Sheldon Marlborough CC Blog

Latest news from Foliot Fields

at HOME, meet 12:30 for 1:30 start.

J Hemming
K Rondeau
M Weir
W Hemming
N Rughani
A Coppell
T Hemming
A Munir
S Baxter
J Shirley
V Parmar

Despite being knocked off the top of the 2nd XI Premier Division table, the SMCC Saturday 2nd XI can look back on a great start to their 2007 campaign with three wins and a winning draw in May. Monday’s abandoned fixture against Moseley Ashfield has allowed Atherstone to go one point ahead of SMCC, but Steve Mullard’s side have yet to be bettered this season.

With players returning from holidays, exams, etc. they should go from strength to strength during June.

Saturday’s result against Southam meant we were on the right side of the points for the first time in 2007. An exhilarating opening stand of 180 between Jack Hemming (119) and Keith Rondeau (79) got us off to a flying start as we passed 200 in 30 overs. Both hit the ball cleanly, and quite often, a long way.

However, Southam came back at us and a collapse saw us 261 all out with 8 overs left, with nobody else reaching double figures.

In reply, Jim Shirley cleaned out opener Fletcher in the third over which gave us a great boost, but the other opener Clewes showed he was keen to hit the ball far with several big hits, including a large six off Keith Rondeau who replaced Viz Parmar. Ronny fought back having Clewes well caught by Asif Munir at mid on, and Jim Shirley then found a way through the defences of number 3 Wyse who had batted well for 32. Keith bowled Nelly and the game was moving into interesting territory. Southam needed 160 from 26, we needed six wickets, but the weather was closing in.

The umpires took us off as conditions were becoming difficult, and when the rain didn’t stop, play was abandoned. On one hand the slippery ball and ground were making things tough for us, yet on the other if we were to get a couple more wickets we might have gone on to take the full 24.

This loss of play was perhaps more disappointing when the Bank Holiday Monday fixture against Camp Hill was rained off without play.

Mixed results elsewhere means that what is currently ‘our’ end of the table is relatively unchanged, whilst Warwick have taken full advantage of being the only side to play on Monday to go top of the table.

Our old friends Pickwick visit Foliot Fields on Saturday in the second of three successive games at home.

Missed out on posting last week - after a disappointment at Streetly where we salvaged a losing draw after being set 174 from 25 overs, evenly spaced rain showers ruined Saturday’s fixture at home to Rowland United. Typically, we were the only match to be abandoned.

After three weeks of fixtures we are at the wrong end of the Division 1 table, but as is usual at this time of the year, a couple of good results will fix that.

The 2nd XI continue their success and it has been commented that they have found the level of opposition lower this season than last?!

Away, 1.30pm start. Meet 12.00 at SMCC, or 12:45 at Streetly.

W Hemming
K Rondeau
J Hemming
M Weir
N Rughani
N Munir
T Hemming
A Munir
A Coppell
V Parmar
R Parmar

The SMCC Saturday 2nd XI continued where they left off in 2006, beating Bronze to take 24 points and go straight to the top of the 2nd XI Premier Division.

In the 1st XI Division 1, our defeat against Wishaw leaves us 9th, above Southam, Marston Green, and Ansley, who lost to Camp Hill, Rowland, and Handsworth respectively - in fairly low scoring games.

The division was evenly-matched last year with only Bablake beating everybody, and I’m expecting it to be similar this year. There will be no easy weeks, every point will have to be earned.

Meanwhile, it will be very interesting to see if the 2nds can lift the Premier Division trophy - looking at their results in the past two seasons, you wouldn’t bet against it.

Saturday’s opening day disappointment saw us miss out on a win against a good Wishaw side who will be tough to beat this season.

Our 230 was probably 20 short of a defendable total - so 10% more required - or if we’d saved 20 more runs in the field, through better bowling or fielding - it all would have made a crucial difference.

Lots of positives though, to get to 230 still represented a good effort with good knocks from Ronnie, Adam Coppell and Nas Munir. Jim Shirley bowled superbly but has aggravated his ankle, and we missed Tim Westwood now at Leamington. However, I have every confidence that our reserve bowlers can ’step up’ - starting this weekend at Streetly.

Weather permitting….

Congratulations to Mobine Ali who took a hatrick (all bowled) during SMCC’s victory against Berkswell on Sunday. Mobine took 5 wickets in all, to finish with figures of 5-35 off his 10 overs. He also got a run out. Well done Mobine!

For the record, Sheldon won the toss and batted, reaching 210 all out thanks to Adrian Maguire (43), Tom Hemming (35), Adam Coppell (35) and a rapid 30 from Jack Hemming. Clive Bishop was good value for his 15, and a mention must go to Alex Macdonald for a gutsy innings of 13.

In reply, South African Audi was the only Berkswell batsmen to get in and get some runs on the board, scoring a well made 100 before becoming the first victim in Mobibe’s hatrick. With support from Tom Hemming (2 wkts) and the brothers Westwood (1 wkt each) Berkswell were all out for 172 in the 44th over to give SMCC victory by 38 runs. Although he didn’t pick up any wickets, Matt Jenkins bowled a lovely little spell of 5 overs and showed he has plenty of talent and will be one to watch for the future.