Sunday 25th September 2011
Alas - it's the final game of the season... but somewhat appropriately, we finish as we started - with a match against the mighty Bromborough Penguins!
Almost 4 months have passed since that infamous day when the newly formed Greasby Roaders 1st pitched up - a motley crew of cricketing vagabonds, most of us strangers to each other but drawn together by a common passion to rediscover that game we once played 20 or so years ago...
I remember with some clarity standing on the deep square leg boundary, some 45 minutes into that 1st match, as ANOTHER Penguin's batsmen walked off with 50 not out to his name (3 in total that day) and wondering to myself whether this was all a bad dream? All I had done was google "T20 cricket Wirral" a few weeks earlier - next thing, we are signed up as a fully fledged LMS cricket team - along with team kits and world rankings, blimey!
Unsurprisingly, we lost the match. Undeterred, we pitched up the following week for our 2nd match... and lost again! The next week was the same, as was the week after
But even though we were losing, something more important was gaining momentum - a spirit of "we're in this together lads", a stubborness to keep going, a sense of fighting team spirit!
Our 1st win did eventually come, and what an amazing feeling that was - the last ball win against The Real Neston back in June. In fact, as we took to the field for this final game against the Penguins, we were on the back of 3 match winning streak. This 'motley crew' from 4 months previous were now turning into a semi-organised, half-efficient unit and The Penguins knew it - they had assembled one of their strongest teams for this end of season title decider - both teams having won ALL their matches to date in the Indian Summer League (ok, so this was only the 3rd game)
The Penguins, upbeat after their words of encouragement from a former England captain the day before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eFwSOqVXjk), win the toss and elect to bat. Dressed in their matching black kits, they are already 1 up on us as yours truly has left our red LMS kits at home (I blame the wife for washing them and placing them in a neatly folded pile into the airing cupboard - how I supposed to find them there!). Not wishing to lose the bonus point, we scramble 8 'white'ish shirts together, including a couple of suspisiciously rancid smelling ones from the opposition kit bag - and we take to the field. There is a video camera rigged up on the sidelines to film - crikey, this is serious!
The Greasby Roaders have 5 of their best bowlers in operation today - James, Rob, Steve, Mark and Pete. They bowl tightly and with another excellent performance behind the wickets from Charles, the Penguins are put under pressure. However, some of the world's top LMS batsmen are in the opposition's line-up and they carefully nudge and nurdle the ball around for the majority of the innings. A little late flurry of runs gets them to an impressive 142 runs off their 20 overs with the loss of 4 wickets
So, a target of 143 runs to win and with it the end of season silverware - who would have thought that back in May?! We start reasonably well, and despite a few wickets falling in the 1st 10 overs we are just on target with 72 runs at the halfway point. Nick continuing in his Geoff Boycott mode of concentrated batting (apart from when he ran Mark out, sorry pal), offset with the more attacking flair of Rob and Pete and the run chase is on. The Penguins continue to bowl a disciplined line and length, whilst varying their pace which makes it tricky to hit the big shots and the required run rate starts to creep up with 4 overs to go - it looks like the Penguins are going to sneak home? It is left to James and Phil for the last 2 overs and they do well to score at a run a ball and put us in the unlikey position with just 1 ball remaining of needing a 6 off the final ball of the innings to take victory!
The stage is set, the crowds are on their feet, the bowler turns at the end of his mark and everybody is ready for the final delivery - this is the moment the batsman has dreamt of, it's his time, his chance for glory, his chance to make history...
here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go! the ball is released from the bowlers hand and hurtles down the track towards the batsmen - there is an almighty swoosh as the fire-power of the Quantum is unleashed and THWACK - there are gasps from the sidelines - the murky light combined with this sudden speed of bat and ball - no-one is quite sure what has happened or where the ball has gone?! Is it a 6???
... the delivery is a good one with swing and pace and the batsmen does well to follow it in flight and make the necessary last minute adjustments to guide the ball into the Quantum's sweetspot. But what one can only assume was some very late reverse inswinging movement and the ball, fractions of a millimetre from being sent spacewards on an intergalactic flight, instead slides agonisingly past the edge and THWACKS into the wicket-keepers gloves... and that, unfortunately for the Greasby Roaders, is game over!
A superb game to round off a splendid 1st season and well done to both teams - the viewing galleries really were treated to a marvellous spectacle ("common kids, you're coming to watch daddy play cricket - you know want to"?!)
And so, that is that. Our thanks go to John Moore - the LMS organiser for Wirral, without his inspirational enthusiam back in May, it is unlikely we would have signed up - to him, we are eternally grateful, Cheers mate. Thanks also to all those guys who have stood in at last minute for various games - Dave Pye (game 1), Rich Morecroft (game 3), Phil Bird (game 3), Mark Jones (game 6), Gareth Sprowell (game 6), Graham Wild (games 6 & 8), Jim Bridgeman (game 8), Chris Lea (game 8 & 10), Nick Corcoran (game 9) and Alec Stewart (game 9) - in all 12 games, we never once failed to have a full squad of 8 players - so thanks to these guys for pitching up and getting stuck in
And final thanks, of course, to The Greasby Roaders team - Bry, Charles, James, Jeff, Mark, Nick, Paul, Phil, Pete, Rob and Steve - What started as a group of guys who barely knew each other has finished as a strong group of mates - the fun, laughter, banter and stories I am sure we will treasure for a long time yet. So to you all, I say cheers fellas and in the words of one Charles E Pickering -
"It's been a blast!"
Bromborough Penguins vs The Greasby Roaders
Date: Sun 25 Sep 2011
Batted First: Bromborough Penguins
Bromborough Penguins Score: 142 for 4 after 20.0
The Greasby Roaders Score: 133 for 6 after 20.0
Bromborough Penguins won by 9 runs
match stats:-
End of season stats:-
Team Profile: The Greasby Roaders
| Games Played | Win | Loss | Win Ratio | Form Guide |
| 13 | 6 | 7 | 46.2% | L W W W L W |
| | |||||||||||||
Batting Details
| Current Players | ||||||||
| Player | World Ranking | Inns | NO | Runs | Ave | BF | SR | 50's |
| Stephen Willett | 2663 | 10 | 5 | 202 | 40.400 | 149 | 135.570 | 2 |
| Nick birtwistle | 2770 | 10 | 2 | 256 | 32.000 | 210 | 121.905 | 2 |
| charles pickering | 4420 | 9 | 2 | 143 | 20.429 | 102 | 140.196 | 1 |
| Rob O'Keeffe | 5096 | 7 | 0 | 146 | 20.857 | 106 | 137.736 | 0 |
| Peter Clowes | 5420 | 5 | 1 | 144 | 36.000 | 133 | 108.271 | 1 |
| mark montgomery | 5455 | 7 | 0 | 88 | 12.571 | 80 | 110.000 | 0 |
| bryan jackson | 5756 | 4 | 1 | 97 | 32.333 | 65 | 149.231 | 1 |
| rich morecroft | 8950 | 1 | 0 | 53 | 53.000 | 44 | 120.455 | 1 |
| Nick Corcoran | 9025 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 102.041 | 1 |
| james christensen | 9752 | 8 | 2 | 41 | 6.833 | 68 | 60.294 | 0 |
| phil green | 9789 | 8 | 1 | 60 | 8.571 | 80 | 75.000 | 0 |
| Paul Hanks | 9968 | 4 | 1 | 37 | 12.333 | 30 | 123.333 | 0 |
| Jeff Barker | 10395 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 12.000 | 49 | 73.469 | 0 |
| Graham wild | 11224 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 32.000 | 37 | 86.486 | 0 |
| alec stewart | 12145 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 400.000 | 0 |
| jim bridgeman | 12946 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 23.000 | 28 | 82.143 | 0 |
| Dave Pye | 13623 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 60.000 | 0 |
| phil bird | 14418 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5.000 | 4 | 125.000 | 0 |
| mark jones | 14483 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 10.000 | 17 | 58.824 | 0 |
| Gareth Sprowell | 15801 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | .000 | 0 |
Bowling Details
| Current Players | ||||||||
| Player | World Ranking | Inns | Overs | Runs off | Wkts | Best Figures | Ave | Econ |
| james christensen | 1142 | 11 | 42 | 242 | 9 | 2/12 | 26.889 | 5.762 |
| Rob O'Keeffe | 1520 | 8 | 29.2 | 170 | 13 | 4/10 | 13.077 | 5.782 |
| Stephen Willett | 1740 | 9 | 33 | 201 | 10 | 4/6 | 20.100 | 6.091 |
| mark montgomery | 3377 | 9 | 35 | 262 | 6 | 2/34 | 43.667 | 7.486 |
| Jeff Barker | 4468 | 5 | 17 | 101 | 5 | 3/21 | 20.200 | 5.941 |
| Peter Clowes | 5544 | 5 | 18 | 117 | 3 | 2/19 | 39.000 | 6.500 |
| Paul Hanks | 7578 | 4 | 15 | 105 | 1 | 1/16 | 105.000 | 7.000 |
| Nick Corcoran | 9675 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1/9 | 9.000 | 3.000 |
| rich morecroft | 9961 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 1 | 1/23 | 23.000 | 5.750 |
| charles pickering | 10010 | 3 | 11 | 91 | 1 | 1/28 | 91.000 | 8.273 |
| Graham wild | 11613 | 2 | 5 | 58 | 1 | 1/24 | 58.000 | 11.600 |
| Nick birtwistle | 12284 | 4 | 5.2 | 74 | 1 | 1/12 | 74.000 | 13.704 |
| mark jones | 12847 | 1 | 4 | 35 | 0 | 0/35 | 0.000 | 8.750 |
| chris lea | 12866 | 1 | 4 | 35 | 0 | 0/35 | 0.000 | 8.750 |
| jim bridgeman | 13864 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 0 | 0/29 | 0.000 | 9.667 |
| phil green | 14058 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 0 | 0/39 | 0.000 | 19.500 |
| Gareth Sprowell | 14104 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 0 | 0/22 | 0.000 | 11.000 |
Fixture History
| Date | Result | Score | Opposition | Venue | League | Season | Grade | WR Points |
| 25-Sep-11 | L | 133 - 142 | Bromborough Penguins | Wirral | Wirral 'Indian Summer' League | 2011 - 2nd Quarter | B Grade | -1 |
| 18-Sep-11 | W | 147 - 110 | Googlies | Wirral | Wirral 'Indian Summer' League | 2011 - 2nd Quarter | B Grade | 17 * |
| 11-Sep-11 | W | 118 - 116 | The SCC | Wirral | Wirral 'Indian Summer' League | 2011 - 2nd Quarter | B Grade | 15 |
| 23-Aug-11 | W | 155 - 120 | The SCC | Wirral | Wirral Friendlies | 2011 - 2nd Quarter | B Grade | 17 * |
| 28-Jul-11 | L | 78 - 179 | Eight4sport | Wirral | Wirral Division 2 Cup 2011 Pool B | 2011 | B Grade | -3 * |
| 21-Jul-11 | W | 163 - 161 | The SCC | Wirral | Wirral Division 2 Cup 2011 Pool B | 2011 | B Grade | 15 |
| 18-Jul-11 | W | 50 - 0 | Philharmonic | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | 15 |
| 06-Jul-11 | L | 53 - 155 | Eight4sport | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | -3 * |
| 28-Jun-11 | W | 139 - 128 | The Real Neston | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | 15 |
| 23-Jun-11 | L | 103 - 110 | The SCC | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | -1 |
| 09-Jun-11 | L | 114 - 127 | WK Willows CC | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | -1 |
| 02-Jun-11 | L | 91 - 94 | Googlies | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | -3 * |
| 26-May-11 | L | 138 - 194 | Bromborough Penguins | Wirral | Wirral Div 2 | 2011 | B Grade | -3 * |
