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MATCH REPORTS 2008- BLACKHEATH C.C.

25th August

5th August

July 26th & 27th

July 19th & 20th

July 12th & 19th

1’s got a winning draw away at St Lawrence. One wicket away from the full 20 points but 13 put on the board. Matt Sheppard (70) and Deepesh Khatri (90) put on the runs as Blackheath posted 249. St Lawrence all but one down for 212 in reply.

2’s were unlucky to lose from a good position. Batting first they scored 190 and had the oppo 8 down in the chase and made them sweat until the last over. Unfortunately the last few wouldn’t tumble.

3’s claimed all 20 away at Old Wilsonians. Batting first posted 194 with 99 from Reimell Ragnauth. Old Wilsonians crumbled in the face of Dan Carter taking 5-30 on their way to 91 all out

4’s took a winning draw. Jordan Smith got  78 and Dave Farnell 51 as Blackheath put 193 – 6 on the board. Runs came throughout the Old Wilsonians side as they managed to survive 9 down.

5’s lost defending 190, with 70 from Dave Norrie up the order. Tunbridge down in the chase but held out to take the points.

3A’s were due to play at the Nautical having seen rain in the week – no more needs to be said.

6’s had  a bye

8’s were away in Essex and lost in the last over, having posting 155 – 6 batting first. 3 wickets for Sam Douglas Freeman kept the game interesting but ultimately not enough on the board.

9’s played a “friendly” in Catford and won by default! After bowling well and batting hard in a chase a not out decision while Blackheath were batting in the second innings led to the oppo walking off and abandoning the game!

Sunday........

1’s got a win in Dartford setup by an excellent 120 not out from skipper Alex Senn. Wickets shared as the oppo managed less then Senn scored alone

2’s lost away at Sabina, who have won by more than 200 + several times this year. Bowling first Sabina were 80-6 but thanks to clean hitting from the lower order managed to post 204 all out. Skipper Simon Hudd taking 4 wickets supported but Barry Rose ( 3 for) and Collo. Andy Spry hit 80 in reply but as the batting failed around him Blackheath ended up 60 short

3’s won well away in Eltham. Posting a good score batting first thanks to 91 from Jon Gill, they went on to share the wickets around and skittle the oppo.

July

28th & 29nd June

21st & 22nd June

14th & 15th June

7th & 8th June

31st May & 1st June

MATCH REPORTS 2007- BLACKHEATH C.C.

PAUL CRISP: E-mail: size9boots@hotmail.com Mobile: 07845 091 400

These are some comments / reports from Blackheath vs Bromley ~~ Semi-Final, Evening Standard Cup.

From Steve Main (Collegue of Matt Shepard)

I make no excuses for any blunders with numbers of runs, overs or batting positions. I think it's fairly right but i could be a touch out in parts......now i really must do some work.

After an enormous and bleary eyed tube/bus journey abroad to blackheath and some super safe crossing of the road we finally arrived at the ground. It was slightly overcast but pleasantly warm and you could tell the sun was desperate to break through. The match had already started and a crowd had gathered, so much so that all seats were taken and despite some aggressive chat with the older members they wouldn't give me their seat. Blackheath got off to a solid start, batting steadily as they tried to build a score. It certainly wasn't the cow corner approach favoured by myself, more of an Atherton style, nurdling the ball around the ground. Despite the apparent solid start the team camp was a fairly sombre affair with most of the of the 'heath-ers' resigning themself to the inevitable defeat. The only shining lights were the captain, who appeared to be slowly dragging himself from the depths of a hangover thanks to some chain smoking and several cans of redbull and 'Deano' who, at number 3, was doing some bouncing, stretching, shadow boxing, adjustment of the wrist support.....definitely a future uber competitive dad. Then it happened, a change in the fielding resulted in the biggest cricket player ever (nicknamed the bear by the loyal clapham support) wandered our way, blocking the sun and most of our view. At the very same instant Blackheath lost a wicket....had the rot started? The crowd groaned, heads dropped.......and Deano, after a few more rapid stretches, sprinted across the boundry rope and onto the field. His time for greatness had arrived. The hopes of Blackheath pinned on one of the finest cricketing warm up routines ever seen. A swish here, a swash there.....and Deano was back in the clubhouse having scored 1 run. Someone get that man an exercise bike.

The batting steadied once again and Blackheath continued to edge towards a respectable total. Recollection of this part of the match is poor as i became distracted by the enthralling tale in the Mirror of how three of Man Utds finest players bedded several strippers at Ronaldo's country mansion. Paper read, wickets fell, scored ticked higher, drank some very expensive tea..............and then it happened, batsman number seven was out, number 8 was wandering to the crease with ten overs to go......matty was in next. And what a barsteward number 8 was. He lingered around for ages but eventually succumbed. It was time. Helmet on, a rallying call from his loyal fans and he was on his way to the crease...to the non strikers end. For the first few balls Matty did nothing but seem desperate to run himself out. Our hearts were in our mouths as he dived home to a chorus of appeals from the Bromley team. Then he settled. Confidently working the ball around you have to question why he is number 9. Obviously picking up some tips from the Heath's little Sri Lankan opener he was working the ball around the ground, picking up singles aplomb. Exactly what was needed in the circumstances, it put Bromley on the back foot and provided added interest for the crowd. Bromley were forced to bring their opener back on to stem the rout Matt was dishing out. Sadly it wasn't the West Indian International (more later) but you can't have everything. Again, the bowling was nudged about keeping the runs flowing. Then he got out, stumps everywhere, bails scattered, it certainly wasn't questionable. But hey, it was a fine effort in demanding circumstances and the bowler that got him...yeeees, got immmmm, was bowling at eleventy billion miles an hour.

Bit of tea (not for me, had to buy the expensive stuff) and then Bromley were batting, chasing a total of 178. Almost immediately....yesssss, got immmmm. One of the finest slip catches i've ever seen taken by the man at first slip, nicknamed fiery. The ball was shifting, about 6 inches off the deck away to his right. He turned back the years and grabbed it from nowhere, superb start. The only disappointment was that our Clapham star had not asserted some authority and leapt across, snaffling the catch for himself. Next over, Blackheath's own version of Carl Hooper (cool, calculated and his name is Dragon) claimed wicket number choo. Was this going to be a capitulation? No. A short boundary on the clubhouse side and some questionable gaps in the field in that area meant that Bromley were freely scoring fours. Poor show by Bromley though. A short boundary, no fielders, a mass of raucous spectators standing in front of a big clubhouse.....why oh why would you not try and hit either the clubhouse or a spectator. Very restrained.
A solid bit of batting and a wicketless period; it appeared Bromley were just going to edge to a victory. Now i've no idea what order the wickets fell but at some point the Sage of Clapham stumped out the well established ex-england cricketer after a very sharp bit of work behind the stumps. Overheard in the bar afterwards, Mr England was heard saying that he realised he was starting to drag his foot but it must have been a touch and go decision. He was out, it was the go decision, great bit of keeping.

The Blackheath bowling attack kept up the pressure, bouncers here, yorkers there, every ball a corker. Wickets fell and once again the ground darkened. The big man was on his way to the crease. This is going to be good. Stuff the result, he's 8 feet tall, 6 feet wide and has hands for paws. Was that a childs bat he was using? What a let down. Geoff Boycott has more of an attacking streak. The only plus was seeing his remarkable pace down the wicket. For a big man he did move. I've since spoken to Ashton, Corry is out, 'The Bear' is in.

Then it was the West Indian International's turn. After being seriously rapido with the ball i had high hopes for this man and boy did he swing his bat. Anything remotely off the stumps and it was like watching a windmill. He clattered the ball about all over the place and it started to look ominous. A change in the bowling attack and on came the Blackheath quickie. After taking a bit of a boshing he showed composure well beyond his age and dished out some delightful deliveries. Three consecutive swishes and misses and the call from the crowd rings out......'It's red, it's round and about two inches across'. Good work that random drunken aussie. West Indies succumbed to the pressure, he was a hero for the day but he was gone. It was now down to slightly less than a run a ball with around four overs to go. Pressure was building, Elen and i resorted to alcohol.

Blackheath were holding their own against a now panicking Bromley side. The crowd were completely smashed and getting more and more vocal. A pensioner that goes under the name of Rupert was informing Blackheath to turn the screw whilst making superb LBW decisions from 60 yards away square on to the wicket. How could the umpire have not given that?
I'd now attracted the attention of some weird middle age lady that had drifted over from the tennis club. I think she was truly insane. She had no idea what was going on but kept making sweeping statements such as 'aahh, he was a useless batsman anyway'. Doing my best to ignore her the tension was building. It was down to a run a ball with four overs to go. Some very tidy spin bowling by the Red Bull fuelled El Capitan and wickets continued to fall but the runs continued to add up. A tired over from one of the Blackheath quickies, who had otherwise bowled superbly, and the Blackheath were on the backfoot. A spurious rumour circulated through the crowd that there was only one over left. They needed four off the last over, the Heath-ers could do it.......alas no, which id1ot started that rumour, there were two overs to go. Our hearts and mouths dropped, surely this was too much.......

A sublime over of spin and only one run off it, it now was three off the last. The tired quickie, Ridd (?) stepped up to the plate. Last wicket, last over, three runs to spare. Four balls bowled, one run scored. The bowler had upped his game, the crowd was verging on an invasion, my weird lady had left. Choo off choo. Bowler starts his run up; left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, he bowls, the batsman swishes.....and misses, 'Safe Hands Shep' plucks the ball out of the air, the batsmen set off on a run, Matty sets off like a rat up a drainpipe, it was slowmotion....... practically diving at the stumps the bails are taken, the stumps are scattered, it's all over. Blackheath have won they're going to the Oval. Bromley have crumbled like a fresh piece of Scottish Shortbread. Great bit of bowling and wicket keeping, particularly under the pressure.

All in all super schtuff, well played Matty, solid game and provided some much needed impetus in the batting. The only question that remains is can they do it at the oval and more importantly........will the green team be able to contain the boisterous Aussie crowd?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Blackheath RUGBY Club website
Blackheath Tyke

Nail-biting" does not begin to describe this match. I doubt if there has ever been a more exciting game of cricket at the Recory Field. For those who were not there, a wonderful match, played by two very talented teams, went right down to the wire. Bromley's last batsman was run out off the last ball going for the winning run! You can't get anything in cricket closer, or more exciting, than that. It was a brilliant afternoon's cricket played to an exceptionally high standard in front of a large, vociferous crowd. What an atmosphere! It couldn't have been any better on the Hill at Sydney! Many congratulations to the Blackheath lads who pulled off a great last gasp victory against aguably the best club side in the country (Bromley are in the National Knockout Final). If you have any interest in cricket, get down to the Oval for the Evening Standard Final on Sunday September 16th and support our Blackheath cricketers. They deserve it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andy Edwards, Bickley Park scorer

Just got in, after one of the most exciting games of cricket I've ever seen.

Blackheath 177 (49.2) (Chris Willetts 67, Nadeem Shahid 3-32)
Bromley 176 (50) (Grant Sheen 53, Alan Wells 45, Warren Lee 4-49, James Hands 3-22)

Blackheath won by 1 run

Blackheath won the toss and elected to bat. They made unspectacular progress throughout the innings, with Willetts playing the anchor role. No one else got to 30, while Bromley used seven bowlers having realised that the best way to bowl on that wicket was slowly - Shahid took three wickets while Sheen went at little more than 2 an over. Two run outs in the closing stages saw Blackheath close on 177.

There was a spectacular start to the Bromley innings, with Warren Lee and Rupert Staple both striking in their first overs (and a spectacular slip catch from Paul Frith) to remove both openers and leave Bromley 2-2. But then Sheen and Wells took command, and a comfortable Bromley win looked to be in prospect. James Handjeezs did get Wells stumped, but Sheen and Watson seemed in little trouble - until Hands called a huddle and then recalled Lee to the attack. With his first ball he bowled Watson and with his second he secured an lbw decision, and the game had turned around.

But Sheen went on, and Ruel Brathwaite supported him well, and Bromley took control once again for a time. But when Hands returned to the attack, wickets again started to fall - and eventually we came to the last over with Bromley on 173-9. Tom Mees on strike, Riv Monsell to bowl. Dot. Dot. One to Mees. A leg side wide. Dot. One to Michael Bluett. One ball to go, one run to tie (and therefore win by losing fewer wickets). Mees played and missed, the wicket keeper didn't dare risk a throw but ran to the stumps and beat Bluett to them. The large and vocal Blackheath contingent invaded the pitch, and the game was over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Robinson - Orpington CC

One of the best games of cricket I have ever seen - congratulations to both sides but clearly to Blackheath in particular. What a finish....I don't think I have ever seen a closer finish and it was great viewing.

I'll be there at the final - let's back Kent sides.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leo Taylor - Bromley CC

It was a ridiculous game. I don't think I have played in a better match than that and I can't imagine there has been a better one in a club cricket semi-final. The finish was up there with SA v Oz in the '99 World Cup.

Well done to Blackheath, Warren and Handsy both bowled brilliantly to win them the game. In a way, it's great for Kent club cricket to have a new winner of the KL and two other sides in the major cup finals, says a lot about the standard of the top teams in the Premier league.

One thing to add, the crowd and atmosphere was excellent

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Hands - Blackheath CC

I concur with everything Leo has said here. It was the best game I have ever played in. The atmosphere was top class. The pitch invasion at the end was classic!

There was some top cricket as well. Wells looked a million dollars. Warren showed why he is, in my mind, the best young bowler in Kent and Sheeny (Bromley) showed some real guts. And the catch by Fire (Frith) to get Leo was quality.

And fair play to the Bears, they were all very gracious in defeat, waited for the pitch invasion to clear and clapped us off and wished us well for the final.

Gidea Park and Romford (222 - 4) beat Blackheath (218 - 6) by six wickets (8th July)

For the second game in succession, the Twos made 200+ and were beaten. A combination of an old ball, an excellent innings and a lack of penetration in the bowling department meant we were as effective at defending a decent total as the Aussie one-day side was prior to the World Cup.

In Spanner terms, Barra got a freebee. As the bowler ran in to deliver the opening delivery, he was already signalling angrily to team-mates that he needed a drink. You'd think that he batted in powdered form. So dehydrated was Barra that he batted on his hands and one knee. The tantrum reached its apex when Barra stamped his feet in the middle of pitch and shouted "Barra want wee-wee."

For the nth innings in succession Barra was dismissed performing his 'High Six' greeting. After being dismissed LBW for a 58 which suggested he'd been using Sasi's mental A-Z to locate the middle of the bat, he let rip with a stream of invective at his team mates' lack of team spirit (he claimed that there were 10 'c's in team). That this incident was forgotten when it came to awarding the Spanner was a Spanner-worthy omission. It will henceforth be known as the Spanner that got away. Pervez Mir, manager of Pakistan's World Cup side, told The Times "If this kind of thing happened to Pakistan, everyone would be talking about corruption and Spanner fixing. It's a f*cking disgrace." Bill Frindall has even suggested that Barra could be the first man in history to collect a Golden Spanner for an incident which didn't win the Spanner on the day itself.

Sasi (27) continued to perform his role as Barra's ceremonial opening partner, at one point going 27 balls without receiving any strike. Boyzone has already agreed to reform for the Strike Aid concert at Wembley to raise awareness of the deprivation Sasi is suffering everytime he bats with Barra.

When Barra was dismissed Scott Boswell, sent in as a pinch hitter, batted like a double agent. His innings raised the prospect that one day he might pinch hit for a draw. Wrighty timed the ball well for 28 before joining Sasi as the victim of a tidy keeper. Andrew Roy played an innings which, like the changing room toilets, you wouldn't want to go through again.

Nid late cut his way to a run-a-ball 45*. Popey's mind whirred at a hundred miles an hour as he tried to come up with something suitable to comment on Nid's massive red-inker. Niddy in Red? Nidiana Jones and the Temple of Red Ink (good job he has a filter)? The Hunt for Redinksover? They were all rejected and rightfully so.

Highlight of Nid's innings was a massive six over midwicket off the returning opening bowler, a shot about which Wrighty has mixed feelings knowing that it ends any prospect of Barra playing a responsible innings this season as he seeks to hit a ball further. Tooter teed off at the end and his 26*, including a flat straight six, was the main impetus behind the 32 scored off the last three overs of the innings.

Blackheath struggled for wickets and were undone by an excellent hundred from one of the opposition's openers who manipulated the ball through the leg side well. Collo was the most economical bowler (8-0-35-1) bowling a beauty to secure our only wicket in the first three-quarters of the Gidea Park innings. Collo brilliantly backs up this performance next week as anyone who has recently checked play-cricket will be aware. Late wickets for Barra (who by this time resembled the pile of dust a sci-fi shooting victim becomes) and Nid, taken after the oppo had 200 and a run-out from Andy Roy, helped Blackheath take the game into the 39th over but the damage had been done and the match was lost by six wickets.

Next week the Twos play unbeaten Addington in the league and will be hoping for their first win of the Brown era.

May 26th & 27th

Results ~

1st XI
Won toss. 243-9. M Sagers 53. Paul Frith 45
Lordswood. 246-6. R Staple 4 for ...
A solid 100 from Lordswood pro won them the game
Lost.
Ben Hammond
S Williams
Aaron Alley (os)
M Ragnauth
J Hands
Paul Frith
R Woods
M Sheppard (wk)
W Lee
Martin Saggers
R Staple

2nd XI
Won toss. 130 all out. 49 Seb Slater.
Lordswood 94-1 (24 overs) ~ when rain THANKFULLY came
Abandoned

Chris Willets
C Dean
Greg Rickards
Clive Ogbimi ^
Seb Slater
Nick Courtney ^
B Winslade ^
Jas Jandu
A Watts
C Swadkin
P Gafa (wk)

3rd XI
Lost toss. 122 all out.
Bexley 68-2 ~ when rain came
Abandoned

Hamish Purdey ^
Joe Ryan
Dan Thomas
Mo Kamra
S Martin
Fergus Ryan ^
Michael Hesketh ^
Richard Williamson
Steve Turner
Chris Stevens
Tom Gaydon

4th XI
Lost toss. 158 all out.
Walmer 68 all out.
thankfully, then, the rain came
Win - 20 points

Dave Farnell
Tom Stevens (wk)
Ralf Hindle wk
J Kerridge
James Crutcher
Ben Woodside
Roland Jack
Rob Morgan
John Dodson
Chris Collinson
Paul Crisp

5th XI
Lost toss. 164-8. Will Lingard 54. Bowlers (!) Prior 25 and Joyes 24
enjoying themselves at the end.
Buckhurst 51-6 (25 overs). When the groundsman dragged us off the pitch.
Abandoned
Tim Harris ^
Josh Hurkett (os)
Andrew Roy ^
Dave Norrie ^
Arend Dippenaar
Will Lingard
Matt Prior
Dave Joyes
Saf Umair
Wale Kadiri (WK)
Phillip Hatzidakis

3A XI
Won the toss.
Old Colfeians 73 all out. 5 wickets for Rupert Hill standin Saiful Islam ,
on his debut. A name to watch out for.
Blackheath 75-4 (14 overs). Stuart Mackie 45 ~ saw the troops home.
Win - 16 points

Sean Cannon
Jonathon Hurrell
Raj Lankari
Joe Cannon
James Wilkinson
Luke Dobson
Patrick Ashley (wk)
Stuart Mackie (os)
Saiful Islam
Dylan Moses
Barry Halsted

4A XI
Lost toss.
Wimbledon 240 -7 (40 overs). Oppo were 70 for 5 before a rally. 2 wickets
for Adeel, Bos and Strutt.
Blackheath 26 - 5. Trying to force the pace in what was going to be rain
affected game.
Abandoned

Richard Ward
Alan Bosworth
Mohammed Adil
Daniel Morris (os)
Priyan Maluwe
Terry Stark (wk)
Ahmed Faraj
Lawrence Hill
Peter Kulpa
Simon Strutt
Peter Lee Wright

Sunday
Cup XI -- rained off against Southgate (replay next week)
1st XI -- rained off at Orpington (Josh Hurkett's debut as skipper delayed aweek)
2nd XI -- rained off against Old Scuppers
Women -- rained off at Hayes

May 19th & 20th

10 games planned, 5 rained off which is more than frustrating, especially aswhen I look out my window typing this email its a mainly blue sky, with a rather pleasing red sky -- promising good weather for the next 5 days.

From the 5 games we had 4 wins and a second place.
The 1's won a remarkable game -- bowled out for 95, against last years
Premier league runners up, St Lawrence, most teams would have eaten the
sandwiches and headed for the bar to drink the fixture back next year.
However, anything is possible with a sarf london streak running through the
team. 35-1 ; 36-2 ; 43-3 ; 71-4 ; 72-5 ; 76-6 ; 82-7 ; 84-8 ; 85-9; 89-10.
Twenty points to the 1st XI by 5.45 pm and back to the Rectory for beers in
good time. Another 5 fer from skipper James Hands, supported by Wazza and an
ex-England & Kent man Martin Saggers.

The 2's won a low scoring affair at home vs St Lawrence. 159 is never going
to be enough on the Rectory wicket in May, and the 2's chased it down for
just 7 wickets and 4 overs to spare. A debut 64 * from Seb Slater was the
core of the innings, supported by a Weasel with a "Dave Wilsoneske" 27 ...
hittting the ball for singles to all parts of the square, usully on the 5th
ball of each over.

The 4's carried on with winning ways, walloping country visitors Offham.
Blackheath 209, plenty of 30's ... Crutcher, Kerridge, Farnell (well 20) and
debutant Ralf Hindle 45. Thrity six overs later and Offham all out for 102.
I'll single out Dan Lewis as the pick of the bowling ... 6 overs, 3 maidens,
2 wickets for 5 runs.

The 4A's had a fine with up north ... in Harold Park, Essex. Beating a
reasonable 1st team in Essex is always a good day out. Restricted the oppo
to 144 -- then hit them down in the last over for 7 wickets. Great 45* from
Lawrence Hill brought the points back to Blackheath.

The 3's were beaten by a good overseas player down at Offham (85 runs from
145, 6 wickets - apparently he makes the teas, drives the coach and prepares
the wickets as well). More application needed next week.

Rain / wet / unprepared wickets meant the 5's and 3A's had a wasted day,
back down the shoppping centre with the missus.

All three games on Sunday were rained out.

Blackheath Sunday Twos (171 all out) beat Kempton (167 all out) by four runs ~ Sunday 6th May

With the Cricket World Cup being widely regarded as the biggest fiasco since Nid and Monster batted together in slippery conditions, it was up to the Sunday Twos to restore faith in the game of cricket. Thankfully, the Twos know that the game is all about entertainment and put on another of their nail-biting displays.

With Barra dropped for returning from Australia and Sasi suffering a recurrence of his shoulder problem after an evening spent holding an imaginary Fantasy Cricket trophy above his head, the Twos' batting line-up looked a little thin. However, batting first and motivated by the sheer terror of having Macca at number nine, the top order fared reasonably well.

After dominating an opening stand of 26, Wrighty was dismissed for three. Tooter capitalised on the oppo's captain who was dropping catches like Timbaland drops beats. Watching him drop catches close to the wicket recalled the absent Barra. However, the oppo skipper didn't have the appearance of class that comes with having dropped hundreds of catches at a much higher level of cricket. Tooter made 44 and spent a sleepless night recalling what happened last time he scored 40-odd in his first knock of the season.

Ruba made 33 after seeking pre-innings advice on how to deal with female bowlers (of which the oppo had one). The writer wasn't present to hear who advised him to block-the-first-one-and-then-take-a-wild-swing-at-the-second-one-and-offer-a-chance but whoever it was, their advice was followed to the letter. Nid made 23 including two sixes, one of which made Barra's mythical six look like a risky single.

From 126 - 2 the Twos suffered a collapse to be dismissed for 171 although the middle and lower order made sure the full allocation of overs was used up. One of the highlights of the latter stages of the innings was Popey glancing one to leg slip and calling Monster through for a single. Monster was run-out by the length of a Pygmy slog. Shortly afterwards, Popey was out for the first time in seven months and the market price for red ink fell to its lowest in more than a year. No need then, for the Americans to start bombing Rymans.

The target was not going to be an easy one to defend but the Twos were banking on a good bowling performance coupled with an unprecedented display of fancy-dannery from their opponents. After an early breakthrough for Rob Worthington, Kempton progressed to 64 - 1 before Monster unleashed a torrent of filth which changed the game. His first ball was an accurate reconstruction of Harmison's opening delivery in the Ashes and Popey, a man in search of redemption, took a catch to remove the oppo's keeper who'd clearly done something to annoy Tooter. Monster, famed for his precise knowledge of cricketing brinksmanship in the lateral sense, also showed a knowledge of vertical limits, unleashing a near-waist high full toss which was slapped to Ruba at square leg. In 200 years, the Chairman of the Club may well be apologising to the world for the wicket.

Meanwhile, James 'Don't Ask for a Lift, It's a Mini' Tootell did his usual thing, bowling cutters and his design classic slower ball to finish with 2 - 39. One of those wickets came courtesy of Rob Worthington who made good ground to hold a superb catch in the deep. Good catching was a theme of the Twos' fielding performance and was probably the main reason why the Twos beat an opposition who will be amongst the stronger teams they play this season.

With Kempton 89 - 5, out to the wicket strode a professional KP lookalike who had more ticks than Stephen Hawking's A-Level Physics paper. He clearly fancied himself but was proven to be a showboating fancy-dan of ASBO proportions. His lengthy vigil rendered just 12 runs when Monster unveiled his change-up delivery - i.e. one which didn't necessitate a visit to confession. A miscued pull flew to the skipper at mid-off who took a good catch to leave Monster nursing figures of 4 - 20 ("Now you can have the same old Monster economy AND wickets"), his best for the club for a couple of seasons. Expect highlights, a mullet and pilfering of Rasta imagery before the end of the season a la Beefy in '85.

An eighth wicket stand of 42 took Kempton to the brink of victory at 158 - 7 before the twist in the tale. Nid, who had been warming up since the 31st over of the Blackheath innings, was invited by the skipper to try and finish the game off one way or another. In the 36th over, with 14 needed to win, Popey took a sharp catch from a rising delivery. The home side enjoyed the benefit of luck and a dodgy outfield in the next over to score nine. Five needed off three overs. A few dot balls from Nid earned a heave across the line to the solitary man in the deep on the leg-side, Tooter, who took a pressure catch with relative ease. The penultimate over from Phil was a maiden, with him once again showing a good temperament under pressure. Five from the last over and, with Kempton's number 10 hell bent on hitting the runs off one ball, it took Nid three balls to find the stumps and finish with figures of 3 - 10.

In recent times, the Twos have won games by one, four and nine runs as well as securing a fightback tie. Part of the reason for this success is the team spirit within the, er, team. A fine win to start with but now for some consistency...

21st & 22nd April

14th & 15th April

Scorecards

Match Reports 2006

GOLF DAY -- SUNDAY 3rd SEPT -- DETAILS

AUCTION DETAILS - A CHANCE TO BID

Saturday 12th August

Blackheath 3A vs Old Colfeians 3 (at Old Colfes – rain-reduced to 80 over game)

Blackheath 3A winning draw

Blackheath 3A batted first – 250 for 7 off 40, Julian Wilson imperious 44 before missing a full toss for more jug avoidance, Sunny Karia in his 4th farewell appearance smashed 68, Simon Martin an elegant 50, Graeme Ferguson an impish 22 at the end. Our highest batting total of the season, and off 5 less overs than usual…

Our opening pair, Ben Waters and James Martin, bowled brilliantly, Ben chasing the STL leading wicket-taker award with 4-51 off 14, and James bowling into a stiff wind took 4-55 off 14. We just couldn’t finish them off, as their colt keeper showed his elders how to do it with a really gutsy 47*, and they survived to 155 for 9.

Tuesday 31st July

Blackeath 224-4d (39 overs) drew with Old Victorians 209-6 (43 overs)

If we’d been told that a couple of the Old Victorians would be ‘late’ for this year’s fixture we might have feared they had finally gone to the Great Pavilion in the Sky. Fortunately they were actually only late by half an hour. And what’s 30 minutes when you’ve been playing cricket for about 60 years?

The game got underway with Blackheath, put in to bat, keen to get runs quickly and Wrighty and Sasi gave us the perfect start with a century stand at a good rate. Sasi departed for a stylish half-century but Barra and Ruba kept things ticking over nicely setting up the possibility of a good early declaration. Meanwhile Wrighty was making rapid progress through the 70s and 80s (I mean runs not the ages of the bowlers). With a couple of overs left in the innings it looked like he would complete his hundred but, looking for the crucial four off the final ball of the penultimate over, he was caught at mid-wicket by the third umpire (who was making up numbers for the opposition). An unlucky way to miss out on a deserved ton for the Club.

Yorkie made good use of the final over, despite taking some abuse from his team mates for leaving a wide one that the umpire didn’t call because he was hungry for tea, and Blackheath set the Vics a challenging 225 in 75 minutes plus 20 overs.

The visiting side’s openers got them off to a good start despite some aggressive bowling from Barra and Macca. A tidy spell from Sam and wickets for Monster and Nosher before the tea break meant that all result were possible when the last 20 overs began. Both sides attacked with the Old Victorians scoring at a fast rate, mainly through a guy who bats without gloves but has such a good eye that he never looks like being hit anywhere (maybe he will dispense with pads next season). Wrighty followed his 96 with a crucial wicket, making use of a pitch that was starting to turn. With Macca unable to bowl after injuring his arm throwing, Bassy and Barra dug deep to restrict the scoring rate. Tight fielding led to important run-outs and with three overs to go Blackheath looked the more likely winners. But the Old Victorians tail hung around to ensure a well-fought draw was the result for the second year running.

Thursday 28th July 2006

MCC 230-7 Dec. (49 Overs)
Blackheath CC 231-8 (44.5 Overs)

The MCC batted first as is traditional but they soon found life difficult in the face of some tight bowling from Rob Morgan and Ian Bass. Ian accounted for former Blackheath Player (insert Badger's proper name here!) with Rob picking up the other opener. As the innings progressed there were further wickets for Peter Lee-Wright, Beckenham's Sarvesh Saxena and Old Colfeian's duo Asim Shafique and Raph Pendergast. Former Somerset player Simon Ecclestone and Beckenham all-rounder Oli Howick both registered half centuries for the visitors as they declared on 230-7.

Blackheath's reply got off to a bad start with the early loss of Janaid Ahmed, but Sunny Karia was joined by Savesh Saxena and they pushed the score past 50 at a reasonable rate. Old Elthamians' Aussie Ken Vowles maintained the innings' impetus with an impressive 40 odd but the innings of the day came from Hadleigh Luff who scored a sublime 70 odd in quick time. As the last hour of the game loomed and it became apparent Blackheath would only receive 45 overs back, Hadleigh was ably supported Eddie Von Gericke with a well-paced 20 odd. As wickets tumbled Blackheath skipper Chris Willetts (20 odd not out batting at 8) steered his side to a 2 wicket win with a ball to spare.

Saturday 8th July

So within a week of being back in good old England… I'm back off to work in Greece for the summer! If you weren't at nets then you didn't hear my announcement that a job as a hotel entertainer as come up for 6 weeks in Kalamaki and I took it. Imagine the bacon!!! Don't know who's going to take over on this. Eddie was nakard after two weeks of it!!! Ah well, here I go with my final report of the summer…

Blackheath 1st XI beat Gore Court at home by 92 runs (Kent Prem)
Blackheath 235-9 (55 overs), Gore Court 143
What a big win that is!!! Senny 49 and Hammo 36 steadied the innings after a poor start. Firey 39 and Wazza 32 with runs near the end. 2 each for Dragon and Woodsy and HANDSY with 6-27!!! Bloody hell lad!

Blackheath 2nd XI win draw away to Gore Court (Kent Prem - Res)
Blackheath 274-8 (50 overs), Gore Court 212-6 (50 overs)
Skipper Deano 58, Chrissy Willets 48, Jaco 43* and Peter Dean 38 set a very good score. Slade 2-60 and 'MAGIC BALL' (last time I'm doing that) 3-30 but Court lasted their 50 overs.

Blackheath 3rd XI lost at home to Minster by 47 runs (Kent Div 5)
Minster 154-9 (50 overs), Blackheath 107
Watty 2-25, Stevey Turner 2-8 and Stevey Speechley 4-24 kept Minster to a respectable score. Only Courts with 33 got a score over 20.

Blackheath 4th XI losing draw away to Sevenoaks Vine (Kent Div 5 - Res)
Sevenoaks Vine 198, Blackheath 147-8 (55 overs)
Sevenoaks got off to a dramatic start, slogging 100 off 17 overs before Copsey, Collinson and Dunning pulled them back to a gettable 198 on a good batting wicket. However, the batting did not shine. Wilcox, Dunning, Kamara and Crutcher all got in and got out and it was left to Chris Collinson and Jas Jandu to bat out the draw.

Blackheath 5th XI lost to Roan and Lambethans at home by 84 runs (Kent West Div 1A)
Roan and Lambethans 281-3 (46 overs), Blackheath 197
AH, less said bout this the better… Dave Joyes 2-67 but there were too many runs on the board despite the contributions of Weasel 54 and Shak 37.

Blackheath 3A XI beat Old Colfeians at home by 103 runs (South Thames - Div 1)
Blackheath 200-8 (45 overs), Old Colfeians 97
Sean and Joe Cannon put on 80 for the 2nd wicket, Sean falling just short of another 50. All the middle order got runs, Gaffin and Edebiri accelerating deftly at the right time, and Ben Waters at the end nudged us past the mythical (for us this season) 200 mark. Miserly bowling from Scott, Jon D and Rupert, and a fiery 3-for from Ben, killed the game for the oppo, who shut up shop early and played meekly for a draw. They couldn't cope with Dynamite Dobbo, who snaffled three wickets late on to win the game for Blackheath.

Blackheath 4A XI beat Catford and Cyphers away by 14 runs (Non League)
Blackheath 153-8 (40 overs), Catford and Cyphers 139
Richard Fleming the star with 52 and 2-13. Simon Strutt 4-23 including a 3-wicket maiden. James Henry with 3-15 off 8.

Sunday 9th July

Blackheath 2nd XI lost to Dulwich Kingston away by 92 runs (South London Sunday League)
Dulwich Kingston 213-4 (40 overs), Blackheath 121-7 (40 overs)
Not much to say on the bowling front. Just Nid 27 and Ruba 22 with the bat.

The thing I'm going to miss apart from my family is this club. It's my second home. Who can say they've been called a living legend because of his drinking at the age of 17!!! This job was just too good to turn down and I know you would all do the same at my age. Can't wait to come back in the autumn and let you know all about my exploits!!!!

Up the greatest club of all,
Stavros… sorry Crispy

Saturday 1st July 2006

Yet another cracking weekend of sunshine….I am starting to enjoy this place, might be calling it HOME soon….guess that's till the winter sets in again! Crispy has gone a-wall…so you guys are stuck with me again…..enjoy, Fast Eddie

Blackheath 1st XI vs Folkestone CC 1st XI lost by 12 runs.
Folkestone CC 117 all out
Blackheath CC 105 all out

Another fine bowling performance by the boys, Dragon going for 34 in 10 and Clive O for only 5 runs in his 4 overs. The spinners then came on and did the job required on a spinning track. Hands 4/28, Woods 4/29 and Edwards 2/20 cleaning up.

Batting then let us down as we were spinned out for 105, 12 runs short. 3 Guys getting to double figures, Ben Hammond with 50 getting us past the 100 mark.

Blackheath 2nd XI vs Folkestone 2nd XI

Blackheath 251/5
Folkestone 219/7
Blackheath won the toss and elected to bat on a scorching day at the Rectory Field. Yet again, Luff and Willetts got the club off to a decent start. Willetts and Fern also put together a decent partnership against some tight bowling before Willetts fell to a dreadful LBW decision. However, the stage had been set for Eddie Von Gericke to again show the strength in the 2s batting line up by smashing 70 not out off only 37 balls. He was ably supported by Peter Dean who ended up 21 not out and the club posted over 250 for the second successive week.
What followed was a pretty poor effort from the bowlers which allowed Folkestone to get off to a good start. Swaddy again rolled back the years and took a wicket in his first over, and young colt Ivan Thomas showed great potential when bowling his 4 overs for only 14 runs. Pete Dean also picking up 2 important sticks. At one stage, the game appeared to be heading for another nailbiting finish, but wickets at key times slowed the Folkestone innings and they ended up settling for a draw against the league leaders. Deano

Blackheath 3rd XI vs Farningham won by 36 runs.

SuperDave won the toss and elected to bat in perfect conditions. Solid contributions from Joe Ryan (34), Courts (32) and Steve Turner (23) carried Blackheath to 168 all out, a few runs less than expected given conditions.
However, Blackheath's superior bowling line-up won the day again, with 3 wickets from Fergus Ryan and 2 each from Steve Turner and Tom Gaydon - plus an exceptional run-out from Junaid that ensured victory.

Nice day to be outside in the sun I'm guessing...Courts

Blackheath 4th XI vs Roan & Lambethans CC

Old Roans & Lambethans 2nd XI 219 all out (49.2 overs)
Blackheath 4th XI 220-7 (43.2 overs)

A suberb innings of 136 not out from Mo Kamara saw the 4s successfully
chase 220 to consolidate their position at the top of the table.

The best opposition batting display of the season saw Old Roans reach
219 all out in the final over. Sukh Jandu ran through the tail to finish
with 4 for 10, with Imran Khan also bowling well to restrict them at the death
and Darryl Copsey picking up a couple of wickets. At the top of the innings
Carson Brookes bowled 12 tidy overs straight through in the heat of the
day, and he and Rob Worthington can count themselves unlucky not to have
picked up a few more wickets.

After a couple of early wickets Steve Willcox (50) steadied the ship,
but Mo quickly got on top of the bowlers and never looked back, whacking 16
fours and seeing Blackheath home with more than 6 overs to go…. Steve

Blackheath 5th XI lost to Blackheath Wanderers City of London 1st XI

Blackheath Wanderers City of London 8/251 (46 overs)
Blackheath 130 all out

On a hot day, the lack of an umpire (again) meant we automatically lost the toss (again) and fielded first (again). At 15-3 we were happy, but BWCoL rallied to post a target we thought was about par for such a small ground. Jas Jandu with 3/36 being the pick of the bowlers. Unfortunately our run-chase never really kicked into gear and respectability was only gained through Greg Watterson's massive straight sixes and Riv Monsell bludgeoning a boundary-laden 70.

Blackheath 3A XI vs Sidcup 3rd XI lost by 29 runs.
No report - although sent through by skipper .. lost in tranit somewhere. It happens. But sufficient to say that it was a close run thing, where we just ran out of fire power.

Blackheath 4A XI - opposition cancelled.

SUNDAY 2 JULY 2006

ECB Cockspur Cup
Blackheath 1st XI vs Wanstead 1st XI lost by 99 runs

Wanstead won the toss and decided to bat. After getting off to a flyer, the boys did well to restrict them to reasonable 204 ao in 42.4 overs.
The spin trio once again doing most of the damage. Hands 3/38, Woods 2/24 and Edwards 2/44.

Facing some true fast bowling our batters have not seen before this season we only managed 105. Rawlo playing well before getting run out.

Sunday 1st XI vs Bromley Town - League

Match called off by Bromley Town, 9am Sunday morning, due to the team suffering from a hang over after yesterdays crap game of football. Scott

Sunday 2nd XI vs
Blackheath v Mostyn, somewhere in Beckenham

Blackheath (166 - 7) tied with Mostyn (166 all out)

Wrighty's failure to convert his 77 into a 78 costs the Twos their first league victory of the season :)

The Twos had a more familiar and reassuring look to them this week, with the return of Popey and Monster to the line-up. Amidst a swelteringly hot day, homoerotica was in the air and it was surprising that Barra didn't try and recreate the Pet Shop Boys' Domino Dancing video such was his smouldering desire for either or both of them. At times this season, it seems like the only two people in the side who haven't thought about Popey and Monster being 'together' are the pair themselves. The need for the Twos to have their own shrink/counsellor to deal with projection issues grows stronger by the week.

While Wrighty made steady progress, Tootell looked in great nick racing to 17 before chasing a wide one in an attempt to up the scoring rate. At 76 - 4, much work remained to be done by the Twos' oft-fragile batting.

Wrighty stood tall like a Colossus with Katie Holmes on one arm and Nicole Kidman on the other, hitting 11 crisp boundaries on the way to a season's best 77. It was an innings around which the Twos were able to make a competitive 166 - 7.

After tea, the 30 or so spectators created an atmosphere the likes of which the Twos had never played in. Some Kent players at the 20-20 game being played down the road in Beckenham wondered where all the noise was coming from. Constant chatter, dancing and a horn eminated from the boundary as Mostyn began their pursuit. Barra picked up a wicket in the first over to apply early pressure. Rob Worthington (10-2-31-4), promoted to the Sunday Twos, bowled beautifully with good pace and movement to keep Popey busy. They combined to send three of the Mostyn top five back to the pavilion.

Wrighty (2-35) and Nid (9.5-2-29-2) also combined with Popey to take wickets with the first balls of their respective spells reducing Mostyn to 61-6. At 77-7, Blackheath were well on top but Mostyn's skipper batted well to make 61 batting at number eight. With six overs of their innings left. Mostyn were 150-7….Nid

Sunday 3rd XI vs Farnborough won by 175 runs

Blackheath 217-4
Farnborough 42 all out

Weather: F'ing hot
Pitch/Wicket: Like a snooker table (if said snooker table was placed
sideways across a ski-slope) although wicket was firm and pretty even -
gave a bit too bowler and batsman.
Toss: Ba-Ba's batted first as they only had 9 and we're waiting for
[quote] "their batsman" to turn up at 4 (which he didn't) and out 9 wanted to
sit in the shade smoking cigarettes and talking about the England game.
Skippers decided to spare the ignominy of highlighting lack of fitness in both
sides by reducing to 30-over a side (6 overs per bowler). Did not work - lack
of fitness apparent!
Batting - 1st wicket partnership of 122 by N. Morgan (74) and S. Martin
(66) off 16 overs provided great platform for middle order to ease the total
up to 217-4 off 30 allotted overs (D. Bradon 40 n.o.). A good, well-paced
innings and a perfect example of top-6 batting performance.

Bowling - Farnboro 42 all out. The 4 seamers producing the goods with
figures as follows:
* J. "Harmie" Martin extracting pace and bounce to take 3-19 off 4;
* M. "Hoggie" Radley with his nagging out-swing taking 2-10 off 5;
* S. "Freddie" Pathan aggressive seamers taking 1-9 off 4;
* S. "Jonesy" Hart breaking partnerships with 2-3 off 3.
Fielding - good standard throughout. Supported bowlers well. No (I
repeat no dropped catches. 4 out of 4 taken... Simon "WP Carpmael" Martin

Saturday 24 June 2006

Another weekend has come and gone at the Rectory. England go through thanks to DB's top corner free kick. Old crispy is out in Greece somewhere learning about the birds and the bee's….so I have the honour of reporting back…Wimbledon has started and the rain seems to be back..11 years and counting….

Blackheath 1st XI lost to Bromley by 85 runs
Bromley 218/8 (55overs)
Blackheath 133 (39overs)

At The Rectory, Bromley won the toss and decided to bat. The boys did really well restricting them to a modest 218/8 in 55overs. "Magicball" doing the containing job and frustrating the batsmen, and Dragon (4/55) cleaning up from the other end. Handsy also bowling well taking a quality 3/50 in 15.

On a track that started playing a few tricks we got off to a steady start before things went wrong. The guys all being back in the hut after just 39 overs for 133.

Blackheath 2nd XI winning draw against Bromley 2nd XI

At Bromley the 2nd's lost the toss and were asked to bat. Another fine opening partnership (105) between Willets (57 of 52 balls) and Nosher (56) before Deano came in to slap a couple around scoring 33 from 30 balls. The innings off the day belonged to "Man of the Match", Stu Fern. Stu came in and played the innings the team needed smashing 78 of just 55 balls to take Blackheath to a decent 261.

In the field things started slowly with the Bromley batsmen getting to 93 before the 1st wicket fell. (Should have been more but 12 vs 11 is always harder). Swad doing the damage. Andy Watts back to his good old self bowling a fine spell of 15 overs, 3/42 on a batting deck. Swad also getting his usual 3 suspects, 3/90. Bromley needed 12 of the last over, a big edge for 4, a fantastic save by Pete Dean on the boundary and clever work by Carlian of the last ball meant Bromley ended on 260/8.
2nd's coming away with a winning draw against the strong side from Bromley.

Blackheath 3rd XI Tied with Bromley Town

Bromley Town 1st XI 170-8
Blackheath 3rd XI 170-8

Town were restricted to 170 after being put into bat. Fergus Ryan led the way with 4-40 and was well supported by Bongo and Ste