Controversy at Steyning in the 2nd XI

After the 1st XI away game had been washed out on Saturday we went back and watched the end of the 2nd XI game v Wisborough Green.   Chasing 155, Steyning had to come off after about a dozen overs or so due to a shower and then again after 24 overs, by which time it looked like a game that Steyning were highly likely to win.   Needless to say the Wisborough skipper was reluctant to continue after the second rain break and he suggested that the conditions were dangerous.   

 

Part of his argument was that one of his players, fielding at gully, had been hit flush on the side of the head shortly before the second shower came.   His suggestion was that the conditions had caused the player to get hit, but the reality was that the player simply shouldn't have been fielding there - most players on the pitch would have caught it, or at the very least dropped it having got their hands to it.   That he didn't was a reflection of his skill rather than the conditions.

To make matters worse, Wisborough had no umpire which left the decision making down to the sole umpire from Steyning.   Not surprisingly he had the Steyning side in his ear suggesting play continue and the Wisborough skipper suggesting it shouldn't!

In the end, the Wisborough captain conceded the game rather than continue which seemed a very strange decision.   He was still suggesting that the conditions were too dangerous to play, so I took a few photos of the conditions, complete with clock so it's clear that at least another hour of play would have been  possible.

 From the square

 From the clubhouse

 One wicket end

And the other!

The question no one was quite able to answer was why you'd choose voluntarily to spend much of your Saturday playing cricket but then suddenly not want to play part way through.   The likelihood of losing surely doesn't answer that one because he conceded the points anyway so theoretically the Wisborough skipper must have genuinely thought it was too dangerous to play.   If so, he was very wrong, which the photos demonstrate.

However it came about, a good win for Steyning 2s, who are top of their league.

Fast start

 Steyning just a touch ahead of the run rate in their Twenty20 last night, chasing 136...

 

Things looking up at Steyning...

 

Having lost last year's opening bowler to a Premier League club after he got into the Sussex Academy, we needed to strengthen the Steyning squad this year.   And things weren't looking ideal until the last week or two when it's all started to come together!   So on Saturday we have our new "overseas" player, Ramesh Subasinghe, playing alongside Owain Jones, who is currently playing against Worcestershire for Oxford UCCE.   ("Overseas" isn't really accurate - he's registered as an overseas player, but lives in Barnet).

 

Owain won't play that many games given other commitments, but Ramesh will be around for all matches assuming he stays fit, and he comes with his friend Sunil Bhatt who can only play every other week, due to work commitments (Sunil's not an overseas player).   Two weeks ago Sunil scored 52 off 33 balls for Horsham v Eastbourne before choosing to join us, so that's certainly encouraging.

 

From nowhere it looks like we'll have a pretty strong side if the rest of the squad sort out their availability (people going to watch football in the cricket season still drives me insane!!).   Ramesh bowls 80mph apparently so I just hope I can cling on to the odd slip catch when the league starts on Saturday!   And check out the backdrop we'll be playing against....

All out for 6!

 

Had to post this piece about a Somerset team all out for 6 - I don't think 6 is that bad!

So far this season we've been 15-4, 7-3 and 20-4 (same match) and 22-3 at Steyning.   I'm worried that 6 all out isn't that far away!

Younger, younger and younger again...

You're probably getting sick of me saying how young the Steyning 1st XI is, but surely this is some kind of record for a league 1st team - if it isn't it should be! On Saturday, we fielded a side where 36 out of 47 overs were bowled by under 19s and 6 wickets were taken by 14 year-olds.

Sam Grant, 15 - 14 overs, Mike Brown, 19 - 5 overs, David Croshaw, 14 - 6 overs, Lawrence Green, 14 - 11 overs.

Incredible really. And Lawrence Green is a leg-spinner who bowled with fielders all round the bat at all times and still only went at less than 4 an over.

Moaning about the U19 over limits (again!)

It does my head in as a skipper. We've got two 19 year-olds who love bowling and hate the fact that they have to end their spells after 7 overs of slow-medium bowling (the keeper stands up for both of them). They're without doubt not even vaguely tired but they have to come off. One of them opened the bowling and had 4 for 27 so had to give up the chance of a 5 for. The other came on first change and had 3 for 6 from his 7 overs of slow medium. You can view the scorecard here.

Fortunately it looks like we're going to get through this period without losing them to non-cricket related activities on a Saturday as next year they'll be able to bowl normal spells of unlimited length. But one of them in particular moans all the time about not being able to bowl longer spells - it can't be good for cricket that keen youngsters are kept from maximising their role in adult sides.

As a skipper it creates farcical situations - when selecting we have to consider how many "unlimited" bowlers we have as it can become very problematical if all your seamers are subject to the 7 over maximum rule. And when in the field I have to consider giving batsmen in the top 5 of the opposition 1, just so our one strike bowler, who is 15, gets to bowl at the opposition's best batsmen before he has to come off.

It's a crazy situation to be in and I've got a simple solution - keep the maximum overs per day but lose the maximum per spell. A maximum number of overs per spell surely increases the chances of injury as players have to warm up 2 or 3 times and if a bowler is tired the skipper will take them off anyway as they'll be costing the team runs. That would ensure that young bowlers really enjoy playing a full part in adult cricket. It seems particularly unfair on bowlers - no-one hauls our U16 opening batsman, who leads the league runs, off after he's scored 50 - he's allowed to bat all day....

More on player discipline...

My County Sussex have been quick to do exactly as I suggested counties would do following the James Foster ban and have demonstrated to all that they take discipline seriously by issuing a statement about how they are disciplining Murray Goodwin. You'll note that there is no actual punishment for Goodwin though - just a verbal ticking off for now.

Interesting view from Derek Pringle yesterday too. He hopes that the push for greater player discipline may bring the umpire back to the centre of the game. Which got me thinking....has the crass implementation of the UDRS by the ICC and national boards led to a loss of respect for umpires? I certainly don't think it can help that players get to review decisions rather than umpires having sole discretion on when to use technology.

And Pringle also raises drinking with umpires after the close of play. That's something that has dropped off in club cricket too in my experience, although I do sometimes share a pint with an umpire or both of them.

Pints or not, it appears that under my watch Steyning won't be retaining the Sussex League fair play award, but I'm at a loss as to what I could have done differently to achieve a 10 out of 10!

Steyning win back Cup...

We play for a Cup annually against Horsham and they've been holding it since 2003, so it was nice to win the Cup back yesterday. Doubly nice because we came back from the dead when they were 164-2 chasing 244 and well ahead of the rate required, and trebly nice because at a crucial point in the match one of their guys didn't walk for a caught behind and it's good when cheats don't prosper!

And after my TFC in the Cricketer Cup for OMTs, it was also nice to play a leading role...

One Stump Challenge

Do you reckon you could hit? The other day the local paper came to Steyning to see if any of us could hit one stump....the results weren't good!

Watch the "Pinnacle Sport and Leisure One Stump Challenge at Steyning Cricket Club" for yourself.

A club captain's woes

This piece about a club captain's availability problems reminded me of captaining OMTs! These days at Steyning the availability problems on a Saturday are less, but there's still the same issue about netting mid-week....even a club where many are a stone's throw from the ground struggles to get their 1st team to all train midweek these days for entirely justifiable reasons (sometimes!). On Tuesday I was stuck in London with work and following a couple of losses we've gone for an additional net tonight, which will be on the artificial surface as the under 13s are using the middle....if it doesn't rain.

Fingers crossed on the turnout....

Batting with a runner

I don't remember having to use a runner before but that's what happened on Saturday and it was a bit of a surreal experience sitting on my bat handle at point as my runner and batting partner decided to do the old yes, no, sorry routine with my wicket at stake! Fortunately start, stop, start, stop, start resulted in one run successfully taken and I was able to resume my innings although I soon snicked off to first slip unfortunately.

A strained right quad meant that I was able to bowl and stand at slip but understandably there were question marks from the opposition after I'd needed the runner to bat. But the only thing I couldn't do was sprint, so fingers crossed, I'll be able to carry on playing as normal but perhaps have to deal in boundaries when batting! We got the win we needed to start the season though.

Strange selection issues at Steyning

Sorting out the Steyning sides last night was a very strange experience. I'm used to discussing potential names that could be approached in a desperate attempt to fill out the bottom side, knowing that 9 is the minimum needed to get a side out. Once you have 9 the game can go ahead, and there's always the chance of finding someone from a pub, club etc (I remember getting my 11th for a Sunday match in a London night club about a decade ago).

Last night, the discussion at Steyning was all about who would get left out from the 3rd XI, the bottom side. Good honest club cricketers, available throughout the season, might not get a game this Saturday. What a problem to have! It's not quite as simple as just adding a side, although the numbers suggest we could, because Steyning have only one pitch. But as we have a thriving Colts section that just keeps churning out players good enough to play adult cricket, we're no doubt going to have to overcome that and create a 4th XI at some point.

Talking of the thriving Colts section, selecting the 1st XI involved picking two under 16s and narrowly leaving out an under 17. It comes to something when a player has the 95 extension to his email address to indicate the year in which he was born, and yet he isn't the youngest in a side selected entirely on merit. Rather than let anyone point it out I will make the point for you - yes, those two players are less than half my age!

Geoff Miller - professional speaker

Attending the Sussex League dinner on Friday, the highlight was the speech of Geoff Miller, who had the audience laughing. One player at the table next to me commented that he was more like a stand up comedian than a Chairman of Selectors, so definitely worth listening to if you get the opportunity.

What award was Steyning up for? We were winners of the inaugural Fair Play award of course!

KP needs some Steyning advice

Kevin Pieterson's efforts to gain some form ahead of the Ashes don't seem to be going too well. Last week he could only manage 36 in the Dolphin's draw against the Warriors and today he has succumed to a 2nd ball duck against the Titans. Perhaps he should seek some advice from former Steyning wicketkeeper Daryn Smit who's recent form for the Dolphins has seen him score 47, 101 and 56* in his last three first class innings.

Congratulations to OMTs...

...who managed to put right last year's relegation by bouncing straight back up to Div 4 of the TVL. And with Jonny Walter scoring a hundred, and Adam Uttley taking 5 wickets there will have been two people buying the beer on Saturday night!

Steyning can look back on some near misses and a season that petered out in the end despite a good win on Saturday, but if we can bolster the side with an overseas player next year, we'll be there or there abouts....

Out to a World Cup winner...

Playing for a Steyning XI against the President's XI on Monday I was asked to open the batting and was just getting going when this guy I'd been introduced to before we walked on the pitch as "Giles" came on to bowl. Giles Hayward seemed a bit "tommy trundle" to me so after playing an over I tried to hit him over the top and got caught at mid-on. "Good bowler" isn't he, someone said. I thought it was more batsman error, but apparently Giles was man-of-the-match for England Under 19s when they won the World Cup in 99 as this article from back in 2004 reveals (written pre Shah and Swann playing Test cricket!).

It's not every day you get out to a World Cup winner....

Ed's bowling

I'm looking forward to Ed's next post. Perhaps he might like to explain these bowling figures from yesterdays Steyning game against local rivals Littlehampton. Ed?


Bowling
O M R W Nb Wd

Luke Chapman 11 2 55 1 0 2
William Buckley 7 2 31 1 0 1
Sam Grant 3 0 15 0 0 0
Christopher Watt 5.3 0 41 2 0 1
Minh Nguyen 13.3 1 55 1 0 0
Ed Lamb 1 0 62 1 0 0

Silly ages

I've never played in a league cricket team with such young players as yesterday - makes me feel distinctly old at 32 (which I still feel is roughly my batting prime, even if my bowling and particularly fielding are a lot worse than in the past)! The winning league team I played in yesterday for Steyning included Hywel Jones, 15; Matt Sewell, 18 and captain; Lee Mottershead, 15; Sam Grant, 14 and Luke Chapman, 18. Bodes really well for the future of Steyning CC, as does the thriving Colts section.

I'll go and collect my zimmer frame now....

"Spin twins"

Opponents of Steyning over the last three weeks have had to deal with a tall non-spinning off-spinner from one end and a "smaller than average" (I resisted the word midget!) chinaman bowler from the other. I imagine there's rarely - if ever - been more variety from two slow bowlers bowling in tandem....!

Worrying images of Steyning CC

Diddy Kennett's butt crack....and two ex-Steyning CC 1st XI skippers getting over Rob Green's howler....