Story The Spinners United Story (BT)

[The Spin]

Once upon a time there was a new cricket team, Spinners United. This team were worse than all the other teams. They constantly finished last, always got beaten, but over time they improved and got stronger. Now see the improvements as Spinners United take on their OD League, Planetcricket Champions League Group and, for the first season, their FC League.

First, lets meet the squad:

Fitz Bradshaw - 19 yo, BT Rating=13,166
RH Middle Order Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 55.17
Career FC Batting Average: 582.50
A young purchase for the Spinners 2 years ago, some people then said he didnt have what it took, but once the coaches got him into the nets he really started to shine. Now a fixture in the batting line-up, normally at 5, Bradshaw has really shown his class in the FC form of the game hitting one 50 and a massive six 100s in his first 9 innings of FC cricket.

Ryan Challinor - 24 yo, BT Rating=8,070
RH Middle Order Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 33.22
Career FC Batting Average: 51.11
One of the original squad, Ryan always showed he had talent beyond that of the original team. He still plays regularly nowadays and his aggressive style is right at home. He needs to keep performing or he may be overtaken by some of the new players

Horace Charl - 30 yo, BT Rating=3,724
LF Bowler
Career OD Bowling Average: 32.76
Career FC Bowling Average: 69.67
A veteran of the team, Horace has seen it all. Now though he is unfortunatly a spare part for the team, but it is an important job and he has shown he can still come in as a replacement to allow players to rest and keep things tight.

Anil Chinthaka - 25 yo, BT Rating=7,112
RH Opening Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 58.40
Career FC Batting Average: 72.64
One of the Spinner's few imports, the Sri Lankan Chinthaka has been an explosive opening batsman for the team. At the top of the order he has hit runs at crucial times and has lifted the team. His class is shown by his 10 OD 100s he has scored and it is a pretty safe bet that there are more to come from this man.

Malcolm Chuguel - 33 yo, BT Rating=4,028
LH Opening Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 32.98
Career FC Batting Average: 56.80
Another war-horse, the former captain of United now is a reserve player. But through his time playing he has proven to be reliable in the order and many fans will fondly remember his early partnerships opening with the now retired Christopher Duncum.

Dale Cronin - 20 yo, BT Rating=8,541
LM Bowler
Career OD Bowling Average: 23.98
Career FC Bowling Average: 20.35
The only New Zealander of the squad, Cronin has become a solid opening bowler for the team. His reliable and consistent bowling has been the undoing of many teams to have played against him and his future looks bright.

Rick Eagles - 21 yo, BT Rating=23,341
RH Opening Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 98.17
Career FC Batting Average: 147.00
One of the real stars of the team, the Spinner's United current Captain is a vibrant and energetic figure in the field and at the crease. As a product of the Youth Academy people could see his inherrant ability and when he has batted, first at 3 and then opening, he has shown that he is a real force.

Leon Harding - 25 yo, BT Rating=4,669
Allrounder - RH Lower Order Batsman, RFM Bowler
Career OD Batting Average: 18.90
Career FC Batting Average: 27.33
Career OD Bowling Average: 44.20
Career FC Bowling Average: 32.50
Harding has been an important figure at the club, having first shown up as a talented youngster and secured a place in the team for some time, he now is a backup to the first team and is always secure when called upon to play.

Andrew Holme - 24 yo, BT Rating=4,274
Wicket Keeper - LH Lower Order Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 8.00
Career FC Batting Average: 5.00
Holme has been the long time backup Wicket Keeper and has done well when called upon. He has a safe pair of hands and has the ability to keep going all day. Ha has had few first team oppertunities, but thanks to the extended season he has been recieving more now.

George Levy - 29 yo, BT Rating=2,889
LF Bowler
Career OD Bowling Average: 26.97
Career FC Bowling Average: 171.00
George Levy will be in the hearts of some older members of the club after his excellent performances in the early days. He tore line-ups apart with his aggressive and firey bowling. Currently he is a reserve and passes on his advice to the younger players.

Nigel Machemko - 23 yo, BT Rating=9,202
All Rounder - LH Lower Order Batsman, LH Spin Bowler
Career OD Batting Average: 20.11
Career FC Batting Average: 32.83
Career OD Bowling Average: 23.70
Career FC Bowling Average: 38.18
The Aussie Machemko may recieve some bashing for his national sides performance, but not off his own performance. He is a solid performer who has made some key contributions in the past. He plays an important role in the Spinner's United 2 all-rounder lineup.

Pete Marsden - 19 yo, BT Rating=51,703
RH Opening Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 191.33
Career FC Batting Average: N/A
The out and out star of the team. Marsden has been in rigorous training to try and make the England U19 squad for the World Cup, which has resulted in him having limited playing oppertunities, but unfortunatly has failed to make it. Now he will get more of a chance to show his exceptional batting ability for the team at least. He is the one to watch out for when he is playing.

Glenn Mccormick - 21 yo, BT Rating=18,596
LH Middle Order Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 62.32
Career FC Batting Average: 206.83
Glenn is last of the trio of excellent batsmen produced by the academy. His flowing and technically perfect batting is an awe inspiring sight. He has nailed in his place in the team for as long as he wishes to hold it.

Wes Nedd - 26 yo, BT Rating=8,750
RM Bowler
Career OD Bowling Average: 18.77
Career FC Bowling Average: 27.93
As a laid-back West Indian, Nedd merely has to saunter into the crease to deliver bowling which completely destroys line-ups. The most consistent bowler in the squad bar none, his bowling provides a perfect foil to the fast and spin around him.

Allan Pead - 21 yo, BT Rating=8,592
Wicket Keeper - LH Lower Order Batsman
Career OD Batting Average: 21.77
Career FC Batting Average: 66.00
This proficient young keeper has been improving well over recent years and has secured the gloves. Not only have his hands been great, but his batting has been getting better and better, as his current season average of 87 denotes. No doubt this improving will continue as he becomes a more refined player

Tim Riaan - 28 yo, BT Rating=10,510
All Rounder - RH Batsman, RFM Bowler
Career OD Batting Average: 26.60
Career FC Batting Average: 32.25
Career OD Bowling Average: 26.93
Career FC Bowling Average: 19.50
The best loved player in the team, Riaan has been there from the start as a standout player and continues to impress now. He has delivered consistent performances week in, week out with both bat and ball and is one of the true greats.

Kelly Slaytor - 24 yo, BT Rating=25,778
RH Spin Bowler
Career OD Bowling Average: 13.82
Career FC Bowling Average: 7.56
The United academy hasn't produced many great bowlers and England hasn't produced many great spin bowlers, but this man is the exception to both. Slaytor joined as a 19 year old and never looked back, simply dominating opposition teams with his superb bowling. His averages speak for themselves and he certainly puts the other teams in a spin

Coming up...
We take a look at the OD League, FC League and the PC Champions League Group
Spinners United get cracking!

 

[westindies2007]

cool looking forward

 

[Left_Hander]

More Battrick stories, that is great. I hope there is a bit of competition between them.

 

[RoboRocks]

Like the look of Bradshaw. 13,000 BT Rating and only 19.

 

[Highlander999]

A bit of a flurry in the recent amount of Battrick stories.

Good luck with this

 

[The Spin]

Down at the Nets

Spinner's United were working hard down at the nets today and the head coach, Chez, has given his weekly report about training:

As always everybody has been working hard at their game in the nets with some real fire shown by the youngsters. The 2 men who I think have shown an improvement this week are Marsden and Mccormick. Both of them went in and batted with much more concentration, for both of them it just builds their game which is already superb.

 

[Left_Hander]

Nice play on words there. Good stuff

 

[The Spin]

FC: Spinners United vs. Shipley Batters at The Rectangle

Preview

Spinners United captain, Rick Eagles, named a full team for this FC game after 2 draws in 3 matches, both in games which should have been won. One of those was against this same team when time simply was too short and Spinners couldnt get a big enough lead to go for the win. This match will be different they hope

Starting XI: Eagles*, Chinthaka, Mccormick, Challinor, Bradshaw, Riaan, Machemko, Pead+, Nedd, Slaytor, Cronin


Day One

Spinners United lost the toss, but dominated the day in every other aspect.

Having lost the toss and been sent into the field, Spinners United made an early breakthrouggh thanks to Cronin in the 4th over. The wickets then fell at regular intervals, Riaan getting a clear LBW in the 9th, Cronin with wickets in consecutive balls in the 14th over, a superb catch for the first and then an edge through to Pead, leaving the score at 35/4. A 66-run partnership followed to bring more hope, but it was a run out which struck next after 26 overs to make it 101/5. The Spinners worked in tandem and it wasn't long before the pressure built and Slaytor took the 6th wicket, the batsman walking after edging the ball through to Pead.

Batsman Barnard managed some respectability, reaching a 50 his team certainly needed. He went off for lunch in the dire position of 112/6. He continued to battle on as Riaan made the first breakthrough after lunch to take the 7th wicket and Nedd followed up for his first of the day 3 overs later. Riaan was on form and hit again to reduce the Shipley Batters to 163/9 soon after and the end looked nigh. Another run out put the innings out of its misery 6 overs later with the score of 167 recorded. Barnard was the stranded batsman on 83*.

So it was the fast bowlers who had the most success, 3 each for Cronin (3-27) and Riaan (3-56). The other bowlers kept it tight and chipped in with a couple of wickets.

It was then time for the Eagles and Chinthaka show as they would dominate the bowling and score quickly. They took until just the 35th over to both reach their 100s at the same time. Eagle's 100 came off 101 balls and Chinthaka's 100 off 107, brought up with a massive 6. The two men continued to bat well until in the 50th over when Chinthaka finally fell for 127 after being bowled, ending the 276 run partnership between the two men. Mccormick and Eagles together batted to the end of the day to end on 310/1.


Current Score

Shipley Batters 167
Barnard 83*
Hassel 28
Cronin 3-27
Riaan 3-56

Spinners United CC 310-1
Eagles 139*
Chinthaka 127
Makel 1-59

 

[The Spin]

FC: Day 2

The Spinners United plan became obvious as the day progressed, bat through the day and that is exactly what they did with no fewer than 4 100s.

Eagles and Mccormick started the day off and kept the good batting going. They managed a 287 run partnership before Mccormick fell for 150 exactly off 153 balls having been trapped LBW off Walton.

Next up was Challinor who worked hard to score his runs. He scored a massive 184 off 179 balls in another huge partnership of 344 runs. He was caught on the boundary by Fu off the bowling of Makel. The score at this stage was 907/3.

The man of the day was undoubtably the captain, Eagles. He scored a new club record of 419 off 433 in a classy and stunning innings. He was finally dismissed, caught off Kerley, but the damage had been done long before.

Bradshaw and Riaan were the new batters and Bradshaw managed to hit a quick 50 before the close, leaving the score at 1009/4, a club record for an innings. Eagles plans to declare first thing on Day 3 to give a full day to bowl them out for the win.


Current Score

Shipley Batters 167
Barnard 83*
Hassel 28
Cronin 3-27
Riaan 3-56

Spinners United CC 1009/4
Eagles 419
Challinor 184
Makel 2-208
Kerley 1-136

Spinners United lead by 842 runs

 

[Highlander999]

WOW

That is a massive total. Your batsmen must be eating some sort of super food.

 

[westindies2007]

That's a Big Score. what a team.

 

[Left_Hander]

Nice batting by your team. Great knock by Eagles.

 

[The Spin]

FC: Day 3

Spinners United's bowlers failed to fire as Shipley Batters held onto a crucial draw in their match at the rectangle.

United declared their inning just 1 over into the day on 1021/4 with a massive 854 run lead, more than enough to ensure the Batters wouldn't win.

The opening batsmen came out and showed their intentions with slow and nervy play, but it worked. Both of them eventually reached 50s as they started the long job of running the clock down. The first casualty was thanks to Slaytor who ended the 95 run partnership by clean bowling Bruce for 52. The next batsman Adu didnt last too long either, Nedd decieved him and his pull went straight in the air for Pead to catch.

Barnard and FU then got down to work with another good partnership before Fu fell to Slaytor for 90 at 209/3. They had batted out plenty of the day, but needed to keep it up. Barnard reached 50, but the ngave his wicket away with a running mix up which left him stranded. Mahoney and Hassel spent forever at the crease without scoring many and continued to tick down the clock. Nedd made the breakthrough by bowling Mahoney for 23, bringing in the tail at 284/5 with not much time left.

Then the wickets tumbled. Nedd took a wicket with his next ball to dismiss Camp for a golden duck before Riaan got involved taking 2 more wickets of Kerley and Walton. Makel came in at 330/8 with just a few overs left in the day, needing to just survive and survive they did. Hassel reached 50 and ended on 69* to really save the day and some points. United were disappointed, but achived maximum bonus points at least. This result knocked them off top and into 2nd behind Unreal Madrid.


Final Score


Shipley Batters 167
Barnard 83*
Hassel 28
Cronin 3-27
Riaan 3-56

Spinners United CC 10021/4 dec.
Eagles 419
Challinor 184
Makel 2-208
Kerley 1-136

Shipley Batters 337/8
Fu 90
Hassel 69*
Nedd 3-62
Slaytor 2-44

Match Drawn

Man of the Match: Rick Eagles (419)

FC Table after 9 Games

Unreal Madrid 153
Spinners United CCC 153
Heman 5000 138
Glamorgan Dragons 110
Surrey Sods 86
BHA Allstars 71
Shipley Batters 52
WormleyCCC 41

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Hah, fool You could have won that if you weren't so greedy for runs!

Unreal Madrid, they are training a WI U-19 player, if I am not mistaken?

 

[The Spin]

OD: Spinners United CC vs. M.J.B.

Preview

MJB have been one of he strongest teams in the league for some time, but this season have struggled and find themselves facing relegation. Spinners United on the other hand are having one of their best seasons to date. It makes for an interesting clash.

United are taking the oppertunity to rest players in this match based on MJB's performances this season. Eagles and Cronin are the players to take a break and it brings in veteran Levy and the mouth-watering prospect of Pete Marsden playing and captaining. Wait for the fireworks.

Spinners Utd XI: Marsden*, Chinthaka, Mccormick, Challinor, Bradshaw, Riaan, Machemko, Pead+, Nedd, Slaytor, Levy


Match

On a pankake at the Spin Arena, MJB made an interesting decision to bowl first and let United have first use. This backfired quickly as Marsden and Chinthaka blitzed the bowlers to all parts of the ground in an absolute onslaught. This risky play was just that, a risk. Chinthaka was the man to suffer from it after falling for 34 off 24, caught off the bowling of Whittaker. The quickfire partnership of 68 was enough to give the momentum firmly to United.

Marsden and Mccormick continued to keep things moving at an alarming rate. Marsden reached his 50 in double time, making batting look too easy. Unfortunately though, he got just a little too cocky and went for a huge hook which was caught on the fence to send him back to the pavillion for 75 off just 58 balls.

Mccormick and Challinor then went about building an awesome target, both reaching 50 and then Mccormick getting 100. Having battered the bowlers senselss, Mccormick finished on 149* and Challinor on 93* to set an imposing 365/2. After the quality batting, the bowlers just needed to turn up to defend the match.

But they did so much more than that. The MJB lineup was torn apart by the bowlers who put the ball in just the right places consistently. Riaan got things going by inducing the edge from Lewis to send him for single figures. Levy was next, with WK-Captain Shaw gone for a paltry 4 runs. Riaan got in again with the next wicket after one of the biggest partnerships of 29 runs to give 54/3 as the score.

Next it was the Slaytor show. He removed Barraclough for 26, then Van Zyl the next ball. Muir was the next victim, caught at Mid-On for 17. A beauty then bowled Carrick after just 3 balls for 1. The other spinenr, Machemko, then pitched in with a wicket, hit wicket for Obrien for a duck, before Nedd came in to remove Whittaker. It was left to him to finish proceedings by taking Peyton's wicket, he having topscored with 28. MJB finished on just 105.


Final Score

Spinners Utd CC 365/2 (50.0 overs)
Mccormick 149*
Challinor 93*
Carrick 1/60
Whittaker 1/75

MJB 105 (23.3 overs)
Peyton 28
Barraclough 26
Slaytor 4/16
Nedd 2/4

Man of the Match: Mccormick (149*)