2012-2013
By Ben Dickinson
10th Nov - Craigengower C.C.
By Keith Frith
We’re off and running folks. On Saturday Centaurs won their first ever Saturday League 1st Division match by the slim margin of 15 runs against CCC.
With stand-in Skipper Frith lost in deepest Mangy Kok, stand-in to the stand-in Skipper Hemmers won a vital toss and sent us in to bat. Hemmers then saw off the new ball with a little help from CCC after one of the most comical attempts at a run out since Brammers threw a ball from the boundary edge and almost knocked out the square leg umpire.
Nasir was in supreme nick and scored a top 40 whilst sacrificing his skipper with a call that Dicko / Hemmers (delete as appropriate) would’ve been proud of. In came new recruit ‘quick single’ Rizwan who managed to deplete our ball reserves at the rate of a Greek finance minister. Tanwir was also keen on eschewing the effort of running 22 yards to score a run and mainly using the aerial route for his 40 and after a bit of a mid-innings wobble and some useful late order runs from Childs (all thru cover) and Neil (all to fine leg) we ended up on 156 all out. A few short of ideal but competitive on a pitch with an outfield part beach part undergrowth. We also had a pretty handy bowling line-up.
Centaurs nemesis Mark Eames opened the batting for CCC, but a combination of Ponting-esque ageing eyes and facing Tanwir and Uzair instead of Lordy after a Chai all-nighter meant he didn’t look quite the world beater I remember from yesteryear. At half time we had them about 50-3 and with Ayub getting turn and some tidy overs from Uzair and Riz the run rate kept climbing. A quickish 50 from their #5 kept them within site but then a couple of great toe-crunching overs from Tanwir at the death sealed the deal for a cracking tense win. Congrats lads!
Highlights:
By Keith Frith
We’re off and running folks. On Saturday Centaurs won their first ever Saturday League 1st Division match by the slim margin of 15 runs against CCC.
With stand-in Skipper Frith lost in deepest Mangy Kok, stand-in to the stand-in Skipper Hemmers won a vital toss and sent us in to bat. Hemmers then saw off the new ball with a little help from CCC after one of the most comical attempts at a run out since Brammers threw a ball from the boundary edge and almost knocked out the square leg umpire.
Nasir was in supreme nick and scored a top 40 whilst sacrificing his skipper with a call that Dicko / Hemmers (delete as appropriate) would’ve been proud of. In came new recruit ‘quick single’ Rizwan who managed to deplete our ball reserves at the rate of a Greek finance minister. Tanwir was also keen on eschewing the effort of running 22 yards to score a run and mainly using the aerial route for his 40 and after a bit of a mid-innings wobble and some useful late order runs from Childs (all thru cover) and Neil (all to fine leg) we ended up on 156 all out. A few short of ideal but competitive on a pitch with an outfield part beach part undergrowth. We also had a pretty handy bowling line-up.
Centaurs nemesis Mark Eames opened the batting for CCC, but a combination of Ponting-esque ageing eyes and facing Tanwir and Uzair instead of Lordy after a Chai all-nighter meant he didn’t look quite the world beater I remember from yesteryear. At half time we had them about 50-3 and with Ayub getting turn and some tidy overs from Uzair and Riz the run rate kept climbing. A quickish 50 from their #5 kept them within site but then a couple of great toe-crunching overs from Tanwir at the death sealed the deal for a cracking tense win. Congrats lads!
Highlights:
- MOTM - Tanwir
- 3 big 6s for Riz on debut
- Malloy turning up to support CCC…I mean Centaurs
- Meeting the great George Lamplough
- Getting the team bus home (even if it wasn’t ours)
13th Oct - KCC Saracens
By Keith Frith
'The One That Got Away' should probably be the official Centaurs motto.
On Saturday came a bottom of the table v 2nd in the table clash, with Centaurs shorn of Tanvir, Dicko our inspirational skipper (..you never know when you might need a favour) and half a dozen pull-outs the day before the game. Things didn't really improve much when we took the field with 8 men and the first two deliveries went for four. One of our XI was apparently behind on his Geography homework so couldn't make it and Uzair rolled in about 15 minutes after kick-off (with Nasir's kit). You couldn't make it up. I wonder if Cooky will have it this tough on his test captaincy debut..
Anyway after going for 30 odd off 3 things calmed down, we eventually had 11 players on the field (thanks to David B who came down to watch and wisely brought his kit) and took a few early wickets. Navid bowled a cracking spell giving it a rip and picking up a couple of scalps. At half time we had em about 87-3 and then Uzair came on and snaffled their ex-Aussie international. To be fair the rest of their line-up was pretty average and we kept em down to a distinctly chaseable 169-8, the lowest total scored against us at HKU that I can remember. Butt used to score that on his own in the first 10 overs..
This was my first game of the season but rumours have filtered thru that tons have been hard to come by (that's team totals not individual scores..) but surely we could make less than 5 an over at HKU.. Nav and Nas got us off to a solid start but apart from a superb 70-odd from Uzair who kept us excited and a great cameo 21 from newbie Raag, the rest of us contributed little more than endless dot balls. Not enough Bumble-esque cries of 'Wallop!'
'Twas a great game of cricket that went down to the wire, but alas we didn't quite get over the line and to give them credit their bowling and fielding was top draw.
Anyway I hear losing captains should always extol the positives, so here they are:
- Uzair with a momentous debut (once he turned up) with 7 economical overs, a few wickets (inc. the ex-Aussie int'l from a time they could play cricket), and 70-odd with the bat.
- Raag's cameo 21 inc. a straight 6 and tidy couple of overs near the death.
- Navid's cracking all-round display as bowling and batting opener
- catching the first 7 chances that came our way
- a thanks to Paul for scoring
- the standing ovation for a Hemmers single, his only scoring shot off 25 deliveries. Awesome!
Thanks all for the effort. We will win this season. Back to you Skips.
By Keith Frith
'The One That Got Away' should probably be the official Centaurs motto.
On Saturday came a bottom of the table v 2nd in the table clash, with Centaurs shorn of Tanvir, Dicko our inspirational skipper (..you never know when you might need a favour) and half a dozen pull-outs the day before the game. Things didn't really improve much when we took the field with 8 men and the first two deliveries went for four. One of our XI was apparently behind on his Geography homework so couldn't make it and Uzair rolled in about 15 minutes after kick-off (with Nasir's kit). You couldn't make it up. I wonder if Cooky will have it this tough on his test captaincy debut..
Anyway after going for 30 odd off 3 things calmed down, we eventually had 11 players on the field (thanks to David B who came down to watch and wisely brought his kit) and took a few early wickets. Navid bowled a cracking spell giving it a rip and picking up a couple of scalps. At half time we had em about 87-3 and then Uzair came on and snaffled their ex-Aussie international. To be fair the rest of their line-up was pretty average and we kept em down to a distinctly chaseable 169-8, the lowest total scored against us at HKU that I can remember. Butt used to score that on his own in the first 10 overs..
This was my first game of the season but rumours have filtered thru that tons have been hard to come by (that's team totals not individual scores..) but surely we could make less than 5 an over at HKU.. Nav and Nas got us off to a solid start but apart from a superb 70-odd from Uzair who kept us excited and a great cameo 21 from newbie Raag, the rest of us contributed little more than endless dot balls. Not enough Bumble-esque cries of 'Wallop!'
'Twas a great game of cricket that went down to the wire, but alas we didn't quite get over the line and to give them credit their bowling and fielding was top draw.
Anyway I hear losing captains should always extol the positives, so here they are:
- Uzair with a momentous debut (once he turned up) with 7 economical overs, a few wickets (inc. the ex-Aussie int'l from a time they could play cricket), and 70-odd with the bat.
- Raag's cameo 21 inc. a straight 6 and tidy couple of overs near the death.
- Navid's cracking all-round display as bowling and batting opener
- catching the first 7 chances that came our way
- a thanks to Paul for scoring
- the standing ovation for a Hemmers single, his only scoring shot off 25 deliveries. Awesome!
Thanks all for the effort. We will win this season. Back to you Skips.
29th Sep - HKCC Nomads
A lovely sunny day at the HKCC was entirely ruined by another borderline pathetic batting display as Centaurs lost by 102 runs. The Captain very much led from the front, setting the tone with a faultfull display at #3 as detailed below….
Gonads won the toss and batted
We got off to a fantastic start with outstanding new ball bowling from Tan and Nas against a very strong Nads top 6. At one stage we had them 40-4 and not much more for 5. Sadly we couldn’t get ‘Swanny’ (who really looks like a lion with those ENORMOUS teeth and flowing mane) out and he short arm jabbed his way to a very quick and very chanceless hundred, Ayub and CFO Brettell in the firing line in particular. Even so, once we had got him (caught off Sandeep), Ayub returned to skittle the lower order and we were left chasing 200 – probably par on the HKCC but no better…game on
On the bowling and fielding front, as ever we did pretty well. Tan and Nas were excellent. The returning Gilbo steady and took a wicket with his first ball. Eado again bowled tidily and the spinners were accurate but struggled against the Lion
The batting was slightly more shambolic. Nas and Keith got off to a steady start with Nas in particular batting beautifully. Then Keith got our and Ben ‘Vivian’ Dickinson swaggered out to take guard and the wheels rather fell off….
My first act was to run Nas out….in my defence I was wearing Hemmers’ helmet (that sounds a little rude actually) which may have influenced my calling capability…I then stuttered around for a couple of overs before lobbing a pathetic slower ball from Mr A Pills straight to Mid On….not pretty…I’ll be dropping quietly down the order again. After that, there was a steady stream of comings and goings from hapless Centaur batsmen as Tanvir stuck manfully to the task at the other end. So, 100 or so all out, finger pointing, recriminations, tears, self-immolation…you name it…it was all there.
MVP’s:
3rd: Ayub (4 for)
2nd: Tanvir (2 for and runs)
1st: Nasir (2 for, catches and runs)
A lovely sunny day at the HKCC was entirely ruined by another borderline pathetic batting display as Centaurs lost by 102 runs. The Captain very much led from the front, setting the tone with a faultfull display at #3 as detailed below….
Gonads won the toss and batted
We got off to a fantastic start with outstanding new ball bowling from Tan and Nas against a very strong Nads top 6. At one stage we had them 40-4 and not much more for 5. Sadly we couldn’t get ‘Swanny’ (who really looks like a lion with those ENORMOUS teeth and flowing mane) out and he short arm jabbed his way to a very quick and very chanceless hundred, Ayub and CFO Brettell in the firing line in particular. Even so, once we had got him (caught off Sandeep), Ayub returned to skittle the lower order and we were left chasing 200 – probably par on the HKCC but no better…game on
On the bowling and fielding front, as ever we did pretty well. Tan and Nas were excellent. The returning Gilbo steady and took a wicket with his first ball. Eado again bowled tidily and the spinners were accurate but struggled against the Lion
The batting was slightly more shambolic. Nas and Keith got off to a steady start with Nas in particular batting beautifully. Then Keith got our and Ben ‘Vivian’ Dickinson swaggered out to take guard and the wheels rather fell off….
My first act was to run Nas out….in my defence I was wearing Hemmers’ helmet (that sounds a little rude actually) which may have influenced my calling capability…I then stuttered around for a couple of overs before lobbing a pathetic slower ball from Mr A Pills straight to Mid On….not pretty…I’ll be dropping quietly down the order again. After that, there was a steady stream of comings and goings from hapless Centaur batsmen as Tanvir stuck manfully to the task at the other end. So, 100 or so all out, finger pointing, recriminations, tears, self-immolation…you name it…it was all there.
MVP’s:
3rd: Ayub (4 for)
2nd: Tanvir (2 for and runs)
1st: Nasir (2 for, catches and runs)
22nd Sep - AMSUA Pakistan Association
Ben Dickinson in ‘hit a 6’ champagne moment!!
In other news…we lost by 62 runs…
Bare facts:
- Taurs won the toss and has to field as one of our openers had not arrived….it’s in the fines book Nas...
- Hussain ‘F’ing’ Butt then showed up…how do we play him EVERY season…does he select his team based on the prospect of playing us? On the basis it is a nailed on 100 then why not I suppose…
- Anyway – he opened with a kid, who Nas had well caught by Tanvir at slip cheaply which brought in another kid
- Normal service resumes at t’other end when CFO and Centaur of the Year (2011/12) Brettell shelled a fast but catchable chance with our nemesis on 13. Naveed also but a very hard chance down with CFO’s bowling eventually boring him out for 95…so as we saw in many games last season, Centaur catching cost us very dearly
- Babar someone (he plays in the 6’s) also smashed a 50 and they closed on 215-5 I think
- Most of the bowlers went for a few and there were too many wides
- On the up side, Naveed bowled a good spell, Tanvir looked in good rhythm, Sandeep bowled some tidy leggies and the returning Angry Man Eadon closed the innings out well with 3 overs at the end
- In the field, dropped catches apart we did well. An excellent run out from Eado, two catches from Rohan and one from Ayub.
- On to the batting. We never really go going sadly, which is a shame as their attack was not that strong. Nas scored a useful but not match winning 29, Hemmers, Naveed and Tanvir all went cheaply. Childs looked excellent for his 30 which bodes well for the season but sadly no one was able to play the Butt like innings that would have made a chase possible
- And then Dickinson strode in….once before hath he struck a 6 in the Saturday league, and that was at the pop-gun ground known as the HKCC….this was Mission Road…this was different…You know history has been made then there is silence around the ground except for the tones of Keith Hemshall exclaiming “Oh f*cking hell, I can’t bear it”…
So all in all a rusty performance and one we will need to improve on significantly, but in the mode of Stuart Broad, there were plenty of positive positives to positively take from the game…
In other news…we lost by 62 runs…
Bare facts:
- Taurs won the toss and has to field as one of our openers had not arrived….it’s in the fines book Nas...
- Hussain ‘F’ing’ Butt then showed up…how do we play him EVERY season…does he select his team based on the prospect of playing us? On the basis it is a nailed on 100 then why not I suppose…
- Anyway – he opened with a kid, who Nas had well caught by Tanvir at slip cheaply which brought in another kid
- Normal service resumes at t’other end when CFO and Centaur of the Year (2011/12) Brettell shelled a fast but catchable chance with our nemesis on 13. Naveed also but a very hard chance down with CFO’s bowling eventually boring him out for 95…so as we saw in many games last season, Centaur catching cost us very dearly
- Babar someone (he plays in the 6’s) also smashed a 50 and they closed on 215-5 I think
- Most of the bowlers went for a few and there were too many wides
- On the up side, Naveed bowled a good spell, Tanvir looked in good rhythm, Sandeep bowled some tidy leggies and the returning Angry Man Eadon closed the innings out well with 3 overs at the end
- In the field, dropped catches apart we did well. An excellent run out from Eado, two catches from Rohan and one from Ayub.
- On to the batting. We never really go going sadly, which is a shame as their attack was not that strong. Nas scored a useful but not match winning 29, Hemmers, Naveed and Tanvir all went cheaply. Childs looked excellent for his 30 which bodes well for the season but sadly no one was able to play the Butt like innings that would have made a chase possible
- And then Dickinson strode in….once before hath he struck a 6 in the Saturday league, and that was at the pop-gun ground known as the HKCC….this was Mission Road…this was different…You know history has been made then there is silence around the ground except for the tones of Keith Hemshall exclaiming “Oh f*cking hell, I can’t bear it”…
So all in all a rusty performance and one we will need to improve on significantly, but in the mode of Stuart Broad, there were plenty of positive positives to positively take from the game…