 in the process. Although Birch and the Cat went cheaply, Cavanagh had enough time to prove that he is a decent act with the bat and managed a quick-fire 31, including 10 runs off the last 2 balls of the innings. Sadly that still left us one short of the 100 mark.

All in all an enjoyable if one sided game. Even with our best XI out it is difficult to see how we could ever be consistently competitive against a side like FSA. Their batting is the strongest I have ever encountered playing for Dodgers (better than Traveaux according to Mr Benn). Their bowling (backed up by excellent fielding) is also above average for our level although not quite as strong as their batting. If we do play them again we should stick with the 20 overs format (one could imagine them scoring 400 in good conditions in 40 overs). However, there is one ray of hope. Superstars managed to bowl them out for 61 last year and won the game by 10 wickets. According to Barry Gigg it was a freakish result - the pitch was poor and the FSA blokes went for their shots and Superstars held onto a series of catches. Siva managed 4 wickets including Stigent! Interestingly, Superstars best and quickest bowler Gundry didn't pick up any wickets.

This led to a brief discussion in the bar about how some of our absent bowlers might have fared. Most thought Crawford would have gone for plenty because he would have come onto the bat at good pace and a nice height. Several thought that Mr Adey's straight and fairly slow stuff in the slot, would have been a candidate for six sixes in an over (the straight boundaries were not very long). By common consent we all thought that David Pope might have fared best - we reckoned that Stigent would never have come across a bowler quite like David in South Africa.

Quote of the week - Mr Benn in Yorkshire twang after his first three balls were smacked for boundaries - "why are Crawford and Roper never playing when the good batsmen are around - me av'rij".

FSA

Sillett      RETIRED     51
Stigent      RETIRED     51
Friend       Not Out     46
Rowlands     b Cooper    16
Lord         b Qureshi    9
Baker        Not Out      0
Extras                   12
TOTAL                   181 for 2, 20 overs


Dodgers Bowling

Cousins    4 overs  0-29
Kavanagh   4 overs  0-25
H Hilary   3 overs  0-30
Benn       3 overs  0-32 (yes and ouch!)
Qureshi    3 overs  1-27
Cooper     3 overs  1-27
Carr       1 over   0-0


DODGERS

McBarron   RETIRED                     38
Carr       RETIRED                     22
Birch      c&b James                    0
Kavanagh   Not Out                     31
Matthews   c ? b Gigg (no relation)     2
Qureshi    Not Out                      1
Extras                                  5
TOTAL                                  99 for 2, 20 overs
Dnb - Benn, Cooper, Cousins, H Hilary


FSA bowling

Baker      3 overs  0-3
Hooper     4 overs  0-14
Bourne     4 overs  0-26
James      4 overs  1-13
Hawthorn   3 overs  0-29
Gigg       2 overs  1-11