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If the Cowfolk are doing it, this is where it’s at…
From The Awards Do…
Many more photos can be found here.
A bizzar video of Dik at a meeting (from Molly)…
Mainly Rain
15/06/2013
The Saturday 2nd Team’s fixture was the only one that survived the weather. The match was a tie with both teams getting 152 from the reduced 35 overs.
Hoops bowled 7 over for 19 runs taking 1 wicket and Steveo bowled 7 overs taking 3 wickets for 18 runs. Batting Muhammed score4d 45.
Captain Codpiece reports thus:
Due to the dearth of action in 2/3rds of games over the weekend I’ll include a more comprehensive round up of where we stand about a 3rd of the way through the N Somerset Cricket League season.
Otters aren’t renowned for their literary ability but hopefully one of them can stop crying over Ring of Bright Water for long enough to give us an account of an exciting tie against Nailsea 4ths on Saturday. Well done to both sides for getting this match played. The 3 points gained for a tie have moved the Saturday 2s up to 3rd place in Saturday Div 4. Lansdown 3rds are running away with this league,24 points from 6 games, with a ridiculously strong team for this division. Grendel 2s have 12 points from 5, our lovely glistening Otters 11 from 6, and Whitchurch have 10 from 5. In a strangely curtailed division due to drop out teams Exiles 2s, Timsbury 3s and Nailsea 4s fill the bottom 3 spots, however had Timsbury not conceded a game early on they would lie 2nd. Jeff’s boys have an advantage in only having to play Lansdown once more, so the strongest looking Cowboys second team in years could carry on challenging for this 2nd place right through the season. Saturday sees them away at Timsbury again, to whom they lost heavily in the second game of the season. Riding the crest of a wave of optimism I predict a reversal and victory for Otters unless Timsbury’s 1 &2s players take fright at having to play their equivalents from Lansdown.
A chance to gain valuable points at lowly Wrington was washed away by the adverse weather so the Iguanas, Cowboys Saturday 1s, remain adrift from the top 5 in Div 3. The top 5 are separated by 4 points, then an 8 point gap to the Cowboys on 10 points. The relegation places remain filled by Wrington and Nailsea 3rds, who have 2 points each. On Saturday the Iguanas are back at the Farm against Avonside, who had won 3 on the bounce until their game was rained off on Saturday. Traditionally big hitters on their day, my recommendation is to stretch the boundary and wear them out running. Sorry my marine lizard friends my prediction is a defeat with the Cowboys registering their second 200 plus score of the season. Avonside’s last game saw them successfully chase down a massive total of 327-4 set by previously unbeaten Bath!
On to Sunday Div 2 where the weather once again intervened tp prevent the exciting match up between the Boltcutters and Cheddar. As Dean, Garner, the Ar….tist previously known as Justin, and I sat in the back of the Plough watching what we thought was England’s lower order struggling we were blissfully unaware that events elsewhwere in the division were going against us. Top of the table, unbeaten Blagdon, gained 4 points for a capitulation by Carsons who couldn’t field a team (if they’d called us we could have donned false beards and wigs), 2nd placed Peasedown panned 10 man Purnells leaving both teams on 28 points although PSJ have played a game more. The Cowboys lie 3rd on 20 points with Cheddar on 18, and the Old E on 16 after they beat Kilmersdon who were all out for 56. I hate to be too critical of our new Sunday hosts at BWI but when I turned up at 11.45am the wicket wasn’t covered, which begs the question what’s the point in having covers? I believe this is being addressed by our club officials. Next Sunday Bolts boys travel to top of the table Blagdon for a crunchie of a game, can they topple another unbeaten team? If anyone wants a day out Blagdon is a beautiful ground overlooking the Chew Valley. It is also where Ben Salt inadvertently smashed my pinkie to pieces several years ago. For those that haven’t seen the gory post op photos maybe Grover can resurrect them? Anyway I will stick with the bookies on this one and predict a home victory.
Good In Parts
08/06/2013
The Saturday 1st Team lost to Stratton-on-the-Foss by 95 runs. SOTF hit 205 for 6. RT1 bowled 1 for 25 from 8 and Garnier bowled 1 form his 8. TT took 2 for 27. In reply the Cowboys could only score 110 all out from 35.1 overs. Matt D scored 39. Scorecard. The match report is below.
The Saturday 2nd Team beat Grendel by 63 runs. ECCC hit 255 for 6 from their 40 0vers. Oli hit 80 and Matt C hit 43. In reply Grendel hit 192 for 7 from their 40 overs. Mohammed bowled 1 for 22 from his 8 and Hoops got 3 for 22. Scorecard. The match report is below.
09/06/2013
The Sundays beat Purnell by 7 wickets. Purnell hit 161 for 8 off their 40 overs. Sahil bolwed 3 or 21 and Kalpit bolwed 1 for 28, while Stratto bowled 8 overs, 4 maidens for 18 runs getting 1 wicket. ECCC hit the runs in overs for the loss of 3 wickets. Boults hit 36 and Sahil hit 35. Scorecard.
Sat 1 Match Report.
Even after it seemed well done and dusted, some of the Cowboys exhibited great stamina and carried on: Garnier, RT1 & Lalith heroically refused to give up while others thought it was all over. The match might have ended hours earier in an almost humiliating defeat to bottom of the table Stratton on the Fosse, but at the Plough, boy could those Cowboys dance to that hippity hop music that they have these days.
“OMG, WTF happened there?” asked a magpie on the square at Farmborough as the Cowboys drained the barrels from the Ormigrove brewery.”I blame the new caps”, said a leatherjacket larvae, trying not to become a light supper, safe in the knowledge that fines for such dissent had already been dished out.
“Well”, chirped a blackbird, who had witnessed the whole of the afternoon’s proceedings from the shade of a boundary chestnut tree, ” It went a little something like this.”
As a mere formality, the skipper tossed a coin with his opposite number, won again and asked the opposition to bat against his octet of bowlers: A hot afternoon in the field was guaranteed, despite a gusting north-easterly breeze.
RT1 and Garnier bowled with customary theodolite-accuracy, beating the bat on numerous occasions and limiting the batsmen to only a couple of runs an over, accumulated as the ball flew from edges across the fast outfield. Both eventually took out an opening batsman towards the end of their tidy spells to have the Fosse on around 50-2.
The Landlord further contained the incoming batsman and after many vociferous interrogations of the umpire removed one LBW, then clipped the top of another’s off stump. Nice. SteveO swung his jazz from the other end but was wicketless and the No.3 batsman, who’d been let off the hook when a catch went down, soon commenced to make midsummer hay.
It wasn’t to be MattD’s day with the ball, nor Lalith’s, as the batsmen found the boundary with regularity after drinks, accelerating the run rate, building on modest beginnings and pushing the total beyond that which had earlier been thought likely: This was the team after all that had been dismissed by Bath for 46, albeit now bolstered by a new No.3 batsman who had just scored a fifty.
Iggy then had a go, but it was wizard Wilko, the last of the octet, who eventually removed both batsmen with Preash taking a smart second catch behind the stumps. The opposition batted out the remaining overs of their innings without loss to end on 205-6.
Tea comprised more baguettes than there are in a Parisian boulangerie, but the entente cordiale was maintained by scones, cream and jam and the Rapid Tea Response Squad stood down.
If the skipper had been somewhat spoilt for choice with his bowling octopus, the batting looked like plankton, if not on paper then in the deep water that the Cowboys found themselves in a few overs later. Grove clung to the liferaft as his partners disappeared, prey to a fine spell of quick swing bowling that found edges and stumps, leaving the surface of the water littered with ducks. The score was barely in double figures with four wickets down.
Operating with a somewhat inverted batting order, all was not lost as there was better batting to come. Grover’s resilience and MattD’s purposeful belief moved the score along, but after the opening bowler’s 4-17 the slower replacement bowling was almost as hard to get away. After playing well along the ground, occupying the crease and reaching double figures, Grover hit one in the air back to the bowler. Lalith didn’t malinger, but in his eagerness holed out too soon.
With six wickets down and a steep hill to climb, MattD, who’d cracked some welcome boundaries, was joined at the wicket by Iggy; the pair of them still capable of stealing victory, the latter exhibiting immediate intent with a powerful straight boundary. It was uncanny that after his departure last week, we’d assumed that J.Burgess was a thousand miles away by now, only for his namesake to be bowling for the opposition, not to mention another Wilko at the other end. Perhaps it was these coincidences that Iggy was dwelling upon, with his head down, when JB2 came in to bowl, startling him when he wasn’t expecting the delivery, too late to pull out of committing to play a stroke to the ball that bowled him.
SteveO tried to hang on but was bowled for the fourth of five ducks to waddle across the Cowboys’ scorebook. Preash’s spirited and capable resistance produced his first boundary for the team, followed by two much better ones, but when MattD was bowled for a Man of the Match winning 39, with the total struggling to reach three figures, the game was up. Cider Moments were hard to come by and even harder to remember after drowning sorrows later. No.11 RT1 should be congratulated on surviving more balls than seven of his teammates, on his way to his duck. Preash did his average no harm, remaining not out on 16: All out for 110 in the 36th over.
“I don’t believe you,” said the magpie.
http://nscl.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11652469
Sat 2 Match Report
If Grendel, starting the game 2 players short, were hoping that their sunbathing girlfriends would prove distracting for the Cowboys youth then they might have been better to ask us to field. As it was Ollie, Asad, Justin and Matt Cavan all played big shots that had the Grendel WAGS scurrying for cover as the Easton Massive ran up a very challenging 255 runs for 6 down. We enjoyed our fine tea much more than the Grendel boys and girls, that’s for sure.
Ollie’s Man of the Match performance was founded on his splendid 80 runs. He had a scratchy start against some determined Grendel bowling, but gradually his nudges and nurdles transformed into well-placed clips and authoritative forcing shots – toward the end of his knock he was hitting middle-stump yorkers off the back foot through extra cover for four. Cowboys openers set the tone, both Asad and DC1 taking the opening bowlers for regular boundaries in their brisk and assertive partnership. As Ollie got his eye in at first drop Asad maintained the scoring rate until he feathered one through to the keeper. It was Justin’s eye for a single, and for turning one into two, that broke the back of the Grendel field, and as his partnership with Ollie grew so the opposition field grew rancorous amongst themselves. Whilst the fielders were delighted to eventually see the back of Justin and his 88-run partnership with Ollie Matt Cavan quickly wiped the smiles off their faces, rapidly advancing his score to nearly jug-avoidance territory in a partnership of 77 as the team score passed 200. With Noodles swipes and AB getting off the mark on Cowboy debut with a big 6 Easton left Grendel having to score at more than a run-a-ball to win the game.
Having a big total meant Cowboys could employ attacking fields and with early wickets for Asad and Alex H. it looked like we’d be back at the Plough early. Grendel had other ideas and a dogged 3rd wicket partnership had the Easton rotating the bowling. Both AB and Andy B. bowled threatening spells with no reward and it took a magic ball from Wayne Kelly to make the breakthrough. As one wicket brings two Alfie Baker bowled the Grendel skipper for a duck, and Grendel were now facing a run-rate in double figures per over. Grendel were determined not to give us anything, and the Cowboys were kept in the field until the end of the 40th over at 8.35pm. Alex Hooper finished with 3 wickets for 22, and reinforced his position as the Club’s most economical bowler and the Cowboys Saturday 2nds headed down Muller Road to celebrate 2 wins on the bounce.
Notes of caution – Grendel only fielded 9 players, and this game would have been much closer and harder-fought had they had a full side. Their skipper’s decision to ask us to bat was very strange.
MoM – Ollie 80 runs and very tidy keeping wicket
Cider Moment – Wayne’s altercation with the umpire over the run-out that wasn’t but should have been.
Debut – Anurag Bhatnagar (AB)
Scorecard – http://cowboys.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11652555
Sun Report
…………. unless you’re the 1!
So here we go pop pickers, the review of the weekends action, my prediction of 2 wins for Cowboys teams was correct however I underestimated the powers of the rejuvenated Saturday 2s, Jeff’s Otters. Their victory over 9 man Grendel by 63 runs is recorded elsewhere by captain for the day DC1. Next Saturday sees them back at the Farm against bottom of the table Nailsea 4ths. Nailsea have yet to win a game this season, and in fact have failed to raise a team for 2 of their 5 matches so I hope the Otters get a chance to claim a hat trick of victories on the field. This is something that hasn’t been achieved by a Cowboy 2nd team since the famous 7 wins on the spin under DC1 in 2005. Back in those days several Cowboys used to play twice in the weekend so it is great to see so many players playing under the Cowboy banner at the moment. Only Justin played twice this weekend, as a late stand in. I predict another Ottertastic victory, hopefully on the pitch (not sure if it counts if they cry off Jeff).
The Otters now lie 4th in their 7 team division, only 4 points behind 2nd placed Grendel, and 2 points behind 3rd placed Whitchurch. 2 go up from this division so could the unthinkable happen….? What would be weirder is if the Otters got promoted and the Iguanas passed them going the other way, could we have a 2nd team playing higher than a 1st team? In division 3 the 1sts lie 6th in a 10 team league. However the teams in joint 3rd/4th/5th places are 8 points ahead on 16 points. Looking downwards the relegation places are filled by Nailsea with 2 points and Wrington with 0. Funnily enough that number is the same as 5 of the 1s batsmen on Saturday, get in the nets you dogs, quackitty, quack, quack, quack, quack! So Saturdays game against Wrington is looking rather important even this early in the season, will Iggy keep the faith with the team, or will he look to the 2nds to bolster his ranks and send some of the quackers to division 4 to refind their form? Either way I am going to stick my neck out and risk cursing them by predicting victory.
So to Sunday, where the Boltcutters continued their winning ways away at Purnells, who fielded a team of youth and experience. Sahil and Kalpit restricted the openers to a miserly 2 runs an over through the opening 10 overs though only 1 wicket fell, after another 10 overs they were still only scoring at 2 an over with Stratto rollling back the years, and roaring like a rutting deer during his excellent 8 over spell with 1-18. However nos 4,5,& 6 got hemselves in and accumulated a few runs mainly off the Heavy Roller who had forgotten his lucky tuppence, and lots of edges off the other bowlers. After Dean removed no 4 with the help of Kalpit, Sahil came back to clean up 5 and 6, to finish with 3-21. A wicket apiece for RT2 and Kalpit, plus a run out for Dean meant that the printers finished on 161 for 8 off their 40 overs.
After tea spent watching NZ nearly bottle it in the Chamions Trophy, Bolts and Justin strode out the wicket determined not to show the same lack of application. Indeed we were treated to excellent shots from both rattling the score along at 6 an over until Justin departed for 25. This brought Biffer Taylor to the wicket, unsurprisingly he kept the run rate up, until the skipper and he were out in quick succesion. If Purnells thought they were back in the match they hadn’t realised that Sahil was on his way out, with support from Duncan the game was finished in the 26th over when Sahil hit a 6 which landed in front of the few remaining attendees from a christening. Another of Sahil’s blows landed in the adjacent bowls club where earlier in the day some elderly residents of Paulton had been enjoying a more genteel game. Sahil deservedly won MoM and Cider moment for one of his sixes, or was it his reverse sweep for 4 requested by the opposition keeper?! Ollie also deserves a special mention for putting everything behind some very hostile bowling in an excellent performance behind the stumps.
Next Sunday The Sundays host Cheddar, 3rd v 4th, with Cheddar 2 points behind us on 16 points. Cheddar have now one 3 in a row, scoring over 230 in each of these games, with opener Ross Panes scoring 100s in 2 of these games. Only top of the table unbeaten Blagdon have beaten them in an 11 a side contest as they only had 9 in their early season defeat at Purnells. This could be an explosive game depending on which players are available for both teams, recommended viewing for those at a loose end on Sunday. Well it’s got to happen some time so 3 victories this weekend please!
More Reports
03/06/2013
The midweek 20/20 side got under way in The CIL League (the first game having been rained off last week), with a resounding win against Henleaze Old Boys.
On a flat pitch at YMCA the cowboys put on 187, with RT2 caught out on 98, including 8 sixes, avoiding a double jug. Sahil hit 5 4’s and Angelo (once his hamstring went) put his shiny new bat to good use.
Henleaze gave us a scare being 134 for 2 in the 14th over, but 3 quick wickets put paid to any hopes of an unlikely overhaul. Kalpit bowled a tidy 2-16. Newcomer Sayed, and RT2 were both quick and accurate with the ball.
Cowboys won by 27 runs.
01/06/2013
As Garnier served a barbecue at the conclusion of the match against Old Park that tempted your correspondent into the bony realm of pesco-vegetariansm, the fishy was on the little dishy but the boat had failed to come in.
It started so well on a gorgeous first day in June, the cow parsley high, the sun negating a stiff breeze on which wafted pig shite and silage. Ian won the toss for the fifth time in succession and had no hesitation in inserting the opposition on the second-hand strip from the week before and within a trice, RT1 showed that he had very much recovered from injury, in a devastating opening spell that reduced Old Park to 10 for 3. Bolivian-bound Budge bowled beautifully, trapping another batsman LBW to have the opposition in the mire at 18 for 4.
The next partnership put on ninety-five, not for want of accurate bowling, as Matt D and the Landlord prevented the runs from flowing, supported by a busy field, constantly preventing and allowing singles to engineer the strike away from the better bat. One or two sharp chances went to ground and slowly the score advanced. Post-birthday boy Garnier eventually made the breakthrough, springing down the hill with the grace and confidence of a deer that doesn’t know it’s venison, as Lalith plugged away at the other end, explaining LBW laws to the umpire with eventual success.
The Cowboys did well to restrict the opposition in the final overs, Garnier dismissing the big gun for 79 and trapping another batsman LBW, Ev buying a wicket thanks to a superlative forward diving Matt D and Ian bowling one tight over that had everyone wondering why the skip hadn’t bowled more. Old Park’s number eleven didn’t bat because of a cast on a broken bone and the innings ended in the penultimate over on 153-9.
Duncan provided a sumptuous tea and followed the frittata fad, remembering in the nick of time a green salad tossed with balsamic vinegar to perfect the culinary delight. Brave though, to cock a snoot at the warning last week about the supplier of said egg-based thing not taking any wickets or scoring (many) runs.
Tooley opened the innings with Ev, requiring four an over to win. However, one of the opposition opening bowlers had other ideas and was only allowing one run an over to leak: It was slow progress. So slow in fact, that your correspondent was foolish enough, when sitting next to the fines-meister, to remark, “Isn’t that a kestrel?”, incurring an immediate financial penalty for twitching with ornithological interest near the field of play.
Back on the pitch, the foundation was being laid and although the builders were a bit slow, it was good firm workmanship. Tooley downed tools on being caught for a dozen, bringing B-b-Budge out to bat for the last time this season. Naturally he made it count, scoring three boundaries and developing a near fifty run partnership with Ev, who was the first to go, for 34: At 84-2 the Cowboys were more than halfway home.
Batting like a man with a boat to catch, B-b-Budge was soon bowled for 26 and when Matt D came and went for a duck which wasn’t on the menu, alas, the curse of the frittata led Duncan to depart early for half a dozen (eggs?), the fourth Cowboy to be caught. The skipper came in to partner Lalith, but the little man within urged him to poke at a wide one he’d intended to leave well alone and he was caught at point with the score choking at 103-6.
Your correspondent then came to the crease, intent on giving the strike to Lalith, who whopped two mighty sixes with it before being caught LBW on the back foot for a baker’s dozen: Seven down, thirty-odd runs still needed from around the equivalent number of balls. Helpfully, the opposition gave away a few wides to reduce the target, a four was edged behind and mid-off spilled a chance that was drilled at him, allowing the run rate to progress as required, but when RT1 was bowled the Cowboys were still twenty runs short and Garnier was not a happy bunny to have to come out to bat with Bambi to barbecue.
A dozen runs short, the Landlord was bowled for 21, bringing Preash to the wicket to help Garnier scramble over the line but on the penultimate ball of the innings, with four runs required for victory he was run out by the plaster cast-assisted arm of the Old Park number eleven.
After the match, SteveO’s ale and Garnier’s tucker provided a perfect evening to an imperfect day, B-b-Budge was voted Man of the Match for bowling, batting and bicycling and Matt D’s diving catch was adjudged the Cider Moment.
http://nscl.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11652464
Jeffer’s 1st Victory
01/06/2013
The Saturday 2nd Team won thier first game of the season beating Bath Exiles by 5 wickets. Exiles socred. Andy B bowled 7 overs 4 for 25 and Hoops bowled 8 overs for 26. The Cowboys knocked them off in the 35th over with Boults getting 57. Duane and Moham ammed both got 22. Scorecard.
The Saturady 1st Team lost to Old Park by 3 runs. Old Park hit 153 all out. RT1 bowled 5 overs 3 for 23 Garnier bowled 8 overs 3 for 21. The Cowboys were all out for 150 in the last over. Ev got 34 and Budge got 26. Scorecard.
02/06/2013
The Sunday Team beat Grendel Exiles but 4 Wickets. Matt D bowled 8 overs 1 for 36. Wilko Bowled 8 overs 1 for 27 and at Boy bowled 4 overs 2 for 12. The Cowboys got the runs in the 39th over. Tom T got 59 and his brother RT2 got 38. Scorecard.
DC 1 reported the Sat 2s vicotry thus:
Completing the winning run in the 35th over gave Jeff Otterbeck a champagne moment as he nailed down his first win as Saturday 2 skipper. C’mon Cowboys!
Some of Jeff’s team were a little surprised at his choosing to field on a bright sunny afternoon, and as Exiles nudged and nurdled their way to 50 without loss in the first dozen overs it looked like it might be a long afternoon. Cowboys needed a wicket, and it came in debutant Duane Allen’s first over, as an attempt at a slower ball looped high in the air before landing on the stumps and the Exiles opener was gone, having left what he imagined was a no ball. CIDER MOMENT! It didn’t take vintage maestro Wayne Kelly long to work out, work over and entrap Exiles number 3 with a neat catch by DC2 sending him back to the pavilion. Exiles dug in to negotiate a miserly spell from Kelly, but in surviving Wayne they placed themselves under pressure and it was attempts to force the scoring against Andy Bowen that led to further wickets – DC1 snatching a catch from nowhere at short midwicket and Grant Forrester clinging on to 2 sharp chances in an over at short mid-off. With Alex Hooper using the middle of the pitch to great effect Exiles had slumped from 56 for 1 to 106 for 6. Once Andy B had finished his spell with 4 for 25 and Alex his with 2 for 26 it was left to opening bowler Mohammed Asad to return to mop up the tail, leaving Cowboys to score 147 to win.
The revival of an old-school cowboys opening partnership of DC1 and Neil Boulton looked to have the measure of the Exiles bowling until DC1 offered an edge to slip with the score on 34. Then followed a 67 run partnership between Neil and Duane, before a controversial LBW saw Duane walking off for an alarm-free and solid 22 runs. Matt Caven thrashed 2 scorching fours in his 9 run cameo, but there were some muttering of Kilmersdon when Bolts was caught for 57, leaving new at the crease Grant and Mohammed at the wicket. Mohammed combined some solid textbook defense with some spectacular boundary shots before he perished to an excellent catch attempting to finish the game with a 6 – leaving it to Skipper Jeff and Vice-skipper Grant to bring home the win. Saturday 2s on their way. C’mon COWBOYS!
Andy BOWEN was Man of the Match for his 4fer (and the skipper might ponder if he maybe shouldn’t have kept him bowling for a 5fer), with votes also for Neil, Mohammed and Duane.
The Cider Moment was the dismissal of the Exiles young opener by Duane’s ‘mystery ball’, with nominations for the Exiles opening batsman setting the field for Jeff, Grant’s first catch (taken very close to his crown jewels), DC2’s catch off of Wayne, and Andy Bowen’s ‘mind games’.
This was just about a perfect win, with no single ‘superstar’ performance, and everybody making an important contribution to the effort and the result. Also, in Alex Hooper’s 3rd season with the Cowboys this was the first time he’s been on the winning side. C’MON COWBOYS! C’MON EASTON!e
Fat Bot reported the Sundays’ win thus:
….. from my prediction of 3 Cowboy league victories on the same weekend for the first time in 3 years. Bloody 2nd team I hear you moan, but no don’t blame Jeff’s Otters, tis with the Iguanas where the fault lies. As I predicted it was a close game against Old Park with the Saturday 1sts being pipped by a measly 3 runs with one more ball remaining. Hopefully the Landlord can provide some gory details in due course.
Meanwhile the Saturday 2s, Jeff’s Otters, were away at Bath Exiles recording their first victory of the season. Boltstered (see what I did there?) by the late inclusion of the Sunday captain they chased down the 147 required for the loss of only 5 wickets, with 5 overs remaining. However Bolts doesn’t take all the credit, more pleasing for me is that everybody seems to have played a part, including 3 Cowboys I don’t think I’ve even met yet, Mohammed, Duane and Andy. Read DC1s excellent report elsewhere.
So to Sunday where Bolts’ boys took on Grendel at Bristol West Indies in front of a fair few Cowfolk during the course of day. Many thanks to the supporters, and for those of you who didn’t stay to the end you missed an exciting finish. Grendel batted first and a mixture of a lot of tight bowling, and some hefty blows from the batsmen when given the opportunity made for an innings of contrasts. The skipper surprised everyone by opening the bowling with the Wizard Wilko’s spin, little used this season. His 1-27 in 8 overs shows he’s still got the touch, unfortunately not a heavy enough touch with one ball which rolled gently onto the stumps but refused to dislodge the bails for a 2nd wicket. Rob T and the Heavy Roller did take 2 wickets apiece, as did run outs after excellent work by Justin and Matt D and keeper Tom, who capped a fine performance behind the stumps with an excellent stumping off Matt D late on. Any wannabee keepers come and watch this lad behind the stumps. Dean had earlier bowled a competetent looking opener, which left Grendel on 173-9 after 40 overs.
After a splendid tea prepared by the Wizard, the Cowboys seemed confident of reaching their total, however some very tight bowling by Grendel’s opening pair, particularly Shah who removed the skipper, left us scoring at a slow rate of 2 an over. Regular readers will recall my call for pateince in a previous instalment, Justin and young Tom continued to accumulate runs slowly until Justin fell lbw for 21. Angelo went in with instruction to up the run rate and after a quick cameo trying to do just that departed for 7. The required run rate was now over 6 an over, and so Rob T entered the cagey contest, and in his own inimitable way set about reducing it. The contrast between the 2 brothers batting is great to watch, Rob all aerial bombardment and powerful ground strokes (occasionally), Tom all elegance and Justinesque patience, one for the cricket purists to watch. The Taylor partnership added 65 runs, taking the score to 121-4, before Rob perished skying one to a fielder who probably only caught the ball due to the ice on it freezing it to his hand! Dave F strode out to play his first league game in yonks, and far from being phased by the return of the previously excellent opening bowler contributed a crucial 12 off only 15 balls, and with Tom had taken the score to 150-5. 7 runs later Tom departed playing his first shot that wasn’t along the ground, nervous times for the assembled Cowfolk. Matt D and Wilko at the crease and the bowling got tighter again, however you can’t beat old heads in a tight situation. Mark’s streaky 4 off an inside edge was met with roars of relief from the supporters, and the pair won the game with an over to spare. Young Tom won MoM for his patient 59 and excellence behind the timbers, there were many nominations for Cider but I think Mark’s streaky 4 won it.
This result leaves the Sundays 3rd on 14 points, 6 behind unbeaten Blagdon, and only beaten by us Peasedown. Next week is an away fixture at Purnells who have won 2 lost 4. It looks like they strengthened their batting for the victory against Carsons at the weekend so could be tricky opposition on their home patch, however I’m going to be carefree and predict another win for the Sundays.
Jeff’s Otters travel away to Grendel 2s, and could maybe do with a chat to the Sundays as a couple of players appear to play for both of Grendels teams we will face this season. Grendel are 2nd in the league with only 1 defeat to unpalatable table toppers Lansdown. Their young team will be quite a challenge foer the newly confident Otters, and I predict a close defeat for our boys but the confidence gained from another creditable perormance will lead to at least 4 vicotries this season (400% better than any Cowboys 2s for at least 3 years I believe).
The Iguanas are at the Farm entertaining Stratton on Fosse 2s. My firm prediction is that the Cowboys will be doing all the entertaining, SoF have yet to win a a game, and Iggy will breathe some fire into the bellies of his players needing a win to climb into the top half of their division. Although SoF’s bowling has been laudable their batting has left a lot to be desired. Onwards and upwards!
Buenas noches tout le monde
DL1
CACKK WILD WEST KIDS CAMP
CACKK KIDS WILD WEST CAMPING WEEKEND (7th-9th June)
Friday night and Saturday nights are camping nights with activities all day Saturday and Sunday morning. For a list of things to bring and more details about weekend email sue.mennear@gmail.com
FRIDAY
Some of us will be setting up the marquee etc. Most people will be coming after school. Download the directions here http://www.bunkhouse-south-wales.co.uk/. See camp photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/easton_cowboys_cowgirls/sets/ It is 76 miles away and takes about 1.5 hours easy drive to get there – and is in beautiful countryside with nearby waterfalls and caves.
SATURDAY
Kids Football (throughout the day)
Arts and Crafts (with a wild west theme etc. ), facepainting, dress up, headdress making til 4pm (volunteer for an hour if you can!) – facepainting volunteers also needed!
Games/ Play with circus equipment, play ping pong, table football (all day)
Wild Wild West – Mural making
Kids clothes sale (all day in labelled tent- leave donations in the tent)
11.am Dads/ Mums Football Game (and girls only ?)
1pm Walk to Waterfalls (maps for those who want to go to nearby waterfalls /caves)
4pm BBQ (Bring food)
5pm Kids Disco with DJ Pallett (and Games with prizes!)
7.pm Kids Talent Show (All kids welcome!) – see Mel/ Paul
8.30pm Raffle
8.pm Bonfire (marshmallows)
Cocktails and Beer at the Bar (volunteer for an hour if you can)
SUNDAY
11.am Treasure/ Scavenger Hunt and prizes!
11 am Walks to Waterfalls/ caves (find us for maps)
Football
People do their own thing, go to caves, visit waterfalls, we tend to pack up by 2pm.
ITINERARY AND THINGS TO BRING
Here is THE VAGUE PLAN and some ideas for things to bring to help you enjoy the weekend. Any changes to the timings or additional activities will be written up on the board by the main marquee.
Remember this is YOUR weekend. If you want to run an activity – PLEASE DO! Just bring materials you need to do it and write it up on the board with a time. If you need to buy materials please check with Sam first sambongo@gmail.com. Do bring games to share and any Wild West paraphalia and dressing up – bring it along! YEEHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THINGS TO BRING
BBQ food, rolls salads etc. We have a big barbeque but do bring any small barbeques you have too)
Food for you and your family (you have use of kitchen)
Raffle prizes to donate
Footie boots, sports stuff , trainers etc (kids and adults who want a game)
Equipment or instruments if your child wants to enter talent show
Unwanted kids clothes for nearly new sale (tent)
Dressing up clothes to wear (Wild West theme optional!) and donate unwanted dressing up to our dressing up box
Firewood and marshmallows for fire
Money (including camping fees if you haven’t paid for camping – see Sam)
Games (e.g. swingball, bowls, rounders etc) that everyone can enjoy
Binliners (we need everyone to take their rubbish home – thanks!)
If bringing dogs let us know as there are restrictions/ advice on this (Email sue.mennear@gmail.com)
PROVIDED
There is a bar (so please support this and don’t bring lots of booze) this is one of main ways we make the money from to run the weekend. All proceeds to CACKK.
Everyone has access to the bunkhouse kitchen and lounge , toilets, showers etc whether or not you are staying in the bunkhouse so bring tea, coffee, food to cook etc.
There are lots of fun activities going on in the marquee and polytunnel and in the field and nice places to visit and explore.
Easton Cowboys & Cowgirls Awards Night 2013
Calling all Cowfolk…
Awards do at All Hallows Hall (almost opposite Iceland)
Featuring awards for netball, women’s footy and all 5 men’s footy teams. Special features: a sneak preview of Dom’s Berrow film and a surprise from the Ultras.
We will have a bar.
Party: 10.30 – late at the Plough
with not one but two live acts:
special guest Michael McNeil (son of DC1) and the headline act: our very own Quiffy Kev and the Skimmity Hitchers . . . Cider I up landlord!
Followed by Cow DJs Will, Jack D, Curly Paul . . . and hopefully a cowgirl too.
Captains, managers, secretaries – please email, text and tell all your team members, supporters and legends, supporters and legends, supporters and legends.
And you should be sorting out your awards and your trophies NOW. The Ultras will be chasing you.
Contact Peace, Martin Big Orange Blob or Martin Sparks for more info, etc.
Football? Nooooo. Cricket is on!
25/05/2013
Sat 1 beat Midsomer Norton by 4 wickets. MsN hit 173 for 6. Matt D bowled 8 overs, 3 for 34. The cowboys got the runs in the penultimate over with Dunc hitting an unbeaten 46. Scorecard. Match report below.
Sat 2 lost to Lansdown by 9 wickets. We hit 150 With DC1 hitting 32 and Barnaby getting 28. Lansdown hit them off in 20 overs for the loss of 1 wicket. Scorecard.
26/05/2013
The Sunday Team beat Peasdown St. John by 5 wickets. PSJ hit 174 all out in the last over. Kalpit bowled 8 overs, 3 for 20. We knocked them off in 29 overs with Justine hitting 46, Bob hitting 45 (24 balls) and Sahil hitting 43 (28 balls). Scorecard. Match report below.
TT reports thus:
It was clear fresh and bright at Farmborough when the Cowboys convened to play against Midsomer Norton, although the same adjectives could not perhaps be attributed to all players in the home team.
Skipper Iggy won the toss for the fourth time in succession and gave the new ball to Budge and Garnier who both pegged the openers down with a tidy line and length, initially restricting the opposition to a paltry two runs an over. Around the time that Budge started misfiring occasional beamers, one of the batsmen (conveniently) developed an at-the-time unspecified problem and retired from the field, bringing a younger stylish bat to the crease.
As the score snailed along, a large mirror appeared from the clubhouse and was placed on a chair by the boundary. Was this an attempt to dazzle the fielding side with reflected sunlight? A signal to reinforcements in the hills? An opposition narcissist? The real reason revealed itself to be the solution to a problem the retiring batsman had had with a contact lens.
The Landlord and Lalith replaced Budge and Garnier but although they too kept the runs to a trickle and forced a couple of chances that went to ground, no wicket was forthcoming. ‘Boring,’ shouted Garnier, a man who in averting an accident recently, found himself horizontal in front of a moving car and for whom the arrival of an extraterrestrial test team would now barely merit a raised eyebrow.
At the drinks interval the opposition were around fifty without loss, but soon after the resumption MattD removed the obstinate opener and the previously retired one returned. The odd loose ball was put away and the score advanced slowly, until just before the hundred came up Matt hit the stumps again. A few overs later he bowled the new batsman to claim his third victim and Midsomer Norton were 116-3.
Ev and Dunc tried their arm but were met with a determined effort to raise the run rate in the remaining overs as the batsmen found the boundary with increased frequency. Garnier was prescribed the ball again to counter his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, forcing the opening bat, who by now had reached his half-century, into a mistimed drive that swirled into the covers for the Landlord to pouch.
Late in the innings, making his debut for the Cowboys, Sean was given the ball and promptly bowled the batsman with his first delivery, thereby ensuring that there was at least one, if only one, potential Cider Moment for which to vote later on. Garnier then bowled the opposition skipper’s son, who’d aggressively forced the score up to 165-6 and by the end of the 40th over the total had reached 173.
It’s not often that one has to resort to Wikipedia to explain the tea, but …
“The Italian word frittata derives from fritta, the feminine past participle of “to fry” (friggere) and was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato.”
What Wikipedia fails to mention is that the making of a frittata absolves the creator from having to take any wickets or score more than one run. Armed with this knowledge (along with many plaudits for a fine tea) Ev strode out to the wicket to open with Grove, returning very soon to do the washing-up: 2-1.
Inspired captaincy saw Budge coming in at number three, where he immediately appeared at home, striking the ball cleanly and running well between the wickets, putting on a near half-century partnership before being bowled for 24. Grove’s strokeplay ended not long afterwards when he was caught for 15, leaving Sean and Dunc to rebuild. The former mirrored his success with the ball, displaying some exquisite sweeps and square drives that spliced the field, the latter sweeping even finer and matching his partner’s accumulation of boundaries.
When Sean was bowled by the opposition skipper’s slow guile for 31, the Cowboys were half way to their target on 87-4. Lalith joined Dunc and stood tall to block a few before bending his knees to scoop the ball aerially out of reach of fielders, launching a couple of sixes over mid-on. A few chances went to ground in the deep but the pair stayed together until Lalith holed out for 24 with the score on 132-5. With Dunc determinedly dug in, Matt came in and hit a dozen runs, including a six, before being bowled and replaced by Iggy with twenty runs required from the last four or five overs.
With the echoes of Iggy’s Bath battering five sixes last week still bouncing around the valley, there was little doubt that the Cowboys would make it over the line, although it was Dunc who knocked off the majority of the remainder, ending unbeaten on a Man of the Match winning 46 and batting his team to a four wicket victory.
Captain Cod Piece reports thus:
Dobry dyen tovarischi
So what’s been happening during my brief island sojourn? Lets start with a comprehensive look at this weekends results, with all 3 league teams playing- well we would look at them if the tea tea deniers of Lansdown had bothered putting the result on the league website for their victory over Jeff’s gallant Saturday 2s. Let’s hope they choked on their chilli, and the sound spanking their 1st team got at the hands of our hosts from BWI. Match report anyone? This result leaves the Otters perilously perched 2nd bottom of Div 4, however next Saturday sees them away at Bath Exiles whose only victory this season came courtesy of Nailsea 4ths being unable to field a team. My bold prediction is victory for the Otters.
Meanwhile The Saturday 1s were busy dealing with Midsomer Norton 3rds, comfortably beating them by 4 wickets with an over and a half to go, chasing a total of 173. Hopefully the Landlord will provide us with some more graphic descriptions of this match. Iggy’s Iguanas now lie slap bang mid table with 8 points, as do their opponents next week Old Park. Bath and Oldfield Park both have maximum points in Div 3, with Wrington and MN3rds propping it up without a point. Despite the fact that Old Park have only lost to the top 2 I am going to put my faith in the Iguanas coming out on top in a tight game.
So to the Sundays who travelled to previously unbeaten Peasedown St John for their game. As the Sundays appear to lack any literary ability now Duncan is playing on Saturdays it is left to me to report on this battle. PSJ (that’s not Beckham’s last team for the French illiterates amongst you) started batting like a team that had previously won 4 out of 4, rattling up 70 without loss off the first 13 overs. It was beginning to look like a 250+ run chase might be on the cards. Kalpit had other ideas, removing both the dangerous openers, and a much less dangerous no 3 in a great spell of 8 overs 3-20. With Dean and Tom combining for an excellent piece of bowling/stumping to remove no 5, PSJ were looking far from table toppers. Bolts asked the Heavy Roller to take over from Kalpit from the top end, and he obliged by taking a wicket with his second ball, and finished with the impressive figures (unlike his own) of 3-16 from 6 overs as PSJ continued to throw wickets away at regular intervals. RT2 and Matt D came back to mop up the tail and PSJ finished thier innings on 171.
After tea the youngish (compared to us) PSJ team started confidently against Bolts and Justin, the skipper being dropped twice before succumbing for 9, runs were proving hard to come by, and things were looking even less rosy when Wilko departed without troubling the scorers. However this was obviously a ruse by the Cowboys. RT2 strode out to the wicket hit 4 with a classic on drive off his first ball, and then proceeded to take the PSJ bowling attack to pieces, almost literally in the case of the impressive young opening bowler from the pavilion end, as Rob smashed another drive straight back at him, hitting him in the shin and disabling him for the rest of the game. By the time Rob departed for 45 the game had turned. If the hosts thought they were back in the game after that wicket, they hadn’t seen that it was Sahil heading their way, marginally less brutally than Rob he continued to murder the by now desperate PSJ bowling attack eventually being bowled for 42, after hitting 7 fours and 1 six, as did his brutal predecessor. With 40 runs now needed for victory, and lots of overs left, young Tom T joined Justin at the crease. Justin’s innings, though far less spectacular deservedly earned him the MoM award, and should have been recorded for training purposes. A study in patience, playing yourself in, and excellent running between the wickets with all his partners left the young and athletic PSJ fielders very frustrated. Ironically it ended with him being run out for 46, young Tom gave himself a hard time about this until the older heads in the team made him aware of the Avery’s previously and obviously undeserved reputation for leaving his batting partners stranded! Shortly afterwards Tom and Kalpit finished the game off, the Boltcutters winning by 5 wickets with over 10 overs remaining. Smashing!
Next week sees the Sundays at home at BWI against Grendel Exiles, although they only have one win so far this season their scorecards show them to be a useful batting outfit, with Kalpit and Sahil unavailable next week this could be a tough one for Bolts boys but sod it I am going to predict 3 Cowboy league cricket vicories on the same weekend for the first time in over 3 years. With the Sundays lying 4th this would be an important victory to bring them closer to unbeaten Blagdon.
Dosvidanya
Friendly Report
The friendly XI were soundly spanked by Bath Exiles.
Actually when the game began we were the friendly VI, due to a combination of cry offs, no shows and lateness.
Grover and Reg opened the batting. Upon setting off for the first single Reg suffered a major twang in the groin area and shortly afterwards was caught at slip for a golden.
Reg went home at this point so now we were V; 2 batsmen, 2 umpires and a scorer!
Iggy hit a well timed boundary but was bowled pulling at a straight one that kept low.
A partnership of 40 odd between Grove and Dwayne raised the spirits and the arrival of Amir, Gnaz and Sayed (1st game for the Cowboys and his first for 7 years) came close to doubling our numbers.
Dwayne was caught for a classy 29, then Tim went for a duck. This brought Amir to the crease who battered a quick 38, including 7 4’s. Although I think it’s fair to say Amirs innings did not include one single cricket shot, it was exactly what we needed.
Evans main contribution was to run out Grove who had played properly throughout with his bat straight and heed kept. Grove made 30. Gnaz was bowled for a couple, Sayed not out 1 and so, with only 9 batsman that was it; 135 all out.
Exiles opened up with with a small fellow in his late fifties and a large south african fellow in his early thirties. We couldn’t get either of them out and the youngun put us out of our misery in the 25th over by hitting 28 from the first 5 balls of Grovers spell. Young opener making 116, old opener 9!
Tim Knight kept bravely, Dwaynes outfielding was very sharp and Amir and Sayed both bowled well.
One Out Of 4
The Saturday 1st Team lost to Bath 4ths in an epic encounter. Bath scored 290 for 5. In reply the Cowboys got 227 all out. Gibbo hit 88 and Iggy hit 42 in 18 balls.
The Saturday 2nd Team lost to Timsbury 2nds. We hit 113 all out and they hit the runs in 21.4 overs.
The Sunday Team beat Failand and Portbury. We hit 244 all out from 40 overs. RT2 hit 64 and ran his little brother out. They managed only 135 with Dean taking for wickets.
The Friendly Team lost to Bath Exiles. We hit 136 with Amir getting 38. The Exiles hit the runs in 25 overs without loss. One of their openers getting 118 and the other getting 9.
TTs repost on the Saturday 1sts match goes thus:
With a waft of weedkiller on the wind and the call of a pheasant from the southern slope of the valley, the Cowboys took to the field at Farmborough for their first home game of the season against Bath 4th XI. It was still cold for May, but mercifully the space between isobars was further apart than in previous weeks and having won the toss, bowling first was the preferred option.
With RT1 absent injured, Budge and the Landlord took the new ball against a solid opening pair, soon discovering that the pitch and batsmen were unforgiving of anything less then a good length and that perhaps Grover had marked the boundary too short. Budge took a while to adjust his radar but when he found the spot and the batsman sliced to gully, Grover stuck his hand up and plucked the ball from the air, in the now familiar manner of an excitable child urgently requesting the toilet.
A couple of overs later, the Landlord delivered a slow yorker that he and the batsman thought was a beamer and duly found himself apologising before the ball had reached its destination, which turned out to be the base of middle stump, much to their mutual surprise and respective jubilation and grief.
The next man in was an experienced old hand, renown for his ability to hit a good ball from outside off stump over square leg: This he then proceeded to do, his partner proving similarly adept at hitting hard and causing the Cowboys to hone their skills of ball retrieval from the undergrowth.
Lalith and SteveO tried their hand at breaking the partnership, but with little swing or turn to be had and the margin for error small, the ball still regularly found the boundary, until not long after a spilled chance at long-on, a mistimed drive off SteveO dropped short at long-off into the Landlord’s hands: 116-3.
Lalith then settled into his spell, making the highly accomplished batsmen work hard, unfortunate to remain wicketless. Ev replaced SteveO but couldn’t prevent the run rate from rising to above six a over, the crack of bat on ball mirrored by the sound of shotgun blasts from the top of the hill and as rabbits and pigeons scarpered, Cowboys retreated to the boundary. The partnership grew, Dunc tried his slow-slow-quick-quick-slow routine but couldn’t wrong-foot the batters and carrying an injury, Iggy was the last of the bowlers to get mauled for a couple of balls an over, having tied the batsman down for the remainder.
It wasn’t until the old hand on weary legs had made a century and his partner had passed fifty that the latter was run out by an impressive direct hit from Grover, who got in on the action again to catch the centurion off Iggy before the innings closed on 289-5.
Tea was a smörgåsbord of love provided by Iggy and Helen and threatened to divert attention from the remainder of the match. Unfortunately, the opposition didn’t fall into the trap of consuming so much home-baked bread and cake that they were unable to return to the field and after an indecently short interval the Cowboys set about scoring 7.25 an over to win.
Ev and Ange started off with positive intent and in great style, finding the boundary regularly as the Bath bowlers struggled with the loose ball. Their fifty partnership came up gratifyingly early, evidence for any who might have been in any doubt that there were runs in the pitch. Just before the pair had added a century together at a run a ball Ange was caught for 32.
Bath turned to flighted spin which Ben and Ev treated with respect when due, stroked and smashed when not. Before long they too had added a half century partnership and when Ben was bowled, the score had rattled along to 159-2 with Ev on 88. Without adding to this, the jug evasion panel was convened as Ev attempted a run too risky given the swift accuracy of the fielding side and was forced to curtail his combative and productive occupancy of the crease.
A second run out success for the opposition ended Dunc’s stay as a familiar Cowboy wobble ensued: After Grover nearly hit a ball for six he missed another and was bowled and when Lalith became the second in the innings to be bowled by a maiden with the score on 177-6 the outlook wasn’t rosy. However, Iggy brought fresh impetus to the attack, batting with a brutal assertiveness that suggested the possibility of scoring the remaining hundred runs by himself, along the way launching five sixes and causing the opposition to doubt their ability to defend the total.
At the other end, Joe fell to another run out, then Preash’s defences were breached as the score reached two hundred, but with eight wickets down and the Landlord at the wicket, Iggy still oozed confidence and began bludgeoning the ball harder and further. When his penultimate partner was given out LBW after edging the ball onto his foot, the Cowboys’ skipper still looked capable of hitting the remaining seventy runs from the last seven overs. Alas the bubble burst when he was caught just short of a remarkably fast half century and the Cowboys lost by 62 runs.
Ev’s opening innings earned him the Man of the Match vote and Grover’s outstretched hand won him the Cider Moment. Fines were heavily incurred.