Long Itchington Cricket Club

N Smith (capt)

J Rogers (wkt)

G Foster

N Hudson

S Franks

C White

T Crosthwaite

A Smith

A Jones

G Insall

A Crump

M Rawbone (capt)

J Clarke (wkt)

N Brooks

R Cressey

M Clark

A Wood

T Perks

A Jack

W Grindal

S Chapman

S Rawbone

LI entertained first time opponents Blockley on Saturday and ultimately came out on top in an intriguing game. Asked to bat first on a greenish wicket spiced up by overnight rain the home side lost a wicket to the 13^th ball of the innings. Martyn Rawbone and Richard Cressey added a cautious 40 before the skipper was out in the 16^th over for 15. Cressey departed at 59 and with a 4^th wicket going at 79 the innings was in the balance. Alex Jack and Tom Perks however steadied the ship and added 73 before Jack was dismissed for a fine 47. Perks finished unbeaten on 49 as the last 10 overs produced 65 runs and a defendable total of 193-6. Five visiting bowlers got amongst the wickets with skipper Dyer returning 2-22. Nick Brooks got amongst the much vaunted Blockley top order taking the first three wickets, all bowled, as the total slumped to 27-3 off 6 overs. Dyer joined experienced opener Williams to add 45 before the former was out for 18. The belated introduction of Perks brought about the downfall of Williams for 27. Middle order contributions from Vick (17) and A.Dyer (20) couldn’t deny the home side however as catches stuck as Blockley lost their last wicket in the 40^th over with the total on 132 falling to a 61 run defeat. All six home bowlers returned excellent figures with Nick Brooks 4-25 and Perks 2-13 the pick.

Best Performances:-

Cotswold Hills League Division 5
Played 20th June 2009

Stand-in skipper Andy Crump elected to bat and was rewarded by 2 early wickets for young Andy Smith (6-0-24-3) who outbowled his normally reliable opening partner Dave Buchholz (10-0-49-2). Buchholz was punished by Ashton-under-Hill’s skipper Capaldi (37) before he became one of 4 Steve Franks’ catches.

Craig White replaced Smith and bowled with pace and hostility to take 4-18 from 6 overs, he deserved more. Neil Hudson took the other wicket from his 2 overs after replacing Buchholz and the innings ended on 95 leaving Itchington 66 overs to get the runs.

When Itchington batted, their batsmen found it equally difficult with Insall falling without scoring. Graham Foster (10) & Jeff Rogers (16) then took the score to 23 before they went in quick succession. Soon after Itchington were 30-5 but that brought Crump in to join Aaron Jones and with a mixture of controlled aggression, stout defense, luck and good running, they saw Itchington home with almost 30 overs to spare and earn 19 points to keep them in the promotion race from Division 5. Crump finishing on a quickfire 35 n.o. and Jones a more sedate 29 n.o.

Ashton under Hill 2nd XI 95 all out, Long Itchington 2nd XI 99 for 5.
Long Itchington won by 5 wickets.

Long Itchington 19 points, Ashton under Hill 2nd XI 2 points

A Crump (capt)

J Rogers (wkt)

G Foster

N Hudson

S Franks

C White

T Crosthwaite

D Buchholz

A Smith

A Jones

G Insall