Scorecard

Epping Cricket Club Midweek XI v John Bird XII on Fri 27 Jul 2007 at 2pm
Epping Cricket Club Won 5 Wickets

Match report The Epping Cricket week ended with its annual match against the John Bird XII.
Always a cracking match and thoroughly enjoyable this match again lived up to previous years. John Bird won the toss and elected to bat.

Epping, under the captaincy of Dan Sly, opening the bowling with Barrett and Sly himself, oh to be captain!!!! In Sly’s first over he should have had the opener caught at slip but George ‘Gravy’ Thorpe, who had found his self stationed at slip in the absence of Jim Twitchett on beer duties, failed to cling on to a relatively easy catch. With hands like buckets that are normally as safe as houses Epping were in shock and Thorpe’s drop. At the other end Barrett was getting some harsh treatment from the Bird opener who was looking in good touch. In Sly’s second over Barrett dropped a simple catch down at fine leg, with the excuse that he was not paying attention!!!! History then repeated itself with the same opener from the first over being caught at slip this time. The only difference was that Jim Twitchett had returned from his stint of drinking duties and held on well showing Thorpe how is should have been done. With Barrett the picking up the dangerous Peter ‘Bill’s grandson’ Stock LBW Epping’s tail was up. Barrett then found the Bird number 3, I think his name was Carter, a tough opponent as he was dumped with ease in to the bowls green!!! Carter kept playing well and striking the ball cleanly and Sly decided that he was happy with his one wicket and called on Oliver to stem the runs. This he did very well and with his intelligent bowling he had all the batsmen in trouble. Sibley replaced Barret at the other end and worked well in tandem with Oliver.Oliver picked up a couple of wickets from his 8 overs at a cost of only 16 runs and restored some much needed control. Sanger replaced Oliver with his own version of bowling and proceeded to dish up some Berty Basset allsorts. Not only did the batmen not know where the ball was going to pitch but the bowler did not know either. This meant that batting against Sanger was difficult and he picked up a couple of wickets for his efforts. Thorpe replaced Sibley with his pacey bowling and bowled well coming from his rather long run, more on that later!!! The Bird XII kept the scoreboard ticket over and saw out the overs with Jim Twitchett picking up a couple of wickets in the last over. During the penultimate over that Thorpe bowled the Epping players were finding it hard to stay focus. Unknown to Thorpe after each delivery Sibley had moved the bowling marker back slightly more. Thorpe continued to keep running in with out any notable change. By the final delivery of the over Thorpe was seen running in from Loughton!!!!! The Bird XII had set Epping a testing total of 178 for 9 with Carter being the pick scoring a hard hit 50.

Tea was then taken served by the ladies Wood, Brades and Linford, collectively know as the ‘Family Sly’ although strangely you may notice that none of them are called Sly!!! With Cakes galore all the players were spoilt. After the standard 20 minutes the players were ready to go but no umpires. When captain Sly questioned umpire Newman on why he was not ready Sly received the 2 fingered salute!!!! Newman later explained that he would have said something stronger to Sly but his mouth was full of cream cake!!!!

Eventually at about 6.30pm the Epping innings got under way with the 2 DTs, Taylor and Twitchett, opening up. The young opener for the Bird XII showed great pace and with a low action teamed up with the low bounce Dan Taylor found himself back in the pavilion and able to finish his team without troubling the scorer. Next man in was Dan ‘I will bat and bowl as I am captain’ Sly. He and Twitchett set about the task scoring with ease and not looking in to much trouble. This was until the introduction of the young John Bird. With his lofted flight and sharp turn he defeated Sly and had him stumped for a majestic 36. Birds celebration was ‘Monty’ like knowing that he would relish in getting Sly’s wicket (the day before Sly had represented the John Bird XII). Ben Sly, making his rare appearance for Epping, (I am sure Loughton would not miss you) came to the crease to replace his brother. He immediately looked at home but unfortunately he too was soon back to have some more tea has he was succumbed to Bird and was bowled for 4. Dan Twitchett was then also bowled for a confident and useful 32 and Epping were wobbling. Oliver and Jim Twitchett steadied the Epping ship with some solid batting and quality stroke play. There was confusion in the Epping ranks with no one sure who was next in, but with Oliver and Twitchett at the crease this was not a concern. Twitchett was finally bowled for a great 25 that had put Epping on the road to their target. Sibley had finally decided to go to the crease, after a few beers and showed what he could do when he saw 3 balls at once. There were definitely some wafts at balls but there was also some destructive batting and Epping reached their total in an over or so to spare. Sibley finishing unbeaten on 22 and Oliver having steered the Epping ship to victory, finished on 30.

Epping had won a great match by 5 wickets and all that was left was for John Bird to present the Man of the Match award, a case of beer. Bird decided to not give it to himself, although he did pick up 3 wickets. Instead he awarded it to Carter for him hard hit and destructive 50 for the Bird XII.

Thank you to John Newman and the other league umpire, sorry I don’t know his name, for officiating in the match.

Epping Cricket Club Midweek XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 5 wickets
0
179		        
Dan Taylor Bowled  0
Dan Twitchett Bowled  32
Dan Sly Stumped  36
Ben Sly Bowled  4
Simon Oliver Not Out  30
Jim Twitchett Bowled  25
Dan Sibley Not Out  22
Peter Farrar  
George Thorpe  
Matthew Barrett  
John Sanger  

John Bird XII Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

John Bird XII Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
178 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Epping Cricket Club Midweek XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Matthew Barrett8.0059159.007.38
Simon Oliver8.031628.002.00
Dan Sibley8.012900.003.63
John Sanger7.0127213.503.86
Dan Sly3.0012112.004.00
Jim Twitchett2.001025.005.00
George Thorpe4.0015115.003.75

  • Umpire :
    John Newman
  • Scorer :
    Teas - Slys