Match Reports - 2014
2014 Season
22nd April Pre-season friendly v Chemistry : 16 overs : Lakeside
ITSLiB XI won toss and batted first scoring 114 for 3 from 16. Maximums (20) Peter, Prasun & Dean, Scotty 16 and Sameer 12.
Wickets x 1 each. Ram, Sameer, Scotty and Prasun.
Chemistry 105 for 4 from 16. Maximums (20) Andy D and Andy S, Suran 19.
29th April Pre- Season friendly v Chemistry: 16 overs: Lakeside
Hi All,
Many thanks for another enjoyable evening of cricket.
I’ve just been doing my best Simon Hughes “The Analyst” impression. Going through the score book there are plenty of positives and a few lessons learned.
No toss as this was a friendly and Rob and I agreed that Chemistry could bat first.
First the scores: Chemistry scored 145 for 4 off 16.
ITSLib XI scored 112 for 5 off 16.
The Batting
Very solid again with positive intent and a good pace to the innings. Going along at 7 an over is not to be sniffed at. 140 in a T20 which for me is now the par score.
Maximums from Joe, Prasun (our loan signing on an incremental contract…..) and Peter, with a steady debut knock of 13 from Carl coming in at the opener position. (Well done for stepping in and many thanks)
Sameer, unlucky to be run out so early. (he didn’t even get a chance to get his first ball reverse sweep out!)
Andy with a nicely paced and very positive 9 runs off very few deliveries.
Test match paced batting from myself for 14 NO and some fine positive running and good shot placement from Corin for a personal best 5 NO at the end of the innings.
Mark and Matt unlucky to be kept down due to some high class attacking bowling from Chem.
The Bowling
Positive attacking start that brought about 3 relatively early wickets. (really pleased) Then the run rate rose as their big guns came in and started to really crash bang and/or wallop it round the field.
This brought their run rate up considerably (9 an over) and we lost an element of control. A couple of difficult chances dropped in the field and some bleeding away of runs through extras didn’t help (16 compared to their 8)
I think the key areas to focus on next week will be to continue the positive attacking intent, whilst maintaining an element of control. Let’s cut down on the really full bungers and keep it on a solid line and length and we won’t go far wrong.
The Fielding
Apart from the two difficult missed chances, no complaints. Good energy in the field all round and great hands for the catches taken.
Let’s just get a bit more noise from everyone when supporting our bowlers and also get in on the half-way to assist fielders in the deep on the throw.
Finally, back up when the ball in on its way in and go easy on the ball coming in if the chances of a run-out are slim but overthrows are high!
Nets
Outdoor nets are back on from now until the end of September. Details are shown below.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/staff_interest_groups/cricket/itslibcricket/directions
I will be there for this first session and will try to get to almost all of them throughout the year.
Hope to see as many of you there as possible.
Misc
Anyone missing a cap? I seem to pick a new one up each week at the moment! Perhaps we could all grab some permanent markers or get our names stitched into them…..
The League Season
We have WBS on Tuesday and will be back to 25 runs for retirement and a 20 over fixture. Captains retain the option for 2x bowlers to have a maximum of 3 overs if agreed prior to the match.
Let’s go at them hard and get our league campaign off to the positive start it deserves. Do respond to Steve’s e-mail ASAP and let’s get some competition for places going.
Well done and we go again.
Regards,
Chris
ITSLib XI vs WMS 20/05/2014 (League Fixture)
ITSLiB XI beat The Medics by 40 runs to register the first win of the season in their first game. An outstanding game, batting first ITSLiB rattled up 162, Chris, Dean & ram maxing on 25. Joe a short blitzed 18 and an outstanding 23 from Taz. The tail wagged well! Unlucky for Peter who holed out to fine catch 5 yards off the boundary. Wickets regularly tumbled and good, if ,erratic, fielding strangled the score rate. great overs from Taz, Dean, Ram, Mark, Corin and Pete especially. Well done everyone!
ITSLib XI vs WMG 03/06/2014 (League Fixture)
WMG scoring 111 for 9 from 18.5 overs. ITSLiB XI cruising home 114 for 1 in 15. Maximums for Joe and Sameer, 20 for Chris, 10 and 4 NO from Dean and Ram to bring us home.
Super performance against WMG.
Calm, composed and quality in all disciplines.
We are getting the basics right, strong and consistent bowling coupled with disciplined and when needed, aggressive batting.
That combined with an excellent fielding displayed really helped to keep them bottled up and the score low.
Well done all.
ITSLib XI vs Chemistry 08/06/2014 (40 Overs Friendly Fixture)
Hi All,
The match:
Chemistry 142 in 40 overs
ITSLib XI 145 in 22 overs
Just a quick note to say many thanks to all who came yesterday for a great and most entertaining days cricket.
It was a really enjoyable couple of games with a quality of cricket on display that could only be admired.
Explosive batting, fabulous, accurate and consistent bowling and wall like fielding!
Let’s take this into the game against WBS tomorrow.
For reference I have attached our batting figures.
At the end, the kitty had around £30 surplus in it once all costs for food and drinks had been taken into consideration.
I have taken the liberty of donating this to the charity that the ITS runners were supporting in the Two Castles 10K yesterday.
See you all fit and fresh for tomorrows next exciting instalment. (let’s make it 3 out of 3 in the league!)
The Legion Marches
Chris
Bowling Stats
Batting StatsITSLIB XI vs WBS 10/06/2014 (League Fixture)
The Match:
ITSLIB XI 103 for 7 off 20 defeated (boo hiss!) by WBS 104 for 2 off 17.2 Overs
Firstly I just want to say how pleased I was with the display of team spirit and attitude that we all showed in that game. Really stuck together, dug in and worked hard in every discipline.
I was also struck by the encouragement we all gave each other throughout the match. More of that please from now on in every game. More noise in the field, let’s build the pressure and make it a tough (in the correct spirit) place for the opposition to play in.
I was really pleased with the bowling and fielding once more. It was tight, accurate, controlled and most importantly intelligent. We really don’t serve up any freebies! (It does help that I’m not bowling any more!)
This match was the story of a few key moments.
The loss of our top 3 for 18 runs when in past matches we have been getting around 65-70 runs between us. They did bowl really well on a wicket that kept low and one where the ball simply didn’t come on to the bat so fair play to them for that.
A great and positive counter attack throughout our middle to lower order was hugely encouraging and bodes well for our strength in depth and quality throughout the side. Well done guys.
Looking at the WBS card, their top 3 scored 56 and there is the difference, fine margins gentlemen, fine margins!
What I take from this game is that we are really progressing, we have strength in depth in all disciplines, a great team spirit and work ethic and I like to think that we play a brand of tough, yet enjoyable cricket.
It is a pleasure and privilege to lead you all and we will not change the way we do things just because of a blip. Stick to our strengths, work hard and go again.
Bowling Stats
Batting StatsITSLib XI 140-4 off 20 overs bt WMS 138-6 off 20 overs (Weds 25th June, League Fixture)
Match Report:
So my apologies for the delayed match report. (See scorebook entries below)
A great result at the end of a pulsating and at times emotional game.
ITSLib XI 140-4 off 20 overs bt WMS 138-6 off 20 overs (Weds 25th June)
Batting first, a great anchor-man performance from Peter (25) set the foundations for the innings, Joe and Sam unlucky to go quickly with Prasun, Ram and Sri all counter-attacking brilliantly with 28, 25 and 26 respectively.
The tail wagged with useful knocks from Taz (7) and Scotty (5) leaving us with a healthy total of 140.
Tight, accurate and disciplined bowling ensued with wickets falling at relatively regular intervals.
A late charge from their lower-middle order was just about held in check and we came out with the all-important victory.
Great atmosphere amongst the team and a real fire, passion and will to win on display, we will need to harness and focus this in the fixtures to come!
We now sit 3 points behind the leaders and have 2 games in hand over them and with a better net run rate.
Upcoming Fixtures
Let’s push on now with the next two games, this Thursday 3rd against Chemistry and then next Tuesday 8th against WBS.
The Shirts
I have distributed the shirts to the vast majority of the squad now. Only about 4 left in my boot!
Thanks for all of you who have paid already. If anyone is still to pay just let me have the cash when you get the chance.
MOTM Awards
The MOTM awards winners have been selected and will be awarded by Dean prior to the start of the next two fixtures. (where possible)
Nets
As ever we have nets running every Sunday at 10AM until 12PM.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/staff_interest_groups/cricket/itslibcricket/directions
Feel free to pop down if you are free.
Thanks all and see you soon.
Cheers,
Chris
Thursday 3rd July - ITSLIB vs Chemistry (League Fixture)
ITSLIB (121 for 4) off 18.1 beat Chemistry (120 for 7) off 20 overs
Match Report:
An enjoyable and hard fought game that was greatly assisted by the presence in our line-up of Matt Toms from WBS plus Dave Harmer and Danny Bulman from WMS. Prasun (WMG and ITS) was as ever present for us as the game didn’t involve WMG.
We won the toss and decided to bowl first. Jaime and Andy Sellers putting on 49 for the first wicket with a very rapid and aggressive start, 4’s and 6’s flying round the park.
After this initial onslaught an element of calm and control returned to proceedings with an excellent and disciplined bowling and fielding display restricting the opposition to 120 runs over 20 overs.
Regular wickets falling helped to contain Chemistry’s run rate with 2 wickets for Danny and one each for Corin, Joe, Dave, Steve and Mark all doing the damage.
ITSLiB Started up with Joe and Sameer. Joe hitting quick-fire 9 and looking in great form prior to being caught for 9. Sameer unlucky on 2 before a hugely aggressive Matt Toms knocked off 18 runs in very few deliveries including two fours and a 6 to record a total of 18 before being caught out.
A master class in controlled batting from Prasun (28 RET), Lachlan (14NO) , Steve (25 RET) and Danny (3NO) bringing us home with 11 balls to spare.
Well done boys :)
Tuesday 8th July - WBS vs ITSLIB (League Fixture)
ITSLIB (155 for 6) beat WBS (152 for 6)
Match Report:
Well after this game I’m not sure my nerves could take any more! This was an incredible cricket match that had it all. Big scores on both teams, accurate bowling and aggressive fielding and the single most dramatic end to a cricket match with a super cameo appearance from our inspirational coach. (Wearing his newly acquired team shirt………Mr Massive is feeling a bit chilly at the moment!)
WBS won the toss and decided to bat first. Umar putting on 26 (RET) and Atul going for one bowled by Prasun, Andy took the next wicket of ITSLIB and WBS opener Joe (15) before Matt Toms came in and did what Matt Toms does best. He quickly swash buckled his way to 25 before Medics opener Dave Harmer put on 29 (RET).
In came Brian into the attack and to pile the pressure onto the WBS middle/lower order taking the wickets of Duncan and Luke for 7 and 5 respectively.
So WBS finished on 152 for 6. Prasun and I opened the batting…..but sadly we didn’t last long. I was caught off the bowling of Luke for 6 and Prasun was unluckily bowled playing round one for 1.
That left Sameer 25 (RET) and Sri 25 (RET) to bring some lusty hitting, an elevated run rate and some positive batting impetus. Matt E (RET) came in next and played a beautiful calm and composed innings of 25 with some lovely stroke play and expert batting technique.
With Matt’s retirement in came Andy to blast his way to 14 with a rapid knock including one 4 and a lovely swept 6. Next up was Scotty with another 4 to the total before Brian struck a number of excellent shots (from his own text book) to bring us within spitting distance of what at times had looked like an improbable victory.
Mark (7) and Corin (1) both supported Brian excellently during this period with Mark hitting a lovely late clip to the rope having rotated his wrists to ensure a fine shot and continue our momentum.
Sameer returned to the crease to slap a 4 to the rope before Brian returned to the strike with 2 runs needed from the final ball. A beautifully struck drive evaded the despairing hands of Medics team Captain Danny at long on and the victory was sealed.
Cue, lots of mad dashing about, the entire team running onto the pitch and a real sense of joy that this vital win had been achieved.
I’ve never been happier to stand a few beers in all my days :)
To view our previously archived match reports from previous seasons
