Double match weekend

A tough schedule last weekend with matches on both days. Funnily enough both against St Annes IV, in the League on Saturday at home and in the Stuart Trophy on Sunday away.

A frustrating match in the League at the freshly rolled and mown but still comedy Cottam Hall pitch. Asked to bat first the openers dug in to some accurate bowling, with Mike as usual showing the way and scoring quickly. However it wasn't as easy for the rest of the top order, and with Greggy unable to see it was once again down to the middle order to produce some runs after Mike fell at 48/1. Lots of quick singles frustrated the opposition, and with a blind Greggy the only batsman keen to hang around and keep the scoreboard ticking as he ran out of partners, Wyre could amass a below par total of 128. Tea time came and thoughts turned to forming a plan to ensure the low total could be defended. However we needn't had worried as no sooner had we started bowling that we seemed to travel in time and start playing in a pre-war test Match, with a run rate hovering around 1 per over!! With the opposition reluctant to go for the win it turned to us to go for wickets and take the game by the scruff of the neck, but they just wouldn't budge. By the time we had got into the middle order, the last hour had been called and Mike had turned to bowling spin again. (How long is Snape on holiday for?!) The overs ticked by and the batsmen continued to block and leave. But with St Annes having batted for around 2 hours trying to draw, wickets started to fall and they were 7 down for just under 100. 2 overs to go and 3 wickets needed for another win from the brink, more plays and misses, a cheeky stumping, slow change overs by the batsmen, "Come and play the game boys!", but this week it wasn't to be and the draw was claimed. Frustration.

Thankfully we had a chance to play again the next day and luckily the weather held to allow us to play on the main ground at St Annes, such a treat! With Alcock on the motorway, 10 Wyre players took to the pitch, including youngsters Robert Gregson and James Trippier, along with debutant Stephen Taylor. Scott and I opened the bowling in the limited 25 overs match against batsmen who hadn;t appeared the day before... and being able to trust the pitch I managed to get 3 of the top 4 in my 5 over spell, not too shabby. However Mackenzie had made his mark, blasting a 50 and getting St Annes to 100 in quick time. Alcock arrived and the skipper came on to bowl with him, more excellent fielding with 5 more catches to add to the 6 the previous day, meant that we had come back strongly and restricted St Annes to a mere 138/8 when a much higher total looked on the cards. Tea was skipped as the skies darkened, the rains were coming, quick batting was needed. Stephen "swashbuckling" Taylor was sent in to open the innings with Alcock and face the top St Annes bowlers. Once again we needn't have worried, but for a different reason this time as Mike and Stephen flayed the ball to all corners of the ground and ran lot of quick singles to reach the victory target with both unbeaten on 73 and 49 respectively. What a comeback and what a satisfying performance after the previous days exertions. Job done.

FCL Match 3 v Anchorsholme

A sunny day greeted us at the Stanley Park Model Village pitch to take on the highly experienced Anchorsholme. Another successful toss call by the Captain meant we took the decision to bat first and try to post a good total. With the Anchorsholme slow bowlers looking to take advantage of another less than 100% pitch, the decision may have started to look shaky when Alcock went for another score in the 20's and Gregson for a duck, not good! Thankfully Amos dug in and scored a battling 50 and the middle order once again fired some quickfire runs to get the team to 182/7 declared.

With over 2 hours to bowl at the opposition confidence was high. However seasoned campaigners know of the defensive qualities of the Anchorholme batsmen. Even so early wickets once again flowed with the variable bounce of the pitch helping to reduce them to 9/5. Allan Hardisty was welcomed to the crease with a guard of honour, how international! But soon returned to the sidelines! Then came the defensive qualities which we had been expecting. Bouncers, Yorkers, wide ones, low ones, all came and were suitably left or blocked. Frustrations were growing as the last hour was called with 5 wickets still needed. A change of tactics was required and cometh the day, cometh the Amos! A couple of wickets with some change in pace meant that Alcock and Gregson followed suit and started to bowl some spin. Occasional spinning beamers were produced and despatched for 4 but it did the trick and soon the last pair were in and had 15 minutes to survive and claim a battling draw. The clock was ticking and tension was growing. The Captain brought himself back on and was suitably frustrated when the batsman declined to be bowled out! But with 5 minutes remaining Gregson got one through Archer's defences and claimed the points.

Another good win to keep the good start to the season going, but a valuable lesson in the tactics required to maximise the team's chances of victory.

Match 2 v Buxtons

Our home debut brought no respite as another of the big hitting teams visited Cottam Hall. As expected, eyebrows were raised when everyone saw the state of the pitch. Thankfully Steve won the toss and elected to field (no brainer!) Also thankfully I decided to bowl well this week and took advantage of the sideways movement and the Buxtons batsmens' desire to swing at the ball, thus producing a couple of high shots for Lever and Gregson to pounce on. The Capatain joined in as ever and with Alcock and Snape only needing to bowl an over each to end the innings, we had bowled out one of the top teams for only 55. (Crippling half of them in the process by the way they walked off the pitch!)

However Wyre don't like to make things easy and as soon as the friendly banter between Mike and the slips had begun, he was walking back with a duck. That's 2 ducks in the last 3 innings, not the form of the FCL's top batsman...! Greggy soon followed but Amos and Moyes dug in before Abbott was required to batter a quickfire 30* and end the match.

Overall a very satisfying day to take 4 wickets against a good team and to get the season off to a good start with a win and a draw against two of our title challengers. Next week, our annual trip to Steve's favourite pitch in the league at Anchorsholme!

FCL Match 1 v Preston III

A day after the finest round of golf of my life (a +3 gross 75 at Fleetwood to win the Jack Cross Trophy) the 2007 FCL campaign began. Preston III away, the toughest possible start facing last seasons runners up. Overcast and humid conditions played their full part as Wyre lost the toss and were put into bat. Alcock got off to a good start as ever scoring a quick 25, but the same couldn't be said of the rest of the top order with 2 ducks and a 3!! Thankfully the middle order fired on all cylinders leaving me in the nice position of coming in with 150 already on the board and only 5 overs left to bat. A first ball beamer soon woke me up, thankfully my swipe edged it over my head for 4 and I was up and running for the season. A few more play and misses follwed but I managed to knock a quick 11 to help get the final score to 169/9 declared.

Tea time in the new Preston pavillion came and so did the rain, dampening a good pitch and helping us to make a decision to use an old ball, one we would soon regret. Opening the bowling with the Captain in humid conditions, I could hardly place it within a metre of where I wanted and was battered around for 4 overs, so it was back to square leg for a break. Hardly the sort of start I wanted! Thankfully some good bowling was soon on display and whilst their opener Malik was ticking along nicely, the time was running out for Preston to mount a charge for a win. A couple of wickets had fallen to keep them in check and sadly the last hour was simply a battle for the draw. However in the last few overs malik decided to try and win it, but thankfully we were tight enough to keep them to 152/3 and claim a share of the points on the opening day. Not a bad result in the clash of the top two and more challenges to come with Buxtons next weekend.

Dangerous time ahead?

The enthusiasm for the new season was dampened slighty after a practice last night at Cottam Hall. The pitch is in a sorry state of repair, it's very hard which is excellent, unfortunately no groundkeeping has been done over the winter, so it is very bumpy, full of holes and quite frankly dangerous. Let's hope for some rain and a bit of work on it, but I hold little hope...

The 2007 campaign begins

Well the pre season nets are over, with the final session going well even if half the players got battered by the ball in some form, save the injuries for a match! Reports from the field suggest Preston III got off to a winning start at the weekend and will no doubt be keen to take us down in our season opener on Sunday. Still the weather has been great for a few weeks and the pitch at Preston will no doubt be in great condition, so bring it on and let's start to play cricket.

Twenty20 League reborn!

Great news this week with the birth of an all new Fylde Twenty20 League. Tom Birtwistle (of Buxtons and Blackpool EVH fame) has taken the baton and generated interest for a competition and has succeeded in setting up a new league. Hopfully this will provide even more enjoyment in the evening matches and some healthy competition too. More play in pressure situations certainly helps and prepares players for competitive FCL action. All the details can be found at:

www.piczo.com/fylde2020league