Farley Hill (A) – 22.4.18

Farley Hill 172 all out (39.3 overs)

Zia 3-15, Withers 3-30

RUASCC 160 all out (38 overs)

Umer 43, Partha 33

RUASCC lost by 12 runs

This was my first game in nearly two years owing to a complication arising from my wife’s pregnancy (specifically she had a baby) and it is comforting to know that very little has changed in my absence: Eagle still works hard to get a full team together, Eagle still wins the toss and chooses to field, Eagle still fields ground balls with his knees and Eagle still positions his fielders by saying things like “go a bit rounder” and “try that way”.

What else?  Oh yes, Zia arrived at the ground late, we still drop catches by the bucket load and we are still prone to falling agonisingly short of what should have been a manageable run chase.  But despite everything I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

A soft wicket and damp outfield made scoring fairly difficult but we did our best to help the hosts along by dropping four of the first five chances they offered, the only exception coming when Partha safely held on at fine leg to give Sami the first wicket of the season.  The second wicket partnership, led by Ditchburn’s contractual half-century, seemed to last forever until Zia came on and removed both batsmen in his first spell.

Withers toiled for seven overs without success before bursting into life with two in two balls thanks to superb catches from newcomer Askew at long-on and Nasir at short extra cover.  The hatrick ball sailed harmlessly past the outside edge but the next ball was a beauty that clipped the off-stump to give Withers a treble-wicket maiden to finish.

Askew took two more catches including a dive to his left to give young Aussie guest Alex Rusjan a debut wicket.  Sami bowled another to finish with excellent figures of 2-21 from his eight overs and some lusty hitting at the end took Farley past 170 before tea arrived three balls early.

Sadly after a promising first half the RUASCC run chase petered out.  Splendid batting from Umer and Partha took us rapidly to within a hundred of the target with sixes raining down on the pavilion roof, but when both were dismissed in successive balls the momentum was lost, never to be regained.  Zia (29) and Rusjan (19) were the only other batsmen to make double figures as the tight bowling of skipper Jalil and off-spinner Wilsher took care of the lower order.  Eagle (batting himself down at number ten) tried valiantly and one more partnership would have done the trick, but last man Withers arrived and promptly misjudged a straight one to be bowled for a first ball duck.

I almost certainly won’t be a regular this season (not least because I’m relocating to Dorset in June) but I highly recommend all RUASCC players should turn up once in a while just to reassure yourself that everything is as it should be.

RUASCC Highlight:  Despite a mixed day in the field overall, Askew’s catch running back at long-on, followed the very next ball by Nasri clinging on to a fierce drive in the covers, were particularly enjoyable because they were both off my bowling.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  No, not really.

RUASCC Team:  Carpenter, Partha, Umer, Rusjan, Askew, Zia, Nasir, Sami, Dip (wkt), Eagle (capt), Withers

Dorchester-on-Thames (A) – 27.9.15

RUASCC 180-8 (all out)

Rafiq 51, Eagle 49, Abid 33

Dorchester 161-9

Rafiq 5-19, Abid 2-12, Zia 1-14

Match Drawn

Those of us who made the trip to Dorchester can count ourselves lucky we got a game in at all - the recent improvement in the weather allowed us this bonus cricket weekend but it took the full weight of Zia’s address book merely to scrape together nine players.  Nevertheless we were determined to enjoy ourselves and it was undoubtedly this end-of-season feeling that prompted Eagle to choose to BAT FIRST, then go on to play with the sort of freedom that saw him race to 40 not out in 31 overs.

Opening partner Abid hit eight fours in his 33 but then disaster struck as Ward (LBW) and Zia (C&B) were dismissed from consecutive deliveries prompting Withers and Ashman to start getting padded up.  Fortunately we still had some middle order strength in the shape of Rafiq who joined Eagle at 69-4 and posted a valuable half century in a stand of 88.

While it’s often true that our beloved captain bats like a giraffe in a man costume it cannot be denied that he held the RUASCC innings together here.  When Eagle was eventually bowled for 49 the innings petered out and we sacrificed 15 minutes of batting time to the home side, meaning we ended up having to bowl 46 overs while limited to eight per bowler with only nine players.  This meant everyone had to put in a spell except the wicketkeeper, the skipper and Dilip whose injured shoulder meant he was unable to turn his arm over.

Withers bowled as usual without much incident, taking his only wicket with his penultimate ball.  Jaffri generated plenty of turn and was unlucky to finish up wicketless, while Abid was rapid enough to give Ward a torrid time behind the stumps but he too was unable to break through in his first four.  All of which meant that Dorchester reached drinks needing only 101 runs in 20 overs with eight wickets in hand.

Once again in our time of crisis we turned to Rafiq and he picked up a couple of quick wickets including the opener who appeared to be their biggest threat.  And he wasn’t finished there: a change of ends brought two wickets in two balls and suddenly the likelihood of defeat had given way to the possibility of victory.

Abid picked up a couple and Zia returned to get rid of Sharman (40) who was starting to make a good fight of the run chase.  By then Rafiq had picked up his fifth wicket and, much to the delight of Dr Ashman, we headed into the last few overs with all four results still on the table.

It soon became apparent that Dorchester’s last pair were only in it to protect their stumps, so with the sun slowly disappearing behind the treeline and all nine of us surrounding the bat, Ashman and Zia had an over each in which to attempt to dislodge them.  Then tension mounted but the old guys stood firm to save the draw.

A thoroughly compelling end to the season, just a shame there weren’t more of us there to appreciate it.

RUASCC Highlight:  Eagle winning the toss and batting first.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Rafiq, despite dropping two catches.

RUASCC Team:  Eagle (capt), Abid, Ward (wkt), Zia, Jaffri, Rafiq, Dilip, Withers, Ashman

Whitchurch-upon-Thames (A) – 27.6.15

RUASCC 156 all out (25.3 overs)

Zia 103, (Extras 18), Binod 17, Weeks 12

Whitchurch 117 all out (35.4 overs)

Withers 4-20, Saad 3-13, Binod 2-13

RUASCC won by 39 runs

This was my first visit to Whitchurch-upon-Thames, a lovely little village with a 40p toll bridge from Pangbourne and a long, thin cricket pitch on the green.  It’s the ground where Chan famously got knocked out while keeping wicket in 2013 so there was plenty for this fixture to live up to, and it turned out to be one of the strangest games of cricket I’ve ever been involved in.

Limited overs again, and it started in all too familiar fashion: Eagle won the toss and chose to bat first but was out second ball, caught by a gully who was only placed there after they saw how he tried to play the first ball.  It soon became clear this was just a tactic to get Zia and Binod batting together again as soon as possible and the pair repaid their captain’s faith by bludgeoning 62 runs in just five overs before Binod was caught at mid-wicket.

Zia was in dominant form and quickly recorded a second consecutive fifty (off about 20 balls) making use of the short boundaries square on either side, while at the other end wickets began to fall at an alarming rate.  Green was caught at square leg for a duck, Greenhalf hit one six before being bowled for six, and Weeks continued his positive intent from last week before dragging on for 12.

It was like watching cricket on fast-forward - the sheer contrast of watching Zia destroy the bowling while the bowlers picked off everyone else made it difficult to tell who was genuinely on top.  From 117-5 Zia took the score to 156 with support provided by Varun (0), Main (0), Saad (0), Sayed (0) and Withers (0 not out).  In all seven RUASCC batsmen failed to score but Withers hung around long enough to allow Zia to hit the two boundaries he needed to reach his century in the 24^th over.  Next over he was caught behind and we were in for tea an hour early.

And a lovely tea it was, sadly not to be enjoyed at all by those fasting for Ramadan and taken only in moderation by those preparing to open the bowling.  The home side, needing less than four an over on a decent pitch with short boundaries, had plenty of reason to be confident, and both openers clubbed Withers straight back over his head early on in the run chase.

Saad, bowling off a shorter run-up but still with plenty of menace, picked up the first wicket before Withers went on the rampage and took out the rest of the top order.  He was aided by his first two victims both playing rather injudicious shots to straight deliveries, but the third was merely patting one back down the wicket and couldn’t have expected the bowler’s spectacular diving one-handed catch that sealed his fate.  To be fair no one in the RUASCC team was expecting it either.

Next up were two younger kids and Saad proved too good for both of them, and at the end of an exhilarating passage of play Whitchurch were 35-7 when Main took a good catch at mid-off to give Withers his fourth wicket.  It then became apparent that there had been an element of tinkering with the batting order because despite the best efforts of Main and Zia the next partnership stayed together for 20 overs and took the home side to within 50 runs of the target needing about a run a ball.

The first hint of a chance came when Withers dived full length at wide mid-on and only got finger tips to the ball, but just in the nick of time Zia prevailed and found a glove through to the keeper.  The outgoing batsman, who had somehow made it to fifty despite playing exclusively pre-meditated paddles to fine leg, insisted it was off the hip but both umpires disagreed and that was the game.  Binod bowled beautifully to take the last two wickets and seal the win by 39 runs.

RUASCC Highlight:  I’ve been given express permission to say it was Withers’ catch off his own bowling.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  I’m going out on a limb and saying probably Zia.  Any complaints should be directed to the usual address.

RUASCC Team:  Eagle (capt), Binod, Zia, Green, Greenhalf (wkt), Varun, Main, Saad, Sayed, Withers

Highmoor (A) – 21.6.15

Highmoor 180-5 (40 overs)

Zia 3-21, B. Hawkes 1-18, Withers 1-28

RUASCC 182-6 (35 overs)

Zia 59, Binod 50, Weeks 36 not out

RUASCC won by 4 wickets

A rarity at Highmoor: sun!  First time I think we’ve ever seen a solid surface here, treated as we have been to some real puddings, and the Highmoor openers made good use of it reaching 92-0 at the drinks break.  It was pretty streaky stuff for the most part, plenty of shots in the air falling just to the left or right of fielders.  A couple of genuine chances went down but overall we didn’t do a lot wrong.

The opening stand reached 111 before it was finally broken by Zia, and RUASCC’s bowling attack did well to keep the score under control.  Going into the last five overs on 159-2 looked like a strong position but Withers and Zia restricted the home side to just 21 runs for the loss of three wickets at the death.

After Eagle’s early departure it looked as if Zia and Binod were going to make extremely short work of the chase, bringing up the hundred in just the 12^th over.  Binod took advantage of some short-pitched bowling and pulled multiple boundaries into the hedge at square leg, then just as he reached his fifty he was given LBW.  Zia followed shortly after, caught and bowled by Mayers for 59, and suddenly the innings took on a very different appearance.

John Baker played for the first time this season but after a notably accomplished performance keeping wicket he scratched around for nine singles before being bowled by a freak lifter that he managed to chop on while trying to leave.  Our two guests, Ben and Dave Hawkes, managed just three runs between them and there was no denying it any longer – we were in a bit of bother.

Fortunately RUASCC found a new hero: Tom Weeks.  He showed promise at Farley and delivered utterly here.  Some spectacular drives to the boundary kept the scoreboard ticking over and even after splitting his bat down the middle he carried on in the same manner, ably supported by Bruce Main.  Run rate was never really an issue, but with only Tranter, Ashman and Withers to come in we were understandably nervous.

No need to worry though – Weeks and Main (13 not out) took us over the line with five overs to spare and gave us a win that had looked at times very unlikely, quite unlikely, very likely, then fairly likely and quite unlikely again before its exciting conclusion.

RUASCC Highlight:  Zia and Binod’s explosive partnership.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Tom Weeks.

RUASCC Team:  Eagle (capt), Binod, Zia, Baker (wkt), Weeks, B. Hawkes, D. Hawkes, Main, Tranter, Ashman, Withers

Farley Hill (A) – 14.6.15

RUASCC 187-6 (40 overs)

Murphy 50, Greenhalf 35 not out, Ward 34

Farley Hill 189-4 (35.2 overs)

Withers 3-35, Ashman 1-40

RUASCC lost by 6 wickets

Two games at Farley Hill this year, two defeats – and not even very close ones to be honest.  The home side made this run chase look pretty easy in the end, helped enormously by captain Jalil’s assured 80 and also by the fact we only brought four bowlers to a limited-overs game.

Eagle won the toss, chose to bat first and came up against accurate bowling on a pitch with variable bounce.  There was also plenty of swing in the air and Eagle was the first victim of it – bowled off an inside edge for two.  Ward meanwhile had set off with typical intent and he hit three fours and a six in a rapid 34.  Several partnerships got started: 32, 27, 55, 29, mostly anchored by Murphy’s patient half-century, but the highlight was the 40 stand between Greenhalf and Weeks who combined to inject some pace towards the end of the innings and took us to the respectable, if not daunting, total of 187.

Withers and Ashman opened the bowling and kept the run rate down at about four an over in the early stages.  Withers removed both openers and was withdrawn from the attack with the home side on 40-2, but the third wicket added 87 before Ashman produced a gem of an accidental off-spinner to clean bowl Holland.  Sadly there was no miracle turnaround - the fourth wicket added a further 50 as Farley cantered home with nearly five overs to spare, with the only other RUASCC success coming when Withers finally bowled Jalil with his penultimate delivery.

RUASCC Highlight:  Weeks’ first scoring stroke, a kind of flat-batted straight drive for four.  Nobody was expecting it, but it set the tone for what was probably his most positive RUASCC knock.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Murphy.  Conditions were tough, but he made it look tough.

RUASCC Team:  Ward, Eagle (capt), Murphy, Mazhar, Dip (wkt), Greenhalf, Weeks, Main, Green, Ashman, Withers

Theale & Tilehurst (A) – 24.5.15

Theale & Tilehurst 228-5 (44 overs)

Saad 2-57, Withers 1-26, Law 1-29

RUASCC 150-6 (41 overs)

Ward 51, Eagle 23, Greenhalf 19 not out

Scorecard

Match drawn

A batsmen’s track we expect in Theale

On a warm weekend in the month of May

Then we lose the toss and start to feel

It’s going to be a bloody long day

The new ball, Withers - it’s risky no doubt

Hit to the boundary as likely as not

First ball of the match: caught Eagle, he’s out!

(But that was the only one Withers got)

Forty-four overs, a long time to bowl

It might have been fewer if we could catch

Ward, Dersh then Withers – it saddens the soul

Our dignity shelled, and maybe the match

  Set two twenty-eight, a typical score

  A possible win?  More likely a draw

Eagle and Ward started on the right track

Seventy-seven their opening stand

Fifty for Wardy, a brutal attack

An Eagle-hit six is still yet to land

An excellent start, unlikely to last

In a procession our wickets we tossed

When RUASCC turn bad we unravel fast:

Twenty runs later and five wickets lost

Five wickets down, not a hundred yet scored

Can we survive till the end of the game?

Just playing for pride and runs on the board

Working out which of our batsmen to blame

  Andy and Ifti both proved to be sound

  The last ball walloped clean out of the ground

RUASCC Highlight:  Eagle’s maximum – you don’t often see him hit six over a proper boundary.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Ward, despite the two dropped catches!

RUASCC Team:  Ward, Eagle (capt), Dersh Patel, Saad, Zia, Dip Patel (wkt), Greenhalf, Ifti Ahmed, Law, Waqar, Withers

Greys Green (A) – 23.5.15

RUASCC 158-9 (all out)

Daman Singh 62, Zia 45, Greenhalf 25

Greys Green 118-5

Zia 2-26, Saad 1-22, Raqib 1-33

Match drawn

It looks like I owe someone an apology.

It’s time to stand up and admit that I was wrong.  I doubted.  Last July I refused to believe sworn testimony, first-hand accounts from people I would normally trust.  In these very pages I have mocked, unashamedly failing to hide my unfounded scepticism, and now is the time to make things right.  Serve me a piece of that humble pie my good man, and top it with extra cream.  I was wrong.  Put it on a t-shirt, I deserve to wear it.

Daman, I’m sorry.  They told me you scored 59 against Peppard and I dismissed the whole match as merely the concoction of a fragile imagination.  As recently as October, in my review of the season, I scoffed and said I’d never seen you bat for very long (which was true).  Cynicism is an unattractive quality.  I was a half-century denier.

Not anymore.  Now I’ve seen wonders with my own eyes and I’m converted like Saul on the Damascus road.  I will preach to all who care to listen that I saw Daman score a fifty.  I was a witness to The Miracle of Greys Green.

In the absence of realistic alternatives Daman opened the batting with Eagle and, like so many others before him, soon found himself batting without Eagle.  It was by no means a fluent start: a streaky four over the slips to get off the mark and a chance dropped at mid-off that was worthy of RUASCC, but Daman soon displayed a level of defensive application and a confidence in uppish driving that made a mockery of the record books.

I never thought I’d be writing this but Daman was the backbone of the RUASCC innings, and after his dismissal the whole thing fell apart.  Daman, Zia and Greenhalf between them contributed 132 runs to the rather meagre total of 158, with opening bowler Ahmed taking six wickets for the home side and the last five wickets falling for just nine runs.  Against a typical RUASCC attack that might not have been enough, but we had a couple of Saads on our side.

Saad 2 (a guest of Saad 1) proved to be a bit useful: with the ball he’s every bit as quick as Saad 1, and with the keeper’s gloves he stood right up to Saad 1 seemingly completely at ease.  Between them they kept the run rate under control though wickets proved hard to come by.  A fantastic chase and throw from Jagesh saw Mo run out first ball attempting a risky second, but half way through the Greys innings all three results were still possible.  With Skilliter at the crease Greys were perhaps favourites but Zia bowled him for 46 to ensure the game petered out into a draw.

There are those who’ll say it isn’t worth playing a game for seven hours only to end up with no result.  There are those who think we’re all wasting our time.  But for Daman, and those who were there watching as he reached his second RUASCC fifty, this was a day we will never forget.  And henceforth I promise to be far less cynical about reports of the achievements of others.

Oh except that nonsense about Eagle scoring a century, obviously.  I’m not a complete idiot.

RUASCC Highlight: The run out – a great piece of work from Jagesh and Saad 2.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Well, Zia scored 45 and took a couple of wickets, but I can’t give this to anyone except Daman.

RUASCC Team:  Eagle (capt), D. Singh, S. Raqib (wkt), Zia, Greenhalf (wkt), Saad, Tranter, Jagesh, Ashman, Withers

Crazies Hill (A) - 17.5.15

RUASCC 218-4 dec.

J. Singh 66 not out, Saad 51 not out, Zia 39

Crazies Hill 137 all out

Yasir 2-13, Saad 2-19, Green 2-20

RUASCC won by 81 runs

A third consecutive RUASCC win and we owe it all to the persistence and sheer bloody-mindedness of our captain Andy Eagle.  Not for anything he did on the pitch, obviously, but for the fact we had a game at all.  Another midweek cancellation led to another 48-hour dash to find some opposition and somehow hold a team together under wildly fluctuating circumstances.  At various stages we were heading to Middlesex on Saturday, Newbury on Sunday, to the moon at midnight – and eventually we all ended up here somewhere near Wargrave and we’re all very glad we did.

As the name suggests the ground is on a hill with mental health issues and you get some lovely views of other, presumably less insane, hills and trees and fields and horses and things like that.  The pavilion is essentially a large partitioned shed with no furniture save for an old sofa in the corner of the changing room, but what a perfect place to play cricket!  And only ten minutes from my house!

Eagle won the toss and decided to have first dig, sensing his usual reticence to bat seemed to be far outweighed by the insecurities of the home side.  In truth the team he’d cobbled together looked on paper to be more than up to the job and so it proved over the next two and half hours.

Eagle himself set the tone with an uncommonly attacking innings of 24 including five boundaries (not all backward of point) while Murphy deposited the new ball over the hedge at square leg never to be seen again.  Next up Jas Singh and Zia added 67 in nine overs and Jas reached yet another RUASCC fifty.  After a couple of quick wickets he was joined by Saad and the pair rapidly added 74 before both opted to retire to give someone else a go.  A couple of overs later Eagle called time on the innings, with four RUASCC batsmen unbeaten.  218-4.

Having begun the match as a sub fielder for the understrength hosts Andy Ashman was soon appointed to play for them, and following what must have been a rigorous assessment of their new recruit they didn’t call on him to bowl but instead asked The Good Doctor to bat at number four.  It wasn’t long before Ashman headed to the crease as Withers quickly picked up the first two wickets, including his 250^th for the club and another textbook in-swinger to bowl a left-hander through the gate.

There followed a couple of overs of high drama as the entirely stoppable force of Withers met the fairly moveable wall of Dr Ashman, but the batsman survived and even flicked a boundary down to fine leg to trigger the first change of bowling.  It was left to newcomer Rich Green, playing only his second game for RUASCC, to break through Ashman’s resistance and put an end to a promising innings of seven.

The Crazies middle order recovered well with the highlight being a young left-hander, batting with his dad, who wanted to hit everything over mid-wicket and frequently managed it.  He was bowled by Waqar straight after the drinks break but with the overs running out to take all nine wickets Eagle started to worry that the win might be slipping away.  So he called on Saad.

Word of Saad’s pace clearly hadn’t reached this part of Berkshire and it was to the astonishment of the four slip fielders (edging back as far as they felt able to get away with) that the lower order batsmen shunned the use of helmets.  To be fair they didn’t really need them – the greatest risk would have been from flying bails.  Two wickets saw us almost over the line before debutant Yasir finished the job thanks to a diving one-handed catch by Daman Singh at short extra cover.  The unfortunate young batsman was just two deliveries away from winning a £20 wager, but there’s no room for sentiment or mercy as the RUASCC juggernaut thunders on.

RUASCC Highlight:  Daman’s one-handed catch to win the game.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Saad.

RUASCC Team:  Eagle (capt), Murphy, J. Singh, Zia, Dip (wkt), Saad, Green, Waqar, D. Singh, Yasir, Withers

Stoke Green (A) – 10.5.15

Stoke Green 145 all out (31.2 overs)

Main 4-8, Daman Singh 3-44, Withers 2-48

RUASCC 147-9 (35.4 overs)

Dip 53 not out, Waqar 22, Zia 14

RUASCC won by 1 wicket

Match Scorecard

Before we begin I have a polite request for the science community and it’s simply this: before you spend another billion dollars making a new mobile telephone that’s slightly thinner than the last one, or creating a synthetic meat that looks like meat but doesn’t taste quite as good as meat, or crash-landing a robot on a moving comet at the other end of the solar system, could you instead please turn your attention to inventing something that will get me through a common cold without feeling like I’m slowly suffocating in a warm rucksack full of shit.

It can’t be that hard, I just want to be able to breathe and speak and not have to blow my nose EVERY FIVE GODDAMN SECONDS is that really too much to ask?  You’ve cured cholera, you’ve nailed polio; you’ve pretty much got a handle on the ebola thing so come on now, it’s time to focus on me.  I have trouble sleeping you know – everything dries out and gets caked in this weird filmy substance that makes me choke myself awake - an exasperated Lady Keiwit packs her things and goes to her mother’s.  There has to be something you can do!

Anyway, I have a cold.  And I started this game feeling weak and tired and the bright sunlight hurt my eyes and sometimes I was hot and sweating and other times I was cold and shivering and I felt dizzy and sick and miserable.  It’s no wonder our ancestors used to just curl up and die at age 24 when they didn’t even have paracetamol to take the edge off.  And by the way if there’s anyone cynical enough to think that I’m using this whole illness thing to excuse what happened in my first two overs against Stoke Green then you could not be more right.

To Sunday then, and first a nod to the heroic efforts of Andy Eagle to get us a game at all after a late cancellation from Warborough - Eagle was in London (presumed drunk) when the call came through but hastily pulled some strings and found the skipper of Stoke Green in hospitable mood.  Then after all the effort he’d put into arranging the game he failed to properly research directions to the ground and missed the toss, which Zia lost on his behalf.

Still, at least Eagle arrived BEFORE the game started - he was made to look punctual by Bruce and Tranter who barely made it in time for tea.  The bright side for them was that they missed the aforementioned horror show at the start of the innings, when Withers took the new ball and flung it over the square leg boundary with minimal assistance from the batsman.  After two horrendous overs costing thousands of runs Withers was put out to pasture and Waqar was brought on to bring things under control, which he soon did by dismissing the danger-man for 32.

RUASCC recovered well from the shaky start and Withers returned from the opposite end to pick up two wickets (thus drawing level with Ward for the season) while Daman Singh bowled with pace and skill and deserved his three wickets despite owing two of them to superb catches by Dip and Murphy.  Later it was apparent that the real batting had been used up so it was time for Bruce Main to come on and pick some low-hanging fruit – his first 4.2 overs of the season produced four wickets, the first three clean bowled and the final one cut straight to Ward in the covers.

After scoring 200+ in both games so far this season we could afford to be optimistic of chasing down the total, even more so once we scored five from the first over all in wides.  But then the wheels came off and we made an absolute Lib Dem of it.

Eagle and Murphy were both given LBW and Ward edged behind and that was just the start.  Having already cleared the man on the mid-wicket boundary Zia attempted the same shot next ball but found the fielder; meanwhile Greenhalf chipped one to mid-off and Bruce missed a straight one to leave us 28-6, and all of this happened within the first seven overs.

Things improved a little bit after that – we almost reached 50 before losing another wicket.  Both Daman and Waqar had a go but couldn’t sustain the counter attack, then Tranter was bowled to leave RUASCC 79-9 with less than half the overs gone.

The game was all but lost: we were down to one recognised batsman (Dip) and one recognised scorer (Withers), but it proved to be an ideal partnership - Dip was able to relax knowing that Withers probably wouldn’t get himself out and Withers was able to relax knowing that Dip only needed to score three an over to win the game.

Gradually the total edged upwards, mostly from Dip’s bat but supplemented by a steady flow of wides.  Eagle umpiring said it would be nice if we just got to 100, but once we got there we decided to stick around and try for a few more.  The home side brought their quickest bowler back on and Withers caught a high full toss on the index finger of his left hand, temporarily causing him to shut up about his runny nose and instead bleed quietly into his glove.

Dip continued to accumulate and with every boundary the prospect of reaching the target seemed more and more credible, though Withers was starting to regret having given away quite so many early runs.  Then with five overs to go Dip pulled his eleventh four to reach a superb fifty and win the game.

RUASCC Highlight:  The unbroken stand of 68 is a new club record for the tenth wicket and gave RUASCC a victory that had looked extremely unlikely just an hour before.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Dip.

RUASCC Team:  Ward, Eagle (capt), Murphy, Zia, Dip (wkt), Greenhalf, Main, Daman Singh, Waqar, Tranter, Withers

Mortimer West End (A) – 26.4.15

RUASCC 201-2 (35 overs)

Zia 76 not out, Jas Singh 73 not out, Ward 17

Mortimer West End 106 all out (32.4 overs)

Murphy 2-4, Ward 2-8, Jas Singh 2-14

RUASCC won by 95 runs

If there’s one thing worse than not playing cricket then it has to be playing cricket when it’s freezing cold.  All the pre-season anticipation for the delights of the summer game disappears out the window when you have to take the field in an overcoat, and when Sunday’s forecast improved from “rain all day” to merely “bastard cold” we knew this one was going to be a treat.

Eagle lost the toss and was asked to bat first on a pitch that had been already been used for a Friday evening game and a rain-affected Saturday league match.  Runs proved hard to come by at first, partly due to a slow, wet outfield and partly due to the massive boundary on one side - a full-blooded pull from Ward only earned three runs after the ball travelled 90 metres but stayed within the field of play.  The resulting frustration led to two quick wickets as first Ward came down the track and was bowled before Eagle got one right in the slot and drilled it to gully.

But soon it was the home side who were frustrated - Jas Singh survived a strong appeal for caught behind on 0 before warming up to hit boundaries all around the wicket.  Zia and Jas came together at 39-2 and added fifty in the first eight overs, then accelerated and brought up the hundred partnership before moving to their respective fifties in successive deliveries.  They didn’t stop there, and both brought out the switch hit on their way to an unbroken stand of 162.

The feeling in the pavilion was that our total of 201 was probably enough, and since it was limited overs (hence no pressure to take 10 wickets) the captain felt confident enough not to bowl Zia at all.  Instead Waqar took the new ball, initially struggled for length but recovered well after a change of ends.

Withers did that thing where he bowls seven overs for just 11 runs but nobody can remember a single thing about it.  After boasting the proud record of taking at least one wicket in every appearance last season it’s good to get used to disappointment nice and early in 2015.

Daman Singh experimented with a shortened run up but was quickly asked by the captain to revert to “proper” bowling (with improved results), while Jas Singh added to his two wickets the previous week with two more thanks to diving catches by Murphy in the gully and Withers at slip.

With the home side six wickets down and the match all but won it was time to explore the murkier depths of our bowling resources – with the slightly unexpected result that the final four wickets fell within 16 deliveries.  You can learn things in these situations and we now know, for example, that Murphy can give it plenty of air and deceive batsmen into doing things they really don’t want to be doing.

From the other end Mike Ward’s first ball was dispatched for a maximum over long off but halfway through the over he had figures of 2-6.  Only a dropped catch denied Ward a third wicket later in the over but Murphy soon wrapped up the game with his second.  A comfortable win by 95 runs and the second week in a row we’ve bowled out the opposition.

RUASCC Highlight: It’s got to be Mike Ward on a hat-trick.

RUASCC Man of the Match: Karthee - didn’t get a bat, took a fearful smack on the knee fielding at short mid-wicket leaving him unable to bowl, then dropped a catch in the penultimate over of the day before leaving the ground without his coat.

RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle (capt), Jas Singh, Zia, Murphy, Dip (wkt), Nadeem, Daman Singh, Karthee, Waqar, Withers

RUASCC Season Review 2014

Another season ends and it’s been a very successful one for RUASCC: 20 games, 11 wins and only four defeats (and three of those were so tantalisingly close).  The wet weather in the spring and early summer caused several cancellations and also had a lasting effect on the pitches which were on the whole bowler-friendly.

2014 featured some remarkable games of cricket and some strong performances from RUASCC regulars and newcomers, as well as the occasional guest stars.  Here’s my review of the key players this year.

Michael Ward

456 runs @ 35.1

5 catches / 1 stumping

This was a fine season for Wardy whose consistency at the top of the order provided the foundation for several competitive totals and successful run chases.  After opening with successive half-centuries at Blewbury and Englefied, he later added two more on top of several scores in the thirties to maintain an impressive average.

He continues to do a tidy job when required to keep wicket, which seemed to happen quite frequently this year, and he maintained his 100% winning record as captain in the game at Frieth in which he also memorably contributed 28 runs to an unbroken partnership of 154 with Zia.

As Vice-Captain Wardy has demonstrated a commendable willingness to call Eagle a pussy’ole at any available opportunity.  Certainly a contender for Player of the Year, an award he last won in 2008.

Andy Eagle

239 runs @ 14.9

6 catches

Perhaps not one of the skipper’s most prolific years with the bat, but Eagle nevertheless had his moments.  He played his part in an opening stand of 78 at Englefield before the wheels came off, and at Hurst he top-scored with 47 as we almost chased down 198 to win.  And let’s not forget his vital contribution in the 20:20 at Birdlip where he spectacularly put himself down the order and let the other batsmen get on with it.

As captain he continues to direct his fielders without ever once naming an actual fielding position, but he ends the season with another hugely positive win ratio.

Jas Singh

131 runs @ 21.8

6 wickets @ 14.3

3 catches

Although he didn’t play regularly throughout the season Jas posted scores of 50 and 44 in victories against Braywood and Highmoor and remains a class act to watch.  With the ball he had mixed success experimenting with off-spin but took 2-9 at Hambleden.

Damien Murphy

121 runs @ 24.2

2 catches

Newcomer Murphy looks a useful top order batsman and he showed his quality with 46 not out in a massive run chase at Braywood.  He also saw us home in a slightly less challenging 107-3 at Kidmore End and is a suitably energetic fielder in the covers.

Zia Ul-Haq

480 runs @ 80.0

26 wickets @ 10.4

2 catches

This was very much a season of two halves.  Having contributed four fifths of fuck-all up to the start of August Zia joined us on tour and went caveman at Birdlip (62) before going on to dismantle Frieth (115 not out), Hambleden (62), Mandarins (74) and finally closing out the season with another unbeaten century at Dorchester.  Not for the first time Zia ends the year as the highest run scorer with the best average, with 432 of his 480 runs coming in just five innings.

It was a similar story with the bowling: Zia had six wickets from four games at the start of August and took 20 more in just over a month.  As well as the astonishing all-round performance at Frieth (6-42) he picked up five wickets as we almost broke down the Mandarins and recorded figures of 2-4 from an eight-over spell at Hambleden.

This is why he’s won Player of the Year in each of the last four seasons of course, and it would be difficult to argue if the committee picked him again.  With both bat and ball, on his day he remains peerless at this level.

Andy Greenhalf

247 runs @ 41.7

1 wicket @ 37.0

5 catches

Great to see Andy back playing regularly - he made a statement early in the season by getting off the mark with a six in each of his first two games, and he gave us plenty more opportunity to admire his destructive hitting with 58 not out at his old club Greys Green.  He remained unbeaten on 33 as we lost agonisingly by one run at Farley Hill – the ground on which he also picked up his only wicket.

Andy is an excellent fielder with a safe pair of hands so he can look a little bit out of place with the rest of RUASCC.  He does seem to have calmed down a bit since my early days at the club when I dropped a catch in the gully and he ripped out one of my kidneys and ate it raw.

Dip Patel

80 runs @ 10.0

2 wickets @ 31.5

5 catches / 6 stumpings

A quiet season with the bat for the Dipmaster General whose highest score (22) came in the very first game.  Forced by circumstances to bowl seven overs at Farley Hill Dip picked up two wickets at considerable cost and wasn’t given the opportunity to do so again.  Six stumpings shows he’s no slouch behind the wicket either, or at least it would if we didn’t know he was sometimes a slouch behind the wicket.

Karthee Sivalingam

93 runs @ 18.6

8 wickets @ 25.0

Another newcomer to the RUASCC family, Karthee picked up 2-19 at Englefield and chipped in with regular wickets at a decent strike rate while cheerfully refusing to be bound by the convention of bowling line and length.  Then halfway through the season we found out he can bat: a stylish 20 not out to help save the game at Britwell was followed by an impressive 39 at Greys Green.

Waqar Ul-Haq

77 runs @ 11.0

32 wickets @ 19.0

5 catches

No one played more games for RUASCC this season than Waqar (tied with Eagle on 17) and no one could match his tally of 32 wickets.  So consistent, Waqar can be relied upon to bowl long spells sometimes even with the new ball which can’t come naturally to a left-arm spinner.  After a typically solid start to the season he exploded at Mortimer on a damp pitch taking 5-6 as the home side were bowled out for 48.  He took 4-24 as we demolished BBC Caversham, but even more impressive was his performance at Hurst when he bowled nine overs (1-33) then scored a classy 30 with the bat on a baking hot day while fasting.

In my opinion another contender for the top prize this year.

Daman Singh

119 runs @ 10.82

4 wickets @ 41.0

2 catches

To be honest I’m still not absolutely convinced by this story about the Peppard game.  Omit that from the statistics for a moment and Daman’s got 60 runs in 10 innings, and yet you still want me to believe he scored 59 out of a total of 145.  Fine, sure, whatever, I wasn’t there - let’s go with that for now.  Don’t get me wrong I know he can bat, I saw him hit successive sixes onto the Kidmore End pavilion roof last year, I’ve just never seen him bat for very long, that’s all I’m saying.  But well done to him, must have been a great knock.

Bruce Main

62 runs @ 10.33

6 wickets @ 33.5

2 catches

Having moved away from the area Bruce is sadly no longer a regular in the line-up and the blow to the hand he got at Englefield would have put most people out for the season.  But he turned up when he could, picked up a couple of wickets in the only game on tour and made a top score of 26 late in the season at Theale.

Andy Ashman

15 runs @ 5.0

12 wickets @ 16.7

5 catches

A good season for the Good Doctor who managed 11 games despite missing more than a month for the World Cup – his 12 wickets from just 51 overs bowled gives him a better strike rate than pretty much everyone except Zia.  3-13 at Mortimer were his best figures for RUASCC, though we are led to believe he took four in a league game for Kidmore End, the same alternate reality in which Eagle is supposed to have scored a century.

Sadly given too few opportunities with the bat, his top score of 12 came at Mortimer where, in a seemingly interminable partnership with Withers, he laboured to drag our score up past 100 only to see us win comfortably by 61 runs.

Nadeem Javed

61 runs @ 30.5

5 wickets @ 11.4

5 catches

Nadeem only played six times this season but he made some significant contributions along the way.  At the start of the summer we still thought he was just an off-spinner and he did little to dispel that myth with 5-15 at Kidmore End.  But at Theale & Tilehurst he went into bat at 33-3 and added 121 in 20 overs with Adil, scoring the most composed, confident 45 runs you could wish to see.

It was then that we heard that he’s not really an off-spinner at all but a wicketkeeper-batsman, so later in the season he had a few goes behind the stumps too, much to the relief of Wardy.  All things considered a useful guy to have around.

Keith Withers

1 run (not out)

31 wickets @ 13.61

6 catches

In a solid season (as previously reported) Withers sent down 153 overs, more than any other bowler, and took at least one wicket in every game he played.  His best figures came at Greys Green where he took 5-34, all clean bowled, but arguably he was better at Frieth (2-11 in 11 overs) and Warborough (3-35 in 16).  Long spells and tedious strings of maidens are perhaps his trademarks, though he has also developed a nasty habit of dropping catches, as many off his own bowling as anyone else’s.

With the bat Withers continues to hide at number 11 and as a result was only called upon four times this season, scoring a total of 1 run and not being dismissed at all.

And he ran a marathon, you know.

Richard Tranter

5 runs @ 2.5

3 wickets @ 13.7

2 catches

Trant only bowled five overs all season but still managed to take three wickets thus proving yet again that you simply do not fuck with the TrantDog.

Best of the Rest

A prominent feature of this season has been the number of important innings played by guests and occasional players.  Dersh Patel only played four times but made 47 at Braywood and 35 in the low-scoring game at Mortimer, and Rupert Loader made 57 at Farley Hill in one of his two appearances.  Adil’s match-winning unbeaten 83 at Theale was a highlight, as was Rafiq’s classy 60 at Highmoor which seemed important at the time but our final total of 200 proved to be more than 100 too many for the home side.  It was in the same game that Saad (who only played once) bowled three fearsome overs and took two wickets before being withdrawn from the attack for reasons of diplomacy.  Fawaz hit 49 at Kidmore End and 30 against Dorchester – I missed both those games but I imagine he compiled those runs fairly rapidly.  Young Sam Griffiths only played one game, the Birdlip 20:20 on tour, but looked very comfortable making 41 not out.

Meanwhile, Tom Weeks scored a few runs and kept wicket, Chan Malde proved he’s still the best square leg fielder in Berkshire and Ken Stewart also played.

Bowling Update – 2014

Four years ago I wrote this and this giving a match-by-match analysis of my bowling performances in 2010 which were, not to put too fine a point on it, shit.

To recap, in 2009 I won the Player of the Year award (the last time it was given to someone other than Zia) but in 2010 I only took 13 wickets in 18 matches and felt like I had no control over the ball or the situation.  I go on at some length in previous articles about the possible reasons for this and subsequently took steps to improve - this led to another post in early 2011 where I talked about what I learnt from Bob Woolmer’s book The Art and Science of Cricket.

Don't worry, I don't have the time or the inclination to reproduce that level of detail again, but fast-forward to 2014 and it is pleasing to see:

*  My bowling average has improved year-on-year

*  I’m taking more wickets and conceding fewer runs per over

Season	Overs	Maidens	Maiden %	Wickets	Average	Strike rate (deliveries per wicket)	Best Figures	Economy (runs/over)
2010	133	18	14%	13	43.15	61.4	3-20	4.22
2011	168	32	19%	21	33.1	48.0	5-27	4.14
2012	161	28	17%	27	19.48	35.8	4-30	3.27
2013	195	43	22%	40	17.4	29.3	6-31	3.58
2014	153	36	24%	31	13.61	29.6	5-34	2.76

Although 2013 was my most prolific for wickets I believe I bowled better in 2014, and as a result have achieved my best ever average and economy rate for a single season.  Also, uniquely for me, I took at least one wicket in every game I played this year, so I can at least claim to have always contributed something.

And yet, I wasn’t even close to being the best bowler this year.  Waqar finished with more wickets in fewer overs (with best figures of 5-6), while Zia only played 11 matches and still finished with 26 wickets at a better average and economy than either of us.  But I don’t compare myself against others (much) – it’s enough for me to see that, at least for now, I’m a lot less shit than I was in 2010.