Dodgers @ Buckhurst Hill, 4 September 2005

Match report by Simon Cousins:

Sweltering heat and a slow, low wicket combined to produce a soporific draw, as Dodgers finished their season in the Essex suburbs.

Stand-in captain Benn once again lost the toss, and condemned his team to fielding in the heat of the day. The Dodgers opening bowlers, Cousins and Cooper both bowled tidily. But the batsmen were taking no chances, eschewing scoring chance, except tucking into the full tosses, of which there were too many. The young opener, Gray, looked set for a big innings, when he was trapped in front by Cousins, but there were few other chances.

It was Benn who looked the more threatening. He deserved more than the one wicket he took, with the batsmen unable to pick up his line from left arm over. But he had only himself to blame, by missing an easy caught and bowled chance, despite having four goes at it.

Fox also continued his encouraging form for Dodgers, taking a wicket courtesy of a brilliant catch diving to his right by Matthews. But his spell was cut short when he rashly tried to stop a hard straight drive with his ankle.

In fact all the bowlers stuck to their task well, even new-boy Marr, who was unlucky to take some punishment off straight balls. But by the time the Leyton Wizard, Pope, came onto bowl, wickets were desperately needed. Second ball, he obliged, the batsman popping one straight up to mid-on – where Benn again fluffed the catch. The batsmen now treated Pope with due respect, but he still got his statutory Buckhurst wicket, Atkinson driving low to McBarron in the covers.

Eventually Buckhurst declared at 4pm, and their score of 182-4 did not look massive. When Dodgers started, after an excellent tea, they looked to be positive. At one end was the dangerous quickie Baig, at the other a young spinner, who could turn it both ways. McBarron and Taylor seemed to be seeing off Baig, and picking off the spinner’s bad balls. But having made 12, McBarron was given out LBW on the front foot to Baig. This started a collapse, as Baig, now keeping the ball very low, and swinging it, ran through the Dodger's batting order. 30-0 became 60-6, with Baig taking four wickets, and one suicidal run out (Qureshi).

With the last 20 overs beginning, the odds were on a Buckhurst win. But Cousins and Benn now embarked on their second major partnership in four days. With Buckhurst employing an exclusively spin attack, there were nine fielders round the bat. But though neither batsmen, particularly Cousins, looked comfortable, generally the bowlers pitched too short, allowing the batsmen to play it off the pitch, and avoid the trap of the close fielders. When he had made 6, Benn saluted the rapturous applause from the boundary, which bemused the Buckhurst team. In fact this was to acknowledge that he'd become the first Dodger to reach 1000 runs and 100 wickets, a feat of such magnitude that later this proud Yorkshireman bought two jugs in the bar.

As the last over began, Buckhurst still needed four wickets, and the match seemed safe. But off the first ball, Cousins played around a straight one. Cooper then pushed into the hands of one of the close fielders, and the result was in doubt. Fox, though, comfortably saw off the next three balls, and celebrated by hitting the last one over mid-on for 4.

Dodgers were clearly second best on the day. But given that they had the worst of the conditions, and that the bowlers had bowled with such discipline, a draw was probably what they deserved.

Dodgers @ Buckhurst Hill - Sunday 4 September

The match this Sunday will be played at Buckhurst Hill Cricket Club's lower, Roding Lane ground.

[Directions: as you leave Buckhurst Hill Underground station (Central Line) via the car park, turn right across the bridge over the Underground. This road becomes Roding Lane and continue along it going east until you find the ground on the left. The entrance is slightly set back from the road but it's only about 1/2 mile from the station.]

Match start time: 1pm

Rain stopped play starting

Tonight's match against ATOC has been called off due to the bad weather.

"The Warwick Dodgers" v St Andrews (Burgess Hill) - match report

There's a report of Sunday's match on the St Andrews website.

Dodgers v St Andrews @ Burgess Hill, Sunday 21 August 2005

A joint Dodgers / Warwick Castle Select XI takes on JJ's St Andrews at Burgess Hill this Sunday. Here are the directions to the ground for those playing:

BY CAR FROM LONDON

Take the exit for Burgess Hill from the A23, turning left in front of the Little Chef and petrol station. Go for about 3/4 mile until you reach a roundabout (go straight over) then take a left at the next roundabout where you should have a new school on your left and a leisure centre in front. At the next roundabout, take another left. Then, at the NEXT roundabout you take a right (up the hill) and there should be a welcome to Burgess Hill sign. Continue up the hill until you reach the Kings Head pub where you will need to turn left at the mini-roundabout. The ground is then on your left behind the hedge, there's plenty of parking.

BY TRAIN

Go to Wivelsfield Station from Victoria or London Bridge. When you get there, turn left out of the station and walk for about a mile until you have a cricket ground on your right. Then play cricket. Invariably there are quicker trains which run to Burgess Hill Station from Victoria. Those with cars will be able to sort out lifts from the station.

Dodgers v Ombudsman, 18 August 2005

Match report by Simon Cousins:

On a humid evening, Dodgers ensured that they finished with a positive record for 2005 with a comfortable win by 13 runs over the Ombudsman.

Stand-in skipper Benn won the toss and chose to bat first and it was soon clear that conditions would favour the bowlers when in the second over Hilary's recent good form was interrupted by a ball that swung in a good six inches to hit middle. None of the batsmen looked comfortable, though Dunning (25 no) did well to see off the opening bowlers. At the halfway point, Dodgers had made just 43. But despite swinging the ball extravagantly, the Ombudsman bowled far too many wides (17 in all), which kept the run rate ticking over. The second half of the innings was more profitable, as Qureshi (25no) took charge, getting correctly to the pitch of the ball to minimise the effect of the swing. All the middle order and tail contributed, and the running was more energetic than is often the case, despite an impressive fielding display from the Ombudsman team.

The final Dodgers total of 112 seemed no better than par on what was a good wicket. But it was soon put in perspective. Cousins kept things tight at one end, but it was Benn (3-17), inspired by the captaincy, who broke the back of the Ombudsman innings. Bowling a full length to allow the ball to swing, he castled the top three for next to nothing. With Golden Arm Cooper joining in with two wickets in his first over, the score was 24-5 after 9 overs and the match as good as over. The Ombudsman team fought to the end, but the bowling remained disciplined (Dodgers bowled just 4 wides), supported by uncharacteristically good fielding. The one blip was a dreadful drop from Qureshi, flooring a dolly that even Adam Gilchrist may have held. Towards the end Luke signed off in his last game before a sabbatical from Dodgers by teaming up with Matthews for his second stumping in as many weeks, crowning an impressive Dodgers performance.

Back on track

A high-octane Dodgers crushed BSI tonight by 85 runs to record their ninth win of the year. With only six defeats, we are just one victory away from guaranteeing another positive season.

Captain Priest won the toss and opened with Westhead. Thirteen runs came from the first over to set the tone before Guy introduced a new variant on his standard dismissal: he still played back to a full ball but this time got his leg in the way. Out for 6 and 26 for 1.

BSI’s bowling was very variable – to say the least – and the batsmen took full toll. Priest, McBarron, Hilary, Qureshi and Gundry all reaching the retirement score of 25 in quick time without giving a single chance, Charleston’s four overs costing 48 with a further four overs coming from a promising 14-year-old leg spinner. We closed on 155-1 – in theory a second-wicket stand of 127!

It’s remarkable how a massive score on the boards can settle the bowlers and the luckless Cooper began with five balls on a good line and just back of a length as the opener swung violently and missed. The sixth was similar and the batsman’s top edge floated to McB at point, where it was uncharacteristically floored. At least it kept McB relatively quiet for a bit. The second over from Benn was all-action: two powerfully struck boundaries and two wickets, both bowled.

The 14-year-old had opened the innings and his chuntering and cursing was getting on our skipper’s wick, even though he wasn’t actually scoring. Time for Mr Gundry! It went quiet for a while as ball after ball thudded into the Cat’s gloves, but Simon is a gentleman and stuck to length and line rather than tickling his ribs.

With Operation Gundry not working it was time for some subtlety – so nothing to do with any of the regulars then. The Hilary family were on a mass outing to Chiswick and JH’s nephew, Charlie Wood, was drafted into the eleven. Fortunately for him, Charlie has no obvious Hilary characteristics and his first ball confirmed this impression: it was a Chinaman which pitched, turned and hit the leg bail to win the battle of the teenagers at the first attempt, his opponent having occupied the crease for 11 overs for 12.

Two catches by Great Uncle John followed (the second a beauty) to give Charlie figures of 3-0-14-3. It could’ve been better too, because the umpire – on his mobile at the time - ruled out an attempted stumping by the Cat when the batsman wasn’t back in his ground until after the next ball! A wicket for Adey and two for Old Spawny Wickets at the end sealed a very comfortable victory as BSI reached just 68 in the seventeenth over.

The British Standards Institute suggested that the two teenagers were joint men-of-the-match. The Dodgers Standards Institute concluded that three wickets in a massive win was rather better than no wickets and eleven overs of blocking and awarded it to Charlie.

Off the rails

After the sensational finish at Regents in June, Dodgers were looking forward to a less nervy encounter against ATOC at Chiswick on Wednesday with a nice early finish: and so it proved.

Having lost the toss – again – and been inserted, Priest and Jacobs made a respectable start on a bouncy track before Chris missed the type of delivery that has given him so much trouble over the years, the straight one. A few moments later Neil gloved an attempted pull into his face to sustain a cut above his eye and the easy game we were expecting was not really materialising.

The Priest / McBarron partnership made sedate headway against rather better bowling than the last encounter but Neil was just starting to find his feet when a very indifferent piece of running by McB left him hopelessly stranded. [I use the word “indifferent” on legal advice – you’ll have to use your imagination as to how bad it really was].

The innings was becoming stalled as neither Phil nor the incoming Carr could manage a-run-a-ball against consistent bowling. When both were out in the 20s desperately trying to make progress the youngsters Luke and Qureshi added some urgency but neither could really break the shackles as we closed on 101-5.

Our score looked hopelessly inadequate – perhaps 50 runs short - on a really good track and the early overs didn’t change anyone’s opinion. Cousins bowled with his customary control but Benn and Cooper were distinctly lacklustre at the other end against some very solid looking batting. A brief mid-innings flurry gave us hope as a voluntary retirement was followed by a dubious run out and a rare stumping for the Cat off Luke, but we never had a serious prospect of victory, even when their premier batsman was bowled attempting to hit Pope into the Thames. The match was eventually wrapped up in the seventeenth over to give ATOC a very cosy victory.

Was this really the same side we played at Regents? Re-nationalise the railways!

Dodgers v Superstars - 2 August 2005

Match report by Neil Priest:

Last night a strong Dodgers side met an equally strong Superstars side looking to exact some revenge for their Sportsday semi-final defeat.

Inevitably we lost the toss and were put into bat and inevitably Superstars took the field with only ten as part time Dodgers player, this time turning out for Superstars, Rhys Thomas was late. The pitch was slightly green but surprisingly hard given the recent rain and we played on the edge of the square on the "A" pitch with a 40 yard boundary on one side and a ridiculous 140+ boundary on the other.

As John Hilary prepared for his usual top of the order role by putting on the umpires coat and striding out towards the middle he was called back by Captain Carr and told to pad up – Dodgers hoping to cash in on JH's good six-a-side form by using him as a pinch hitter. And boy did he deliver, ably supported by Nick Harrison in his last game of the season. Gundry was repeatedly charged by Nick and went for 18 off 4 and Taylor also suffered going for 31 off his allocation. Nick was finally stumped off Suggitt off the last ball of the 10th over with the score on about 70. Hilary and Priest then set about Superstars lesser bowling and we finished with an excellent 165/1, Priest 43* and Hilary finishing with a superb 76*, his highest score for Dodgers.

Superstars started well with Gigg looking in fine form turning Cousins off his hip for four in the first over and following it up with a lovely square cut for four and then a six over extra cover off Paterson. Rod came back well though and soon hit the top of a retreating Gigg's leg stump. Conway quickly followed, bowled trying to moo Cousins over the pavilion. This brought together Abigail and Lomas, with Walker and Gundry ominously padded up.

After 10 overs Superstars had 72 on the board. Good spells from Adey and Cooper kept the pressure on although Alex Luke, making a welcome return from injury and turning his arm over for the first time in nearly a year, had a few Dodgers hearts in mouths as he conceded 34 off 3 (very good second over though).

Some quick singles by Conway on running for the now injured Abigail and we started to feel the pressure until a good throw from the short boundary by Priest finally ran out Lomas. This brought in the dangerous Walker, also injured meaning that there were two runners on at the same time. Then Hero Hilary dropped Abigail on the long on boundary. No matter we thought as Richard had been scoring quite slowly. He then of course spanked two sixes and a four straight afterwards but some quick thinking by the Cat had him run out for 54 as runner Conway tried to steal a bye.

Harrison came on for one over before rushing off to meet "Ivan" at Hammersmith station (just what is this job in Moscow...?) but a good tight penultimate over from Paterson (Gundry of all people asking him to slow down because of the light!) left McBarron needing to concede less than 21 off the last over. When Walker skied Phil's second ball to Priest at long off the victory was effectively sealed, especially when Gundry came in and seemingly decided to play for his average off the last few balls. Superstars finished on 153/5.

So victory by 12 runs and 2-1 up with one to play. An excellent all round performance based on keeping our heads under pressure in the field and a great knock from Mr Hilary.

Dodgers bowling:

Cousins 4 0 26 1
Paterson 4 0 29 1
Adey 3 0 22 0
Luke 3 0 34 0
Cooper 4 0 19 0
Harrison 1 0 9 0
McBarron 1 0 9 1

M-O-M: Hilary 9, Cooper 2

Sports Day 2005 – best ever performance but still only the bridesmaids...

On Friday 22 July two teams from the club embarked on the annual quest for six-a-side glory at the SPARTA Sportsday. Dodgers were represented by Neil Priest (c/wk), Simon Cousins, Phil McBarron, Rod Paterson, John Hilary and guest Darren Cooper. The Codgers were John Carr (c), John Cooper, Tawhid Qureshi and Kim Matthews (wk) who were joined by guests Cathal Rock and Richard Weider.

Dodgers Report by Neil Priest

My apologies if some of the following is a bit vague, but we don't have any scorecards for the games and it's hard to remember all the details. I did ask my team mates to check an early draft so any errors are entirely theirs!

Dodgers v LGF Jaffers

We won the toss and elected to bat first. Jaffers were expected to be the weakest side in an otherwise strong group and so it proved as Hilary and Cooper got the campaign off to a flying start racking up 71/1, Hilary being run out off the last ball. We followed this up with a good bowling fielding display, the highlight of which was McBarron's excellent throw in the first over to run out Paul Gaught who had scored 50 against us for Superstars earlier in the season. From then on Jaffers struggled and we kept them down to about 30/3.

Dodgers v SRA Sharks

Dodgers won the toss again and again decided to put runs on the board. Captain Priest was talked into opening to give Hilary a rest, although this was short lived as Priest soon dragged a wide one onto middle stump trying to hit over the top. After this brief interruption the Cooper/Hilary roadshow resumed and again posted us a score in excess of 70. Cooper then kicked off the SRA reply with wickets in consecutive balls and had an excellent shout for LBW turned down off the hat-trick ball. We then took our foot off the pedal and although a couple of decent SRA batsmen scored freely towards the end the result was never in serious doubt. SRA finished with about 60/3. This was undoubtedly Dodgers' worst performance of the day but we were still able to beat a decent side with relative ease.

Dodgers v Broadway

Our final group game was against a good side from Birmingham. Both teams were already through to the semi-finals having won their first two matches. The losers would face the trek over to the Fullers' pitch to face the mighty Deliverance in the semis.

Priest was late on parade - spying on Superstars v Deliverance, the deciding match in the other group – and in his absence Dodgers lost their first toss of the day and were inserted (we'd have batted anyway). McBarron was promoted to opener to make sure we had more than three batsmen who had had a hit before the semi-finals. Deja vu from the SRA game as Phil was out early and Cooper and Hilary were again left to get stuck into the opposition bowling. Priest joined in late on, a return to proper cricket shots instead of slogging providing more success than against SRA. Paterson was also able to get in at the end, playing one lovely dab for four behind square on the off. Yet again our bowling and fielding were excellent and the opposition managed less than 50 in reply. The highlight was Priest's superb legside stumping off Hilary off the last ball... well, the Cat was impressed anyway!

So we finished up as group winners having beaten two good sides along the way and now faced a tough semi-final against the auld enemy Superstars.

Semi-Final - Dodgers v Superstars

No need to read to the end to see how we got on. We won. And to put it mildly we were rather pleased with ourselves.

First let's put this into context. This is was about the fifth time we had played Superstars on Sportsday, including two finals (including last year). We had lost the lot. In fact, not only had we lost the lot but we had normally capitulated and been bowled out for 20 odd or other similar disasters. This was a real monkey on our backs.

With Priest back in charge of the coin we won the toss and again batted first. This time there was no mucking about with the batting order and Hilary returned to open. He and Cooper put together another promising partnership that was unfortunately cut short by some good Superstars bowling. Fortunately Priest and McBarron were able to keep some sort of momentum going and get us up to 50 – the highlight being a beautifully placed edge for four from McBarron off Gundry.

50 had been the minimum we considered we could defend but would it really be enough? (Of course it would, I’ve already said we won!). In the end it was easy and Superstars only managed about 30 odd in reply, hitting, I think, only one boundary in their innings. There were a couple of highlights. In the first over Cooper dropped a sharp return catch off Conway but had the presence of mind to grab the ball and turn round to run out non-striker Gigg. Phil McBarron's over also deserves special mention as he picked up the wickets of Gundry and Conway and effectively sealed the victory.

So celebrations all round – except for the poor dead monkey...

Final - Dodgers v Deliverance

Deliverance have always been a good side but in the past have relied almost
entirely on the huge talent of Richard Godden, a former Dodgers player (he also played for Zimbabwe U-19s but let's get our priorities right!). This year they had much more strength in depth although Richard was still clearly the star man. Deliverance had beaten everyone else on the day comfortably and had made Superstars look almost as ordinary as we had…

For the first time in the day Priest lost the toss and for the first time we bowled first. Godden opened and smashed Cooper's first ball for four. We did however get the dangerous Kenny Barry first ball. Cooper’s over was followed by tight overs from Cousins and Paterson and then with Deliverance on about 26 off 3 it was time for semi-final hero McBarron to step up to the plate, Godden at bat... The first ball was, as I'm sure Phil will admit, the worst we bowled all day. Short and slow, slow at least until it made contact with the middle of Godden's bat. Fortunately the adjacent softball tournament had finished, although he hit it so hard it probably would have cleared them anyway! The next ball was almost as bad – a knee high full toss on leg stump and the result was the same – softball players again grateful for their early finish. This time salt was rubbed into the wound as the umpire inexplicably called no ball – the only blot on an other wise excellent days umpiring. Sadly the extra 4 runs were to prove significant... Phil then settled down to a much steadier line and length and went a long way towards redeeming the over by bowling Godden neck and crop off the last ball of the over. This took some of the pressure off Hilary's final over and we were able to restrict Deliverance to a very gettable 58.

We again started steadily but were in trouble once Cooper and Hilary fell in quick succession. Some lusty blows from Priest ably supported by McBarron kept us in the hunt and we needed 18 off the last over. McBarron got the first ball away for a single. The next was pulled through midwicket by Priest for 4. The third was a wide (four extras but no extra ball) and then Priest swept the fourth ball for another four behind the square leg fielder. 6 off 2... Another short ball was pulled away by Priest – not middled but hit hard enough to the square leg fielder to leave Priest 6 yards short of his ground going for the second run. Paterson strode out with us needing 5 to win outright off the last ball, although a four would have given us victory by virtue of having lost less wickets and/or having scored more runs off the last over. The ball was wide of stump – play at it or leave it and hope it’s a wide…? Rod played it (correctly the umpire confirmed afterwards) but could only get it away for a single and Dodgers, for the third time, finished runners-up.

This was undoubtedly the best ever Sportsday performance by a Dodgers side. It was also the best Sportsday final I can remember playing in or watching. The highlights were for me were the batting of Hilary and Cooper, everyone’s fielding and bowling (Simon Cousins was especially accurate and gets less of a mention than he deserves in the above reports) and running a very good Deliverance side, who had hammered everyone else all day, so close in the final. As Rod pointed out though it will be a long coach trip from Swansea next year for them to come and defend their title... Oh, and did I mention we beat Superstars?

Codgers Report by John Carr

As you will have gathered from above, Codgers fared less well. This was hardly surprising. The team was not very strong and was drawn in the qualifying group from hell which included both the eventual winners - Deliverance - and Superstars. While Codgers predictably lost to both of these, they were not disgraced and managed to finish third in the group after a good win against the fourth team in the group - Broadway 2.

Codgers v Superstars

Skipper Carr inevitably lost the toss but, surprisingly, Barry Gigg decided to bowl first. After a reasonable start by Carr and Qureshi, things deteriorated when Tawhid was run out and a couple more wickets fell quickly. But Carr and Cooper with a few lusty blows managed to take us through to a score of 39 off our 5 overs. This was never likely to be enough with Superstars batting line up (and Codgers attack!) and so it proved with Superstars securing the win at the end of the third over.

Codgers v Broadway 2

Having seen Broadway's first game against Deliverance, Codgers recognised this match was likely to decide who would finish third in the group and who would receive the wooden spoon. Carr again lost the toss but, obligingly, Codgers were again inserted. This time, Carr and Qureshi managed to survive all 5 overs and posted a total of about 70 (this sounds better than it really was because Broadway contrived to gift us numerous extras and overthrows). Reasonable bowling performances from everybody saw us home by about 15 runs.

Codgers v Deliverance

The final game always threatened to be a mismatch but Codgers put up a good performance. Carr won the toss and decided to bat (on the basis that this was likely to get the game over quickly and we could at last get to the bar). Codgers struggled against tidy bowling and good fielding (Tawhid was again run out!) but useful contributions from Cooper and Rock saw us make about 36. Deciding to give some of their lower-order players some batting practice, Deliverance decided to reverse their batting order and at one stage we seemed to have a sniff. After two tight overs from Tawhid and JCII, Deliverance only had 11 runs. And, early in the next, guest Richard Weider secured a wicket. But that was as good as it got. A proper batter came to wicket, was promptly dropped (off Richard again), and then a blaze of boundaries saw Deliverance home with more than an over to spare.

Sports Day 2005 - Chiswick / Fullers Ground 22 July

At the 11th hour the format of this year's Sports Day has been changed to 2 groups of 4. This means each team will have three games minimum but it also means kick off will now be at 11.30 so can everyone please be there for 11.15 at the Fullers Ground.

At least one of Dodgers or Codgers will be playing then, if not both, but we will not know for sure until we arrive. If anyone can't get there that extra half hour early please let me Neil P, JC or JC2 know asap. Thanks and see you there tomorrow.

Provisional teams

Dodgers

Priest
Paterson
Cooper (D)
Hilary
Cousins
McBarron

Codgers

Carr
Weider
Rock
Qureshi
Matthews
Cooper (J)

Dodgers v Science Museum @ Parsons Green 14 July 2005

Match report by Simon Cousins

Dodgers won the toss (!) and elected to bat

Dodgers returned to winning ways with a comfortable 39 run win against
Science Museum at Parsons Green last night.

Dodgers batted first, and it immediately became clear that the wicket was a minefield. As early as the third over, Harrison was forced to hook a good length ball off his eyebrows. The next ball pitched on the same length and decapitated a number of daisies. Fortunately the Science Museum bowlers failed to make use of the wicket - indeed they often failed to locate the wicket, as the final tally of 42 extras suggests.

However, none of the Dodgers batsmen looked comfortable, only Harrison coming close, using his feet well until he was undone by a vicious leg-cutter. Qureshi played sensibly and timed a couple of shots beautifully off his legs, and McBarron, nurdled well, demonstrating some effective shovel-round-the-corner shots.

A rare moment of excitement came when the Science Museum Star Batsmen disappeared into one of the many outfield potholes, and emerged with a twisted ankle. As supersub Hilary jogged onto the outfield, Qureshi ruefully regaled the opposition with the tale of how supersub Hilary recently cut short one of his more promising innings with a stunning catch. There was clearly static in the air, as within an over the lightening had struck twice, Hilary holding onto a head-high, stinging Qureshi off drive.

Patterson provided some late impetus with hefty agricultural hitting before running himself out off the last ball of the penultimate over. It seemed inexplicable, but apparently he'd heard some of the senior Dodgers players talking about 1919 cricket, and thought we were playing a new form of the limited-overs game.

A target of 142 always looked likely to be too much for Science Museum, and so it proved. Within a few overs the match was effectively over as Cousins took three cheap wickets. The Science Museum middle-order rallied with some impressively powerful straight hitting. But Cooper, after an untidy first over bowled with his customary control, picking up two wickets in the process. In fading light, Dodgers fielding was ragged, though Paterson gave an impressive debut display behind the stumps, including a fine leg-side catch. Maybe soon the selectors will be faced with a difficult choice between the athleticism of the young pretender and the wiles of Matthews. As the match fizzled to its predictable conclusion, there was time for Dunning to bowl two impressive overs, and with the owls starting to hoot, Dodgers emerged victorious.

Dodgers won by 39 runs

Out-classed

Dodgers’ winning run came to an abrupt halt last night as we were completely out-classed – again – by English Heritage. The match was in doubt right up to the first ball as heavy showers drenched Chiswick. The toss was actually made inside the wooden hut and Heritage chose to bowl with indecent haste. It was a fine choice.

Dodgers opened with the two Neils – Mr Priest sporting an average of more than 300 this season and Mr Benn a desperate choice because we only had seven at the ground as late as 6.30pm. Both struggled early on as very accurate bowling spat off the wet pitch and the score reached just 16 after 8 overs, the only incident being a long-running drama concerning the position of a sightscreen.

A wayward ninth over helped before Benn chipped a full toss to mid off and was caught acrobatically for 13 with the score on 32. JJ Dunning was next and clobbered a couple of fours as Priest found some form, but neither man was really timing the ball consistently and we closed on 87 for 1 – Priest reaching 40 and Dunning 22.

We might have defended 87 against some teams, but not this lot. The track was moderately drier and easier and from the off they worked the ball around with ease. John Cooper had received some stick for suggesting his inferior alter ego last week was a South African, Jean Van Der Kuyper – more like the Bangladeshi Javed Coupar quipped Priest – but whoever was playing they struggled to get a length again and conceded 25 off three.

At the other end Rod Paterson was bowling with much better rhythm than of late and deservedly picked up a scalp when the batsman tried to out-psyche him during his run-up and was duly out out-psyched in turn, chipping a simple catch to Cooper at square leg. Adey continued where he left off last week conceding only 10 in his two overs, but a reluctant McBarron was despatched to all parts in his 2.4 overs to bring the end in just the twelfth over by conceding a quick 28.

We’d had the worst of the conditions and – most disappointingly – two selected players simply didn’t turn up, but there was no hiding Heritage’s clear superiority in all aspects of this game.

Dodgers v Audit Commission @ Regents Park, 7 July

The venue for Thursday's match v Audit is now confirmed as Regents Park, Pitch C2.

Download detailed map [pdf format]

Now all we need is a team! ;-)

Four-in-a-row

Dodgers completed a four-timer last night against Science Museum under leaden skies at South Park.

JC won the toss for once and we sensibly took the field. The South Park track was a classic: no metal stakes on a length this time, but plenty of humps and bumps to keep everyone interested. Dodgers began with a new opening pair: Messrs Adey and Cooper. Predictably one was accurate and grabbed a brace of wickets thanks in part to an athletic caught-and-bowled, the other bowled far too short but still managed a wicket from a catch by JC. Ah! But they were the other way round: Adey with an exceptional 4-2-6-2 and Cooper struggled with 3-0-24-1.

The opening spells actually set the tone for the match. Science swung from the hip at almost every opportunity: if it was full they looked all at sea; if it was short it sat up and begged to be hit. Benn (4-1-10-1) was accurate, but Science’s number six Pickworth took a heavy toll of Pope (2 overs for 30), Rhys Thomas (3 overs for 20) and David Patterson (2 overs for 18) on his way to 48*. Nick Harrison was called into the attack by JC – reluctantly in the conditions – and recorded 2-0-6-1 as Science ended on 112.

We’ve struggled here in the past, but it never looked like being close. Priest was getting desperately frustrated as he tried to hit the ball harder and harder and was hitting it less and less well (but still scored at a decent pace) while at the other end Harrison was in imperious form, spanking a six and a succession of sweetly-timed fours against some ragged bowling.

Nick was actually dropped from a very difficult chance in mid-innings but the boys added over 100 to their 183* stand against the Rats last week before Nick retired having reached 50. The Cat was able to please the crowd with a couple of trademark nurdles before Priest hit the winning runs in the fourteenth over.

In truth, this was a very poor game in very poor conditions, though the pitch did not misbehave anywhere near as badly as expected. Our line-up wasn’t great (missing McBarron, Hilary and Cousins among others) and our bowling was wayward at times, with Cooper and Pope well below their best, but we still won in a canter against a lacklustre Science Museum side.

British standard weather stops play

Tuesday's match against arch rivals BSI was abandoned in the 18th over due to rain. It was a shame because Dodgers were amassing a formidable total against a depleted BSI.

The scorecard for this match (such as it is) and for the matches against Ombudsman, ATOC and Superstars are all now in Fixtures & Results.

We Flippin' Murdered 'Em!

It was a familiar story: an early dropped dolly was costing the match; the bowling was becoming ragged as superior batsman flailed it to all parts; fielders were trudging disconsolately after boundaries as tempers frayed. Fortunately it wasn’t us this time!

Fill in the blanks. JC _________ the toss and we had to _________ first under a blazing sun. At least some things never change! Conway and Gaught opened for the Rats. Rod Paterson was again not firing on all cylinders but Matt was struggling to get the ball away and quickly became frustrated. In the fourth over from Benn - playing in his hundreth game - he launched at the first ball outside off, played way too early and lobbed the ball to Harrison at cover for an easy catch. A handy early scalp.

Abigail was next and began confidently enough, driving Hilary (7-1-38-0) through the covers with a degree of class, until one from Benn (8-1-20-2) popped and he could only glove it to the Cat for 21. John Cooper (7-1-23-0) showed good discipline and after 20 overs we had a measure of control at 73-2.

David Pope’s spell (4-0-27-0) was relatively uneventful as Gaught and Whitrod advanced the score slowly, but Tony soon retired hurt to herald the arrival of our arch-Nemesis, Simon Gundry. It was up to Harrison and the returning Paterson to keep order. Nick bowled well, conceding just 26 in his six overs with the approved leg stump line and bagging Gaught caught behind for 54 en route. Rod (8-0-63-0) fared less well as Gundry made the most of his extra pace to smash an unbeaten 57 as the Tomatoheads closed on 205-3 with 31 extras, mainly wides.

205 didn’t look great on a shirt front with a bare outfield, but it looked an awful lot better as McB suffered a similar fate to Abigail, edging one that popped from Patten to the keeper for just 1. Then came The Error. Priest launched at one, mistimed it horribly, and the ball lobbed gently to the aforementioned Abigail at cover. Unbelievably he floored it. Lesser mistakes have turned matches in the past…

Our other opener Jacobs had played a couple of great shots, but gave Richard some more catching practice which he didn’t fluff and was out for 11 as we struggled on 26-2. Nick Harrison arrived to begin the rebuilding as Gundry and Block came into the attack and it was no surprise that the score increased slowly. Painfully slowly. At the 20-over drinks we were on just 63-2, requiring 143 in the second half of the innings. The batsmen were set, but if they got out how could we possibly win?

Harrison quickly put his marker down after the break, taking heavy toll of Thakrar’s spin with glorious lofted drives and pulls; then it was Priest’s turn as he launched into Paresh Taylor (3-0-30-0) to reduce the pressure considerably. Gundry’s return was perhaps too late and he had no impact while Phil Patten – inexplicably taken off with 6-1-12-2 – went for 19 in his remaining two overs. It was becoming a rout now: Conway conceded 15 in his solitary over and when Priest smashed Errol Barnett for two fours we had won by eight wickets with no fewer than 27 deliveries remaining.

Priest (96*) and Harrison (82*) had added an all-wickets record of 183*, beating the previous best by Priest and McBarron of 142 against Science Museum in 2003. The last 146 since the break came in just 15.3 overs with as good an array of clean, powerful, proper hitting as you could wish to see. Our fielding had held up under pressure and the lost toss was probably a plus point as the Rats showed their customary lack of urgency when setting a target. All-in-all, a magnificent victory.

MoM: Abigail (11)

The Great Escape

Dodgers scraped home in dramatic fashion from the last ball at Regent’s Park against ATOC Marauders last night, surely the greatest escape in our turbulent history.

We arrived at the venue – itself a late change from a mythical Wandsworth Common fixture – to see our opposition in various bits of clothing, some of it designed for office wear and none of it white. Surely an easy victory in store? Phil McBarron was delegated to spin, predictably called tails, even more predictably lost, and we took the field.

The early overs confirmed our initial impression despite some audacious – bordering on suicidal – running from the openers that had the Dodgers ring fielders scratching their heads in amazement. Rod Paterson was unplayable at times on the bumpy track recording 1-9 and Neil Benn picked up 3-15 courtesy of two catches from McB. When Rhys Thomas took two wickets in his first two overs the score stood at 46-6 from 12 and Cap’n Carr decided to open things up.

And how! Enter… the Cat, whose career figures from 124 matches stood at 0-10. His first ball was short and whacked behind square for four; his second was identical and received a similar whack, yet Chris Jacobs had been moved back 20 yards and pouched the catch. At the other end the ball was thrown to a shocked Jacobs (career figures 1-64) who also grabbed a wicket with a catch by Benn. Then it all went wrong. The Cat was hit for successive sixes and Jacobs treated not much less harshly as the pair recorded 4 overs for 41. Back to the real game and Hilary and Dunning managed to restore some order towards the end, but ATOC had reached a worrying 103-9.

Priest was in fine form, however, and his enforced retirement at 27 had taken just 19 balls. Qureshi had been a little scratchy before being brilliantly caught for 11 but we were in control as Carr and McB came together. Neither looked in good nick on the poor surface and John was eventually out for nine heaving at a slow delivery as the innings began to stall. Jacobs was just getting going when he was run out for 12 in a mix-up before McB’s ordeal ended for 20 off 33 as he too attempted a desperate heave to break the shackles.

Seventeen were needed off two and the obituary writers were drafting their verdicts on JC’s captaincy. An increasingly anxious Dodgers bench then had to watch Rod Paterson run out for nought having almost crashed into JJ Dunning in mid-pitch. JJ managed a four to leave nine needed off the final over. Dot, two, then John Hilary was caught behind leaving seven needed off three balls with Benn coming in.

The next ball was a classic. Benn hit it only as far as the keeper, who was stood up, and had to scramble back just before the wicket was broken. Not many on the ground seemed to understand what happened next. JJ certainly didn’t as he stood bemused in mid-pitch as his partner gesticulated wildly at him to run; the keeper certainly didn’t either as he repeatedly and pointlessly hit the bail-less stumps with the ball; but umpire Priest did and the run stood.

[For the record, when both bails are off you need to rebuild the wicket or remove a stump from the ground with either the ball or a hand holding the ball].

The rest, as they say, is history. JJ smacked the penultimate delivery down the ground for four then smacked the final ball to long on for an easy two and we had won. Cue the music: de-de, de-der-de-de-de, de-der-de-der-de-de-de-de-de…

Was this complacency or arrogance? Perhaps a bit of both. We had let a non-lowest scorer bat twice at the end for some reason, then more bizarrely we had lent them a fielder to make eleven when we had started with only eight and received nothing!

M-o-M votes: JJ 5, Jacobs 2, Priest 2, Cat 2.

Phew!

Dodgers’ nightmare run thankfully came to an end last night with a 12 run victory over the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Cap’n Carr won the toss – for once – and we batted. Things didn’t start well as Qureshi was bowled for the third game in a row trying to play a ball angling in at leg stump through mid-wicket – this time to register a golden duck. Priest and McBarron then moved the score along steadily before Phil was trapped leg before for 12.

JC came in at four and continued his recent form: hard hitting and dodgy running in equal measure. JC was… how can I put it… particularly effective at retaining the strike in his innings, drawing the cruellest rebuke imaginable from Neil at one point – “Well run Phil”. Both fell on the same ball – JC inevitably to a run out for 14 and Priest having reached the 25 retirement mark.

The innings suddenly ground to a halt as Harrison chipped the ball back to the bowler for a duck and Matthews and Westhead struggled to get more than a few wides and byes to the deep-standing keeper. The Cat’s eventual departure for our third duck brought in John Hilary and a welcome impetus to the scoring rate. Showing flashes of his old form, JH scored a very quick 20* as we added 21 in the last two overs to post 110-6, extras top-scoring for the second game running. Was this defendable?

It didn’t look it as the Ombudsmen’s openers set off at a cracking rate. It was definitely a day to bowl later in the innings and Nick Harrison showed experience belying his tender years by incurring a mystery injury after just one over that equally mysteriously cleared up when the openers were gone. Strange that. John Cooper had posted that afternoon that he hadn’t conceded an extra all season. Replacing Harrison, two of his first three balls were wides. D’oh!

Paterson recovered from an expensive start to help us keep control and – after one opener had retired in the 6th over – Cooper grabbed a wicket in taking 1-29. With 44 needed off 8 with wickets in hand we were in difficulty, but tight overs and wickets from Benn (3-13) and Hilary (1-18) left the target at 39 off five, which Ombudsman never really threatened thanks to Harrison (2-16).

So, a very, very welcome win by 12 runs. The scorebook told the tale: Ombudsman conceded 28 extras, Dodgers only 8, and once again the retirement rule had greatly favoured us.

At least nobody got hurt

Dodgers suffered a fourth consecutive heavy defeat yesterday, this time against Dealers at Wandsworth Common. At least we had eleven players thanks to John Cooper’s efforts, with Tony Whitrod and Mike Duggan from Superstars and JJ Dunning a website recruit joining the side.

Opinions were divided about whether to bat or bowl, so deputy caller Benn opted for JC’s sure-fire losing strategy and called heads. We lost and fielded.

The early overs were interesting on a sporty pitch, with Benn and Cooper looking dangerous at times but suffering a string of boundaries to some aggressive batting. John’s luck wasn’t getting any better as several balls in the air narrowly avoided fielders and the one that didn’t was promptly floored. The missed opener at least didn’t rack-up 140 like on Wednesday as Benn bowled him – fittingly a swinger through the gate - to become the first Dodger to reach 100 wickets.

Replacing Benn, Duggan showed a little rustiness with his spinners but picked up a wicket and Cooper ended a decent spell of 1-30 by snaring the other opener. The score was still moving at six-an-over, however, aided by some horrible fielding, and there was little anyone could do to slow the rate as Dealers’ number three continued to belt the ball to all parts. Dunning looked promising in picking up a couple of middle-order wickets and Whitrod had a steady three-over spell but the game was rapidly deserting us. The returning Benn was expensive but bowled another Dealer (breaking a bail in the process!) and it was left to McBarron and Qureshi to finish the innings. They both bowled really well, McB taking out the top-scorer who had 86 and two others to end with 3-23 from six and Tawhid’s two overs yielded 1-5 as Dealers ended on 220.

There was some confidence in the Dodgers camp at the interval. It was horribly misplaced. Dealers’ first three bowlers were all noticeably quicker than anything we could offer and were able to extract some wicked bounce. McB (5) got a snorter that lifted off a length and brushed the glove; Matt Taylor (10) was peppered on the hands before missing an excellent leg-cutter and Qureshi (9) was again undone by a ball cutting back.

Carr and Westhead avoid a humiliating collapse despite several near-death experiences and awful running as they added 51 in 15 overs for the fourth wicket in scoring 29 and 17 respectively. Both fell in quick succession to good catches and the rest of the innings petered out as every Dealer bar one bowled. We ended on 133-9 and so lost by 87 runs, but that was flattering really. At least nobody got hurt on a pitch made for the Dealers’ pacier attack.

Where do we go from here? Not “down to the lake, I fear” but two 20-over games over the next week with a win – or even a competitive performance – desperately needed.

Slaughter in the sunshine

Flashback: on 28 July last year Dodgers beat New Barbarian Weasels by 84 runs, holding eight catches and effecting two run outs. Those of a nervous disposition ought not to read this tale of the 2005 encounter.

JC’s first three actions in this game – up to and including the first ball – were to have a massive bearing on the game. First, his Haig-esque persistence with the “it’ll come up heads eventually” strategy failed us yet again and we were forced to field first on by far the hottest day of the season; second, and less obviously wrong, he declined the offer of a time game.

The third action set the tone for the day. The first ball was pushed to mid-wicket and the non-striker inexplicably set off for a stupid single and was sent back. JC, who had done well to reach the stumps, missed Cooper’s low throw completely and the batsman escaped. To be fair, opinions were mixed about whether the direct hit was required or not.

The early exchanges were quiet after that, with Paterson out of sorts and Benn getting little movement to trouble the batsman. The introduction of Nick Harrison proved effective as he reeled off his eight overs for just 21, snaring one opener thanks to a good catch from McB. At the mid-innings drinks Weasels looked threatening at 87-1 and Tawhid Index were quoting a runs spread around 200 at this point. Their proprietor had to run for cover (actually “the covers”) when the buy orders flooded in, but nobody could have foreseen the carnage to come.

Benn’s comeback spell was expensive as his 100th wicket continued to elude him, returning 0-44, but things got worse and worse. Heads dropped and tempers flickered (briefly) as the run rate increased dramatically with Cooper (7-0-66-0) and Pope (5-0-53-0) severely treated, not helped by some truly atrocious fielding on the hard, fast and bumpy outfield. The opener missed on ball one gave his next chance on about 95 when the Cat downed a simple catch off Pope.

Heads were held in hands, but it got worse still as the opener was dropped again just after his ton en route to 140. Some rapid clatter against McBarron (4-0-45-1 – a good catch from Qureshi) and Paterson (8-0-54-1) saw a ruthless Weasels post 297-5 from their 40 overs – 210 coming off the last 20 (perhaps that was what Tawhid’s quote was for?).

Two sights in these closing overs were unpleasant. First, I hope never again to see a Dodgers side humiliated to the point that, in the first innings of a game, not one fielder saving a single could be justified. Second, I wish we didn’t play against teams that were so anxious to rub our noses in it that they embarked on outrageous strike-farming in the way Weasels did, even going so far as to deliberately run out one of their lesser batsman to rotate the strike in the penultimate over. But that’s only my view.

Dodgers’ reply actually started brightly, with McBarron in good touch and Qureshi gaining confidence with some bright strokeplay. Tawhid eventually played all round a nip-backer for 14 and McB perished in unusual fashion for 31 when he skied a dolly that was promptly dropped; unfortunately he had set off without calling and was easily run out by about 15 yards.

Harrison batted well for a patient 48 with blocks and leaves interspersed with powerful boundaries including a tasty six. Chris Jacobs had been bamboozled somewhat in making just four and JC hit an assured 27 before being trapped in front. Veterans Benn (42) and Matthews (13*) added 62 in quick time against some lesser bowlers at the end to see us to a respectable 206-5 at the close.

It was a game of what-ifs. We wouldn’t have lost a time game, I’m sure, on what was a very flat pitch. But how many would they have got if their opener had been dismissed without facing? Could we have chased down 250? In particular, did they have any decent bowlers in the hutch? We shall never know, but the eventual margin of 91 probably flattered us in what was wholesale slaughter in the last 15 overs.

Never got near

Dodgers - with only 9 players - suffered a second consecutive comprehensive defeat last night against English Heritage, leaving us with two wins and two losses for the season to date.

Rain and drizzle had threatened the game, but thankfully had given up as we took the field for a clash reduced to 18 overs. Losing the toss, openers Priest and Qureshi had to contend with a wet, skiddy pitch and plenty of movement in the air and off the deck. Things didn't start well as Tawhid attempted an ambitious pull from his second ball and popped a catch up to gully. Two overs later, Neil was bowled by a full swinging delivery for 8 and trouble was brewing.

Debutant Nick Harrison - another recruit from Warwick Castle - had played a couple of attractive shots before holing out to EH's trap at deep square for 10, quickly followed by Westhead for 3. Heritage's change bowler was twice as fast as the openers and moved the ball disconcertingly on occasions as the pressure mounted. Cap'n Carr looked assured at times, but eventually succumbed for 10 leaving Benn with a painfully slow 6*, Cooper (8) and Adey with a handy 10* to see the innings out at 66-6.

This looked a good 15 short of a vaguely competitive score and so it proved, though Cooper bowled even better than normal to return 2-9 courtesy of excellent catches from Cat and Harrison. The rest of the bowling was very mixed - Benn threatening little with 0-17 and Harrison luckless with 0-8 but Adey and Priest suffering from their lack of practice as EH cruised to victory without further loss. We simply had not been able to apply any real pressure defending such a low score and their batsman could take their time and run singles with impunity.

Back to the drawing board. MoM votes: Harrison 6, Cooper 3.

Still delicately poised

Unfortunately, last night's scheduled match between Dodgers and our arch-rivals the Superstars had to be cancelled, Dodgers only having seven capped players available at the start time. Instead, a Dodgers Representative X played the Tomatoheads in an exhibition game.

Winning the toss, stand-in skipper Priest chose to bat and opened with himself and David Patterson. Having narrowly avoided the strike on a number of occasions, David was forced to face a baptism of fire against Messrs Gundry and Taylor. He didn't last long, but rather longer than Qureshi (bowled, 0) or Benn (stumped, 0) as the Representative X struggled at less than three per over.

Things didn't get much better either. Superstar stand-in Rhys Thomas made three before John Hilary seemed like a rabbit caught in the proverbial headlights in making an uncharacteristically scratchy nine. A few lusty blows from McB and the Cat saw us finish on a horribly-inadequate 69 for five - 36* to Priest. The Representative team's hopes were raised briefly when Abigail slapped Benn's third ball to Patterson at point, but there was precious little to cheer after that despite tight spells from Benn (1-5) and Cooper, who picked up the only other wicket to fall with 1-13.

The Rats' batting was simply too strong, despite the tricky pitch, and they ran out comfortable winners with just under three overs to spare, the winning runs being a beautifully-timed six over long off.

So the series remains delicately poised at 0-0 with real business of the summer still to come.