CAPTAIN CF'S SEASON BLOG

[andy]

and hopefully we can gain promotion to the premier division 2 games left

[andy]

GAME 17 IN THE LEAGUE:

1.G.Powell
2.M.Lesis
3.G.Hope
4.I.Barstable
5.G.Jackson
6.N.Maynard (wk)
7.Captain CF
8.N.Sammers
9.J.Long
10.S.McKenzie
11.P.Terry

unchanged side again...we are a young side and going into the penultmate game of the season we still had promotion in our own hands!!

TOSS: i won the toss and chose to bat on a dry good batting pitch.

It was a flat pitch full of runs and i was extremely happy to get first go on it. However that being said, their openers did bowl well, bowled good lines however the ball wasnt doing much and you could just hit through the line. Their wicket keeper was also class, anything down the leg side he took with ease, and he only conceded 3 byes all innings! Halfway thorugh the innings we were 150-3! Runs were flowing we just had to make sure that we kept wickets in hand!!!!!!!! They used 8 bowlers in all during the innings as the pitch was flat and it was vital to have options on this pitch. There was good carry if you bent your back as a bowler, but it was horrible to bowl on. No swing throughout the innings and the ball was getting scuffed up rather easily, due to the dryness of the surface. They were a very good fielding side and to be honest to get 150 off the first 25 overs was a good acheivement. They then brought on their leg spinner who turned it square!!! Nothing for quicks but the spinners did turn it...their legspinner took 4-28 from his 10 overs as they pulled it back in the middle overs. I made 36 this game but i was one of the leg spinner's victims stumped trying to hit him back over his head . We closed our innings on 255-8, it was compeitive, but it wasnt a foregone conclusion

I took the new ball but looked it to hold it cross seam as i knew there wasnt any swing and wanted to take pace off the ball early on. It did grip in the surface, and it was testing for the oppo batsman. For the first time this season i asked the keeper to stand up to the stumps as i wasnt bowling flat out, as i was also carrying a niggle in my knee which was painful. Long opened from the other end and got good carry and just bowled wicket to wicket as we tried to contorl the rate early. After 20 overs they were 135-5 we had got wickets but they were ticking the board over. They then kept rotating the strike in the middle overs as it got tight now they had wickets in hand and i was desperate for a break thorugh. i kept my cool but inside i was getting nervy for the first time this year a wicket was needed badly. After 40 overs they were 179-6. They needed 76 from the last 10 with 4 wickets in hand. I asked my spinner to bowl into the batsman's pads and spear it in, and he managed to only go for singles in the over...i wanted to choke them and make them give their wicket away. WE PULLED IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bowled them out for 242! Winning by 13 runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We go into final game in first place a win will take us up to the prem division!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[meninblue]

Congrats, CF. Good that you haven't changed the team much in the second half of the tournament. Maybe that has helped the team a lot.

[andy]

cheers mate, and if we win next week we will be promoted

[Alviro Patterson]

Superb stuff CF

It's a shame Essex isn't anywhere near Cardiff, would happily skip the 2nd T20 semi-final and watch your team play.

[andy]

haha cheers mate

[andy]

GAME 18 IN THE LEAGUE

Final game of the season and a win would take us up to the premier

1.G.Powell
2.M.Lesis
3.G.Hope
4.I.Barstable
5.G.Jackson
6.N.Maynard (wk)
7.Captain CF
8.N.Sammers
9.J.Long
10.S.McKenzie
11.P.Terry

Side was un changed and our fate was in our hands, as arrived on saturday morning. I had 2 spinners in my side along with 3 genuine quicks and i had the attack to beat anyone.

TOSS: I lost the toss and we had to field first, i wasnt overly dissapointed about that, however if i had won the toss, i would have batted first!

I gave Sammers my left arm spinner the new ball as i wanted pace off the ball immieadtly. I gave him overs upfront with which he only conceded 24 runs and i was very happy with that return from him but kept a couple of overs of his bowling for later on. I took the new ball from the other end. I was getting good bounce and carry which was a suprise...the wicket appeard to have a bit in it for everyone! I bowled 6 overs with the new ball conceded 25 runs and took a wicket...Long one of my other quicks, was bowling seriously quick today he was troubling the oppo batsman and it appeared that bowling first wasnt that bad. After 30 overs they were only 103-4...I brought on one of my part time off spinners to try and get through some quick overs with Hope, as there was two new batsman at the crease, and with 20 overs left i tried to sneak away 5 of them overs. After 40 overs they were 150-7...wickets were tumbling and the rate was seriously slow we just needed a very good final 5 overs to give ourselves a relatively small target to chase. Long came back on bowling seriously quick again, and bowled out with figures of 10-1-6-34...Career best figures for Long 6-34 and he was seriously good and quick! We bowled them out for 190 with 1.2 overs left!!!!!!!

Long 6-34
CF 3-50

THE CHASE

We had a small target to chase and at halfway we defo backed ourselves, but we knew they would come out fighting. After 10 overs though we were struggling! we were 21-3 and in a hole! They had a lot of spinners in their side and were taking pace off the ball immediatly and it was hard to time the ball on a tired, wearing surface. i put myself in at 5, knowing that i needed to play a big innings for my side and get us out of the hole we were in. Me and G.Jackson fought hard scampering singles and trying to improvise to get the odd boundary here and there, but they were still on top. After 30 overs we were 90-5 and in real danger of suffering a rare defeat this season. I was there on 22* Maynard was at the crease with me. However we started to get a partnerhip going and things were looking up. As they eventually had to bring some pace on and it was much easier batting with pace on the ball. I was dropped on 37 and was determined to make the most of that! After 42 overs we were 136-5 the rate had climbed and we didnt have a lot of wickets left. Maynard fell and we still needed 21 to win from 3 overs. Last ball of the 47th over i fell for 45 and we needed 12 to win from 2 overs with 2 wickets in hand! Long then get bowled in the 49th over with us still needing 8 to win. we started the last over needing 8 to win with only 1 wicket in hand. However first ball of the over Mckenzie was run out, dreams were shattered we had missised out on promotion for the 2nd season running

CF 45 and 3-50

WE LOST BY 8 RUNS AND PROMOTION DIDNT HAPPEN...

we missed out on promotion by 2 points.

That concluded my 2nd season of captaincy and both seasons we have only just missed out on promotion.

[dan08]

That's a shame. Still quite a good season though.

[shankycricket]

Excellent season for you CF, personally. You have always contributed in at least one of the departments in each game and quite often in both.
Shame about the promotion but sure, you will get it next year if you keep peforming like this.

[andy]

thanks guys, however we are devastated to miss out yet again, however it was a tight league this year, and there was a lot of very good sides.

[meninblue]

Having followed your season blog and updates i feel that is a tremendous season. I am damn sure that only few all rounders currently playing in Mumbai club cricket teams could have beaten your performance. You have scored as many runs as some specialist batsman do in 50 overs club matches batting in middle order, as many wickets as specialist bowlers like to take in 50 overs format. Therefore, congratulations for performing so excellently in this tournament.

[andy]

thank you adi, i appreciate all the comments and feedback i have recieved

i will contiune to update even throughout the off season should anything noteworthy come up for happen.

[GGAS]

Well done CF, congrats on the season but a shame about missing promotion. Inspirational captaincy

[andy]

thanks GG

[andy]

just gone thorough my season stats:

33 wickets in 16 innings and 679 runs at an average of 42!!!!!!!!!!!!!!