Saturday 19th September 2009

Match Report | East India Club (Win): (35 overs per side)

CACCC: 161 - 8
East India: 152

C Brown 33 (+ 3 catches!)
D Thomas 3-31

‘Catches win matches…….’

This was our first fixture against East India who are a well matched team and a most enjoyable game produced an exciting finish. Again we enjoyed perfect sunny conditions throughout the day.

I lost the toss and surprisingly we were put into bat. Their opening bowler produced lively pace and bounce tending to move the ball away towards the slips and he soon accounted for Christy with a lifter off the gloves to the wicket keeper. From the other end their left arm over bowler was less accurate and served up a number of half trackers that Julian took advantage of hitting four fours in a row before playing across one that hit the top of the off stump.

Chris Mair continued the good work that Julian had begun hitting 26 off 27 balls before getting a bit tangled up and being bowled by one of their promising looking spinners. At the other end I kept out their opener and like the previous week demonstrated the art of leaving the ball and staying in probably not a bad thing as we were a bit short of batting.

The stage was set for the Varminator but unfortunately he fell without scoring to a leg cutter that hit the stumps off his pads. He made up for this later. Fortunately Chris Brown came to the rescue with some firmly struck Chris Gayle like straight drives scoring 33 including no less than 7 fours, a great effort. The innings was rounded off with an adventurous partnership between Dominic Thomas (15) and Paul Costelloe (19 not out) taking the score to 161-8.

A chase of just over 4.5 an over looked fairly comfortable but every chance that came our way we took. After his stunning performance with the bat Chris couldn’t quite get the rhythm with the ball. This was except when it came flying towards him in the field safely pouching their opener off Dominic who bowled beautifully swinging the ball both ways. This was the first of Chris’s three catches. East India soon found themselves 50-5 their numbers 2 and 3 also being dismissed by Dominic so by tea the position looked comfortable.

However after tea their number 7 started to swing the game back in a 63 run partnership with some sensational stroke play in a fantastic innings of 68, one to watch for the future. Christy steadied the situation bowling tidily with some good pace ending up with 2-24 off 6.

But then it was the turn of the Varminator producing unplayable deliveries to dismiss their threatening no 7 and last batter to win the game by a narrow 10 run margin.

Saturday 12th September 2009

Match Report | Jack Frost XI (Lost):

Jack Frost XI: 298 - 4
CACCC: 170

A De Jager 82

A revolving door situation leading up to the game with various people calling off resulted in us not fielding a particularly balanced or strong side. Matters were made worse when Nic fell sick on the morning of the game so we were down to ten. Jack Frost could only get 8 players together, although they still managed to win by a huge margin. The Frosties are a great bunch and as usual the game was hugely enjoyable so it didn’t really matter that we were a bit low on numbers.

Their skipper has a familiar approach, ‘win the toss bat.’ I lost we fielded. Initially this did not seem a bad thing as the track started seriously misbehaving. However both their openers managed to weather the storm and score runs, the first wicket only falling with the score on 82. The situation was not helped by a number of horrendous dropped catches. Our bowlers became frustrated and could not hit the right spots often enough and the Frosties score continued to mount, the next wicket falling on 186.

It seemed that we might bowl them out with the third and fourth wickets falling in fairly quick succession at 236 and 252. The skip showed the way on the catching front with a, ‘Gillie special’ one handed diving caught behind off the bowling of Kyran Mcgashin. The runs kept on coming though and the declaration came at 298-4

Even if we’d had Varminator, Chamberlin Singo etc at full throttle this would have been quite a hard chase in something less than 40 overs against the Frosties’ accurate swing bowlers. However we did have Adrian and he did magnificently batting with great guile despatching anything lose to the boundary including a magnificent six over long on (um.. or was it cow corner!?). He shared a 112 partnership with the skip (only 22) who mainly demonstrated the art of leaving the ball.

Apart from Nick Goold who scored 36 the innings rather fell apart and we found ourselves in the Sun slightly sooner than expected.

Sunday 6th September 2009

Match Report | President's XI (Won): (45 overs per side)

‘Presidents XI’: 248-7
CACCC : 249-3

A De Jager 105*
G McConnell 96
A Chamberlin 78
N Goold 43

After the terrible July and August weather we were blessed with warm sunshine for this special 25th Anniversary match at Burtons Court.

On winning the toss, CACCC chose to field first on what looked like and proved to be a pretty flat although warn track. This sometimes resulted in the ball not coming onto the bat making stroke play difficult. Most batters who got out got themselves out.

The opening over from Chris Brown was fairly dramatic with 15 runs coming from the flashing blade of Julian Whiting who unfortunately mistimed in the second over putting up a simple catch. This was followed by Charles Hickey demise first ball caught behind and a precarious 19-2. Enter the skipper and a steadying the ship partnership with G McConnell moving the score onto 84-3.

Gary started to accelerate after a slow start and was joined by Nick Goold. They produced a partnership of 92 both driving well and most importantly keeping the ball down. Nick was unlucky to play on with his score on 43 off 49 balls, 5 fours.

Suraj Varma looked in sparkling form hitting three fours including a drive on the up through extra cover but further entertainment unfortunately came to a halt with a spectacular ‘champagne moment’ one handed catch in the gulley by Alex Chamberlin off Christy, who was easily the pick of the bowlers (2-19 off 9).

More tragedy was to follow. Gary looked like cruising to a maiden century having narrowly missed out in June but alas 4 runs short of the magic figure the Burton Court gremlins struck again and it was not to be with a top edge being swallowed by short fine leg. This had been another innings of huge stature. Gary faced 124 balls so an impressive strike rate of 77 and 13 fours. After 45 overs the score was 248-7, a run chase of 5.5 per over, probably on the light side bearing in mind the now lifeless track and fast outfield.

The CACCC innings had not been going for long before M Lichfield’s middle stump was sent cart wheeling courtesy of a fine inswinger from N Goold. This was followed by a teasing catch safely pouched by Gary McConnell off Nick again and 26-2 looked hopeful.

However, after these early successes none of the ‘President’s men,’ more specifically bowlers, could find sufficient assistance from the wicket to prevent either Adrian de Jager or Alex Chamberlain putting together massive innings. To be honest some of the support bowling was on the average side with too many ‘four balls.’

Credit to Alex and Adrian though for workmanlike performances. Adrian reached his ton in 87 minutes off 93 balls, 15 fours and 1 six. Alex scored 73 including 13 fours but surprisingly no sixes, very restrained!

Ben Derrin again looked impressive with 32 mainly boundaries, off 43 balls and a comfortable win resulted with 7 overs to spare.

Saturday 5th September 2009

Match Report | Valley End CC (Won): (40 overs per side)

CACCC: 312-9
VECC : 144-6

B Derrin 91
N Goold 69
K Singh 65
S Varma 3-13

Valley End CC was a last minute replacement for The Grannies who for the second time in as much as three years failed to get a team together. We will not therefore be playing them again. Apparently our friends The Rascals were also blown out by them earlier in the season.

We were put into bat under a grey sky which gradually turned darker throughout the day and some floodlights would have been useful towards the end of the game. Significantly we managed to break the previous record score of 307-6 but to be honest the bowling was not all that hot. VECC are quite a strong Surrey league team but this was their 3rd XI although they had some promising young lads.

Heading up the heavy hitters was Ben Derrin on debut with 91 off 64 balls, 94 minutes including 16 fours followed by Nick Goold 69, 34 balls, 40 minutes and Kunwar 56 off 41 balls, 65 minutes including 5 sixes. The skipper chipped in with a rather more modest 32 and with the help of some extras our score after forty overs came to a massive 312.

We bowled tidily and kept their score down to a modest 144 in 40 overs. The pick of the bowlers was the Varminator who managed 3-13 in 8 overs. Congratulations also to Francis Palmer who took his first wicket for the club.

Sunday 6th September 2009

Match Report | Grannies (Abandoned): Opposition was unable to field a team.

Saturday 8th August 2009

Match Report | Flitch Pilgrims (Won): A good result with which to go into our August break to give us our 11th win of the seasons and only 2 defeats.
Saturday: Henry won the toss and elected to bat in a 45 overs match. Alex Chamberlin and Nic Singleton opened the batting and put on 78 for the first wicket until Alex fell. After Adrian de Jager was out to a brilliant catch, Henry and Nic set about pushing on, but they kept on unluckingly finding fielders, but still managed to put on 72 in 17 overs. Nic was batting quite superbly with his fifty coming up in 74 balls off 49 balls. He was out 9 short of his century and it was left to Suraj Varma to play a punishing innings of 47 in only 25 balls. This pushed us up to 253, which was going to be 6 an over. The Flitch usually have a strong batting line up and so it proved, with their openers putting on 107 in 18 overs. It was Adrian who made the breakthrough well caught by Dominic Thomas. Suraj bowled a beautiful spell in his 9 overs, but the star of the show was Paul Costelloe who took his first ‘fifer’. He bowled with good variation getting movement off the pich, including the vital wicket of Sean Mackrell for only one. Our fielding was also very good and I don’t think we dropped a catch all day. So, from 107-0 to 150 all out was a great team performance. It was also a match played in great spirit as the Flitch are a nice bunch of guys.

CAC 253-7 (Singleton 91; Varma 47)
Flitch 150 (Costelloe 5-16; Varma 3-25)

Saturday 1st August 2009

Match Report | London Erratics (Draw - rain stopped play):

CACCC: 123-1
Erratics: Did not bat

C Hickey 64*
A De Jager 37*

We were put into bat under a threatening sky and it was a case of whether the worst of the predicted bad weather would be avoided. Unfortunately this was not to be the case and the match was abandoned shortly after lunch.

During the morning session Erratics managed a creditable 24 overs and the batters that did make it to the crease made the most of what was not in all honesty a particularly strong bowling attack. Charles Hickey started slowly but 3 consecutive fours sparked him into action. Adrian also batted well putting the opposition to the sword with his trade mark cover drives.

Let’s hope good weather returns soon.

Saturday 25th July 2009

Match Report | Refreshers (Abandoned): Match abandoned due to weather.

Wednesday 22nd July 2009

Match Report | Royal Logisitics Corp (Won): Being so long ago, I cannot remember if Suraj won the toss or not! Anyway, we batted first and were soon 20-3. However thanks to Alex Chamberlin who shared a stand of 92 with Nick Goold, we managed to rectify the situation. Amazingly enough, there were only 6 boundaries in that stand. So, very patient batting from those two before Nick was out for 45. Alex carried on past his fifty (93 minutes; 79 balls) and kept his end intact, while wickets continued to fall at the other end. A short cameo from Suraj with 16 of 11 balls saw us through to a respectable total of 207, but still a generous declaration. After we dismissed their number two with a regulation slip catch by Suraj, Royal Logistic Corps started scoring freely. It was decided to swap Nick to the other end which has a slight downhill slope. This time he was on fire! and rather swept through the RLC’s middle order, with his prodigious in swingers. For the first time in this fixture we knew we had them and Paul Costelloe and Adrian de Jager cleaned up the tail. This fixture, having been a struggle to get players is now a very popular one, partly I am sure due to the generous hospitality of our hosts.

CAC 207-7 (Chamberlin 83*; Goold 45)
RLC 125 (Goold 45)

Saturday 18th July 2009

Match Report | Antelopians (Won): Back to winning ways.

We batted first in a 45 overs match and the innings revolved totally around Adrian de Jager who made a magnificent century (50: 94 minutes; 74 balls. 100: 131 minutes; 95 balls),. His first fifty was cautious but then he really attacked the bowling, his second fifty only taking 21 balls. He still wasn’t done, remaining unbeaten and hitting a six of the final ball of the innings. He did get good support from firstly Charlie Roberts and then Chris Brown Our total of 236 was respectable enough, but with the short boundary was gettable. Chris and Nick Goold opened the bowling with Chris working up a useful pace and not giving much away. He made the breakthrough and they were soon 22-3. The spin combination of Charlie and Adrian worked superbly, both taking two wickets apiece. They were in all sorts of trouble at 94-7, until their Aussie number 9 came in to support his captain who made an excellent and unbeaten 78. These two soon got them back up with the run rate and we were looking rattled, until Adrian sneaked one through the gate. They were all out soon after, with Paul Costelloe taking a fine diving catch at short fine leg to dismiss their last man. They beat us last year, so I believe we are now one all and with the spirit being maintained throughout, we look forward to next year!

CAC 236-5 (De Jager 122*)
Antelopians 199 (Brown 3-36)

Saturday 11th July 2009

Match Report | Wine Trade (Lost): Herewith the match report from a very wet Saturday, which saw us slide (no pun intended!) to our second defeat of the season.

Having initially agreed to an overs match, it was decided to play time game due to the bad weather conditions and a not too optimistic forecast. They won the toss and decided to bat. Although we bowled well in patches, there were too many bad balls which were dealt with by their batsmen by hitting boundaries galore. Having said that though, the ball was heavy, wet and slippery and difficult to bowl with. That probably accounted for some of the catches we dropped, but the old adage of dropped catches don’t win matches was certainly true here. However, a special mention must go to Henry for a smart catch off Suraj to dismiss their skipper Mark L-G and also to Nic Singleton for a spectacular one handed catch at wideish mid-on. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as Suraj’s here three weeks earlier, but a good one nevertheless. The pick of the bowlers most emphatically was Dominic Thomas, who in two spells took 6-43 including a rare hat-trick. It was a good example of fastish off spin and very well deserved. Had we held our catches, he could have had 9! We do need to collar him next time though, as he escaped without buying his 2 jugs!! Alex started off our reply by tonking the second over for 18 and the fourth for 11, before getting a diabolical LBW decision from the professional umpire we had standing. A similar decision also accounted for Suraj. The rest of our batting didn’t really stack up, although Michael made a stylish 31 and Ed Aldwinckle a fine cameo of 26 from 16 balls. We were undone by their skipper’s 14 year old son Henry, who took an impressive 5-19. Mark said that it was the first time they had beaten us for 10 years. I am not sure it is as long as that, but we were well beaten.

Wine Trade 196 (Thomas 6-43)
CAC 125

Friday 3rd July - Monday 6th July 2009

Tour Report | Portugal (Won both fixtures):

Apologies, but after a hugely successful tour to Portugal with the usual crashing hangovers and general lack of sleep, here the match reports ONLY!

Saturday: We won the toss and elected to bat on the club’s artificial wicket, where the bounce made helmets imperative. It was to be a 45 over match, but our run rate was almost non-existent, being 27 after 10 overs and 36 after 18. Gary McConnell and Alex then put on a bit of a spurt, lifting us to 100 after 30 overs, Alex making a subdued 44. The ever reliable Gary had dropped anchor at the other end and after a manic 21 in 11 balls bought up his fifty off 73 balls in 96 minutes. The value of an opener who can do this on a regular basis is invaluable. After Gary departed, it was left to Henry (21) and Christy (31 off 16) to get us to a very respectable total, given the slow outfield. Ed Aldwinckle and Nic Singleton bowled beautiful opening spells, given that the ball doesn’t move off an artificial pitch, keeping it pitched up and restricting them to 17 off the first 10 overs. They were never really in the hunt after that and apart from their best player making 60, we ran out easy winners by 52 runs. Ed kept up his excellent bowling, picking up 3 wickets, Nic being unlucky, but only going for 14 off his six and our reliable opener turned bowler, Gary taking 1 for 29 in his 7 overs. The only blot on the day was a sickening blow to the nose of their captain, who admittedly had hit it, but wasn’t wearing a helmet. Thankfully he didn’t break his nose. It should also be noted that Henry conceded not a single bye. Great effort!

CACC 196-7 (McConnell 51; Chamberlin 44)
OCLTC 154-8 (Aldwinckle 3-13)

Sunday: We again won the toss and again elected to bat in a time game. Remarkably enough, our run rate was much better, being 39 after 10 and 83 after 20. The mainstay and really the only man who made our total of 193 possible was Alex who was in belligerent form and was obviously going to make his third century this season. His fifty came up off 63 balls in 95 minutes and his ton off 102 balls in 144 minutes, including 5 6’s. He was ably supported by Christy who in a stand of 115 made a very controlled 37 and being the perfect partner. We thought that would be a good enough total and when we had them 16-4, it seemed as though that was the case. However their no.5 bat soon changed that, going about whatever we threw at him with relish and scoring a nice century. Henry was having a tough job setting a field for him, but did a very good job. They were getting dangerously close to our total, even after Christy’s excellent spell of 3-28 and it was left to the two openers, Ed and Nic to try and stem the runs in the closing overs. This they did with good bowling leaving the hosts 15 short. So an honourable draw, which was probably the right result, given two centuries.

CAC 193-4 (Chamberlin 116*)
OCLTC 178-7 (Kulasingam 3-28)

Saturday 27th June 2009

Match Report | Rascals (): On a beautifully sunny day, I won the toss and inserted them in a 35 over match. We started of fairly well, with Chris Brown bowling a fabulous, accurate spell of good fast bowling and only conceded 11 runs off his first 5 over spell and 16 off his full 7. Chris also caught a good catch in the deep to dismiss Ed Skilbeck and Jaffar took 3 catches, including 2 skiers. Suraj bowled his usual tidy spell and one of the oppo’s founders, Mark Beattie batted like I have never seen before in about 24 years. The Rascals set us a run rate of just over 5 per over, which looked a little thin, but quite adequate. Due to Alex’s back injury and lack of another opener, we had a makeshift opening pair of Andrew Gow and Jaffar. They took the opportunity with both hands and shared a stand of 124 in 20 overs. With respect to these two and Suraj with a swift 32 and to be fair to Ed, the Rascals really didn’t have much bowling and we won with quite a few overs to spare. However, you still have to hit the runs and Jaffar took up the mantle first, before Andrew also started stroking and smiting the ball to all parts of the ground. Jaffar’s 50 came up off 32 balls in 39 minutes and Andrew’s after Jaffar had a very harsh LBW decision against him off 66 balls in 91 minutes. Andrew finished up with an accomplished, unbeaten 60. A very comfortable win, but the Rascals I am sure will have their regulars back next year, but their hospitality was, as always, generous.

Rascals 178-6
CAC 179-1 (Akbany 67; Gow 60*)

Wedneday 24th June 2009

Match Report | The Marauders XI (Won): 45 over match: In the magnificent setting of Burton’s Court, although I lost the toss, we ending up batting due to lateness of some of the oppo’s players. After a stupendous one handed right hand catch at third slip by Nic Singleton off the impressive Graham Hill, they rather got away, with the second wicket putting on exactly 100 in 17 overs. Thereafter, although our fielding was atrocious all day, as pointed out by the chairman, none of the other batsmen really got away even allowing for Ed Skilbeck’s 42 and Paul Ross’s 43. Chris Brown and Nic Singleton, bowled excellent spells, but it was Graham who picked up the bowling honours, taking 3-27 off his 9 overs. Even so, a run rate of 6 an over was a very reasonable ask. We set of in pursuit, wobbling at 27-2 after Alex and Jaffar were dismissed cheaply. However Gary McConnell and Nic Singleton put us back on course, sharing a stand of 107 in 18 overs which kept us up with the required run rate. Great batting by these two, including an enormous six by Nic, whilst Gary was scoring deftly at the other end,. Nic’s fifty came up off 52 balls in 60 minutes, whilst Gary’s was off 87 balls in 118 minutes. After Suraj fell cheaply, it was left to Gary and Graham to steer us to victory. Although we got slightly bogged down for a few overs, these two started scoring freely and Gary’s innings came to an end 3 short of a richly deserved century with only 11 wanted off a needless run out. Graham was hitting the ball extremely hard and his deserved fifty came up off 40 balls in 55 minutes. At the scores tied with two balls to go, their skipper bowled a wide to give us a famous victory. It was a nail biter right to the end and a wonderful match to have been a part of.

Marauders 262-8 (Hill 3-27)
CAC 263-4 (McConnell 97; Hill 58*; Singleton 52)

Sunday 21st June 2009

Match Report | Dunsfold (Won): I won the toss and elected to bat in a 40 over match. We lost both openers with only 3 on the board and although Jaffar and Adrian de Jager, partly rescued the situation, Jaff fell with the score on 44. It was left to Adrian, who made about half our total to salvage the innings and with a classical and technically correct display of batting, started off his innings only scoring in boundaries. His fifty came up off 45 balls in 46 minutes and he carried on upping the scoring tempo, until he was inevitably caught just short of what would have been a well deserved century. He was ably supported by Suraj and with short cameos from Ed Aldwinckle and Chris Brown, we reached a a healthyish total of 187. we got rid of their opener Matthew Richardson, who has punished us in the past, with the very first ball of the innings, Chris banging in a short one and Paul Costelloe taking a well judged catch at square leg. Both Chris and Andrew Gow bowled very tidy opening spells, leaving them well behind the run rate. Ed’s opening spell was electric, bowling with great pace and movement, picking up 2 wickets and leaving them even further behind. Suraj and Paul did their bit, but Adrian, bowling spin gave us a well controlled spell, picking up 3 wickets as well as being economical. During his spell, whilst Ollie Bell was threatening to win the match, there was the champagne moment to end all champagne moments and a catch to end all catches by who else but Suraj. Fielding at deep ‘cow’ corner, Ollie hit it towards the area, where Suraj not only had to run at about 15 yards to his left, but also caught it one-handed. A stupendous catch and one that will live long in the memory (before the NZ contingent start moaning, I did mention Andrew Stratton’s one handed catch on the boundary to win us a match years ago, but apologies Stratts, you had to be there to believe this one!). That effectively ended the match as a contest and with Ed cleaning up the tail, we won by the small margin of 13 runs.

CAC 187 (De Jager 93)
Dunsfold 174 (Aldwinckle 4-33; De Jager 3-32)

Saturday 13th June 2009

Match Report | V&A Museum (Won): This was a stunning victory over V&A at one of the prettiest grounds we play. That records our fourth win with only one loss. We won the toss and elected to bat in a 40 over game and kept losing wickets regularly, with the top and middle order all out cheaply. This was with the honourable exception of Gary McConnell who dropped anchor and played a steady, controlled innings with his 50 coming up off 67 balls in 96 mins and contained 8 fours. At 150 for 7 in the 33rd over, the final total looked as though it was going to be a difficult score to defend. However, with Christy and Nic Singleton at the wicket and with big hitting and excellent running, they put on 57 runs in the last 6 and a half overs which was a great effort. a total of 207 was certainly an easier total to defend. Their reply never really got going and apart from their opener getting 35, nobody else got into double figures. This was of course due to some excellent bowling by Dominic Thomas, Chris Brown, Suraj Varma and Christy. However, Nic bowled an absolutely fabulous spell of fast bowling, swinging the ball both ways and twice being on a hat-trick. His figures of 4-14 off 7 overs perhaps didn't quite do him justice. Anyway a victory by 116 runs was fairly emphatic!

Sunday 7th June 2009

Match Report | Keevil (Draw):I lost the toss again and we were put in to bat, which is exactly what I didn’t want! Charles Hickey and Michael H‐T gave us a decent start, putting on 31 for the opening wicket, including a sumptuous cover drive by Charles. Alex came in at no 3 and hit 33 off an equal number of balls, sharing a stand of 53 with Michael, before Nick Goold arrived at the crease. I sensed that he intended to make quite a few runs and for the next hour , absolutely pulverised their bowling , with 10 fours and 5 sixes. These were not slogs, but merely perfectly executed shots and it was very exciting to watch. His fifty came up in 48 minutes off 25 balls and he faced 43 balls in all for his unbeaten 83. Along the way he shared in a stand of 134 for the fourth wicket with Henry, who played a good supporting role. A large total of 230 was plenty to defend and a score they were never going to get. However, once again we couldn’t bowl them out due to our lack of strike bowlers. Gooldy bowled particularly well, picking up 4 wickets, with a combination of good in swingers and cleverly disguised slower balls. The other bowlers did a good job and although we had them 7 down with 9 overs left, we couldn’t finish the job off

CAC 230‐4 (Goold 83*)
Keevil 170‐7 (Goold 4‐73)

That makes the record this season of won 3, lost 1, tied 1 and drawn no fewer than 5. We must secure some more victories!

Saturday 6th June 2009

Match Report | Rode (Draw): Although we did not have much bowling over the weekend, the batting just about stacked up and we came out with two draws. It was disappointing not to bowl out Keevil, but with respect to the bowlers, the rest of the attack was not strong enough.

I lost the toss and they elected to bat. This wasn’t a bad toss to lose, as looking at their batting line‐up and the paucity of our bowling, any total we posted would be comfortably within Rode’s reach. Although it wasn’t an overs match we were still put to the sword as I suspected. Paul Costelloe bowled a good opening spell, but coupled with an unhelpful pitch and some particularly awful fielding, he ended up wicketless. After their openers had put on a century opening stand which was broken by Alex on a rare foray into the bowling attack, they were getting away with it and we were further punished by Kev Restorick with a typically attacking 76. Their opener, whose father I used to play against! batted beautifully, but we dropped him no less than 4 times. I might add that Kev was also dropped on no fewer than 3 occasions. Jolyon Rebbeck was unlucky not to pick up a wicket (more dropped catches) and Alex ended up with 3 wickets. We tried manfully to stem the tide, but they did score a lot of runs off the 36 overs we bowled against them. 8 an over was always going to be a big ask, which grew even bigger at 14‐2. However, Tom King and Jolyon Rebbeck (50: 38 balls; 59 mins) steadied the ship and crucially used up overs. Apart from Jolyon who played a couple of nice looking back foot drives,nobody else really scored any runs, although the Killer kept up his end and saved us the match( batting out the last 4 overs with D.Maddocks). An ordinary but eventually dramatic draw.

Rode 269‐5 (Chamberlin 3‐32)
CAC 143‐8 (Rebbeck 56)

Sunday 31st May 2009

Match Report | Barnes Occasionals CC (Draw):

CACCC: 283-5
BOCC : 148-2

J Whiting 106
N Goold 96 and 2-28
Jolyon Rebbeck 40

If Michelin rated cricket grounds they would probably have little cricket bat signs rather than stars and this would have three of them. What more could we ask for, a good true wicket, fast outfield and spectacular setting by the Thames with views of Hampton Court Palace over the trees along the river bank. A big thank you therefore to Mark Lichfield and the BOCC for inviting us to play.

Having lost the toss again we were put into bat and it immediately became clear that Julian Whiting, who opened with Stephen Bate, had been watching far too much IPL on television (!) because this was a hitting spectacular the likes of which I do not think anyone watching had ever seen. We were treated to a truly impressive display of shots all round the ground off the back foot, front foot and down the wicket. A massive slog sweep for a maximum clearing a distance of over 100 metres almost dislodging a tile on the groundsmans house provided the second ‘champagne moment’ of the weekend. Julian’s hundred in a remarkable 41 balls included 12 fours and 6 sixes.

If this was not enough there followed another epic innings from Nick Goold. Sponsorship from M&H must surely be in the reckoning. In relative terms this was a more ‘classical’ innings with some particularly impressive driven sixes onto the adjoining pitch which actually became quite hazardous for the players during his and Julian’s onslaughts. We found out though that they were the Charing Cross Hospital team so reckoned they could take care of things in the event of any mishaps. Unfortunately Nick missed out on a century but recorded 4 sixes and 12 fours in 55 balls for 96.
Jolyon Rebbeck in his first game for CACCC played a very useful supporting role hitting 44 off 55 balls including 3 fours with some fine looking strokes off the back foot.

I declared at tea with the score on 283-5 so we had probably getting on for 40 overs to bowl BOCC out. To be honest we never really looked like achieving this. Our bowlers were accurate and Andrew Gow in particular impressed with his inswingers. There was a strong breeze across the ground from the river end and Paul Costelloe and Omar both found it difficult to prevent the ball drifting away harmlessly to the off side.

It was not until Nick Goold came on that we really looked like seriously troubling the batsmen. He deceived one of their openers who was clean bowled with a viciously inswinging stump high full toss and had their number three caught off a well disguised slower ball. Unfortunately two slip catches were spilled off his bowling which if taken would have put pressure on the mid order but it was not to be and the game ended in a draw.

Saturday 30th May 2009

Match Report | Artificials (Won):

CACCC: 225-6
Artificials: 84

A Chamberlin 69
H Dodson 51
N Goold 44
C Brown 5-23

This was the first leg of a ‘runfest’ weekend with some spectacular hitting (15 sixes!) resulting in CACCC recording over 500 runs with some impressive individual performances.

And so to our first visit to Dunsfold, thankfully under a cloudless sky and bright sunshine, good conditions to bat and bat we did despite loosing the toss. Alex Chamberlin and I opened the innings and the going proved slightly soft with little pace and unpredictable bounce.
A full blooded sweep to leg by Alex off the first ball of the innings was thankfully dropped, a shot I repeated a few overs later with the same result. The score ticked over at around 7 an over against a bowling attack headed by Christy Kulasingam who bowled well without luck despite a number of unsuccessful LBW appeals. Alex’s half century came up in just over one hour, 41 balls and 11 fours, mine slightly longer one hour twenty, 46 balls, 2 sixes and 7 fours.

The first wicket stand of 121 was followed by a solid performance from the mid order, namely Nic Singleton (34), a huge six nearly taking out one of the pavilion windows and newly Millichamp and Hall liveried Nick Goold (44) whose batting is looking more and more impressive. The declaration was made at tea with the score on 225-5 after only 33 overs.

The bowlers then took over with a classic hostile opening spell from Chris Brown producing excellent pace lift and movement. This proved too much for the Artificials skipper who succumbed to his first ball followed by Christy who fell without scoring to an excellent catch by Jaffar at first slip.

There then followed the first ‘champagne moment’ of the season. The Artificials left hand opener looked fairly settled before firmly on-driving a ball from Dominic who dived full length in front of the umpire to his right pulling off a spectacular one handed catch. Bravo!

Wickets continued to fall as a result of some accurate support bowling by Nic Singleton (2-14), Suraj and Paul Costelloe (2-6) who produced a good spell with some away swing. But it was Chris who took the bowling prize (5-23), his second spell dislodging their last two batsmen with successive balls just when they looked like possibly holding on for a draw.

This was impressive team performance with excellent batting and accurate bowling complemented by first rate ground fielding and catching resulting in a comfortable win.

Sunday 29th May 2009

Match Report | Penzance Arts Club (Tie): I won the toss on a fine day and elected to bat, which was the wrong decision and we almost paid for it, in a 40 over match. What happened after that was a woeful batting display, back to our not running the quick singles and finding new ways of getting out. Had it not been for Charles Hickey’s 30 and out top scorer of extras, we wouldn’t have even limped to 115. So a rate of less than 3 an over was not going to be too difficult. However, we did bowl well and contained them to 18 off the first 10 overs. But they increased their run rate, with their skipper going along well, but losing wickets along the way did restrain them. We had a very bad three overs just after the half way mark, conceding 26 runs and shortly after that in the 30th over at 109‐6, the game we thought was up. In the 32nd over, they were 113‐7 and a two brought the scores level. However, their scorer said that in fact Penzance had won, so off we came. Shortly before we reached the pavilion however, when stumps had been drawn and handshakes started, their scorer realised his mistake and that the scores were level. Their skipper suggested that we go back on, but I declined, pointing out that stumps had been drawn and therefore the match was over. Keeping them to less than 4 an over was a good effort, so credit to the bowlers, including Paul who bowled a fantastic spell of his permitted 8 overs, taking 2‐13 and Patrick who bowled his overs for only a couple per over.

CAC 115
Penzance 115‐7

Saturday 23rd May 2009

Match Report | Trengilly (Draw): Not the most successful results ever in Cornwall, but we didn’t lose and got the most extraordinary tie on the Sunday. After being given such a hard time, we will be doing it again next year and let’s hope the weather is as fine as this year.

After a symbolic toss, we batted and due to some very dubious umpiring decisions, soon found ourselves wobbling at 13‐2. This bought or last minute 11th man to the crease and he and Michael H‐T put on 82 for the third wicket. Rick Watson hadn’t played for almost 30 years, but after a shaky start, soon found it all coming back to him, hitting the only six of our innings. He eventually fell for 40, bringing Patrick Hickey to the wicket. Meanwhile, at the other end Michael, who had dropped anchor, was quietly constructing a very valuable innings which saw his 50 come up in 125 minutes off 76 balls. Patrick batted quite beautifully, scoring at almost a run a ball and he and Michael ran very well, taking quick singles almost at will (very different to Canbashers match!). We declared with over 200 on the board, which was a very decent effort. When their reply started, we sniffed victory when we had them at 34‐3 then 42‐4, but on a flat, lifeless pitch, the match petered out into a draw. However a special mention must be made to Paul Costelloe who bowled very well, picking up 3 wickets (your skipper also bowled a wicket maiden!). If I had declared with 160 on the board (which I thought about doing)and stuck them in before tea, things may have been different

CAC 203‐6 (H‐Tanner 74; P Hickey 44*; Watson 40)
Trengilly 119‐5 (Costelloe 3‐20)

Sunday 10th May 2009

Match Report | Ripley (Won): As Henry has already told we had an emphatic win against one of the stronger teams we play.

I lost the toss and Ripley elected to bat in this 40 over match. They started off fairly well although Chris Brown and Nic Singleton were bowling line and length on a pitch that did nothing really for them. Chris was especially unlucky to have a fairly straightforward catch dropped off him in his second over off their opener who looked dangerous. I thought we bowled and fielded fairly well, with the best bowler being unquestionably Nick Goold(2 for 24), who bowled with great pace and swing and the odd slower ball, which accounted for their South African ringer. Nic also bowled two good spells and we restricted them to 235 off their 40 overs. With a lightning fast outfield, this looked like a very gettable total. We lost Ed Skilbeck early, but a stand of 166 for the second wicket between Gary McConnell (50: 104 mins;77 balls) and Alex Chamberlin (50: 56 mins;43 balls 100: 122 mins; 92 balls) won us the match quite comfortably. Gary played his usual solid, dependable anchor innings, while Alex was unleashing a great array of shots. That is not to say Gary was in the shadows, as to this observer, he played two delightful on drives that screamed to the boundary. Alex, in typical fashion, simply hit the ball very hard and started finding the gaps. Their century partnership came up in 16 overs and was broken in the 28thof the innings. Jaffar skied one early on and a short cameo from Nick saw us home with 3 overs to spare. One further note: Henry only conceded 3 byes – a great effort.

Ripley 235‐8
CAC 236‐3 (Chamberlin 109*; McConnell 56)

Saturday 2nd May 2009

Match Report | Canbashers (Lost): Well we lost. Read on.

I won the loss and decided to bat in a 35 over match. Apart from Nick Goold and Henry, our batting never got going. Notwithstanding 2 excellent spells of bowling from the oppo, the bowling was nothing special. Basically, due to being too cautious and not putting the fielders under pressure, we didn’t score quickly enough. In limited overs matches, the quick singles have to be taken and risky runs taken, especially as we had wickets in hand and taking runs on the throw. Nick batted particularly well, before top edging one and falling just short of his 50, but the rest of the scoring was slow. It was only in the last 5 overs and some lusty blows from Henry (3 maximums!), that we scored 42 from them. On a ground like Forest Green, 6‐8 is the minimum requirement and our 181 was never going to be enough. So it proved, although we bowled well enough, getting Skillers out cheaply, but it was left to one of our own (Gary McConnell) and their ringer (we have also had one or two in the past!) to see them over the line in the last over. We did rather let them off the hook when they still needed 35 off the last 5 overs, but the penultimate over did for us.

CAC 181‐6 (Goold 47: Dodson 36*)
Canbashers 182‐2

Saturday 25th April 2009

Match Report | Phene Philanderers (Won): A winning start to usher in our 25th Anniversary season!

V Phene Philanderers: In the beautiful setting of Brook House in Sussex, I lost the toss and we were inserted. Nobody really got going with the bat, but with useful knocks from Henry, Nick Goold and Chris Mair and a last wicket stand of 27, we struggled to 172, which I didn’t think was nearly enough with the relatively short boundaries and the time left for the oppo to bat. However, with a great team performance in the field, including a stunning catch by Chris Mair just getting his fingers under the ball at 3rd slip and sustained excellent bowling from Andrew Gow, Ed Aldwinckle who was the pick of the bowlers with his prodigious swing, Nick and Chris Brown, we ran out very comfortable winners by 95 runs. I would also like to mention that the skipper wrapped things up taking the last wicket!

Chelsea Arts Club 172 (Dodson 33)
Phene Philanderers 77 (Alwinckle 4-20)