Sheldon Marlborough CC Blog

Latest news from Foliot Fields

W Hemming, K Rondeau, M Weir, N Rughani, J Hemming, R Jordan, T Hemming, R Singh, J Shirley, T Westwood, V Parmar

Meet at SMCC 12:15

A fantastic 10 run victory for the 1st XI over Streetly on Saturday, Martin Weir taking the final wicket with much relief and jubilation! Not our best batting performance to be 169 all out inside 42 overs, but it could have been a lot worse. A great knock from Simon Baxter (42) cameos from Tom Hemming, Rick Singh, and Jim Shirley helped SMCC towards a defendable total on a fast bouncy pitch where the only member of the top order to get a real start was Martin Weir (30).

With Jim Shirley having to leave at 7pm for an important social engagement, we got our overs in as quickly as possible which meant Jim ended up bowling 14 overs and taking 4 wickets, not to mention a superb catch. With the visitors at 107-7 but plenty of overs as Keith Rondeau took a vital birthday wicket, and as they crept towards the total we were getting a bit nervous. A great spell of bowling from Martin Weir made the first breakthrough, Tim Westwood cleaned out the Streetly skipper, and with only 11 runs needed, and 4 overs remaining, Martin Weir forced one through to see us home.

Elsewhere, Division 1 results went to form, although at the time of writing Stockton v Camp Hill has not been reported. We move up to sixth in the Division 1 table but this would be joint 4th if our appeal against penalty points is successful.

Next week we visit Ansley, who have lost their last two games - possibly distracted by their success in the National Village knockout. We know from our result there last year they are a tough team to beat on their own patch, good results in the next two weeks would see us finish the first half of the season in a good position to build on in the second half.

Just received this email from Rob Nicholls (if you don’t know who Rob is then you’re probably quite new to the club and should have a look here - Rob was SMCC premier bowler many times including 2000/01/02.).

I would just like to say a big thankyou on behalf of me & my family for all the messages of support we’ve received over the past month or so from people at SMCC. They go a long way towards speeding up the recovery process, and I hope to be well enough to help “celebrate” the clubs centenary in July.

Bobby Nicholls & family

Great news from Rob who missed out on visiting SMCC a few weeks ago with Wishaw. We may not be so lucky in the return fixture from the sounds of things! For old times sake, I’ve included a photo below of Mr. Nicholls in his SMCC first team days.

Team to play Streetly on Saturday - 12:45 meet for a 1:30 start.

W Hemming, K Rondeau, G Morris, N Rughani, J Hemming, M Weir, T Hemming, S Baxter, R Singh, J Shirley, T Westwood.

12th Man: V Parmar.

A Winning Draw away at Camp Hill is not to be sniffed at. In ten years playing for SMCC I’ve never been on the ‘right’ side of the result at Rumbush Lane (although I did once see the Sat 1st XI get a winning draw there in 2001 - see the pictures here.

On the majority of those occasions, we batted second and struggled on the Camp Hill wicket - which always looks ok but then doesn’t quite play as you’d expect - yet the home side are usually good at using their experience to get the best out of the surface with bat and ball. With this in mind, combined with the hot weather and our good performances fielding second so far, I was keen to bat (and glad when the coin came down heads! Martin Weir, take note).

Having said that, at 46-4 off 25 we were struggling, and the 25 I contributed were not very pretty. Ian Jordan, Camp Hill’s left-handed opener, must be glad he doesn’t have to face Sikander - who was tricky when he got it in the right place. The couple of overs he bowled at Martin Weir would have been too good for most - a rare failure for Martin this season. However, the graft was worth it as Neal Rughani made a hard-fought 43 (no boundaries) which enabled Jack Hemming (66*) and Tom Hemming (35*) to push to hosts hard in the last 10 - not forgetting Si Baxter’s rapid 18 including a huge six! Another really good batting effort with 200 being a good total psychologically and in the context of the game.

Although Camp Hill were steady in reply, I don’t think we ever felt they were going to reach the target. Everyone bowled well, with Jim Shirley and Keith Rondeau taking 3 each. Tim Westwood looked good again when it was in the right place, and Rick Singh bowled a useful spell - as did Simon Baxter. A few missed chances, including poor captaincy by the skipper choosing to place himself in direct sunlight - sharp spectators will have noticed the change of sides after an embarrassing miss!

In the rest of the division, there were plenty of runs scored, as Bablake hit 367 against next week’s opposition, Streetly. Fillongley got the better of Hampton, while Wishaw beat Stockton and YMF beat Ansley. The only surprise was probably the defeat of Bournville by Southam, which keeps the middle of the division table closely packed.

Close inspection of the division table shows we have been deducted 4 points - this is from the Wishaw match (slow over rate) - we are appealing. Had we got that final wicket against Fillongley to take 24 points, we would have been in the top 3. However, key fixtures against Streetly, Ansley, and Bournville to finish the first half of the season give us the opportunity to move up in the pack at the half way stage.

Nearly half way through the season? I can’t believe it either.

       

Tim Westwood - stump breaker.

Pictures from the Sunday 1st XI game against Alvechurch are available by clicking this link.

You can see more SMCC pictures on our Flickr page.

To the right, Tim Westwood shows off the stump he broke at Alvechurch. This is not the first time he has done this - previously achieved representing Warwickshire Under 15s at Shrewsbury School - who wouldn’t let him have the broken stump!

A few people have been asking about Sunday League tables.

They can be found here:

http://aredenscl.play-cricket.com/leaguetables/leaguetable.asp

There not fully up to date for this weekend yet, but no doubt will be in due course.

Hopefully we will see the SMCC sides start to climb up the league soon.

Originally uploaded by sheldonmarlboroughcc.

There are a few photos from the Saturday 1st XI game against Wishaw available on the SMCC Flickr page.

To the right, Martin Weir acknowledges a fine half century.

Photos of Sunday’s game at Alvechurch to follow when I get some time to put them up.

Team to play away at Camp Hill on Saturday. Meet 12:15 at SMCC.

W Hemming, K Rondeau, M Weir, N Rughani, J Hemming, N Ali, T Hemming, S Baxter, R Singh, J Shirley, T Westwood