Long Itchington Cricket Club

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.

Division Two – Home – Blockley 9th July – A review of the events of yesterday…Web Site Match Report…official version to follow.

At the end of the 2010 Season, the Itch finished 4th from Bottom, with a total of 183 points from 18 games. At the start of the 2nd half of this term, they had already reached 150 points before the visit of Blockey for the 2nd of their back to back fixtures which indicated the start off the second half of the current season.
Alex was in charge of fielding practice before the game started, and he took great delight in whacking some orange plastic balls to all and sundry…..for some catching practice……oh the irony….
Blockley had first knock at the home of cricket and after last week they knew what to expect in relation to the Bowling. This came in the shape of Andy Wood… “The Major” and Mr Brookes, as well as Tino, and Will. Another bowler, Martin “Badger” Clark missed last week’s stuffing, so it was with some interest that he watched the opening exchanges.
Steve Rawbone opened the attack, clawing his way up the hill, with young Andy Wood chucking them down the hill from the farm end. After 5 over’s the visitors were 15 for 2 and 3 over’s later were 15 for 3. An over later they were 25 for 4 and 6 balls after that were 25 for 5…. (Was the kettle on yet?) 3 scalps for Andy. 2 for Steve.
Was it a 20 20 game…. or were the opposition too keen to purchase one of Alex’s bats at the tea interval……cheap at half the price…£35.00 to you….(Maybe the News of the World will have a scope on this)
Unfortunately, he dropped more catches than he sold bats, and with his help in the field, the visitors reached 77 all out. The wickets were shared by every Itchington bowler apart from Badger Clark (thanks Alex)… and Joy Clark (no relation) was faced with 22 hungry players somewhat earlier than expected….the visitors had lasted 28 over’s….stats at the end. It was hard to pick a stand out bowling performance; all the lads bowled well and with 8 catches taken the fielding was also in good order… James picked up 3 more victims with the gloves, and Steve Franks earned his tea with an excellent effort in the field.
With this in mind the home side had to bat 10 over’s before the kettle boiled, and in that time not much happened, unless your name was Alex….he was out to a Stone Wall LBW. It was then discussed if James would need a tea watchmen, as 14 fags in 10 minutes wouldn’t calm him down…. at the tea break the home side were sitting at 24 for 1….and James could regroup…
A feast was had…James “I was working in Solihull this morning” Clark clearly didn’t help his mum to produce a fine choice of open batches, an Indian selection and many cakes…most of which were consumed by the lower order who were not expecting any pad rash this week.
After tea, some things changed, and some remained the same…Aaron “cheap shoes” Jones continued to bat in a manner suited to the 5 day version of the sport, whilst Will “I don’t get a game” Grindal decided that enough was enough, and with a healthy portion of tea consumed, he tucked into the next buffet severed up and launched into overdrive helping himself to runs at will. In the 6 over’s after tea Itchington went from 24 for 1 to game over…51 being scored off the 6 over’s, 2 of which were played out by Mr Oliver Sweeney Cheap Shoes Jones…..for Maidens.

Will finished on a fine 47 not out, with Aaron charging his way to 11 not out from 17 over’s.
It has been a long time since Itchington managed to win a game with the visitors not scoring a single point. Credit must be given to them for sticking to the task and having some younger players in their ranks will stand them in good stead in the future.
Blockley did win something, Eddie won the raffle, and he stole the show at the pub after the game. After carefully listening to Alex’s detailed version of events in relation to his dismissal…he very kindly uttered the immortal words…”look in the book”.
Leek Wotton next week and I suspect the lads won’t be in the pub for 5.00 PM many more times this season.
Bowling
Steve Rawbone 5 1 23 2, A Wood 6 3 9 3, M Clark 8 2 19 0, N Brookes 7 2 20 2, S Chapman 1.2 0 0 2. W Grindall 1 0 0 1
Batting Aaron 11 no Alex 1 Will 47

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.