Petersfield 2nd XI v Waterlooville 2nd XI

Sunday 28th April Petersfield 2nd XI v Waterlooville 2nd XI On an overcast and very cold afternoon at Penn's Place, captain Frank Straw's brave band of players took on Waterlooville. The day started off well with Frank winning the toss and putting the opposition in. Petersfield opened with Omar Iqbal (0-22 off 5) and Nigel Straw (1 -23 off 8 with 4 maidens) but the opening pair were riding their luck with A Lamont (75 No retd) hitting some lusty shots especially after he was dropped at slip on 50 off Simon Dodd (0-42 off 4) with 12 overs gone. Waterlooville continued to ride their luck with the balls always seeming to drop between the fielders or just short etc. Opener Nick Beadle commenting later in the innings they could easily have been 108-8 rather than 152-1. The first wicket fell to Maruthi Reddy (1-39 off 5) when he had Nick Beadle caught at midwicket by Gabriel Broadhurst for his first wicket on his debut for the club. Waterlooville continued to score freely with number 3 batsmen T Southall retiring on 50 to give his teammates a chance for a bat. With some ugly fielding from some Petersfield players the scoring rate continued to be high. One of the funniest moments I have seen playing cricket came around the 30th over when Maruthi 'ever' Reddy (wearing one of Mark Holloway's jumpers, apparently last time he played it was 43 degrees) fielded the ball in the covers with his sleeves covering his hands (a feat in itself), he then tried to throw the ball in. The ball went 3 yards right and 2 yards back before he recovered to get it in to the keeper. The batsmen only ran one I assume because they were killing themselves laughing as were most of the rest of the Petersfield team. Anyway back to the game,Nigel Straw returned to the attack with captain Frank (0-27 off 7 with 2 maidens) and they managed to stem the flow of runs with Nigel getting a much deserved wicket as he trapped S Dussel (16) plumb in front. Mark 'death bowler' Holloway (2-25 off 6) then picked up 2 wickets bowled with his yorker to leave Waterlooville on 209-4. After everyone had warmed up with a nice tea, Petersfield took on the Waterlooville bowlers. Richard Stephens opened the batting with Frank Straw but almost as soon as the innings had started, Petersfield lost Stephens to a remarkable catch at mid-off. Richard hit the ball in the air and looked to have got it over the fielder and away for 4 when the fielder shot an arm up and plucked the ball out of the air, prompting the umpire to ask to check if he had velcro on his fingers. After the shock of losing the early wicket Frank Straw (69) and Gabriel Broadhurst put on 120 for the second wicket before Straw was bowled trying to repeat the shot that got him alot of his 11 boundaries in a wonderful innings. This was after 19.3 overs and drinks were immediately taken with the two umpires running in to get warm as the temperature continued to plummet. After the break all eyes were on Gabriel Broadhurst (who had looked as cool as Alistair Cook) in compiling his 40 not out up to drinks. Gabriel had never made a 50 for the club despite coming close a couple of times finishing top scorer for the 3rd XI last year. With partners coming and going Gabriel remained very calm and in control, which is more than can be said for his father, batting coach and team mates who were all doing their best not to mention the word 'fifty' in any of the conversations incase the mockers were put on the 13 year old. While all this was going on the scoring rate kept Petersfield in the hunt for an unlikely victory with only 3 genuine batsmen in the side and 8 all rounders. Gabriel passed his 50 with a lovely on drive for 4 through midwicket and then proceeded to push on for victory eventually being caught for 68 having played a marvellously calm and composed innings. With Omar Iqbal (22) hitting some mighty blows it all came down to the last 2 balls needing 7 to win, Iqbal hit it high and unfortunately Waterlooville finally caught the ball (dropped 8) leaving 7 needed from final ball which was seen out without too much issue as Squires tried to pull the ball over to the short leg boundary and hope it was a no ball but completely missed the ball outside off stump to leave Petersfield 7 runs short of victory. The game was played in a wonderful spirit despite the cold fingers, toes and every other extremity. So onwards towards the 2nds v 3rds game this Sunday (5th May) for the last pre-season game before the serious stuff begins the week after.

Petersfield CC 3rd XI vs Grayswood CC 3rd XI

The 3s got their season off to a winning start with an exciting 3-wicket win on Saturday against Grayswood 3s. Captain James Stratford-Tuke called correctly at the toss and had no hesitation in asking Grayswood to bat on a showery, blustery, three-sweater day, the team primed for action thanks to John Windebank’s thigh-crunching pre-match warm-up drills. The early season Penns wicket was a good one, however, and despite some fine bowling from Ben Cox and u13 Ben Turk, who was making his senior debut, Matthews and White put on 50 for the first wicket. After a short rain break Rob Anscombe, also making his debut for the 3s, had White caught behind by emergency keeper Dave Squires, a terrific effort standing up to the wicket. The excellent Turk bowled Matthews for 50 with a peach of a delivery – his first wicket in senior cricket – while Alex Squires removed Izzard for 4. Richards then went on the attack with a hard-hitting 64 that included five 4s and four 6s. Although Ben Cox deservedly picked up a wicket to finish with outstanding figures of 10-4-16-1, Grayswood made the most of some loose deliveries to finish on 189 for 4 after 42 overs, a challenging total. Stratford-Tuke and Windebank started steadily in reply before both falling to Jackson. Ben Anscombe and Ben Cox then went cheaply leaving’ Field staring down the barrel at 69 for 4. Things looked bleak, not least during a torrential downpour, but a superb 61-run partnership for the 5th wicket between Paddy May and Rob Anscombe started to turn the match Petersfield’s way, the run-rate never dropping far below what was required. When May was bowled for a fluent 57 there was still much to do with the score standing at 130 for 5, but Anscombe (62*) then took charge, capitalising on every scoring opportunity and expertly shepparding the lower-middle order as he steered ‘Field home in near darkness with 7 balls to spare – a top-class effort. This was an excellent season-opener played in a great spirit by the two teams. Well done to the two Bens, Anscombe and Turk, on their senior debuts, and Rob Anscombe for his man-of-the-match performance. But the true heroine of the hour was Sally S-T, who provided the emergency tea! PS. For those who are wondering, ‘Field’s stodgy no. 7, plus the injured app scorer, did make the last 10 minutes of a fundraising concert that evening, which meant that Mrs T only went semi-ballistic as opposed to full-on thermonuclear – so a good day all round!

Colts Skill Challenge, Sunday, 5th May 2013

PCC Colts Skill Challenge, Sunday, 5th May 2013. On Sunday, 5th May 2013 there is an inter-club friendly match at Penns Place involving the PCC 2nd and 3rd XIs. In addition to being an annual warm up fixture before the league season starts the following weekend, this year it will give an opportunity for the whole club to use and enjoy the refurbished kitchen in the pavilion, the new net surfaces and to see the new artificial wicket. The game will start at 1.30pm. During the extended tea interval there will be a colts skill challenge involving a number of challenges at different stations around the boundary: diving catches; high catches; “death” bowling; furthest pull shots; pick up and throw at a target and other challenges. The challenges will be weighted dependent upon the age group of the player. Points will be awarded, the winner will be the player who accumulates the most points in a round of all the challenges, players can have as many rounds as they wish! Each challenge will be run by a player from the batting team in the match, other adults or senior colts. The challenge will be open for all colts between U7 and U13 and will run between 3 and 6pm, turn up and have a go! Chilli, sausages and other food will be served in the Pavillion from the tea interval onwards (approx 4.00pm) for all at £3 a head. It will be a fun day and for those worn-out by the skill challenges there will be some great food and scintillating cricket to watch! James (3rd XI Captain) and Frank (2nd XI Captain) will be running the day, but please can you reply to Lisbeth Thomas at lisbeth.thomas@btopenworld.com if you're planning to attend to give her an idea of numbers for catering

Compton v Petersfield pre-season friendly

Petersfield 2’s first pre-season game was unfortunately a hard fought defeat away at Compton. On a soft green pitch, that seemed more to be the square than their regular wicket, it was important to win the toss and bowl. In his first outing as captain, Frank Straw promptly lost it. Compton took no time in deciding to field, and Petersfield padded up. James Stratford-Tuke and John Windebank opened slowly and steadily, getting used to the pitch, and Petersfield reached 20 off the first 10 overs. However, disaster struck in the 11 th , when a combination of dubious calling, paired with Compton’s new star fielder (Robert Straw on loan for the innings) led to the run out of James S-T (8). After losing Rich Stephens (2) LBW, and then John Windebank (13) a stubborn defence was made on the difficult pitch by Eoin Seager and Gabriel Broadhurst. After Eoin (18) fell in the 23 rd over with the score on 60, wickets were lost consistently to canny Compton bowling, and some exceptional catching. The only true batsman left – Gabriel (33) – stubbornly refused to get out, and after cameos from Frank Straw (10), Mark Holloway (13) and Oscar Windebank (13), he eventually fell in the 36 th over. Robert (0) and Nigel Straw (2) closed off the innings, and Petersfield had set a target of 132 after their 40 overs. The 2’s opened their reply with the young guns of Oscar Windebank and Robert Straw. Finding the pitch to be a challenge for faster bowling, neither could find a breakthrough. Oscar finished with a very respectable 0-14 off 6, while Robert struggled against Compton’s captain/opening batsmen A Elms, with figures of 0-40 off 4. Mark Holloway came into the attack and did a fantastic job of stemming the runs, while try as he might, Frank Straw couldn’t dislodge the Compton Captain, but did find the wicket of Compton’s other opener, with the help of a great top edge catch from Richard Stephens. With the home team on 86 after 20 overs, needing 47 for victory, Elms retired on 51. Mark and Frank carried on; put could make no more breakthroughs, Mark ending with very good figures of 0-33 off 9, and Frank with 1-11 off 6. Compton edged towards their target while the bowlers rotated with Eoin Seager bowling 0-11 off 1, Nigel Straw bowling 0-2 off1 and Richard Stephens 0-13 of 1.2. Compton reached their target of 132 after 28 overs with a six over cow corner from A Stickley (34). While they may have lost, Petersfield can take a lot of positives from the game. There was the stubborn defence with the bat from Gabe who batted for 20 overs while others fell around him, the containment bowling of Mark and Frank, and the overall excellent fielding by the whole team. Looking forward to Waterlooville this Sunday! Champagne Moment: Oscar Windebank’s huge six that cleared the boundary, the fence, and a third of a ploughed field at the end of the Petersfield Innings!

Senior training

All, Senior training is now in place and takes part at 6pm every Thursday at The Heath from this week. Jack, Frank, Shaun and James are all keen to have a good weekly turnout and work on structured training-not just batting and bowling. Please do your best to attend regularly, some of the fielding I had the pleasure to watch on Sunday at East Meon demonstrates the ability we have in the club but this can only be maintained and improved upon through training. I’ve sent a temer.net invite for this week but do not intend to send out everyweek as this is a fixed event –weather permitting. See as many of you as we can on Thursday in preparation for this weekend when we have all 3 senior league sides playing pre-season friendlies. Regards Marcus Sampson

East Meon v Petersfield

The first game of the season for what was essentially the Sunday side ended in a close fought but ultimate defeat to East Meon. Captain for this game, Jack Hannam lost the toss and we were asked to field. As said above the team was a mixture of 1st team players, 3rd team players and under 18s Petersfield got off to a fantastic start with Liam Charles (1 for 5 off 5) and Simon Dodd (3-28 off 5) reducing the home side to 34-4, with Will Rice and Toby Austin taking a couple of stunning catches at backward point and gully. The wickets continued to tumble as some inspired field placing from captain Hannam resulted in wickets for Will Rice (1-13 off 4) and young Alex Squires (1-15 off 5). Some tight bowling by Dave Squires in tandem with his son kept the scoring rate down, although the son dropped a catch off his dad at short fine leg to leave Dave with 0-13 off 5. Oli Shapey then came on and single handedly blew away the tail taking 3 for 0 off 2.5 overs with some beautifully straight line and length bowling including 2 in 2 balls (including ex Petersfield player Josh Haslet) with the batsmen on the hatrick keeping out the same delivery that had accounted for his 2 team mates (just). Oli Shapley then ran out 78 year old East Meon stalwart G ‘Bash’ Blackman with a wonderful run out off his own bowling. Petersfield then set about chasing down the 101 scored by East Meon. The Innings got off to an equally dreadful start with Will Rice (0) and Oli Shapley (0) going in successive deliveries in the first over bowled by M Downlen (2 for 15 off 6). Once the opening spells were over, Jack Hannam (13) and Rory Newman (29) went about rebuilding the innings moving the score along to 32 before Hannam was clean bowled by spinner Jamie Atkinson (5 for 22 off 8 overs). Wickets continued to tumble with no one able to get to grips with the spin of Atkinson and Sam Meyer (3-24 off 5) before Liam Charles (29) came in and hit some lusty blows of both spinners before he ran out of partners giving Atkinson his 5 for with Petersfield falling 20 runs short of their target. A good pre-season test for the lads who proved that a lot of the bowling in the nets over the winter had worked wonders with a very good bowling and fielding performance. The batting came up against some quality spinners who exploited conditions very well, but there were signs things will get better soon. With the hard work in the batting nets soon to bear fruit it seems, as we are unlikely to come up against spinners that good very often (well we can hope !) for the rest of the season.

Cricket Force Sunday April 7th

Another thanks you for everyone who's helped out but especially to today's workers Andy Salmon Karen Rutgers James Stratford-Tuke Simon Dodd Rob Allerston Rory Newman Dave Squires Chris Wood Phil Newman Chris Salmon John Windebank Chaz Collett Toby Austen & Richard Stephens Penns Place is now looking like a pavilion we can really be proud of especially for the friendly games, 3rd XI and all the colts that will benefit from the work (mostly down to James S-T, Paul Clarke, John Windebank and Brian Bird - who deserve a special mention for spearheading the renovation) Cricket starts next week and I'll asking key contributors to join me in the first game of the season. See you all soon Marcus PCC Club Captain

All, Cricket Force is only halfway through and there is still plenty to do at Penns place prior to the first game of the season NEXT SUNDAY!!! I need help and numbers tomorrow please I want to give a big thanks to Andy Salmon Karen Rothery Nick Blakstad Mark Holloway Dave & Alex Squires Richard & Alex Thomas Will Rice Shaun Blanks Damien & Gabe Broadhurst Toby Austen Phil & Rory Newman Mark Friend & Jim Smallbone for the use of his van this weekend Lecture time! Cricket is a labour intensive sport and takes a lot of hard work to get the grounds and facilities in a fit state to play and present the exceptional club that we have at Petersfield. This is a request especially to any senior players or colts who have not yet donated any time over the 3 weekends we have been working on the facilities. Please do your very best to give me an hour or so of your time at Penns tomorrow - it's very little to give up for an entire season of benefitting from the work that must be done now to enable cricket to take place. Soap box removed. I look forward to seeing you down at Penns. Bring your kit ion the car and we can have a training session once the hard work is done. it'll be great to throw a ball around in the outdoors All the Best (a little weary & sunburned would you believe it!) Marcus Peterfield CC Club Captain

Quiz Night

Petersfield CC annual quiz night

The weekend before the freezing Easter holiday saw the traditional opening to the new cricket season – the Petersfield Cricket Club annual quiz, held this year at the rugby club.

Around 60 club members and their family and friends took part, which saw the ‘Seeking Clarification’ Stratford-Tuke/Friend/Cox super-team of about 17 people win an exciting and tense competition, which went right down to the wire.

The contest ended in an unprecedented dead heat, but Seeking Clarification correctly guessed the tie-break question*, narrowly pipping quiz specialists 'Dead Bats' to the big prize. Cries of “Google!” rang out across the room – an outrageous slur, obviously (ahem).....

In an entertaining and educational evening, we learnt some fascinating facts: the meaning of gynophobia (fear of women); what dancer born in 1899 won an Academy Award (unfortunately for Team #Dench, not Dave Squires but Fred Astaire); and, most controversially of all, how many ml are there in one unit of wine (125ml, not 175ml).

This was the cause of much debate and some frenetic research by Ash, who eventually succeeded in over-ruling the Mensa-qualified all-knowing quiz masters, Judith Squires and Lisbeth Thomas. By this stage, never mind one unit of booze, most of the teams were well into double figures….

It was an evening of notable achievements and incident. The colts' team (the aforementioned #Dench), after many years of propping up the table, somehow managed to scrape out of the relegation places.

Team member Nicky Caddick was delighted with his team’s performance: “We were the Wigan Athletic of quiz night. Next year will be our year for sure.”

The club’s ruling elite of the Salmons, Sampsons & Freestons pushed the top two teams all the way before eventually slipping into mid-table obscurity. And quiz master, Richard '30-3' Thomas, gave everyone a fright by threatening to show off his Fandago.....

As ever, a fun evening was had by all and over £300 raised for the club.

Club president Nick Blakstat commented: “To raise £300 is a great result. Everyone had a good evening and it was an excellent way to get everyone in a positive mood for what lies ahead ¬– lots of good winning times with one’s friends!”

(*How high to the nearest metre is the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth? Answer = 170m. Allegedly.)

 

 

Petersfield Cricket Club

Installation of 2 artificial bowling ends

(Plus replacement of artificial wicket surfaces)

After wining East Hampshire's Club of the year for 2012, the club came through a very tough season last year mainly due to the weather causing nearly 50% of the fixtures across all 3 sides to be postponed.  However, despite only having 4 or 5 players from the previous season’s promotion winning side available, the 2nd XI managed a second successive promotion.
The club continues to build for the future with 3 colts players in the Hampshire and Surrey squads and another 10 in the district teams for their age groups.
The club have also now got a girls team and a ladies team who will be playing in the Hampshire league. This success is a testament to the hard work put in by all the coaches and volunteers at the club, without these people the club would not be able to function.
Looking forward to this season the club are hoping for better weather (as all cricket clubs are) and another successful season. The first and second teams have new captains in Jack Hannam and Frank Straw, while the third team continue with James Stratford-Tuke.
The 1st XI under Jack's leadership will hope to continue up the league ladder with a blend of the young talent at the club allied with a few old heads to support them.

Frank Straw hopes to also continue the success of the last couple of seasons with the support of his father Nigel (last seasons 1st XI captain) and the other 2nd XI players including Gabriel Broadhurst who will play 2nd XI cricket next year at the age of 13 having been the 3rd XI top scorer as well as the young cricketer of the year for 2012.
With the clubs policy of bringing colts through the 3rd XI under the guidance of James Stratford-Tuke bearing fruit last year with Alex Thomas, Alex Squires, Rory Newman and Ben Friend all playing 2nd XI cricket last year and Nicky Caddick playing for the 1st XI. This season there are high hopes for Ben Anscombe and Ben Turk in the 3rd XI to follow in the foot steps of their under 13 team mate Broadhurst and be a success for the 3rd XI.
Thanks to grants from various bodies including Biffa, the facilities at the clubs grounds have received a make over this winter with new nets and a new artificial pitch being laid in the last couple of weeks. This will allow the club to provide the seniors and colts with some of the best facilities around in this area. With the weather hopefully staying dry, groundsmen Andy Salmon and Toby Austin hope to have the Heath and Penns place ready to go for the start of the season at the beginning of May.
Penn's Place pavilion has also been refurbished with a new roof and kitchen being installed as well as a new floor this has been long overdue and great thanks need to go to Howdens for the materials and Agincourt Contractors for the installation of the roof and kitchen. The small army of volunteers who provided the manpower to complete the refurbishment should also be commended in what can only be described as atrocious conditions to finish the work over the last 2 weekends. 
The colts sides are also looking for success from under 9 to under 15 level with the coaches hoping for continued progress with the very talented group of lads.
Also now the club have 2 female sides, coach Chris Russell is hoping to build on the success of the England ladies side and attract even more girls to the club. The team debuts this season in the Hampshire ladies league for their first taste of competitive  league action.
With winter nets now complete the club coaches thoughts turn to warm spring evenings and coaching outdoors for both colts and seniors, starting 15th April see the club website for further details. http://petersfield.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp