CRICKET: Barby 1sts unbeaten run ended

Warwickshire Cricket League Division 1

Barby 1sts 63 all out (2 points)

Standard 1sts 64-5 (20 points)

Standard 1sts won by 5 wickets

Barby’s unbeaten start to the season came to an end on an afternoon to forget as they fell to a five-wicket defeat at home to Standard.

After stand-in captain Tom Gleghorn lost a crucial toss Barby were put in on a damp wicket after the week’s rain and were soon in trouble against the Standard seam bowlers, who gained plenty of movement from a helpful pitch. Steve Vaughn led the way taking 4-20 with James Kidd 3-12 and John Fox 2-8 giving fine support as only Gam Gurung 14 not out and Craig Scott 13 reached double figures as Barby were skittled out for just 63.

In reply Standard didn’t find scoring runs easy as they lost five wickets and used 27 overs in reaching the winning total of 64-5 as Danny Scott and James Wynn Evans took two wickets each. Andy Jones ended on 34 not out to guide his side to a 20-point win.

Warwickshire Cricket League Division 7

Thimblemill 1sts 285-8 (20 points)

Barby 2nds 160-10 (5 points)

Thimblemill 1sts won by 125 runs

A depleted Barby 2nds battled hard but came second best at Thimblemill on Saturday. After stand-in skipper Adam Shay’s successful first toss win of the season for Barby the preceding week, the onus was on Rob Field to keep up the good work after viewing the wet uncovered wicket where batting first is a must.

Having taken orders from Shay that heads was the correct call Field obeyed instructions and was disappointed to see the coin come down tails.

With the Australian riled by the blame for the toss defeat and the International rugby score, the hope was that he’d take revenge on the Thimblemill batsmen! Sadly despite bowling well it wasn’t to be and with a couple of important catches going to ground, Thimblemill were able to slog there way to 285.

Seth Westley picked up three wickets whilst, Shay, Wyment, Tarrant, Manzella and Field all took one each.

Batting second with the pitch starting to misbehave, a losing draw was the only chance of points and Joe Hardbattle (11), field (41) and Charlie Seager (44) all applied themselves well.

Barby were only 1 down after 31 overs with 100 on the board and things looked positive. After Field had been dismissed by a shooter, however, the rot started to set in.

Amazingly, and to the enjoyment of the vociferous Thimblemill side, four separate batsmen were out to balls that ran along the ground as Barby were eventually dismissed for 160 with 3 overs of the allotted 50 left to survive.

Barby look forward to entertaining Weolly Hill next week at the BCG, hoping to return to winning ways

Northamptonshire Cricket League Division 13

Barby 3rds 172-6

Rushden & Dean 4ths 128 all out

Barby 29pts beat Rushden 6pts by 44 runs

Barby continued their 100% winning form at home with a 44-run victory against Rushden & Dean on a sultry afternoon at Longdown Lane.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Barby recovered from the early loss of their captain and number 3 batsman Richard Ansell with a solid stand between Ollie Hawkins (21) and Matt Outhwaite.

Ollie Hawkins fell to a fine boundary catch to leave them in trouble at 55-3 after 22 overs, but James Aylett-Hughes (31) joined Outhwaite (45) at the wicket and the pair put on what turned out to be the match winning partnership of 56 in very quick time.

Both batsmen were very severe on Firm, with a number of straight sixes being hit by by both.  Once they departed, Alex Watson (23) and Steve Blanks (19no) kept up the momentum to give Barby a par total.

Alfie Thomas and Peter Rust were the pick of the bowlers for Rushden.   

Barby made early inroads, reducing the visitors to 23-3 with Blanks picking up all 3 wickets in an excellent spell of bowling.

Scott Russell (40) and young junior Henry Steele (37) rebuilt the innings at a slow then steady pace to leave Rushden 100-3 with 9 overs remaining and the game very much alive. 

Barby captain Hardbattle shuffled his bowlers around effectively and youngsters Watson and Britten supported the opening bowlers very effectively by keeping it tight at a time when Rushden were accelerating.

Superb fielding and excellent catching saw Rushden subside from 100-3 to 128 all out with two overs remaining.  Blanks finished with the excellent figures of 9-2-20-4 and Rob Ansell 9-1-21-2.  Russell, who had held the innings together was Rushden’s final hope, but was really unfortunate to be run out at the non-strikers end by Blanks, who in dropping the return catch and effecting the run out in the process gave a masterclass in the art of ‘jug avoidance’!

A really good game of cricket played in a superb spirit by both teams, and it was nice to see so many of the visiting players who had made the 75 mile round trip stay after the game for a chat and a beer in the clubhouse.