1st X1 v Various - John Fawcett Reports
Following a brief journalistic absence due to a busy work and social schedule Madeleys match reports are back with a vengeance this week. However, Instead of the usual one weekly report this weeks banter will feature all of May’s fixtures so that regular fans of the website will not miss a trick. First up is Newtown!
Newtown (h) – 8th May
Good friends of Madeley CC, Newtown were the visitors on the 8th May. Being well into the month you would have expected temperatures to be on the rise and the sun to start appearing from behind the clouds but instead the weather was more a kin to early December than May!
Newtown were first to bat and mustered a respectable 185 in a rain reduced 42 overs. Notable knocks from S.Davies (31) and Tom Foulkes (47) were highlights of the innings. One superbly timed flick of the legs from Davies happened to remove slates from Steve ‘Mongy’ Maidens old house. The pick of the Madeley bowling was yet again Jonathon Preece with his 13 overs 2-38. With the outfield being fairly wet and the Madeley hands being freezing in the field the home team were not disappointed with this total especially considering their recent great form with the bat.
In reply, good knocks from Thomas Dangerambizi (34), Jonathon Pryce (58) and ‘captain marvel’ Andy Lloyd (31) took Madeley to the brink of victory. Prycey’s innings included 4 sixes, including one which removed tiles from a newly built bungalow close to the Park Street entrance at MCC. The big hitting, aggressive batting from Madeleys batsmen this season has truly been a pleasure to watch. After the previously mentioned batsmen had been dismissed it was down to the slightly more leisurely knock of ‘professional fielder’ John Fawcett to see the home team over the line.
This win was made even more important as it took Madeley to the top of the table as this was one of the few fixtures to be played on such a gloomy and cold afternoon
On the evidence of this match Newtown will undoubtedly take points from many of the top teams. They are always likely to put batsmen under pressure with their two openers being so tight on line and length. On this display they may be a bowler or two short to bowl out some of the leagues better batting line ups. If Saturdays team is anything to go by it is hard to see them being involved in the relegation scramble they found themselves in last year.
Quatt (a) – 15th May
Madeley went to Quatt with a shocking record against the villagers. Subsequently, this mattered not as on a good batting track Madeley dismissed the home team for a dismal 151 inside 49 overs. The impressive Madeley bowling display clean bowled 8 of the Quatt batsmen. Un-questionably the bowler of the day was Craige McLean with his 15.4 overs 5 – 42. Well done Craige! Although saying that Preecy was fairly difficult to get away also as he returned figures of 2-20 from 15 overs!!!
Madeleys brilliant season with the bat continued as they strolled past the Quatt total in the 38th over.
Quatt’s batting line up was bound to be weaker than previous seasons due to the loss of their Kiwi professional who for a number of years his been near or at the top of the batting averages. It maybe that Quatt had an off day on Saturday but it cannot be argued that Madeley were long overdue this victory. It is still very likely that Quatt will be in the top 3 or 4 at the end of the year. I have the feeling they’ll be a much better side if they get the opportunity to chase more scores rather than set them.
Wem (h) 22nd May
MCC involved in a top of the table clash?! It had been many a year since the club had been involved in such an encounter. Madeley as the league leaders welcomed Quatt to Park Street knowing that the visitors regarded the ground as an unlucky venue having struggled to get positive results in recent years.
On a glorious sunny day Wem were the first team to bat and amassed a good score of 228 off their 50 overs. Notable contributors were former Shropshire captain Bryan Jones with 63 and Chris Peel Jr with 72. The latter having the incredible knack of miss timing and edging the ball up into the air but on each occasion landing it away from any of the home teams fielders. I myself have acquired the first attribute but the second I have yet to master! Jones looked in control during his innings but like most batsmen did struggle against the spin of Jon ‘larry’ Prince. Princey has started the season off in awesome form and if there is a better all-rounder in the league then I haven’t seen him. Prince finished with figures of 16 overs 1-27.
When I inform you that Steve Pugh was unlucky not achieve his half century during the game you’ll have images of him striding back to the pavilion, bat under arm shaking his head – but this was not the case! As it was Steve’s bowling that fell only three runs short of going for the half century. His ‘interesting’ 4 overs (his first for a couple of years) were dispatched to all parts of the ground most notably two or three times by Chris Peel onto the Meadowpit Mound! He did however have the last laugh as he clean bowled the attacking Peel.
A late flurry from the Wem middle and lower order took the score to 228. Usually this would be an above average score but Madeley were confident that it was no more than par and with their bating success’s of late thought they could chase it down.
Opening the batting for Madeley were Steve ‘all-rounder’ Pugh and Verbal. Verbal once again looked like a world beater for 20mins or so before as per usual throwing his wicket away. This brought Tom Dangerambizi to the crease. He and Pughey then put on 192 for the 2nd wicket (not bad!) to take Madeley to the brink of a valuable win. I myself love a bit of banter on the cricket field but I have to hold my hands up to Wem Captain Bryan Jones who’s on field chat with Madeleys Dangerambizi was on a different level. His chat with Tommy could have paid off as just after the batsmen had made 50 he lofted a drive to Jones at cover but he managed to squander the chance. Tommy seemed thrive after this 2nd chance and then went on to hit 110 including 3 sixes. This rounded off quite a week for Tom who had already hit a ton for Cambridge University against Loughborough UCCE at Fenners earlier in the week.
Madeley crossed the line with over 3 overs to spare. An absolutely fantastic batting performance from the team. If Madeley had have been allowed to bat the last 3 overs they would easily have made 250 and this against their closest challengers to date. Opening batsmen Steve Pugh carried his bat (maybe he should bowl more often!) and made 87no. This superb innings narrowed the gap on his arch, cricketing enemy John Prince in the ‘Pugh/Prince’ trophy where Princey now only holds a slight lead. On this weekends evidence this could be an interesting race later in the season!
Wem have a great batting line up and are sure to be among the high flyers this season. The opening bowling of Raine and Cohen will be too good for most of the league also. Maybe on the day they could have been a bowler or two light to claim victory over Madeley. Expect Wem skipper Bryan Jones to be one of the leading run scorers this season if he can maintain the form he showed in this game.
Madeley still… top of the league.
Much Wenlock (a) 29th May
Last weeks game against Much Wenlock was prematurely ended after only 28 overs. Madeley went into the field and bowled what can only be described as some absolute rubbish! Not for the first time John Prince bowled a magnificent spell to rip through the Much Wenlock middle order. Princey finished with figures of 10 overs 5-36. Rain came and stopped play as Much Wenlock had started to stutter after a good start and had made 151-7.
Wenlocks captain was confident that they had enough runs as they had replaced their previous overseas pro especially for the game with an Indian medium-fast bowler. Madeley on the other hand thought differently as batting has been their strength this season.