2004 2nd team results

A long trip out into the wilds of Cambridgeshire saw a relatively comfortable win for Camden against Doddington. Nigel Dixon continues to confound the laws of probability by losing the toss yet again, who said a coin toss is 50/50 game?

Camden were put into the field. A fairly breezy start from the Camden opening bowlers put Camden well on top as far as momentum was concerned, Doddingon moving to 60 for 3 from the first 20 overs (Brown 2 wickets, Griggs 1 wicket). Griggs particularly found a lethal ridge and entertained with some lively banter with the batsmen. Some mild sledging from Camden seemed to bring Doddington to the boil rather quicker than expected, and thanks to some great bowling from V Dixon and A Khan they eventually exploded, slumping to 138 all out. Victor Dixon bowled extremely well, turning the ball sharply and probably deserved at least a couple more than his 2 wickets. The star was undoubtedly Ali Khan, who altered flight well and played on the emotions as he bagged 5 deserved wickets.. Doddington all out for an emotional 138.

The Camden innings started positively on a wicket where no-one ever seemed completely in. At a good paced 40-0 Will Sutton departed but the momentum was with the batting side chasing only 137. A couple of wickets fell but the scoring rate continued, before Brown was lbw for 47 (and would later bore the team at length about how he would bet everything he owns on a replay showing the ball crunching thumb and index finger against the bat handle and at no point touching the pad). Wells kept the momentum going with some lusty strokes, and despite a wobble Matt Merry came in to score an excellent 41no to see Camden home with around 15 overs to spare. Particularly interesting moment was when one of their players (Barry) decided to sledge the crowd...only later to be sledged by his own supporters when Merry smashed an impressive boundary. Good victory with some interesting background noise.

As you can see we were very lucky that someone finally had a camera to get a live picture of Kevin O'Grady awaiting a delivery below

A hot sunny day in St Ives and a belter of a wicket produced one of the best games of cricket a Camden side has been involved in for a long while. After Skipper Nigel Dixon's woeful attempts all season to get anywhere near winning the 50/50 game of chance that is the toss, O'Grady was nominated in his place only to call the same losing face as the skipper always does, leading the changing room to lament the coin tossing substitution...."new boss? what's he like?.. same as the old boss". St Ives looked like they had produced a batting road on a sweltering day so batting 1st was the only option. Camden were in the field.

The bowling got off to a poor start with Brown struggling to find rhythm (as usual) and although Shane was bowling the odd quick short ball in an aggressive spell, neither managed to make inroads into a lively start by St Ives who at one point were going at 9 an over for the 1st 10 overs. Vic Dixon thankfully came on and bamboozled a couple of the batsman out but none of this was easy going as eventually the run-rate came down to a mere 7 an over. All bowlers suffered and the fielders toiled in the heat as St Ives finished on a truly whopping 304 from 45 overs.

Camden went out to bat, with Sutton and Brown opening. The St Ives overseas had the ability to bowl some quick, short stuff in his opening spell (he was wearing a PCB shirt and apparently travels from Manchester every week) and for 6 overs or so was as fast as has been faced in the league this year. Sutton was bowled early breaking his run of 3 consecutive 50s, but in came O'Grady who with Brown showed no signs of intimidation and managed to keep the initial run-rate up until Brown was bowled by the 1st legitimately good ball from the overseas.

From this point on the game belonged to our very own Dandy James Bond (O'Grady) and BFG Shane, as St Ives rested on their laurels quite satisfied with their huge total, and with Camden around 100 after 18 overs they seemed to treat it as a done deal. Then Dip was hit in the face by a slow short ball and had a nice lipstick mark, which pleased his wife, before falling. The important thing, however, was that the run-rate kept us in touch without clusters of wickets falling.

Dandy Bond O'Grady (like James Bond but with a sinister campness as he wafts a Cafe Creme cigarillo to his lips while flaying his enemies to the boundary), came out to bat against this hostile bowling with no more protection than some 1930s cane pads and pimple gloves. Not perturbed by having to wear all white (as opposed to his customary all black pimp ensemble), the Dandy Bond soon had St Ives wishing they had never crossed Her Majesty's most deadly secret agent. O'Grady pushed Camden up to around 250 with a magnificent 106 from 106 balls while limping with buttocks clenched...from injury. Able support came from Ali Khan and finally Shane who literally monstered a 42 ball 90no including a 25 run over and both the highest and longest 6 runs seen this season. Tension mounted as Camden got closer to the score and with all the opposition on the boundary 12 were needed from the last over. A 6 from the 1st ball from Shane calmed the nerves and on the 3rd ball another huge six ended proceedings with Camden 307 with 3 balls to spare - never in doubt.

Moment of the match was an oppo fielder falling over, standing up, and falling over as a Shane 6 came towards him. As the ball was coming down with ice on it the fielder did not look happy at the prospect of having to take it. Fortunately for him it created an X-files sized crater 10 yards over the boundary.

Quick summary of results - terrible memory/have been away/website broken/terrible laziness. Any way, July 19th Camden II v Babraham

Going into the game, they were top, and likely to still be so after this, though we may now be second and relatively close. We were very impressed with them. One moment in particular when Matt Merry was adjudged run out but the keeper valled him back when he said he had hit the wicket with his gloves - very sporting in a very tight situation. They were definitely the best team we have played this year: loads of really good youngsters and one really good Aussie, who launched it at the start until Vik got him into a tangle and out for 58. We have picked up an Aussie of our own - Shane (won't even try to remember how to spell his Croation second name) is "six foot six and full of muscle" - without a vegemite sandwich in sight he bowled fast and bouncy stuff on Pembroke. He picked up a couple, as did Vik, with Brownie and Griggsy picking up 3 each. Excellent bowling on the best Pembroke wicket of the year. Chasing, Will Sutton elegantly stroked his way to his 3rd fifty in successive matches - but then, from 80-1, we panicked: 2 stupid run outs and some careless shots saw us in trouble at 120 odd for 6. NO worries mate - Matty Merry was cool under pressure and Shane walked in and launched the ball to all parts - 2 huge sixes in his 33*. Ridculously, despite the fact that we've lost lots of games against teams from the middle, we keep beating the top teams and seem to be back in with a chance. St Ives on Saturday.

July 12th Fulbourn: stuffed them and they got very wound up. Very funny. They had been second.

June 28th: St Giles: beat them despite them only losing 4 wickets as showboaters played for their averages and then complained about us having men on the boundary - ha! ha! ha!

It was, without doubt, the worse wicket any of us have played on. We were worried on losing the toss in overcast, gloomy conditions: more so when the ball ballooned off a length one ball then rolled along the ground the next. Despite this, we batted well, O'Grady riding his luck for 73, well supported by a number of players who braved it out before falling victim to an unplayable ball. Griggsy & Mossy added an important 30 runs in the last few overs, Griggsy launching 2 huge sixes and nearly concussing a mum in the playpark. The score was quickly put into perspective when we bolwed: Griggsy (4-12) and Brownie (1 - 10 in 8 overs) set the tone: at 25-5 there was no way back. Griggsy even had time to run someone out from the boundary. The irony was that we a glut of excellent bowlers - Mossy came on 5th change and immediately made the ball rear and swing around corners. Andy Colings did especially well in very trying conditions. A really strong response to last week.

Well early season talk of a push for promotion took a dent at Barrington, the league leaders. Despite having them in trouble early, Barrington got to 183 thanks to some more dropped catches. However, we were going along nicely with Alfie & Will Sutton, who put on 40 in the first 10 overs on a tricky wicket. Again, however, both openers were out in quick succession, which then led to a time of very slow scoring - 3 runs in the next 8 overs and only 22 in the next 27 overs. Despite a late flurry led by Nutt & Wells, who both got 20 odd, we fell well short - though 8 points is not a disaster.

Having had the previous week washed out due to rain, we were keen to see if Wellsy's heroics will have turned our season around. As it was we had to cope without him for our first game of the season. However, despite losing the toss again, we put in as polished a performance in the field that we can remember. Even with dropping both openers, the bolwers bowled superbly well, never allowing the to score at more than 3 an over at any stage. Alfie, who came back especially well at the end to take 4 wickets, and Griggsy, set the tone from the start. This was underpinned by a beautiful spell from Richard Hadley, whose late outswingers kept the batsmen guessig throughout: despite gong for 10 in his last over, he bolwed 10 overs for 19. Andy Brown then came on, giving them no respite, also bolwing with beautiful control and movement - his shoulder is getting better and better. Mind you, when he bowls dob with the keeper standing up he can bolw it on a penny so maybe he should accept that he is, in fact, just a creaky old dobber. But a very good one one this evidence! The pitch was put into perspective when we batted - Alfie cemented the MOM with a swashbuckling 52, well supported by Will Sutton (39) who continued his sparkling form. The defining moment came in the 3rd over, when the oppo's loud chat was suddenly silenced when Alfie bludgeoned a huge 6 over mid on. Obviously we wobbled - from 93-0 to 110-4 - but Brown (19*) and O'Grady (26*) saw us home. A vital match coming up on Saturday against Barrington who are top.

Losing the toss on the hottest May day anyone could remember was bad enough, then when we saw how good the pitch was we all groaned. However, we forgot about the perversity and cussedness of our bowlers, who bowled tremendously well in trying conditions: Andy Brown's trundlers on his first outing since his Bionic operation were exemplary; while Michael Griggs stole the show, taking 4 wickets in 12 miserly overs. This was in spite of some hideous dropped catches - had we taken them, we would have been chasing no more than 120. In reply, Will Suttom continued on from last week, but better, batting like God in racing to 37 out of 48 for the first wicket in no time at all. Then the wheels came off... some excellent catching and a wonder ball (to get rid of Will), not to mention some shocking batting, saw us collapse to 80-7. Being th eoptimistic buggers we are, we all sat around moaning. However, Wellsy, who got some stick from the oppo when he first went in (Having played for them when he was young and thin) was having none of it. Heroically bolstered by Andy Collings who showed how easy the game is if you play straight, Wellsy (89*) simply demolished them, blazing 7 sixes and nonchalantly picking off fours at will. Best moment came when, with 10 to win, he skied one to long off only for the guy to drop it - the only sound was Wellsy laughing his cock off. There you go - if you dish ot out you have to take it! Andy was out with 20 needed, but Wellsy was in the mood and finished in grand style, with a six miles out of the ground. A superb win, with Wellsy looking more relaxed at the craese than any of us having seen him before.