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1st Team News

  
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Tuesday, June 07 2011 @ 01:11 PM BST
Contributed by: committee
Views: 330
Apologies for the lack of 1st team news, we have recently appointed B Hooper to add a weekly article on the website regarding 1st team performances but I thought I would give you a run down on the year so far.
We shall begin with a terrific preseason programme where a number of players placed their name in the hat for a first team spot, of which Keith Barlow and Harry ‘Kandapully’ gained a spot for the first game against Budleigh. We have also recruited Kevin Davis from Plymouth College who bowled well during preseason and of course Doug Hewett, also from South Africa who is a very talented keeper batter. The first team also were fortunate to include Chris Hadfield, who is a high quality leg spinning all-rounder from Mat Hooper’s club Andover. ‘Hadders’ as he is known has had a fine start to the season with the ball in each of the games he has played so far this term.
First up there was Budleigh who are proud to boast a number of pedigree minor county cricketers. A fine opening spell from Kevin Davies removing the two danger men Allen and Dawson and other good performances with the ball from Hill, Burke, Hadders and Badger ensured that the visitors were rolled out for a meagre 130. This paved the way for the Doug Hewett show, where he proceeded to prematurely end a young fast bowlers 1st team career to date, smashing 30 off his last over to cruse Plymouth home by 7 wickets.
Then came Exmouth, and we were put into bat on a pretty good looking pitch at the county’s number one ground. After an 80 run head start, the day went downhill from there. Some good bowling from Lye (Exmouth’s spinner) and some very nervous batting on our behalf meant we were rolled out for a mere 150, well below par. Lye subsequently smashed 70 off 50 balls paving the way for the home side to cruse home with wickets in hand. A very disappointing performance with the bat from a team supposedly packed with quality batters. Plenty of work to do in the next game against Bovey.
We won the toss on a typical slow and low Bovey deck and elected to bat and made a good start, with both openers making 40 each. However once Bovey removed our top order, the middle order was once again charged with the task of recovering our innings which was teetering at 110 for 4. Harry K and Steve Lufman put together a solid 50plus stand which got us up to 195 by the end of our innings. Burke once again was a menace, mastering the art of swinging the Tiflex ball, and ably backed up by big Kev. Hoops and Hadders once again bowled well, building up pressure and taking wickets and we scraped a win by 15 runs. Huge effort from all the boys, a solid team performance.
Then came the ‘one that got away’. I don’t want to sound like Dave Tall but the weather well and truly stitched us up in our next game against Heathcoat. Our top order built a superb platform for us to launch an all out attack in the last 15 overs of our innings batting first. We were 145 for 1 with 17 overs to go…and then the worst happened. After being informed by the Met Office that any rain around would clear by 1, it drizzled non-stop for the rest of our innings and we only got back on for 1 over to add another 10 or so. Leaving Heathcoat needing 160 off 33 overs. Sadly that is the way the game goes sometimes and the whole team got fired up for a backs to the ball mission to blow away the opposition batters. The second innings started well with Burke and Kev both picking up wickets, superbly backed up in the field. All the bowlers bowled awesomely, and defending 300 like we should have been, the result would have been a fair one. But as it was, one of their lads managed to see them home with two wickets in hand and an over to spare.
Then…came Plympton. We lost the toss and were put in to bat. Toms went early, and Whittaker and Hewett got us to 50-1, ducking and swaying through a quick spell from Imran. Hewett fell to a superb run out and then came a rebuilding mission by George Stephenson and Whittaker. Both went in the 40’s which again left the middle order exposed to a quick second spell from Imran. Hadders and Lufman staged the fight back taking us from 120-5 to a very competitive score of 210. One of the new boys to the bowling attack Robins bagged 3 at the top and backed up by Burke, Plympton were left reeling at 55-5. But then came a fight back by Wrench and Imran and the home side made it to 110-5 needing 4 and a half an over off the last 20 to secure a win. At this point the game was very much in the balance, enter Sam ‘sausage’ Steen. Sam bowled a maiden in his first over, at a time when that was a rarity and gave little away in his following 5 overs, building immense pressure on the home side. This pressure forced Wrench to take a silly run and badger hit one stump to take our 7th wicket…game on. Steen bagged his first wicket then Hadders and Hooper then cleaned up the last 2 poles to secure a huge win against the old enemy.
A good start to the season but there is one thing I would like to stress. Places in the first team are not a right. There are guys in the 2nd team now banging on the door all the time for a place in the 1st team with both bat and ball. The team has already seen a number of changes in both departments, but still a number of those that have come into the team have not cemented a spot. To do this 30’s are not enough with the bat, as there is always someone on the 2’s who makes a 70 plus (at least to date there has). When you get your chance, back yourself and take it with both hands. We have made huge steps over the past couple of years, but there is still much much more to come. Make sure you are the one making that match winning difference, take that big wicket, make that match winning score and like George Stephenson did last year, take your chance when you have it!!
Roll on next Saturday
 
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