Duck Broken By 2nds!
With Captain Nester sunning himself on the golf courses of Southern Spain, Dickon Perry took charge of the ever youthful & eager team who travelled to West Park to play Long Eaton in search of their first victory of the season.
Here is Dickon's report of what turned out to be a momentous day:
Stand-in skipper lost his first toss and was asked to lead his brave soldiers out into the blazing hot sun for what Long Eaton hoped would be 45 overs hard labour - how wrong they were!!
Losing the toss turned out to be blessing in disguise (I would have batted also) as the pitch did a bit and all the bowlers put it in the right place nearly every ball - Bilal bowled a particularly good opening spell taking an early wicket (by bowling one of the openers) and was well backed up at the other end by Jarrod who has bowled very few overs this year. Matt Dean replaced Bilal and apart from a couple of overs where their lefty started sweeping him at will he bowled a good length and always looked like taking a wicket - which he duly did caught at slip very neatly by Leafy. I took over from Jarrod at t'other end and their batsmen very kindly proceeded to donate their wickets to me eg, leaving alone a perfectly decent ball that removed the off bail. Brinsley came on for Matt and promptly picked up 2 for 5 which practically finished them off. A bizarrely skied c & b off me in the 34th over brought about the end. Everyone performed well in the field great attitude from the young uns, we took our catches and very few singles were taken - Matt Dean's direct hit to run out their best batsman early on was a vital moment. Billy Bennett very much looked and sounded the part from behind the stumps despite missing a couple of very tough chances, taking a catch and a stumping.
Many thanks to all the 'senior pros' for help and support in the field as, being a novice at this captaincy lark and it being about 200 degrees Fahrenheit at west park, my head was spinning a bit at times!
Openers got off to a slow but steady start tiring their bowlers in the heat until DD nicked off, JJ got a good yorker soon after and at 25 for 2 there was a little pressure on the next two. However Jarrod and Bilal batted with skill and discipline to take us up to 52 (nearly halfway) before Jarrod was adjudged LBW playing well forward. Bilal carried on accumulating calmly striking the odd sweetly timed boundary whilst Matt and Flea came and went, Flea to another LBW and Matt to a very low c & b. Leafy strode to the wicket with us still needing 30 ish and not much left in the hutch - needless to say he exuded calm authority and with Bilal seeing it better & better (one big straight six proof of this) there were no further alarms as the target was achieved for the loss of 5 wickets.
Back in June & following defeat at Farndon, the match report quoted that it will come (victory) and it will be sweet. Well it has and it was! Well done, well done.
MOM Captain Perry, lead from the front.
Firsts hammered by Southwell
On a baking hot sunny day, Captain Scott, on his return from his liquid sabbatical, lost the toss & feared the worst. However, Southwell skipper Tim Green had other ideas and decided to bowl first (a master stroke as it turned out).
Harry B (63) continued his good form of late & Eddie Lee saw us off to a good start on a glorious wicket & lightning outfield. Unfortunately Eddie hit a full toss straight to deep mid wicket & this set the tone for the remainder of the innings with the majority of the batsmen giving catching practice to the Southwell fielders. Despite our benevolence and aided by a few lusty blows by Tom Wright at the end of the innings, a final score of 214-8 gave us something to bowl at. Barely a par score after the start we had and around 40-50 short in all fairness.
With a number of bowlers not available (or injured!), the few that remained had to perform manfully. Jamie Taylor was certainly the pick of them taking 3-47 from 16 unchanged overs, unfortunately, although not through lack of effort, no more wickets were taken and Southwell coasted home to win by seven wickets with four overs in hand. Kudos to Southwell skipper Tim Green, kept wicket, captained his side & batted all 44 overs for 92 not out.
Five points gained by the firsts & important games coming up in the next fortnight against Keyworth & Newstead.
MOM Jamie Taylor, excellent spell.
Scotty Ton Inspires Sunday XI
Another glorious hot and sunny day saw Calvo entertain Wollaton at GLA in the Newark Alliance.
Thankfully we batted first & the 1st team skipper put Wollaton to the sword blasting his way to 147, the highest individual score of the season. With Raj Bhaker & Michael Nester chipping in with thirties a piece, a monumental total of 245-5 from 40 overs was posted.
Wollaton were never in the hunt as Matt Dean lead the way with the ball taking 4 for as our opponents were bowled out for 145.
MOM Scott Andrew, good hitting.
Firsts Back to Winning Ways
Balderton were the visitors to GLA on a blustery but sunny day, with both teams in need of a victory to keep them in the middle of the table, rather than looking over there shoulders.
With the Captain having gone AWOL on some function or another & the Vice Captain still nursing his poorly digits (although he did turn out at the eleventh hour), this weeks 'Dream Team' saw Callum Jayes taking on the Skippers role (for the first time in his Calvo career at senior level) with Peter The Pieman as his able deputy.
Calverton fielded first & the new ball was thrown to Mark Haseman & Tom Wright and what a splendid effort they put in. Although Tom was wicketless, he sent down 12 economical overs and totally wrecked the beautifully manicured outfield with his now legendary crap run up! When will all these Coaches we have sort his run up out? At the other end (and down wind) Harry H sent down sixteen overs on the reel claiming 3-24, top bowling. The Pieman also sent down ten overs of deliciously tasty pies for just 36 runs before Captain Cal threw the ball to Michael Nester with 10 overs remaining. Balderton never really got going thanks to all this tight bowling, but surely somebody was going to cop some flak. Not Nester. Five overs later he had the remarkable figures of 5-6 off 5 overs!
So tea beckoned and Balderton had been bowled out in the last over for just 134.
Cal sent in his Deputy and Harry Bhaker to open the innings who duly put on fifty for the first wicket. Following Creepys demise, we suffered a slight wobble as Billy, Cal & JT didn't bother the scorers unduly, but Harry joined Harry & they never looked back.
Congratulations to Harry B on his first fifty for the Club (74 not out) & Harry H who finished on 27 not out to go with his fine bowling effort from earlier.
So 20 points and a comfortable victory inspired by the 2 Harrys & Young Nester. This Captaincy lark is a piece of p&*$ (according to Cal!)
MOM Harry Bhaker - Top Knock.
Under 13's Finish With Another Victory
An interesting season starting off with Blidworth withdrawing for the league leaving 7 other sides. We lost against Papplewick from a winning position, we were unable to raise a side against Southwell in the league so under league rules we concede the fixture and won the other 5 matches.
A great effort by Rich Lee ably supported by Colin Murray to run the side and maintain the philosophy of giving everyone a chance rather than just sticking with our best players.
Many players are still eligible to play next year & the year after at Under 13 level.
Well done to one & all.
Two Defeats One Cancelled
Both the 1st & 2nd teams suffered defeats this weekend at the hands of Radcliffe On Trent & Nuthall respectively.
The 1st XI travelled to Radcliffe where fantastic catches & shocking decisions were the order of the day as the 1sts were comprehensively beaten. In a match reduced to 88 overs, Calverton batted first & were doing pretty well. Eddie Lee (35), Scott Andrew (33), Harry Bhaker (31) and Billy Armstrong (42) all made starts, but as in previous weeks nobody went on to make a big score. When the total stood on 150-4 with 6 overs remaining hopes of posting a decent score were high. Twenty minutes of madness then followed! Some tremendous catching by the Radcliffe team coupled with Ginger Bill being given out caught behind off his shoulder, saw Calvo collapse to 162 all out, giving Radcliffe 2 extra overs as well; unforgivable.
Despite dark clouds passing over the ground & a short delay for rain, the weather was not going to deny Radcliffe. Fifty runs were put on the board before the first wicket fell. A direct hit from Billy was a super bit of fielding, the fact that the batsman was nearly passed the stumps usually means they are in, not today! One all. A good spell of bowling from the stuttering, non rhythmical Tom Wright & some economical pies from The Pieman at least kept Radcliffe on the field and when the Captain inspired the team with two spectacular diving catches & four wickets down for just over a hundred, there was a glimmer of hope. It proved to be false though as Radcliffe eased home without further alarm with just over 4 overs remaining.
MOM Tom Wright. If he had a run up he could be even better!
AT GLA the Seconds entertained Nuthall. The game was reduced to 40 overs per side with Calverton having first use of a dry, excellent batting strip. Unfortunately the batsmen failed to take any advantage and we were soon in trouble (44-3). The in form Chris Cooke (44) received good support from Matt Dean (34 not out) & with Captain John Nester hitting a quickfire 20 at the end of the innings, 149-6 was posted after 40 overs.
With the ever reliable Dickon Perry missing, it meant that the bowling attack would be somewhat depleted. And that's how it proved. Some wayward bowling, a number of dropped catches & some big hitting saw Nuthall pass the target with 18 overs remaining!
MOM Matt Dean. Good knock.
Sundays Newark Alliance game was called off due to the weather.
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