HAMPTON HILL CRICKET CLUB

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17-18 July

17-18 July

20 Jul 2021

1st XI beat Cobham Avorians by 17 runs

 

No concerns over the forecast this week as the blazing sun adorned a picturesque setting at ‘The Hill’. Another eagerly anticipated Top 4 battle ensued, the two sides previous fixture was abandoned due to rain earlier in the season. HH were well on their way to posting a respectable total. It was mutually agreed by the squad that there was some unfinished business to attend to.

 

Sadly, we have now learned to except our Skippa’s shortfalls with the coin, despite his many hours of practice. HH were put into bat on a deck which looked to have something in it for both bat and ball, buckle up for this one folks, it is one hell of a ride.

Jamie ‘Sonos’ Sones opened ‘The Hill’s’ account with a booming cover drive, arguably the shot of the day but he sadly lost his wicket the next over to a ‘good seed’, the new pill cutting in sharply.

 

JNS ‘Lego Burglar’ & Richard ‘Benoit’ Bennett battled in sweltering conditions, the Sri Lankan contingent of the CA bowled with decent pace and accuracy. As the run rate started to pick up JNS got a questionable LBW decision (it always is). This was followed by a positive flourish from Tommy H caught in two minds on whether to use the wrists to whip a fullish delivery which just managed to sneak through.

 

At 36/3 ‘Benoit’ anchoring one end, ‘The Hill’ would need another blinding performance from one of its newly promoted players and that is exactly what they got. Tom ‘TC’ Coates established a solid foundation and confidently began to strike the ball to all parts of the ground. This is exactly what he has been doing for the 2’s and how he likes to play his cricket, scoring a well-earned 59.

 

It must be said that this is the second week running that a promoted player has come into the side and scored a half century. Testament to the depth of ‘In house’ talent at the club with a thriving competitive environment. All at a bargain price of £0, Appy days!

Jack ‘Jos’ Baverstock came in with his usual impetus scoring a highly valuable 39. Great running between the wickets and a selection of inventive shots, partnering well with the tail end. HH concluded their innings on 202 meaning they would have 48 overs to bowl out their opposition.

 

James ‘Shagger’ Boulton and returning Jack ‘Fu’ Fullicks took the new ball, both looking for early wickets to build an advantage for ‘The Hill’. It seemed the Sri Lankan contingent of CA would carry similar responsibility with the bat as well as the ball. Their opening pair looking to get them off to a quick start.

 

The ‘Fu’ had other ideas, bowling good pace, clean bowling one of their openers. He showed good character and experience after initially going for an expensive over. The ‘Shagger’ continued his great form with the ball removing the rest of the top order with sharp swing bowling. Exemplary figures and a sterling effort in tropical conditions (14 overs 5 maidens 24 runs 3 wickets 1.71 econ).

 

The game remained in the balance with both sides looking for maximum points, CA hopes rested with Kumudu Prashad who began to unleash a few hefty blows. The other seamers despite their best efforts could not find the breakthrough ‘The Hill’ needed. Enter the ‘Lego Burglar’ with his flight and guile in tandem with Harry ‘H’ Coates’s disciplined tight lines. The spin option from both ends paid huge dividends, ‘H’ getting the prize wicket of KP on 55 and JNS finding the old set of keys to the Shanghai Maglev decimating CA’s tail end securing the 5’fer a heroic captains spell.

 

24 BOOBS! UP THE HILL!

 

Player of the Match: Tom Coates with a fine 59 off 86 deliveries

 

2nd XI beat Kempton by 7 wickets

 

On a scorching day the 2s travelled just a few minutes down the road to Kempton, a team already dispatched once this year and languishing down towards the bottom of the table. Having been frustrated last week by a dogged Arjun, captain Ports was eager to win the all-important coin toss in these timed games. So, our ingenious leader decided to canvas the team WhatsApp for what call to make, 5-4 for heads came back and heads is how it landed, first blood to the Hill, we’ll have a bowl. 

The first 2 overs lasted roughly 7 minutes in total, Evs bowling his in one minute and taking 30 strides, Murts taking 6 minutes, including 30 strides per follow through! The Hill started well though, including against a former teammate in Alex Rice who had turned to the darkside due to convenience of location. Murts picked up one scalp during his 10km and bowled very tightly. From the other end Evs was replaced by the scorer… said scorer then proceeded to take 6 wickets bowling fantastically and giving nothing away. A standout wicket was that of their number 3, who after playing and missing a huge swing laid down the challenge to Bobby F saying, “next ball” and suggesting a Livingstone-esq mixer was on its way, challenge accepted, the next ball splattered his off pole… Let’s just hope that the scorer’s midweek injury heals by 10:45 next Saturday at home against Maori…

The remaining 3 wickets were picked up by the younger brother Fullicks, Sam. The Hill especially enjoyed a wicket were Sam delightfully flighted the ball above the batsmen’s eye line inducing the heave, only to lose his off bail. 

Kempton finished 93 all out, considerably later than they should have! This was caused by both the Kempton’s batsmen Jonathan Trott-esq tactics and their love of a nibble! This author is always after a nice game on a Saturday, and this has rarely been challenged so much!

The Hill’s innings got off to a positive start, before JC was given out box before wicket. This brought Sam and Duffle together to the crease and they brought the Hill to within 10 of their target. Sam playing some excellent lofted drives and Coates enjoying the short square boundaries. Unfortunately, Duff’s average took a beating as he missed a straight full toss, JJ also fell before the end before Ports sealed the victory. 

24 well-earned points from an excellent team performance. The Hill go marching on and solidify their place at the top of the table. Up the Hill

 

Player of the Match: Sam Fullicks 3-16 and 39*

 

3rd XI beat Farnham by 29 runs

 

On a hot, cloudless day with little to no breeze, Hampton Hill’s finest performer was Farnham skipper Dan Steele, who called incorrectly allowing stand-in skipper Andrew Sykes to choose to bat. This was a decision which quickly became questioned, with The Hill falling to 22-3, with Oisin, ENS (his weekend would improve), and Nigel Harman all falling cheaply. Upon his eventual arrival (Midday meet, 1:15 presence made), Ajmal set to work rebuilding the innings with Omar, and whilst runs were hard to come by, the Farnham bowlers were clearly starting to tire in the oppressive heat. Alas, it truly was a good day for a BBQ, with a chaotic bit of running resulting in Omar having to take his leave. Weeks and Carr both played handy cameos; however, both fell to Neil French, who’s brand of off spin resulted in speed guns being holstered for calendars. Both men bowled whilst working out what shot to play, remembering upcoming birthdays, and experiencing the crippling anxiety of wondering whether they had left the iron on, before the ball loped into the stumps. Ajmal fell for a well-made and ultimately crucial 46, with captain Sykes chipping in to take The Hill’s total to 160-8. 

The Hill’s defence started well, with the metronomic and indefatigable Taz taking two early wickets, bowled and caught behind being no better measure of the areas the great man was hitting. Farnham regrouped however, and at 70-2 it looked like things could slip away. Carr and Oisin then combined to deliver three maidens on the bounce, leading The Hill’s loquacious gloveman Weeks to quip between overs ‘Glenn McGrath said that if you bowled three maidens then chances are you’d take a wicket in the next one’. Anyway, two balls later Osian took a handy caught & bowled from a forced shot, and The Hill were back in it. Two quick wickets fell to the spin of Carr and Ayley, however once again The Hill were thwarted by the stoicism and grit of the Farnham lower order. At 127-5 needing 34 to win, things looked bleak, but Omar and Weeks combined to produce a fine runout (Good to see the grill operating all day), and the return of Taz saw Farnham collapse to 131ao, with Taz picking up his Michelle with the last ball of his allocation.

 

Player of the Match: Tahir Butt 5-10

 

4th XI beat Priory Park by 3 wickets

 

On a very hot afternoon Hill 4s travelled to Harrow to play Priory Park 2’s. Losing the toss and once the sun cream and water were onboard, Hill were asked to bowl. The skipper with plenty of bowling in his armoury opened with a mix of seam and spin, with Tommy and Sury pegging back the Priory Park openers. It wasn’t long before wickets fell with Tommy picking up some real steam and at drinks PP were 38/6 from 20. In the second 20 it was excellent for the skipper to be able to get all his bowlers in action, with 7 of the team turning their arm. Things stifled a little with one batsman hitting out for a while. But 2 great catches from Felix and Sury and a direct hit run out from Sury moved things on. Ben Blackshire got into wickets and skipper Jerry finished them off with 2, cleaning up the set batsman and lighting up their sparking stumps again. 

 

After a decent break Hill opened nicely with Owens and Burke getting us to 30 without loss. Then wickets started to fall and there was the possibility of a 4s collapse. But with the solid Bavs in role and some firm hitting from Burke Hill moved on. With 6 down Hill got over the line with the winning boundary hit by POTM Tommy Rance. 

 

It should be mentioned though that the bowling of our colts Tommy, Felix, Sury, Will and Ben was outstanding. Backed up by Sam and Jerry this was a team performance with the whole team backing the bowlers and being vocal in the field. Well Done Guys 

 

Player of the Match: Tommy Rance 3-3 off 7 overs including 4 maidens.

 

5th XI lost to Crossbats by 7 wickets


On a baking hot Saturday afternoon, it was a bit of a family affair in the fifths with late team changes meaning there were 3 Bush's, 2 Zonneveld's and 2 Steel's playing. I think that Lewis, Phil, Niall and Ben were disappointed that their other family members weren't selected....

Crossbats, as usual, retained the same mix of players that the Hill has seen in previous games. And it came as no surprise when they won the toss and decided to have a go in the field... 

This gave the opportunity for the Zonners opening partnership to take their first bow. Unfortunately, it didn't last long as Charlie, got a delivery that most would have missed, but he managed to get an edge on through to first slip. That brought Lewis to the crease with Pete, but not for long as Pete went chasing a wide one. The wickets then tumbled a bit at the other end from Lewis, with Niall and Phil going cheaply before Lewis went himself. That brought together Joseph and Mae, with Joe scoring freely and Mae digging in. A partnership of 47 ensued until Joe went for one more big one and was bowled for a very good 31. After that, the youngsters Ben and Will found the crowding of the bat difficult to score from and in the end HHCC ended 130 all out leaving one over unused...

What was needed in the field was a good start, and we got one, with Mae bowling the Crossbats no.1 for 0. She then picked up another lbw, but despite tight bowling from Freddie no more wickets fell, and the Crossbats Skinner brother partnership added the runs diligently... Great bowling from the youngsters Will and Ben didn't get the results deserved, with Joe following his brother in keeping an end tight.

Crossbats were looking comfortable until Niall step up to inject some proper pace into the bowling attack. The sheer pace dealt with on of the brothers as he top edged high to be caught by Lewis. However, it wasn't enough, and the opposition reached the total with 6 overs to spare, 30 more runs and it might have been a different story...

 

Player of the Match: goes to Joseph Steel (31 runs), without whom the game would have been finished much earlier. Honourable mentions to Mae for her 2 wickets and Lewis for 19 runs and being excellent behind the stumps.

 

6th XI beat Kingstonians by 4 wickets

 

Kingstonian won the toss and elected to bat. 


The Hill got off to a great start with Ellie and Louis restricting Kingstonian to 18-1 off the opening 9 overs. This was continued by Arsh Ahuja and Alec Barry who then had the opposition at 20-2. Kingstonian fought back with a good 3rd wicket partnership of 74 before Charlie Murphy made the breakthrough with 2 wickets in an over. Kingstonian rebuilt again with a 5th wicket partnership of 40 before their opening batsmen retired not out on 79.
A run out from Arsh with a direct hit from square leg started a mini collapse as HHCC looked to mop up the tail quickly which included a great spell from Freddie Blair picking up 2 wickets.

At the close HHCC had restricted Kingstonian to 174-8. All bowlers performed well with the pick being Freddie Blair with 2-15 and Charlie Murphy 2-24. Catches were taken by a diving Alec Barry at Mid-off, Farooq Bosan and Arsh Ahuja.

The chase got off to a good start with an opening stand of 95 before Farooq was trapped LBW for 50. Some aggressive batting and fine stroke play then followed from Freddie (17), Sudipta Das (24) and Arsh (17no) helping HHCC chase 174 in an impressive 30 overs.
Brilliant team performance with bat and ball with contributions throughout the team.
Mentions for Farooq (50) Charlie 2-24 and Arsh 1-17, a catch, a run out and 17no including hitting the winning runs, but player of the match goes to Freddie Blair. Well played all!

 

Player of the MatchFreddie Blair for his 2-15 and 17

 

Sunday Away XI lost to Old Paulines by 52 runs

 

Taz took a wicket in the first over with a beauty and he and Tommy Rance restricted Old Paulines to 19 in the first 10 overs.  Dave Castor made inroads with 3 wickets around the first drinks break.  Old Paulines then pressed on partly due to a well-made 71 from Simon Burke who guested for Old Paulines.  Sures Lala also impressed with 66*.  Tommy Rance’s good spell was rewarded by 3 wickets at the death. 

The Hill’s response never really threatened but was respectable.  Omar Saleemi led the way with 85 and Sandeep (42) and Taz (24) were the other contributors.  Simon Burke took 4 wickets.

Roger arranged Simon’s guesting for the opposition, lost the toss and made a duck - must do better!

Thanks are due to Charlotte Rance for helping with the scoring.

 

Player of the Match: Omar Saleemi with a fine 85

 

U21 XI lost to Richmond by 6 wickets

 

Temperatures of up to 32 degrees greeted the players in Sunday’s R70 Abellio Transport derby, and to the joy of the home players, Sam Fullicks won the toss and elected to bat. Joy soon turned to despair however as Kash had his furniture rearranged, bringing ENS to the crease. Those of you who indulged in the 3rd XI match report will have noticed that his weekend got better, and together with Alex Bush’s sublime stroke making, the fifty partnership was achieved. Upon Alex’s departure, Duffs made his way to the crease and another fifty partnership was forged before Duffs holed out to long-on, having already treated himself to some pick’n mix and going in for a second helping. What followed was something of a mini collapse, with The Hill falling from 111-2 to 128-6, including the wicket of ENS who fell for a superb 55. The Somerset contingent of Weeks and Murton set about rebuilding in limited time, the former managing to garner a broken bat to go alongside his broken heart from the night before. At stumps The Hill had scrambled to 166-9, an improvement on last week, but left somewhat wanting after the good start.

In reply Richmond got off to a steady start, with Oscar unable to find the radar. Mike Murton followed up his cameo with the bat with a fine spell of new ball bowling, going for just 8 off his five overs. Sammy Fu bought himself on to bowl and achieved a breakthrough with Lewis Cole taking a fine catch stood up. Richmond did not falter however, taking the score to 63 before Harry Tonge took a wicket on his U21 debut. The Hill were always in trouble however, and that was compounded by Vaansh playing in a style reminiscent of Ian Bell in his prime, to which The Hill attack had no answer. Although Kash picked up a consolation wicket with a superb variation ball, the writing was on the wall for The Hill, our total picked off with nine overs to spare. 

Special mention to Rob Fullicks, who kindly umpired for us in the hellish conditions.

 

Player of the Match: Edward Newton-Savage with a fine 55

 

Hampton Hill away 2nd XI beat Seven Sport by 7 wickets

With the sun shining on one of the hottest days of the year. The Hill travelled to the realms of Chertsey to take on the 11 men of Seven Sports. 

With everyone eager to bat first, the captain walked out confidently to the middle, with the hopes of sitting in the shade watching the opening batsman take apart their bowling attack. As the coin came down to earth, so did the very same confidence, said captain had walked out with. To the field we went. 

The opening duo of Arsh Ahuja and Peter Zonneveld, started strong. With a deck like nothing we had ever seen before and a ball that would not bounce higher than a foot, the wickets came quickly. 

With Seven Sports 11-3, Arsh was taken out of the attack and the captain decided to bowl himself to try and make a game of it, with usual figures that resemble a rugby score, the shock came when the first ball of his spell took the 4th wicket. Even more shock as wickets continued to go in his favour, with a couple coming from balls that only got half a foot off the ground, the Hill had seven sports 8 wickets down with only 40 on the board. Will Aust and Kishor came into the attack to finish off the rest of the batsmen, with some good fielding from the team and a good slip catch from Chris Warrens, the Hill limited Seven Sports to 61.

Going straight back out on the field to bat, the opening pair of Niall Carr and Charlie Zonneveld got the hill off to a good start, however both falling to the sword (deck) early on. This saw Dharamvir Puri and Chris Warrens come out to the crease to finish the game off. With the deck how it was, it was good to see both keep out the low balls with Dharamvir using the sweep shot to his advantage, dispatching many a bad ball for 4, with 3 runs needed, Chris fell to a shooter and Nish came out with the dreams of finishing off the game with one spectacular shot. Unfortunately for him it was the end of the over and Puri only needed 2 balls to find the boundary shot the Hill needed. The Hill win by 7 wickets. 

 

Player of the Match: Dharamvir Puri with an excellent knock of 38 off 39.