Long Itchington Cricket Club

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.

After a fixture clash the RDCL cup match against Rugby was played at the Cemex Ground in Model Village with many thanks to Dave Garratt for rescuing the tie. Long Itchington were perhaps over- confident after winning easily in Rugby last week, but cricket is a great leveller and Rugby arrived smarting for revenge. Rugby won the toss and batted and despite losing 2 early wickets scored freely aided by an incredible amount of wides (27 in total) bowled by a lack-lustre Long Itchington bowling attack. Rugby were allowed to accumulate a reasonable 147 for 8 in their 20 overs, Adam Milsom 45 and Drew Koria 20* top-scored for them, Ryan Stephen 4-0-23-3 and Jamie Breakwell 4-0-21-2  for LICC. What followed was almost total surrender by Long Itchington`s batsmen, only Lewis Dodds (23) and Nathan Hooker (13) reached double figures in a dismal 65 allout total. Rugby`s bowling was not devastating but at least they managed to keep the ball mainly on the pitch, Adam Milsom 2-1-3-3 again performed well as they won by 82 runs.  Next Tuesday we again entertain Rugby for the decider of this trio of matches and hopefully LICC can put this poor display behind us and return to winning cricket.

On a warm evening in Swinford, Rowland won the toss and asked LICC to bat on a dubious artificial strip where Rowland`s had been dismissed for 38 the previous week. Jamie and Sam put on 23 sketchy runs before the wickets started to tumble. A combination of poor batting and no bounce balls led to a 68 for 5 scoreline before complete panic set in and we lost our last 5 wickets for just 4 runs to be 72 allout in 17.1 overs, the lowest total for at least 5 years for our juniors.
Rowlands fared no better initially, when they batted, struggling at 12 for 4 after 5 overs with 2 wickets apiece for Jack Jobling and Jake Butler but then Jake Blundell (30) and James Lienau (22*) came together to steer Rowlands home with 73 for 5 in 16.3 overs.
Abject misery for our u15s but proof that runs could have been made on a poor pitch with a little more application in our batting. We look forward to entertaining Rowlands again next week seeking to avenge this defeat in a League match.

After exam exertions the u17s at last had their first game of the season away to Rugby. LICC won the toss and decided to bat on a very variable bounce artificial pitch. Nathan Hooker (48) and Jamie Breakwell (30) got Long Itchington off to an excellent start but we were pegged back by a superb spell of bowling by John Solway (4 for 20 in 3 overs) for Rugby. Then in came Tom Pugh who hit a fine 40 not out in just 28 balls to allow LICC to reach 143 for 6 wickets in 20 overs. A good score considering the pitch conditions.
In reply Rugby struggled to gain any momentum as good opening spells by Jack Jobling and Ryan Stephen tied them down to 38 for 3 after 8 overs, then all LICC`s bowlers chipped in to reduce Rugby to 64 all out after 15.1 overs. Jamie Breakwell 2 for 7 and Ryan Stephen 2 for 14 led the way for LICC and Shoab Mohammed top-scored with 15 for Rugby. So LICC u17 start their season with a good 79 run win.

On winning the toss in the last of their Warwickshire League matches the Itchington lads decided to bat. Berkswell bowled very well and Brennan Lumby and George Barber batted very correctly to go through the first four overs without loosing a wicket. Will Eadon and Harry Grant continued the good work and kept the scoreboard moving in the right direction. Jamie Haywood and George Heaven (in his first game) started the acceleration both hitting some excellent shots to put on 16 for the third pair with both hitting 8. James Rawbone and Ethan Jones finished off the innings well with James hitting a couple of 4’s and Ethan batting well and was not out. The lads finished on 231 with only 3 wickets lost, this being the best effort of the year especially against a quality bowling attack.

Jamie and Brennan opened the bowling with Brennan taking a wicket in his first over, a superb diving catch from Will. Both Georges then bowled well with George B taking 2 excellent wickets in his second over to bring the game back to parity. Will and Ethan continued to put the pressure on with Ethan’s first over only going for 1 and Will’s second over a maiden. Berkswell continued to bat properly and crept ahead but an excellent yorker from James gave a glimmer of hope. With no runs off the bat in Harry G’s over, a couple of wickets would have made it interesting. The Berkswell batsman stood firm however to win by 16 runs.

The lads continue to improve with every game and are playing good cricket, tonight if a couple of chances in the field had been taken the result could have gone the other way. With the majority of the side being new to cricket a record of three wins against five losses and a mid table finish is a fantastic effort, not to mention three wins from three in the Rugby League.