CRICKET: Bad day for leaders, but big win for 3rds

Warwickshire Cricket League

Division 1

Barby 1sts 112-10 (4 points)

Pak Shaheen 1sts 264-9 (24 points)

Pak Shaheen 1sts won by 152 Runs

Barby fell to a big defeat at Pak Shaheen. After winning the toss and inserting Pak Shaheen, Barby struggled to contain the legside hitting of the Pak Shaheen batsmen who amassed 264-9 in 50 overs with Shoaib Manazar top scoring with 83 Danny Scott with 3-52 and Adam Shay 3-42 returned the best bowling figures for Barby.

In reply Barby started badly and never recovered with only four batsmen getting in to double figures as they collapsed to 112 all out. Hopefully this Saturday Barby will welcome players back and return to winning ways as they take on bottom of the table Knowle village at the BCG.

Warwickshire Cricket League

Division 7

On an idyllic summer’s day at the BCG, Barby 2s played out a roller coaster game of cricket against a team from Aston in Birmingham.

Aston have a gun-ho approach to batting, but in the early overs Barby were able to contain them through tidy spells from Gam Gurang and Dom Craven. Rory Long (2-37) then carried on the containment supported by Matt James (0-43).

On a dry batting surface wickets were hard to come by and at 100 without loss after 30 overs, an onslaught was expected and delivered. Whilst wickets were taken steadily each incoming batsman swung harder and some interesting umpiring did not help as Aston finished on 246.

A tired fielding display was lit up by a swooping one-handed pick-up and throw run out to uproot one stump by skipper Field and a spectacular leaping catch by Charlie Seager.

Barby openers Field and Hardbattle set a firm foundation, batting easily through the first ten overs but both fell in quick succession. Then came the partnership of the game as Rory Long (33) and man of the match Matt James (98) batted superbly and at 165 for 3 of 33 overs the game was in the bag.

Sadly both batsmen again were dismissed in quick succession and a clatter of wickets fell to see Barby eight wickets down with ten overs left to survive.

Dom Craven batting with his 15-year-old brother Jonty then played out a rearguard action masterclass, seeing out the last ten overs without alarm much to the satisfaction of their father Nick who was due in at 11.

Barby 3rds 239-9

Old 3rds 155 all out 

Barby 30pts beat Old 8pts by 84 runs

Barby 3rds finally put a full stop to five consecutive defeats with an emphatic 84-run win against fellow stugglers Old at a sunny and warm BCG.

Barby showed positive intent throughout their entire 40 overs after choosing to bat first, but at 41-4 they were in trouble.

The key partnership of the game then followed with Aash Shastri (31) and Alex Watson (65) putting on 101 in rapid time.

This was 13-year-old Alex Watson’s first 50 in adult cricket for the club and it won’t be his last, as he flayed the ball to all parts in a brutal attack of hitting. 

The late order, in the form of Ben House and Steve Blanks, continued the onslaught as Barby reached their highest ever score since playing 3rd team cricket. 

Opening bowlers Blanks and Manzella bowled tightly early on but with little luck, however, the increasing pressure told on the Old batsmen and having reached 50-0 they quickly subsided to 82-6 in the face of a particularly hostile spell of bowling from young Tom Lynch (3-27).

Manzella (3-37) mopped up the tail, and it was a fitting end to the game that stalwart Graeme Lamb, who stepped into the breach at the eleventh hour, once again took the final wicket, courtesy of a spectacular running diving catch on the long on boundary by captain John Hardbattle.