Bluecaps in Brief - Cruel Summer

Where did all that nice weather go ?

CPL Round 3 threatened to be another moist one but it never quite followed the forecast thankfully. The first match up was Bourne Stars v Grove Armada and the two teams vying for residency of the pirate ship. At Comms we've been rather dismissive of 2019 winners Grove Armada, but for this match they pulled out the big guns in the shape of a vintage CCC team comprising of Dan Shepherd, Jonathan Dodd, and fan favourite Ryan Ballerino, with some big current names to bolster proceedings. The Armada were so vintage they seemed to have bought their trousers from 1999 too, with more than one player having to customise their troosers to fit. The bowlers did their job, with moustach-ioed luxury player Barney Knights-Johnson removing a bemused Elliott Bloomfield 2nd ball - Cap'n Powlesland with a magnificent catch, and later in the innings Cameron Wakefield with a hat-trick, well we think it was a hat-trick, there was a no-ball in amongst it but we're calling it, its Umpire Alan verified. Bourne Stars were reduced to 114 all out. Liam Fisher dug in, and when his time came around Troy Bolger came out all guns blazing with an entertaining 34, the Armada gaining the sought-after bonus point for reaching 120 and the win. 

The second game of the day saw Gogmore Knights take on Meads Enforcers, the Knights camp batting first and insistent they needed 150 and their bonus point, knowing the strength in batting depth of the Enforcers. Mohammed Osman of Kempton made things much easier, repeating his heroics from Round 1, and proving his luxury value by top scoring on 63. When it came round to the last innings of the day, the Enforcers were coasting, but upon musing with wise Billy Coops on Old Gits bench, he mysteriously predicted there was a twist to be had before the game was up. No more than 5 minutes later the prediction started to ring true, with the loss of the 6th wicket. First Jake Taylor aggravated his existing hand injury, and from there on in there was a topple of jenga proportions, left to Boasty (who himself pulled a hammy in this carnage) and Skinny John Bailey to salvage a win. There must have been something in the air as Stuart Eagles also had to go off with a sore back, Colt Josh Fyfe taking his place in the field. Plenty of last-over drama, and we were still so adament the Enforcers could push through, but the loss of Boasty and the last wicket right at the death meant it was a shock 1-run win for the Knights. Such an accomplishment it was voted the Performance of the Round over on Instagram, with Cameron's hat-trick coming a very close second.

So what does this all mean for Finals Day? Well, Meads Enforcers get a free pass to the Final due to a higher net run rate (please don't ask us how that's calculated, our abacus blew up trying), and it'll be between Gogmore Knights and Grove Armada to see who joins them in the semi final, but the Pirate ship will definately have a pink flag this year in the shape of new residents Bourne Stars.

Here are the final standings:
 

4 points for a win
1 losing bonus point for scoring over 120 when losing
1 losing bonus point for getting 7 wickets when losing

We're currently putting the day together so we'll be back in touch with all the details.


Notable Mentions

Saturday wasn't the prettiest of days, both weather and match-wise. The army of Comms elves giving updates were kept busy everywhere by the rain (much love as always). Us, we chose to use Captain Birdseye as our fashion inspiration (fresh from repatriating tourists overnight from France on our fishing boat), stepping out in a bright yellow mac and CCC bobble hat (the latter yours too to own by purchasing from the club shop, a snip at £8.50), and we decreed we may have looked ridiculous (we caused the Egham team at the Rec in particular much amusement) but we were dry, that was the main thing.

The attire, being highly conspicuous, continued to cause us a few problems later on at the 1s match v Hampton Hill (Bushey Park), who had next to no rain while their 3rd XI equivalent were doing the hokey cokey over at Carlisle Park half a mile away. The 1s are on somewhat of a winning streak, and you can see they are confident in not only the team's ability but invidually with Cap'n Ogle at the helm, nice to watch. Batting first, Elliott Bloomfield put in an "entertaining" 44 (quoted Hampton Hill's Twitter feed), Greg Burton underpinning the innings and top scoring on 51*, mention to Dave Risk too, who batted a nice 22, and also when the time came fielded like a cat, although fast forward 24 hours at CPL and he looked like a cat who'd eaten too many Dreamies, moving only when absolutely neccesary. 

A spot of rain in the BYOTB and the 1s set about getting the job done, and confidently whipped through the Hampton Hill attack with not much resistance, Will Cooper in particular giving them some problems. Set on the north-west side of the park just back from the suburban high street through a gate, you were still very much treated to the perks of what you'd expect from a club nestled in Bushey Park - thoroughfare, beautiful scenery, and DEER. Now we've come across this lesser-seen-in-Chertsey species before at the 3s match v Teddington Tahn but they didn't give us much trouble on that occasion, but this time around they decided to take a cautious look at the 1s during their fielding innings (I mean why wouldn't you), when they got a bit brave the 1s tried to move them on by ironically clapping them off, but this resulted in the panicked herd heading towards yours truly, so our life flashed before our eyes a bit. Deer 1 - Comms 0. Next up for the 1s is a rearranged Challenge Cup match at Staines & Laleham tonight from 5.45pm.

Chertsey itself remained dry for most of the day, and over at the Club the 2s entertained Egham, finding themselves all out for 119, and up against a 13 year old opener scoring sensation who chipped in with 43, but the game went down to the wire with a defeat in the last ball, after needing just 8 from 3 overs, Cap'n Wiggins' men just letting the middle overs run away with them slightly. There was one thing to cheer though - beloved Umpire Alan's platinum jubilee - 100 matches of services to umpiring for CCC. What do you get for an umpiring centenery? A chance to run around with the stumps in the air? In any case, thankyou and congratulations Sir, here's to the next 100.

The 3s were over at Carlisle Park taking on Hampton Hill with caretaker captain Kevin O'Flynn at the helm (Lloydy positioned on a sun lounger in the sun, but still very much involved), and were treated to an astro pitch to play on (got that to look forward to 4s), and with the deluge choosing them over the 1s, it made the aftermentioned surface more or less an ice rink in the rain. After dancing between rain delays, and wondering why the tennis lessons next door were still going on (£££ was the answer it was decided) it was agreed there'd be a reduced game and any more rain would call it off. But rain never came... and after a fraught Hampton Hill fielding innings and a shift by Lee Houghton (55), Josh Loveridge (44), and Charlie Eagles (24), they prevailed with a couple of overs to go and a well-fought win. Cap'n Lloydy cock-a-hoop. 

The 4s, with Cap'n Toone returning from a break in Crete (he must have passed Cap'n Lloydy in the airport terminal), were taking on Egham at the Rec, and had the pleasure of a trio of Barnes' in the side - James, Rosie, and Dad Nick. Liam Fisher, on his return to the 4s, looked effective, but it was Martin Barnard who whipped through the Egham batsmen with some less than pretty scalps we hear, but it doesn't matter how you get them Martin, as long as you get them. Egham set one of those larger-than-we'd-like Challenge Cup scores and despite a MA 47 it was unfortunately just too far out of reach.


Seniors

Saturday 15th August
Challenge Cup Group 2 - Hampton Hill 161-9 v 1st XI 173-8 (A - Bushey Park) 
Greg Burton 52*, Will Cooper 2-19, Jamie Anthony 2-27

Challenge Cup Group 15 - 2nd XI 119 a/o v Egham 120-3 (H) 
Cameron Wakefield 22, Troy Bolger 1-8

Challenge Cup Group 28 - Hampton Hill 183-4 v 3rd XI 184-6 (A - Carlisle Park) 
Lee Houghton 55, James Woolerton 1-3, Sam Stratton 1-21, Ravi Patel 1-25, Joe Blanks 1-52

Challenge Cup Group 41 - 4th XI 129-9 v Egham 234 a/o (HRec) 
Martin Allen 47, Martin Barnard 4-43

Sunday 16th August
CPL - Bourne Stars 115 a/o v Grove Armada 121-3
Leeks 40, Dunne 2-21 ~ Troy Bolger 34, Cameron Wakefield 3-20, Knights-Johnson 3-25

CPL - Gogmore Knights 151-6 v Meads Enforcers 150 a/o
Osman 63, Jamie Anthony 3-19 ~ Dave Risk 43, John Bailey 3-8

Colts
Friday night saw the U13s travel to Valley End and come away with that weird cricket anomally, a tie, Felix Labaki taking 2-29, and openers Ed Marsh & Thijs Wjingaarden 26 and 24 respectively. Saturday morning saw the U10s in an incredible 110 run win over their Thames Ditton compadres, bowling and fielding on point. Monday night saw a triple header, with the U10s, U12s and U13s all in action, the U10s with a 21-run win over Pyrford.


Dates For Your Diary

The Social(distanced) League

Thursday 20th August

Marist v Academy (H)


Seniors
The 1st XI travel over Staines Bridge tonight to Faulkners and Staines & Laleham in a re-arranged Challenge Cup match, but to squeeze it in it will be in 20-20 format so biffage is the key. Saturday sees a shake up of last week's opposition, all change please, with the 2s and 4s now heading into deer country. Our advice - if you see a deer run like hell in the direction of the KFC. Sunday sees the return of favourite Sunday opponents, Phoenix CC from 2pm.

Thursday 20th August
Challenge Cup Group 2 - Staines & Laleham v 1st XI (A - Faulkners) - 5.45pm start

Saturday 23rd August
Challenge Cup Group 2 - 1st XI v Egham (H) - 1pm start
Challenge Cup Group 15 - Hampton Hill v 2nd XI (A - Bushey Park) - 1pm start (mind the deer)
Challenge Cup Group 28 - 3rd XI v Egham (HRec) - 1pm start
Challenge Cup Group 41 - Hampton Hill v 4th XI (A - Carlisle Park) - 1pm start 

Sunday 24th August
Sunday XI v Phoenix - 2pm start


Ladies
The ladies see off the Surrey Slam west group in style with two fixtures in a week, first up away to Walton tonight then at home Sunday morning to Twickenham.

Thursday 20th August
Chertsey Challengers v Walton Pens (A - Ashley Park) - 6.30pm start

Sunday 23rd August 
Chertsey Challengers v Twickenham Tornadoes (H) - 10am start


Colts

Sunday 23rd August
U9sv Valley End (A)
U12 dev v Teddington Town (A) (mind the deer)
U13s v Camberley (A)

Monday 24th August
U9s v Kempton (H)

Wednesday 26th August
U13 dev v Royal Ascot (A)

and finally...
It may have been postponed due to that other thing (we don't mention) that's swallowed up 2020 but the Chertsey Cricket Club Golf Day gives an opportunity to swap the old cricket bat for an nine iron, and it's good news it has been pencilled back in for Friday 23rd October at Surrey National. Tickets are £45 each, which includes a bacon roll and coffee, 18 holes, and a steak & ale pie + veg for dinner. Winner winner. Prizes include 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, nearest the pin, and longest drive. First tee off 10am. If you are interested let Boasty know at boasty39@gmail.com way before the closing date of 16th October.

We're off to see what we can pull out of our fancy dress box for this Saturday, Knight's armour? Don't laugh - valid deer protection.

Subject song: "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama