| Month | Played | Won | Lost | No Result | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| June | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | |
| May | 9 | 7 | 2 | 2 | |
| April | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| TOTAL | 34 | 21 | 10 | 3 | 6 |
If the runs had started to flow in June, it continued in July albeit tailing off at the end of the month as some (recently uncharacteristic) mid summer rains moved in.. The month kicked off with a huge score in a bit of a mismatch against Chiswick 6XI. Crossbats showed no mercy in a total of 295-3 – Reardon carried his bat for 87* (97 balls, 11×4), with the real entertainment from Winch 59 off 48 balls and Duncan with a T20 esque 61 from 29 balls with 10 boundaries in which he brought up the fastest 50 of the season from 25 balls. After an opening burst of 3-1-5-3 from Samin the game was over with Adrian Merry claiming 3-16 as Chiswick were all out for 66 in a thumping win, celebrated with a good turnout in the Sun after.
The following day Crossbats faced a stiff target of 190 against Engelfield Green (which featured 3 stumpings and a catch by Rash). Despite a brisk 40 by Avi Crossbats never got going and subsided to 145.
The second Saturday of the month saw the mirror image of the previous one – Old Hamiltonians blitzed 286-8 in a match to forget with Crossbats subsiding to 106 with the highlight being a one handed catch of the season contender from Stu Skinner and 3-38 from Samin.
The following Sunday it looked like a repeat was on the cards as the Marauders openers ran & smashed Crossbats ragged before a fightback limited them to 205. A second century of the season from Avi (107* off 76 balls, 16×4, 1×6) finished only when captain Ross retired him to allow Aman and Prad to see us home with 2 overs to spare.
Middle of the month saw the Avi roll continue – a second consecutive century (139* off 96 balls, 16×4, 2×6) and 57* from Stu Skinner (44 balls, 9×4) saw another stonking total – 277 which Switch hitters never got near – thanks to 4 wickets from Ben Humphrey and 2-8 from both Adam and Simon Fitch with the team taking 6 catches of which Prad’s was talked about after as a potential catch of the season.
The following day Crossbats made it 508 runs in the weekend scoring 231-7 against West End Esher – Dan anchoring us with a very good 76, Aman accelerating with a late innings blitz of 69 and Vijay hitting 2 more sixes right at the end. Esher never let us relax but sharp fielding, excellent keeping by Deano (2 catches and a stumping) and contributions with the bat from Preet, Aman, Adrian and Duncan limited then to 201 on a day made enjoyable by a pleasant ground and welcoming opponents.
The penultimate weekend was hit by weather and player shortages on both sides – a rather appealing trip to Ripley was cancelled but on the Saturday despite the opposition having only 9 players and rain coming down, a decent game emerged – Wimbledon Corinthians dismissed for 149 (2 wickets each for Ross and Nolan) which was easily overhauled by yet another score from Avi (52* off 40 balls) and 34* from Stuart.
The month came to a close with a few individual highlights amidst a rain hit weekend. In a tense contest against Millwall Stars, Crossbats declined to 75-8 before a fantastic 90 from Stu Skinner (well supported by Ben H and Deano) allowed us to post a creditable 156. A fighting team performance and 3 wickets from Adam Skinner was not quite enough as we went down by 3 wickets.
The final match against London Itinerants was alas terminated by rain after 31 overs but that was enough to see the welcome sight of Mark McAlpine return to form to score 56* out of 155-7.
Batting
Adam and Avi currently occupy the top spots in the averages, but in run production there is no contest with Avi (now having scored 3 hundreds and 3 fifties) passing 800 runs for the season. Behind him now comes Stu Skinner who has now passed 500 runs in his farewell season with 4 50+ scores.
July saw 3 century partnerships – with 147* between Avi and Stu against Switch Hitters the biggest of the season, a handy 117 between Dan and Aman setting up a big score against West End Esher and 109* between John and Duncan in 10 overs against Chiswick the most destructive of the season so far.
The 6 hitting contest is hotting up with Adam and Vijay now having 8 each followed by Avi on 6.
Bowling & Fielding
A productive July now sees Ben Humphrey sitting at the top the bowling averages with 19 wickets @11.43. In terms of wicket taking Adam leads the bowling tally with 26 wickets followed by Avi and Samin on 25 each, with Preet, Clive and Ben just behind. Samin remains the most economical bowler.
Fielding
Some classy displays behind the stumps see Deano with 16 dismissals. Adam now has an fantastic 14 catches in the outfield followed by Avi with 9 (and also 2 runouts).
Looking forward to the August fixtures and more big performances to come.
John Reardon