Match Report vs Glenwood 23th July 2024 @ Wenvoe (Skipper Jim, Report Steveo)

Casuals v Glenwood at Wenvoe international Arena:
As 6pm drew near we gathered, as we are wont to do, once more at the hallowed ground. Or rather, we gathered at the gates, as our fearless leader was held up (possibly in the queue at Burger King, although no evidence exists to confirm nor deny this groundless supposition).

Luckily a member of the oppo had a key, much to our surprise. It turns out he was also a member ( as so many south wales players were it seems) of that team ‘of whom we do not speak’ … unless we are slagging off the Spartans and their cheating leader, which we are constantly obliged and pleased to do.

So, we gained entrance to the ground thanks to this young man and his filthy spartan keys. Overcome with the privilege of power, this Laconophilia sufferer decided to also open the clubhouse and help himself to a couple of cokes from the fridge. The weak-minded sap thought this would go unnoticed, but as he attempted to sneak the door shut he found a boot preventing its closure. “Jolly good” says the boots owner, “we’ll just get some chairs to sit on. That dickhead from the Spartans keeps locking us out of here, even though he has no right to. No wonder everyone hates him” …
I don’t recall if the fizzy drink guzzler replied but we took full advantage and the casuals were able to enjoy a more favourable seating experience than had existed for many a moon.

Thus, we sat under a cloudless sky in a moderate wind, enjoying the humid evening as our late arriving leader James made his way to the middle, nervously fingering his tuppence… could this be his day? With the Glenwood skip offering to toss Jim’s tuppence, it was Jim’s job to call. And glory be, victory was ours, the venerable leader returned, blushing with pride, as he revealed that he had finally won a toss. The casusls celebrated with various levels of derisive cheers, and ebullient James decided to seize the day and bat.

Oh well. At least we won the toss.

Jim and Rhys opened and certainly set a standard for the rest to follow. I confess I recall little about the game but the stats speak for themselves, and it’s not a pretty tale. Skip and Rhys did bugger all, Rhys continuing his lack of form at the top of the order (‘bat him at 4’ was the hindsight committee’s murmured sage advice). Robbie came in and slashed around but with less effect than usual. Owens tried to steady the ship batting higher than he expected to but only managed a run every couple of balls before dollying it back to the bowler ( or falling to a brilliant c&b of great athleticism, I really don’t recall). Meanwhile, came and went yours truly, who stood tall, mind feverishly running through the jumbled mass of advice received as he went out to bat… barely having time to remember to ignore it all as he walked back two deliveries later for 0. Matt C joined Rob O and made a good fist of whacking the ball, gaining 31 off 28, including a 4 and a Maxi! However, the other 21 runs took their toll and we were about to ask Dave for a medical opinion as Maxi blew hard in his attempt to rescue the innings, finally getting caught attempting another heave. Well done Maxi.

Dan’s task was to whack a few sixes but he didn’t. Josh Graham added a valuable 14 and Liam W 8, but too little too late, with Liam F adding F all and only Dave covering himself in glory off a single delivery with yet another Not Out and a run!

BATTER ************+********** R B 4s 6s SR
Jim Hodkinson b Watson 6 11 1 0 54.55
J. Rhys Davies b Watson 0 6 0 0 0.00
Robbie Sayer c ? b A Bread 8 14 0 1 57.14
Rob Owens c & b A Rajan 12 23 0 0 52.17
Steve O'Reilly
b Howard Dobson 0 2 0 0 0.00
Mat Cullen
c Unsure b Rich Briston 31 28 1 1 110.71
Dan Lewis
b Nisarg - 2 4 0 0 50.00
Joshua Graham
b Rich Briston 14 18 1 0 77.78
Liam Warren
st Rob Wilson b Rich Briston 8 8 1 0 100.00
Liam Forster
b Rich Briston 0 1 0 0 0.00
David Thomas
not out 1 1 0 0 100.00
Captain Wicket Keeper
EXTRAS: 15 (7byes, 2leg byes, 5wides, 1no ball )
Total: 95 ( 20 Overs, All Out )

Fall of Wickets (from Crickinfo obvs!)
2-1 J. Rhys Davies (James Hodkinson-0*); 14-2 James Hodkinson (Robbie Sayer-0*); 24-3 Robbie Sayer (Rob Owens-2*); 25-4 Steve O'Reilly (Rob Owens-3*); 50-5 Rob Owens (Mat Cullen-15*); 53-6 Dan Lewis (Mat Cullen-16*); 79-7 Mat Cullen (Joshua Graham-10*); 93-8 Joshua Graham (Liam Warren-8*); 93-9 Liam Forster (Liam Warren-8*); 95-10 Liam Warren (David Thomas-1*);

Sadly the reply from Glenwood was efficient, only troubling four batters and half the overs

R Grover b David Thomas 1
Lloyd Sutton not out 42
Joshua Parmar b Dan Lewis 7
Nisarg -not out 32

BOWLER
O M R W ECON
Dan Lewis
4 0 14 1 3.50
David Thomas
4 0 24 1 6.00
Joshua Graham
2 0 17 0 8.50
Liam Forster
2 0 30 0 15.00
Robbie Sayer
0.5 0 9 0 10.80

FIELDING EXTRA RUNS: 2
NON-BOWLER WICKETS: 0
TOTALS: Overs: 12.5, Maidens: 0, Runs: 96, Wickets: 2, Wides: 0, No Balls: 0

We trudged off to post match beer n crisps, and continued our trash talk about ‘ you know who’ , leaving the coked-up key jockey to lock up club and gate.

Post match story from Dan “Nigel from Glenwood- scorer, went into the club house and saw all the old “full toss” league silverware in the cabinet… Dave Morgan had previously told him he’d handed it to a pub /no longer had it!!!” Always good to end on a Spartan slag off!

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