2010-2011
By Ben Dickinson
Centaurs
vs HKCC Gonads - 16th Oct
In a word....B*gger
Taurs saved our worst performance of the season for the Nomads match and went down by the lofty margin of 104 runs...Nomads were charm personified which is always a bad sign that things have not gone to plan...
The week got off to a bad start with the late withdrawal of crucial middle order snail and self appointed Centaurs CC Honorary Chairman, Keith Tony Guy Hemshall. This was followed up by the on the day exit stage left of Rodders Munro to tend to an ailing wife and 6 month old baby (what on earth happened to priorities in this world?!). So chaos in the Taurs ranks. Fortunately Dazzler and Willy A stepped in to the breach (particular thanks to Will who was boarding a junk for the day in Stanley when the call to arms came through). Frithy then announced he was struggling with a dodgy tummy (bless) but would battle through bravely (hoorah)...
So onto the match...
Taurs lost the toss and Nads batted....very well as it turned out....Quashid (who, unbelievably had ALSO been ill all week - in the words of the mighty Pet Shop Boys - What have I/Taurs done to deserve this??) was a little off colour and took a bit of stick. Frithy farted his way to the crease and served up something not dissimilar to what his armitage shanks at home had seen all that morning (3-0-43-0 - Ouch). David B bought some control to proceedings but then Cymbals Dickinson's catching form went AWOL, with me dropping both openers...so 132-0 at drinks and we were proverbially staring down the proverbial barrell... I did manage to clash the cymbals together to get nuggety Aussie #1 out for 52 - but nuggety Aussie #2 went on to score a frankly fantastic 101 before I had him ludicrously given out LBW - f*ck it - look in the book...
Ali and Nas then took some more wickets as the Nads lashed out but they ended with 285-6 off 35...tough...made tougher with Paddy Hoy hurting his thumb whilst fielding meaning he could not open. What a shambles.
Mike and Nas opened. Mike then ran himself, although I have never seen someone walk before the fielder has picked the ball up before! Dazzler and Nas briefly shone, but very good shots kept hitting the fielders and the run rate grew. So all was just about lost despite some lusty blows from Ian, and a perfect time to get some runs (you see what I did there) for Frithty, who had moved himself down the order...and he duly delivered, scoring an effortless 44* to get his season up and running...Paddy also supported well with 30 odd* to take the score to 181-6 at the the 35 over mark. Who says we are cr@p chasing...
So another disappointing innings as a whole but encouraging signs for future matched from Darren, Ian, Paddy and Poo-man.
Still - the weather was nice and we had 3 GENUINE supporters in the shape of Benny Harris and family - thanks Ernie, and 2 NEARLY supporters in the shape of 2 geezers walking around in circles looking for the driving range.
More good news has since followed as we now do not have a match against Irfan etc on the 30th, so all and sundry can get twatted at the Bledisloe in peace...
Centaurs vs. SCC Lancers - 9/10/10 - Match Report
Taurs,
This is becoming a habit…
Another trip to the edge, another 1 wicket defeat….I can just about talk about it now but have been in a fairly dark place since 6pm Saturday, and I’m not just talking about the Mission Road pitch, where we finished the game in near darkness due to the ludicrous 1.30pm starting time at this ground…
Taurs lost the toss but Oppo elected to bowl. The batting once again spluttered along, although Tim scored a smooth 45 at the top of the order. Ian also showed signs of form with an increasingly fluid 26, but the rest of the batting disappointed against modest bowling. So we finished 156-9 off our 35 overs.
The bowling and fielding was up to the usual standards we have achieved this season. Nas and Quashid got us off to a good start and pressure built on their openers. I was the chief beneficiary of this with a brace of wickets with my dibbly-dobblers that the batsmen clearly felt needed to be larruped into the middle of next week to get their run rate up….thanks chaps…Frithy bowled a good spell and Ali did his usual unplayable stuff (8-0-19-1).
Wickets fell but runs continued to tick over. It came down to 21 from 4 overs and 2 wickets, but a couple of big blows and a missed stumping opportunity (tough with darkness descending) saw this down to 11 from 3 and 10 from 2. It was all a bit agonising, especially when we picked up the 9th wicket and I managed to do a passable impression of having an epileptic fit trying to run their last man out, missing the stumps by the small margin of a metre….but the b@stards got home with 3 balls to spare…
So – that is P4 L3, and it really could and should be W3….
Clearly the batting is the area we are going to have to significantly improve on if we want more success this season – scores of 150’s or less are putting way too much pressure on our bowling…and we are a much better unit than these scores suggest.
Let’s get it right this weekend against the Mofo’s from Team Gonad….We have a great record of beating these guys and we have them at Kai Tak, away from their chippy little comfort zone of the HKCC…
Finally, can I say a huge thanks to David Brettell for stepping in as a sub for the last 10 overs.
Centaurs vs. Mainlanders - 2/10/10 - Match Report
Team Taurs,
We are off to the races people...We have our first victory since the last time we played Mainlanders... Except this was a harder fought victory. Last season we had 11 school kids to contend with. This time we had 9 and 2 big people...much harder...particularly when one of these is Najeeb (HK 6's skipper) and we are playing at HKU where even Hemmers hits 6's for fun...
The Taurs won the toss and batted. Hoy and Hemshall opened, Paddy lashing the 1st ball of the match through mid-off for 4 to set the tone of an excellent 80+ partnership. 90+ for 1 at tea and a perfect platform for an onslaught. Unfortunately we spluttered a bit against the wiles of the 2 big people. Hemmers was out for an excellent 46, with Frithy and Childsy (does that work?) going cheaply. I managed to hang around with Nas for a while, he striding to 30+ while I nurdled my way in the same direction (I'm being modest, obviously, as Clarky's pics show - CLASSIC high elbow!!) and the lower order walloped a few. So - 185 scored. Not bad but not great at HKU....
....And not great when Najeed absolutely bulldozed 69 runs in approx 20 balls. This would have been much fewer had I not dropped him in the teens but I maintain that I saved a flat 6, not nearly cost us the game... Fortunately the experience of the team veterans, Messrs Brettell (on Taurs daybooo) and Hemmers combined wonderfully, the former having the cojones to throw the ball up after having his first ball hit into next week, and the latter having the cojones to take the resultant steepler...
We were not home and hosed by any means but we were able to take regular wickets thereafter, the bowling being backed up by some excellent catches (2 from Hoy and 2 from "slip specialist" Brettall in particular) and run outs (Nasir to the fore). We took the 10th wicket with 22 runs to spare, a positive cake walk for the Centaurs.
Well done to all. In particular:
Hoy: 2 great catches and 34 at the top of the card
Hemmers: 1 match turning catch and top score on the day (and second highest elbow)
Nas: 31 runs and solid bowling
Qaushid: 3 for 38
Brettell: 2 wonderful slip catches and 4-0-18-2 (inc Najeeb)
Ali: 2-27
MoM: Hemmers
Onwards and upwards people...we are on the board and playing well...
Centaurs vs. KCC Tartars - 25th Sept 2010 - Match Report
Chaps – Apologies for the delay in this…
Unfortunately another near miss for the Taurs last weekend, if a 66 run loss can be considered a near miss anyway…
Tartars won the toss and chose to bat. We then produced one of the best bowling and fielding performances in recent Taurs history (Fletch, no need to leap in here with tails of 5-fors and derring-do in the gully from the ‘60’s…).
Nasir (8-3-15-3) and Qaushid both bowled fantastically up front, ably backed up by Arby. We then had the spin twins of Naveed and Ali taking regular wickets in the middle overs and the quicks then finished them off at the end. 138 all out. Excellent bowling, excellent fielding (special mention to Rod for his keeping) and 3, yes 3, count’em 3 catches for Jonty Dickinson – all of them spectacular in their own way…and good catches also from Mike and Chappy.
So 138 all out and with a good batting performance, Centaurs 1st victory of the season (actually, 1st victory for a while but let’s not ponder this too much…)
And then….mayhem….
25-5 at one point. 4 of these were caught behind…the other a slightly dodge LB. Rod and Chappy briefly counter attacked but in the end we went down for 71 all out. Very disappointing and all a bit meek in the end…although the bowling was good…
This is the 2nd week in a row we have failed with the bat so fairly obvious where we need to focus…but a good score will turn us around and we genuinely have one of the best bowling and fielding sides in the league so we are not far off giving someone a right good gubbing….
That will be this weekend….
Centaurs vs. Lamma - 18th Sept 2010 - Match Report
So close but yet so far
A tense first game of the season that took squeaky bum syndrome to new levels, but ultimately we came up short, losing by 1 wicket to Lamma.
Our first venture to the new (and very much improved) PKVR. Whilst brutally hot on the day, I actually think it is going to be a good venue through the season.
We won the toss, batted, lost Nasir in the 1st over and a steady stream of wickets to be 50 odd – 5 at drinks. This soon became 70-7 and 80-8 (ish). The Lamma bowling was tight and whilst we could definitely have batted better, it was not a Centaurs collapse to rival previous feeble efforts, more a sticky pitch and good bowling in the conditions. That we managed to post 132-8 off our 33 overs was thanks to Hemmers and Rod Munro who batted very well for 36* and 25*. There were also useful contributions from Tim and Mike Davies on debut.
Nasir and Qaushid got us off to a good start in the field and we had them 2 down in no time. Nasir ‘Ali’ Iqbal then came into the action. 8-0-37-5. Another wonderful bowling performance with the Lamma batsmen having no clue whatsoever. So, Lamma 100-9 still needing 33 runs…which they unfortunately got with their #11 belting a few impressive boundaries.
A very disappointing result, particularly galling given the match situation, but in the words of Andrew Strauss, we can take plenty of positives out of the game.
Man of the Match was N ‘Ali’ I (or “Knarly” as we will now be calling him) with Hemmers running him close.
KCC and Afzaal Haider await the Taurs this weekend. More on which to follow
In a word....B*gger
Taurs saved our worst performance of the season for the Nomads match and went down by the lofty margin of 104 runs...Nomads were charm personified which is always a bad sign that things have not gone to plan...
The week got off to a bad start with the late withdrawal of crucial middle order snail and self appointed Centaurs CC Honorary Chairman, Keith Tony Guy Hemshall. This was followed up by the on the day exit stage left of Rodders Munro to tend to an ailing wife and 6 month old baby (what on earth happened to priorities in this world?!). So chaos in the Taurs ranks. Fortunately Dazzler and Willy A stepped in to the breach (particular thanks to Will who was boarding a junk for the day in Stanley when the call to arms came through). Frithy then announced he was struggling with a dodgy tummy (bless) but would battle through bravely (hoorah)...
So onto the match...
Taurs lost the toss and Nads batted....very well as it turned out....Quashid (who, unbelievably had ALSO been ill all week - in the words of the mighty Pet Shop Boys - What have I/Taurs done to deserve this??) was a little off colour and took a bit of stick. Frithy farted his way to the crease and served up something not dissimilar to what his armitage shanks at home had seen all that morning (3-0-43-0 - Ouch). David B bought some control to proceedings but then Cymbals Dickinson's catching form went AWOL, with me dropping both openers...so 132-0 at drinks and we were proverbially staring down the proverbial barrell... I did manage to clash the cymbals together to get nuggety Aussie #1 out for 52 - but nuggety Aussie #2 went on to score a frankly fantastic 101 before I had him ludicrously given out LBW - f*ck it - look in the book...
Ali and Nas then took some more wickets as the Nads lashed out but they ended with 285-6 off 35...tough...made tougher with Paddy Hoy hurting his thumb whilst fielding meaning he could not open. What a shambles.
Mike and Nas opened. Mike then ran himself, although I have never seen someone walk before the fielder has picked the ball up before! Dazzler and Nas briefly shone, but very good shots kept hitting the fielders and the run rate grew. So all was just about lost despite some lusty blows from Ian, and a perfect time to get some runs (you see what I did there) for Frithty, who had moved himself down the order...and he duly delivered, scoring an effortless 44* to get his season up and running...Paddy also supported well with 30 odd* to take the score to 181-6 at the the 35 over mark. Who says we are cr@p chasing...
So another disappointing innings as a whole but encouraging signs for future matched from Darren, Ian, Paddy and Poo-man.
Still - the weather was nice and we had 3 GENUINE supporters in the shape of Benny Harris and family - thanks Ernie, and 2 NEARLY supporters in the shape of 2 geezers walking around in circles looking for the driving range.
More good news has since followed as we now do not have a match against Irfan etc on the 30th, so all and sundry can get twatted at the Bledisloe in peace...
Centaurs vs. SCC Lancers - 9/10/10 - Match Report
Taurs,
This is becoming a habit…
Another trip to the edge, another 1 wicket defeat….I can just about talk about it now but have been in a fairly dark place since 6pm Saturday, and I’m not just talking about the Mission Road pitch, where we finished the game in near darkness due to the ludicrous 1.30pm starting time at this ground…
Taurs lost the toss but Oppo elected to bowl. The batting once again spluttered along, although Tim scored a smooth 45 at the top of the order. Ian also showed signs of form with an increasingly fluid 26, but the rest of the batting disappointed against modest bowling. So we finished 156-9 off our 35 overs.
The bowling and fielding was up to the usual standards we have achieved this season. Nas and Quashid got us off to a good start and pressure built on their openers. I was the chief beneficiary of this with a brace of wickets with my dibbly-dobblers that the batsmen clearly felt needed to be larruped into the middle of next week to get their run rate up….thanks chaps…Frithy bowled a good spell and Ali did his usual unplayable stuff (8-0-19-1).
Wickets fell but runs continued to tick over. It came down to 21 from 4 overs and 2 wickets, but a couple of big blows and a missed stumping opportunity (tough with darkness descending) saw this down to 11 from 3 and 10 from 2. It was all a bit agonising, especially when we picked up the 9th wicket and I managed to do a passable impression of having an epileptic fit trying to run their last man out, missing the stumps by the small margin of a metre….but the b@stards got home with 3 balls to spare…
So – that is P4 L3, and it really could and should be W3….
Clearly the batting is the area we are going to have to significantly improve on if we want more success this season – scores of 150’s or less are putting way too much pressure on our bowling…and we are a much better unit than these scores suggest.
Let’s get it right this weekend against the Mofo’s from Team Gonad….We have a great record of beating these guys and we have them at Kai Tak, away from their chippy little comfort zone of the HKCC…
Finally, can I say a huge thanks to David Brettell for stepping in as a sub for the last 10 overs.
Centaurs vs. Mainlanders - 2/10/10 - Match Report
Team Taurs,
We are off to the races people...We have our first victory since the last time we played Mainlanders... Except this was a harder fought victory. Last season we had 11 school kids to contend with. This time we had 9 and 2 big people...much harder...particularly when one of these is Najeeb (HK 6's skipper) and we are playing at HKU where even Hemmers hits 6's for fun...
The Taurs won the toss and batted. Hoy and Hemshall opened, Paddy lashing the 1st ball of the match through mid-off for 4 to set the tone of an excellent 80+ partnership. 90+ for 1 at tea and a perfect platform for an onslaught. Unfortunately we spluttered a bit against the wiles of the 2 big people. Hemmers was out for an excellent 46, with Frithy and Childsy (does that work?) going cheaply. I managed to hang around with Nas for a while, he striding to 30+ while I nurdled my way in the same direction (I'm being modest, obviously, as Clarky's pics show - CLASSIC high elbow!!) and the lower order walloped a few. So - 185 scored. Not bad but not great at HKU....
....And not great when Najeed absolutely bulldozed 69 runs in approx 20 balls. This would have been much fewer had I not dropped him in the teens but I maintain that I saved a flat 6, not nearly cost us the game... Fortunately the experience of the team veterans, Messrs Brettell (on Taurs daybooo) and Hemmers combined wonderfully, the former having the cojones to throw the ball up after having his first ball hit into next week, and the latter having the cojones to take the resultant steepler...
We were not home and hosed by any means but we were able to take regular wickets thereafter, the bowling being backed up by some excellent catches (2 from Hoy and 2 from "slip specialist" Brettall in particular) and run outs (Nasir to the fore). We took the 10th wicket with 22 runs to spare, a positive cake walk for the Centaurs.
Well done to all. In particular:
Hoy: 2 great catches and 34 at the top of the card
Hemmers: 1 match turning catch and top score on the day (and second highest elbow)
Nas: 31 runs and solid bowling
Qaushid: 3 for 38
Brettell: 2 wonderful slip catches and 4-0-18-2 (inc Najeeb)
Ali: 2-27
MoM: Hemmers
Onwards and upwards people...we are on the board and playing well...
Centaurs vs. KCC Tartars - 25th Sept 2010 - Match Report
Chaps – Apologies for the delay in this…
Unfortunately another near miss for the Taurs last weekend, if a 66 run loss can be considered a near miss anyway…
Tartars won the toss and chose to bat. We then produced one of the best bowling and fielding performances in recent Taurs history (Fletch, no need to leap in here with tails of 5-fors and derring-do in the gully from the ‘60’s…).
Nasir (8-3-15-3) and Qaushid both bowled fantastically up front, ably backed up by Arby. We then had the spin twins of Naveed and Ali taking regular wickets in the middle overs and the quicks then finished them off at the end. 138 all out. Excellent bowling, excellent fielding (special mention to Rod for his keeping) and 3, yes 3, count’em 3 catches for Jonty Dickinson – all of them spectacular in their own way…and good catches also from Mike and Chappy.
So 138 all out and with a good batting performance, Centaurs 1st victory of the season (actually, 1st victory for a while but let’s not ponder this too much…)
And then….mayhem….
25-5 at one point. 4 of these were caught behind…the other a slightly dodge LB. Rod and Chappy briefly counter attacked but in the end we went down for 71 all out. Very disappointing and all a bit meek in the end…although the bowling was good…
This is the 2nd week in a row we have failed with the bat so fairly obvious where we need to focus…but a good score will turn us around and we genuinely have one of the best bowling and fielding sides in the league so we are not far off giving someone a right good gubbing….
That will be this weekend….
Centaurs vs. Lamma - 18th Sept 2010 - Match Report
So close but yet so far
A tense first game of the season that took squeaky bum syndrome to new levels, but ultimately we came up short, losing by 1 wicket to Lamma.
Our first venture to the new (and very much improved) PKVR. Whilst brutally hot on the day, I actually think it is going to be a good venue through the season.
We won the toss, batted, lost Nasir in the 1st over and a steady stream of wickets to be 50 odd – 5 at drinks. This soon became 70-7 and 80-8 (ish). The Lamma bowling was tight and whilst we could definitely have batted better, it was not a Centaurs collapse to rival previous feeble efforts, more a sticky pitch and good bowling in the conditions. That we managed to post 132-8 off our 33 overs was thanks to Hemmers and Rod Munro who batted very well for 36* and 25*. There were also useful contributions from Tim and Mike Davies on debut.
Nasir and Qaushid got us off to a good start in the field and we had them 2 down in no time. Nasir ‘Ali’ Iqbal then came into the action. 8-0-37-5. Another wonderful bowling performance with the Lamma batsmen having no clue whatsoever. So, Lamma 100-9 still needing 33 runs…which they unfortunately got with their #11 belting a few impressive boundaries.
A very disappointing result, particularly galling given the match situation, but in the words of Andrew Strauss, we can take plenty of positives out of the game.
Man of the Match was N ‘Ali’ I (or “Knarly” as we will now be calling him) with Hemmers running him close.
KCC and Afzaal Haider await the Taurs this weekend. More on which to follow