Runs remained hard to come by for Pudong as first changers Tubby and Sinbad continued to keep things very tight,ably assisted by a field which had woken up after a series of early ground-fielding mishaps.

Sinbad broke through a couple of times whilst Tubby produced a great spell at the other end without any luck. Conan took over from Sinbad and was practically unplayable in a 5 over spell of 3-23. Bugs then mopped up the tail with 3-14 well aided by some fine fielding from Growler (3 catches) and Sinbad. The Korean also did fine work behind the stumps, looking particularly sharp down the leg side.

Set 123 to win, Bashers started the chase with great caution and were only at 39 at the half way mark with 4 batsmen back in the pavilion. The arrival of Conan (43) at the crease turned things around and his partnership with Swoop (16) took us within sight of victory. After Swoop’s departure, the Dog (19 Not Out) continued the good work first with Sinbad and then with Bugs as victory was achieved in the 27^th over with three wickets in hand.

• Sunday 5 June 2011 SRFC Far
  Pudong Power 122/10 (2.62)
  Bashers Pleasure 123/7 (7.23)

Notable highlights:

Fielding

Bugs-3-14

Conan-3-23

Sinbad-2-26

Growler-3 catches

Batting

Conan-43

The Dog-19

Swoop-16

Man of the Match:

Conan

2011 Division Two

Our batting started brightly with ‘Tiny’ Tim O’Connell and Sean ‘The Korean’ Malcon keeping the scoring ticking over against an endless procession of accurate medium pace bowling.’The Korean’ perished to a pearler on middle stump which brought Glen ‘Growler’ Rowell to the middle. With ‘Tiny’, they accumulated at a reasonable pace up until shortly before the break when ‘Tiny’ took a heave and was caught behind. His stylish 41 was a good start to his Bashers career. Mal ‘Omega’ Collins made a few and our other newcomer Mike ‘Tubby’ Hall followed with a quick fire 15. He looked a good hitter and an exciting prospect for later in the campaign. The runs then dried up to tight bowling including the spinmeister who took a ‘Five-For’and we finished our 30 overs on 147.

All of the Bashers bowling suffered from too many wides and no balls. We managed to send down 40-This combined with 20-30 too few off the bat left us with too much to do and the Devils reached the target in the 21st over. Pat ‘The Dog’ Savina. ‘Tiny’ Tim O’Connell, Mike ‘Tubby’ Hall,and Glenn ‘Growler’ Rowell all looked useful except for the spate of wide deliveries.’Tiny’ gets steep bounce and the other lads mentioned get a bit of seam movement off the pitch. ‘Tubby’ swings the odd one and will take wickets at D2 Level. Ben ‘Conan’ Parris had an excellent spell of leg spin and at times, looked unplayable. With more runs on the board to play with, he would have had an opportunity to run through them.

• Sunday 29 May 2011 Dulwich College
  Bashers Pleasure 147/10 (2.67)
  Devils Digital 151/6 (7.51)

2011 Division Two

So; the Boys are looking sharper and we have bowling and batting depth. A bit more discipline will see us cruising towards the play-offs. ‘The Skip’.

Omega settled in quickly and comfortably and was moving along serenely in the twenties when the introduction of Rak’s Channa-style leggies proved to be his undoing and he was clean bowled trying to hit the ball out of the park.

Our Rak and Badabing both made no contribution as the Hot Dog seamers tightened the screws from one end as’ Hot Dog Rack’ bowled his ‘dibbly- dobblies’ from the other.

Swahili and Swoop threatened a partnership before succumbing to another run-out farce that saw Swoop stranded way outside his ground as the shot which was hit directly at the fielder was returned neatly over the top of the stumps. Swahili then advanced down the pitch going for the big one and became another ‘Hot Dog Rack’ victim.

Tank did not contribute; another victim of a’ Hot Dog Rak’, ‘Pie’. Growler steadied the innings with a quick-Fire 32 off 18 deliveries and Pothole and Bugs both scored a few as the tail wagged a bit to leave Hot Dogs chasing 165.

We went to the 15 over break somewhat in the hunt with their South African number three,Nick, ‘threatening’. After the tea break, Nick and Rizwan absolutely pulverized the bowling and had everything ‘done and dusted’ by the 20^th over. We threw in far too many wides and basically bowled innocuous stuff, perfect for a flat pitch bully which I think would be the most generous way to describe Nick’s talent. He was good off his legs and we fed him mercilessly. The highlight of our bowling performance was Tank’s hat trick attempt. He served up a slow ‘bouncer’ wide-Brilliant…….all part of the great learning curve as our former base ball player crafts out his transition in to the realms of the cricket arena. Well done, Tank, anyway, for actually being on a hat trick!

• Sunday 22 May 2011 SRFC Near
  DPR Hot Dogs 167/2 (7.67)
  Bashers Pleasure 165/10 (2.05)

Heads held high, we move on in good spirits to tackle Devils Digital next weekend with a squad slightly more blessed in the bowling department.

2011 Division Two

We reduced the game to a 20/20 and yet again, Bugs won the toss and this time made the correct call by electing to bat. Pothole and Parrot, elevated to Div 2 for the first time in this season’s campaign, got off to a bright start before Parrot was clean bowled trying to hit the ball in to the subway station, forgetting that we were at SRFC and not at Dulwich. Whipper Snipper followed with a rapid fire 25 off 14 balls, pushing the score along at around 6 an over. His departure bought in Omega who did not trouble the scorers, feathering the slimmest of edges behind.

This brought Dazzler to the crease who proceeded to embark on an incredibly brutal display of hitting  which would have made Andrew Symonds proud even at the height of his one day powers. He went to 55 not out in 5 overs and whilst resting on the bench, the rest of us nudged and nurdled the score along until the fall of the 9th wicket. He then scored another 30 in a 12 ball partnership with Bugs worth 34 runs, ending on 84 not out.

A shell-shocked Pudong came in to bat requiring 181 to win at a mere 9 an over, never coming close and succumbing by 52 runs. On the bowling and fielding front, the bowlers were tight and disciplined with Dazzler the pick of the seamers, working up a lively pace off a short run and having the ‘oppo’ hopping around a bit to add to their discomfort. Omega, Swahili, Bugs and Woody (looking like a young version of Bjorn Borg with his new head gear) all kept it tight and and a cameo finish from Golden Shears bowling an over of ‘offies’ saw him pick up his first wicket for Pleasure. His current bowling economy of 11 per over still well surpasses his batting average, however we all believe that his form slump is on the wane and that there is light at the end of the tunnel for our hot 2010 signing.

The Parrot, in his inaugural Div 2 game, was tight behind the stumps and save for one howler of a missed catch, prevented a number of leg-side byes which might not have been stopped from the current roster of Div 2 keepers. Special mention as always to Tank in the outfield, who made a number of successful saves and sent in barrages of arrow-like throws over the stumps, proving the worth of a quality ground fielder in the unit both for the number of runs saved and psychological impact for both the bowlers who feel supported and the batsmen who feel deprived of certain boundaries.

• Sunday 11 July 2010 SRFC East
  Pudong Power 128/8 (3.08)
  Bashers Pleasure 181/9 (7.41)

This massive victory gives us a 3-2 loss/win ratio for the first half of the season and much to look forward to as the second half of the campaign beckons.

Batting stats:

• Dazzler-84 not out
• Whipper Snipper-25
• Woody-16
• Pothole-14

Bowling stats:

• Dazzler-3 for 27
• Omega-2 for 32
• Golden Shears-1 for 11
• Swahili-1 for 12
• Woody-1 for 35

2010 Santa Fe Championship

1. Jimmy “Bugs” Mcleod (C)
2. Andy “Tank” Scott (VC)
3. Gary “Pothole” Dubberly
4. Paul “Woodstock” Howard
5. Mal “Omega” Collins
6. Sam “Swahili” Finnerty
7. Travis “Swoop” Weir
8. Darren “Dazzler” Manning
9. Sean “Golden Shears” Lear
10. Richard “Parrot” Yates
11. Andrew “Whipper Snapper” Unsworth
12. 12th Man: Andrew “Pitstop” Yee

Gentlemen, here is the line-up for Sunday. As is often the case, we were not able to squeeze everyone in and my apologies for this. However, thanks for sticking up your hands and look forward to getting you a run at some juncture. Bus will depart form The Camel at 12:00. One full bottle down-down for every minute past 12:00 so watch the timekeeping! Looking forward to a resounding victory! Jimmy.

@ SRFC.

Game starts at 1:30 pm.

Expressions of interest below please.

1. Jimmy ‘Bugs’ McLeod (C)
2. Andy ‘Tank’ Scott (VC)
3. Sam ‘Swahili’ Finnerty
4. Shaun ‘Golden Shears’ Lear
5. Tony ‘Badabing’ Finocchiaro
6. Mal ‘Omega’ Collins
7. Rakesh ‘The Rock’ Kumar
8. Justin ‘Scooby’ Field
9. Tom ‘Bladder’ Lucas
10. Darren ‘Dazzler’ Manning
11. Paul ‘Woodstock’ Howard
12. Twelfth Man-Desmond ‘Long Dong’ DeSilva

We depart from The Camel at 7.30…. remember DULWICH for those going direct; please let me know on my cell if you are going direct-13795294193.

Let’s thrash them, Boys; I sniff Victory number two! Jimmy.

In reply, Pleasure collapsed to 104 all out, hence losing the game by a sizable 129 runs. Honours with the bat again went to Swahili who compiled 23 not out in the elevated position of number 8 and Badabing who managed 21 before ‘retiring hurt’ with heat stroke.The only other contributors in double figures were Extras with 21 and Dazzler who made 11.

• Saturday 19 June 2010 Dulwich College
  Leopards CC 233/9 (8.13)
  Bashers Pleasure 104/9 (2.84)

On the bowling front, we saw a welcome return in to the wickets for Tank with a ‘three For’-His performance was a little inconsistent with a number of wides thrown in to the equation; his 12 ball overs being somewhat reminiscent of the great Wayne Daniels in his halcyon days for Middlesex and the Windies back in the eighties.

Dazzler showed hostility and great promise for matches to come and the Korean was managing to pitch 3 out of 6 deliveries-When they do pitch, they turn; hence this is also an encouraging sign as we turn the corner in to the next part of the long season.

Special mention also goes to Birdshit for an outstanding game in the field where at ‘point’ and in ‘the covers’, he stopped a couple of ‘screamers’ off the bats of the Leopards. He also looked correct and composed at the crease before succumbing to a rush of blood to the head just when he was settling in to his stride.

Highlights
Batting:
Swahili-23 Not out
Badabing-21 Retired hurt
Extras-21
Bowling:
Tank-3-25
Woody-2-67
Dazzler-1-19
Swahili-1-26
Bugs-1-30
The Korean-1-32

2010 Santa Fe Championship

@ DULWICH

Let us know if you’re available.

Guys, please note that Sunday’s game is at Dulwich NOT SRFC-We will depart from The Camel at 7.30. Jimmy.

@ Dulwich

Pleasure squad for this Saturday. Leaving Camel at 11.30am.

James “Bugs” Macleod

Sam “Swahili” Finnerty

Andy “Tank” Scott

Darren “Dazzler” Manning

Paul “Woodstock” Howard

Tom “Latex” Ash

Tony “Bada Bing” Finocchiaro

Desmond “Long Dong” De Silva

Sean “Korean” Malcon

Fabian “Grooverider” Ribiero

Travis “Swoop” Weir

Please confirm below your availability for the game.