Long Itchington Cricket Club

Long Itchington U11s vs Southam Junior Section
Southam Junior section hosted a friendly game against LI U11s on Tuesday. LI had the younger side with 4 U11s and 4 U10s whilst Southam had 6 U11s and 2 U12s. LI’s skipper Brennan won the toss and elected to bat after a good chase in their last game.
LI Generally bowled quite tightly coming under the target of 10 wides bowled. They also took 5 wickets though the bowlers and 2 run outs with an outstanding catch by Harry M the highlight of the fielding display with Peter also keeping well.
James 2 Over’s, 9 Runs for 1 George 2 Over’s 11 runs for 1 Harry G 2 Over’s 6 runs for 1 Harry M 2 Over’s 12 runs for 2
Southam ended on a competitive 244 with Kyle top scoring on 15.
LI batted sensible with Brennan, Harry M opening up well again with Jamie and Will keeping the score going. 16 runs were needed by the last pair, James and Harry to win the game. 5 runs were scored off the 1st over, followed by 9 off the next with James hitting 2 fine 4’s. 2 was hit off Owens last over who bowled with good pace throughout his 3 over’s. The scores were level before the last over and LI just needed to keep their nerve to win. Unfortunately for Southam they bowled a wide so James just needed to keep the last 3 balls out to win which he duly did. Congratulations on Brennan on his first taste of Captaincy.
The lads have shown some good maturity in the last 3 games with batting in particularly showing some improvement. Keep it up lads

After suffering their first defeat in the Rugby League against Long Buckby a couple of weeks ago and being unlucky to be rained off during a fantastic batting performance against Barby, a win was needed against Rowlands with whom they were very equally matched in their first meeting.

Rowlands won the toss and batted and set about the task with relish going after the bowling of Ned Mitchell, James Rawbone, Brennan Lumby and Peter Armstrong. After the first 8 overs they were on 262 with only Brennan managing a wicket. The team however showed real character when under pressure, as Harry Grant took a wicket and followed by a wicket maiden by Jamie Haywood started to turn the tide. Harry G picked up another wicket to finish with 2-8 and when Harry Mitchell took 2 wickets in his first over things were definitely swinging towards Long Itchington. Ned and James returned to complete the innings both only going for a few runs and with Harry M and Bean Dunkerton instigating a run out, Rowlands finished on 265 loosing 7 wickets with their score only increasing by 3 in the last 8 overs.

265 however is still a good total and the opening partnership of Brennan (9) and Harry M (6) made a perfect start putting on 26 for the first wicket with both batting superbly including hitting excellent 4’s and not loosing a wicket. Peter and Bean kept the score moving forward setting up Jamie (9) and Ned (10) to bat beautifully, including a perfect cover drive for 4 by Jamie (the quality of which has never been seen from his Fathers bat!). This left James and Harry G needing 14 from the final 4 overs which was made slightly harder when James played a touch early and was caught and bowled. However he immediately made amends hitting a couple of fours, one a fantastic shot just landing inside the boundary and, being very ably backed up by Harry G who also struck an excellent 4, this left the lads 2 runs ahead with one over to go. So the scenario was basically not to loose a wicket ( -5 runs)  in the final 6 balls, 3 balls safely navigated by James (13 – net 8), then a run leaving Harry (6) to keep out the last 2…the 5^th ball was on a perfect length aiming at middle stump which Harry did fantastically to keep out and then he safely negotiated the last ball which meant a hard fought victory by 3 runs.

A good game of cricket with 2 equally matched sides with the lads just inching across the line based on good batting which continues to improve each week and a good attitude in the field for the final 8 overs after being a bit lacklustre in the first 8.

On a beautiful summer evening our u15s travelled to Willoughby with 3 u13s in the side because of school and holiday committments. Willoughby won the toss and decided to bat but quickly were in trouble being reduced to 22 for 7 after 8 overs, James Wilkinson with 3 wickets and Jake Butler 2 led a fine bowling performance with all our bowlers taking wickets. Manny Sidhu hit 12 for Willoughby before they were dismissed for 41 runs in 11 overs.
Long Itchington went in with all guns blazing and scored the necessary 42 for 3 wickets in just over 5 overs, Sam Hain 11 for LICC, to give an easy 7 wicket win for the u15s. The u13s played very well with Adam Jones taking a wicket and Stephen Crump looking very comfortable when he batted.

On a chilly night in Long Itchington, the u17s entertained Rugby in the third of three consecutive fixtures, with honours even. Nathan won the toss and decided to bat, but quickly was back in the hutch, bowled by Hem Mistry, leaving returning Jonathan Wigley and Jamie to stabilise the ship. After a cautious start they managed to post a reasonable total with Sam Pratt (11) also chipping in. Jonathan retired on 51* and Jamie hit 31 as LICC totalled 117 for 7 wickets in 20 overs. Akshay Vaghela took 3 for 15 in 3 overs for Rugby as wickets tumbled cheaply at the end of our innings.
So Rugby were left with a less than a run a ball total and looked in good control at 44-0 after 8 overs, then Jamie Breakwell, well backed by Jon Wigley at the other end, took three quick wickets and immediately put Rugby back on the back foot. Akshay Vaghela (28*) offered some resistance but Ryan Stephen came back with a couple of wickets and Rugby fell short of the required Run Rate. 12 runs were needed from the final over and up stepped 14 year-old Jake Butler to limit them to just 5 runs showing great control as Rugby finshed just 7 runs short on 110 for 6 from their 20 overs. Jamie 4-1-15-3 and Ryan 4-0-23-2 being the chief wicket takers as LICC took this mini-series 2-1.

With rain clouds threatening LICC won the toss and batted intent on revenge after last weeks shock Cup defeat at Rowlands. Jamie Breakwell (54* ret) and Sam Hain (42) gave LICC an excellent start and Jack Jobling (32) and Jake Butler (21*) carried on the good work as LICC reached a seasons` best 172 for 4 in 20 overs. Rowlands were never really in the game and all Long Itchington`s team had a bowl in their 109 for 5 total in 20 overs. Jordan Obie (25*) and Ben Broadhurst (21) top-scored for Rowlands and Jack Jobling 4-0-18-2 was our best bowler as LICC won by 63 runs.Revenge was sweet but just one week late to make the Cup Final.