Story Brendon vs Callum vs Jono - A Worcestershire Battle

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Somerset
County Championship - D2
4th May 2011​

Teams:

Worcestershire

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

Somerset

1. Craig Kieswetter
2. Arul Suppiah
3. James Hildreth
4. J... Bucknall
6. T... Boseley?
7. Peter Trego
5. Nick Compton
8. Alfonso Thomas
9. Murali Kartik
10. Mike Munday
11. Charl Willoughby

Toss:

Somerset won the toss, and chose to bat first.

Match:

Somerset - 346 all out

James Hildreth 108
Peter Trego 105 (off 128 balls!)
Arul Suppiah 57

Dewald Nel 4-94
Alan Richardson 3-59
Monty Panesar 2-52

Worcestershire - 504 all out

Alex Kervezee 239
Luke Wright 141

Alfonso Thomas 3-109
Charl Willoughby 2-94
Murali Kartik 2-136
Mike Munday 2-145

Somerset - 327 for 5 declared

J... Bucknall 77
James Hildreth 59
Arul Suppiah 56
T... Boseley 47*

Alan Richardson 2-55

Worcestershire - 26 for 0

Result:

Match Drawn

Points:

Worcestershire 9
Somerset 7

MOTM:

Alex Kervezee (239 runs off 538 balls)

Reaction:

Yet again my bowlers are complete garbage. Davies only managed one wicket in the match, following on from a few poor performances, yet at the start of the season he had a first class average of under 22. I really need more from my 60+k man, in terms of his salary. His form's now at zero stars, you can't even see part of the first one, so the only option I really have is to drop him.

Batting wise, what a partnership between Kervezee and Wright, 287 for the fifth wicket, and what an innings by Kervezee. Mitchell's almost fit again, so it's going to be tough to drop one my current batsmen.

We're now second to bottom, and sadly it's the same old story as last season, we just can't buy a win.

 

[hedger_14]

3rd May 2011
Worcestershire vs Durham
Challenge Trophy - Group Match​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Vikram Solanki
2. Daryl Mitchell
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


Durham

1. Michael Di Venuto
2. Kyle Coetzer
3. Philip Mustard?
4. Ian Blackwell
5. Gordon Muchall
6. Will Smith
7. Suhrawadi Shuvo
8. Gareth Breese
9. Murtaza Hussain
10. Stephen Harmison
11. Mark Davies


Toss:

Durham won the toss and elected to bat first


Durham - 260/7

Michael Di Venuto 83 (85)
Ian Blackwell 75 (56)

Calvin Flowers 2/45 (8)
Jack Shantry 1/38 (8)


Worcestershire - 257/6

Daryl Mitchell 59 (59)
David Wheeldon 46* (38)

Suhrawadi Shuvo 2/45 (8)


Durham won by 3 runs


MOTM:

Michael Di Venuto (83 off 85)


Points:

Durham 2
Worcestershire 0


Comments:

So close!!! Di Venuto was always going to make a score, with scores of 44 and 51 previously in OD cricket and 178*, 46, 95 and 70 in his last 4 FC innings. Blackwell was also going well in OD before this game with 79 and 20* and again did it with a 75 at well over a run a ball as we were forced to chase down an improbably target at over a run a ball.

Solanki made 24 off 20 while Mitchell played well scoring a half century. Kervezee then got on a roll, hitting 17 runs off an over but then got out the next over for 29. It looked bad though when Adler got out for a duck although Stafford and Choudhry put on a good partnership before Choudhry went for 33 off 41 balls. The RRR had risen though and Stafford getting out soon after for 38 off 33 didn't help but Wheeldon and Flowers put on a great 59 run partnership but a poor 39th over with only 3 off it meant we needed 10 to win, but we could only manage 6, Wheeldon's cameo of 46* off 38 balls not enough to deny Durham a 3 run win. Oh well, about time we lost one.

----------

haha, Callum. I told you Kervezee was good

 

[CG123]

haha, Callum. I told you Kervezee was good

Lol, I never really said he wasn't, I just didn't think he was that good.
It was a road though, and their attack was nothing special.

 

[6ry4nj]

Yet again my bowlers are complete garbage. Davies only managed one wicket in the match, following on from a few poor performances, yet at the start of the season he had a first class average of under 22. I really need more from my 60+k man, in terms of his salary. His form's now at zero stars, you can't even see part of the first one, so the only option I really have is to drop him.

Yes I suppose Davies is the bowler who most needs dropping, and you can only afford to drop them one at a time . The upside of that is that with such a good FC average, he will knock 'em dead in 2nds, and hopefully get his mojo back in no time at all. What is his FC average now, btw?

Also note/remember that 10 days' practice raises his form by (nearly) 25%/1.25 stars (includes practice during games). Not much I know, but sounds like about a 500+% improvement on where he is.

 

[Chewie]

Ok so Kelly out, Arif up to 6, Richardson/Ireland/Russell/ANYONE in at 8.

Yes, I see, it is kinda desperate. What's Mr. "I Can Do Anything" Mitchell's bowling form like?

Haven't really bowled him, Solanki was more effective for me with the ball.

Hopefully Ali is back soon and that'll make my lineup better.

Do we have different schedules now?

 

[CG123]

What is his FC average now, btw?

It'll be between 22 and 23, it won't of increased that much, because he's played quite a lot of matches.

Do we have different schedules now?

Yeah, because different teams were promoted/relegated.

 

[hedger_14]

Just so you know Callum, you put 27st April on the first post for all our matches (Might help if you do it properly as 27th)

 

[Chewie]

3rd May 2011
Worcestershire vs Middlesex
Challenge Trophy - Group Match​

Playing XI?s

Worcestershire

1. Vic Kelly
2. Daryl Mitchell
3. Vikram Solanki *
4. Niall O'Brien +
5. Alex Kervezee
6. Tony Stack
7. David Wheeldon
8. Alan Richardson
9. Chanaka Komasaru
10. Anthony Ireland
11. Boyd Rankin


Middlesex

1. Sam Robson
2. Scott Newman
3. Eoin Morgan
4. Neil Dexter
5. Luke Wright
6. Dawid Malan
7. Ben Scott
8. Richard Hitchens
9. Timothy Murtagh
10. Iain O'Brien
11. Pedro Collins

Middlesex win by 6 wickets
​

Kelly was moved to open for a change, with O'Brien dropping down the order. He was given the instruction to slog from the get go, with Mitchell and Solanki supposedly playing the quiet partner role, feeding the strike. It didn't work too well at first, with Mitchell smashing a six, and then getting out, but Kelly formed a good partnership with Solanki. He survived many close shouts and plays and misses before finally missing a straight one to be out on 60. At the other end, O'Brien was in and he played extremely well for his run a ball half century, and Stack continued his fine form as a finished with 30. However, they both perished in the batting powerplay, and we ended up with a substandard total on a reasonably good pitch. Richardson made a couple of early breakthroughs with the ball, but Morgan was the rock around which the Middlesex innings was anchored, playing defensively at first, and then expanding his shot range as he became more comfortable at the crease. He found a worthy partner in Malan, and the pair smashed around my hapless bowling to all parts of the ground. They eventually chased down the target with ease, to send us to our third straight one day loss.

​

 

[hedger_14]

you two need to work on your bowling

 

[CG123]

Considering in terms of my game my attack's better than yours, I'm not sure what's going wrong.

I assume you've trained the likes of Wheeldon, Arif and Shantry up to FC standard, because in my game they're all useless. Arif at times can be useful, but Wheeldon and Shantry are pretty big fails. IIRC Wheeldon's RPO in roughly ten FC matches is well over four, and Shantry was getting smashed all over the place by Cambridge.

 

[Chewie]

The thing is that normally Rankin and Ireland are really gun in ICC, and Sri Lankan spinners are also really gun... :/ I'm just not good at OD games.

 

[hedger_14]

I better not tell you all that I don't bother with training

 

[hedger_14]

4th May 2011
Worcestershire vs Lancashire
County Championship - D2​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Stephen Moore
2. Daryl Mitchell
3. Alex Kervezee*
4. Julian Stafford
5. Shaaiq Choudhry
6. David Wheeldon
7. Stuart Adler†
8. Calvin Flowers
9. Imran Arif
10. Jack Shantry
11. Alan Richardson


Lancashire

1. Paul Horton
2. Mark Chilton
3. Robert White
4. Andrew Flintoff
5. Steve Croft
6. Adrian Shankar
7. Gareth Cross†
8. Michael Benton
9. Glen Chapple
10. Sajid Mahmood
11. Oliver Newby


Toss:

Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat first


Lancashire - 326 all out

Mark Chilton 89 (174)
Michael Benton 66* (128)
Adrian Shankar 54 (90)

Imran Arif 5/80 (24)
Calvin Flowers 5/106 (37)


Worcestershire - 385 all out

Stephen Moore 149 (222)
Imran Arif 45 (48)
Julian Stafford 41 (69)

Glen Chapple 3/48 (23)
Sajid Mahmood 3/84 (23)
Andrew Flintoff 2/66 (25)


Lancashire - 129 all out

Paul Horton 34 (59)

Calvin Flowers 8/39 (12.3)
Imran Arif 2/49 (11)


Worcestershire - 71/0

Daryl Mitchell 38* (111)
Stephen Moore 25* (69)


Worcestershire won by 10 wickets


MOTM:

Calvin Flowers (5/106, 8/39, 12 and 2 catches)


Points:

Worcestershire 23
Lancashire 6


Comments:

Calvin Flowers! Looks like he's going to be the next Shane Warne. 46 wickets @ 15.83 already this season in 5 FC matches with six 5wi. Bowling first, we got off to a pretty poor start as Chilton made 89 as they got through to 2/175 but 4 wickets in quick succession had them at 6/184. Shankar and Benton put on a 108 run partnership though for the 7th wicket so we ended up bowling them out for 326, Arif and Flowers the stars with the ball.

Moore finally fires under pressure because of Mitchell's return which means there are really only one spot between himself and Solanki in the lineup. Not a century for Lancashire last season and was yet to score one this season but finally broke the drought against his old club with a stunning 149. Mitchell, Kervezee and Stafford all supported him with solid starts of 34, 40 and 41 respectively and Choudhry got off to a flier before getting out for 18 coming off only 15 balls. Wheeldon was solid as well with 29 while Adler scored his second duck in a row, not the best season so far only averaging 30 in FC and 16 in OD cricket. Arif fired at the end of the innings trying to get the final batting point, with 45 coming off 48 balls but we were bowled out 15 runs short or that, but we had a solid lead of 59 going into their second innings.

They got off to a good start after I decided not to open the bowling with Arif but brought Arif on after 7 overs and struck in his first over, before Flowers took his first wicket about 10 overs later. Arif took the wicket of Horton, the other opener but then it was all Arif who took the last 7 wickets, with only 49 runs being scored by Lancashire during that period, bowled out for 129, Flowers finishing with 8/39. Mitchell and Moore did the rest keeping their wicket intact as they chased down Lancashire's modest total to win by 10 wickets.

 

[Chewie]

I will laugh if Flowers gets selected for SA and you lose a whole heap of matches

 

[CG123]

Maybe I should have got an overseas bowler...