2006 Season
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
03/31/06 03:26:27
Well batted, great hundred
Gamblesby CC 20006 Fixture List
29/04 Great Corby H
13/05 Penrith Academy H
20/05 Caldbeck II H
27/05 Penrith Wanderers A
03/06 Stainton II A
04/06 Nunwick II H
10/06 Wigton IV H
17/06 Baggrow II A
18/06 Cup Game A
24/06 Lanercost II A
15/07 Blencathra H
22/07 Wetheral A
29/07 Caldbeck II A
06/08 Irthing Vale II A
12/08 Stainton II H
19/08 Lanercost II H
26/08 Irthing Vale II H
02/09 Wigton IV A
09/09 Great Corby A
I've still got last year's list around somewhere. We won 9, lost 7 and "drew" 2, which were cancelled because of rain. According to my list,
anyway. I scored a paltry 5 runs in 4 innings, high score 4, not outs 1, 1 duck for an average of 1.67. Well, at least I can only improve. The best of it is, I
didn't have the worst batting figures of the team!
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Re: English Pre-season #2 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
03/27/06 02:56:03
Well batted, great hundred
We've had 3 nets already, though the attendance hasn't been up to the numbers of the first week. Our first game is 29th of April. I'm quite
angry with myself for last week. I bowled really well in the nets until the captain came in our net. Watty has been made captain this year and though he bowls
right handed he bats left handed. I hadn't bowled at a leftie for nearly a year and couldn't find a line at all. How am I supposed to convince him I
deserve to be chucked the ball a couple of times this if I bowl like a pillock at the captain? 
Rambo123UK Re: English Pre-season #3 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
03/31/06 20:04:25
Well batted, great hundred
I adopted the bodyline tactic last night and got him jumping. He never looked comfortable and he only really hit one that I overpitched on line about off-stump. Much hppier now. Last indoor net before the season is next week, but hopefully we should get the practice wicket down at Gamblesby before the end of April.
Nice. We're hoping to get the concrete down for the practice wicket next weekend.
Wouldn't you know it, I bowl great for 45 minutes and then get a sudden attack of the yips. Beamer, full toss, leg side (very) wide... 
I know I was tired, but there was
no excuse for that. I batted like a plonker, too.
" width="15" border="0" height="15"> That was my last chance to impress because foolishly I agreed to cover someone's shift next thursday as we didn't have a net
scheduled at the time.
" width="15" border="0" height="15"> I wonder if Peter could cover instead...?
Re: English Pre-season #8 [url] [-]
Posts: 163
04/08/06 03:56:00
Well batted, great hundred
Rambo is being a little harsh on himself about his bowling. Although what he said about losing concerntration is true, he bowled like a dream beforehand.
In fact out of everyone I faced in the nets that night he caused me the most problems (Not that causing me problems is too hard, I aspire to become a Hoggard
and Gillespee type blocking tailender.) but I handled almost everyone else decently and two of them are bloody good bowlers for the standard and another couple
are better than decent.
Rambo on the other hand had me dancing around, I would have been caught behind on two occasions, bowled once and worst of all I played a short ball right down
onto my big toe on the right foot and have a nasty bruise to prove it.
If he keeps bowling like that he will be bowling in a match soon.
His batting though isn't getting any better, imagine a village version of Adam Gilchrist's mentaiity crossed with Devon Malcolm's ability and you
would be about right. Sorry Mate.
I batted better last week, I was just in slog mode last night. Sorry about the toe, I never realised. Well, actually, I'm not sorry, so there! 
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RichHudson Re: English Pre-season #11 [url] [-]
Posts: 12526
04/08/06 06:21:16
Gloucs&England
Quote:
I batted better last week, I was just in slog mode last night.
Definitely not the mentality of a batsman !
DangerousRex Re: English Pre-season #12 [url] [-]
Posts: 163
04/08/06 06:37:33
Well batted, great hundred
Well he's definitely not a batsman. " width="15" border="0" height="15">
Rambo123UK Re: English Pre-season #13 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
04/08/06 18:16:51
Well batted, great hundred
I never pretended I was!
Oh, and don't forgetr the LBW shout...
DangerousRex Re: English Pre-season #21 [url] [-]
Posts: 163
04/14/06 08:09:12
Well batted, great hundred
A good net for me tonight. While I struggled to get my left arm off breaks going consistantly (A lot of dross mixed in with the odd pearler) I did by best
Hoggy impression and stonewalled well and managed to play some decent shots too.
I only managed to get out once to a bowler that I have alway struggled with, but he is our keeper and bowls quick (medium-fast for the league) overspun leg
breaks and he will likely be the only bowler I face like that in the season.
I'm pleased with my performance in the nets this year and will hopefully take it onto the field with me when the season starts. Only two weeks now
Re: English Pre-season #25 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
04/19/06 19:25:04
Well batted, great hundred
Well he did finish with the team's best bowling average last year, DR. He gave me a few problems in the nets too. Was there many turned up last week then?
--
www.normshutt.plus.com/ - here's the Eden Valley League Website (the old one linked from the BBC sport page is now defunct). Currently we're topping our division with 42 points.
--
Gamblesby CC
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
05/01/06 17:12:42
Well batted, great hundred
1st game at home v Great Corby
I wasn't there, but DangerousRex tells me we skittled them out for a miserable 74 and won by 8 wickets. Andy got a fifty. Not a bad start to the season.
Right at the moment we have had up to 20 players turned up for nets. Which is rather too many for a single team, but not enough for a second team as well. With
the promotion drive this season the weaker players (ie, me) aren't going to get to play as much. I was asked by another team if I'd like to play for
them, but I'd rather stay with my mates.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #1 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
05/15/06 06:49:34
Well batted, great hundred
2nd game at home v Penrith Academy.
I wasn't playing (I was working) but we scored 326 for 2 (or was it 3, Dangerous?) and they batted out the 40 overs to score 139, thanks to a few generous
"benefit of the doubt" decisions from their umpire.
2 wins out of 2 isn't a bad start to the season. Hopefully I'l get a game next week!
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #2 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
05/21/06 06:47:48
Well batted, great hundred
It was for 3, top scorer made 122. I didn't realise that was the first century for Gamblesby for a decade. Today we played on a very soggy pitch and got 130, Andy top-scoring with 65. I went in at number 9 (about 2 places too high) and blocked a couple of balls (the best two forward devensives I've ever played) and then the young lad dropped the next one in a little shorter so I had a go at it. It never lifted at all and I swung right over the top of it to see the ball hit practically the base of the stumps. Ho-hum, a big fat duck. After sitting around doing the scoring catching hypothermia while we were batting it was a relief to get in the field and run around. We knocked them over for about 75 so won quite convincingly in the end, but you wouldn't have believed we'd scored 326 on the same pitch the week before.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #3 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
05/29/06 04:34:42
Well batted, great hundred
Well, away against Penrith Wanderers, it rained again, but we played again, stopping for about 1/2 an hour in the heavier showers. I say "we", but
despite being asked to play last week, I was dropped in favour of some "excellent" player that was somebody's friend from another part of the
country who "fancied a game". He got a duck
" width="15" border="0" height="15"> Dick lost the toss (the new captain elected for this year still being on holiday) and they put us in as the rain continued
to drizzle on. We scored 73 on another sponge, and they managed to knock them off without too much trouble as the sun came out, the pitch started to gain a bit
of bounce and the ball came up at a hittable height and we prayed for it to rain again. It did - as soon as the game was over.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #4 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/02/06 19:39:47
Well batted, great hundred
I have this horrible feeling I'm going to end up with a batting average of nought this year. I can see the rest of the season going by without me
getting another bat. Innings 1, balls faced 4, runs scored zero, not-outs, zero, average zero.
Which is a shame, because I quite enjoyed myself out in the middle in the single-wicket game we had a couple of weeks back. And The weather was nice, we had a
BBQ afterwards, and I tell you something, it's a lot easier when the guy behind the stumps is offering useful advice instead of insults. Mind you, with my
dad heckling me from the sidelines as well as the two Bens telling me "there's only 3 overs left, you may as well have a go) I'm surprised I
lasted 4 balls on that swamp the other week... but as I was saying, in the single-wicket, I played a few shots, was only troubled by one ball - the first ball
I faced in the second round, from Johnny, our youngest and one of our best bowlers, with a wicked away-swinger (only this one came back in at me and whacked me
on the shin, but I got a hint of an inside edge) and I got to have a bowl in the middle, too. Bowling 3 overs on the trot (that is, 18 balls without a break,
and with the wides and no-balls I bowled it was more like 25) is tiring, I tell you that much, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. And also probably the last
chance I'll bowl this year. I mean, even if I do get a couple of overs against a few tail-enders late in the year it'll be that long since I had a
decent bowl in the nets I'll be lucky if I can find any line and length anyway. The nightmare of the yips and the dreaded endless over and having to feign
an injury to escape looms large...
The end of last year we had a @#%$ up. Nowt unusual, but we bumped into some lads from Stainton second team, for who my cousin keeps wicket. My wife also works
with one of their bowlers, who was the person to inflict on me my one and only duck last year, for which he gives me (through her) no end of stick. It was
discussed that I might play for them this season, as I was promised a phonecall to tell me when nets started. None came, so I went to nets for Gamblesby. Now
Stainton II struggled to get 11 men on the field last year - this year, I hear they're struggling to field 10. The bowler I mentioned had said he
wasn't going to play this year, but seemingly he has been dragged in to play and friends-of-friends who "used to play a bit in school 6 1/2 years
ago" are recieving pleas to play at short notice. Laugh? You bet. Cry too, because I might even have got a bowl with them.
It's nice being appreciated, at least as a "sharp" fielder, but with 20 people turning up for nets at various stages this year and just about all
of them (though not quite) better with bat and ball than me, is this likely to get me many games? Hardly.
Crouching Square Cut Re: Gamblesby CC #5
[url] [-]
Posts: 1799
06/02/06 20:16:56
My experience over many years at a large Surrey Championship Club (4 Saturday sides, 4 Sunday sides at the time) was:
May/early June: Getting all sides out easily with 20 or so spare names after selection on Monday
Mid August onwards: take any warm body
By then a 'saharp feilder' would have the red carpet rolled out.
You'll play Rambo, just hang in there.
Unregistered(d) Re: Gamblesby CC #6 [url] [-]
Posts: 0
06/02/06 22:31:27
Rambo: Can't you just switch clubs so you'll actually get a game?
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #7 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/03/06 05:15:05
Well batted, great hundred
Yeah, well, like I said, I was expecting a phonecall. I don't really want to swap clubs, all my mates are at Gamblesby. 3 or 4 seasons ago they were
desperate for bowlers, but it took me this long to manage to get back to be able to hitting the cut strip, let alone anything more, and now we've got
decent bowlers coming out of our ears. It's not like there's any "pub" teams round here either so I'm stuffed. Don't worry, I'm
just having a moan. Never happy unless I'm whinging about something 
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DangerousRex Re: Gamblesby CC #8 [url] [-]
Posts: 163
06/03/06 06:04:42
Well batted, great hundred
No thats not quite true yuo're never happy because you're always whinging about something. Sorry Mate but its true.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #9 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/03/06 19:49:27
Well batted, great hundred
*obscene gesture*
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #10 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/04/06 06:47:40
Well batted, great hundred
Won today (versus the aforementioned Stainton II, who surprisingly managed to get 11 men on the field) batting first and getting 160 then bowling them out for 90 in 25 overs. All in the wonderful sun while I was working (ie, sitting with my feet up on the desk reading Tuffer's autobiography with the radio tuned to Radio 4 longwave for Test Match Special) less than a mile away.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #11 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/05/06 06:39:01
Well batted, great hundred
According to my Dad, who was there, Nunwick II batted first and made 129 in their 40 overs. They're a bit of a bogey team for us, it seems to me, and always seem to have a few first-team ringers in the mix, and surprise, surprise, they did again today. However, seeing as we have one of the people who scored large numbers for them last year it's perhaps not so surprising we manged to win, scoring 133, though apparently it was touch and go for a long time as to if we would manage it. Andy scored most of the runs today, too. This year he scored more in the first 4 games than he did all last year!
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #12 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/11/06 05:19:39
Well batted, great hundred
Great day for cricket. Sun shining, breeze blowing, not a cloud in the sky. Played Wigton IV at home. Watty lost the toss (as usual) and they elected to bat
(surprise, surprise). They started out at a hell of a rate of knots, mostly through extras. Our fielding (barring yours truly, of course), was dire, our
bowling was poor and the umpire was giving a lot of dubious no balls, the keeper is just back from shoulder surgery and we'd have been better off with Dick
instead, but he has a bad finger and wanted to keep it away from high-speed balls as much as possible. He did offer to keep wicket when JT got whacked on the
ankle by a ball that shot through low. We weren't sure what had happened at first - JT was hoping around in agony, they were going to go for a run, saw me
about to scoop up the ball and then somebody pointed out that the ball had clipped the wicket and a bail was on the floor. Drinks were called (we needed them
in the heat) but whether it was changing the bowlers, changing the ball after one was slogged into the field behind square leg or just us getting our act
together, after that they fell apart. They only had 10 men, I expect due to the number of them watching England play in the World Cup (well, 9 men and one
woman, well, more like 6 men, three boys and a woman) and they made 98 all out. We think. The score board said 96, but seemingly when the books were totalled
up it was 98. Anyway, Martin and Andy rattled them off in no time at all (about 15.4 overs, I think). Well, Martin did. Andy scored 13 singles and there were
half a dozen or so extras. You work it out!
I got a direct hit on the stumps but missed a run-out by a couple of inches. I only made one slight mistake when I stopped a ball from going for four but
couldn't see where it had gone- because I was sitting on it! Sweated gallons in the field but great fun. Our final score was 102 for no wickets. That's
6 wins out of 7 so far. 
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #13 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/19/06 02:25:27
Well batted, great hundred
Away at Baggrow II yesterday. Another win to us, in emphatic style. We scored 244 (I think that was the final total, they weren't very good at updating
the scoreboards and I never got a look at our scorebook) after they won the toss and unaccounatably put us in to bat. I'd been watching them have a net
before the game and they had a lad, looked about 15, quite tall, dark hair, missed his name, and he was bowling quick with a bit of away movement and looked
easilly the best bowler on the side. I said to Andy that I reckoned he'd be opening the bowling. He wasn't, it was two medium pacers. OK, it was humid,
hot, muggy and overcast and I was getting it to swing in the nets, so maybe they reckoned the new ball would swing and he'd be first change. Nope, two
spinners, the captain with a dodgy action and a young lad, a leggie using the slope for help, and pretty good - he got 3 of our batsmen stumped. Andy retired
hurt shortly after he made 50 (allowing Thwaitsey to come in and smash a very quick 60 - his second ball was a straight six heaved clean over the pavillion)
and that was about it, really. After 40 overs this lad still hadn't been put on. He'd been exiled to the boundary near us (the field placings were
poor, too) and we hada bit crack. Apparently, he was on a hat-trick and had the previous week taken the wicket of an England under-15 batsmean (Stokes, I think
it was) but the captain didn't like him and so wasn't going to let him bowl!
Then we went through them like a vindaloo. Johnny Kidd bowled great, Ben Crouch was bowling at the speed of light and getting them to lift sharply off yorker
length, Caveman bowled well too and it is a measure of how bad they were that I even got three overs! I bowled well for two overs, got a bit unlucky and a bit
angry when none of the chances I created got a wicket. I bowled a pretty good bouncer to set up a yorker - got the attempted yoker the right length but about a
yard outside off stump. Whoops. Then two more wides. I managed to get the next one right and ended the 9-ball over. Still, could have been worse, I only gave
them 10 runs including the wides, and there was a four off a streaky inside edge that Dickie, keeping, should have held onto. I was getting the ball to move
well both ways (and knew which way it was going) but I'm bowling my outswinger too wide, something I'll have to fix. Anyway, Stevie managed to get the
wicket he'd also been strugling to find the next over and we came off (or rather, I limped off because another of my brilliant diving stops had ripped the
scab off my battered right knee again). Then back to Penrith for a takeaway and off to work again for another 12 hour nightshift.
The rest of the lads should be playing Cockermouth right now in the cup game.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #14 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/19/06 19:02:28
Well batted, great hundred
We won! It was a 20-over match due to rain, and Martin and Andy got off to a good start. Andy was stumped on 31 and Ben, Martin's brother, came in and
immediately set about catching up his brother, and he actually managed to overtake him briefly in the mid-forties (at least one of his huge hits was fired
clean out of the ground into a local resident's flower bed) before big brother got his fifty, followed just before the end of the 20 overs by Ben. 146 for
1. They started off well, ahead of us to start with, but a couple of wickets and some tight bowling restricted them to 103 for 5 or 6 in their 20 overs. The
only problem now is, what do we do in the next round? The schedule had left a 3-week window, and the main part of the team - captain, vice captain, strike
bowlers, opening batsmen et al - are all off on holiday to the sun. We're not sure exactly when the next game will be but we're 99% certain it's in
that time period...
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Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #15 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/20/06 00:17:04
Well batted, great hundred
Nearly forgot. Re the Bagrow game, I had one driven straight back at me. I got a hand on it and defelected it onto the stumps beside me. I'd ended up on
my knees astride the crease and I could see that the guy backing up had both feet the wrong side of the crease and his bat was in the air and politely asked
the umpire "how's that?" knowing fine well what the answer would be and that I needn't bother asking. The umpire (the captain, a sour-faced
chap with a receding hairline and a strange-shaped nose that looked remarkably like that evil teacher you hated at school) just smirked at me as we shared our
little joke. He knew the guy was out, so did I, and we both knew he wasn't going to give the last wicket in that manner with their score some 200 short of
ours. Really they were pretty bad sports. Well, the older men in the team were. the young lads were fine. Apart from the captain there was this one other grey
haired portly gentleman who was giving us some trouble by sticking obdurately around when he was rapped smartly low on the pads and he hadn't taken much of
a step forward when it hit him. However, he kind of kept going forward and picked up the ball to throw back to the bowler all in the same motion as his forward
defensive. I was at cover and really couldn't see for a leg-before shout but I was pretty upset he hadn't properly got permission to touch the ball
either, so I added my shout of "HOW'S THAT?!?!" as loud as I could to the appeal and saw the young lad umpiring raise his finger. As we
celebrated, the batsman stood his ground. "You @#%$ what?" he demanded? "You must be joking!" The look on his face was clear - what bloody
cheek did the little sprog have to dare give him out leg before. "You were absolutley plumb. Sorry." The young lad looked like he was going to get a
serious bollocking after the match and as the older man stormed off Watty went over to the lad to have a quiet word. I thanked him for his honesty as we passed
each other at the end of the over but his head was down and I don't know if he heard me. I'm glad he had the courage to be fair about it, I just hope
he doesn't get punished for his temerity like their best bowler. And as far as an example of sportsmanship and fair play to the youngsters, well, arguing
with the umpire is hardly setting a good example. I only got a "well played" off a couple of the youngsters, too. Oh, and the tea was crap,
too
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Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #16 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/26/06 08:35:02
Well batted, great hundred
Lannercost II away. We (I say "we", but although asked to play I had to work
) rolled them over for 85, perhaps
due to the fact that England were playing later (presumably that also accounted for the early start) and some carefree abandon was to blame (but ask DR, he was
there playing) and Martin Crouch knocked off something like 65 of the 86-3 for our win, then straight to the pub in time to catch most of the second half.
He's promised to drop down the order soon - not to give anyone else a shot at some runs but because he's skint from buying so many jugs for his
fifties!
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #17 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
07/12/06 18:26:28
Well batted, great hundred
Cup game last night. Midweek, 20-0vers (well it had to get squeezed in somewhere).
Away at Baggrow (first team, this time). They're a division 1 team, we're division three. I think they thought they were going to have an easy time of
it, especially as we batted first and had two people walking back in the first over. Nevertheless, some resistance from Martin (top scored, I think, with 13)
and some poor bowling gave us a total of 42. I went in at 10, blocked the last ball of the over to stay off-strike, then watched number nine hole-out in the
next over. Up came Rex. I just shrugged. He blocked the last ball of the over and he wad a little conference.
"How many overs left?" -Me
"Too many, we haven't a chance of seeing it through." -Dangerous.
"Ok, I'll just try to get some wood on it." - Me.
And I went back and took guard. Whizz. Clunk. Whoops. As the keeper behind me said to the bowler, "That was the best ball I've never seen you
bowl!" It was a bit of a "Ee, that were wasted on thee, lad" moment. It was pretty quick and swung in quite a long way. Still, I didn't get
my feet moving though that was mostly because I hardly saw the ball until it pitched!) and it went between bat and pad, which proves I never got my foot to the
pitch of the ball. More work needed. It's OK for Martin to moan about people not coming to practice on Friday nights but a) he lives 100 yards away from
the ground, I live several miles away and b) I work nights, including a lot of Fridays. At least he didn't have to whinge about buying a jug today!
Having @#%$-off our best bowlers, they were in for it on the dodgy artificial turf wicket (slopes sideways and undulates badly) and suffered a simillar fate to
us, Ben Crouch really had the wind up him and I wouldn't like to have been on the end of it. I'm glad he doesn't bowl that quick in the nets! In
the end though they managed to scrape and scrabble the 43 runs needed to beat us - I think we manged to take 9 (I think, might just have been eight) of their
wickets, though they had a couple of overs to spare.
Pretty good match even if the atmosphere in the car on long drive home was a bit more subdued than on the way out.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #18 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
07/16/06 08:39:24
Well batted, great hundred
Arch Rivals Blencathra today. I was working, but I'm informed we bowled them out for 79 and racked up 82 without loss ourselves to win before
tea.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #19 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/05/06 10:49:41
Well batted, great hundred
Couple of weeks to do because my PC packed up. Won away to Wetheral and at Caldbeck, despite much heckling from the stands. Was offered a chance to bowl at todlers (well, 11 year olds) at Wetheral but turned it down, no chance at Caldbeck, Crouchy got another century, Andy got a diamond duck to the very first ball of the match because he was hung over/still @#%$ from the saturday night because we were playing sunday. Still well on track to win the division.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #20 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/09/06 06:36:05
Well batted, great hundred
Did I mention we played on an astroturf wicket at Wetheral? Not only were they struggling to field a side, their pavillion (portacabin) had fallen victim to
arson earlier in the season, they didn't seem to have a mower (or anyone to mow the pitch, for that matter, the square virtually impossible to distinguish
from the outfield) and even had to borrow a set of bails from us. At least their spring stumps were upright, unlike on the rollercoaster strip at Baggrow...
Caldbeck was also fairly unusual as we had a huge audience. Some of our own players' relatives turned up, some players from Stainton and seemingly the
Caldbeck first team and all those second team players surplus to requirements, including a rather portly Tasmanian chap who plays for them. They won the toss
and strangely put us in, meaning their bowling was carted all over the small pitch (it's about the size of ours, ie, tiny) causing the loss of two balls
during our innings. Martin ran his brother Ben out on 32 (and each blamed the other) and when Martin got out on 104 (of our eventual 211) it led to a mini
collapse. I had to frantically pad-up during the final over only for Johny Kidd to succesfully negotiate the last couple of deliveries as I was rumaging for my
gloves. Ho-hum.
We set about them rather brutally with the ball and had them over the barrel at 24-6, but the increasingly ribald comments coming from beyond the boundary
became rather distracting and we let them recover to an almost respectable 95 before finishing them off. Our fielding at times looked like "Carry On
Playing Cricket". I had to rush off to work as soon as we finished but I wouldn't have stayed around for a drink anyway.
Not sure what happened on Sunday, I wasn't supposed to be playing. At Irthing Vale II away, but there was some rain around so it might not have been
played.
Re: Gamblesby CC #21 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/13/06 06:29:16
Well batted, great hundred
The official reason for the lack of a game last week is "ground unfit" but this is somewhat dubious. Some of our lads went up before they rang to
call it off and reckoned the square was rock hard. It wasn't raining then and it don't start raining till later. They'd had a game on saturday and
we reckoned they couldn't be bothered/couldn't raise a team as they'd played in the rain earlier in the season when they had 7 first team players
on strength...
Anyway, at home v Stainton II this week. We managed 279 from our allotted 40 overs, thanks to a league record 182 not-out from Martin Crouch. I wonder if
we'll manage to get a paragraph in the paper this week... Andy manged to get 40, and I reckon that's 500 runs on the season for him. Martin is over
800, not including the cup games. With 4 to go he's looking for 1,000.
We bowled them out for 58. I took a catch, my Dad's supervisor, for 1. It's my first catch. I'm glad I took it, as I'd have been walking home
if I hadn't! I expect there'll be a bit of ribbing at work on monday!
Johnny Kidd, our youngster, took 3 wickets but again he was knocked down the order to 10, which isn't good as he's a pretty good batsman and needs the
experience to become a good all rounder. He already plays for Nunwick U15s, I'm told, and if he isn't given a chance to play higher up the order we
might lose him. I've been hearing a lot lately about how the Gamblesby juniors became the first team about 10 years ago when the seniors all upped and left
at once. Apart from Johnny, we haven't got any youngsters coming through, should the same thing happen again, Gamblesby CC could die.
Still on to not only get promoted, but win the division.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #22 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/17/06 19:17:35
Well batted, great hundred
LEAGUE TABLE 2005 - DIVISION THREE
Played Points Won
Gamblesby 14 74 12
Blencathra 15 69 10
Stainton II 14 60 10
Grt Corby 14 42 5
Wigton IV 15 41 6
Lanercost II 12 38 5
Nunwick II 13 38 5
Wetheral 13 38 6
P'Wanderers 14 35 4
PenAcademy13 34 5
Caldbeck II 15 31 6
Irth Vale II 15 10 2
Baggrow II 15 8 0
as of 17.8.2006
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #23 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/21/06 21:52:17
Well batted, great hundred
Wasn't playing on saturday as I was just getting over a cold and I'm still suffering with the shoulder injury I picked up in the nets a month ago
that hasn't healed yet, though it's about 95% now. I did a Flintoff and think I pulled something when I missed a square cut. I hit the ball very hard
(too hard, probably) and I took a swing and a big miss. Anyway, Lannercost II (it seems I'm doomed never to play against Lanercost) at home. It was raining
this week but the drains put in over the winter have done wonders and it was playable when the covers were put over the wicket on Friday night. Another shower
shortly before the match didn't dissuade Lannercost from batting first with their very young side (almost all were under 18) and they got bowled out - all
ten wickets were clean bowled - for 30. We reversed the batting order and managed 31 for the loss of two wickets to win.
Why Dangerous couldn't tell you that himself, since he was playing, I don't know. Did you get a duck, mate?
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #24 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/28/06 07:15:33
Well batted, great hundred
Asked to play again yesterday but I had to work 
" width="15" border="0" height="15">so I missed all the fun of us winning the division. So did my dad, who turned up late to watch only to see visitors 239/3 on the
scoreboard. A story about 1st team ringers and "crap bowling" didn't wash with him when he saw the jubilant expressions on people's faces.
The real story came out - we'd bowled them out for 17 after they won the toss and decided as they were a "batting side" they'd bat first. Ben
Crouch who "couldn't buy a wicket at the start of the season" ripped through them taking 7 for 3. Johnny Kidd bowled some lovely outswingers but
it was the straight ones that took three wickets. Again, we got all 10 wickets bowled. One should have been lbw as he was plumb, but the umpire steadfastly
refused to change his opinion of "not out". He was clean bowled a couple of balls later. Watty, the new captain this year got an NFL style
celebration - a soaking - and they stole his clothes, too, leaving him only his car keys so he had to drive to the pub in his soaking wet whites!
Dick went in to open to try to get his average up but looked on in digust as Hodge (I think it was) knocked off all but 3 of the runs needed at the other end.
So much for Martin getting 1,000 runs this year. With just 2 games to go he'll have to go some!
Hopefully, with the division won and promotion assured, I'll get a bowl in one of those games. Watty promised me an over or two and he's no excuse not
to now. I've also been promised (threatened with, more like) a bat. It seems Andy isn't happy with being on the most ducks (and being presented with
the duck-bat with the hole in it at the end of the season) and seems he thinks I might manage to save him from that fate! Since I've a grand total of 0
runs this year, he may be right...
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #25 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
09/04/06 01:12:54
Well batted, great hundred
We were supposed to be playing Wigton IV away yesterday but unfortunately it was bucketing down.
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #26 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
09/04/06 20:33:30
Well batted, great hundred
With usual efficiency, we've finally got our 2006 season shirts in time for the last game of the season! These were planned way back during preseason
nets but seemed to have been forgotten about until about a month ago when there was a discussion of what to put on them - "Divison 3 Champions",
"promoted 2006" but we settled for simply "Gamblesby CC 2006" because at the time we had to commit, the above two alternatives were not yet
certainties.
On the back, we have numbers and nicknames. Nicknames are essential, not only for team bonding but out of simple need. I mean, we have two Richards, two
Steves, three Johns, two Andys, two Daves and of course, two Bens. And two Bensons, invariably called "Bens", which means when someone on the
boundary shouts "Ben(s)" up to four heads whip round... in addition to two Bensons, we have two crouches, two Hodgsons, two Kidds and two Greenhows,
me and my dad. Now, we both have the same initial, J, which has led a couple of times to the interesting batting order of 10: J. Greenhow and 11: J. Greenhow.
With obvious careful consideration, my parents decided to give me the same middle initial as my dad too, which made openign mail in our house grwoing up a task
which needed intuition, guesswork and quite a lot of apologies. In fact, my bank statements still end up at my father's. I did contact my bank when I moved
out and the next statement duly arrived at my new address. Then after that, they went back to my dad's... ho-hum. Having said that, some of the nicknames
are lacking a bit of imagination. Sure, we have "Caveman" and "Big Dick", but mostly it consists of adding "-ey" on the end of a
surname. Or like Dave, some alliterative and ironic epithet (one is called "Danger", the other "Dangerous" " width="15" border="0" height="15">). I decided to go for #13
Psycho, since one of the Crouches has taken to calling me that. I don't know why this happens to me - I was "Rambo" in one job, "The
commando" in another, and now "Psycho". Must be my sweet nature! Dad got "Scorer", which, given he took #69, I suspect doesn't
have that much to do the fact he often takes on the tedious (unless you're a total anorak) task of filling in the scorebook...
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #27 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
09/10/06 06:52:00
Well batted, great hundred
Not a happy Chappie. Great Corby away. I didn't get a bowl because we haemoraged too many runs with Dick, John T and Dave bowling. Hoddy was keeping (so
Dick and John could bowl) and we were bound to give away a few extras but it was getting ridiculous. So Watty goes off ill (he was looking pale and feeling
shite - I'm told it's an inner-ear infection) so instead of me getting my promised overs Dick decided we would try to win the game. Now, call me an
idiot, but since we'd semi-reversed the batting order and so only managed to set them 133, having won the division and ensured promotion, I thought we were
trying to give everyone a bat and a bowl (if they wanted it). I have no objection to John getting a bowl as he hadn't had an over all season but Dave has
been thrown the ball several times now and he's not that good - and proved it again today, loads of full-tosses above waist heigth. I know he comes from
Alston to play for us, but it's not that f*cking far. Dangerous used to come from Calthwaite, and most of the team lives in Penrith. Dave always gets a bat
and usuall gets a bowl. I like the bloke, he's pretty good crack but he's not that bloody good.
If we're going to have some fun in the last game, why change your mind and decide to win it and bowl your two openers through to the end? " width="15" border="0" height="15">Not that I mind winning, but
f*cks sake... I was feeling sick as well, on the 30-over mark I wanted to chuck up, and I'm going from deep fine-leg to... well, 3-rd man region for the
last umpteen frigging overs. 9 wickets down, I hoped for 1 over. Just one. Ben Crouch was bowling bloody spinners against the little lad in at 7 (or 8?) and it
comes down to the last over. They need 7 to win, we need to bowl them out to get our full 6 points. Does he risk me, at an economy of 3.3 an over? No.
" width="15" border="0" height="15">
At least I didn't drop-kick my sun glasses this time. Good job too, they were designer ones this time, not cheap junk!" width="15" border="0" height="15">
Rambo123UK Re: Gamblesby CC #28 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
09/10/06 19:38:38
Well batted, great hundred
Did I mention we actually won? The last wicket fell as he holed-out somewhere about deep extra cover going for the big six to level the scores. I dropped a catch (I wasn't the only one) but it was a ball that ballooned up and dropped right in the middle of the wicket. John was close fielding on the other side, but he didn't move. I did, but slipped on the damp soil (and grass clippings - they mowed it right before the game and the mower ran out of petrol) and landed on my @#%$ on the edge of the cut strip, the ball fell at my feet. So... I get a fine, and John gets a laugh... Bit of a bad-tempered affair at times, their opener smashing the stumps with his bat when he was bowled, and another of them swearing (I don't think it was at me, just swearing in general) when I said "bad luck mate" as he walked off past me. I also gather words were exchanged between one of our players and one of theirs right after the match when someone refused to shake hands. Shame to end the season on such a note.
--
Re: English season: how'd you finish up? #1 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
10/08/06 22:16:12
Well batted, great hundred
Well Gamblesby finished top of the 3rd division 15 points clear of the next team (15 six-point wins, only 1 loss, 2 no results) and managed to get into the
last sixteen in the cup by beating Cockermouth II (a first division team). www.normshutt.plus.com/
I personally did nearly nothing, taking one catch (the only realistic chance that came my way all season), saving a few runs int he field, scoring none with
the bat and taking no wickets in the 3 overs I was allowed to bowl all season. Dangerous Rex didn't do any better, I don't think, but luckilly I
avoided the dreaded "Duck Bat" at the end of season dinner by a) missing the dinner because I was working and b) Andy managed to get himself run out
(or Martin did, anyway) for a duck in the last game of the season without even facing a ball! This also meant that he missed out on an average of 50 for the
season. I think I'll call him "Bradman" next year!
--
Re: What Is Your Worst Cricket Injury ?? #24 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/12/06 08:07:37
Well batted, great hundred
Mine are pathetic in comparison. I got a finger bent back rather further than nature designed trying to take a catch close-in when the ball was virtually breaking the sound barrier which happened this time last year and is still not 100%, and was seriously painful for about 5 months, but the one with the most knock-on effects was a strained tendon when I slipped on a lump/hollow fielding a ball. The doctor prescribed anti-inflamatories and these brought on a severe asthma attack and ended up with me being admitted to hospital. My normal resting heart rate is 55bpm - during the attack it had shot up to about 200 when they plugged me in and got me on a nebuliser. I was on my hands and knees when my wife rang for an ambulance. I'd been struggling with shortness of breath for a couple of days thinking it was just a bit of a bad chest- I was 28 - I never knew I had asthma!
--
Re: England Pre-season '07 #9 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
03/26/07 07:31:26
Well batted, great hundred
Gamblesby CC in the Eden Valley league www.normshutt.plus.com/ (see the other thread).
I had a pretty good net again tonight, batted as well as I ever do and bowled nicely. Andy noticed this week, Ben Crouch noticed last week: "Oi, you
sneaky bugger, where've you been practicing all winter?" I think translates to, "You're bowling well tonight, mate." I guess I'll
have to keep rapping Watty smartly on the pads next week if I want a bowl this year (I take it he's still skipper, I missed the AGM).
Anyway, pretty pleased with the way things went tonight, especially as I'm full of cold and although I've pulled the thigh muscle of my right leg.
I'll find out how badly when I wake up in the morning, I expect.
" width="15" border="0" height="15">
Rambo123UK Re: England Pre-season '07 #10 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
04/02/07 07:36:25
Well batted, great hundred
I give myself 8 or 9 /10 for my bowling tonight , but 1/10 batting. I only middled about 3 and I had my weight all wrong even for them. 
Re: England Pre-season '07 #13 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
04/09/07 07:32:29
Well batted, great hundred
Last sunday night session for me tonight as I have to work next week. Lost my rhythm bowling a bit tonight, too many bad balls mixed in with some good ones,
though I had Watty, the captain, growling with frustration when I beat him with about 6 balls in a row. Batting was fun, got a bit of aggro out. Missed two
balls I should have hit, one when Big Crouch walked behind danger's arm as he was bowling and I never saw it before it hit the off stump, and one where Ben
Crouch beat me in flight with his leggy (a googly, in fact) and I was in two-man's land, and he bowled me through the gate. Still, very happy with the
batting this week if not the bowling.
I'm not working for the first game of the season as I've taken a week off as hols, but I don't know if I'll get a game or not.
Re: England Pre-season '07 #15 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
05/06/07 07:39:24
Well batted, great hundred
Our season started last week and we won. Had a bit of trouble scraping a team together, it seems, as one of our number has defected to another side where he
will get a regular bowl (can't say I blame him) and another has dropped out after some marital problems (a typical cause of English batsmen losing form or
their place in a side, I feel). Apparently he played last year, though I don't remember it. He certainly never turned up at nets. Anyway, I wasn't
asked because everyone thought I was working, it seems. I had told Andy that I had booked it off as a holiday, but it seems his brother, Dickie, is sorting out
the side this year. Ho-hum. Sorted out, now. The way I performed last night in the nets, it's probably a good thing.
Did you ever have one of those days where you felt you were trying to remote control someone else's body using only directions shouted to you via a third
party? That's how I felt. Line and length? I was lucky if it hit the track. All that hard work getting into good nick, bowling well all through thr
preseason (and having people notice it) gone for nothing. By the time I got to have a bat I was so @#%$ off and frustrated I just tried to hit every ball as
hard as I could, with predictable results. Sometimes you just feel like setting fire to your kit and never playing this stupid bloody game ever again.
How'd you go today? ... 26th May 2007
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
05/27/07 06:38:51
Well batted, great hundred
Well, we won, despite 9 of the 11 nursing monumental hangovers from the night before, a fundraising do. Yours truly dropped one catch (high, on the run and
going to my left, but I got my hands to it and really should have caught it) and missed a high swirler that dropped a couple of yards away after I'd
misjudged it. One of those days. I did make a couple of brilliant stops though. Bowled the last over. 4, ., wide, 6, 6, runout. And that was the end of the
match. They got 120 ish (I can't remember exactly, they got 17 off my over) chasing 253. We were 150-0 at one point (Andy got 34 in 34 overs, Martin got
105 in about the same time) but with some poor batting and a hair-trigger finger on the umpire (dodgy LBWs) we "collapsed" to 252-8, with me having
to franticaly pad up in the 38th over, just to see Darren (who scored about 3 runs all last year) whack 2 huge sixes to end our innings. Anyway, 2nd win this
year (played 3, 2 rained off).
Hopefuly, assuming it stays dry, we're playing a Twenty20 friendly midweek, which could be fun.
Re: How'd you go today? ... 26th May 2007 #2 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
05/28/07 09:47:23
Well batted, great hundred
Yeah, it started to shower on us too, but by a stroke of good fortune it was just a few spots during the tea break and then it started bucketing down just
as soon as we'd taken their last wicket. We were still shaking hands when the heavens opened.
Rain is playing havoc with our league table as well. I hope the summer dries out a bit soon, the weather's been a load of bollocks so far.
Still fuming over my first over in anger in a year. First ball was a touch short, on off-stump, pulled smartly for four. Second was a good length, nipped away
lovely. Third ball I thought I'd put a bit more "oomph" into it and made a right mess of it, far too short and very wide. Not the worst delivery
of the day, but not far from it. So I tried pitching the next up, and it was a low full toss, right on middle stump, smacked over midwicket (barely, it's a
short boundary and it grazed the wall as it sailed over). Ho-hum. In striving for the yorker I'd over-pitched. A low full toss isn't the worst ball in
the world to bowl at the death but the next was, I suppose, a bit of a half volley, though not that bad, but it was hoisted way, way, way back over my head to
smash into the roller as far beyond the boundary as the boundary is from the middle. I swear, it had ice on it when it came down... Anyway, I found the
leg-stump yorker which the batter managed to dig out - then called for a single as it dropped a yard from the stumps! His hapless partner, the number 11 was
run out for a duck dashing futiley to the danger end.
The poor lad had just had to come in and face Watty, on a hat trick, having just clean bowled both the number 9 and number 10 batsmen. (I ended up bowling at
the bloke who was well "in", but never mind). He had 5 slips, a gully, a short extra cover, square leg and me at mid off... and then bowled it down
the leg side... 
... so I
got a bowl after all, but I'd just wrenched my achilles, catching my studs in the turf trying to slide-stop a ball on the boundary (and failing to stop it
sliding past the flags), so I was bowling nowhere near flat out. I'd also bowled my @#%$ off in the nets for Ben and JK, both of whom were trying to get
the feel of new bats, having discovered their own had cracks in. And I had a cold... excuse, excuse, getting tanked by a youngster is not fun, and I need to
salvage as much pride as I can!
Re: How'd you go today? ... 26th May 2007 #3 [url] [-]
Posts: 354
05/31/07 09:25:30
Gym class hero
I knew Rich would post in this forum once he'd got his first score of the season. " width="15" border="0" height="15">
Rambo's stories entertain me no end. Imagine how long they'll be when he takes his first five-for. " width="15" border="0" height="15">
Rambo123UK Re: How'd you go today? ... 26th May 2007 #4 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
05/31/07 10:57:27
Well batted, great hundred
I think you'll have to wait a while!
How'd you go today? ... Tue 29th May 2007
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
05/30/07 08:27:11
Well batted, great hundred
Mid-week friendly Twenty20 game. Watty won the toss and decided to bat, and muggins here was "volunteered" to help them out in the field as they
were only 9 men at that time. I fielded for the opposition for 8 or 10 overs, and let slip a couple of boundaries I could possibly have cut off, but don't
tell anyone. I yanked my back out trying to slide stop the first ball I was chasing and the pressure it was putting on the nerve was cramping my leg up. So, by
the time I fielded for us, one went through my legs because I couldn't get down fast enough. Managed to take a fairly simple catch of Martin's bowling,
and we won. It was pretty dark by the end, but we were using part time bowlers anyway. Considering they are two divisions above us and could only make about
110-5 chasing our 166 (for 3) I think we can be pretty pleased.
We'd shuffled the batting order and our two young players, Johnny Kidd, who's about 16 and Ben Crouch opened. JK got 37 and Ben was out to the very
last ball of the match, having got his century (103) in that final over - only the second he's ever scored.
Might have trouble finding 11 men for sunday's cup game, however. Lot's of people can't play and JK has an exam on Monday, so we'll have to see
if he gets permission from his folks. I won't be there, I'm working.
How'd you go today? ... Sat 9th June 2007
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
06/10/07 05:23:56
Well batted, great hundred
Watty won the toss and, despite the fierce sunshine and hot afternoon, decided to field with a hard pitch with a lot of cracks in it. Lots of playing and
missing, they were only one wicket down for ages, but we skittled them out in the end after 30 overs or so for 109. We thought it was 108 but some re-tallying
of the scorebooks during tea made it 109. With Martin having a bad knee his batting position dropped to three, then four then in the end he took his pads off
and decided he wasn't going to bat at all - which was ok because Dick and his brother after knocked them off after we lost 3 wickets for not that many.
Fielded OK, but ended up sitting legs akimbo after not being able to get to a catch (fell where I was fielding but had just been pushed back from, as always
happens) and everyone is screaming "Bowlers!" but they way I was sitting I could only hurl it into the keeper, and even so I thought it was a
run-out. The umpire, however, begged to disagree. Always nice beating Stainton II, there always seems to be a bit of needle about it. Judging by the fact they
had several first teamers in the side, I think they were hoping to get their first win of the season. Not this week!
Rambo123UK Re: How'd you go today? ... Sat 9th June 2007 #1 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
06/10/07 05:28:01
Well batted, great hundred
I've also got a strange red circle on my shaved head. I lost sight of a ball blasted very quickly at me when I was fielding close in because the peak was in the way, so I turned it round. Now I have a nice sunburned red egg on my pate and silly raccoon eye where my UV protect sunglasses have left a white band round my eyes!
Fantastic summer for cricket
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
07/22/07 10:06:32
Well batted, great hundred
We've managed to play 4 games this year (won 3 lost 1) and the other games have been washed out. " width="15" border="0" height="15">
Re: Fantastic summer for cricket #3 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
07/31/07 17:18:05
Well batted, great hundred
We actually got a game on Saturday. Beat Penrith thirds away. Martin scored 90, we set them about 190 to win, and bowled them out in about 30 overs. Some good-natured banter, none of the nasty sledging, and great to get a game after 2 months. Was even asked to bowl but I didn't because a) we were playing on an artificial wicket and, the outfield being damp, I was wearing spikes for fielding, and b) darren got the last two wickets in his first over to finish the game off anyway.
Rambo123UK Re: Fantastic summer for cricket #4 [url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/16/07 03:18:22
Well batted, great hundred
Incredibly, despite losing more games (5) to the weather than any other side in the division, we are in 3rd place in division 2, just six points behind the
two teams above us. With 6 points on offer for a win, and having a game in hand over one of those teams, it seems we may yet manage not only to ensure
promotion (for the second year running) but even to win the division (for the second year running).
Fingers crossed.
How'd you go today? ... 25th/26th August 2007
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
08/27/07 05:59:18
Well batted, great hundred
25th Gamblesby v Wigton II @ home
Won yesterday by 9 wickets. We won the toss, bowled them out, eventually, for 110. Only one of their batsmen was much cop, a big bloke who didn't like
Martin expressing his displeasure at the umpire for not giving an LBW shout, and giving a reason that seemed like a load of tosh as to wy it wasn't out. He
heaved a ball into the field for a six with and a huge "F--k off!" Martin and he exchanged a couple of pleasantries and there was some needle in the
banter after that. He went in the end on 48 - LBW, which was satisfying. They didn't have much after that. We started very slowly but Ben decided to get on
with it after about 13 overs. He smacked a couple very skywards and neither chance was taken, the second palmed over the wall for a six. Ben decided he had a
charmed life and smashed his way to 72* to win the game very comfortably in the end. We got to the pub before it opened...
26th Gamblesby v Edenside III @ home
Early start today because the lads were going out on the raz with it being someone's birthday and Bankholiday weekend, so most of us were still very hung
over from last night, despite threats of fines for those out despite "curfew" (some hope with us bunch of p--s heads!). Andy staked his claim to this
year's duck award with a half-hearted chip for a dolly and we haemoraged wickets for next to no runs until Martin got in and made a ton, while other people
tried to hold up the other end. I went in at 9 (and made 0*) with about 4 overs to go, to tell Martin he was on 99. I blocked out a full over, except for a low
full toss I clipped to leg but there was no run. Martin grubbed around for a single for his 100, finally got it and then holed out to the last ball of the 39th
over. 12 year old Dan came in (supposed to have been playing for Nunwick U16s, but it was cancelled for lack of a team on one side or other, I didn't catch
which) and swung at everything for the last over, hitting nothing but air. 175. Not bad, as at one point we were looking like being bowled out for under 100.
Then it became the most bad tempered match I've ever been part of, and I have to admit, I saw the red mist and was a big part of the aggro. They'd been
chirping at us while we were batting and when Martin said to a turned down LBW, "Oh, don't worry lads, looks like he won't be giving them,
we'll just have to bowl them out" the umpire told him he was a "gobshite" and to shut his f--king mouth. Then he called us all another word
I won't repeat, called John T a "d--k", for no apparent reason and I lost my rag and told him he was a fat ignorant c--- in a bit of a
Gatting/Shakoor Rana-esque episode. Anyway, another LBW appeal a little later and the batsman said "oh, come on, that was a thick edge in there". I
said I never heard an edge and he said, "Oh, well you f--king wouldn't, would you, you c---." Well considering I was fielding close in, I think I
would. So I told him so. With one or two f-words in there. Anyway, we got him and the fat bloke umpiring when he came in fairly cheaply and bowled them all out
for about 67 or something like that. Apparently, the fat one had said he was going to knock me out after the match but he was conspicuous by his absence -
didn't stay to shake anyone's hand, so far as I could see, and certainly came nowhere near me. Lucky for him, as I would have put him in intensive care
as I was still steaming.
Don't dish it out if you can't take it. If you're going to chirp while you're fielding, don't tell us to shut up when we do it. And
certainly don't start swearing at us when you do it. If he'd asked politely, I wouldn't have been put out, but he started swearing at us just
because they were losing and that's not on. We've got the return fixture next week and I daren't go in case I kill someone. And I had money nicked
out of my wallet which I'd left in my kitbag in the pavillion, so all in all Edenside are not my favourite team in the league. In fact, I'd say they
were a bunch of ... well, you get the drift.
Anyway, 2 wins in a weekend, despite the average blood alcohol content of our team today being well over the legal driving limit, so all's well that ends
well.
2 games to go, and if we win both we are certain to go up.
fewagainstmany Re: How'd you go today? ... 25th/26th
August 2007 #1 [url] [-]
Posts: 354
08/28/07 09:06:56
Gym class hero
Yobs, the lot of you.
RichHudson Re: How'd you go today? ... 25th/26th August 2007 #2
[url] [-]
Posts: 12526
08/28/07 09:09:18
Gloucs&England
People who behave as you describe don't deserve to play this great game.
Rambo123UK Re: How'd you go today? ... 25th/26th August 2007 #3
[url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/28/07 17:22:09
Well batted, great hundred
Well I admit I completely lost my rag in the second match (I was just laughing about it in the first one - even had a joke with the guy in question after
the match) but I feel that unprovoked swearing by the opposition was sufficient justification. I mean, even at our level there is going to be some sledging and
stuff. Most of it is good natured, but when a team has been giving us a hard time and then the guy wearing the white coat at the time starts giving us abuse
because we are just having a bit of a chirp ourselves, it really isn't on. At our level the batting team umpires its own innings. Surprisingly enough,
despite incidents like the one above, this usually works very well, as most people are good sportsmen and play fair.
But not always, of course. If everyone walked when they were out, we wouldn't need umpires, and if home umpires could be relied upon to be unbiased
there'd be no need for neutral umpires.
After all, it is not "just a game" any more than footy is to those who are passionate about it. Losing is still hard to take. It's all very well
being able to take it with good grace but I think that people with particularly competitive natures find this hard. I enjoy the game. If we are doing badly, I
don't take it out on the opposition, or even my team mates, I'm hardest on myself, for real or perceived failings. However, not everyone reacts this
way and unfortunately a common response to humilliation is anger, and anger leads to agressive and abusive behaviour, verbal or physical.
And of course, my reaction to being verbally abused (when sober, at least) would not normally be so violent. I have a temper, I admit, but it is usually under
control. Because I was worked up (crucial game, passionate about cricket, been sledged quite nastily but no swearing while at the crease) I had a much stronger
response than might be expected.
I have noticed that the level of sledging, and particularly the abusive stuff, is directly proportional to how badly a team is doing on the field. If they are
getting a hammering, instead of some witty comments (and some batsmen are happy to join in, have a laugh, at their own expense, or get some digs in of their
own) it just becomes obscene "You lot are c--p" etc or along those lines.
Now, I also admit that Martin can rub people up the wrong way. He can be abrasive, and not everyone shares his sense of humour. And worst of all, he and his
brother often don't realise that things they say will be taken so badly by other people (or even team mates) because they genuinely wouldn't care or
would just laugh if someone said the same to them. And the fact he is an incredibly destructive batsman who can be virtually impossible to dismiss, an
annoyingly good medium pacer and, at times, spectacularly good fielder as well - does not endear him to the opposition. He would annoy the living daylights out
of me if I was playing against him. He does tend to be the catalyst for some of the bad feeling in games, but he hasn't been the only one.
People don't like being beaten. They particularly don't like being given a thrashing, and can react quite badly in those circumstances.
Really, if I've painted a whole team in a bad light, that is a little unfair: it probably is down to just one or two individuals - and there's bound to
be bad apples in any environment - even that of the cricket pitch.
Rambo123UK Re: How'd you go today? ... 25th/26th August 2007 #4
[url] [-]
Posts: 1162
08/30/07 03:03:51
Well batted, great hundred
Looking at the league website www.normshutt.plus.com/ results for the weekend, it seems Edenside's mood can't have been helped by the 100+ run defeat they'd suffered the day before. Not that it excuses a bad attitude, but perhaps it goes some way to explaining it.
Rambo123UK Re: How'd you go today? ... 25th/26th August 2007 #5
[url] [-]
Posts: 1162
09/03/07 01:47:25
Well batted, great hundred
I didn't go yesterday (for the obvious reasons, such as I didn't want to end up facing GBH charges) but I am informed we batted first and mainly
through the two tons off Big Martyn Crouch (120 not out) and Dicky (109) and set them 289 to win. They managed to salvage a point by one wicket/6 runs because
we were unable to quite bowl them out and they finished on 150-9, so we only got 5 points and not six.
Last game of the season next week and there are 3 teams competing for 2 promotion places and the division win: Ourselves, Wigton II and Threlkeld. Last week we
were on the same points at Threlked (66) but we would be ahead on a tie break because we have more outright wins than them.
Wigton II pay Threlkeld next week...
How'd you go today? ... Sat 8th September 2007
Lead [-]
Posts: 1162
09/09/07 08:38:48
Well batted, great hundred
Well... we lost. But that's OK, because Wigton II managed to win (so we hear) so we get promoted.
We had Penrith III over a barrel at 54 for 6 but didn't manage to finish them off with some average bowling and poor fielding (I dropped 2 catches myself,
Darren dropped 2 and we weren't the only ones) and they set us 148 to win.
We set off at a hell of a lick, Ben Crouch blasting it everywhere, but suddenly they put on a leggy and it all went to hell in a handcart. Andy, Ben, Dickie (a
duck) and Martyn (uh-oh!), holing out in the deep(ish) first ball, I think (there goes his average!), went in short order.
Darren and, strangely enough, Dangerous Dave (also known as Tractor Dave, Alston Dave, or "that Raj B#stard") steadied the ship. Then we lost another
couple of wickets and I went in at 10 with over 10 overs to come (never a good sign). Still, I kept my end up and Dave was steadily plugging away but we were
still 20 runs or so short when he was bowled behind his legs (as were several people) by the legspinner took one of his 7 wickets on the day, bringing Dan
(star of the Under 13s) to the crease, with me still on 0, after facing several overs.
Dan proceeded to wallop his first delivery for four, putting me rather in the shade. He then proceeded to get 7 runs (and we were 12 short) while I nudged my
way to a massive 2. The worst of it was that I'd been tonking the smeg out of it in the nets last night. I hit the biggest "six" in the nets
I'd ever managed. And in the middle to day I was just waiting for anything a bit short of wide, but all I got was a couple in the ribs " width="15" border="0" height="15">
Anyway, with 12 runs to get and the overs running out, Dan tried to kock it back over the bowler's head and was caught, so we lost.
However, we had heard Wigton needed another 50 or so runs (on 131-6 chasing 184) v Threlkeld with 10 overs left, so we weren't too confident (if they won
or we won, we got promoted) but we got word from Martyn's mate who drove up there that they managed to knock them off. We end up on the same points as
Threlkeld but we are ahead of them on tiebrekers, so it's a p1ss up all round.
Anyway, great fun to have a bit of friedly crack and banter in the field with the oposition - not like some teams!
Division 1 cricket next year!
Rambo123UK Re: How'd you go today? ... Sat 8th September 2007 #1
[url] [-]
Posts: 1162
09/15/07 03:47:48
Well batted, great hundred
The scoresheets are finally in and we go up ( "In the event of two or more teams playing for a tie in the championship and/or relegation the decision
as to which clubs shall be champions or relegated shall be made on the basis of Runs For per wicket and Runs Against per wicket the latter figure to be divided
into the former figure. " ). Strangely enough, Tractor Dave (just losing out, I think, to Andy for the Duck award this year) top scored for us with 36.
Meanwhile, David Steele, I see, scored 76, his maiden half century for Arthuret & Esk... " width="15" border="0" height="15">
2008
I told you it was broken!
Lead [-]
Posts: 759
03/15/08 01:08:14
Well batted, great hundred
Picked up a fracture just near my wrist last night in my first pre-season net. Full toss from JK a bit above waist high. I tried flicking it away onto the
leg side but got it on the point of my wrist instead. Ouch. I batted on for a few minutes, as soon as I could feel my fngers again, but I was playing
effectively with one hand. A forward defensive felt like someone sticking a knife in me when the ball stuck the bat.
To the rest of Gamblesby CC who may be reading this: Cheers lads. Thanks for the jeers and slurs on my masculinity while I was in obvious pain. I told you it
was bloody broken!
IlmrynXiltyn #1 [url] [-]
Posts: 697
03/18/08 12:29:00
Six and out
Oh man, that sucks hardcore... I hope it heals soon
Rambo123UK #2 [url] [-]
Posts: 770
03/18/08 20:43:09
Well batted, great hundred
Cheers. That's more than I've got off anyone on the team.
P.S. Yesterday I bought an arm guard!
#1 [url] [-]
Posts: 839
05/14/08 03:29:36
Well batted, great hundred
Well with me breaking my arm at the start of the season it's been a bit naff for me so far.
Not good for the team, either. First game a washout, with a damp and soggy start to the year.
Week two I was asked to play even with the cast still on my arm as we were only 9 men (I declined - catching is hard enough with two hands) and our two best
players were unavailable. The wicket was damp and sticky and we were bowled out (9 men, as I said ) in the 40th and last over. With the sun coming out and the
ball coming onto the bat a bit (and us having to resort to part-time bowlers) that allowed the opposition, Carelton, to knock off the required 102 to win for
the loss of four wickets in about 33 overs.
Week three was no better. Our best player, Martyn, returned to top score with 34. However, nobody else made anything much and we collapsed to 101 (same score
as the week before) in 31 overs. Shap smashed 106 to win, taking only 20.3 of their 40 available overs to do it. I didn't play.
Rambo123UK #2 [url] [-]
Posts: 865
06/02/08 06:10:16
Well batted, great hundred
I never played last week, but we won at Baggrow. It was apparently a bit of a bad tempered affair with them accusing us of cheating. They made 118 and we
made 119 for 8 with 2 and a half overs spare.
Today was a sunday, cup game, @ Staffield, who are in the Premiership. We've beaten them in a 20-20 friendly before but today we were a very under-strength
side, with our best player and captain on holiday in Cyprus (or Crete, or somewhere like that). It was still raining when we started playing, and drizzled all
through our innings. We made 153 in 35 overs in a rain-shortened game (it should have been 40). We were always going to be a real bowler short so I got thrown
the ball. Well, with breaking my arm I have not had much practice this year, let alone experience on the field, and it showed. I had a couple of wild overs,
including my usual beamers (well, the ball was wet). I took none for plenty and was banished, fuming, to deep fine leg.
I did have fun throwing myself around on a wet, slippery surface and fielded well, but with my own poor overs, and young Dan and Hugh also taking a tanking
(fair's fair, so was Andy), we haemorrhaged runs like crazy. We hadn't been able to make much inroads into their batsmen so they had plenty of wickets
in hand and so once they'd weathered our top bowlers they could cut loose and make up the run rate. They made their target in something like 29 and a half
overs.
Still, we did OK, didn't embarrass ourselves and they are in the division above, so we expected to get beat. We did well to get the game in, considering
the weather, which was bloody awful.
Last Edited By: Rambo123UK 06/05/08 07:24:28. Edited 1 time.
Rambo123UK #3 [url] [-]
Posts: 869
06/08/08 06:48:17
Well batted, great hundred
At home to Kirby Stephen today.
We got spanked. Spanked hard and fast.
Rain last night and baking sunshine when we started, so Dickie but them in when he won the toss (first time this season I think he's called right). And
then after 15 overs it started to rain. 10 overs later it was really heaving it down and fielding was like chasing a red bar of soap around.
We had an early break for tea and the heavy stuff went over, but the rain was still coming down and the very green wicket (Watty is still on holiday and nobody
else can seem to get the mower to cut as low as he does) and slippery ball was, like last week, a recipe for them to make hay while the sun didn't shine.
As soon as they'd made 190something (2 sixes in the last over!) the sun came out.
The ball was seaming around like crazy and we were at 0 for 2 in no time at all. I was going in at 11 and padding up with 30 overs still to play! There were
still about 25 left by the time I walked to the crease. Dickie had been run out in farcical manner when he called for an easy single and Neil had taken root.
He must have run nearly the full 22 yards before he realised Neil wasn't coming and had no chance to get back. Then Neil chipped a dolly straight to a
fielder himself and I went out to meet Dan, my usual batting partner lately! It seems we're always at the crease together and chasing runs. The lad's
got spirit and the only real nastiness of the day was some sledging of the kid when he took one of their wickets. Fair enough he's playing with the big
boys but I don't hold with giving a 12 year old grief.
Anyway, I tried to play myself in but the ball was zipping around. The first delivery pinged off the shoulder of my bat and would have been a simple catch for
anyone near the bat, but thankfully there wasn't anyone. Then he aimed one at my body and it of course it hit me between thighpad and pad. I was a long way
down and outside leg so not out. Dan missed a sweep shot next ball. It hit him high up but he's only about 5'2" and he was right in front and
practically standing on his stumps, so that was it. We were still 100+ runs short.
Sure, we had an under-strength side and they're better than us, but that was a thrashing. Again, failure to take wickets early on let them smash the
bollocks out of our change bowlers and have plenty of wickets in hand to free their arms in the closing overs. On our small ground that's just asking for
trouble.
Pretty poor. So far I'm not enjoying 1st division cricket and I'm not the only one. "Tractor" Dave would be happier back in the 2nd or 3rd
division where he got a bowl as well now and again and we didn't take things quite as seriously. He's giving up £100 a Saturday to play (not to mention
petrol money!) and fielding for 40 overs in the rain with nary a chance of a bat, let alone a bowl - well, it's no wonder he got in his car and buggered
off as soon as he was out. I don't think he's happy at the attitude of certain other members on the team either, but since they're some of the best
players we have, what can you do?
We're struggling to get eleven men on the pitch each week, too. JT's shoulder is knackered again, despite the op. Dan is a regular fixture, but Hugo
anf JK have had exams, Big Crouch and Watty have been on holiday and both Crouches were away on hol in the first or second game of the season. Hoddy went to
Wanderers coz he wanted to bowl more, Richard butcher moved away, dunno what happened to Steve, Old Hodge is .... well, old. Bob Bell plays maybe two games a
season and Dangerous seems to have been lost to playing poker.
And I got whacked right where I broke my bloody arm, too. Hurt more than the one in the nuts!
Rambo123UK #4 [url] [-]
Posts: 910
06/29/08 07:32:28
Well batted, great hundred
No game on the 14th and last week all but two games in the entire league were washed out, including ours. Better news today, though I wasn't playing (I
was working, not that I was asked to play) but we were away to Wigton seconds. We bowled them out for 73 and knocked off the required runs for the loss of 3
wickets in fairly quick time.
Next week is my weekend off, so of course we have no game scheduled. On the 12th we play Carleton again, but I'm working, and given that the due-date for
my first child is the 15th I suspect I won't get to play in either game of the double-header weekend on the 19th/20th...
Rambo123UK #5 [url] [-]
Posts: 923
07/12/08 08:18:30
Well batted, great hundred
Played a 20-20 game tonight, for work. JT Atkinson v Atkinsons. I was playing for JT Atkinsons (Althams, as was, my new employer). Martyn, my Gamblesby team
mate, was playing for the opposition, Atkinsons the builders. It was a 20-and-retire, 2 overs per bowler game.
We lost the toss and got put in, and set off at a canter as they produced a succession of pie-chuckers and donkey-droppers. Our openers retired upon reaching
20, and I padded up, as I was slated to go in at 5. However, our captain, who had organised it, had been scoring but he had himself padded-up in double-quick
time and dashed onto the field himself as I was getting up from my seat to go in when the next man retired. Ho-hum.
I didn't have long to wait as suddenly they took a wicket. Off had come the pie-throwing clowns and on had come not only Martyn, but at the other end,
Nicky Burns (I could have got the name wrong) - Penrith 1st Team captain. Even off his "short" run-up, he was deadly. I hadn't realised how
deadly until the first ball I faced had demolished my stumps. Beautiful yorker, I felt it more than saw it. It was just a blur. Bugger. I was not a
happy-chappy. How come the best batsmen got the pie chuckers and we poor sods face men miles out of our class? No justice. At least I wasn't his only
victim - and he missed out on his hat-trick!
Anyway, we managed to score about 135 or so, with Frasier, our captain, hogging the strike and yet managing to score next to nowt.
So, we had a bowl. I came on first change (it was 2 overs each) and took two wickets, both clean bowled with satisfying clangs from the spring-stumps. I bowled
a few wides, I admit, but the pitch (artificial) is on a slope which is worse than Lords and sometimes the line can be hard to find. Considering I was one of
our best bowlers, you can guess what happened. We lost. Fielding on the wet grass with no spikes (because of the artificial pitch) was like ice. I foolishly
wore brand-new whites and brand new white trainers. Well, nothing stays white forever, does it?
We had a laugh, I'm happy I got two wickets (clean bowled) and not too +$*!*% off that I got clean bowled myself by a guy who is literally leagues ahead of
me in class. And I got a free beer and a couple of burgers from the BBQ, so not a bad evening.
Last Edited By: Rambo123UK 07/13/08 03:54:52. Edited 1 time.
Rambo123UK #6 [url] [-]
Posts: 927
07/13/08 05:11:12
Well batted, great hundred
Asked to play today as we were struggling to field 8 men and a 3-legged dog, but I had to work. Not to worry though, we won by 9 wickets. We bowled them out
for 98 and knocked them off easily.
I'm noticing a trend this year - if I play, we lose. If I'm not playing, we win. Sheer coincidence. Must be!
Rambo123UK #7 [url] [-]
Posts: 974
07/24/08 08:15:27
Well batted, great hundred
I wasn't working last week, but as my first sprog was due a week ago yesterday, I suggested Rex get a game instead. I expected it would rain in any
case! As it happened, it didn't rain but there was no play on saturday as the field was standing in an inch of water with all the rain through the week.
The sunday game had already been rescheduled.
It's been dry 3 days in a row. We actually had sunshine and blue sky for two of them. Maybe summer has finally arrived...
Rambo123UK #8 [url] [-]
Posts: 979
07/28/08 10:46:32
Well batted, great hundred
Missed both games of the double-header weekend. I was supposed to be playing today, but a change of plan saw Gem and I being brought into hospital to have
our son induced a little earlier than we'd expected. The dating scans had come up with two different dates and, long story short, they decided at the last
minute that he was 11 days over, not 7. So I missed out on sleep and cricket, but gained an 8 lb 1 oz baby boy.
We won on saturday, I'm told, bowling them out for a ridiculous 48 on our home track and knocking the runs off for 2 wickets - all in under 2 hours. We
lost away today however (if not for a few trees in the way I could have seen the ground from the hospital room) setting 148 off our 40 overs but Denton Holme
passed our total with 4 wickets in hand.
Rambo123UK #9 [url] [-]
Posts: 983
08/03/08 07:00:17
Well batted, great hundred
Supposed to be playing cricket today (best friend and sister of wife would be there all afternoon, so it was OK) but though there was blazing sunshine at 2pm - start time - the torrential rain from the thunderstorms of the last two nights and showers over the last 3 days - made the pitch (basically not much more than a flat patch of peat bog on top of a mountain) unplayable, and it was called off at pitch inspection before lunch.
Posts: 22557
08/09/08 01:02:08
Chairman of Selectors
Congrats, Rambo.
Rambo123UK #11 [url] [-]
Posts: 1003
08/09/08 04:51:13
Well batted, great hundred
Thanks. Although the little bugger has cost me at least two games this season. I am now working on the day of 4 of our 5 remaining fixtures, and it will be guaranteed to #%#! down on the one I am free for, since it is bank holiday weekend!
Last Edited By: Rambo123UK 08/09/08 05:02:32. Edited 1 time.
--
What season? With rain, work, rain, broken arms, rain, babies, rain and more bloody rain I got a grand total of two competitive games in this year, faced two balls (0*) and bowled two overs (0 for plenty). We as a team lost 9 fixtures to rain this season - there just was no summer at all this year. It even rained for the two games I got in, and that was way back in May.
2009
Martyn has been elected Captain this year. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, since Martyn is generally the cause of aggro between us and other teams. On the other hand, he acts like the captain anyway. It's no unusual to see three people trying to set different fields all at once (Captain, bowler and Martyn) or even four, as Dick still captains when Watty hasn't been playing, and because Si is so quiet, sometimes even when he is! Having one powerful personality in charge might work or might be a disaster. I've been promised more overs if I bowl well in the nets, so we'll see.
