St Michael's Cricket Club

Sunday XI Match Reports 2009

Sunday Saints End with a Win

Last Sunday St Michael’s Sunday XI enjoyed the brief Indian summer as they finished off the season with a narrow win over Lanercost, chasing down a total of 124 for the loss of 8 wickets on the way.

Bowling first, the combination of captain Ahsanul, Derek Heron and Chris Lumb quickly reduced the visitors to 30 for 6, Heron taking 3 wickets for 13 runs off his 5 overs.

Sykes, who scored 34 not out, batted with style and patience to rescue the innings with partner Armstrong, later out to junior Lewis Fairbairn – one of his 2 wickets late on in the innings. Lanercost were all out for 124, Crabtree falling to a sharp run out by Connor Bowie.

Saints’ openers Heron and Ahsanul faced some fiery bowling after tea but coped well until Ahsanul fell for 8, caught at mid off with the score on 14. Heron and Chris Brockwell then steadied the ship and took the heat out of the game, adding over 30 runs before Heron was caught for a creditable 15.

Brockwell’s 44 proved to be the backbone of the innings and he shared good partnerships with Imran and Chris Lumb before holing out as he tried to hit the ball into the allotments. After juniors Bowie, Johnstone and Fairbairn fell cheaply, it was left to Kevin Kirkpatrick to save the day with a match winning 20 not out to see the side home, batting partner Colin Taylor hitting the winning run.

Man of the Match and of the summer was Chris Brockwell, whose mature batting in these games have helped many of the juniors get a first real taste of hardball cricket. The team would like to dedicate this win to Club Treasurer Davy Douglas who is recovering from a severe stroke.

19/09/09

Kinmount show their Steel

On a dull wet Sunday afternoon the weekend before last, Captains Kevin Bellis of Kinmount and Ahsanul Alam of St Michael’s decided to play anyway for the sake of the many under 16s involved in both teams.

St Michael’s, fielding six under 14s batted first and initially progressed well with partnerships of 16 between Colin Taylor and lee and then 30 between Taylor and Chris Lumb.

However the innings collapsed from 46-2 to 51-8 due to some superb bowling from Ingleby and Flack, who took 7 wickets between them. Colin Taylor top scored with 28 but with Pagan, Brockwell and Alam batting 9,10 and 11 the innings petered out when Brockwell was unluckily run out for 10 with the score on 77.

After a lovely tea Kinmount started slowly but steadily with both Steels, Anthony and Charlie getting into double figures before being out. Six wickets fell but classy batsman Owen Thompson came to the rescue and saved the day with his 23 not out as Kinmount ran out winners by 4 wickets.

For Saints, Pagan, Lumb and Brockwell all went for less than 2 runs an over but the pick of the bowlers was Connor Bowie with 2 for 13 from his 4 overs. The two men of the match, both from Kinmount, were Ben Flack for his magnificent 4-13 from 5 overs and Owen Thompson for his 23 not out. Saints best player on the day was Colin Taylor for his dogged 28 and shepherding of the upper order.

24/08/2009

Saints at Carlisle

On Sunday 3rd Saints' Sunday XI travelled to Carleton (Carlisle), where they took to the field for a forty over game against a team containing several novices and juniors. Saints’ opening bowler Mark Pagan reaped the benefits when asked by skipper Ahsanul Alam to bowl out his six overs, demolishing the home team’s middle order with a devastating spell of 4 - 5.

Ahsanul’s own six-over spell from the other end proved less productive, but after Davey Armstrong had Cowley well caught in the deep by Ben Johnston, Saints’ own youngsters Chris Lumb and Johnston himself, whose big off spinners caused considerable consternation to the later batsmen, more or less polished off the tail between them as Carleton subsided to 70 all out in only the twenty-sixth over.

In spite of the early loss of Dylan Muir, Saints’ oldest and youngest players, Sandy McNay (33 not out) and Chris Lumb (14 not out) got their heads down and determined to avoid further loss, eventually opening out to win by nine wickets when Lumb hit a nice drive through the offside to finish in style.

The early end to the match left time for a fifteen over hitathon in which Saints also triumphed, although Carleton, with the addition of Mark Pagan, did rather better, reaching 74 after Saints had put together a total of 90, thanks largely to an excellent 41 (retired) from Pat Sullivan, who had good support from Lewis Fairbairn (10) and Ben Johnston (11 not out).

This little cameo featured a number of notable moments for the club scapbook, including:

And at Galloway…

Last Sunday, Saints faced a stiffer challenge in a fixture shortened to 35 overs when they travelled to Gatehouse to face Galloway. The home team could only field nine players, but included overseas stars Chaudry and Mukherjee and a number of other first team regulars, while Saints’ Aussies, Hart and Sullivan sunned themselves in Headingley and gloated over England’s demise in the Fourth Test Mtach.

Ignoring the greenness of the track, Skipper Ahsanul elected to bat and Saints’ openers Imran and Pagan made a promising start before Pagan played uppishly to Chaudry at cover, who gave a demonstration of his juggling skills in celebration.

The slow wicket and damp outfield made for slow progress but Kevin Kirkpatrick and Imran tried to force the pace, the latter playing some eloquent shots in the area of point. Frustration finally told as both tried to hit out at Mukherjee, Kirkpatrick falling to a brilliant low caught and bowled with the score on just 64 off twenty overs.

Hanan took on leg spinner Bradley, who was getting a lot of turn, too early and was stumped, leaving Connor Bowie and Colin Taylor to face off Bradley and the formerly pacey Pat Druce. Although runs were slow in coming, both survived creditably and prepared for a late onslaught until it became apparent that the scoreboard was two overs behind schedule. In the ensuing panic, wicketkeeper Bradley smartly stumped Bowie (10) and Ben Johnston off successive deliveries from trundler Leon Stannus, who was amazed to find himself on a hat trick.

Little Chris Lumb and a wheezy Taylor tried to make up for lost time by plundering as many runs as possible off the remaining overs. Fearing his partner might collapse from exhaustion, Lumb (11 not out) wisely turned down an easy two to Stannus at deep mid on before despatching the last delivery from Wyatt to the short boundary just behind square leg for four, leaving Saints on a handy if not entirely convincing 130 for 6.

After a brief break for tea, Ahsanul’s ploy of opening with spinner Ben Johnston paid off when the spinner ended Bradley’s left-handed innings, forcing him to play on for one.

Druce and Berry then made frequent use of the short boundaries to push the score on quickly until Berry popped one of Hanan’s pace deliveries up to Brockwell at silly mid off. Brockwell then bowled five tight overs and nearly claimed the key wicket of Druce as Taylor just managed to get his fingers to a powerful drive at deep mid on.

Galloway were in the driving seat but a misunderstanding with Foster led to an easy run out as little Lumb proudly whipped off the bails to leave Druce stranded at the bowler’s end. Almost immediately Lumb also had Foster well taken off a full toss by Hanan in the deep.

Mark Pagan then got a ball to come back a long way to take out Gorman’s off stump and trapped Chaudry lbw when he moved too far across his wicket. Wyatt was quickly run out and all of a sudden, Galloway found they still needed 30 to win as last man Stannus strode purposefully to the wicket.

What followed was a fascinating little game of cat and mouse as Mukherjee tried to farm the bowling and Stannus blocked repeated deliveries from Pagan and Ahsanul, who attacked the number 11 with aggressive field settings while inviting Mukherjee to take the single.

In the end Stannus held out and Saints had to revert to using their juniors. Although Bowie forced an edge from Mukherjee and Lewis Fairbairn twice caused Stannus to play and miss, Mukherjee finally managed to carve one behind square to find the winning runs.

Scoreboard: St Michael’s 130 – 6 (Taylor 22 not out, Imran 22, Kirkpatrick 22 ; Stannus 2 –7) : Galloway 131 – 7 (Druce 27, Mukherjee 22 not out, Chaudry 21, Berry 20 ; Pagan 2-6)

111/08/09

Sunday Saints Crash To Corby

A sunny Kingholm welcomed Great Corby from Cumbria last sunday for a 35 over friendly. Batting first and opening with skipper Ollie Driver and St Michael’s pro Randall Hart, they proceded to swiftly punish the opening bowling partnership of Shyam and Pagan.

Hart was particularly severe in his treatment of teammate Shyam who went for 52 off his 5 overs. Pagan bowled well from the other end and only went for 27 off his 6 overs. The score raced along, the sole dismissal being the unlucky Driver caught behind by Brockwell from a bottom edge for 14 with the score well over 50.

McAlindon continued where his teammate had left off and raced to 30 before being bowled by Alam. Thankfully Hart retired on 50 with the score around the 100 mark off 12 overs before he could do any more damage to the sightscreens. Then Pagan trapped Lythgoe lbw for 0 before coming off.

Change bowlers Derek Heron and Chris Lumb bowled well in tandem and Lumb did well to get the dangerous looking Swann out to a lovely catch by Shyam at mid on. However by then the powerful hitting Swann had made a very valuable 35.

Some good batting from the Corby juniors particuarly Swann Jr took the score to 193 from the alloted 35 overs. Best bowling of the day came from Chris Lumb who bowled 8 overs and took 2 for 26.

St Michael’s started well as Australian Pat Sullivan and ex-skipper Derek Heron led the way to 30 before Sullivan fell to a stunning one-handed catch by Hart, the speed of which belied his ample girth. His joy at sending his teammate packing for 12 was a sight to behold and a warning for those who underestimate the competitive nature of Saints’ Australians this summer.

Archive footage of Derek Heron Next followed the best partnership of the day for St Michael’s as Chris Brockwell and Derek Heron, who has not played for over two years, put on 60 for the second wicket, the partnership only ending when a stunning piece of fielding ran Brockwell out for 25.

Heron who had his first chance to bat with his son Dani retired on 50 having looked just as good as he did in his heyday of 5 years ago. Apart from Mark Pagan, who hit a smashing 25, the innings gradually petered out after Hart accounted for captain Ahsanul Alam with yet another stunning catch.

Pick of the bowlers for Corby was Ollie Driver who bowled from both ends and can quite clearly bowl fast and also turn the ball both ways when bowling spin. St Michael’s innings ended on 140 after their allotted 35 overs.

Both teams enjoyed a very friendly day and have agreed to keep in touch and meet again next year if the chance permits.

St Michael’s Man of the Match was Derek Heron for his very valuable 50 runs and his encouragement to his junior teammates throughout the game.

17/06/09

Cockermouth Take Sunday Spoils

On a beautiful sunny Sunday at the Kingholm last weekend St Michael's Sunday XI met Cockermouth in a match played in the friendliest of spirits. Having lost the toss, Saints were put in to bat by visiting captain Andrew Mason.

Colin Taylor and Ahmed Mahmood started in solid fashion against some very tidy bowling from Harden and Ward and some beautiful leg spin from Todhunter. They added 59 in 15 overs with some splendid hits from Taylor who shepherded his younger partner through some tough and painful times early on in the partnership.

Mahmood was unluckily run out for 13 and when Taylor retired on 41, Kieron Moore and Mark Wharton carried on at a good run rate until they were both out for 6 and 7. After a rare failure from Pat Sullivan, caught for 1, the score stood on 95-4 after 28 overs and a total of 150 still looked on. However the next 8 overs yielded only 10 runs as Leon Stannus blocked the bowlers out and was eventually out for 0 in the 36th over with the score on 105.

Thankfully the visiting captain allowed the game to extend to 40 overs and Dylan Muir and Connor Bowie, who both batted carefully, managed to scramble the score to 121 in the last 4 overs.

The Cockermouth batsmen all looked very capable despite Saints' best efforts to slow them down with a heavy tea. The first 16 overs went for only 38 runs as Wharton, Chris Lumb, Ahsanul and Ghazi all bowled well. Inevitably as the bowling got weaker the run rate got faster, particularly from Daly who batted splendidly for 44 retired. The total was passed with 10 overs to spare but the captains decided to play the full 40 overs to give everyone a bat and a bowl.

Everyone enjoyed their day and there are obviously some very talented players at Cockermouth, particularly the youngsters. They will always be made very welcome at the Kingholm and Captain Mike Lumb would like to thank Andrew Mason for the spirit in which his team played.

The Man of the Match went to Colin Taylor for his careful introduction of Ahmed Mahmood into the mystic arts of opening the batting.

30/05/09