Story Brendon vs Callum vs Jono - A Worcestershire Battle

[hedger_14]

24th May 2010
Worcestershire vs Sussex
County Championship - D2​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Phil Jaques
2. Daryl Mitchell
3. Vikram Solanki*
4. Alex Kervezee
5. Moeen Ali
6. Jack Manuel
7. David Wheeldon
8. Ben Cox?
9. Imran Arif
10. Matthew Mason
11. Alan Richardson


Sussex

1. Christopher Nash
2. Michael Thornely
3. Michael Yardy*
4. Murray Goodwin
5. Luke Wright
6. Robin Martin-Jenkins
7. Andy Hodd?
8. Matt Machan
9. Ragheb Aga
10. Monty Panesar
11. Billy Taylor


I decided to get rid of Andrew who had been poor so far in FC cricket and add some strength to the batting with Ali coming back into the side. That was the only change and hopefully it would work in our favour.


Toss:

Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bat first


Worcestershire - 330 all out

Daryl Mitchell 79 (147)
Imran Arif 55 (89)
Vikram Solanki 51 (101)

Monty Panesar 4/81 (31.2)
Ragheb Aga 2/87 (24)


Sussex - 269 all out

Christopher Nash 80 (163)
Robin Martin-Jenkins 53 (109)

Imran Arif 3/38 (18.5)
Alan Richardson 3/82 (23)
David Wheeldon 3/84 (25)


Worcestershire - 148 all out

Ben Cox 39 (89)
David Wheeldon 35 (80)

Monty Panesar 4/48 (21)
Billy Taylor 3/49 (16.5)


Sussex - 209 all out

Matt Machan 58* (132)
Christopher Nash 54 (101)

David Wheeldon 4/84 (29)
Alan Richardson 2/19 (8.5)


Match Tied


Points:

Worcestershire 14
Sussex 13


Comments:

What an unbelievable match which we should have won. We managed 330 batting first thanks to runs from Mitchell, Solanki and Arif in particular. We bowled well, and if not for Chris Nash, we could have bowled them out for under 200. Wheeldon was the pick of the bowler, with 3 wickets, those of Goodwin, Wright and Hodd. Richardson took 2 early wickets and 1 later on and was the second best bowler while Arif picked up the tail, which shows his impressive bowling figures. Our second innings was poor being bowled out for 148, after being at 6/44 but runs from Cox, Wheeldon and Arif got us to 148. Chasing 210, the money would have been on them. 2 wickets late on day 3 put the match back in the balance, and they were 3/59. Wheeldon picked up 3 more wickets the next morning and it would seem like a Worcestershire win. At 8/159, it should have been an easy win but with Machan still at the crease, they had a chance. Monty Panesar survived 22 balls, but for 0 runs but had gained a 24 run partnership with Machan before he got out and it was 9/183. Billy Taylor saved the day for his team though, along with Machan with his important unbeaten half century but as Sussex now looked set to win, Richardson trapped him LBW to force a tie. What a match, but we should have won.

 

[CG123]

WTF!!!
Not even words can describe this!!!

So is a tie 8 points?

 

[hedger_14]

yes. 3 points for batting, 3 points for bowling, 8 points for tie.

 

[Chewie]

oh wow a tie

 

[TDTF]

Cool a tie, never had one of them :banana2

 

[Varun]

CG, you just blew it away.
Hedger did reasonably well.
You are playing those, not autoplaying, aren't you?

 

[Chewie]

Yea we're playing them, but cos this team is so crap we're not doing too well

 

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Gloucestershire
County Championship - D2
29th May 2010​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Daryl Mitchell
2. Vikram Solanki*
3. Moeen Ali
4. Alex Kervezee
5. Ben Smith
6. Jack Manuel
7. Gareth Andrew
8. Imran Arif
9. Ben Cox?
10. Matthew Mason
11. Alan Richardson

Gloucestershire

1. Kadeer Ali
2. William Porterfield
3. Alex Gidman*
4. Hamish Marshall
5. Chris Taylor
6. Jonathan Batty?
7. Ian Saxelby
8. Jon Lewis
9. Richard Dawson
10. Steve Kirby
11. Anthony Ireland

Toss:

Worcestershire won the toss, and chose to bat first.

Match:

Worcestershire - 130 all out

Ben Smith 40
Imran Arif 34

Steve Kirby 4-20
Jon Lewis 3-26

Gloucestershire - 206 all out

Chris Taylor 87
Alex Gidman 53

Alan Richardson 5-80
Matthew Mason 3-63

Worcestershire - 344 for 9 declared

Daryl Mitchell 131
Gareth Andrew 50*
Vikram Solanki 45
Alex Kervezee 38

Steve Kirby 5-74

Gloucestershire - 102 for 3

William Porterfield 32

Result:

Match Drawn

Points:

Gloucestershire 7
Worcestershire 6

MOTM:

Steve Kirby (4-20, 5-74 and 0)

Reaction:

At 24 for 6 inside the first session on the first day we were out of the match, but some good bowling and some rain turned the match into a boring draw. In the end a draw was probably a fair result from the match, as both teams were very even.

Daryl Mitchell was the major highlight of our batting, with a great century, and Gareth Andrew showed some of his potential as a bowling all-rounder.

Alan Richardson continued his great form with the ball, picking up another five wicket haul, and Matthew Mason was again very economical.

Next up we're into the T20's, so we'll hopefully be able to pull off a few upsets there.

 

[Chewie]

29th May 2010
Worcestershire vs Gloucestershire
County Championship -D2​

Playing XI’s

Worcestershire

1. Daryl Mitchell
2. Phil Jacques
3. Moeen Ali
4. Ben Smith
5. Vikram Solanki*
6. Alex Kervezee
7. David Wheeldon
8. Imran Arif
9. Ben Cox †
10. Matthew Mason
11. Alan Richardson


Gloucestershire

1. Kadeer Ali
2. Jonathan Batty †
3. Alex Gidman*
4. Hamish Marshall
5. Steve Snell
6. Chris Taylor
7. William Porterfield
8. Nayyer Abbas
9. Jon Lewis
10. Steve Kirby
11. Anthony Ireland
​

A boring lineup from me, basically the same as my normal FC games. The Gloucestershire lineup is a stronger one than the one Callum faced I think.

I won the toss and batted first. Mitchell got out to the part time pace of Gidman which was disappointing, but both Jaques and Ali played magnificently. Ali was eventually out for an aggressive 75, as Jaques made his century at the other end. Ali's dismissal sparked a collapse however, as both Jaques and Smith followed him to the pavilion. Solanki and Kervezee lasted for slightly longer before perishing as well. Wheeldon and Arif put the breaks on this collapse however, with Wheeldon making 49 before getting out on the second to last ball of the day. Arif continued his strong batting form to make 90, while Ben Cox amazingly hit 87* from 153 balls including 2 sixes at the other end. We were eventually all out for 503.

A wicket fell either side of lunch as both openers were out with the score on 18. The batsmen were playing extremely defensively, with the score crawling along to 75/4, thanks to a wicket from Arif and Wheeldon. The day ended with Gloucestershire on 92/5, with Hamish Marshall providing their only resistance with a stubborn 33*. Their batting on the third day was improved, before Porterfield holed out to Richardson. Wheeldon was bowling impressively on his return to the side, having figures of 16-2-48-3 when the new ball was taken. At this point Gloucestershire required 138 runs to avoid the follow on, and it looked like they were not going to make it when Richardson took two wickets in an over. Mason eventually finished them off for 230, and the follow on was enforced.

We tasted immediate success in the second innings as well, with Mason dismissing Batty on one. He then took the wicket of Ali to again have Gloucestershire at 18/2. Instead of retreating into their shell, Gloucestershire batted aggressively and it paid off. They only lost one more wicket by the end of the day, and Marshall was looking in good form on 116*. He eventually departed for 127 from 194 balls, and with five wickets down, they were still 45 runs behind our first innings total. Ali provided some magic with the ball in the 79th over however to dismiss Taylor who had looked threatening with his first ball. Abbas and Porterfield provided incredibly annoying resistance, and no matter what I tried, they couldn't be removed from the crease. Gloucestershire eventually reached 422/7 to draw the match.

The game was an incredibly annoying one because we were in such a good position on the third day. Stubborn batting from Gloucestershire meant they salvaged the draw, but we should have been able to easily win that game. Jaques finally showed some form with the bat, while Ali providing good support as always. Arif has been one of our best batsmen this season, and Cox finally played a good knock. With the Ball, Richardson and Mason were consistent but not outstanding, while Wheeldon took a few important wickets. We got 10 points for this, but should have walked away with much more.

Match Drawn
​

 

[CG123]

Lol, Hamish Marshall denied you victory.
Your own NZPL player from the last two/three seasons. :laugh

Did you customize your groundsman to batting pitches?

 

[hedger_14]

Worcestershire:

Best batsman: Imran Arif
Best bowler: Imran Arif
Best keeper: Imran Arif Ben Cox

 

[Chewie]

Yep lol. Means more draws = more points. Because the alternative is losing. Normally.

The rain and the day 1 collapse ruined your chances of winning there. Good to see Mitchell getting a century though

Chewie added 1 Minutes and 51 Seconds later...

Arif is bowling terribly for me. I basically keep him in the team as a batting all-rounder

 

[CG123]

I always use random, TBH I'm not a fan of that groundsman feature.

You can't really complain about my bowlers being better than yours etc, as now you know why, and now I know why your batsmen are so much better than mine.

CG123 added 0 Minutes and 41 Seconds later...

Arif isn't that great at bowling for me as well, it's more the fact that he's better than the rest.

 

[hedger_14]

29th May 2010
Worcestershire vs Gloucestershire
County Championship - D2​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Phil Jaques
2. Daryl Mitchell
3. Vikram Solanki*
4. Alex Kervezee
5. Imran Arif
6. Moeen Ali
7. Jack Manuel
8. David Wheeldon
9. Ben Cox?
10. Matthew Mason
11. Alan Richardson

Gloucestershire

1. Jonathan Batty?
2. Kadeer Ali
3. James Franklin
4. Alex Gidman*
5. Hamish Marshall
6. Steve Snell
7. Chris Taylor
8. William Porterfield
9. Jon Lewis
10. Steve Kirby
11. Anthony Ireland


No changes were made to the side that tied with Sussex, but Imran Arif was given a promotion to #5 to see what he could do up there after batting well down the order so far this season. With a very deep batting lineup, we'll be looking at least 400 with the bat in our first innings.


Toss:

Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bowl first


Worcestershire - 186 all out

Moeen Ali 57 (57)
Jack Manuel 44 (90)

Steve Kirby 5/40 (17.4)
James Franklin 2/38 (14)


Gloucestershire - 386 all out

James Franklin 92 (149)
Jonathan Batty 86 (177)

David Wheeldon 5/104 (22)
Imran Arif 3/116 (21)


Worcestershire - 242 all out

David Wheeldon 55* (121)
Vikram Solanki 40 (112)

Jon Lewis 4/50 (25)
James Franklin 3/56 (17)


Gloucestershire - 44/1

Kadeer Ali 23 (25)

David Wheeldon 1/30 (4.5)


Gloucestershire won by 9 wickets


Points:

Gloucestershire 23
Worcestershire 3


MOTM:

James Franklin (2/38, 3/56, 92 and 8*)


Comments:

The team is a load of ████. Wheeldon is great but the rest of the team were crap. Ali batted well but that was about it and Franklin destroyed us. Wheeldon now has picked up his form with 13 wickets in the last 2 matches and made 100 runs so he is the man in form at the moment but noone else is really in any form. I'm not even going to comment on the match, the performance was that ████.

 

[Chewie]

But what about the games that aren't home matches?