Long Itchington Cricket Club

At long last a brief respite from rains enabled the u15s to play their first game of the season with a cup-tie at Hunningham on a bitterly cold night. Hunningham won the toss and decided to bat in a 18 over match, Jake Butler dismissed his opposing skipper, James Lloyd, in the first over but then solid batting by Luke Moreau (34*) and Sam Keirnan (30) built a good base for Hunningham as Long Itch tried all our bowlers on this first outing. Then a brilliant catch by newcomer Ollie Neal inspired our lads to tighten up their performance. Ollie then bowled a double wicket maiden to allow us to restrict Hunningham to 84 for 5 in their 18 overs, Ollie took 2 for 4 but overall we only conceded 4 extras (all wides) , excellent bowling and wicket-keeping figures for the first game of the season and in marked contrast to last year when we yielded 33 wides against Rugby. Our batting with one exception was poor, we slumped to 14 for 3 until James Hobbs (6) managed to stay with Jake Butler for a few overs to steady the ship. Jake batted superbly until a good ball from James Lloyd bowled him for 42 (6 fours), then Charlie and Harris saw us to the finishing line at 85 for 6 in 15 overs. A winning start but a lot more work on our batting is needed in the nets on Sunday if we hope to be competitive this season.

Tags: News juniors u15match report

Please meet at the pond at 11.45

S Chapman
S Parsons
R Eadon
S Rawbone
L Cole
S Wood
T Crostwaite
C Elkerton
M Greaves
G Insall
N Hudson

The selection committee have selected the same 11 as last week – please be at the ground for warm up at 12.30 PM

Long Itchington under 11 v Hunningham under 11

Eventually the sun shone and the lads played their first game of the season with a visit to Hunningham. With a couple of absentees there was a very young element to the side with 3 players making debuts and with a late illness this also included two young Haywood’s for the price of one. After winning the toss and bowling, Brennan Lumby (3-0-12-0) and Angus Robinson (3-0-7-2) made a good start against Hunningham top bats, taking one wicket. Aaron Sutcliffe (2-2-0-0) and Scott Haywood (2-1-2-0) then bowled four immaculate overs with the only two runs scored. The pressure started to build on Hunningham to up the run rate but with Jack Izzard (2-0-4-1) getting a wicket with his first ever ball in a proper match and this well backed up by Lucas Mann (2-0-6-1) who also got a wicket, the lads were on top. The final bowling was excellent with George Barber(2-1-4-2) being the bowler of the evening and with Angus also picking up a late wicket Hunningham were restricted to 211. Special mention to Bean Dunkerton who showed a marked improvement on last year with an excellent performance behind the stumps.
There then followed a superb display of disciplined batting. George and Lucas got things under way against good bowling and put on 8 for the first wicket with only one out, George top scoring with 4. Bean and Aaron then put on 10 for the second pair with good technique from both. Neither of the next pair in Jack and Luke Haywood had ever batted in a proper match and therefore both did fantastically to show excellent technique and with neither getting out put on another 8 leaving Itchington 15 ahead with the final pair to face the opening bowlers. Brennan and Angus were up to the task and both kerbed their attacking instincts to responsibly see the lads home by 19 runs finishing on 230. Difference in the teams was Hunningham having 6 outs and Long Itchington only 1.
Special thanks to both coaches who made it that lads of equal ability were matched and therefore provided a game played in excellent spirit.

LONG ITCHINGTON V ALCESTER & RAGLEY
Cotswold Hills League Division 1
Sat 12/05/12

LI’s first Division 1 home game produced an emphatic win on Saturday. A lot of work had gone into producing a surprisingly dry pitch which the home side were asked to make first use of. Tom Perks and Aaron Jones made a solid start against some probing bowling with 36 the stand before a mix up saw Perks run out for 21. Mitch Lowe then joined the fray and he spiced early caution with aggression dominating a stand worth 125 with a brutal 82 before chipping a catch to cover. A third wicket fell at 184 in the 34th over when Martyn Rawbone joined Jones and together they added 78 runs in the last 11 overs. Jones completed a fine ton in the penultimate finishing 104 n.o., Rawbone also undefeated on 27 as LI compiled a very healthy 262-3. The visitors lost a wicket in 2nd over but 51 runs were put on by Coombes and Tose before Martin Clark dismissed the former for 17 in his first over. Skipper Warbrick survived some chances before the dangerous Tose fell to a boundary catch for 47 at 76 in the 19th over. The rest of the order crumpled to the combined efforts of Nick Brooks 3-3, Martin Clark 2-9 and Matt Cox 3-50 with only Warbrick with 21 offering resistance as LI achieved victory by 156 runs.