VC Report

Gents,

Tremendous effort today from everyone.

David, massive improvement from your previous performance with the bat. Lets see the same in the next game.

Chatts, Josh & Captain Magners, great effort with the bowling. Chatts, although you did not take any wickets, your spell was pivotal in terms of the score that we were going to be set.

The rest of team, that was one of, if not the best fielding performance that I've seen from us this season. Now that we've done this and set the benchmark, lets attain the same level of performance in the next game.

Our next game is on the 9th. However, the 1sts have a home game next week. If you, come along and support them, as this is an important game for them.

Training is on Tuesday and Thursday as always. Let's build on todays performance, by attending training this week. If we put in as hard a graft as today's game, then hopefully results will follow.

These forthcoming weeks will be testing for us, and we all need to work together. Remember we are a team, cricket is a team game, and so, everyone us will have to play a part at some point over the next weeks. There may be some weeks where you either don't get a bat or a bowl.
All I will say in relation to this is that if you don't get either a bat or bowl then don't be disheartened. If you take today's game as a case, I was down to bat no.6, and did not bat.
The reason being that those batting in front of me did their job. If I don't get a bat, then I'll be reasonably happy, as that means that those in front of me are doing their job, and more.

I urge you all, if possible, to attend the training over the next few weeks.

ALPS V MARRESS (26/07/08)

THE FIRST OF THE 5 FINAL MATCHES TO DECIDE THE PROMOTION PLACES.

AS WE ALL WOKE UP TODAY, MARRESS WERE LOOKING AT PLAYING TODAYS GAME WITH ONLY 9 MEN, AS THE FIRST TEAM HAD BORROWED 2 PLAYERS.

JUST AS WE WERE ABOUT TO SET OFF ON OUR JOURNEY THE NEWS CAME THROUGH THAT THE FIRST TEAM GAME WAS OFF DUE TO A WATERLOGGED PITCH. THIS WAS GREAT NEWS FOR THE MARRESS MEN AS THIS MEANT THAT WE COULD GET OUR PLAYERS BACK AND BE ABLE TO FIELD A FULL STRENGTH TEAM.

TODAYS GAME WAS VITAL FOR US AS WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO LOSE OR WE WOULD PROBABLY BE OUT OF THE RUNNING FOR PROMOTION. THE TOSS WOULD BE VITAL.

THE TWO SKIPPERS WENT TO THE WICKET AND AS ALPS SKIPPER THREW THE COIN MIKE INGRAM DECIDED TO GO FOR TAILS(SO FAR THIS SEASON IT HAS FAILED EVERYTIME)SUPRISINGLY MARRESS WON THE TOSS AND SENT THE OPPOSITION INTO BAT.

MARRESS WHO BELIEVE THEY ARE ONE OF THE STRONGEST BOWLING ATTACKS IN THE LEAGUE WERE NOW VERY UP BEAT AT THE PROSPECT OF HOPEFULLY BOWLING THE ALPS OUT.

JOSH CONWAY AND CHATANYIA MUDUNURI OPENED THE BOWLING AND IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE JOSH TOOK HIS FIRST WICKET THANKS TO A WELL TAKEN CATCH BY CAPTAIN MAGNERS AT MID OFF.

A STAND OF APPROX. 35 RUNS OFF THE NEXT 12 OVERS SHOWED THAT ALPS WERE STEADILY BUILDING AN INNINGS. WITH THE SCORE SLOWLY EDGING UP MIKE INGRAM DECIDED TO MAKE THE FIRST BOWLING CHANGE AND BROUGHT HIMSELF ON.

IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE THE BREAKTHROUGH CAME AS MIKE BROKE THE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AIDE OF AN EXCELLENT CATCH BY DEBUTANT KAKAKAAN.
WITH CHATTY UN PLAYABLE AT ONE END AND MIKE AT THE OTHER THE BATSMEN STRUGGLED AND IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE THEY HAD THEIR NEXT MAN OUT WITH YET ANOTHER TOP CATCH BY RONNIE G. THIS REMOVED THE EVER STUBORN G PATON WHO OBVIOUSLY IS A MAJOR PLAYER WITHIN THE ALPS TEAM.
MIKE THEN TOOK ANOTHER WICKET WITH A CT AND BOWLED(YES ANOTHER CATCH)AND ALPS WERE STRUGGLING FOR 60 FOR 5, AS MIKE CONTINUED HIS SPELL HE TOOK A FURTHER 2 WICKETS WITH THE AIDE OF A FURTHER 2 CATCHES FROM KETAN AND CONWAY AND MIKE FINISHED WITH A 5FER.
SUPRISINGLY CHATTY COULD NOT MAKE ANY BREAKTHROUGHS AT THE OTHER END AND EVENTUALLY HE ENDED HIS FINE SPELL, THIS BROUGHT JOSH CONWAY BACK TO THE WICKET WHERE HE TOOK A FURTHER 2 WICKETS TO END UP WITH 3 WICKETS.
CRAIG SHARP ENDED THE INNINGS WITH A SHORT SPELL OF TOP CLASS OFFSPIN AND HAD 1 MAN CAUGHT AND ANOTHER RUN OUT WITH A SWIFT PIECE OF KEEPING BY "THE BOBBIE".
THIS MEANT THAT MARRESS WOULD BE CHASING A TOTAL OF 127 TO WIN.

AFTER A VERY GOOD TEA BOBBY MCPHEE AND DAVID INGRAM OPENED THE BATTING AND THE ORDER FROM THE CAPTAIN WAS TO TAKE YOUR TIME AND GET THE RUNS SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY.
WITH JUST 5 RUNS ON THE BOARD THE USUALLY CALM AND DEFENSIVE BOBBIE WENT FOR A MASSIVE HIT AND WAS BOWLED.

THE SKIPPER WAS NOW CONCERNED AS MARRESS HAVE A REPUTATION OF COLAPSING WITH THE BAT. MIKE AND DAVID SET OUT AGAINST SOME TIGHT BOWLING TO TRY AND TURN THE ADVANTAGE TO MARRESS. THE TWO OF THEM EDGED, CUT AND PLODDED THROUGH THE NEXT 15 OVERS AND ONLY ADDED 20 RUNS, HOWEVER THIS WAS TO BE THE START OF AN EXCELLENT PARTNERSHIP THAT WOULD GO ON TO WIN MARRESS THE MATCH. BOTH BATSMEN RESISTED THE TEMPTATION TO EXCELLERATE THE RUN RATE AND KEPT COOL HEADS THROUGHOUT.

DAVID WAS FIRST TO REACH HIS 3RD 50 OF THE SEASON AND THIS WAS QUICKLY FOLLOWED BY MIKE. WITH THE SCORE ON 118 MIKE DECIDED TO ATTACK THE BOWLING AND HE HIT A 4 AND A 6 IN CONCECATIVE DELIVERIES TO END THE MATCH AND LEAVING DAVID ON 55 NOT OUT AND MIKE ON 61 NOT OUT (124 PARTNERSHIP).

AN ALL ROUND EXCELLENT PERFOMANCE ESPECIALLY IN THE FIELD AS MARRESS RECORDED AN ALL TIME RECORD OF TAKING 8 CATCHES.

WE ENTERTAIN ARDROSSAN NEXT AT MARRESS AND SIMILAR EFFORTS WILL BE NEEDED TO REPAY THEM FOR THE TONKING THEY GAVE US EARLIER IN THE SEASON.

fixtures

Sat 26 Jul IRVINE v GALLOWAY L
Sat 26 Jul ALPS v MARRESS L

Sat 2 Aug IRVINE v PARTICK L


Sat 9 Aug GLAS. ACCIES v IRVINE L
Sat 9 Aug MARRESS v ARDROSSAN L
Sun 10 Aug IRVINE v HELENSBURGH ST
Sat 16 Aug IRVINE v KELBURNE L
Sat 16 Aug ROUKEN v MARRESS L
Sun 17 Aug Reserve Date ST

Sat 23 Aug HELENSBURGH v IRVINE L

Sat 30 Aug INVERCLYDE v MARRESS L
Sun 31 Aug MARRESS v HILLEND L

Cup finals

Guys

Numbers permitting we are hoping to run a players and supporters bus to the SCU Cup Final which is at Stirling County Cricket Ground in Stirling.

It looks like the cost will remain at £10 return journey for the Bus.

Can you reply to the irvinecricket@aol.com with a reply stating whether you can go. The past few trips have been good fun and would welcome your support again this year for hopefully a winning performance this time.

We need 49 places so first come first served.

We are looking at t shirts as well, again this price has come down from last year at £12 rather than £15 last year as we do not need to pay for the embroidery.

Again if your interested let me know.

Ill try and call you all this week as time means the bus needs to be booked by this Friday.

Ronnie G knows the date of the final and we are avoiding this date for the remaining 2nd X! fixtures.

Thanks for a swift response.

Cheers

Derek

1st XI stats

for latest 1st team stats click here or check the link under navigation. any problems/corrections let me know

2nd Team Teas

In relation to the recent match report, Mrs.Park thanks you for the comments. Mrs.Park has welcomed the comments regarding the selection of sandwiches for tea, and will no longer be serving salmon as an option. She has asked that if anyone else has any preferences e.g. tuna and cucumber, ploughmans, then can someone let the VC know. All serious opinions will be considered.

Mrs.Park will also be looking to put some home-made branston pickle into some sandwiches, if someone wishes this.In light of the success of the home-made jam which appeared to go down well with the team, she is willing to sell jars of this if you wish. Prices start from £1 for 340gms.

MARRESS V INVERCLYDE (20/07/08)

The last match before the league splits into 2 groups. Before the start we knew we still needed 1 pt to be certain of a top 6 finish.

We were desperately hoping to win the toss and field first and therefore we would be almost certain of the minimum points required. With Mike Ingram having a terrible record of winning the toss everyone looked with hope as the coin was tossed, no suprise Inverclyde won it and we were sent into bat.

The opening pair were announced and after 10 minutes Mike lost patience with Shahid( had a problem with his jockey's) as he made the decision to open himself with son David.
The innings got off to a slow start and we quickly realised that Inverclyde had only 1 very good bowler who rarely pitched it badly.
After 5 overs Inverclyde made the breakthrough and had David Ingram LBW for 3 runs( this will dent his average now). Next man in was Shahid as he had finally got his underwear sorted out. Shahid quickly attacked the bowling and he and Captain Magners Ingram were turning the screw and starting to get on top when Shahid went for one too many shots and got a top edge straight to one of their fielders.
Marress were now on 41 for 2, but the skipper was secretly worried as he had seen his team fold tamely when batting first many times before. Next in was VC Derek Park or for some reason nicknamed the ODM. It wasn't long before Inverclyde discovered why he was called this as Derek (The Squirrel) dispatched several big blows to the leg side. With the skipper at the other end, He and the VC quickly moved the score onto 78 before Derek was eventually bowled.
Next in was Ronnie Gilliland and with this brought together the two oldest men on the pitch, with the average age being 45 the quick running between the wickets were bound to stop, or so Ronnie G thought. Next delivery and Mike and Ronnie set of for 4 runs(yes actually runs)and Ronnie had to be giving mouth to mouth to revive him after scampering for the 4 runs. With the two old timers at the crease it looked like Marress were going to get the one point they needed to secure a place in the top ten, when Ronnie G was bowled by a delivery that Shane Warne would be proud of.
With the score on 98 for 4 this brought Josh Conway to the crease, Josh had been struggling in recent weeks and he hoped to put things right. With Josh defending his wicket with ease at one end and Mike attacking at the other, Marress cruised onto 113 before Mike edged one to first slip and he was out for another fine knock of 53.
With the departure of the skipper it seemed likely that we would soon collapse and struggle to get many more runs. Especially as 2 quick wickets followed with the loss of Conway and Cooney.
With the score now 122 for 7 the skipper was not expecting what was about to happen. Messr's Doolan & Mudunuri edged, chipped, blasted and stroked their way to a magnificent 64 partnership before Mudunuri was crazily run out by Jamie Doolan.
The score had now moved onto 186 for 8 and the game complection had changed and swung in favour of Marress. Doolan was joined by young Robbie Ferguson and the 2 of them put on another great stand of 19 and the moved the score onto 205 before Robbie was ct.Jamie Doolan made a PB of 47 not out and held the middle order together, well done Jamie.

After another top rate tea from Mrs Park we set out to try and knock the inverclyde team. It was a slow start and Inverclyde dug deep and battled well and the opening bowlers of Conway and Mudunuri could not get the breakthrough the skipper made the first change and brought on James Cooney, Cooney soon made the breakthrough as he gained the first of 3 wickets, with wickets not coming easily, the skipper made several bowling changes, but struggled to make any impression.
It was quickly becoming obvious that Inverclyde were not going to try and reach the Marress total as they rarely made any attacking shots.Overs went by and Inverclyde coped quite well with everything we threw at them.

A further 2 wickets fell during their innings and the game ended with Inverclyde on 155 for 5.

This result leaves Marress firmly set for the last 5 games against the top 6 and Inverclyde will need to wait and see how results went over the weekend.

We travel to the Alps next week and similar batting will be needed, but we will need to up our game on the field.

Marress v Windyedge (05/07/08)

Marress’ title hopes were virtually bowled over last week against Rouken Glen and Captain “Kopperburg” Mike Ingram was hoping for a good response from his team this weekend against struggling Glasgow Accies 4th 11.
Rain was going to play a part in Saturday’s game and with that in mind Mike was hoping that his strong bowling attack would be able to remove the opposition’s batsmen in quick time and knock over the runs quickly!!! However 10th game of the season and yet again another “loss toss” and Marress were put into bat.
With opening batsman David Ingram returning to the action this week he was given the responsibility to get the innings under way with a rather hung over Bobby McPhee. As the rain poured Marress got off to a great start slowly knocking 3-4 runs an over and were looking rather comfortable. Marress’s previous best opening partnership was Mike Ingram and Adam Pieroni scoring 143 against Glasgow Accies 3rd 11 in 2005 and this pairing was looking good to achieving this record. At the drinks break Marress were 111 without loss and Bobby was on 50 and chasing his own personal record which everyone will know by now was his marvellous 64* against Hillhead in 1994.
After drinks Marress got off to a dodgy start with bad calling between the wickets, David managed to run two whilst Bobby shouted “NO” to an easy single past the bowler and luckily the fielder threw the ball to the wrong end and David managed to scramble back to his crease. However, Bobby wasn’t so lucky and ran himself out a few balls later on an impressive 51 and more importantly an opening partnership of 112 almost double last weeks efforts for the whole team. Next in was “Old Man” Ingram and he quickly stamped his authority to the game with a top edge for 6 and another two 4’s off one over. David quickly achieved his 50 shortly after, although some dodgy counting did delay it a little, and was then trapped lbw trying to play a silly shot across the line of a straight ball. At 154-2 everything was going well until two quick wickets came for Josh and the reliable Ronnie G, both miss reading deliveries. At 160-4 the game was in the balance until “The Squirrel(or is it Rameesh Raja)” entered the pitch. He saw off some early deliveries and then decided to smash the opening bowler for two 4’s in two deliveries and he was on his way. The score reached 196 and unfortunately Derek was caught going for another big hit on 21, a new personal best for the vice captain who was in great display during his innings. This allowed Cooney to try and prove his acquisitions as a batsman and not just a bowler and with some positive words from Derek, I quote: “Don’t worry everyone else has scored runs just make sure you don’t get a duck or your batting 11 next week!!!” After a few nervous deliveries Cooney cut a decent bowl for four and was off the mark. Mike had decided in the 41st over that he wanted everyone to get a bat so he went after every delivery as if he was going to hit it out the park but the only thing he was hitting was thin air and luckily for him the bowling was just wide off the off stump. The rain came in the 43rd over so both captains agreed to delay the game until the rain had stopped again.
Shortly after play resumed and with Mike realising that he was on 44 he decided to calm his innings down a little and ensure that he hit his second 50 of the season. He managed to do so relatively quickly and then the next delivery he was caught leaving David with a smile on his face that he had yet again out scored his dad. The Doc was next in, and was then next out first ball after some confusion(you need to read the rules, Ronnie G can help you there) on his part that he didn’t realise that his foot must cross the line and not be on it!!! Cooney and Adam both failed to make any impact scoring just 8 runs between them but newly signed player Ketan hit a massive 6 out the ground and some nice shots to rush on to a quick 12 and was then sadly bowled. Ally managed to stay not out again and his run of 11 matches and only being out once, which he claims was the bats fault, continues. The score ended on a remarkable 254 a.o, which Kaptain Kopperburg was extremely happy about at the teatime break.
After an exceptional tea thanks to Mrs Park (Derek’s mum not wife!!!) the Marress bowling attack felt really confident of finishing the opposition off rather quickly, although we had already lost two players to a tea party and one had to go and stand under his girlfriends thumb!!! The Doc and Josh opened the bowling and in the second over Josh had quickly dismissed one of the openers for a duck. After some poor bowling by Chatty, Mike give him a little warning that he might be coming off by warming up and practicing a few deliveries but Chatty wasn’t going to give up that easily by clean bowling their number 3. Josh continued his good start with dismissing their other opener but started to run out of puff. So captain Mike decided that it was to be the Ingram attack and with David being short of form this season with the ball was a huge risk to bowl him so early in the innings. With Mike having a back problem he decided not to bowl his usual 80 mph swinging deliveries and bowl spin??? Or Bobby called it slow pish!!! However, whatever it was it was effective with him bowling 9 overs for just 12 runs and picking up 3 wickets in the process. Son, David, at the other end started off really slowly and bowled some really sub standard stuff and it took him until the third over to get into a rhythm and took 2 wickets for 26 runs in his spell. Ketan bowled a good line and length to frustrate the batsman to allow Marress’s secret weapon D.P to bowl just two balls to finish off the innings. Windyedge only managed to score 91 runs, however it was a really good performance from Marress who are still hoping for promotion this season. There is no game next weekend however our final game before the league splits is on the same day as the Scottish Cup Semi Final so 1st 11 captain Stuart will have a dilemma on wither he wants a higher standard of cricket for his second team or a Cup final for the second year in a row???
The MOM award for this match was a tough decision, but after several days of deliberation it has been awarded to David Ingram for another fine opening batting display and a good bowling return.

Additional Webpage

Folks,

For those that don't know, I have recently created an "Irvine Cricket Club" page on the social networking site "Bebo".

This can be accessed by going to:

http://www.bebo.com/irvinecc

For comments to be added to the above webpage, you must register details with Bebo.

In line with this blog, all comments will be moderated.

5s

Folks,

I have provisionally booked the 5s at Irvine Royal from end August-start April 2009, at 2030hrs every Thursday.

However, there are one or two things needed for the football to be a success again:

a) A ball (which I don't have). I'll purchase a replica Euro 2008 ball for this.
b) Goalkeeping Gloves for Deky "the Gardener/silver old-fox" Neil. For those that don't know, Deky played a game last year in goals, wearing gloves that should really have been used when pruning rosebushes.
c) Coaching for Peter Gilchrist from Stewart, with specific reference to passing the ball.

With reference to the dream-team, under 30s, there isn't anything that needs addressed, other than Tony the Tiger ensuring that his hair, is kept to a reasonable length.

ROUKEN GLEN V MARRESS (28-06-08)

WITH MARRESS SITTING 2ND IN THE LEAGUE AND ROUKEN GLEN IN 4TH, IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE LIKELY THAT ROUKEN GLEN WOULD WANT THE GAME TO GO AHEAD AT ALL COST.
SETTING OFF FROM IRVINE WITH THE RAIN LASHING DOWN, IT SEEMED ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE THAT WE WOULD BE PLAYING ANY CRICKET TODAY. AS WE DROVE CLOSER TO THE GROUND THE CLOUDS BEGAN TO OPEN AND IT WAS IF WE WERE IN ANOTHER WORLD, THE SUN WAS ALMOST SHINING AND THERE WAS NO RAIN. THE GROUND HAD OBVIOUSLY HAD RAIN ON IT AT SOME POINT(THE PUDDLES ON THE PITCH GAVE THIS AWAY) YET THE WICKET WAS FINE.
AFTER A DELAYED START THE SKIPPERS TOSSED THE COIN AND MIKE INGRAM FOR MARRESS WON IT. THE TEAM HAD TALKED ABOUT BATTING PRIOR TO THE TOSS AS WE APPEARED TO HAVE A VERY STRONG BATTING LINE UP. NORMALLY THE SKIPPER WOULD ALWAYS OPT TO FIELD FIRST,BUT ON THIS OCCASION HE DECIDED TO BAT(TURNED OUT TO BE A BIG MISTAKE).
MARRESS OPENED WITH SHARP AND MUDUNURI AND IT WAS SOON REALISED WHY ROUKEN GLEN HAD BEEN STEADILY PROGRESSING UP THE LEAGUE, THEY HAD POSSIBLY 2 OF THE BEST BOWLERS IN THE LEAGUE. IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE MARRESS WERE IN TROUBLE AND LOSING WICKETS FOR VERY FEW RUNS. WICKET AFTER WICKET FELL AND EVEN THE ADDITION OF TOP BATSMAN ROBBIE STEWART COULDN'T DO MUCH AGAINST THE ROUKEN GLEN ATTACK AND EVENTUALLY WE WERE ALL OUT FOR A PATHETIC 61 RUNS.

A QUICK TURN AROUND AND WE SET OUT TO TRY AND GET A QUICK BREAKTHROUGH AND IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE WE GOT OUR FIRST WICKET. OPENING BOWLERS CONWAY AND MUDUNURI BOWLED A GOOD LINE AND AT ONE STAGE WE HAD THE OPOSITION 54 FOR 7 AND WERE STILL IN WITH A SLIM CHANCE OF POSSIBLE VICTORY. SADLY WE COULD NOT GET ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH AND THEY STUMBLED OVER THE WINNING LINE.
ON REFLECTION THE WINNING OF THE TOSS WAS VITAL AND A LESSON WAS LEARNT (DO NOT BAT FIRST) AS WE SEEM TO BE A BETTER TEAM WHEN CHASING A SCORE.

THIS DEFEAT HAS BLOWING THE LEAGUE WIDE OPEN FOR WHAT WOULD APPEAR TO BE A 5 HORSE RACE FOR THE SECOND SPOT.

WE WELCOME THE VISIT OF WINDYEDGE NEXT WEEK, DEFEAT IS UNTHINKABLE AND A MASSIVE EFFORT IS NEEDED BY ALL.

I WILL BE LOOKING FOR A GOOD TURNOUT AT TRAINING THIS WEEK AND ANY ONE WHO FAILS TO TURN UP MAY BE DROPPED FOR THIS IMPORTANT MATCH.