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Match Report

Payyade CC (Mumbai) v Leeds Bradford MCCU

Poona Club Ltd, Pune, India – 21 March 2012

1-Day Tour Match (50 Overs)

Our fifth and final match of the tour promised to be our toughest, against Payyade Cricket Club from Mumbai. Payyade, who recently won the ORRA-Police Invitation Shield (the largest 3-day match competition in Maharashtra) is the home club of current Indian star Rohit Sharma – although neither he nor many of the shield-winning side were in their team today. Nevertheless they fielded a strong line-up, including some familiar faces who had bowled at us in the nets on the  first few days of the tour.

Ben Slater was rested for the game and Charlie MacLeod was the latest victim of the dreaded ‘Puners’ (with the emphasis on the first syllable). Rick Moore won his fourth toss of the trip and had little hesitation in choosing to set a target.

Jonathan Webb had clearly been studying the opposing opening batsmen during the trip, and smashed four boundaries from the first over he faced. Will Vanderspar was caught at 2^nd slip in the 3^rd over and Webb fell shortly after to a (possibly) harsh lbw decision when pushing forward. The successful bowler was Farhan, a nippy left-armer who had bowled at us in the nets over the first two days (or some might say had occasionally thrown at us from 15 yards after a 50 yard run-up). Charlie Roebuck was caught at first slip for a duck and when Joe Leach pulled at the 3^rd ball he faced and top-edged to the keeper for his first failure of the tour we were 33 for 4 – with Webb being the only player to have scored from the bat! Rick Moore and Dan Hodgson began the repair work, adding 31 before Moore became the 5^th victim of the innings when his stumps were rearranged by Nimesh.

Up to this point of the trip Dan Hodgson, the Yorkshire-contracted wicket-keeper, had had a lean time with the bat, amassing only 30 runs from 3 innings. Today he came to the party, playing with due caution but punishing anything loose; indeed his only scoring shot from the first 20 balls he faced was a maximum. Hodgson was well supported by his fellow ‘keepr Chris Gill. Not for the first time on the trip, Gill played a crucial innings. In the past he’s had a reputation as being a big-hitter and fast scorer, but once again he showed another dimension to his game, adding 103 for the 6^th wicket before being trapped in front by Farhan for 36 from 78 deliveries. Hodgson was out shortly after, driving at a ball that jagged back in and losing his middle stump have hit 9x4s and 2x6s in his innings of 78 from 114 deliveries. MacQueen became the 8^th wicket with the score on 178 and still a lot of work to be done to set a decent target.

Throughout the trip Tommy Hardman has shown what a dangerous batsman he can be coming in at No.8. His previous three innings had been 6*, 43 and 24* and this time he scored a vital 28 before being run out with three balls of the innings to go, having added 49 for the last two wickets with the aid of David Foster and Jonny Butterfield.

All in all an up-and-down innings where we recovered well after another poor start. However, to defend a total of 227 on a decent wicket and lightning outfield would require our best fielding and bowling performance of the trip . . .

By this point head coach Andrew Lawson had had to return to the hotel, having become the latest victim on the Pu-ners, and his mood wouldn’t have improved if he’d been around for Tommy Hardman’s first over, where his bowling stat resembled the guys on Strictly putting up the score for a mediocre dancer – 4 4 4 4. One thing we’ve learnt on this trip is the massive influence that T20 cricket is having on the way batsmen approach their innings. In each of the 5 games the opposition openers have set off like exploding whatsits, smashing the ball to all parts. If you can withstand this early onslaught without heads going down, you know it will only be a matter of time before they self-implode. After 3 overs Payyade were 31-0, although Moore’s choice of opening with David Foster did make them rethink their approach. Hardman had to leave the scene having conceded 30 from 3 overs, but Foster was keeping things under relative control at the other end.

Joe Leach replaced Hardman and began with a wicket-maiden, claiming a wicket with his first ball by trapping Abinhav in front. Foster then rapped Dhaval on the pads and after 10 over Payyade were 51 for 2. Opening batsman, Sushant, had been batting wonderfully, the small left-hander working the ball to all parts of the ground, but on 46 he ran himself out – setting off for a run from the non-strikers end whilst his partner never moved. This proved to be a key wicket and was probably initiated by the fielders become a little more – how shall we put it – ‘talkative’ to the batsmen. Ask Hodgy for further details. Chinag was out shortly after, superbly taken at midwicket by Hodgson diving full-length to his left off Butterfield to reduce them to 92 for 4. Unlike some previous opposition though, Payyade had more strength in depth and at 120 for 4 after 30 overs they still had more than a good chance of claiming victory.

One final concerted effort of the tour over the last 20 overs of the tour was required toensure we finished on a high. Our ground-fielding over this spell was superb, as was our catching – Moore and Roebuck taking blinders at cover and square leg respectively. A seventhwicket stand of 35 appeared to be swinging the game Payyade’s way, but then captain’s and vice-captain’s spells with the ball saw the last 4 wickets fall for only 15 runs to give us victory with 3 balls to spare.

This was a tremendous effort by the team. At the beginning of the game it was probably apparent that thoughts were straying to a fina night out in India before the journey home, but the boys refocused and were thoroughly professional in turning things around.

Four wins to one in alien conditions was an extremely satisfying result; Team manger Nick Davis was so impressed that he even bought all the boys a beer to drink on the bus back to the swimming pool!

Match Report

Wilo, Mather & Platt v Leeds Bradford MCCU

Tata Motors Ground, Pune, India – 19 March 2012

1-Day Tour Match (50 Overs)

Our 4^th match saw us play ‘away’ for the first time, at the ground of Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile company (who also own Range Rover & Jaguar amongst others). The ground was about a 45 minute drive from our base in the centre of Pune – so probably about 4 km away. Our opponents were another company – Wilo, Mather & Platt – although a number of their players were from amongst the 12,000 local Tata employees. Two more of their players were from closer to home – Charlie Walker of Oxford MCCU & Nat Watkins of Durham MCCU who were spending the week on a scholarship at the GCS. The facilities weren’t a patch on our ‘home’ ground of the Poona club, but an experience for the boys, having to remove a metal spike from the stony outfield during warm-up. Before we came away Paul Farbrace, the Yorkshire second team coach, had warned us that the outfields may be dodgy (hence the reason Indian and Pakistani teams have never been known for their outstanding fielding) – and here was the proof.

Rick Moore won his 3^rd toss out of 4 and once again chose to bat. Wilo’s opening bowlers kept a decent line & length without trying to put too much pace on the bowl. Ben Slater had a new opening partner – Will Vanderspar – but Slats fell in the 7^th over when bowled by Kamarudin. Jonny Webb nicked one to slip and then Vanders was trapped in front after facing 40 balls for his 12. Charlie Roebuck smashed his first ball for 4, got a single off his second and was caught off his third, skying one to cover. Once again, not the ideal start at 39-4. Dan Hodgson and Chris Gill began repairing the damage, adding 49 before Hodgson was caught off the bowling of Nat Watkins.

Gill continued to play impressively, adding a further 37 with Joe Leach before falling lbw having scored 34 from 48 deliveries. At 125 for 6 there was still a lot of work to be done, but Leach and Rick Moore combined to add 75 from 11 overs, running extremely well in the sapping heat. The score had reached 200 when Moore toe-ended one to midwicket, although his innings of 38 at more than a run-a-ball had been crucial. Leach fell shortly after for 52, taking his tally for the tour to 212 from 4 knocks, and then a handy 9^th wicket stand between spin-twins Alex MacQueen and David Foster helped us to a respectable total of 231. Once again though, we failed to bat the full 50 overs, Jonny Butterfield being the last man out in the 47^th over.

The home team’s innings began in what has become customary style, the first two balls from Tommy Hardman racing to the boundary from audacious shots and 11 coming from the first over. Tommy had been 12^th man at the start of the game but took the field when Jonny Webb decided fielding was too tough and feigned illness. Tommy must have wondered what he’d let himself in for but, to his credit, became the only seamer on the tour to complete his full allocation of 10 overs – an outstanding effort in temperatures pushing 38°C in the shade.

Jonny Butterfield began in bizarre fashion. He nipped his first ball through the defences of Omkar to clean bowl him, but turned round and appealed to the umpire like a squealing banshee for an lbw decision – not even realising the batsman was already on his way back to the pavilion with Hodgson replacing the bails. This was the start of one of the most bizarre 5-wicket halls that Butts is ever likely to take. Basically, if the ball wasn’t flying to the boundary it was taking a wicket. In his third over he took two wickets . . . for 13 runs! The batsmen were just chancing their arms and either smashing it or getting out. None of the batsmen were ever really ‘in’, the only one to play anything like what could be turned a proper innings being Durham’s Nat Watkins, who hung around for 75 balls for his 26, before being the ninth man out with the score on 178. David Foster and Alex MacQueen once again both bowled consistently, picking up 2 wickets each, before Butterfield came back on to seal the game by bowling Kamarudin to finish with 5 for 41 from 4.5 overs.

Three wins out of four with the team showing resilience and a fine fighting spirit after two more back-to-back games. With a free day to follow thoughts turned again to burgers and beer at the Hard Rock Café.

Match Report

Global Cricket School XI v Leeds Bradford MCCU

Poona Club Ltd, Pune, India – 18 March 2012

1-Day Tour Match (50 Overs)

 Our 3^rd match saw Rick Moore lose the toss for the first time. The GCS XI elected to bat first, meaning we would have our first chase of the tour. There were two changes to the previous game – Will Vanderspar falling foul to some foul fowl, his roommate Jonny Webb sitting out this game out to carry the drinks, towels, sprays and toilet rolls.

As has been the norm on this trip, the Indian openers once again went off like a turbo-charged tuk-tuk, smashing 31 from the first 3 overs before Tushar played a soft shot off Butterfield to Hodgson at short cover. GCS continued scoring at a fair pace, reaching 95-1 after 15 overs, until the introduction of David Foster’s left-arm spin brought things under control. His first two overs brought 12 dots, then in his 3^rd over Shivam’s frustrations got the better of him and he skied one to Moore at
wide mid-off. The batsmen had crossed but next ball Preetam also fell, snapped up by Charlie Roebuck at short extra. One run later the skipper trapped Shrikant in front so the locals had gone from 105-1 to 106-4.

Foster continued bowling a tight spell – not conceding a run until his 5^th over – and Joe Leach, bowling without luck, finally got his reward when he rapped Divyang on the pads with the total on 127. Foster took a smart    return catch to get rid of Asif, his igures at this stage being     7-5-9-3, but a loose 9^th over somewhat damaged his figures – although a final return of 10-5-27-3 was still a superb effort. Foster’s spin partner Alex MacQueen    also bowled with great control to finish with 3 for 33 from 8.3 overs.

To dismiss the opposition for 195 in 44.3 overs after they had been 105-1 was a top effort, the fielders backing up the bowlers with a tight display – and four leg-before decisions in our favour were a welcome surprise!

The Leeds Bradford innings got off to an awful start, opening bowler Rajesh Jogdand accounting for Slater (2), Hodgson (0) and Roebuck (0). However, Rick Moore having opened the innings stood firm, punishing anything loose and playing with increasing authority. Chris Gill supported him well in rebuilding the innings, although when the diminutive keeper was trapped lbw after adding 55 with his skipper, the tourists were only halfway to their target with 5 wickets left. Juggling the order in pre-season games to give everyone time in the middle can sometimes cause uncertainty – but it was reassuring to see form-man Joe Leach coming in at No 7. Leach added 47 with Moore before the captain was adjudged lbw for a well-complied 67 from 120 balls. When Leach fell for 40 with the total on 159-7, another 37 were required from 10 overs. It was time for hard nerves so enter Tommy Hardman (or Tommy Hard-MAN as the locals call him), to carefully start reducing the target with a number of well-placed singles. He was ably assisted by Alex MacQueen (13 from 15 balls), although 9 were still needed from the last over with only one wicket left. Hardman decided it was now time to hit the first boundaries of his knock, smashing a six over midwicket followed by a 4 to bring his team home with two balls to spare. A tight finish  – although Moore, Leach and Hardman would say it was purely well judged, giving the team maximum time in the middle!

Match Report

PYC Hindu Gymkhana CC v Leeds Bradford MCCU

Poona Club Ltd, Pune, India – 16 March 2012

1-Day Tour Match
(50 Overs)

The second game of the tour was once again at our ‘home’ ground of the Poona Club against PYC Hindu Gymkhana – another Maharashtra Premier League team, but significantly stronger than yesterdays’ opposition fielding pretty much their full-strength team.

It was always going to be a test of both mental and physical stamina playing two back-to-back-games so early in the season in such conditions – and so it proved.

Rick Moore won the toss for the second time and once again decided to bat. Jonathan Webb and Ben Slater began confidently, reaching 50 in the 9^th over before Webb got a leading edge and was caught at cover. Chris Gill came in on debut, got off the mark first ball with a Vaughan-esque cover drive for four but then two balls later nicked one to first slip. Slater hit two towering sixes – one from a free hit – and had reached 48 from 51 balls before flicking one straight into the hands of midwicket in the 15^th over with the score on 79.

Joe Leach was trapped in front after a solid start and Will Vanderspar was bowled for 3. At 111 for 5 it was time for Moore to find some batting form and rescue his team. This he did, allied by Charlie MacLeod – another debutant. Moore’s first scoring shot was a 6, but thereafter both he and MacLeod batted sensibly, nudging the ball into gaps for singles and capitalising on anything loose. Their partnership had reached 52 when MacLeod was run out coming back for a second run. This brought Tommy Hardman to the crease in the batting powerplay – and he utilised it to the max, smashing 43 from only 28 balls (4x4s and 3x6s) before being caught at cover with 4 overs left. Alex MacQueen was last man out with 7 balls left and the total on 243 – a considerable recovery from 111 for 5. However, too many batsmen got themselves in without going on to dominate and it always looked like we would be 30 or so runs short.

Buoyed by his batting performance Hardman grabbed his first wicket for Leeds Bradford when he bowled PYC’s opener Pritam for with the total on 17. From then on it was a case of the batsmen triumphing and the bowlers toiling in the heat Leach trapped Zohit in front for 19 and Vanderspar claimed his first scalp for the team when he grabbed a return catch to get rid of Abishek. However, opener Adhvoot batted well for his 85 until MacQueen managed to get a ball through his defences. With PYC now on 161-4 we were still in with a sniff, but were unable to capitalise further, skipper Shivam and Divyand guiding them home with 3.1 overs to spare, compiling an unbroken stand of 83.

Alex MacQueen was probably the pick of the bowlers but as the innings wore on and both mental and physical tiredness set in, errors began to creep in to Leeds Bradford’s fielding. The 30 or so runs we gave away in the field proved crucial in the end.

The squad headed off to recuperate with a rest day on Saturday and a Friday night at Pune’s Hard Rock Café where Vanders revealed a secret talent and Webby revealed something too . . .

Poona Cricket Club v Leeds Bradford MCCU

Poona Club Ltd, Pune, India – 15 March 2012

1-Day Tour Match (50 overs)

After two days intense training and net practice in equally intense heat the boys hit the pitch for their first taste of competitive cricket in 6 months – and in conditions they hadn’t experienced before.

At net practice the day before the squad were paid a visit by Rishi Kanitak, a former Indian Test & ODI international and current captain of Rajastan, the reigning Ranji Trophy champions. He gave great advice to the team on how to cope with the conditions and advised that, on the Poona Club ground, it is normally wise to bat first provided your openers can see you through the first half-hour or so when the surface is still slightly moist from the dew.

Coach Andrew Lawson left out Chris Gill and Will Vanderspar from the squad of 13, Gill having dislocated afinger in fielding practice the day before. He had to be taken to hospital to have it put back in place and found the journey there in the tuk-tuk for more tortuous than the finger manipulation itself!

Poona CC play in the Maharashtra Premier League (MPL) and their ground is our base for the trip. Their team wasn’t their strongest with 5 regular first-teamers including their captain, Ashish Suryawanski, who has a fair amount of First Class experience. Nevertheless, it would be a good challenge.

Rick Moore won the toss, elected to bat and the new opening partnership of old-hand Ben Slater and debutant Jonathan Webb certainly got us through the first hour – adding 161 before Slater was run out in the 31^st over for a well-compiled 64 from 94 balls (1×6, 3x4s). Their 50 partnership came up in the 11^th over, 100 in the 19^th and 150 in the 28^th.

Webb was out shortly after, bowled when trying to sweep, for an excellent 81 from 82 balls (8x4s). Although the pair will undoubtedly face stronger attacks throughout the coming season it was a superb effort in such heat and alien conditions. The rest of the innings really belonged to vice-captain Joe Leach. Coming in at the fall of the first wickets, he smashed showed that it’s wise to conserve your energy in this heat and keep running to a minimum by smashing 105 from 66 balls, with 5x6s and 9x4s. It was a superb knock from the Worcestershire player, his maximums coming from classic straight drives and pugnacious pulls. With the assistance of Charlie Roebuck (26 from 16), Rick Moore (8 from 11), Dan Hodgson (11 from 12) and a 6 off the last ball of the innings from Tommy Hardman, Leach helped the tourists put on 167
from the final 20 overs, finishing on 329 for 6.

In reply Poona went off like a train – and I mean one of the TGV French variety as opposed to the Indian trains where, according to Vanders, even in the first class carriages you see people standing up and urinating in the corners! After 10 overs they were 86-0, Tommy Hardman and Jonny Butterfield taking the brunt of the punishment as they took time to adapt to bowling in the middle in such conditions. However, captain Moore accounted for Soloman for 52 when he pushed one to cover, hesitated, and dead-eye Rick hit the stumps with the batsman well-short . . . which, to be fair, he had to be for us to get a decision in our favour . . . subject closed.

It was the left-arm spin of David Foster, in his first game for Leeds Bradford, which really stemmed the flow and pulled us back into the game. He bowled the other opener, Karanjeet, for 33 – (which included 8x4s!), as well as bowling the dangerous looking Ajinkya for 18 and completing his spell unbroken to finish with 2 for 36. Foster wasn’t finished though – he took a fine catch at long on to give Alex MacQueen his first wicket and fielded with enthusiasm throughout.

Fossie’s spin-twin MacQueen then took over. Having being taken off after his first over went for 11, the off spinner returned to bowl 9 on the bounce at finish with 3-34 from his 10 overs -  a great comeback. Moore was responsible for another run out as well as picking up a wicket to finish with the most economical figures of the innings – despite bravely opting for the bowling powerplay in the 15^th over (when they were 155-2) and bringing himself on at that point – in which they only scored 18 and lost a wicket. His captaincy through was impressive – all he needs now is to get some runs under his belt. Jonny Butterfield also came back well with the ball after a weak first spell to finish with 0-36 from 8 overs.

Poona’s innings petered out after it’s brisk start and credit must go to all the Leeds Bradford boys for sticking to their task in such conditions and not letting their heads go down when Poona set off quicker than Usain Bolt. They finished on 248 for 8 to give us victory by 81 runs.

All in all a satisfying day with some pleasing performances. It will now be interesting to see how the team recovers for the game tomorrow against PYC Hindu Gymkhana.

Test

Tom Craddock has found himself a new fan in one of England’s most successful ever Test batsmen.

Essex batting coach Graham Gooch was full of praise for the leg-spinner after he starred yet again for his county in the Division 2 County Championship victory against Leicestershire. Craddock returned figures of 4 for 59 from 27 overs in the first innings and 2 for 12 from 12 overs in the second to give him superb match figures of 39-13-71-6. Writing in The Times, Neville Scott said that Crads’s performance had Grahom Gooch purring ‘this fellas just what we need’.

Until Craddock made his championship debut for Essex they had only won one out of their first eight 4-day fixtures. They have now won both games in which he has appeared, where he has snapped up 10 wickets for 146 runs from 71 overs, taking him to 3rd spot in the Division 2 bowling averages.

In the game against Leicestershire he also shared a crucial 9th wicket stand of 75 in 99 minutes with James Foster, contributing 11 runs from 37 balls and helping to see his skipper through to his century. Knowing Crads, he’ll be prouder of the 11 runs than of the 10 wickets!

He has now been summoned to Lord’s to bowl at the England batsmen prior to the first Test v India – at the request of England head coach Andy Flower, no less.

Former Leeds Bradford all-rounder Ross Whiteley has signed a 3 year deal with Derbyshire CCC.

Ross has featured in the first team on a regular basis this season and the promise he has shown has now been rewarded. The Leeds Met graduate had previously only been on a summer contract.

Click below to see the full story from the BBC website.

Ross Whiteley Contract

Tom Craddock starred on his championship debut for Essex at Chelmsford, helping his county gain a 171 run victory over Northamptonshire.

Having set Northants 416 to win, the home team dismissed the LV= County Championship Division 2 pacesetters for 244, with Craddock bowling a marathon spell of 30 overs, taking 4 for 70     with 8 maidens. His first scalp in first class cricket was that of former South African Test all-rounder Andrew Hall, the current Northants skipper, who was clean bowled by the 21-year-old leg       spinner. Craddock was well supported by another current MCCU player, Durham’s Tom Westley, who took 2 for 45 from 21 overs.

Essex First Team Coach Paul Grayson said ‘There were a number of pleasing individual performances from our younger players and on the final day I thought Tom Westley and Tom Craddock       bowled really well.”

This followed an amazing Second XI debut for Craddock against Sussex a few days earlier when he picked up 7 for 61 – the second best-ever figures for Essex by a second team debutant. Tom’s       two month trial with the county couldn’t really have started any better and if he maintains these performances a full-time contract should just be around the corner.

The pictures of Tom in action for Essex were taken by Nick Wood of Unshaken Photography, who run various courses in all forms of photography. See more about Nick & Unshaken at www.unshaken-photography.co.uk.

Note that the umpire on this picture is another former Leeds Bradford player – Ismail Dawood!

THE MCCU T20 FESTIVAL at LOUGHBOROUGH – 24 / 25 JUNE 2011

DAY 1 – Leeds-Bradford chose to bat first against Durham in our first game on the Haslegrave pitch. We totalled 151-6, a total that recovered well from the depths of 15-3, thanks to a magnificent 87* by Luis Reece (55 balls, with 7 fours and 3 sixes). He also played the “DiliScoop” 3 times and hit 2 fours and 1 maximum using this innovative shot and, more importantly, kept a full set of front teeth.

Such a total should have given us a fighting chance but, with the batters getting some runs, the bowlers failed to deliver and Durham promptly got home by 4 wickets, although with only 2 deliveries left.

Our 2^nd group game saw us take on Cambridge, also on the main pitch at Haslegrave. A very similar story can be reported as above. A better start saw us total an even higher 160-9, built around Ben Slater’s 64 (51 balls with 10 fours). That total got even better at the interval as the Umpires ruled that Cambridge had taken too long to bowl their 20 overs and so awarded 6 penalty runs to Leeds-Bradford, meaning Cambridge needed a very high total of  167. But the bowlers again could not deliver as Cambridge raced to 60 from the first 5 overs and eventually got home with 8 deliveries left.

DAY 2 – The above results meant we had to move to Brockington for the Saturday and play Oxford for the honour of 5^th or 6^th place. We did not need to beat our way through the crowds.

We had our worst start of the tournament as we slipped to 4-3 but Luis Reece, again, with 46* steadied us, with successive partnership with Brad Kruger and Harry Bush. At 85-5, with 7 overs left  and Reece still going strong, the 2^nd interruption occurred and it was then decided that enough was enough and the game was abandoned.

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