HTCC News 28th - 30th May 2005

Hello All,

Well that was a good weekend of cricket for HTCC! Two league wins on Saturday, a
win and a draw on Sunday and a good fun game between the Cricket v Tennis on
Monday. Apart from the above, there were numerous personal achievements,
including a maiden century for Kevin Cowan, which kept the beer flowing!

Before I get onto reviewing the matches, can I ask you to let me know your
availability for the weekend and also to let you know that you can still get
your subs paid in at the reduced rate of £110, if you pay by tonight.

Saturday 1st XI

Another win for the Ones to take us to 2nd, 1 point from the top spot. A
worrying five minutes preceded the game, with the opposition walking into the
clubhouse, all looking fit and strong, with two players the size of Martin
Johnson and a cry of, ‘I’m glad we’re not playing them at rugby’ rang out – and
within five minutes the identically tracksuited oppo, were running round the
field warming up. How looks can be deceiving! Justin and Buggy ripped through
the Knebworth  batters, reducing them to 33 for 5! Knebworth Park’s remaining
opener was the only one to offer any resistance, he clubbed 82 out of the first
100 and the sixth wicket proved tricky to dislodge. Off came Buggy (4 for 23)
and on came Tyrone, who after 2 ok overs, 1.5 poor overs of legside dross, then
bowled one outside off stump and took a wicket and never looked back, taking 4
for 26 – We bowled out Knebworth Park for 133, who were finished off by Leo
Smith, making his comeback for the side . We made a good start in reply,
putting on 54 for the first wicket, before we collapsed to 59 for 5, with both
numbers 3 and 4 getting ducks (Sorry Taff, after the stick you gave me at the
weekend for starting the collapse, I had to mention your duck!), but we were
rescued by Alex (20) and Buggy (50*) – Buggy smashed the ball all around the
ground and showed how much depth we had in batting. All in all a good win,
showing we have some fight and resilience, which was lacking in last years
team.

Saturday 2nd XI

Finally the second team won a league game this year! Or should I say that the
2nd team batsman finally gave some support to their bowlers! The two’s bowled
out Old Chomlieans for 151, with yet another Kojak five wicket haul. This week
the batters played their part, with Terry Welsh hitting 62, and a good stand
between him and Aynk , who although didn’t make a big score, his steadying
influence quite possibly made the difference this week – By the way Aynk,
congrats for passing your exams and welcome back! Our team were more than
pleased to beat O.C’s, who were top of the league, and thought that it would be
easy to bowl out our team for less than 151, a touch on the arrogant side, a
lesson there for all of us! HT’s won by 6 wickets.

Sunday 1st XI

Well, if ever there was a time to learn a lesson from the Saturday two’s game,
it was now. The ones played W/X Rosedale and HT’s batted first - The Rosedale
bowling was appalling and our openers could hardly reach the ball, let alone
score any runs, at one point we were 20 for 0, with Mark on 4 and Taffy on 0!
But the fortunately for the game, their bowling improved and we could score
some runs, Mark ending up on 39 and Taffy on 50 – Rosedale had one good bowler,
a wily old spin bowler who took all four of the wickets we lost. We generously
declared on 197 for 4 after 40 overs. Rosedale’s batting was a lot better than
it’s bowling and our bowling in parts was wayward. W/X were cruising to
victory, some of our boy’s obviously thought we were going to win very easily
and frankly didn’t look like they were trying, fortunately Pat brought himself
and Justin on. With 5 an over required with 10 overs remaining, Pat and Justin,
only allowed 30 to be scored off the last 10 ensuring a face saving draw.

Sunday 2nd XI

HTCC two’s against Harrowdene, what can I say about this game? So many twists
and turns! I will do what I can to do the game justice, despite only being an
observer from the top wicket. HT’s batted first and suffered an alarming
collapse, which brought in the all-conquering hero to the crease during the 8th
over (he was batting number 6). Kevin Cowan (103*) smashed the ball to all
parts, to reach a maiden century, which brought tears to the eyes of Darren in
the bar later on (poor old Darren, he won’t hear the end of this from Kermit!).
Although he was dropped 4 times and caught once (not given by the umpire), you
need a bit of luck to get your first one, so well done Kev and I hope to see
many more from you! However the drama wasn’t finished yet, HT’s ended on 233 in
there 40 overs, Harrowdene were making a good fist of it and at one point were
210 for 4 and were drawing close to the HT’s score, however onto the stage
steps the next hero, Stewart Taylor, the Southgate Destroyer (that’s a story
for another time!). Stewart took a wicket in his first over, then went for 3
fours in the first half of his second, took another wicket, 2 more wickets in
his next over and with a wicket also going at the other end, in the last over
of the game Stewart took a wicket off the first ball. HTCC bowled Harrowdene
out for 216 - our hero finished with figures of 3.1 overs 5 for 17. And there
were many sore heads on Monday morning!

Monday Cricket Section vrs Tennis Section Cricket Match

This was a very pleasant game of cricket to be watching from the balcony with a
beer in my hand. A mixed ability club side played an assorted tennis side, who
had current players, ex players and non-players in their compliment. It was one
of those games where everyone is encouraged to take part, each of the bowlers
could bowl 4 overs max and batters had to retire at 25. The cricket won the
game scoring 240 in there 40 overs and the Tennis replied with a more than
creditable 200 for 9. Alex, Taffy, Ty and Dwayne all retired and returned to
the crease, with Dwayne being the most notable, finishing with a 13 ball 45 not
out! But I must also mention Dean Chapman (16) who batted number 3 and was the
first to double figures, facing Anuj and Jack’s fast and accurate swing
bowling. The Tennis section’s best bowlers were the ones I just mentioned, but
I must give a quick word about Johnny Morris who’d not played before, he took
both a wicket and a catch, well done mate, just magic! Also Peter Campling took
two good stumpings in his comeback match. In reply, it looked like the Tennis
would cruise to victory, with Richard Heanes, Peter Campling and Johnny Froment
all retiring and making a comeback, well in more ways than one! Johnny not out
on 42 at the end, had to put up with the old Apple trick on his first ball from
Taffy and later a red tennis ball and a ball on an elastic string, hahahaha! But
Stewart cannily kept all his best bowlers till the end and ensured victory for
the Cricket, with some fine bowling coming from the youngsters Josh, Dan and
Dean. It was a fun day, but it also gave us a firsthand look at how the
youngster bat/bowl and also a chance to see if the Tennis have any more hidden
stars in their section. It was also great to see Peter Campling and Richard
Heanes play cricket again, if you fancy a game at the weekend lads, you're more
than welcome!

Well, I better sign off and do some work,
Cheers
Paul
PS - don't forget to let me know your availability!