Results and Match Reports 2010

Wiltshire League Matches|Friendly Matches

Wiltshire County Cricket League - Division 1 Results 2010

Wiltshire League Division 1

Swindon Nalgo CC vs Avebury

Date : Sat 01-May
Type : League
Result : Abandoned
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

It rained all morning in Swindon, and was forecast to rain in the afternoon. The Captain and the Chairman spent the entire week trying to recruit players for Avebury, and ended up with a miserable nine. Avebury's fielders did extremely well to restrict 11-man Nalgo to 204 in their 45 overs, much of which relied on a large hundred from an unknown player (normally the home side includes details of names of players in the match summaries submitted to WCCL, but curiously this was omitted!). Credit to Trevor Startup and Pete F-J for shouldering more than their fair share of the bowling, and to G.Dix for some good stopping behind the stumps.

The rain continued over tea-time and Avebury struggled to keep their balance on a pitch that became greasier by the minute. With the score on 27 for 2 and with the Chairman and the Captain well set (we would say that, wouldn't we) the rain became too persistent and both sides retired to the well stocked Nalgo clubhouse bar.

Ten points for Avebury - our best ever start to a season of Division One cricket!

Team: Dix G., Fry H., Millward, Force-Jones, Neve, Jephson, Bradfield, Startup, Chairman.

Avebury vs KC Club

Date : Sat 08-May
Type : League
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

It rained all day at Avebury, and it was an easy decision (especially with thermometers at the ground showing 5.5. degrees and a strong Easterly wind) to call the game off.

So, another ten points for Avebury, and without a doubt our best ever result against KC Club!

Avebury vs Box CC

Date : Sat 15-May
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 155 all out in 45 overs
Opposition score : 104 all out in 36 overs

Avebury's side, strengthened by the return of Neil Hollister from an 8-month trip to Thailand, lost the toss and were inserted on another typically low and slow Avebury track. With 4 of the top 6 (Carter, Rheinberg, Dix and the Chairman) all getting starts but resolutely refusing to progress (H.Fry getting closest with 39), our total of 155 all out (Force-Jones rather generously handing the tenth wicket to Box in the final over!) felt a little light.

Box went about the chase in a rather odd way, preferring to push the ball around at 2 an over rather than pressing on for victory against an opposition often given the prefix "lowly" in the back pages of the local rag. This worked to Avebury's advantage as a few wickets tumbled and scoring runs looked increasingly like hard work.

Pete Force-Jones was at his deceptive best and picked up 3 handy wickets - not, I am sure he would agree, with the best balls in the world. Effective nonetheless.

Special mention should go to Alex Millward for a tidy spell from the top end conceding 32 runs in twelve overs having not bowled since August; to John Rheinberg, in no way phased by the birth of his son earlier this week; to H.Fry for a sharp catch to remove Box's danger-man; to N.Hollister for coming back home and relieving the Captain of the wicket-keeping gloves (best all round we think); to Andy Blake for a stunning one handed slip catch (from a ball which had already hit the stumps). The Chairman's figures of 4 from 11 from 11 overs should probably sneak into this report by dint of giving everyone some air time.

Also big thanks to D.Bradfield for preparing the square and the strip, in Avebury's first season without a third party groundsman.

Team: Dix, Fry H., Carter, Millward, Bradfield, Hollister, Force-Jones, Blake, Rheinberg, Jephson, Chairman.

Hinton Charterhouse CC vs Avebury

Date : Sat 22-May
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 291 for 6 in 45 overs
Opposition score : 175 all out in 40 overs

Enjoy it while it lasts you bunch of losers! Avebury has inadvertently ascended to a vertigo-inducing second spot in Division One, thanks to some well-timed early season cancellations and a couple of fun-packed wins. Whilst last week's performance was something of a nail-biter from start to finish, today's game was somewhat one-sided, with Avebury batting first and posting a healthy 291 from their 45 overs.

Contributions came from the Chairman with his 107th hundred, a solid 58 from Alex "Millers" Millward in his penultimate game before another baby-related sabbatical, useful 30s from Fry H. and Dix., a couple of cameos from Carter and Neil "White Thai" Hollister, and 29 from about 3 balls from Ed "the monster" Elliot-Square making his annual appearance for the club.

Avebury had the luxury of a "real" opening bowler in Elliot-Square, who removed one of the openers in his first over, whilst the Chairman's 35mph dobbers did some damage at the other end. Once again the change bowlers did a fantastic job, Pete F-J rediscovering his length, Millward limiting the batsmen to just 2 boundaries an over, and debutant James "Scallops and Bream" Wallace rolling back the years and showing the class of a Bradfield 1st XI cricketer, taking his first wicket for the club. Huge credit to the glue-fingered slip cordon (ha!) and the ring of steel in the covers (Bradfield, "Tim's Tins" Jephson, Wallace) keeping the game tight throughout and only occasionally shepherding the ball to the boundary.

All in all a wonderful day's cricket. Hinton's ground is an absolute picture; the bar well stocked with the delicious but unfortunately named "Butcombe Blonde"; the wicket an absolute batter's paradise. A small disappointment to be starting the second innings at a quarter to six, ruining at least 11 scheduled barbeques in the evening, but a welcome win for a side never too far away from the "lowly" tag in the pages of the G&H.

Team: Peppa Pig, Suzie Sheep, Rebecca Rabbit, Pedro Pony, Danny Dog, Candy Cat, Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka, Upsy Daisy, and two out of the three tombliboos.

Note to all readers: Today's game was topped by Sunday's result. It's now official: Avebury's best bowler is not playing Saturday cricket!

Avebury vs Spye Park CC

Date : Sat 29-May
Type : League
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

This weeks "eagerly" awaiting "Village-Cricket-With-Points" fixture saw Avebury arm-pitted against local cricketing legends Spye Park.

It would appear that the financial services sector is not the only industry to have been forced into unlikely consolidation of late (think Man/GLG, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, Lloyds/HBOS to name but a few) - clubs in the backwaters of Wiltshire cricket appear to have been forced into all sorts of unholy alliances, the most recent of which appears to be a shotgun wedding involving Spye Park and Cooper Avon Tyres.

This has forced humble Avebury (with its squad of 13 fully paid-up members) to think carefully about its future, and the Chairman will shortly be presenting to the committee his proposal for a 7-way, all-share merger with with clubs from Swindon, Salisbury, Heytesbury, Ogbourne, Liddington and Echinswell.

The merged Club will be known as A.S.S.H.O.L.E CC and will be looking to mount a serious assault on the leaderboard of one of the lesser known Wiltshire cricket divisions at some point in the not-too-distant future. Anything to win a shiny medal!

Anyway, back to the present: despite purchasing a set of cricket covers just for rainy days just like these, the persistent morning's rain quickly put pay to any chances of playing, and yet another well prepared gourmet tea was send off to the Salvation Army. New signing Damien Fry from New Caledonia and Vanuatu commented "This is great. I'm proud to have made Avebury my club for this season. If we can carry on getting 10 points for cancellations we're going to be hard to beat this season. The atmosphere in the changing room is amazing - particularly in the cancelled games. There's a real buzz when you get to the point where you don't know whether the rain will stop or not. then it doesn't - and you think, wow, another 10 free points, and I can stock up at Gregg's the bakers on the way home, and I can get all my work done for the weekend, and see my family too. Life's great."

We look forward to being royally entertained by the Spye Park au champs des reves dans quelques semaines, to see the much discussed new pavilion and to tuck into the liberal portions of Nando's chicken which will be fired out of the propellers of the helicopter at tea-time. We also look forward to watching their muscular batsmen peppering the hapless Avebury bowlers into that beautiful thatch on top of the new pavilion.

Westinghouse CC vs Avebury

Date : Sat 05-Jun
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 176 for 7 in 35 overs
Opposition score : 173 for 9 in 45 overs

As his girlfriend might possibly say, you never quite know what you're going to get with Pete Force-Jones. In the past couple of years he, by his own admission, has been off his game; too many balls have ended up as half-trackers; too many balls have been smashed into wide open spaces all round the bound by ruthless opposition batsmen.

Today Pete got everything right. He finally managed to get his stock ball above the batsman's eyeline, and the fondly-remembered dip and drift returned. There isn't, and has never been, much in the way of fluency to PF-J's approach to the crease (it has been likened to a wing-forward struggling towards a try-line with the full-back firmly attached to his ankles) but today there was a spring in his step.

So, despite the introduction of teenage prodigies Will Thomas an Ben Bradish into today's starting line-up, it was the seasoned campaigned whose 5 for 45 wrestling the game away from the home side. On another fantastic batting track, 173 was never likely to be enough, and the village got home with the loss of Rheinberg (still somewhat doe-eyed following the birth of his son), Fry H. (mis-judged pull shot - how many times have we written that) and Dix (sharp caught and bowled). Hollister and overseas pro Damien Fry hit the winning runs, Damien taking full advantage of the $2,000 per run on offer to him this season to notch up another hundred.

Champagne moment of the day was a fantastic one handed diving catch from Thai Diving Supremo Neil Hollister, that caused the Westinghouse innings to falter after a very solid start. Sharp catching from Neve and Fry H. was also on display, the latter's catch creating one of the highlights of the scorebook this week: Fry c Fry b Fry. Who said Wiltshire was an in-bred county?

Disappointment of the day has to be the team's continued inability to make a game of keepy-uppy last for more than 3 kicks. Even sadder was the fact that, with beers in our hands after the game, the group showed a marked improvement.

Team: Bradish B., Thomas W., Thomas I., Dix, Hollister, Rheinberg, Fry H., Force-Jones, Neve, Bradfield, Chairman.

Avebury vs Wroughton Wranglers CC

Date : Sat 12-Jun
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 247 for 9 in 45 overs
Opposition score : 264 for 7 in 45 overs

An interesting game, and a happy one for the most part, with the possible exception of the final result for Avebury.

With just 10 men available this week, and a distinct shortage of bowling options, the Skipper decided to get the worst of it over with and have a bowl first.

Whilst Avebury's opening bowlers, including Jacob "Youth Policy" Lythe, restricted Wroughton to under 3 an over, the change bowlers couldn't keep it quite so tight and runs began to flow. Pete F-J couldn't find the form of last week; Sam Carter took wickets but struggled for rhythm from the bottom end; H.Fry did a great job as a non-bowler putting in 12 from the top end. The slow track and fast outfield always suggested a 250 par score, and some heavy blows from Wroughton's lower order, including the legendary Mcmeeking, allowed the visitors to impose a commanding total of 264 at team. Web-site says 7 wickets; we thought it was 8; Skip will have to check the book! The only real highlight of the fielding display was a stunning diving catch by Rhino at wide silly mid-off; nothing else sticks in the memory. Many catches were dropped; culprits need not be named and shamed here!

Our reply started poorly with the loss of the in-form Chairman for 13, and H.Fry for a duck, LBW to a ball pitching well outside leg stump. Blake and Dix rebuilt, and shared the highest partnership of the game, the obdurate Blake finally falling for a well-crafted 46.

As the required run-rate crept towards 10 an over the Wranglers were starting to sense victory, with all fielder very much engaged in the game and cheering one another on for all they were worth. However, with Dix regularly clearing the ropes, and with some depth to the batting line-up, the total always felt within reach. Dix finally departed for 90 (the highest score of the match), but not before he had hit some mighty blows to all parts of the ground, and caused some concern to the fielding side, whose body language betrayed a good deal of nervousness.

After Sam Carter had departed having unluckily holed out on the boundary to the Wranglers "super-sub" (a twelfth man - when was the last time you saw one of those?) Rheinberg and Hollister then took over where Dix had left off, latching on to anything short and peppering the boundary to take Avebury inconceivably close. Some late wickets, however, saw the village falter down the final straight, and despite some final kicking blows from Dave Bradfield we closed on 247.

A loss, yes, but a spirited performance from a 10-man side missing the all-round abilities of Gater and Millward, the seam bowling and lower-order hitting of Will Thomas and Ben Bradish, and the beer-supplying qualities of Tim Jephson. Well played the Wranglers, and in particular their star turn Mcmeeking with his 70-odd not out and a Michelle too.

Team: Dix, Blake, Bradfield, Hollister, Rheinberg, Carter, Lythe, Fry H., Bradfield, Chairman.

Bradford Town CC (League) vs Avebury

Date : Sat 19-Jun
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 138 all out in 44 overs
Opposition score : 139 for 8 in 39 overs

Avebury once again struggling for players - managed to secure the services of Josh (14) and Alex Milton (16), both of whom gave an extremely good account of themselves and are fine cricketers at any level. Also big thanks to Simon White for coming down from Archway, North London, to help out the team and make sure we had an eleven to take the field.

Given the youth element in our side it was a little disappointing to subject their young ears to the potty-mouthed opening bowlers from Bradford, who have a very funny idea of what you should, and should not, say on a sports field. Really surprising, and not a little disappointing - but then again what do you expect.

Putting that to one side, Avebury chose to field first on what was, as per usual, a very "sporting" wicket, and soon found themselves in trouble with the ball popping all over the shop. Despite the odd flourish, we lost makeshift opener Rheinberg, H.Fry, G. Dix and N.Hollister all relatively cheaply, with only Sam Carter offering serious resistance. The Chairman arrived late having completed a 4-hour round trip to London to visit St Mary's Paddington, and batted as though he was still in the car. Some solid hitting from Dave Bradfield secured the second-highest score in the Avebury side, and once again Alex and Josh Milton batted very credibly against some aggressive bowling which did not seem to phase them at all.

A total of 138 all out was never likely to prove a huge problem for the mighty Bradford town, although they made a bit of a hash of it, tumbling to 44 for 5 before some stonewalling and the odd single allowed them to creep slowly towards the total. Avebury dropped 2 vital catches, with the two reprived batsmen effectively going on to take the game away from Avebury. Highlights were 2 sharp catches from Rheinberg under the batsman's nose, and a first Saturday wicket for 14-year old Josh Milton.

A very nice pint in the pub round the corner restored the spirits of the defeated players.

Avebury continue to miss Gater, Millward, Thomas, Bradish, Lythe and Blake in their line-up. Today's team, however, gave a very credible account of themselves on the trickiest of pitches, and a big thanks to everyone for making the journey down as we know it's not exactly a favourite.

Team: Milton, Milton, Fry H., Dix, Rheinberg, Hollister, Bradfield, Carter, Force-Jones, Chairman, White.

Avebury vs Swindon CS CC

Date : Sat 26-Jun
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 202 all out in 45 overs
Opposition score : 172 all out in 41 overs

Another week of struggling for players. rescued (again) by Andy Hay, Jimmy "The Cat" Neve, Tim Jephson and Matt Daniel - many thanks to all of you for agreeing to play in the "the-same-but-with-points-and-bad-language" version of the game.

SCS players hooped and hollered with glee as the Chairman, perhaps mindful of his 9 games in 11 days, pushed the first ball of the match to extra cover. However, Blake and Fry H. steadied the ship and continued to progress at 4 an over on a reasonably bouncy Avebury pitch. Blake's eventual departure for 17 (bogged down and looking for scoring opportunities against the miserly lines of the SCS bowlers) brought Dix to the crease, and he and Henno cantered along quite nicely until Dix was adjudged LBW for 33.

Fry H. was joined by Sam Carter, and further progress was made until yet another batsman failed to convert a decent start, as Sam was well stumped by the effervescent Spackman for 17.

The best partnership of the match was the 83 put on for the fifth wicket between Henry and Andy Hay, the latter rediscovering the form that brought him such success with the club 9 seasons ago. A run out mix up led to his demise, and Hollister managed (just) to get the tail over the 200-mark with a quick 10 - the final four batters (un-named here to protect their fragile confidence) mustered 3 runs between them. Hollister, I am sure, will "step up and take the blame" for the debacle that was the closing 5 overs of our innings, with the wicketkeeper-batsman on 2 occasions taking singles off the first ball of an over to expose a "raw" tail.

In all, 202 was indeed a sub-par score and should not have been anything like enough to win a game of cricket here.

SCS's reply started slowly, with danger men (a phrase borrowed once again from the excellent G&H this week) Smith and Spackman looking to see off Avebury's only full time bowler, and knock off a sub-par total. However, Dix, reincarnated this season as a genuine all-rounder, managed to bowl Smith and put the batsmen on to the defensive. The Chairman then had the watchful Mildenhall well caught by Blake at second slip, and was immediately replaced in the attack by "genuine part-timer" Sam Carter, who had the dangerous Giddings sharply caught at midwicket by Bradfield.

Matt Daniel had his first ever bowl on a Saturday, and his first league game back following his horrific injury back in April. He looked nice and steady with the ball, with only the occasional lapse, and managed to prise out the SCS number 7 with a straight one.

Despite the meagre required rate of around 4 an over against a very weak bowling attack, wickets continued to fall, to the extent that, by the 30-over mark, the game looked to be heading Avebury's way. A shift in momentum cam about when Willoughby, a surprise insertion for SCS all the way down at number 8, came in and blasted 26 runs in no time at all, until the returning Chairman got him with a surprise straight one.

Carter mopped up the tail (never written that before....) finishing with 3 for 23, and SCS closed on 172 all out in the 41st over. Well done to Avebury's fielders - for sharp catching (Bradfield, Blake, Hay), a very snappy run-out (Hay and Daniel), tireless running round the boundary (Neve and Jephson). Champagne moment to Tim Jephson for sprinting round the mid-wicket boundary and volleying a vicious pull-shot with his ankle back into play.

Team: Dix, Carter, Bradfield, Blake, Jephson, Neve, Fry H., Hollister, Daniel, Hay, Hollister

Unavailable this week (gets more amusing as it gets longer): Lythe, Gater, Millward, Rheinberg, Bradish, Thomas W., Minton.

Avebury vs Swindon Nalgo CC

Date : Sat 03-Jul
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 214 all out in 41 overs
Opposition score : 218 for 4 in 45 overs

Whoops! How Avebury managed to contrive to lose this game I'll never know. Having lost at Bradford Town by just 2 wickets and against Wroughton by around 16 runs, the Village was looking forward to a return to winning ways, but in the end failed to hold its nerve against the bilingual Nalgo side.

Batting first, Nalgo's progress was relatively pedestrian, despite the opening bowlers (and the Chairman in particular) looking pretty fatigued. The runs started to dry up further with the return of Millward into the attack for the first time in a month or so, and the run rate was duly squeezed to around 3 an over at the half-way stage. However, Nalgo kept plenty of wickets in hand and were able to launch an assault in the final ten - nothing from the coaching manual, but plenty of well executed bottom hand. Good energy in the field from Avebury though, with the under-18s Bradish, Lythe and Daniel all charging around in the field, and the usual enthusiasm from Rheinberg, Fry H. and Bradfield in the covers. Debate at tea was whether 218 would be enough - from our perspective it was nowhere near enough and we felt pretty confident going out to bat.

Millward and the Chairman got the Avebury response underway nicely, rattling along as predicted at 7 an over an under no pressure whatsoever. The introduction of of an extremely erratic legspinner brought exactly what the introduction of erratic legspinners always does - a flurry of boundaries and a flurry of wickets - Millward scooping the most woeful of half trackers to deep midwicket, and H.Fry following next ball blocking one that spun back onto his stumps.

The Chairman's confidence got the better of him when he skied to long-on having hit 91 from 66 balls; and after this there was something of a mass suicide as wickets fell at regular intervals. Despite resistance from Dix, and the target getting nearer with every over (even with 8 wickets down, Nalgo were very happy to allow Avebury to collect singles all round the park) none of Carter, Rheinberg, Daniel, Bradish, Bradfield or Hollister could see the game through. Hollister, who hit 85 not out the following day at around a run a ball, must be ruing the missed opportunity in the 43rd over, missing a ball that took his leg stump when, in ordinary conditions, one might have reasonably assumed he would have picked it up over midwicket for another maximum. Avebury fell 4 runs short of the target, with 3 overs in hand.

On other matters, no thanks to Nalgo for bowling 40 (not even 45 overs) in something like three and a half hours. Really not helpful to anyone, and spoils the enjoyment of an otherwise excellent game; and yet nothing the umpires appear able to do about it - not that they weren't trying, but provisions of the league don't appear to allow them to do anything. A team of 11 captains, it would appear, and an huge amount of completely unnecessary tinkering with the field after every ball, which the captain was apparently powerless to do anything about.

So Avebury ended 4 runs short and missed another opportunity to further secure their future in this division. Scenes of great "man-love" at the end of the game, with Nalgo players straddling one another in a manner quite unbecoming! Glad there weren't any youngsters present. Oh, hang on, there were.

We look forward to the imminent return of Gater to bolster the batting and bowling. Let's hope he hasn't eaten Western Australian out of pies yet.....

Team: Dix, Fry H., Millward, Carter, Rheinberg, Lythe, Daniel, Bradish, Hollister, Bradfield, Chairman.

KC Club vs Avebury

Date : Sat 10-Jul
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 194 for 3 in 35 overs
Opposition score : 193 all out in 43 overs

The last time we made the journey over to Wootton Bassett for a fixture with KC Club we were completely massacred; the relative strength of this year's KC Club side notwithstanding, it was nice to come away with better memories of the Ballard's Ash Sports Ground than we did two years ago, where we spent the afternoon chasing the ball 6,000 yards past the boundary where Ronnie Fernandez had just hoisted yet another six.

This year we lost the toss and were asked to field first. The Chairman managed to get one to clip the top of middle stump to send R.Fernandez on his way in the third over, and after the world's largest collective sigh of relief, Avebury were in better spirits and in greater control of the game.

The scoreboard continued to show a somewhat different story, largely as a result of the very true wicket and the lightning fast outfield. Even Avebury's tidy overs were going for between 4 and 5 runs, whilst other overs were plundered. The ground was scorched throughout; not a patch of green anywhere but the square, and the earth baked to a brick-hard surface beneath.

Jacob Lythe, bowling at the top end, gave his all but found no rhythm and was eventually substituted for Avebury's "missing link" Robert Gater, now happily back in the fold after nine nefarious months of naughtiness down under. He has come back with a faint tan, no immediate signs of weight loss or gain, and enough of a sense of humour to withstand four hours of lame jokes about shrimps, barbecues and sheep-worrying. Happily, he has not forgotten how to play cricket and his 12 consecutive overs brought him four wickets for not very many runs. Credit for one of these has to go to John Rheinberg, grinning away just underneath the batsman's nose at forward short leg and inducing the inappropriate shot as the "I'm gonna smash you in a minute mate" shot comes out to the wrong ball.

This spell allowed Avebury to peg the run rate back, and introduce another change of bowling, Will Thomas taking over from the Chairman and getting a wicket with a back of a length ball that the batsman cut to H.Fry at backward point. Will bowled well, particularly when getting the ball into the "dull" areas outside off stump, but leaked a boundary an over and allowed a little pressure release for KC.

An experimental spell from the returning Pete Force-Jones was not a success, Pete seeming to lack the penetration of his famous spell at Westinghouse. Jacob's reintroduction at the bottom end, though, was a revelation, as he found rhythm and purpose, collecting three wickets and looking a different bowler.

KC Club were all out for 193 in the 43rd over. After tea, Blake and the Chairman ran singles-a-plenty to push Avebury comfortably to 60 without loss. Blake's demise, nibbling at something he should have had nothing to do with outside off stump, brought new dad Millward to the crease, who played some nice shots but may have been suffering too much from the effects of the previous day's triathlon as he missed a straight one after a couple of crunching fours.

H.Fry has blown hot and cold this Summer and today he blew hot , punching the ball around into gaps, looking robust in defence and generally more at ease. The Chairman at the other end had move to his fifty from marginally fewer balls, but was wonderfully caught at first slip attempting a reverse sweep and not getting anything more than a tickle on it.

As if seeking to teach the naughty Chairman a lesson for his rush of blood to the head, goody-two-shoes Dix and H.Fry dug themselves in, showing the makers name to everything and refusing to engage in the mind games being offered up in the form of some very appetising donkey-drop bowling. They picked up ones and twos with the odd four helping to assuage the heckling from the boundary, where the rest of the team was rearranging the words "paint", "dry" and "like watching" into a popular common phrase.

These two nuggets continued to drink from the Paul Collingwood Fountain of Exciting Cricket between overs, and eventually saw Avebury home to a comfortable win. H.Fry and Dix finished with not out fifties; the Chairman celebrated with another New Asian Grill special.

Team: Millward, Lythe, Thomas W., Hollister, Gater, Rheinberg, Dix, Blake, Force-Jones, Fry H., Chairman.

Box CC vs Avebury

Date : Sat 17-Jul
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 130 all out in 41 overs
Opposition score : 131 for 6 in 42 overs

Disappointing to come back to Box CC and find it something of a club in decline; the square unkept; rye grass prolific all over the outfield; paint peeling from the walls in front of the pavilion. Avebury arrived with a somewhat weakened side, missing the top order solidity of Millward and Carter. The wicket was damp and looked awful; even the side return creases weren't aligned down the strip. And this is division one of the county league!

Avebury lost the toss and were predictably inserted; despite a watchful start, Avebury lost regular wickets and no-one got in with the exception of Dix who managed a cautious 44. Everyone else got themselves out in a series of rash decisions. The lower order crumbled like wensleydale cheese; our total of 130 never looked like being enough.

Box's wicketkeeper had the funniest voice on the park and remained the noisiest player on the pitch, not only when Box were fielding but also when they were batting; apparently relieved that Rheinberg was moved along the boundary and away from him, because he smelt! Fecking primary school! He can't be a day under 70.....

Box did everything in their powers to hand the game back to Avebury; never getting much ahead of 2.5 runs an over, and resolutely refusing to attack an inspired spell from Pete Force-Jones. But with the wicket pretty much dried out, batting was far easier in the second half of the game and Avebury weren't able to pick up enough wickets to really put pressure on in the final overs. That Box crawled to victory with just three full overs remaining and four wickets in hand says a lot about the quality of the Avebury bowling and fielding, and highlighted our failure with the bat earlier in the day.

Team: D.Duck, Fry H, Dix, Gater, Hay, Hollister, Neve, Bradfield, Chairman, Force-Jones, Rheinberg.

Avebury vs Hinton Charterhouse CC

Date : Sat 24-Jul
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 140 for 1 in 36 overs
Opposition score : 138 for 9 in 45 overs

Without any further ado, let's kick off by responding to the flood of calls and emails about last week's match report, where the author bemoaned, in his eyes, the decline of the opposition cricket club at the time.

It has been collectively agreed that these opinions need to be set in the context of the author's own opinions about our own cricket club, so here goes:-

1. Our pavilion needs a really good lick of paint. Apparently all I need to do is get a spare set of keys across to Gater and Hollister and "stuff will start to happen". I look forward to this with interest; I didn't realise you had to be inside the pavilion in order to paint the outside, but maybe they need to make a cup of tea or something. But let's face it, it hasn't happened yet, and it looks a disgrace.

2. Our usually pristine outfield was slightly spoiled this week by the presence of three giant hay bales left over from the festivities of last week's Avebury fete. We managed to get these off the field before the start of play, but they've left a patch of the ground looking a right old state.

3. Our square this week isn't in great shape despite the best efforts of our resident groundsman. The proposed wicket for today's game had been over-watered (something that's never happened at Avebury in 20 years, owing to our prior inability to water the square) so a second strip was cut.

4. Am sure there are plenty of other things to whinge about. Our lack of showers is a constant sore point with opposition players, who compensate by spraying enough Lynx For Men into the changing rooms to fumigate the place entirely.

Touching briefly on today's game: Avebury lost the toss and were asked to field first; Will Thomas produced one of his best ever spells of bowling for the Club to finish with 2 for 32 (pity he's off to Bali tomorrow); Gater bowled a very controlled 11-over spell despite a cronic inner thigh injury; Millward was steady as ever with his slowies; PFJ had his majic mojo back and not only produced a superb tea with baguettes from Waitrose, but also "bagged" three wickets with his mystery spin. Do you see what I just did there. Hilarious.

Hinton Charthouse looked a young and thrusting side with many of their players, as we were rather ominously promised last time we played, "back from University". They're all very talented cricketers but appeared very keen to get on with the game; most were out caught on the drive. In all, their stately progress towards 138 was a good effort on a slow Avebury pitch, but really there were no realy demons in it whatsoever, and Avebury's batters proved the point with a swift 9-wicket victory, overhauling the oppoonent's total in the 36th over. Blake's 37 included a rash of no less than 5 threes, which had the Chairman gasping at the other end and clutching his ample belly in pain.

Much of this has to do with Hollister and Gater's inspired marking out of the boundary, leaving an enourmous Southern side which no-one cleared all afternoon.

The Chairman crawled to a pedestrian 63 of 88 painful balls; H.Fry a breezy 32 to see the game home was probably the batting highlight.

The Avebury side then propped up the bar in the Club, where, somewhat sadly, we trebled the customer base. Hopefully business picks up later in the evening - we need it to keep going!

Team: Dix, Gater, Rheinberg, Thomas, Hollister, Carter, Millward, Fry. H, Chairman, Force-Jones, Blake.

Spye Park CC (League) vs Avebury

Date : Sat 31-Jul
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 105 all out in 29 overs
Opposition score : 302 for 6 in 45 overs

Last minute availability issues at Spye Park meant that we were unable to play on their main ground, and were instead forced to play on the smaller under-11s ground instead. Never mind, it has a fantastic pavilion which really has been the talk of the league circuit this year (oh, and what good value banter that is...).

Anyway, Avebury (I believe) won the toss and chose to field first, and were immediately under the cosh as larger-than-life Spye openers Hues and West banished the ball to all parts. Ben Bradish in particular came in for some rough treatment, and one can only hope that these bully-boy tactics have not destroyed his enthusiasm for the game.

Avebury's slow bowling options looked limited, with Millers and PFJ a bit all over the place today, and the Spye batsman continuing to lift the ball over the ropes at regular intervals - even pint-sized number three Steve "I'm going to stop playing league cricket in order to help the junior section at Cooper Avon Tyres" Rendell was able to tuck into the buffet with gusto, punctuating his innings with some typically chippy words of his own to the fielders!

Avebury eventually managed to take a few wickets but it was a case of too little, too late against the unstoppable force that is Spye Park, who were below strength today missing Nick "110mph bouncers" Church, and Mick "I Wanna Fall From the Stars" Hucknall. Their final total of 303 was somewhat imposing, and gave "lowly" Avebury no comfort whatsoever that their record to date against Spye's Saturday team would be any way adjusted from the current position, which I believe stands at a 100% loss rate.

So, in summary, not much improvement from Friday's trading day, where European markets opened the day cautiously higher essentially through lack of direction from Asia (markets traded in a tight range throughout the day) and with investors awaiting macroeconomic data and earning news from the continent and across the Atlantic. Despite Avebury's poor form in recent weeks, the corporate earnings season to date has been broadly positive, with sovereign bond auctions seeing solid demand and upbeat macro news hitting the wire. This allowed European markets to move higher to build on the weeks gains, and partially offset the impact of poor cricket results at Avebury. However, despite a better-than-expected US jobs report, US equities moved down over 1% dropping European markets in correlation.

Avebury's reply followed a similar pattern to the equities trading of the previous day. After a blistering start from the openers, the usual rot set in and a procession of wickets fell to close the game out and ensure a nice early finish.

The bowling of Mark Hulse for the opposition must be singled out. Critics might well point to the poor quality of the opposition and the dust-bowl of a pitch tailor-made for finger-spinners, but it was another match-winning performance and one which Avebury were uniquely unqualified to match.

Overall, a pleasant enough day out with some good banter at the George afterwards. Avebury have somehow still managed to cling on to 4th spot in division one, despite (according to the members lists) have just seven full paid-up members this year.

Team: Millward, Fry H., Dix, Gater, Hollister, Rheinberg, Carter, Bradish, Bradfield, Force-Jones, Chairman.

Avebury vs Westinghouse CC

Date : Sat 07-Aug
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 108 all out in 35 overs
Opposition score : 194 for 6 in 45 overs

Avebury's poor run of Saturday form continued with a second successive defeat, this time to Westinghouse, a side they had comprehensively walloped earlier in the season.

Batting first on another Avebury slowie, Westinghouse chugged along at four an over after a cautious start against Will Thomas and Robert "Big Bubba" Gater. Will got the breakthrough thanks to a smart catch from H.Fry at backward point. Westinghouse's other opener launched the Chairman over cow corner with the epic words "That's 'ow we play it down arr way, mate!". An over later he sought to repeat the feat, only to sky the ball into the air allowing the Chairman an easy catch, and the opportunity to make the same observation.

With the exception of a slight expensive start from Millward, all the bowlers put on a decent display - somewhat improved versus last week's howler at Spye Tyres - and the closing target of 190-odd looked with easy reach with Avebury's "strongest ever" (and I use these words with only a touch of irony) batting line up.

After a very creditable tea, lovingly prepared by La Famille Millward, Avebury started woefully with the Chairman showing all the weariness of a record 43 games of cricket for the season so far, as he lamely top edged a pull to backward point. This prompted something of a mass ejaculat1on for the Westinghouse boys, and another outburst of man-love the following over as H.Fry missed a straight one.

Thereafter, we witnessed an apocalyptic collapse as the combined skills of Blake, Millward, Dix, Rheinberg, Hollister, and Hay threw their wickets away against an attack (and I am going to be very careful with my words here) that does not rank amongst the most potent in our lowly village league. This really was filthy, X-rated stuff, to which no lover of the game should be subjected!

The only silver lining in our batting display was a superb 47 from "Young" Will Thomas, batting too low at number 10, but giving his team-mates a masterclass in how to chase down a total. We struggled to 108 - getting us another "valuable" (haha) point, and salvaging some pride after a shocking 30-over patch.

Dismal, dismal batting from Avebury. Naughty boy nets this week (as if!); and perhaps some pre-game catching practice wouldn't go amiss (7 last week; another 5 shelled this week).

Team (naming and shaming): Chairman (effing stupid shot to ball four of the innings), Fry H., Hollister, Dix, Rheinberg, Hay, Gater, Blake, Bradfield, Thomas W., Millward.

Yes, that's right, no fewer than 7 centurions in the side, and 1 other with a Saturday 50 to his name, and that's all we managed!

Wroughton Wranglers vs Avebury

Date : Sat 14-Aug
Type : League
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

Rained like it would never stop. Went and played golf instead. Got stuck behind the worst type of golf club members - a Saturday fourball playing in what they claimed to be an important "match" against a neighbouring town, and refusing to let us through. Dreadful. And this is at the self-styled "Friendliest Golf Club In Wiltshire"!

Went home and wondered why I curtailed my holiday in 30-degree sunshine to come back for today!

Avebury vs Bradford Town CC (League)

Date : Sat 21-Aug
Type : League
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 112 for 6 in 45 overs
Opposition score : 237 for 7 in 45 overs

Despite a strong side and home advantage, Avebury were unable to improve on their performance earlier in the season against the same opposition, and once again came out second best to the "big guns" of Bradford Town.

Arriving at the ground to see the opposition in the throes of a complicated warm-up, the author was struck once again by the polarised approaches to Saturday cricket to be found in the Wiltshire leagues. Bradford, resplendent in their multi-coloured kit and with their names proudly displayed"just like the pros", looked every inch the WEPL Club they aspire to be.

As Avebury took the field, the heavens opened and the fierce winds carried sheets of rain across the pitch. Ever the perfect hosts, Avebury gallantly volunteered to continue, with the ball becoming increasingly soap-like and mis-shapen. This act of kindness appeared to have been forgotten by the opposition as the game wore on, but is worth highlighting here for posterity's sake.

Bradford raced to 100 in around the 17th over, and looked all set for an enormous total before a flurry of wickets pegged the run-rate back in the middle overs, largely due to the work of "The Whippet" in his inaugural game for the Saturday XI. Having been carted mercilessly around the ground in his early overs he settled onto a good length and pegged the opposition batsmen back into their creases.

Avebury's catching continued to be woeful, with another 6 chances going down on top of the regular half-dozen we have missed over the last three weeks. Today, however, was somewhat less of a concern given the terrible state of the ball.

Highlights from the Bradford innings were a chanceless 63 from Bradford's Adam Cooksey (I know his name because it said it on his shirt!) and 58 from someone called I.Pinchin who appears somewhat more reticent when it comes to shirt design. The evergreen Tony Laws (he of the split personality - see our reports from 8 years ago!) also hit a sparkling 53 not out to haul Bradford's total towards respectability.

A total of 237 for 7 from 45 overs was marginally higher than Avebury would have liked to chase, but with the outfield drying off there was a feeling that the home side might have the better of the batting conditions.

In response, Avebury were pegged back by some excellent new ball bowling from Bradford "legend" Nick Gerrish, together with some enthusiatic fielding and close catching from the other smaller ones in the outfield. The fall of each wicket was greeted by scenes of great man-love, and general ecstasy (note my careful use of the word "love" - I do of course refer to 'agape', 'philia' and 'storge' rather than 'eros' per se) as Bradford's grip on the game increased.

As wickets tumbled, it became rapidly apparent that Avebury would struggle to overhaul Bradford's total. At this point, the home side shut up shop and enjoyed the opportunity to get some quality middle practice against an opposition bristling with intent.

With the game petering out into nothingness, Bradford might have missed a trick in not 'gifting' some runs to the home side, reigniting their spirit for the chase and increasing their chances of a more comprehensive victory. With no such freebies on offer, "lowly" Avebury had no choice but to consolidate their score and avoid exposing their tail.

At the end of the game it appeared that certain members of Bradford's side were less than impressed by their victory; and sought to find fault with members of the opposition. Bradford's skipper summed it up when he said "They're disappointed not to have taken 10 wickets, but they'll get over it."

To which my response would be "Too right"! Presumably it's a lot easier to "get over" than the problems of 20 million (yes, million) displaced Pakistanis, the families of 300,000 dead in Haiti, or the further million displaced by the same earthquake?

In other words: Get it in proportion. It's a game of cricket. By even taking the field together, we have more in common with our opponents than we may at times like to admit - let's enjoy the challenge of the occasion but let's collectively agree to laugh about it afterwards, OK? We are lucky to even be able to play the sport.

In other words, lets cut out the potty-mouthed verbals, the swearing, the aggression, the posturing and the noise, and enjoy the game!

Team: Dix, Gater, Rheinberg, Hollister, Bradfield, Carter, Blake, Thomas, Fry H., Whippet, Chairman.

Man of the match: H.Fry, for having the genius idea of batting with earplugs in!

Swindon CS CC vs Avebury

Date : Sat 28-Aug
Type : League
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 221 for 4 in 45 overs
Opposition score : 186 for 8 in 45 overs

Avebury's final league game of the season actually turned out to be one of the better games we've had this year. Chasing our 222 for 5 from 45 overs, SCS were very well placed on 102 for 2 after 20 overs and looked in complete control. Happily for Avebury, the depth in today's bowling attack was able to contain the run rate and eventually pick up all ten wickets, handing the visitors a 44 run victory and securing a creditable fifth place in the league.

Despite murky overhead conditions and a sodden pitch still recovering from 3 consecutive days of rain, the Skipper was forced to accept out woeful recent form in chasing down totals, and opted to bat first. Despite Andy Hay getting a "jaffa" early on, the Chairman and Dix consolidated and put on a decent partnership. The Chairman eventually departed for 66 having been driven to distraction by repeated calls from the boundary asking him where he thought his wife's car keys were. I bet Messrs Trott, Broad etc. don't have to deal with this sort of stuff!

Contributions from Dix, Rheinberg and Will Thomas proved invaluable, and allowed the out-of-form Millward to finally rediscover his form of previous years with a fine not out fifty.

After a sugar n' carb laden tea, SCS shot off at breakneck speed in pursuit of the Avebury total, knocking the bowling of Bill n Ben (Thomas and Bradish) to the boundary on a regular basis despite some very good balls being sent down.

The Chairman replaced Will Thomas from. The bottom end and was immediately warned by the standing umpire (after 1 delivery) for stepping on to the pitch. Railing against the desire of certain umpires to "get in the game", and against the injustices meted out by umpires who remain more than happy for right arm over the wicket bowlers to plough up huge tracts of land on the other side of the wicket, he was forced to bowl the remainder of the spell from round the wicket to avoid further silliness.

The brakes were eventually applied by Matt Francis, coming on fourth change and finding bounce and turn. Despite an embarrassing series of dropped catches, Matt eventually got his deserved clutch of wickets and can be extremely proud of what was effectively a match-turning spell.

Gater finished things off from the bottom end (not before being hit for a couple of monstrous sixes) and Bradish took the final wicket of the match. Sam Carter was rolling his shoulders with positive intent, but the Skipper ignored both these signals plus those of Alex Millward, sticking to his original five bowlers who eventually finished the job.

Congratulations to Avebury on a fine season in Division One, avoiding the relegation zone with some comfort, playing with fewer than eleven men on a significant number of occasions, and successfully suffering the chirruping and sledging that unfortunately appears to be part of village cricket in the twenty-first century.

Team: Hay, Chairman, Dix, Gater, Millward, Thomas I., Rheinberg, Hollister, Carter, Francis, Bradish.

Friendly Games

Fonthill Park CC vs Avebury

Date : Sun 18-Apr
Type : Friendly
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

Unfortunately this much anticipated early season opener was cancelled due to player availability issues, I am told.

Avebury vs Presidents XI

Date : Sun 25-Apr
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 144 all out in 37 overs
Opposition score : 145 for 5 in 36 overs

Avebury's "Captain's XI" came unstuck today against a President's XI positively bristling with talent - unfortunately a good deal of it (Bradfield, Fry H., Minton, Bradish, Ogbourne and Startup) making the Captain's task of find Avebury players NOT already playing for the President's XI somewhat challenging! I assume he will have to start his recruitment drive earlier next year!

In all, though, this was an excellent warm-up for the season to come. For the Captain's XI, Rheinberg and Carter fell short of the mark (for 13 and 8 respectively) but the Chairman and the Captain both got up around the 50 mark to get some early season form.

Unfortunately, the remaining batters (Lythe, Francis, Force-Jones, Neve, D.Dix, M.Dix and Richard Fry) managed just 12 runs between them, leaving the President's XI the somewhat pedestrian task of knocking off the 145 runs required for victory, which they managed inside the 36th over thanks to a sparkling 65 not out from H.Fry.

Other performance of note today included a fine debut from legspinner Matt Francis, and some plucky batting from the Captain's two young sons.

Teams:

Captains: Rheinberg, Dix, Dix, Dix, Carter, Lythe, Francis, Force-Jones, Neve, Fry R., Chairman

Presidents: Fidler, Bradfield, Fry H., Minton, Bradish, Startup, Scattergood, Ogbourne, Wallace, Perkins

Avebury vs Wiltshire Queries

Date : Sun 09-May
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 116 all out in 33 overs
Opposition score : 118 for 2 in 21 overs

This new and prestigious fixture came a little too early in the season for Avebury, with key Sunday regulars not available for the game. The Queries were kind enough to lend us the services of Richard Thompson, a schoolfriend of the Chairman's scheduled to play for the Queries, so we did at least manage to field 11 players - for the first time this season!

Useful 20s from the Saturday Captain and the Chairman got the scoreboard moving in the right direction, as did a nice cameo from Matt Francis in his second game for the club, but in the end there weren't enough contributions of significance, and the home side were all out for 116.

In response, the usually metronomic Rob Minton was subjected to some early order bullying from Queries kingpin Illingworth, and ex-Marlborough batsman Frank Whiting. In the end, the Queries needed only 21 runs to seal an inevitable victory - which, on yet another disappointing day weather-wise, was perhaps the best thing all round and allowed both teams to retire hastily to the Avebury Club for some commiserating drinks.

Many thanks to the Queries - and we'll try to do better next year!

Team: Dix, Bradish, Fry H., Minton, Thompson R., Francis, Scattergood, Bliss, Startup, Reade, Chairman

Bratton CC (Sunday XI) vs Avebury

Date : Sun 16-May
Type : Friendly
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

Bratton called at 10.00am on Sunday morning to say that their pitch was a little damp, and that they'd rather not risk it.

Fair enough:

Team (as it stood): Chairman, Dix, Dix, Hollister, Francis, Minton, Startup, Lythe, Carter.

Christian Malford CC vs Avebury

Date : Sun 23-May
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 122 for 7 in 30 overs
Opposition score : 96 all out in 31 overs

Frustrations at having 22 players unavailable prompted a slightly stroppy email from the Chairman to all members pleading for support. In the end, and thanks in particular to a brilliantly-timed comeback appearance from Andy Hay (after an 8-year leave of absence) we managed a healthy nine players for the game.

Under the circumstances and given the oppressive heat the Skipper had no alternative but to bat first. To say that the ball misbehaved would be an understatement; for both sides, batting was something of a lottery with neither side being able to fathom the mysteries of the pitch.

Carter and Hollister, two Saturday heavyweights looking to find some Sunday form, struggled on a "difficult" wicket that has been turned through 90 degrees in the off-season with what appears to be no significant consideration as to the potential side effects. Carter's early demise brought Minton to the wicket and his swashbuckling hitting brought him 38 runs, the highest score of the match by some distance.

Dix and Francis, as steady a middle order as you're likely to see in an Avebury Sunday line-up, perished for single digit scores, and neither the Chairman nor Andy Hay could contribute much at the end of the innings. Star of the lower order was undoubtedly Nathan Bliss, with an exuberant 24 coming almost exclusively from boundaries. His score represents his highest for the club and, I think I am right in saying, more than doubles his aggregate for the club in 2 years.

Avebury's innings closed on 122 for 8 (all out) in just 30 overs, prompting a long and leisurely tea enjoyed by all.

In response, and armed with a replacement ball that was as soft and spongey as a soft sponge, Minton and the Chairman got little out of the pitch, whilst the Malford openers chugged along nicely. The decision to remove the Chairman from the attack and bring on Matt Francis from the far end was effectively the moment the whole game was turned on its head and began to move decisively in favour of the visitors. Matt found turn and bounce, having the opener caught behind with his third ball, and the dangerous Corsham batsman Sumption bowled round his legs for a duck.

Malford had little response to the wiles of Francis, and couldn't take full advantage of the gaping holes in the field caused by Aveubry's limited fielding resources. Having taking just a single wicket in his 8 over spell, Minton was relieved by Sam "Dan's Cousin" Carter who bowled one of his best every spells for the club, finishing with very creditable figures of 3 for 15 from a shade under 8 overs. Dix caused scenes of jubilation with a direct hit runout from third man as the batsmen took a risky two, and Carter finished the game off having seen his fellow bowler Matt Francis finish with a fantastic four for 20.

Oh, if we could only persuade him to turn out on Saturdays too! Never mind Matt, we're thrilled your playing whatever day of the week it is!

We enjoyed a very nice pint at the Stag in Christian Malford, along with very nice houdijas and patatas bravas - definitely worth a return trip I would say.

What a great day out. You guys (the 22 of you who couldn't make it) missed a real treat!!

Team: Magical Matt Francis, Minton, Hollister, Dix, Hay, Neve, Bliss, Carter, Chairman.

Avebury vs Swindon Civil Service CC (Sunday XI)

Date : Sun 30-May
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 99 for 3 in 30 overs
Opposition score : 96 for 9 in 40 overs

Bringing the web-site up to date with some of the events of weeks gone by.

First big disappointment of the day was SCS turning up promptly at 1.30pm not realising the agreed start time was 2.30pm. This hampered the home team's careful pre-match preparation rituals and allowed the opposition far too much time to inspect the new wicket - being played on for the first time.

SCS won the toss and decided to bat, and struggled against one of the better Sunday bowling attacks that Avebury can muster - with Will Thomas, Ben Bradish, the two James (Neve and Wallace, both of whom turned in fine performances), Matt Francis and (even) Ian Thomas proving difficult to get away.

From the sidelines, acting groundsman Bradfield paced nervously up and down the boundary line, tears rolling down his cheeks as the ball steadfastly refused to rise above stump height. On the field, the Chairman silently cursed the chunky cheque written to a well-known Wiltshire Groundsman for the creation of this particular pudding. Frequent visitors to Aveubry's cricket pitch will know that the square is not known for its pace and bounce; this track makes the rest of the place look like the WACA in Perth.

So, a combination of accurate bowling and a turgid pitch saw SCS struggle to 96 all out in around 35 overs.

Ben Bradish, making his Avebury teas debut, did a fine job, with a very strong cake selection in particular that had the judges coming back for more. His omission of milk, orange squash and tea towels was duly noted by the Committee but will not be taken into account in assessing overall quality, which was judged to be very high.

There's not much to report about Avebury's response, which had a familiar feel to it for frequent readers of these pages. The Chairman sent Thomas Junior and Senior in to open, relying on the talents of Matt Francis and Nathan Bliss to finish the game off. Predictably, 3 wickets fell in 7 balls and amidst the panic of the dressing room, the Chairman was first to get his pads on, and supported Will Thomas (the not-out batman at the other end) through to a comfortable seven wicket win.

Team: Thomas I., Thomas W., Bradish, Minton, Francis, Neve, Wallace, Bliss, Hollister, Dix, Chairman

Mildenhall CC vs Avebury

Date : Sun 06-Jun
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 176 for 3 in 33 overs
Opposition score : 175 all out in 40 overs

No match report available pending submission from Match Manager Ian Thomas and Captain Will Thomas.

Anecdotally, the game got off to the worst possible start with 11 Mildenhall players arriving at Avebury having failed to realise that the game was scheduled to be a home ficture for them. After a slight delay (and with thanks to Mildenhall for being accomodating on this front) the game got underway at Mildenhall as planned.

Mildenhall batted first and made 170-odd all out; Avebury's bowling attack looked strong on paper but lacked a little zip - Matt Francis in particular suffering his first "off-day" for the club.

Avebury's response was dominated by a gritty 65 not out from Avebury legend Andy Hay, returning to the Club after many years lost in the tundra of Siberia (or Russia at any rate).

Team: Hay, Thomas I., Thomas W., Friend of Thomas W. to be confirmed, Minton, Francis, Hollister, Bliss, Dix, Startup, Wallace.

Avebury vs CS Nomads CC

Date : Sun 13-Jun
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 201 for 9 in 40 overs
Opposition score : 94 all out in 30 overs

This relatively easy victory over a 10-man CS Nomads was significant for one reason. This was a victory gained with no Frys, Rheinberg, Hollister, or Gater in the line-up and no significant contribution from Kipper Dix (apart from one sharp catch and the normal chuntering at his fellow fielders). Instead the game was dominated by four 17 year olds.

Batting first, there was a solid opening stance between Andrew Blake and Captain for the month Will Thomas. Blakey perished for an aggressive 34, but Will went on to score his first Sunday 50. After a couple of fleeting appearances at the crease by Andy Hay and Rob "The Microphone" Minton, Jacob Lythe and Matt Daniel appeared together in the middle. They dovetailed well, and although Jacob dominated the strike and the scoring, Matt's contribution was also significant. Jacob smashed his way to a maiden 50 for the club off less than 40 balls. The final score of 201 always looked beyond an under-strength CS Nomads, particularly against an attack consisting of Rob Minton, Matt Daniel and Matt Francis.

Young Mr Francis so bemused the Nomads batsmen that both they and the fielders were far more interested in trying to identify the various deliveries he was serving up rather than worrying about scoring or fielding. He finished with 4 wickets, ripping the heart out of the Nomads line-up already battered by Minton's first brace for a while.

The game finished just in time - as we walked back to the pavilion the heavens opened. Many of us took it as a sign of a generation passing in Avebury Cricket history!

Team: Thomas, Thomas, Dix, Blake, Minton, Lythe, Daniel, Francis, Hay, Startup.

Bishops Cannings CC vs Avebury

Date : Sun 20-Jun
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 261 for 9 in 32 overs
Opposition score : 262 for 5 in 36 overs

Avebury's poor weekend got worse as they were well and truly kippered by a wily Bishops Cannings Side.

Once again claiming ineptitude, a lack of players and a dearth of bowling options, Bishops Cannings "resorted to" their opening quick bowlers, who put Avebury's Sunday batsmen under far too much pressure and always looked like taking wickets. Despite a solid 50 from Will Thomas, much of the top order failed to take advantage of Under 12 size boundaries, a lighting fast outfield and a very good wicket indeed.

Lulled into a false sense of security, Avebury mixed up the batting order, cruised along at between 5 and 6 an over, and were lulled into thinking that this would be competitive as a total.

Even the Chairman, dropped down to number 8, was subjected to a huge guilt trip for hitting boundaries, with many comments to the effect that the Avebury total was, even in the early 200s, far beyond the reach of the self-deprecating home side.

After an excellent, tea, Bishops Cannings showed us all the value of good tactical banter in the first innings, as the opening pair tucked into some powder puff bowling from all four of the frontline bowlers, racing along at over 7 an over.

Only Matt Francis showed any sort of control or posed any wicket-taking threat, but even he struggled, realising that bowling excellent leg spin is no fun at all when the cow corner boundary is 47 yards from the bat. A lack of slow bowling options forced the Captain Will Thomas to don the gloves and ask the wicketkeeper Hollister to offer up a few of his off-breaks from the pavilion end.

A couple of crucial dropped catches might have altered the pattern of the game, but in the end Bishops Canning romped home, with all their young and powerfully built stars playing extremely well and carting the ball to all parts.

Team: Fidler, Scattergood, Startup, Thomas I., Thomas W., Dix, Minton, Francis, Hollister, Chairman (10)

Avebury vs Swindon United Churches CC

Date : Sun 27-Jun
Type : Friendly
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

Abandoned due to the "lure" of watching the football.

You all know who you are - and I hope you enjoyed it, that's all.

Swindon Civil Service CC (Sunday XI) vs Avebury

Date : Sun 04-Jul
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 159 for 1 in 29 overs
Opposition score : 157 for 4 in 40 overs

Fielding first, Avebury stemmed the run flow with strong performances from Sam Carter and Mickey Mouse. Scattergood and Jephson also turned their arms over, although Jephson ended marginally more successfully with a single wicket from his 5-over spell. Matt Francis form the top end bamboozled the opposition batsmen, although (predictably) the law of averages saw the odd ball connect with the bat and sail over the ropes. Solid performances from mini-Dix I and mini-Dix 2 with the ball in the final overs saw the opposition frustrated on 157 from their allotted 40 overs. Sam Carter ended as the pick of the Avebury bowlers, with 3 for 16; Mickey Mouse was unlucky not to take a wicket from his spell of 6.

Tea was fantastic - good sandwiches, cakes, biscuits and all manner of lovely treats - though the deep-fried jalapenos did tend to repeat through the rest of the afternoon.

Hollister (still smarting from the disappointments of the previous day) and Andy Hay then went out and clinically chased the total down inside 30 overs and just before the rains came, Andy finishing with a chanceless 61, and Hollister a flamboyant 85. Well done the Avebury Sunday XI, and many thanks to the mini-Dixes for ensuring we had 11 on the park! Thanks also to Swindon CS for hosting a great day out.

Team: Chairman, Dix, Dix, Dix, Hollister, Jephson, Mouse, Carter, Scattergood, Hay, Francis.

Avebury vs Fulham Taverners

Date : Sun 11-Jul
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 166 for 4 in 32 overs
Opposition score : 165 all out in 38 overs

An early start (1pm to accommodate the football) was widely advertised but still resulting in only 9 Avebury players taking the field shortly after the scheduled start. Dix, arriving late after his tournament coaching debut with the under-9s at Marlborough, looked low on confidence after his boys lost 3 out of 3; could he bring himself back from this defeat?

Will Thomas was awarded the captaincy for today's game and started with Mr Reliable T.Startup from the bottom end. Trevor found grip and turn, and bowled a good enough line not to have to worry about introducing the "gripper" wonder-ball into his repertoire. He managed to snaffle Tav's kingpin "Nicky Mango" caught driving on the up to mid-off, which set the Tav's progress back significantly.

Will bowled a few tidy overs from the top end before calling on the Chairman to conjure up a wicket. The match ball, despite looking like something you might find in a £6.99 garage cricket set, did accept a little spit and polish and was shined up just enough to allow some swing to be achieved; but not before the Taverners had the Chairman chuntering away with plenty of boundaries through the vacant third man area.

Breaking with a centuries-old tradition, Will removed T.Startup from the attack after just 6 overs and introduced Matt "Energy Levels" Francis to bowl leg spin from the bottom end. Anyone brave enough to take the field at Avebury with their name on the back of their shirt had better be good enough to withstand the inevitable abuse, and Matt very much did that today with four wickets in a wonderful spell of slow bowling. He was able assisted by Hollister behind the stumps who can not only pick the wrong-uns, but can also catch the bottom edged cuts and faint edges that abound.

As wickets tumbled, the Captain turned to his more "occasional" bowlers to accelerate the run rate and (simultaneously, it is hoped) the fall of wickets. In bringing on Ian Thomas he achieved exactly this aim, with Ian's slowies getting smashed about a bit by the Taverners lower order, but also claiming a wicket with the mystery straight one. From the other end we saw Andy Hay roll back the years with some slow left arm over, but unfortunately he didn't get hit for as many boundaries or take as many wickets and was withdrawn from the attack. D.Scattergood and R.Gater were the other bowlers used, so only the keeper and G.Dix unused as bowlers. After some strong lower order hitting followed by some rather attrititional blocking, the Taverners were all out for 165 in 37 overs.

Highlight of the innings was a curious "reverse French cricket" shot from the Tav's number 11, keeping feet stock still but flicking the bat round and behind the legs to hit a ball down the leg side. Unnecessary, pointless and unrewarding in terms of runs, but a neat treat that I don't think any of us have seen before. Will it catch on?

After tea, and resisting the temptation to create a "humorous" batting line-up, the Captain opened with himself and Gater. These two looked comfortable but were out having played themselves in; the same is also true of Scattergood and Andy Hay, the latter being particularly unlucky to be run out. 34 for 4 after 8 overs.

After this mini-period of panic in the home side's changing room, nerves were steadied by a fine partnership between Dix and the Chairman, both reaching their fifties and seeing the home side through to a relatively comfortable win against an opposition who, it's fair to say, are a thirsty bunch and once again probably weren't on top form for this game.

Team: Gater, Scattergood, Dix, Hollister, Hay, Francis, Chairman, Startup, Thomas I., Thomas W.

Absent: Neve.

Langford CC vs Avebury

Date : Sun 18-Jul
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 249 all out in 39 overs
Opposition score : 167 all out in 38 overs

Our inaugural fixture against Langford saw us bat first against this up-and-coming Oxfordshire side.

Hay and Hollister got us off to a cautious start on a (frankly) awful wicket, with the ball popping up from a good length and making "proper cricket" impossible.

This dictated the approach of most of the Avebury batsmen, throwing caution to the wind and trying to slap as many boundaries as possible from some "loose" bowling.

Our total score of 249 was the result of contributions from Hollister (48), Minton (39), Francis (29), Startup (22, scored from Number 5), Dix (19), Neve (21 - three times his previous personal best), and the Chairman (16).

A very fine 31 not out from El Presidente Dave Scattergood was the icing on the cake, with H.Fry (demoted to number 11) a quick 14 not out.

After tea ( a cracker), any competitive edge to the game was quickly blunted by Minton and Startup, who had the hosts reeling at 31 for 4. Avebury then delved into its treasure trove of bowlers and there were wickets for Matt Francis (3) and H.Fry (1).

Lowlights of the fielding innings were the Chairman getting his spinners tonked into the neighbouring cowfield and the unfortunate H.Fry having to pick the ball out of a freshly curled cowpat; and a terminally dull tenth wicket partnership for Langford as the game wound towards an inevitable Avebury win.

Team: Scattergood, Francis, Fry H., Dix, Gater, Hollister, Neve, Francis, Startup, Hay, Chairman.

Spye Park CC (Sunday XI) vs Avebury

Date : Sun 25-Jul
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 150 for 6 in 33 overs
Opposition score : 148 all out in 36 overs

Matt Francis secured his second consecutive win as acting Captain of Avebury's Sunday XI, but not without the occasional stutter as a full-strength Sunday side made heavy work of chasing down a relatively modest total.

After a slow start, the two Andies (Hay and Blake) thre of their "Dulux" and "Weathershield" monikers with some crunching shots all roudn the park to keep the run-rate above four an over. Their demise, though, gave an opportunity for Avebury's young gun trio of Bradish, Francis and Minton to shine with the bat and put down a marker for their inclusion in the Winter tour to Australia.

However, despite some lovely shots from all three (particularly Bradish with a sparkling 30-odd), wickets continued to tumble, and it was left to experienced pros such as Hollister and Startup to continue the chase, to be replaced at the death by Gater and the Chairman. Both were suffering from the effects of beers consumed at the start of play, but managed to get Avebury home with Scattergood and Dix waiting patiently in the sumptuous pavilion for their opportunity.

Earlier in the day, Avebury's bowlers made early inroads into the Spye Park batting line-up, with Minton bowling for catches from one end, and Startup accurate as ever from the other. Star of the show was without doubt Bradish, whose 4 for 40 represented his best haul of the season and was more than justified on the basis of his rhythm and pace; and included the wicket of the apparently "dangerous" Russell West, described in interesting terms on the Spye Park web-site.

Wickets were shared between many of the other bowlers: Chairman, Minton, Startup, Gater, Francis.

Spye were once again excellent hosts; the ground is looking wonderful and the pavilion a joy to behold; the thatch is holding up better than expected. Tea was a great team effort from many of the Spye Players; the ham and turkey salad sandwiches a personal highlight.

Team: Dix, Gater, Hollister, Bradish, Scattergood, Startup, Francis, Minton, Hay, Blake, Chairman.

Note: The reference to an Australia tour has been included here to see whether anyone is paying attention.

Avebury vs Aldbourne CC

Date : Sun 01-Aug
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 197 for 7 in 40 overs
Opposition score : 198 for 4 in 40 overs

This week's "match rant" brought to you by our own inimitable Robert "Bubbles" Gater. Please have your "pinches of salt" at the ready:-

The match against Aldbourne this Sunday was moved from a 2.30 start to a 2pm start at the request of the opposition.

With hindsight, perhaps a 1pm start might have been more appropriate, as Aldbourne seem to want to chat and alter the field after every delivery! Painful!

Avebury lost the toss and were invited to bat. The opening partnership of S.Carter and B.Bradish made steady progress until Ben tried to up the rate and got himself caught. This brought our young superstar, Matt Francis, to the crease (playing as a specialist batsmen due to a persistant shoulder injury) with the score at 32 for 1.

The skipper had claimed "I want 300 today", but this looked a long way away after he was LBW with Avebury at 40 for 2 from 12 painful overs! His dismissal brought the "Avebury ringer" for the day to the crease, Dave Bell. Now, being an old school friend of mine, I can vouch for the fact that he is a very good cricketer indeed, and looked like proving so until, he was somewhat 'done' by a harsh LBW decision from our standing umpire for 12, to a ball that pitched about a foot outside the leg stump to a right arm round the wicket bowler! Unlucky, to say the least.....

With the strong middle order of Hay, Hollister, Dix and Gater, Avebury ought not to have been too concerned. However, as we very effectively proved on the previous day's cricket, we are very capable of a collapse, and it was the case again today! Back went Carter, Hollister and Dix without really troubling the scorer much. Gater came in to join Hay with Avebury a precarious 110 for 6 in the 30th over. These two managed to consolidate, and with a couple of lusty blows from Gater who managed 50 from 36 balls Avebury managed a total of 197-7 from their 40 overs. Tea was enjoyed by all (I would say that, I made them and it is the only trophy I can go for this year!) even if it was more like dinner as it was served at well gone 5pm!! (Yes, over 3hrs to bowl 40 overs.....tedious!!)

Avebury set about defending their total in the dark with Trev and Ben opening. After a steady start, the introduction of Carter from the top end got things moving nicely......for the opposition!! Matt Francis proved innovative as always with his field placings and bowling changes!

At the halfway point of their innings, things were nicely balanced with Aldbourne 95 for 2. The dismissal of the opposition's hard-hitting young number 4 soon after (what a piece of willow by the way!! I want!!) put Avebury in charge. However, the "team bat" soon reappeared in the number 5's hands, a slightly older and larger version of number 4 (believe he was his Dad!), to astonishing effect! The 'pace duo' of Dave Bell from the top, who performed admirably for a tight 8 over spell, and Gater from the bottom end thought they had things under control. However, Gater's consistant line and length allowed the number 5 to swing his fantastic bit of willow for a few overs and send the ball to all parts (not strictly true, as he could only hit the ball in one area....yes moooo corner it was!!) which put them back in control. PFJ was reintroduced and soon had the number 5 confused and removed him LBW. With only a few overs to go, the game was going down to the wire.

At this point, I feel it is worth mentioning that the umpiring standard all day had been poor; however, it was taken to new lows by the opposition for their 'wide' calls. I have never seen a wide called for a ball that pitched about 6 inches outside the off stump and went past the batsmen at no more than a foot! G ater complained (being the bowler in question!) and was told he "talked a good game" - well, yes I think Ii do!!! Helps to do that when you actually know the laws of the game being played! I think there are a few players that need to have a look at these laws! It came down to 5 needed from the last over, to be bowled by Gater and unfortunately for Avebury a streaky edge through the vacant slips area for 4 put an end to the game. Better luck next time Avebury!! It should also be mentioned that I haven't seen Sunday cricket taken so seriously since.......well since Avebury only played on Sundays!

So I guess we can see where they are coming from, but just because you take the game seriously doesn't mean it has to take forever!! A further note, it was a little disappointing not see one of the opposition turn up for a drink afterwards (think that is a first?!) but I guess one can't blame them too much....time had got on somewhat!!!

Team: Greg, Rob, Neil, Andy H, Trev, Matt F, Ben B, Matt D, Dave Bell, Sam, PFJ.

Avebury vs Bishopston CC

Date : Sun 08-Aug
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 182 for 8 in 40 overs
Opposition score : 187 all out in 39 overs

Here is this Sundays match report (should be much less of a rant this week, more enjoyable game had all round)

With the weather Gods being kind to us, Avebury awaited the arrival of Bishopston with great expectancy, as a new fixture,..... and they were late!! Having been informed in the week by our dedicated, hard working and faultless fixtures secretary that the game was infact a 13.30 start as advertised, we were slightly bemused as to why come 13.40 we only had one of the opposition present. A quick phone call later and it became clear that navigating from junction 16 of the M4 to Avebury was a touch harder than I, or most of the team had thought, as the opposition were somehow in Wroughton (except Will Thomas, who doesn't seem to know where Wroughton is). With all parties assembled it was to the toss, which Avebury lost and were promptly asked to field (strange how that always happens on the nice sunny afternoons!!). The skipper was informed that the opposition had only managed to get 9 players today, as one or two had got alcohol poisoning from the previous evenings activities! When said skipper asked about the relative strength of the opposition, he was greeted by the coy response 'we will just have to see who plays the better on the day'!!! Keeping his cards very close to his chest wasn't he??!!

It was all change in the Avebury ranks today, 'Gloves' was bored of being behind the stumps so wanted to roll his arm over!! Our two young Purton superstars both failed late fitness tests and were not allowed to bowl, so Rob 'I've done it a couple of times' Minton volunteered to don the wicket keeping gloves, and Whippet decided he was a specialist batsman......again!! So with Thomas Junior opening from the top end and Trev 'senior' from the bottom Avebury started well enough, with both picking up a wicket apiece in their opening spells, leaving Bishopston 46-2 from 15 overs. Ian Thomas doing well to hold on to a catch at mid on that was struck rather well. The change bowlers today of A Blake and N Hollister, have never been seen together before (and may never be again!!). Although both were reasonably impressive, Neil with a variation on his tweakers of 'military medium' and Lasith, well was Lasith, both were only allowed a 5 over spell during which, to the surprise of all, BOTH managed to pick up a wicket! Matt Daniels then bowled a fine spell from the top, unfortunate not to get a wicket, and Ian Thomas showed us some of his 'mixed bag' from the bottom. At this stage the opposition were in the healthy position of 150-4 from 32 overs (well would be apart from the fact that they only had 9!!) and it was left to Dave Scats and the skipper himself to come on and 'mop up the tail', the final score of 187-8 (All Out) from 39.1 overs a fair score.

Aveburys reply got off to the worst possible start with A Hay departing in the first over without troubling the scorers. It was left to our in form batsmen (well the 2 that managed double figures the previous day!!) of A Blake and Will Thomas to rebuild. Will did this in fabulous style, with some cracking boundaries to take the score to 24 before he fell to a good ball that nipped back and hit the top of his leg stump. Blake was at this stage going for A Hays record of 31 balls for a duck, but just as he was nearing the target he decided to pinch a quick single....in the 9th over of our innings!!! By this stage he had been joined by our young 'specialist bat' M Francis, who was enjoying a battle with another young leggie, and was apparently giving Blake at the other end a running commentary of what the bowler was doing!! The two put on a solid partnership, to leave Avebury 95-2 from 24 overs. However, Matt fell at this stage for a well made 23 and allowed Neil to the crease who set about upping the run rate. Neil perished for 21 but not before he had set the game up nicely with Avebury needing 60 from the last 10 overs. Unfortunately, with just a calm head needed, the skipper came in and left rather too quickly offering up another catch for the man on the square leg boundary!! Matt Daniels followed immediately after that and poor Blake was left watching all this from the other end. Scats and Blake then set about the job of 8 an over nicely, with a couple of lusty blows from both. It came down to 13 needed from the last over. Blake, still there, managed to get the crowd jumping with a wonderful drive for 4 up the hill from the first ball. This left only 9 needed from 5 balls, unfortunately Blakes innings came to a tame end next ball as he rather softly gave a caught and bowled chance. But well batted anyway Blakey! So with 9 required from 4 Rob Minton had a chance to make himself a hero, but with just to much to do, he and Dave could only muster a further 3 runs to leave Avebury 182- 8 from their 40 overs.

A thoroughly enjoyable game had by all; friendly opposition, good cricket, lovely weather and a fantastic tea offered up by Trev and Ann. Also, just a footnote to my 'rant' last week; the game eventually started at 2pm, we played a total of nearly 80 overs, nearly 400 runs scored in the day and WE STILL MANAGED TO FINISH BY 6.30pm.....a whole one and a half hours shorter than last weeks game with the same sort of statistics......proof it can be done!! Thanks to Bishopstone for making the trip, sorry that for the second week running the opposition didn't make the 'after game thirst quenchers', but we hope to see you next year. I am not sure if this is too 'R rated' for the ACC web site, but I thought that this comment deserved to be 'broadcast' if only for the further embarrassment that it will cause a certain 'junior Thomas'. When asked by someone what he was drinking after the game, Ian Thomas replied 'Natch, it's a cider', to which, Neil being Neil said 'sounds like Snatch', to which Ian replied 'doesn't taste like it!!!' Just watching Will Thomas squirm with embarrassment from the thought of what his Dad had just said was worth the match fee alone!!

Team: Rob G, Blake, Neil, Trev, Matt F, Rob M, Scats, W Thomas, I Thomas, Matt Daniels, A Hay

Hope this doesn't need as much editing as last weeks!!

Rob

Avebury vs Bratton CC

Date : Sun 15-Aug
Type : Friendly
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

Bratton couldn't raise a side and so, somewhat belatedly, the game was unfortunately called off. Very disaapointing, as the weather was much improved over the previous days' washout, and given our fielding performances over the last few weeks, we could all have done with the practice.

Avebury vs Bishops Cannings CC

Date : Sun 22-Aug
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 229 for 5 in 40 overs
Opposition score : 166 all out in 33 overs

Cannot resist including Rob's match report with the comments with which he "tops and tails" them!

Here goes for another exciting Gater match report!!!

Avebury's traditional fixture against the 'old enemy' of Bishops Cannings had extra spice this year as we got a bit of a drubbing at their place earlier in the season, and the fact the fixture comes at a time when Avebury are in dire need of a win following 5 consecutive losses! Greg's opening gambit went something like 'we owe 'em a can' (a can of whoopass for those not in the know!!).

It was a typical English August afternoon.....overcast with the forecast of rain. Avebury won the toss and elected to bat first on a used wicket (which, Bradders will be pleased to know, held up very well indeed after yesterdays abuse in the Bradford game....yes, I mean abuse of the wicket, nothing else!!)

With the 'can' in mind, skipper decided to go fairly serious. The selected opening partnership of Rheinberg and Hay had to be changed at the last moment as I had forgotten that Andy Hay's watch seems to run 30 minutes behind everyone elses! This meant a promotion for Dix and a steady start followed, leaving Avebury 54 without loss after 14 overs. However, in true Avebury fashion the loss of John for 13 led to a further two wickets going down for 10 runs in four overs. Our 'in-demand' young superstar Will could only manage a solitary run, and Greg followed for 33. This brought Henry 'Brigadier Block' Fry and Gater to the crease, who set about a rebuilding job.

Unfortunately, with the score on 100 after 23 overs, Henry forgot about his alter ego and dished up a catch. Fortunately, Avebury's long batting line up continued and A.Hay came to the crease. These two put on an excellent partnership of 110 from 14 overs to take Aveburys score to 229 for five from their 40 overs, with Gater left 95 not out.

A 'plain but excellent tea' from Hollister was enjoyed by all; if a bit late due to the 'debating' by the opposition as to their batting order in the closing overs of Avebury's innings which led to them not realising whether the right handed Gater or the left handed Hay was on strike!!

With a decent total to defend, Avebury hoped to put an end to their losing streak. However, the much vaunted batting line up of Bishops Cannings had other ideas and the opening partnership got them off to a good start, being 43 for 0 from 9 overs.

Avebury managed to turn things around with 3 quick wickets, 2 of which came from an inspired opening over from the first change bowler, Henry Fry, to leave them 59 for 3 from 13 overs.

Avebury also started to hold their catches, which as we all know win matches!! A special catch from Dix at midwicket was Henry's first strike; special because he had no idea it was still in his hand!! Bishops then rebuilt their innings thanks to Simon 'the nice one from CAT' Bailey and Jake Roberts who took them to 116 for 3 after 23.

With the game balanced on a knife edge, a half-fit Will Thomas induced a false shot and the partnership was broken with the catch being held at long off. This led to the collapse of the rest of the batting line up, and Avebury wrapped things up in the 33rd over, dismissing BCCC for 166. Henry Fry returning figures of 4 for 35; well done Bertie!! A really enjoyable game as always against BCCC, good to even things up for the season and very good to end Avebury's losing streak.

Dear Ed, Hope this is ok....don't mean to offend anyone, just like to have a 'dig' or 2!!

Avebury vs Badgers CC

Date : Sun 29-Aug
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 152 all out in 33 overs
Opposition score : 108 all out in 33 overs

With the English summer just about returning (typical a day after our league season has finished) for our annual fixture versus the Badgers and the pitch being 'a little on the damp side' it was decided by the team captains that the mighty Avebury should bat first.

Gater sent in Rheinberg and Hay to open. This could have been viewed as a dangerous tactic, as neither man is 'in form'. However, in typical Rheinberg fashion, he got the run rate going with some lusty blows. At the other end, Andy was finding it tough going and by the 12th over had only mustered a single to his name, with some unnecessary comments from the boundary along the lines of 'if he carries on at this rate he will be 4 not out at the end of our 40 overs'!!

The dismissal of John was quickly followed by a tumble of wickets in the usual style of Avebury collapses. Ben Braddish, "Gloves" and Ian Thomas, as well as John's opening partner Andy Hay were all back in the hutch with the score a mere 77 for 5 after 21 overs. Avebury did however possess a strong tail with the Chairman, Skip and Gater at 7, 8 and 9. But with the exception of Skip whose innings of 44 held the end of the innings together, the tail couldn't muster many other runs between them, and Avebury closed on 152 all out from just 33 overs. Anyone would have thought that we were all in a hurry for tea!!....

Which, as it happens, we were. Earlier in the day, both napkins and labels for the sandwiches had been spotted, which had players and spectators alike salivating at the prospect of a Perkins tea. And judging by the number of 'helpers' Guy had brought along we were definitely in for a treat.

We were not disappointed. The spread was fantastic; lovely sandwiches and cakes, and especially lovely scones, which, by the way Guy, I wish you hadn't held back until the end as I for one had filled up on all the other lovely stuff.

With Avebury's total only just about being a par score on that wicket, it was felt that early inroads were needed. With Ben charging in down the hill and the Chairman "prancing in like a horse" up the hill we made a couple of early breakthroughs and kept the run rate in check.

Gater and Francis were the change bowlers and they too kept the run rate under control and picked up a couple of wickets. This left the Badgers 43 for 5 after 20 overs and meant they needed an impressive last 20 overs to surpass the Avebury total. With the Chairman having to leave at this point, it was left to the remainder of the team (along with super sub Matthew Dix) to finish the game off. Dan Dix, who at 9 years old, is the youngest bowler that this skipper has ever used, was brought into the attack from the Dykes end. It reaped immediate rewards as his tight line and length bowling snared him 2 wickets, to finish with the amazing figures of 4-1-8-2!! Well done Dan, excellent stuff. This devastating spell left the Badgers no hope and they were finally out for 108 in the 33rd over.

Team: Gater, Dix G., Dix. D, Hollister, Bradish, Francis, Thomas I., Hay, Rheinberg, Chairman, Force-Jones.

Substitute: Dix M. (for the Chairman)

Avebury vs Weekenders CC

Date : Sat 04-Sep
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury won
Avebury score : 164 all out in 35 overs
Opposition score : 126 all out in 34 overs

An Avebury Sunday side brimming with underage talent took on seasoned tourists the Weekenders in a core feature of our end-of-season calendar.

Batting first, Blake and Dix G. took the score towards the fifty mark, the skipper finding support from Will Thomas (23) and Rob "Bubbles" Gater (a whopping 67). The Chairman chipped in with 48 from 43 as Avebury sought to build a decent first innings total and protect the "soft underbelly" of Force-Jones, Dix M. and Dix D., with only J.Milton and J.Neve in the middle order.

A total of 238 in 40 overs was always going to be a big chase for the visitors, who have not looked like winning this fixture for a couple of years now. Reluctant opening bowler Will Thomas got the breakthrough, picking up 2 for 38; Pete Force-Jones showed some late season promise with 3 for 30 from his 7 overs; and there was even a wicket for Andy Blake at the end, just to show that miracles do happen, even in village cricket.

The Weekenders resolutely defended towards the end, and finished only 9 down but, crucially, 30 runs shy of the target. A good time was had by all.

Team: Dix, Dix, Dix, Force-Jones, Neve, Milton J., Hay, Chairman, Gater, Thomas W., Dix, Blake.

Man of the match: Bubbles Gater with a punchy 67. Will we see the likes of him again?

Warminster CC (Sunday XI) vs Avebury

Date : Sun 05-Sep
Type : Friendly
Result : Cancelled
Avebury score : -
Opposition score : -

It wasn't raining all morning; it hadn't even rained much the night before; but, predictably, we were rained off. Bah humbug to teams who wait until 12.45pm on the day of the game to make the decision. Grrrrrrrr.

Avebury vs Corsham CC

Date : Sun 12-Sep
Type : Friendly
Result : Avebury lost
Avebury score : 127 all out in 36 overs
Opposition score : 128 for 4 in 24 overs

Avebury pulled together a relatively strong side for this important end-of-season clash; unfortunately, the resources of Corsham far exceed those of the mighty Avebury; and having beaten them once or twice in the past they insist on stuffing their side with first-teamers to support the talented youngsters.

Avebury batted first and were woeful; with the exception of H.Fry's wonderful 50 from number 8, not a single batsman (in a line-up full of "Saturday" players) (actually - I tell a lie - Matt Francis managed 11) reached double figures.

And he gets called "sh*t" by the little front-bencher standing at silly point. Another classic moment in village cricket.

Truly abysmal.

After a decent tea wasted on the opposition, they came out and knocked off the runs with their usual puff and swagger. Plenty of "big match" cheering from the sides; little in the way of reversal of batting order or the like.

Not the best game with which to end the season, but it's always a nice challenge to play Corsham, and let's hope we can do better next year.

Team: Chairman, Fry H., Rheinberg, Hollister, Dix, Francis, Hay, Gater, White, Neve, Force-Jones.