Story Brendon vs Callum vs Jono - A Worcestershire Battle

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Surrey
County Championship - D2
15th April 2011​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Jeet Raval
2. Daryl Mitchell*
3. Vikram Solanki
4. Alan Darbon
5. Eric Matthews
6. Luke Wright
7. Jeff Ingram?
8. Mark Davies
9. Dewald Nel
10. Monty Panesar
11. Alan Richardson

Surrey

1. Steve Davies?
2. Michael Brown
3. Younis Khan
4. Usman Afzaal
5. Rory Hamilton-Brown*
6. Laurie Evans
7. Chris Schofield
8. Jade Dernbach
9. Chris Tremlett
10. Andre Nel
11. Matthew Mason

Toss:

Worcestershire won the toss, and chose to bat first.

Match:

Worcestershire - 365 for 9 declared

Luke Wright 97
Jeet Raval 73
Daryl Mitchell 66

Matthew Mason 3-45
Andre Nel 2-80

Surrey - 418 all out

Michael Brown 127
Usman Afzaal 74
Rory Hamilton-Brown 64
Chris Schofield 45

Mark Davies 3-105
Monty Panesar 2-98

Worcestershire - 299 for 6 declared

Alan Darbon 100*
Luke Wright 50

Andre Nel 2-59
Chris Tremlett 2-106

Surrey - 84 for 2

Result:

Match Drawn

Points:

Surrey 8
Worcestershire 7

MOTM:

Michael Brown (127 and 23)

Reaction:

We're pretty much just carrying on from last season, draw, draw, draw...

This match wasn't really close to a result, I was going to tempt them into a run chase, but by that stage Darbon was on like 80 odd, so I though lets get him through to 100 instead of bothering with an earlier declaration.

Our batting seems to be fine, but our bowling's a real concern. Nel and Richardson have only picked up four wickets each in two matches, and have both being leaking runs. We've got the university match next, so that will be a good chance to rest the like of Darbon, Wright, Davies and Panesar, allowing the out of form players a chance to get in form, and allowing the bench players thus far a chance to prove their worth.

On a side not our skipper is out of action for two weeks with a back injury, so Solanki will take over the reins in Mitchell's absence. It's a big blow, but I'm just thankful that it's not for like two months or something.

 

[CG123]

How regular are you guys wanting to post matches (roughly)?

I played those two at the same time, hence why I posted them at the same time. I'm pretty eager to go and give the uni team a hiding, so I'll probably play that match tonight.

 

[Chewie]

15th April 2011
Worcestershire vs Gloucestershire
County Championship -D2​

Playing XI?s

Worcestershire

1. Vikram Solanki
2. Daryl Mitchell
3. Moeen Ali
4. Alex Kervezee
5. Niall O'Brien
6. Anthony Aimson
7. Hugh Lucas
8. Chanaka Komasaru
9. Steven Finn
10. Anthony Ireland
11. Boyd Rankin


Gloucestershire

1. William Porterfield
2. Kadeer Ali
3. Alex Gidman
4. Steve Snell
5. Hamish Marshall
6. Chris Taylor
7. James Harris
8. Ian Saxelby
9. John Lewis
10. Richard Dawson
11. Steven Kirby

Worcestershire win by 182 runs
​

We have our first victory of the season! After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, we were bundled out for 204, with the lower order collapsing, despite some good efforts from Mitchell and Ali at the top. In reply, Porterfield was solid opening, but we chipped away at the other end. A number of partnerships formed but they didn't turn into significant ones, and we were able to reduce the lead to only 121 runs. Our second innings didn't get off to a good start, with Solanki out second ball, but Mitchell and Ali continued their good form from the first innings, with Mitchell making 111 and Ali making an aggressive half century. When these two were out, Kervezee and O'Brien continued piling the runs on, both scoring centuries at a strike rate of over 65, with O'Brien particularly brutal in his 167 ball knock. Aimson continued his trend of failing in the first innings and batting well in the second with a composed unbeaten half century. We probably should have declared earlier, but I wanted to see how much O'Brien could get. In the end it didn't really matter, with Finn and Komasaru taking crucial wickets in their chase. We got 20 points compared to Gloucester's 6, and are currently in the middle of the table.
​

 

[hedger_14]

15th April 2011
Worcestershire vs Derbyshire
County Championship - D2​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Stephen Moore
2. Vikram Solanki
3. Alex Kervezee*
4. Julian Stafford
5. Stuart Adler?
6. Shaaiq Choudhry
7. David Wheeldon
8. Calvin Flowers
9. Imran Arif
10. Jack Shantry
11. Boyd Rankin


Derbyshire

1. Chris Rogers
2. Wayne Madsen
3. Garry Park
4. Eric Evans
5. Wes Durston
6. Greg Smith
7. Lee Goddard?
8. Jonathan Clare
9. Timothy Groenewald
10. Jake Needham
11. Mark Footitt


Toss:

Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bowl first


Derbyshire - 322 all out

Jonathan Clare 90 (154)
Garry Park 50 (53)

Boyd Rankin 4/73 (17.4)
Calvin Flowers 3/89 (26)
Imran Arif 2/65 (19)


Worcestershire - 438/5 dec.

Alex Kervezee 124* (257)
David Wheeldon 71* (126)
Stephen Moore 62 (118)
Julian Stafford 58 (90)
Vikram Solanki 54 (72)

Jake Needham 3/79 (32)


Derbyshire - 124 all out

Wayne Madsen 62 (133)

Calvin Flowers 7/27 (16)
Jack Shantry 1/14 (10.5)


Worcestershire - 12/1


Worcestershire won by 9 wickets


MOTM:

Calvin Flowers (3/89 and 7/27)


Points:

Worcestershire 24
Derbyshire 4


Comments:

Great performance. Bowling first, we didn't do too badly, bowling them out for 322 with Rankin doing the main damage with support from Flowers and Arif. The batting was good, with all the batsman getting starts, 5 out of the 7 batsman scoring 50's with Kervezee the best of the lot making an unbeaten century before we declared, although we didn't bat fast enough to take the final batting point, getting there 2 overs too late.

Flowers just completely ripped through them though in the second innings taking 7/27 to bowl Derbyshire out for 124 as we had to chase down 9 to win, with Moore the only casualty out for a duck. Another great win and we sit equal 1st after 2 games. Now a University match to test some of the reserve players and hopefully give the team a good morale boost.

 

[CG123]

Screw you guys for both winning.

Lol, five players in Hedger's playing XI sat on the bench in my first two games.
And he wins his first two games, while I draw my first two.

 

[Chewie]

This is quite fun now because we're actually winning/not loosing

Flowers was a great buy for Hedger though. My guy was more expensive and is doing way worse.

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You'll have to archive the first post somewhere Callum

 

[CG123]

You'll have to archive the first post somewhere Callum

Yeah, I will when we've played a few more matches.

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I feel like playing my next match now, so I'll probably post it sometime tonight since both of you have now posted your second matches.

 

[hedger_14]

Yeah, when your not losing, you feel like playing a fair bit

 

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Cambridge UCCE
University Match
21st April 2010​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Jeet Raval
2. Vikram Solanki*
3. Alex Kervezee
4. Eric Matthews
5. Moeen Ali
6. Jeff Ingram?
7. David Wheeldon
8. Imran Arif
9. Dewald Nel
10. Alan Richardson
11. Jack Shantry

Cambridge UCCE

1. C Lowther
2. J Barrett
3. S Poole
4. K Huckerby
5. P Robertson
6. J Guinness?
7. J Herbert
8. M Boston
9. K Perry
10. P Clarkson
11. A Reid

Toss:

Worcestershire won the toss, and chose to bat first.

Match:

Worcestershire - 538 for 2 declared

Jeet Raval 204
Vikram Solanki 150
Alex Kervezee 111*
Eric Matthews 52*

P Clarkson 2-128

Cambridge UCCE - 309 all out

J Herbert 120*
K Perry 43
S Poole 41

Dewald Nel 4-41
Imran Arif 2-82

Cambridge UCCE - 74 for 1 following on

Result:

Match Drawn

MOTM:

Jeet Raval (204 runs off 360 balls)

Reaction:

I've got some massive bowling problems, as the only specialist bowlers I was resting were Davies and Panesar. They were seven down for like 100, but Herbert and Perry took us apart. Nel done the early damage, so I didn't want to bowl him again as I wanted the other guys to get into some form, but Arif, Shantry and Wheeldon really struggled, with all three going at well over three and a half runs an over.

Batting wise the only two wickets I lost were because I put them on very aggressive so they'd get out, as I wanted a few others to find some form. Ravel does seem like a great buy though, for just 26k.

 

[hedger_14]

21st April 2011
Worcestershire vs Cambridge UCCE
University Match​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Stephen Moore
2. Vikram Solanki
3. Alex Kervezee*
4. Moeen Ali
5. Shaaiq Choudhry
6. Joe Leach
7. Ben Cox?
8. Calvin Flowers
9. Imran Arif
10. Chris Russell
11. Alan Richardson


Cambridge UCCE

1. N Friend
2. N Duvall
3. N Underwood
4. W Walsh
5. S Skillbeck
6. A Read
7. M Thornton?
8. C Kenworthy
9. B Burke
10. N Charlton
11. R Price


Toss:

Cambridge UCCE won the toss and elected to bat first


Cambridge UCCE - 338 all out

W Walsh 158 (200)
N Friend 55 (106)

Calvin Flowers 3/63 (19.4)
Alan Richardson 3/72 (21)


Worcestershire - 435 all out

Shaaiq Choudhry 165* (397)
Stephen Moore 73 (162)
Joe Leach 47 (82)

B Burke 6/101 (34.5)


Cambridge UCCE - 151/8

N Duvall 49 (94)

Imran Arif 2/32 (11)
Joe Leach 2/36 (11)
Calvin Flowers 2/48 (21)


Match Drawn


MOTM:

W Walsh (158, 10 and 1/13)


Comments:

Pretty poor to be honest, bowlers didn't really do that well, none of the top 4 apart from Moore could fire so it was up to Choudhry down at 5 to score a great unbeaten century. A couple of good knocks from Leach and Cox though who both scored in the 40's but none are likely to play unless and injury occurs to one of Wheeldon or Adler.

 

[CG123]

Lol, I terminated Shaaiq Choudhry's contract.

 

[hedger_14]

haha, he started playing reasonably well in the OD at the end of the last season as a finisher so I kept him. Proved that he can at least score runs with his first FC century

 

[Chewie]

21st April 2011
Worcestershire vs Gloucestershire
Univeresity Match​

Playing XI?s

Worcestershire

1. Vikram Solanki *
2. Hugh Lucas
3. Moeen Ali
4. Anthony Aimson
5. Vic Kelly
6. Tony Stack +
7. David Wheeldon
8. Imran Arif
9. Alan Richardson
10. Chris Russell
11. Anthony Ireland


Cambridge UCCE

1. David Hyde
2. Terry Donald
3. Robin Matthew
4. Marcus Snow
5. Richard Foyle
6. Stanley Norris
7. Mark Murphy
8. Gerald Senior
9. John Aitken
10. Jack Allsop
11. Stanley Winters

Match Drawn
​

I decided to rest most of my first XI apart from those who weren't in form. Solanki responded by scoring 94, but Lucas was out for a duck. Aimson finally broke his first innings duck trend by making a half century, while Wheeldon impressed down the order with the bat. Lots of starts were the main characteristic of our innings, but it was disappointing to see Russell retiring hurt. On the bowling front, it was hoped that Ireland would find some form but he only managed to take one wicket as Snow tormented the bowlers. Wheeldon was probably the most impressive, but his wickets were more due to sheer weight of overs. Cambridge even had the nerve to declare against us, and the batting promptly collapsed, until a good partnership between Kelly and Wheeldon had the courage to salvage some pride.
​

 

[CG123]

I was pretty pissed off letting them score 309, but I guess that was pretty good in the end.

 

[hedger_14]

haha, I find Wheeldon is a pretty good player. Never going to win a match for you but can help with a big wicket, (he took 2 5wi for me last season) and can normally provide some handy resistance down the order (still averaged around 30 with the bat in FC last season with 3 fifties). Now I'm pretty much just using him as a part timer (taken 1/28, 0/44, 1/32 and 0/20 so far this season) and a lower order batsman.