Long Itchington Cricket Club

The lads edged a contest between two evenly matched teams, to record their 3^rd win of the campaign – W3, L3, A1.  The match was played at Snittefield’s picturesque ground, in glorious weather and also in a good spirit and the two teams were a credit to the league.  Joe (9 n.o.) and Owen (3 n.o.) put on 18, followed by Jack (14 n.o.) and Adam who took the score to 237 (+19 for the pair) but then good bowling and fielding left LI at 232 after Jamie and Tom had batted.  Stephen (12 n.o.) and Ryan (5 n.o.) took the score to 260 (+28 for the pair) with some good running between the wickets.  The lads bowled really well with Adam’s three overs going for only 8 runs (despite being hit for a 6 in his 1^st over and included a maiden), Jack’s three overs cost only 1 more, whilst Joe took a wicket and was economical.  Jamie was the star bowler and took man of the match, with his 3 overs only costing 7 runs and he took two wickets in two ball.  He bowled the last over with Snitterfield needing 6 to win, 3 off the last ball, which went for a single to leave LI winners by 2 runs.  Overthrows and missed chances nearly cost LI the game, half way through Snitterfield’s innings, but the fielding improved dramatically and this contributed to LIs narrow victory.  Last league game next week against Kineton , but friendlies will be arranged for later in the season.

1st Team Selected to Play at Temple Grafton 26th June – Please meet at the Pond at 12.00pm

1) Roger Eadon

2) Martyn Rawbone

3) Alex Jack

4) Tom Perks

5) James Clark

6) George Insall

7) Richard Cressey

8) Steve Rawbone

9) Steve Chapman

10) Andy Wood

11) Martin Clark

The superb hot weather continued for the u13 fixture against Hunningham, who won the toss and batted steadily reaching 42 in 10 overs before losing a wicket. Josh Mann (23) top-scored for Hunningham as they reached 80 for 7 wickets in their 20 overs. Under 11 player, man of the match, Adam Jones bowled beautifully for LICC taking 3-7 in his 2 overs.In reply LICC were rarely troubled as they reached the necessary 82 for 1 wicket in 14.3 overs. Sam Green-Armytage was the pick of the batting scoring 28 retired in the comfortable 9 wicket victory.

On a beautiful summers evening LICC won the toss, batted and Nathan Hooker & Jamie Breakwell quickly moved on to 58 in 7 overs. Jamie (20) and Nathan (23) then departed caught and what followed was a woeful batting collapse, at times comical how they contrived to get themselves out. 10 wickets fell for just 25 runs, only Ryan Stephen getting to double figures in the 83 allout totalled in 16.5 overs. Ben Smail 4-11 and Jake Bowen-Jones 3-6 were the chief beneficaries for Hunningham. Long Itchington bowled well to eek the game out till the 19 over but Alex Ashington with 37 steered Hunningham to 88 for 4 to see them into the Semi-Final. Batting practise needed next week for the u15s !!!!!

Winchombe were the visitors to Whitehall Farm for the latest Cotswold Hills League Division 2 fixture, and on a fairly cold afternoon, they lost the toss and were invited to bat.

A change of approach was taken, and the home skipper Clark opened the bowling with his spinners and the visitors didn’t get a way to a flyer. No Winchcombe batsmen got into the forties, and with Clark shuffling his bowlers the home side did well to restrict the visitors to 205. (They had scored 400 in one game this season!).

Wood picked up 3 wickets as did Cressey, but a welcome return from Steve Chapman gave Clark another option and he was on his way to his man of the Match Award, taking 2 wickets himself in 10 tidy over’s. A couple of chances in the field went down……. as did Brian’s groin, and the 5 over’s needed from the replacement fifth bowler proved to be costly going for 51……in the end Winchombe were all out in the last over,  Hale made 37,Crosby 26, Jones and Yeates 30 apiece.

All in all, a good positive performance in the field.

Tea was taken and 206 to win were needed and a home win looked a realistic proposition.

Eadon was first to go with the score on 14, and at 20 over’s Itchington were 56 for 3. That man Perks made another good 46, and at 35 over’s Itchington were 124 for 7. Winchombe bowled tidy lines for most of their 45 overs, Astons’ 10 over’s only conceding 8 runs and Crosby’s 10 over’s yielded 4 for 19. Itchington were running out of time, over’s and wickets and a cameo of 30 not out from Steve Chapman who was run out in the last over for 30 was not enough for the home side. 184 were all they could muster and 9 points was all that was taken from the afternoon.

With one match to go before the 2^nd half of the season, Itchington find themselves in a relegation dog fight, and next week’s visit to fellow strugglers Temple Grafton could be vital as they are also the team Itchington play in the last game of the season.

In summary, Itchington should have won and chased down the target set, and after a good effort in the field they lost the game more the Winchombe won it. Every player needs to start performing at a better level, or else the second half of the season could be a long one.