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September 30th - Woodley - Home  Definitely
the last match for 2007...can't be doing with a 12.30 start every Sunday...in
the event Alistair bowls the first ball to Woodley at five minutes to one. He
reckons that he is not accustomed to using a new ball with a decent seam, so
the first two deliveries curve away from the off stump as wides. Generosity
has now ceased and he returns to his better-known parsimonious self, sending
down six maidens from the pavilion end and conceding just 19 runs in his
opening spell of eleven overs whilst taking two wickets. Meanwhile up at the
Plough end Sohail has been plugging away, taking just the one wicket (caught
by stand-in 'keeper, Jeremy), and he is eventually replaced by his cousin,
Atif, who has taken a lot of wickets over the past few Sundays.
 Today
proves to be no different as he twirls away, mesmerising the batsmen; his
efforts yield 4 wickets for 32 runs. Only S.Brar offers any resistance, and he
is unfortunate to be well caught on the deep square-leg boundary when two runs
short of a deserved half-century. Tom Jefferys and two run-outs complete the
visitors' misery as they are all out for 109 in 39 .4 overs. Mr.Webbe-Master
has briefly escaped from his stock-taking duties over at the village shop and
joined us for tea and more action pix.
Tea with jam and cream scones, carrot and chocolate
cake...ideal fare to round off the season...thank you, ladies.
The wicket was still damp from the rains of last
Thursday and Friday, and thus scoring was still not easy, but Alistair (16)
and James Shrimpton (26) ground out a workmanlike opening partnership and
there was good support from Nick Burgham (19), but the aggressive Jeremy and
Sohail saw us to the target after 27.1 overs. And so to the Plough...
Result: WOODLEY 109 HYDE HEATH
111-4. Hyde Heath won by 6 wickets.
And so another season, sadly, comes to an end...
Won 8, Drawn 4, Lost 8, Abandoned 1 (
Cancelled 4 )
Watch this space for further news during the winter
September 23rd - Ivinghoe & Pitstone - Home
The weather remains clement. Although the playing
square did receive some moisture during the week Mike T. had it ready for
Sunday and the visit of Ivinghoe & Pitstone C.C. They won the toss and elected
to bat first, presumably to enjoy the best of the light available. By the
ninth over they had reached 46 for 3, but worse was to come as Sohail Rauf ( 4
wickets for 21 runs from 6 overs) and Atif Mirza ( rabbit-hunting again - 3
for 10 from 4) completely wrecked the visitors' innings. They were aided by
some excellent ground-fielding and catching which resulted in Ivinghoe &
Pitstone being all out for just 73 from 20.4 overs.
Result: IVINGHOE & PITSTONE 73 HYDE HEATH 77-1 Hyde Heath won by nine wickets.
We seem to have got the hang of winning now that the
season is almost over...
And so to tea, with egg sarnies, Bakewell tart,
flapjack and brownies...delicious...even Mr.and Mrs.Webbe-Master were not late
this Sunday and so could enjoy...I must quiz Mr.W-M. further about this piece
of history that he has unearthed, namely concerning a 200-guineas cricket
match at Hyde Heath in August, 1798...
Next Sunday ( Sept.30th.)...definitely the last
match of the 2007 season... v.WOODLEY (12.30 start)
Robin Richards
September 16th - Abbots Langley - Home
With the season's end fast approaching and the
weather bright and breezy we welcomed to the Common opponents
whom we first met last year, Abbots Langley C.C.
They won the toss and decided to bat first, but we couldn't get started
immediately, because some of them had become stuck in traffic en route, and we
were two short due to a mix-up with selection. Several 'phone calls by Charlie
eventually secured the services of the cousins, Atif Mirza and Sohail Rauf,
who arrived some time after the start ( Charlie, bad back and all, filled in
as sub.in the interim ).
Tea, and some delightfully fruity sponge cakes - thank you, ladies. Mr.and Mrs Webbe-Master arrived in time this week and the air was filled with the whirrings of a digital motor drive, to produce yet more action pics.for the website.
The Hyde Heath reply began slowly, and the first
wicket was lost without a run on the board, but
then Dominic Haddock ( 42 - nine fours ) and James Shrimpton ( 32 - five fours
) added 74 unhurried runs for the second wicket.
They were both eventually bowled by a young man named Dan Gurney ( I remember in the sixties a very good american formula one driver of that name with his "Eagle Climax" car...memories...trouble is I can't remember the events of the previous over or two !) Back down on terra firma skipper for the day, Nick Burgham, thumped his way to 36 not out ( four fours ) and with Richard Austin saw the home side to the target with 7.2 overs to spare.
Result: ABBOTS LANGLEY 125 HYDE HEATH
129 - 3 Hyde Heath won by 7 wickets.
Next Sunday ( 23rd.Sept.) at the Common v. Ivinghoe
& Pitstone 1.00 pm. start
Robin Richards
September 9th - Cublington - Home
Second week in September, and still the sunny
weather continues.Your correspondent is enjoying a long weekend in North
Somerset, celebrating his wedding anniversary, so the integrity of the
scorebook rests with the team... We welcomed to the Common our friends from
Cublington, whose all-singing, all-dancing scorebox is the envy of their
opponents. They won the toss and chose to bat first. They lost a wicket in the
first over, but then their partnership of Burton and Taylor ( I seem to have
heard of them before...) added 67 runs for the second wicket. This proved to
be the rump of the visitors' innings total, for the next highest contribution
was the 17 wides sent down by the Hyde Heath bowlers ( we do seem to have
conceded a high number of wides this season...about 120, I estimate.) The
Cublington innings gradually petered out so that at teatime after 37 overs
they had reached 127 for 8 wickets declared.
For the home side young Spencer North bowled well to finish with 2 wickets for 26 runs, but the pick of the bunch was Alistair Richards with 3 for 14.  He
was soon in action again after tea as he opened the innings with Dominic
Haddock. Together they achieved the best partnership of the season so far,
adding 90 runs for the first wicket.
 Dominic
had been particularly brutal, smashing 11 fours in his knock of 55, but then
James Shrimpton and Alistair batted comfortably to reach the target of 128 in
just 18.2 overs. Alistair's contribution was 37 not out ( 6 fours ) and the
match was all over by half past five.Mr.Webbe-Master had been seen earlier, snapping away to great effect...the strange thing was that he was too late for tea...The photographs that he contributes to our website are topnotch and appreciated by our fans all over the world, especially in New Zealand.  Result:
CUBLINGTON 127-8 dec. HYDE HEATH 128-1. Hyde Heath won by 9
wickets.
Next Sunday ( 16th.Sept.) v. Abbots Langley at
the Common 1.00 start.
September 2nd - Amersham Hill - Away September ... autumn by any other name ... season of mists, mellow fruitfulness and one o' clock starts, which interfere with the smooth running of domestic affairs, causing early lunches, or, if you're really unlucky, no lunch at all. We had a new fixture at Amersham Hill; Henry won the toss and opted to field first. It was agreed to be a "forty overs" game with a maximum of eight overs per bowler.The home side made its intentions clear from the start as Telford attempted several big hits. He was dropped twice and then bowled, but the best stand of the innings was 65 between wicket-keeper McKenzie, (34-two fours, two sixes) and skipper Joseph (72-nine fours and one six). I wished that I had constructed a wagon wheel of the latter's innings, since several of his fours were taken through the slip area ... still all runs look good in the book, especially in colour. Apart from a brief cameo by Bugden (it seems that I went to school with a cousin of his uncle) the home side slid to 169 all out from 39.3 overs. For Hyde Heath James Aird bowled well to finish with 3 wickets for 36 runs from his eight overs and Nick "the Kiwi" Burgham three for 35. After tea we lost two early wickets to the speed of Richardson-Hill, but Nick had decided he was going to enjoy his afternoon, peppering the straight boundary with three sixes in his knock of 36. He added 49 with Alistair Richards and then we saw a stand of 38 from two veterans, Simon Napier-Munn (18) and John Capper (22), but it was not enough. There was no saving-face belligerence by the bowlers and Hyde Heath subsided to 139 all out in 34.3 overs. It would have been nice to reduce the margin of defeat a little more. Result: AMERSHAM HILL 169 HYDE HEATH 139 Amersham Hill won by 30 runs Next Sunday (9th.Sept.) v. Cublington (home - 1.00 start) Robin Richards
August 26th - Bank of England Touring - Home After the washout of the previous Sunday it was gratifying to be greeted by sunny weather on August Bank Holiday Sunday. And what a day! We started with a celebratory brunch chez Barnsley to mark his retirement from the game (I’ll believe it when I see it..) Many thanks to Anna for the abundance of provisions, especially the banofee pie of which a portion was saved for me at teatime, and to Tim, for the other refreshments which made it such a good lunchtime.
Tea, the obligatory chocolate cake-my favourite-and Mr.Webbe-Master snapping away on his monopodded digital camera, complete with motor drive... After tea the visitors were soon in trouble at 31 for 4
wickets after 15 overs . Their woes were compounded by an injury to Austin,
their wicket-keeper, and then a direct throw for a run out.
Result: HYDE HEATH 199 - 3 dec. BANK OF ENGLAND TOURING 132 - 5 Match drawn. Afterwards we were treated to the tourists' fancy dress parade and relevant songs. The theme this year was either four months too early, or eight months too late ... Christmas !. We look forward to seeing them again n | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It
was too early for tea, so Henry and Dominic went out to open the innings for
Hyde Heath and made a good start, adding 42 for the first wicket, of which
Dominic made 31 (seven fours) from 28 deliveries. Henry was in a much more
subdued mood hitting just two fours in his 21 not out, from 36 balls faced.
James Shrimpton adopted a cavalier approach scoring his 22 not out (five
fours) at the rate of a run a minute, so the target and teatime were reached
simultaneously at 77 for 1 wicket from 13.4 overs.
The
first ball was eventually delivered some twenty-seven minutes after the
scheduled start. The visitors initially made a steady start, but then James
Aird , bowling with some pace from the Plough end, began to create havoc with
their top order. Opening batsman, Lewins ( 21) offered some resistance,
but Abbots Langley soon found themselves at 64 for 5 wickets - all five to
James ! Then A.Cox took control, cleverly farming the bowling, shielding the
tail-enders and hitting a well-constructed 54 ( seven fours ), but even he
fell victim to the wiles of Atif Mirza, who finished with the impressive
figures of 5 wickets for 11 runs from 5 overs...not bad for someone who wasn't
in the team at one o'clock ! He had been well supported by some good ground
fielding and really excellent catches. The visitors were all out for 125 in
exactly 34 overs and James Aird's return was 5 for 43 from 10 overs. I said
three weeks ago that I would believe it when I actually saw Tim Barnsley's
retirement...and there he was stood at slip, almost as large as life.
So to the Common where our guests were Bank of England
Touring. They won the toss and invited Hyde Heath to bat first. Henry Capper and
Alistair Richards found the going slow at first-after all the rain there was a
degree of uneven bounce in the wicket-but they eventually added 78 for the first
wicket. Henry was the first to go-lbw.for 46 (8 fours-63 minutes) and there then
followed a partnership of 77 for the second wicket. This time it was
Alistair who was dismissed; he made 57 (7 fours, 1 six in 124 minutes). This was
his maiden half-century for the Club, and it brought much pleasure, not only to
him, but to all those who were certain, particularly the proud old age parent,
that he would any day now achieve this milestone. James Shrimpton 70 not out
(eleven fours-89 minutes) ensured satisfactory progress to the tea declaration
at 199 for 3 wickets from 44 overs. 
At this point Kidnee
43 not out (5 fours) and Eddols 47 not out (3 fours) came together and no amount
of bowling changes could shift them as their sterling action brought the Bank of
England total to 132 for 5 wickets at the close. Only Jeremy Stevens met with
any success with the ball, taking 4 wickets for 16 runs from 12 overs.