1st XI beat Byfleet by 8 Wickets
The Hampton Hill players awoke bright and early from their limited slumber in order to prepare the ground for the visit of Byfleet. The previous two days had been extremely wet and although little further rain was forecast, the Hill were concerned they might not have the opportunity to take 20 points off the winless basement club. The early start was especially a struggle for some of the Hill players due to the fact that England had played Scotland the night before, providing an excellent excuse for later than desirable bedtimes. C "Mark Waugh" NS deserves a special mention here for battling on throughout the day and we can only wait and see what action J "Steve Waugh" NS takes for breaking the 11pm curfew by 8 hours...
With the fencing removed and the cover dried and set aside the cricket could begin, our dear leader J "Lego Dad" NS has not had the best record at the toss so far this year and this had clearly been playing on his mind, as the clock ticked towards 11:30 he revealed to the team that if 8 opposition players are not in attendance half an hour before kick off the toss is forfeited. This delighted J "Burgler" NS as it meant his tossing ability couldn't be further put into question and that the Hill would bowl first in very favourable conditions.
Byfleet clearly struggled to adapt to the peaceful Bushy Park surroundings away from their usual constant drone of the motorway and fear of electrocution, struggled to build a substantial first innings score. Wickets fell regularly with opening bowlers Bob "The fade" Fullicks taking 3 and James "Balti spice" Boulton taking 2 wickets to leave the visitors at 41-5, Boulton's first being a beauty hitting the top of off and J "Newtoss" NS taking two sharp catches off Bob. The Byfleet lower order showed more experience and application than the top and managed to push themselves up towards 100, combating the spells of James "Robespierre" Robottom, Kash "only" Sheikh and C "no sleep" NS for the loss of just 1 wicket. That was before the hardest working bowlers in the team came on. Rich "jug culture" Bennett and JNS worked tirelessly to take the last few wickets, both running in hard and having to combat the extravagant stroke play of the Byfleet tail. Richy Benoit taking 3 for 6 in 7.3 and JNS 1 for 1 in 4 overs, truly heroic efforts from them both.
The Hill's innings got off to an excellent start with Jamie "Sonos" Sones taking 8 off the first over with two powerful cover drives between being struck on the ribs with a rising long-hop. Kash having been pushed up the order to open also showed positive intent whipping a boundary through the leg side before being bowled attempting a repeat of the same shot. The loss of his partner didn't deter Sones though as he played with conviction scoring 29 before mistiming a sweep shot with less than 30 required to win. The Hill wrapped up the win within 23 overs, Harry "The fastest Coates" Coates scoring 9* and Bennett a classy 37* including some delightful sweep shots to bring up the win.
The win means the Hill have now won 4 of their 5 completed games and sit 3rd in the table behind Long Ditton and Egham. The Hill also extend their lead over Horsley & Send as the cricketing gods looked down upon their questionable financial model bringing particularly wet conditions to their game against Cobham meaning not a ball was bowled.
One final note must go to JNS and Kash "man" Sheikh for delighting the victorious Hill team with thoughtfully bought refreshing jugged beverages after the match. Up the Hill
Player of the Match: Rich Bennett 37* and 3-6 with the ball.
2nd XI lost to Stoke D’Abernon by 114 runs
A tough day at the office for the 2s and a first defeat of the season away to Stoke D’Abernon.
Stand in skipper JC won the toss and asked the opposition to bat on a wet track. The boys started well and reduced Stoke to 80-5 thanks to great bowling from Fallows, Murton and Exworth. A solid partnership and a lesson in how to bat the overs saw Stoke reach 220 off 50 overs.
A poor start against some disciplined bowling and excellent catching, saw Hill reduced to 50-5 and only the impressive stroke play of Scott Mitchell (40*) helped towards a disappointing total of 106 off 32 overs.
A tough day and a reminder that we have lots of work to do this season. However, we still sit top of the table after our best start to the season and have some exciting fixtures to look forward to in the next few weeks.
Player of the Match: Scott Mitchell 40*
3rd XI lost to Kingstonians by 7 wickets
On a wet day at Kingstonians we were surprised to see a pretty dry deck despite the battering it took the night before.
On arrival it was difficult to know which pitch we were playing on with Nally hoping it wasn’t the one that would have made for a great slip n slide.
Much like England the night before the Hill got off to a slow start with some good opening bowlers putting a cap on any quick runs.
Ajmal Bhatti applied himself and batted long on a tough deck. With the first real partnership coming Ed and Aj who both batted superbly in tough conditions to dig the Hill out of a hole from a slow start to drag Hampton Hill from 27-2 to 85-3.
Aj however was then out to break a fine partnership with a gritty 46 off 99 deliveries.
Ed however continued his fine form in league cricket accelerating the Hill after a slower start with a quality 39.
A good cameo from Warren Carr of 28 off 26 including some no balls which Warren didn’t take kindly too.
Setting 160 seemed a good score when you count in for the bad conditions and variable bounce.
The Hill got off got a dream start when opening bowlers Tahir Butt and Alex Bush had the Kingstonians batsmen in loads of trouble with Tahir picking up two in one over and Alex another leaving Kingstonians 12-3.
However despite our best efforts with the ball from the new spin twins of Warren and Joe Ayley were hard to get away and meant that that we took the game deep however it wasn’t enough.
Including a LBW shout that Jayley was so certain about that he appealed twice however neither of these were given.
A 100+ run partnership saw Kingstonians home with some fine batting despite some good bowling all round from The Hill making the batsmen’s life as difficult as can be.
The Hill now sit 4th in the division 23 points off victors Kingstonians in a very tight division.
Player of the Match: Ed Cinderey 39 and two catches behind the stumps.
4th XI beat Camberley by 146 runs
The 4s took on Camberley in a bottom of the table clash and we were asked to bat having lost the toss. A solid start from Thornley and Owens set the foundation and runs came from across the card, with Ed Newton-Savage’s 61 the star role. Support from Sykes 17, Fallows 24 and Goubert 20 topped up the score to a closing 207.
An outstanding opening bowling spell from D Mac and Ryan E restricted Camberley to 16 from the first 10 overs. After Ryan broke the openers, wickets fell, with Max, Puri and Fallows sharing the wickets. Some excellent fielding and catching, especially the Owens slip catch and Lewis behind the sticks rounded off a great first league win.
Player of the Match: Jerry Fallows with 24 with the bat and 5-21 with the ball in a match winning performance, also a special mention to Ed Newton-Savage with a fine 61.
5th XI beat Switch Hitters by 6 wickets
The 5th XI took to the field having won the toss and elected to bowl on a dreary day at St James. From the first couple of overs a standard was set, tight fielding and pressure building before a barrage of short balls from Cameron Hill found the first wicket, calmly caught at square leg by Josh Fitzpatrick. The level continued to be upheld with Archie Knight joining the act shortly after, an attempted lofted drive which was well held by Will Aust at mid-off after the ball came down with snow on it. Wickets continued to tumble with the change of bowling, Arsh Ahuja found the stumps with some great in swinging deliveries, before over pitching one which kicked up into Neil Baverstock’s nose, prompting premature drinks break while the flow of blood was stemmed, and Neil was patched up. After the interlude, tight bowling from both ends built the scoreboard pressure as Josh Fitzpatrick continued from the school end and steam rolled through the Switchhitters’ middle order, finishing with fantastic figures of 4/16, firmly putting the HHCC 5XI in the driving seat. The Wills then followed attempting to close out the innings quickly and prevent the tail from wagging with a few hefty swings (and misses) threatening from the tailenders. Will Aust certainly showed how highly he valued his figures, using his shin to block a rocket of a straight drive back off his own bowling, continuing the game with a golf ball sized lump just above the ankle, but very much summing up the dedication shown by the team in the field for the entire game. Will Smith joined the act, after burgling 1 from the tail, Archie Knight was brought back on to remove the middle stump of their last batsman with his first ball, leaving Switchhitters 71 all out at tea.
The second innings came with reminders that the outfield was slow and the runs wouldn’t come easily. Neil Baverstock and Farooq Bosan opened steadily, ticking the runs over until pushing slightly too far for a second leading to a run out. Tom Magalhaes followed with similarly unfortunate nature and the hopes of the away side began to grow, with whispers of another HHCC batting collapse being heard in the background. Phil Wimblett came to the crease on his HHCC debut and stuck well with Neil, helping to see off the last overs of the opening bowlers, unadvisedly without wearing a box! After Phil’s brave efforts against the quicker seamers, a momentary lapse in concentration lead to him leaving one onto his off stump, bringing Arsh Ahuja to the middle. Arsh changed gears and looked to be playing on a different pitch, hitting a quick 20, leaving HHCC just 9 short of the total with 12 overs remaining when a rare straight ball collided with his front pad and one of the many appeals throughout the innings was rewarded by the umpire. Will Smith came in to bat and help Neil Baverstock carry the 5th XI to the first win in HHCC history.
Special mentions
Neil Baverstock for carrying his bat and keeping with a suspected broken nose.
Tom “The Wall” Hill for filling in as our 11th man after a late drop out and blocking everything in the field.
Player of the Match: Josh Fitzpatrick with 4/16 he put so much into his bowling effort he had a nap during the second innings, clear confidence in the batting ability of the team!
6th XI lost to Croydon by 46 runs
The Hill with only 3 adults put up a spirited display against a side which had a day off from league commitments. HHCC used 10 bowlers, and all performed creditably. Wickets were spread around, and the bowlers were well supported by the field.
The Hill did really well to post 172 in reply. Sudipta Das with 38 (off 34 balls with 5 4’s and 2 6 sixes) Ben Blackshire with 29, Freddie Blair with 26 and Arjan Sian 16 were the main contributors.
There were 2 HHCC players of the match. Sudipta Das who also bowled well and had a tidy session for part of the innings as keeper; and Ben Blackshire with 29, a good spell of 1/16, 2 catches and a run out.
Special thanks are due to Neal Blackshire for scoring and posting the game.
Player of the Match: Sudipta Das with 38 and keeping well.
Sunday Home XI lost to Antelopians by 23 runs
The Hills late replacement skipper James Robottom lost the toss, and we were made to field first.
The Mac Attack opened the bowling with both Adam and Daniel bowling well upfront with both picking up a wicket each and going very economically leaving Antelopians 21-2.
Will Aust and Max “Overseas” Goubert then carried on the momentum with the pair bowling well with Max ending with figures of 2-22 off 6 overs.
Will picked up a wicket with a potential no ball however still took a fine cacth from Dan Mackinney with a catch that was never in doubt for the rest of the team.
Leading wicket taker in the club, Joe Ayley, continued his fine form to the season picking up another two wickets.
Experience also showed in a quality spell of spin bowling from Dave “deadly” Castor picking up two wickets including the wicket of James (The Earl) who played for the opposition due to them only having 9 players.
Special mention to James who batted well showing how he can hold his own already in adult cricket.
The Hill were set 138 which in tough conditions was going to be hard to chase.
A poor start for the Hill as Adam Oliver and Ryan Exworth were removed earlier. Special mention to the catch to remove Ryan a Ben Stokes-esque diving catch and that wasn’t even the only good catch in this innings.
Jake Wood batted well for 34 off 17 deliveries. When walking out Jake said he wanted his quickest half century in his career which was 16 balls.
The Hill struggled throughout failing to create any meaningful partnership, James Robottom was the only batsman other than Jake to really get to grips with conditions and credit to Antelopians some very handy bowlers.
Max was removed to another outstanding sharp catch down to the left of the slip fielder.
The Earl picked up the wicket of Lewis Cole in a quality over of bowling.
Dave Castor was then the last man to be removed as the Hill fell to a 23-run defeat.
Player of the Match: James Robottom for 34 and captained the side well giving everyone a good game.
Sunday Away XI drew with Chiswick
This was a slightly unusual game for us these days as we played at Chiswick’s request, a time game with 1 ball, the traditional Sunday formula. We had to calculate a declaration and some players may have been somewhat confused when Roger started making comments like “it’s now twenty to five in old money”. Chiswick won the toss and put us in on a reasonable wicket but with occasional variable bounce. Aj and Ed Newton Savage got us away to a steady start, but 2 wickets fell at 20 and Hill had to rebuild. Aj (34) and Robbie consolidated with a stand of 66 against some good bowling but not without the odd alarm. In the latter part of the innings Charlie Newton-Savage and Robbie began to play more freely and moved the Hill along to 191. Charlie (36) was caught on the long on boundary and after Robbie had retired with a well-made century (100*), Farooq scored a very quick 42* in partnership with Nigel Coates 7* making an assured return to the crease. We declared at 246/4 after 42 overs leaving Chiswick 39 overs to get the runs
After a good tea provided by Chiswick, the home side had a fine opening stand of 58 against good bowling by Taz and Naved, who made the initial breakthrough with 2 wickets. Thereafter wickets fell fairly regularly with Charlie taking 2 for 24. Simon Burke bowled a good spell of 7 overs for 20 runs and Farooq made late inroads with the remarkable figures of 5/3/3/3. However, Chiswick held out for the draw with Ed Sykes the main contributor with a well-made 68.
Player of the Match: Farooq ran it close with his rapid 42* and 3 wickets but for helping to steady the ship at 20 for 2 and to take us on to nearly 200 the man of the match is Robbie Coates.
