1st XI lost to SinjunGrammarians by 4 wickets.
The Hill took a tough defeat after being bowled out for 138. It was a grind as James Newton-Savage, Jack Baverstock and Kashif Sheikh were the only batsman to find any sort of rhythm.
Despite the Hills best efforts with the ball SinjunGrammarians battled hard to get over the line with a 4 wicket victory. Despite a top spell from Player of the Match James Robottom who really deserved more out of his top spell of fast bowling.
Player of the Match: James Robottom 1-39
2nd XI beat Merrow by 211 runs
Saturday saw the mighty 2s return to winning ways after their poor performance against Stoke D’Abernon last week, reinstating themselves as the team to watch in the league and in the club. The 2’s performance had finally caught the attention of Veteran Ray Thorpe who decided this week he wanted to see runs and wickets and where better to get plenty of both than with the 2s.
Being the first timed game of the season, it was no surprise that Merrow having won the toss decided to bowl first on a slightly greener looking deck than usual at the hill. Clearly Fidler’s plan of luring the opposition into thinking a spicy deck was to be expected had worked, little did they know that there were no demons in the pitch as usual.
Woody and HNS opened the batting against two of the top ten league wicket takers. Unfortunately, Woody’s aggressive style turned out to be his undoing and was lost for only 7. This brought in the returning Tom Hampton. Injury problems had kept him out of the game but after a few balls it was clear to see that nothing in his game had changed. Timing and finding the middle of the bat were still bread and butter to him. A solid partnership between Hampton and HNS took us up to 69 off 15 overs. HNS’ solid 20 off 59 balls were a vintage opening batsmen performance of seeing off the new ball. After his departure Tom Coates came to the crease. Captain Joe Porter had decided to promote TC up the order ahead of himself to get the LH and RH combination in to disrupt the settled Merrow bowlers.
Despite a slightly nervy start from Tom Coates, the runs started flow. Showing patience to see himself in, TC then picked up the scoring rate in delightful fashion. Displaying his versatility to come in whatever situation, he proceeded to hit 71 off 64 balls (8 Fours, 3 Sixes). TC and TH put on a hundred run partnership before TH was lost for 66. A very strong performance in his first game back. TC followed TH back to the hutch after being caught on the boundary. Being in a strong position of 194-4 off 35 overs. The 2’s lost a couple of wickets in Gomez and Barlow. Entertaining cameos by Jimmy Everett (28) and Joe Porter (39) took the Hill to 273 before JP declared after 50 Overs.
Mike Murton found himself for the first time this season being the senior opening bowler with his ginger partner Fallows being unavailable this week. This saw young gun Adam Mackinney given the new ball. Both swung the ball well and early wickets for both saw the Hill comfortably on top very early on. Murton and Mackinney took one opener each with them. Murton was taken off after 5 overs after concerns of losing daylight due to his 30-yard run up. JP then turned to Jimmy Everett who proceed to bowl 4 overs, 4 maidens and 1 wicket. The pinnacle of economical bowling.
Adam Mackinney had bowled a fine spell of good pace and in swing movement. He decided to tease us all with taking 2 wickets with his last two balls of his spell to ensure he had to be brought back on for the hattrick bowl later in the innings. He was replaced by TC who also bowled a short and economical spell 3 overs, 4 runs and 1 wicket. The one wicket being a phenomenal slower ball yorker (picture Harmison vs Clarke 2005).
Dave Coates (6 overs, 4 runs for 2 wickets) saw him level up with Ollie Fallows at 194 wickets a piece for Hampton Hill. The race to 200 club wickets continues for these two. When will the opposition learn not to play for the spin? Joe Porter decided he wanted to get in on the action but was unable to grab a wicket.
Big Mac was unable to get the hattrick despite a delightful bowl cutting the batsmen in half and missing off stump by millimetres. His opening partner ended the innings with a delightful top off delivery that secured the points for Hampton Hill. Merrow finished 62 all out after 34.1 overs. A fine fielding display was epitomised by Ben Barlow with a glorious diving catch at point. Diving forward completely perpendicular to the ground was a delightful spectacle for all.
A good all-round performance from the Hill with everyone contributing meant we have retained our position at the top of the league. Man of The Match has gone to Tom Hampton, his performance upon return from injury was very patient and helped set up a lovely platform for the Hill. Hopefully more to come from him. Next week sees the 2’s travel to Sinjun Grammarians.
Player of the Match: Tom Hampton with 66 off 82 deliveries
3rd XI lost to Sunbury by 136 runs.
Sunbury got off to a very quick and imposing start with both openers going after our opening bowlers.
However Tahir Butt then picked up a key wicket at a stage where it felt like the Hill could be chasing some serious leather.
Daniel Mackinney also bowled very well and deserved a wicket for the way he bowled.
Warren Carr then bowled some tight areas making it difficult for the Sunbury batsmen to score after a free-flowing start to their innings.
Max “Overseas” Goubert bowled quality and was another unlucky to not pick up any wickets. Including the new delivery he’s mastered which is the skiddy half tracker although luckily we only saw that a couple of times.
Joe Ayley however was the pick of the Hampton Hill bowlers with figures of 4-40 off his 9 overs including a drop catch from Adam Oliver (which he paid for later) which the loud shout from Adam when he dropped the catch put a kids birthday party to a momentary pause.
However a fine hundred from Anirban Guharaja for Sunbury propelled themselves to a menacing of 227.
The Hill didn’t get off to a good start when Aj was given out early on LBW. A decision that was given mix reviews from umpire Jayley and batsman Aj
It was soon 22-2 after Will Ownes had previously driven the ball very well was unfortunate as he chopped on leaving the Hill in a difficult situation.
Then as things began to stabilise again Adam chipped one straight to cover in what would be one of three wickets to fall just for the 1 run.
The Hill struggled throughout with some poor shot selection and some high level fielding from the Sunbury team left Hampton Hill struggling throughout with wicker’s continuing to fall.
Warren was not out with a good 26 however no one could seem to build a partnership.
A bad day at the office for The Hill but lots to work and to improve for next week for a game at Chessington away in an important game to bounce back.
Player of the Match: Joe Ayley with fantastic figures of 4-40 to help claw the Hill back into the game when things were pointing towards a much bigger chase.
4th XI lost to Weybridge by 45 runs
Match played at the Coronation Rec at Hersham on a wicket that can only be described as a minefield. A pre-match discussion in which we agreed we would field first if we won the toss was rendered irrelevant when the coin fell in Weybridge's favour, and they elected to bat. Same result but via a different route.
Weybridge must have regretted the decision following some hostile and uncharacteristically accurate and hostile bowling by our openers who pinned their scoring rate back to less than two an over and began a steady attrition of their batsmen. The opening spell by Archie Knight and Anderw Blair was as good as I've seen them bowl and this was followed up by equally accurate and challenging bowling by the McCarthy father and son duo of Gavin and Louis. Will Aust then bowled an immaculate spell of 8 straight overs getting the ball to turn both ways, skid, bounce and dip in an exhibition of supreme control. Sudipta Das also guested with two overs before volunteering to be taken off to preserve his energy for batting. Weybridge were dismissed in just over 30 overs for 112 with both Will and Archie having opportunities for hattricks.
Regretfully, I have also to report a surfeit of energy and enthusiasm in the way the side fielded. Normal service will no doubt be resumed as soon as possible but it played a large part in keeping the runs down, the other part being played by some timid and, at times, incompetent batting by the opposition. It was with some satisfaction that we trooped off at the end of the innings, confident of a job well done.
Unfortunately, that was the high point.
Our batting started off disastrously and went downhill from there. The less said about Neil's dismissal the better. Farooq was bowled by a ball that yorked him on the second bounce and Puri was out playing baseball to a slider that dipped on him, passed his upper thigh and hit his stumps near the bottom. Only Sudipta, rested after his two overs, showed any resistance, scoring freely around the park until he holed out at mid-wicket. Archie held his end up for a while and Freddie (the Cat) Blair came in and started testing out whether a cat really has got 9 lives. Answer: it hasn't. After being dropped once his generosity showed through when he offered up more catching practice 3 balls later.
By that time, it was as good as over. Gavin, Will Smith, Louis, Will Aust and Andrew were unable to stop the slide, not helped it has to be said by the pitch but to offer that as an excuse would have a hollow ring. The truth was we didn't bat to our potential and on another day the result could easily have been different.
Despite the loss and the dentist's wicket, it was a highly enjoyable game played in a great spirit both within the team and with a friendly and likeable opposition.
Player of the Match: Will Smith, not because he did anything unusual but because of his unfailing enthusiasm, energy and commitment which typified the spirit with which the team played and which he did a great deal to foster.
5th XI lost to Sheen Park by 66 runs
HHCC won the toss and decided to bowl on a wicket that needed a large amount of TLC and an outfield that had fences erected inside the boundary to stop people walking on the grass... It could have been better. However, the Sheen captain assured us that the wicket played well... I'm not sure what wickets he's been playing on, but I reckon it's included a fair amount of beach cricket...
Bowling was opened by solid spells from Arsh and Josh, both being pretty economical but only one wicket falling. First change saw a great controlled spell from Jamie H, with a bit more variation from Joe S.... Sheen however kept scoring although when Cam H came on and bowled the 4th wicket with one that pitched halfway down the track, looped over the bent double batsman and took the top of his middle stump, there seemed to be a good chance to restrict the total. Alas, quick runs came, even with decent spells from Arjan and Charlie, and Sheen ended their 35 overs with 178/6.
All that was needed was a good start... And Sury and Jamie F gave us one! Some good, controlled batting from them put on 59 for the first wicket, and with plenty of overs left, the chase looked on.... However, the HH bat seemed to stop at no. 2 in the order. Jamie F got 26, and Sury a very creditable 36 on a terrible wicket. After that, the highest score was 13 from Arjan, with Josh being the only other bat in double figures...! And no less than 4 zeros on the card.
In the end, the Hill ended up 112 all out. Truth be told, the oppo knew how to bat on their pudding track better than we did.
Player of the Match: Arjan Sian, with figures of 2/24 off 5 and 13 runs.
Honorable mentions to Sury for being solid behind the stumps and batting well, and Jamie & Josh Fitzpatrick for combining to get a father son first wicket. Roll on next Saturday....
U21 XI lost to Richmond by 6 wickets
On a day that looked as if the weather was going to be the real winner from the day The Hill were put into bat.
A fantastic opening partnership got the Hill off to a quick start with Jake Wood and Ben Barlow putting the runs on early to set a good platform.
Some tight middle over bowling saw the runs dry up with Adam Oliver getting 19 off 47 to leave some work to do for The Hill. Ben Barlow however at the other end was beginning to get going in a fine assured innings.
Adam was then the next man to be removed, and Massimo Campanale entered the crease with The Hill at 127-2.
Some great running from both Massimo and Ben put the pressure back onto the Richmond
bowlers.
Massimo’s good cameo of 28 off 32 deliveries helped accelerate the Hill back up to a much more defendable score.
Sam Fullicks was the next man in and pumped his first ball over long on for 6 however was then removed on the next delivery.
Ben Barlow carried his bat after a fine 77 off 127 balls in a fine innings.
Richmond were left with 36 overs to score 186 runs with there still being rain forecasted in
the air. Although this rain was later to never come.
The Hill needed a good start to set the tone of the game, Richmond got to 41 without loss with some fine stroke play from both opening batsmen.
However, then Adam Mackinney caused the batsmen all kinds of trouble when he got one to snick off and then the very next ball the batsman to leave a straight one and put the Hill in a great position at 41-2.
Wickets were hard to come by however on a very good pitch to bat on, however a stumping and a run out which were both very questionable decisions, but much like Sunbury a few weeks ago we must remember that “Richmond don’t cheat!”
However, that isn’t to take away from Vaansh who batted superbly for Richmond in a fine knock of 58 off 60 deliveries.
The Hill bowled well throughout with strong contributions throughout with special mentions to Sam, Kash and Daniel Mackinney after older Mackinney’s quality opening spell.
Richmond were then carried home over the line a tough defeat where on another day and a different square leg umpire the result could have been very different.
The Hill face another tough test next week with Teddington at home.
Player of the Match: Ben Barlow with a fine 77 off 127 deliveries and some great chat in the field (didn’t go down to well)
Sunday home XI lost to NPL by 59 runs
NPL posted a good total in their 30 overs. The Hill bowlers, however, stuck to their task well. Sam Walter in his 5th game for the Hill did well with 2-36 as did Richard Longley 2-31 who debuted for us in 1979. Taz was the most economical bowler with 1-22 off his 6 overs.
The Hill reply fell short at 160/8 but for a time a well struck 44 by James Johnson kept us within reach of the required rate. Simon Burke made a stylish 41 and Aj chipped in with 25.
Player of the Match: James Johnson with a fine 44
Sunday Away XI beat Woodlawn CC by 4 runs
With the met office predicting rains of biblical proportion, the odds of getting in a game with two 40 over innings were more than a long shot.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Hill saw a superb opening partnership of 101 between Farooq Bosan and Peter Zonneveld, before the latter fell to some very good bowling from the Woodlawn attack. Farooq continued to battle on to reach his fifty, giving others a good platform to bat alongside. However, due to some tight bowling, Woodlawn managed to steal a few quick wickets, with runs not coming too quickly, the Hill ended their innings on a well fought 198/6.
The Hill took to the field in high spirits, despite the looming clouds. And had the perfect start as the wickets came in two’s for both opening bowlers, James Allan-Perry bowling a double wicket maiden in his first over, and Andrew Sykes taking 2/2 in his second. The first change saw the Hill’s opening batsmen team up again, with the task of dismantling the Woodlawn middle order. Some more tight bowling ensued, with wickets coming for both men and with Farooq taking two wickets in his final over, the Hill had reduced Woodlawn to 135/9.
As the heavens started to open, on came the death bowling attack of Dave Castor and Alec Barry, who bowled superbly, not giving the batsmen any easy runs and on multiple times came a whiskers distance away to hitting the stumps. However as hard we tried, we could not get the scalp of the number 2 bat, who dug in until the end, along with the last man. With 4 overs to go, Dave came out of the attack for Ed Newton-Savage who produced another excellent spell at the death, along with Alec, left the Woodlawn batsmen a target of 8 off the last over to achieve victory. Some good bowling in the last and with the Woodlawn men needing 4 to win off two balls, Alec decided to float one up. A tempter.
The plan worked as the Woodlawn number 11 bat eyes lit up, went too early and lofted one up to Ed Newton-Savage at midwicket, who, despite the wet and miserable conditions, took the catch with ease, to end an excellent game of cricket, with massive contributions from the whole team.
Hampton hill win by 4 runs and 2 balls remaining.
Honourable mentions for Peter Zonneveld (53), James Allan-Perry, Dave castor, Alec Barry and Ed Newton-Savage for their excellent spells of bowling.
Player of the Match: Farooq Bosan 59 and 3/15
