Hampton Hill 1st XI beat Thames Ditton by 28 runs
The Hill lost the toss and were put in on a wet morning and under dark clouds. Jamie Sones ensured the home side got off to a fine start with an excellent display of measured attacking shots, bringing up a deserved second 50 of the season, at a run a ball. Some tight bowling and quick wickets left the Hill in a tricky position at 85/4 on a difficult surface.
However, a perfectly timed captain’s innings from James Newton-Savage held the innings together. James’ 52 laid the platform for Hampton Hill's innings and was ably supported by the gritty Harry “HC” Coates (23) and a late flourish from Jack Baverstock (22) which propelled the hosts to 219 all out.
With a solid score on the board at the interval, the home side were in the game but knew would have to back it up with a strong bowling display. Thames Ditton came flying out of the blocks with positive intent from the first ball but were countered by a very good spell of wicket-to-wicket bowling from Bobby Fullicks (1/34). At the other end James “MS” Boulton continued to plug away in difficult bowling conditions at a troubling line and length. This paid dividends as 3 superb catches were held by the liveliest man in the ground, Jake Wood, reducing Thames Ditton to 64/5. “MS” Boulton finished with impressive figures of 4/52.
A battling partnership of 91 for the 6th wicket tilted the “win vis” strongly in the visitor’s direction, taking Thames Ditton to 155/5. With two set batsmen in, up stepped the veteran all-rounder Kash, who produced an exhibition spell of bowling that saw two wickets as many balls to finish with eventual figures of 4/33, which included taking the wickets of both set batsmen, one of which saw Robbie Coates spring off the boundary into a low diving catch. Kash was ably backed up by Harry “HC” Coates who held his nerve at the death, finishing with deserved figures of 1/14 (5). The winning moment came in fitting fashion with an airborne JNS holding a sharp catch at extra cover.
This rounded off a fantastic team effort for a deserved 20 points.
Player of the Match: Jamie Sones 51 off 52 deliveries. A mention also has to go to both Kash (4/33) and James Boulton (4/52) who both picked up 4 wickets each.
Hampton Hill 2nd XI beat Maori Oxshott by 5 Wickets
Another soggy weekend saw the 2’s venturing deep into Surrey and a visit to the Kiwis, AKA Maori Oxshott. After winning the toss, the players took to the field, with a number of returning and new players coming in to make their 2’s seasonal debut.
Mike (Grant) Murton opened the bowling along with debutant Tom (Junior) Porter, who immediately welcomed the opposition with the traditional family follow through and stare. A few explosive shots and a couple of lucky escapes saw Maori reach 44-0 before Murts clean bowled both openers.
The introduction of James Everett (2-18 off 10), Ian Exworth (2-29 off 10) and Dave Coates (3-29 off 10) slowed the run rate before further wickets fell, as Maori struggled to 88-7. A late flurry saw them reach 135-9 despite the efforts of the economical Junior Porter (0-24 off 9) and Murts (2-26 off 10). A great debut behind the sticks for the hard-working Ed ‘Cinders’ Cinderey was a highlight in the field as the Hill put 6 chances down....
After a proper tea (and a good one too!) Hill stated their chase on a difficult track.
The loss of early wickets saw Hill in trouble at 20-3 before a 67-run partnership between Joe ‘Senior’ Porter (29) and JC took hill towards the century mark. The loss of JP followed closely by James Johnson left JC partnered with the evergreen Ian Exworth whose quick fire 18no left Hill just a few runs short. And it was left to JC (67no) showing no signs of fatigue after completing a half-marathon on the same morning, swept the opposition skipper for 6 and lead the 2’s to a perfect 3 from 3 start to the season!
Just like in previous weeks this was another great team performance with contributions across the park.......and we had a great tea!
View from the skipper- Joe Porter: A great match winning innings from JC especially as the talk from the boundary was finding a humane way to put down the old carthorse, so bad his early innings antics were. It got a lot better.
Player of the match: John Cadogan 67* off 142 balls
Hampton Hill 3rd XI beat Whiteley Village by 9 wickets
The 3rd XI league season finally got going after two washouts against Whiteley Village. It was touch and go but the rain held off to enable Tom (with assistance) to get a track ready.
With a much-changed side due to availability, several players were making the 3rd XI debuts.
With the Whiteley Village skipper being delayed the substitute called incorrectly and Nally had no hesitation in sticking them into bat. Missing usual opening bowler Tahir to a wedding, The Hill opened with Ryan McCartney (3/10) who took a few balls to settle in but soon proved to be a handful on the damp track.
The Whiteley Village batsmen tried to force the pace where patience was required as was shown later in the reply. Good catching & a superb run out by Max Goubert soon had Whiteley Village five wickets down with only 21 on the board. Sudipta Das (2/10) bowled very well to support Ryan.
A change of bowling proved, as is often the case, that bad balls are the best wicket taking deliveries, as Joe Ayley (1/21) struck with is second ball to a long hop.
Wahid Siddiqui settled the Whiteley Village innings punishing anything remotely short as The Hills second string bowlers gave too many boundary balls. They stuck to the task & Goubert finally got Siddiqui to top edge to Fernando who made good ground from square to take the catch on the 45 (risking trampling Aj in the process). The innings was soon wrapped up as Das returned to claim the final wicket.
The Hill started slowly with Ajmal Bhatti (11) & Sam Rogers (68*) who led a bit of a charmed life as Whiteley Village didn’t have the close catchers. Timing was always difficult as a couple of short showers meant the ball sticking in the track & not coming on. With Bhatti out, a change in the batting order brought Dharamvir Puri (15*) to the crease, who soon had Whitely Village guessing what type of batsman he was having played out a couple of maidens before pulling two successive fours. Hampton Hill closed the chase with a boundary from Puri.
Player of the match: Sam Rogers with 68* to steer the 3rd XI home.
Hampton Hill 4th XI lost to Ashford by 83 runs
On a cold and damp day Ashford won the toss and batted. After a slow start the opening batsmen opened and it proved a real challenge for our very young attack, with 50 on the board from 6. It would have been easy to replace the bowlers, but this team is all about growing up and knowing how to respond. They plugged away and Archie broke the stand. Some tight bowling and good catching followed, and Ashford were restricted to 205 from 40.
As tea was taken the skies opened and 30 minutes off heavy rain followed. After some debate and some sawdust from Ashford CC, the innings started. Only 3 balls in and we were off again. After a further break, it was decided to restart on a very wet and soft wicket. The target was revised to 176 from 31. With the ball slowing down and the outfield soaked it was a difficult task.
However, some solid runs from Farooq and an excellent display from Player of the Match Oisin made some in roads. The Hill ended up short of the total but a young side put up a spirited display against an all-adult Ashford team.
Player of the match: Oisin Shrivastava with 31
Hampton Hill 5th XI lost to Hampton Wick Royals by 84 runs
The Hill won the toss and elected to bowl on damp wicket and got off to a great start with Louis and Ellie both bowling very tightly and picking up a wicket each. They were followed by Ben Porter and Ben Blackshire who also both bowled well and kept up the pressure but were unlucky not to get rewarded with a wicket which there bowling deserved. Hampton wick had batted patiently and had formed a decent partnership with both their middle order batsmen scoring 50’s.
Richard made the breakthrough with a good length ball that kept low, wickets then started to fall as Hampton Wick looked to increase their scoring rate. A superb one-handed reaction catch from Samuel Walter at first slip was taken off Jamie’s bowling who also picked up another wicket when Rory ran back to take a good catch after the batsman had top edged a good length ball while trying to sweep.
As we got into the tail we were surprised when one of their tailenders smashed a straight drive 6 off their first ball! Unfortunately for them they had to retire at this point due to the rules on this ground. James Neville finished the innings with 2 wickets on the final 2 balls of the innings which he fully deserved for his hard work and will be on a hattrick when he next plays.
Hampton Wick finished on 169 in there 35 overs which The Hill felt was gettable all the bowlers bowled well and were well backed up by all the fielders.
Gavin and Ben Donald opened the batting and were faced with some accurate bowling from Hampton wick opening bowlers. The Hill lost Ben in the early overs who was trapped LBW by a good ball that nipped back down the hill.
Unfortunately this theme continued as wickets fell regularly as pressure mounted through some excellent bowling from Hampton Wick.
In this period The Hill lost Gavin to the 6 and out rule. Rory (12) offered some resistance with some good defensive work and then put the bad balls away with a couple of fine boundaries on the leg side.
Throughout the innings The Hill struggled to build partnerships to try and keep within the run rate to get near the target of 170 although Ben P (12no) and Ellie (10) batted well at the end and resisted the experienced Hampton Wick attack for the final 10 overs for a partnership of 22. The hill ended up on 85 for 9 off 35 overs which was a great effort against a well-disciplined bowling attack.
Player of the match: Ellie McCartney great spell opening bowling (1-3 off 5 overs) plus fielded well and batted well at the end.
Hampton Hill Sunday Home XI RAINED OFF
Hampton Hill Sunday Away XI lost to Claygate CC by 7 runs
Claygate elected to bat on a wet wicket and posted a good total in their 30 overs. Two middle order players led the way with hard hit 40s. Taz, though wicketless, was the pick of our bowlers with his 6 overs costing only 12 runs. Robbie picked up 3 wickets in the final overs and Tom Hughes, Kish Bheemanatini and Richard Longley picked up wickets at key moments.
The Hills reply was anchored by Sandeep Senapati who made a well-judged 52; Sandeep was supported in a stand of 84 by Taz who scored 43. Both adjusted well on a wicket made difficult to bat on by the weather. Robbie hit a quick 29* in the final overs and with 2 balls to go - alas in the end runless – Hampton Hill were still in the game with 8 to win.
Players of the match: Sandeep with a fine knock off 52 and Taz supporting him with a well-played 43.
Well played to everyone this weekend and go again next week!
