Cricket: Great Horwood edged by Horley
Another busy week of cricket for Great Horwood CC, with matches at all levels, saw the rise in performances across the club continuing.
The 1st XI are finally operating as a stronger unit, putting together good performances against strong opposition, without getting the rewards their play deserves.
This pattern continued last Saturday, when they visited table topping Horley, finally losing a match that they looked like winning for 90% of the game.
Batting first, it was again the skipper, Sam Willett (76), who was the pillar of the innings, as he made his third half century of the league season. Runs were scored all the way down the order, with Simon Ridgway (40) providing his customary increase in the run rate. Horwood closed on 212 for 8 off their 45 overs; a competitive score but with Horley's short boundaries it was always an achievable target.
In reply, Horley made steady progress with Tarrant and De Bruyn batting solidly. The departure of De Bruyn though saw a middle order collapse that put Horwood in the driving seat.
Neil Wilkins again bowled beautifully, conceding a measly 27 runs from his 12 overs and he was well supported by Matt McStraw. With Nick Glister chipping in with 3 for 42, the game was there for the taking, but Tarrant was still at the crease and he has the "Indian Sign" over Horwood.
The visitors did not help their cause by dropping him 4 times and they paid the ultimate price as he accelerated towards and past his century and drove Horley to an improbable 3 wicket victory.
A disappointing final result for Horwood, but there were lots of positives to draw on.
The 2nd XI entertained Minster Lovell II in a game that both sides needed to win to climb away from the foot of the table.
Batting first, Horwood batted solidly throughout, with 15 year old Dale Armitage impressing with a stylish 30 runs. It was Peter McHenry with his 49 that enabled the home side to reach 186 for 8 off their overs. In reply, Minster Lovell struggled to get their innings going and their cause was not helped by 2 run outs from excellent fielding by Sid Sirett and Paul Dearlove.
The 2 Armitage boys both kept a tight rein on the visitors batting, ably supported by Chris Roadknight. When Dale Armitage scalped Minster's top scorer, the game was up and Minster plodded to 158 for 7 and a 28 run defeat that saw Horwood climb up the table towards safety.
Over at Padbury, the 3rd XI entertained Risinghurst II in what turned out to be an exciting but low scoring encounter. Batting first Horwood, Horwood quickly subsided to 14 for 4 and despite Duncan Hogston striking a quick 21, wickets continued to fall quickly as the home side collapsed to a disappointing 60 all out.
With the wicket holding no gremlins, this was purely down to poor batting and at tea the only result seemed likely to be a home defeat. Risinghurst, however, produced an even worse display of batting, as they totally failed to overcome the wiles of veteran Bobby Ridgway (5 for 16 off 11 overs) and 15 year old off spinner Haydon Morrison (4 for 13 off 9 overs), collapsing to 50 runs all out to give Horwood another victory that took them within 1 point of the top of the table.
With Morrison also taking a brilliant catch to dismiss Risinghurst's opener who was looking dangerous, he was clearly the man of the match.
The midweek side entertained a strong Wicken outfit in the semi-final of the League Shield and quickly had the visitors in all sorts of trouble as Matt McStraw (5 for 6) and Adam Armitage (2 for 5) blew their batsmen away for 49 all out on a wicket freshened up by earlier rain. In reply, Horwood lost star batsman Tom Spurr first ball and when Gaz Lee quickly followed, the home side were struggling. Youth players, Jack Goodger and Dale Armitage steadied the ship with some sensible batting and provided the platform for Chris McStraw to blast the remainder of the runs in very quick time to give Horwood a 5 wicket victory and a place in the final to be played on their own ground on the 9th July.
This weekend's fixtures see another busy time as the 1st XI travel to Freeland for a league fixture, the 2nd XI entertain Chesterton on Saturday in the league and Tetsworth II in the quarter-final of the Osberton Radiators Cup on Sunday. The 3rd XI travel to Ducklington II on Saturday and entertain Oxenford II in the quarter-final of the Centenary Cup at Padbury on Sunday.
Horwood Ladies made the short trip to New Bradwell on Sunday for a 20 overs pairs match. Bradwell batted first, making 96 for 10 wickets, giving a net score of 46. The high points for Horwood were the superb fielding of 13 year old Clare Armitage and debutant Clare Hodges. In Horwood's innings, Lynn Ferguson made 11 runs without losing her wicket, but Horwood's total of 75 for 8, gave them a net score of 35 and an 11 run defeat.
On Sunday, Gt Horwood hosted annual Under 16 6-side tournament, with 5 sides participating in a round-robin of games to find the top two teams. Stony Stratford led the way in the League section, winning all of their 4 games, with North Crawley and MK City tying their match to both finish with 2.5 points. This forced a super-over play off, with 5 players bowling 2 balls each in which Crawley made 20, boosted by a huge six from Marcus Goss off the last ball.
MK City, the surprise package of the tournament, made 15 off their 10 balls, leaving Crawley to face Stony in the Final. Batting first, Goss again stole the show as he blasted Crawley to 61 off 5 overs, but Stony were right in the match until the final over, when Dean Bryce bowled tightly to keep them to 55 and enable his side to retain the trophy. An excellent day's cricket, with good quality cricket being enjoyed by all the participants and spectators.
Having won their previous 2 league matches, the unbeaten Under 13s were optimistic as they faced 2nd place Preston Capes at Padbury on Sunday morning. Preston batted first and at 69 for 6 were in danger of making a small total.
Unfortunately, some dropped catches and sloppy fielding let the visitors off the hook as they made 116 all out. Alex Kelsey was the pick of the Horwood bowlers with 1 wicket for 5 runs. In reply, Harry Kearns made 30 before he was forced to retire and Ben Arnold made 21, but Horwood were left to rue their poor fielding as they fell short by 24 runs on 94 for 9 wickets.
They will be looking to get their season back on track on Sunday as they travel to Northampton to play St Crispins and Ryelands. The U12 game against Wolverton fell victim to the rain and the Under 11 fixture at Olney had to be re-arranged.
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Weather for Buckingham
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
