Cirencester Cricket Club > News > June 2005 > Weekend round-up

Weekend round-up
Thursday 30 June 2005

The past week was an excellent one for Cirencester Cricket Club.

On Wednesday evening, in wonderful weather, the Evening team kept up their excellent form to conclusively defeat Stowell Park. Rich Hudson (85 from 49 balls), Oliver Whitaker (50 from 26 balls) and Dan Hudson (43 from 28 balls) enabled them to score 203 for 4 from their 15 overs. Tight bowling by Iain Moore (3 for 24) (who also took an excellent catch at short mid-wicket), Ed Alderman (2 for 10) and Whitaker (2 for 7) then kept the visitors in check to enable a very youthful Town XI to run out winners by 102 runs.

The next evening, the Under 13s hosted Woodpeckers CC from Ashleworth in the semi-final of the County Cup and, on winning the toss, Cirencester elected to bat. The home side found runs hard to score and were in the doldrums on 26 for 2 after an opening spell of 8 overs from T Morris and T Bradburn.

A change of bowlers saw Brian Coleman and Tom Dykes take a cavalier approach to batting, producing a litany of boundaries, notching 41 and 46 respectively in the process. The innings ending with a quickfire 11 from James Moorcroft helping Ciren post a total of 127 for 4 from 20 overs.

Woodpeckers mirrored the Cirencester innings by losing 2 early wickets. However, J Crossman joined opener W Mansfield at the crease and runs flowed easily as the total loomed ever closer. Home captain Billy Breen persisted with his egalitarian approach, using 7 bowlers. This tactic began to pay dividends as the wickets fell.

Pick of the bowlers were Will Alder (2 for 2), Tom Juniper (2 for 6), Oliver Thornley (2 for 20) and Michael Birtwistle (1 for 16). The superb team spirit, as illustrated by wicket-keeper Fergus Reid and the fielding of Calum Burgess-Smith and Samantha Alderman, saw Cirencester victorious as Woodpeckers finished their 20 overs on 115 for 7.

On Saturday, the First XI were without a match. The morning rain did not prevent play at the Park and Second XI had an excellent victory over Upton St Leonards and, although the Third XI were run closer by Tetbury, they still achieved a noteworthy result.

The stand-out performances for the Seconds were, with the bat, 40 apiece from openers Andy Walker and 16 year old Ed Alderman and 51 not out by Dan Robbins. The bowlers shared the wickets with 17 year old James Constable, who had outstanding figures of 3 wickets for 4 runs, and 18 year old Carl McQueen (3 for 49) heading the list.

By Sunday, the sun had returned and shone on two victories. The Under 11s hosted a young Minety side and, after losing the toss, the visitors totalled 200 runs losing 8 wickets in the process. Cirencester produced a good fielding performance with 5 run-outs and just one bye thanks to proficient work by Ben Field behind the stumps. When Cirencester batted, Max Popli impressed with a top score of 24 and he was well backed up by Jock Black [13], Tom White [12] and Archie Nicholls [11] to score 323 with the loss of 3 wickets and secure the result.

In the afternoon Wanborough visited the Park to play the Friendly XI and Andy Lobo’s maiden century and Dan Hudson’s first fifty helped set a challenging total. Good bowling, including 23 overs of leg spin, and highly professional fielding including a direct hit run-out by skipper Dan Robbins enabled the Town to run out victors by 91 runs.