Long Itchington Cricket Club

LONG ITCHINGTON U17s WIN RDCL FOR FIRST TIME !!!!

On a chill evening in Long Itchington our u17s defeated Oakfield to clinch our first ever Rugby District Cricket League title at this age-group.
LICC won the toss and elected to bat but quickly lost opener Jonathon Wigley (6) and Nathan Hooker was playing “russian roulette” with the fielders and was dropped 3 times early on in a jittery start. But gradually Jamie Breakwell (35) and Nathan (50* ret) brought the innings back on even keel with a 67 run partnership. This allowed Jake Butler (25*) to swing the bat with a typical forceful knock to allow LICC to reach 133 for 3 wickets in their 18 overs.
In reply Oakfield were never really in contention, youngster Chris Goodwin scored a patient 21 but Jake Butler (4-0-13-3) and Jack Jobling (4-0-14-1) celebrated their call-up to the District team in fine style.Oakfield were left 30 runs short on 103 for 7 in their 18 overs.
So Congratulations to our u17 youngsters for their well-deserved League Title.

On a warm evening in Guilsborough, a very young u17 LICC team managed to find the correct ground and were asked to field first, in an 18 over match due to Guilsborough arriving late. A good opening stand of 49 gave Guilsborough a solid base until Sam Hain and Guntash Gill managed to break through to be 55 for 3. Then James Hadley (30) saw Guilsborough through to 106 for 5 in their 20 overs, Seb Wood taking 2 late wickets for Long Itchington.
In reply good opening bowling restricted LICC, Jamie Breakwell scored 22 but looked sluggish after holidays. Only when Sam Hain (26) came to the crease did LICC start to motor but he unfortunately holed out in the last over and we fell 2 runs short on 104 for 7 in our 18 overs. Overall a good effort from a side with only 2 17 year olds and even 2 14 year olds because of holiday committments.

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.

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.

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.