Richmond Leg Breakers Cricket Club

Scorecard

Earlswood Strollers v Richmond Leg Breakers Cricket Club Sunday XI on Sat 19 Jul 2014 at tbc
Richmond Leg Breakers Cricket Club Lost by 42 runs

Match report Two years after their last tour, RLB set off for Sussex on Friday afternoon looking forward to an action packed weekend. Those tourists who were able to get past the various closures on the M25 assembled at The Lamb in Angermering on Friday night before being transported to The Bull at Henfield for the now traditional evening of beer and skittles. As Rory McIlroy got surprisingly further ahead on day 2 of The Open, the weather in Sussex got unsurprisingly closer and when the stragglers joined the party and it started to rain, the talk was about contingency plans for Saturday if the wickets were uncovered. Meanwhile back on the alley, Jon Southey, appropriately carrying a calf injury at The Bull, bowled like he was batting in a china shop, flattening the lot or anyone within 5 yards of a skittle without moving a foot to win by a country mile.

None of the contingency plans made allowance for an overnight lightning strike on The Lamb which knocked out wifi, sky and the cash register for the weekend but failed to energise the older members of the party. Still the rain cleared early on ensuring that the Legbreaker Crazy Golf Competition could take place in Littlehampton. The great thing about Crazy Golf is that it is a great leveller and you can play off scratch and still not get round the Pirate Ship. And so it was that those who knew their birdies from their eagles had a card full of bogeys leaving James to put on the green jacket (cagoule) whilst Bunny and Jeremy were forced to walk the plank by Claire for cheating.

By now it was clear that the weather would be good and that we would actually have to play some cricket. Strollers won the toss and elected to bat probably because they had 11 batsmen in their side. Not good when you're one bowler short and Jon Southey has to field at slip because of his short leg.

Things went from bad to worse when Oliver discovered he had a hamstring which he then decided to pull in the second over and was unable to run let alone bowl. Strollers got off to a good start but were stopped in their tracks with the score on 29 when Mark Anderson took a catch off his own bowling and next ball their no 3 holed out to James at extra cover. Two wickets in two balls and the field was duly brought in but no need as Mark clean bowled the new batsmen. 29-3 and a hat-trick on tour. Burnsey bowled well on first change but it took a loose delivery from James and a mistimed hook to Steve Z behind to get the next wicket. 46-4.
Burnsey and Trevor kept it tight and at 122-6, RLB were doing well. At which point the shortage of bowlers and fit fielders, a big pitch and what was now a hot afternoon started to show. The next wicket did not fall until 208. The two Marks men came back early In an attempt to bowl them out but neither could get the better of The Mongoose and the skipper was required to bowl out the innings, taking a direct and very painful hit on the arm off the Mongoose before picking up two late wickets. 271-9 leaving RLB to chase down their biggest ever total.

As in the field, we didn't get off to the best of starts when Steve Z, on a tour pair, was caught at slip for 0. 6-1 became 14-2 when Jeremy was bowled in the 3rd over. Burnsey and Mark A steadied the ship before Burnsey was caught and bowled for 20. 36-4 after 10 overs. Mark and James then put on 85 for the 5th wicket before Mark holed out for 46. Soon afterwards, James was bowled for 58, your one armed skipper was caught for a duck and RLB slipped to 154-7 off 28 overs. Trevor has been batting well this season and put on 31 with Mark. Olly and Jon did their best to support Trevor on one leg and between them got us to 229 in 40th over with Trevor not out 58.


Great effort in the end. Another bowler and some extra arms and legs and who knows what the result would have been.
Champagne moment: Mark's hat-trick
Man of the Match: Mark for his hat-trick and 46
Special mention to James and Trevor for their 50s.

Saturday evening's tour dinner was followed by the now traditional Campari soda and tour shots awards as well as Sing A Long A Skip although surprisingly there were few requests for the Rolf Harris back catalogue this year.

Any Sunday morning cobwebs were blown away down in Brighton with a power boat trip around the pier leaving just enough time to meet up with the extra arms and legs of Phil Stride, Ian Turley and Tony Bunge who joined the tour at Forest Row allowing Olly and Jon to rest.

Legbreakers won the toss and batted. Trying to avoid a third tour duck in a row, Steve Z was determined to make runs and with Jeremy made a good start to the innings before Jeremy was out with the score at 38. Steve soon followed for 23 with the score at 49 but Bunny, looking more and more confident, pushed the score to 61 after which Mark and James continued their partnership from Saturday by putting on 60 before Mark was out for 41. 129-4 after 18 overs. Stridey and James took the score to 192 before Phil holed out for 23 in 30th over. Thoughts of a 100 off the last 10 overs disappeared when James was out for 58. 196-6. The skipper and Trev had a go but Trevor was run out going for second run not grounding his bat. Schoolboy error but forgivable as it has been a long time since Trevor was at school! With Jake unavailable, Ian was able to use his son's bat and skilfully knocked the edges in taking the score to 254-7 after 40 overs.

After tea, which for once Jon S was able to enjoy, Legbreakers got off to a good start in the field. A stunning catch by Stridey in the gully off Mark 0-1 followed by a catch in the slips and Forest Row were 27-2. Trevor bowled well, picking up a couple of wickets, before Bunny took the gaiest of catches at silly mid off and Mark took a second catch off Ian to set up second potential hatrick of the weekend. 87-7 off 25 overs. Bunge, Stridey and the Pie Thrower bowled the remaining overs to the U-16s who batted well to put on 100 and Forest Row finished on 187-7. RLB won by 67 runs.
Champagne moment: Phil Stride's catch in the gully.
Man of the Match: James Baxter
Won one, lost one. Nearly 500 runs for Legbreakers in one weekend, three fifties and a hat-trick and plenty of fun in between. Good to see both old and new faces and for me, one of the most successful Legbreakers tours to date. Thanks to all those who took part including the WAGS and huge thanks to Mark Southey whose hard work and perseverance made it all possible.
Looking forward to next year already.

Earlswood Strollers Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 11w 3lb 
for 9 wickets
18
271 (40.0 overs)		     
Dring ct  Anderson 17
York ct  Baxter 19
Whitehead ct  Anderson 0
Hamilton b  Anderson 0
Thomas ct  Williams 114
Gale b  Burns 38
Cope ct  Brien 10
Armstrong b  Southey 28
Bala ct  Williams 28
Ogden Not Out  1
Giles  

Richmond Leg Breakers Cricket Club Sunday XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Southey8.0150150.006.25
Mark Anderson8.002538.333.12
Simon Burns8.0042142.005.25
James Baxter6.0078178.0013.00
Trevor Brien8.0035135.004.38
Andy Williams2.0030215.0015.00

Richmond Leg Breakers Cricket Club Sunday XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
14w 5b  
for 10 wickets
19
229		        
Steve Zangari ct  Cope 0 1
Jeremy Wrigley b  Cope 6
Simon Burns ct  Bala 20 3
Mark Anderson ct  Giles 40 6 1 1
Ian Stewart b  Armstrong 0
James Baxter ct  Bala 58 7 1 2
Andy Williams ct  Bala 0 1
Trevor Brien Not Out  58 8 1
Mark Southey ct  Thomas 10 2
Oliver Pritchard ct  Giles 7 1
Jon Southey Run out  11 2

Earlswood Strollers Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Armstrong5.0029129.005.80
Cope5.001025.002.00
Bala8.0157319.007.13
Gale5.012300.004.60
Thomas8.006900.008.63
Giles8.0032216.004.00
Dring1.00600.006.00