STUMPED!- Part One (From Malvern Gazette)

STUMPED!- Part One

12:00pm Saturday 19th July 2008

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WORCESTER NOMADS I v BARNARDS GREEN I.

WORCESTER Nomads and Barnards Green ended honours even in a match severely disrupted by rain at Whitegates Farm.

Green batted first and captain Chris Smedley held the innings together as the ever-accurate Damon Gariff wreaked havoc at the other end.

Finally, Smedley, too, fell to Gariff, caught and bowled for a valuable 34. Jez Clarke took up the challenge after his captain's departure.

Helped by Andy Ford (15) and Tim Williams (14), Clarke hammered his way to a sparkling 63 before being trapped lbw by Geoff Taylor.

Olly Butterworth added impetus to the Nomads' attack and he picked up three wickets as the Green finished just short of maximum batting points on 192-9. Gariff took 5-65 off his 19 overs.

Because of the frequent rain interruptions Nomads were left with only 10 overs.

They made a valiant attempt to reach the winning draw target, but lost three wickets in the process and settled for bonus points only.

Both sides picked up nine points.

NOMADS IV v WEST MALVERN II.

NOMADS gained seven points from a losing draw in a rain- interrupted division nine match with a strong West Malvern second team.

Nomads did well to restrict the visitors to an all-out total of 170 in 43 overs. South African Blackburn made an aggressive 60, Russell, 36, and Barnes, 17, before all falling to seamer Neil Claytor (3-61).

Young seamers Tom Goodwin (u14) 3-24 and Patrick O'Driscoll (u15) 1-22 both bowled very well and economically with nine overs apiece. Skipper Robbie Birt (2-27) also chipped in.

In reply, Nomads lost early wickets, slipping to 36-3 in nine overs. Nigel Dexter (26) and Brian Roberts (19) then revived the chase, but both were gone at 84-7. Birt (28) and O'Driscoll 10no then added 40 for the eighth wicket, the loss of Birt saw Goodwin and O'Driscoll play out the reduced 40 overs to secure a losing draw. Opening bowler Alex Moody had very impressive figures of 12-4-35-3.

STOURBRIDGE I V EASTNOR I.

STEADY batting down the order backed up by an excellent bowling performance from Shahid left Eastnor in total control of their match at Stourbridge against the current Crusader Worcestershire League division one leaders.

The one disappointment at the end of their best performance of the season was that they were unable to force home their advantage in a rain-reduced match and had to settle for a winning draw. Stourbridge ended the 37-over contest on 142-8 chasing Eastnor's 187-7.

Jabran and Adeel (27) put on 43 for the first wicket after losing the toss.

They slipped to 57-3 before Atiq (39) and Arshad (34) put the innings back on track.

The next four batsmen all reached double figures to post a competitive total on a greenish wicket.

Relishing the conditions, against his former club, Shahid bowled unchanged throughout the Stourbridge innings.

He took 4-58 off 18 overs and also picked up a shrewd run out when Herefordshire player Ollie Hill returned from injury with a runner and got his partners in a tangle.

The fielding was another pleasing aspect of the performance, with Josh Emery claiming a run-out with a direct hit from a deep position, and young keeper James Onions claiming four catches behind the stumps.

Stourbridge were struggling at 106-8 but Greg Jones (46no) held firm as the two sides shared the spoils.

STROLLERS v BOSBURY.

BOSBURY'S title chase threatens to stall after they went down by 39 runs to Strollers in their latest Marches League division two game.

On a damp wicket, visiting captain Steve Davies decided to put Strollers into bat.

He and fellow opening bowler Mark Wadley were able to restrict the Strollers' openers Lerego and Bentley-Taylor to just 30 off the first 14 overs.

The opening partnership was worth 68 before Bentley-Taylor was bowled by Jon Owen for 34 in the 22nd over after Wadley had finished his spell.

Owen also picked up Mark Powell cheaply, before Alan Lancett got one through Lerego to bowl him for 42.

Chris Arnold (22) and Simon Albright (10) helped take the Strollers score to 139 off 45 overs. The pick of the Bosbury bowlers was Jon Owen (4-17) with Steve Davies picking up three late wickets to finish with 3-30. Bosbury's latest opening pair of Dave Taylor and Simon Probyn got off to a reasonable start, progressing to 19 before Taylor was floored by a delivery from Chris Arnold which reared off a length and hit him squarely in the eye socket, which meant he was taken to hospital and had to retire from the innings.

After incoming batsman George Abbey was bowled by Martin Skirrow, and Chris Stokes was lbw to Skirrow, Rob Bentley-Taylor's variation brought about the wicket of Darren Woodhouse, bowled for a duck.

Dave Daffin missed a full-toss and was bowled for just two, the score now 54-4. When Owen was caught and bowled by Skirrow (4-32) the game was more or less up for Bosbury, though Simon Probyn was able to take Bosbury to 100 and gain a batting point before his patient innings of 42 came to an end, giving victory to the home side.

MALVERN ARTEFACTS v WORCESTER ACADEMICALS.

MALVERN Artefacts' losing run continued when they were a poor second to a relatively weak Worcester side, losing their Worcester evening League Division Two game by eight runs.

After winning the toss the Artefacts decided to have first use of the ball. The visitors reached a final score of 106-6 which was probably 20 runs short of a competitive score and looked even more so as openers Ian Dovey (22) and Phil Birch (22) put on 49 runs in just five overs.

However, the run-out of Birch from a direct throw by Davies had a disastrous effect on the game.

Ian Dovey soon followed trying to force the pace of the innings and both Derek Street (nine) and Jason Brewer (four) struggled to put bat to ball.

Julian Hall (16no) and Phil Spencer (nine no) pulled the score towards 100 but at the close the home side were still eight runs short.

For the visitors, captain John Peters (2-19) put in a match winning performance and he was well supported by his other three front-line bowlers.

In the end, Worcester Academicals received ten points and the Artefacts had to settle for just one.

STUMPED!- Part Two will be available on the website from noon tomorrow (Sunday).

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