Bideford cc 2nd 11 V Holsworthy

NDL Div 3

Sunday 15th April

Woke up to a really nice hot sunny day and was looking forward to our first league game. We were a little short on regulars and one or two were playing there first game for us. Still I hoped we could put in a descent performance. I won the toss and decided to have a bat. I thought that we had a fairly good bowling side which could defend  a reasonable total. Holsworthy had recruited a couple of players which added quite a bit of quality to their team. I opened with Martin Barratt and we did ok at the start. One of their bowlers was very good and we struggled to get any runs from him. He bowled Martin with a descent delivery. Me and then Alex Savage got out at the other end not playing the best of shots, both were caught. Rob Hill was out LBW for just one and then Andy Atkinson was bowled sweeping a straight one. All this put us in big trouble. With Henry Jones not turning up Paul Shepherd stepped in. Graham Persson playing in his first game for the club did a good job and held us together for several overs.With a little help from Josh Atkinson and Paul Shepherd we managed to bat for 40 overs but were unable to score many runs. We were bowled out for just 110 which was going to be tough to defend. In the end a lack of experience and one or two bad choses of shots cost us. They bowled ok but once again most of us got ourselves out. Still we did ok after our start. We managed to double our score after being 54-6.

We had a great tea once again and then out to field we went. Tom opened up and couldn't seem to find his line and length. With so few runs to play with I decided to try bowling myself. Looking back a wish I hadn't now. I don't really know what went wrong, just couldn't seem to get it right. My two overs went for 12, mostly wides so I asked Paul to have a go. Josh Atkinson was though doing a great job at the other end. He bowled a six over spell for few runs and took a wicket bowled. On another day he could have had alot more. He beat the bat several times. With them closing in quickly on our score I changed the bowling around giving Staddly a few overs. He was also unable to find his line and length. One positive though was Kristian Brown who bowled a couple of good overs and probably should have bowled instead of me. He took his first senior wicket and bowled no wides, a really great effort. Everyone made a good effort in the field, but with few runs to play with and some descent batsman they passed our total with 20 overs to spare. Not a great result for us, but I can't fault the effort. We came up against a descent side who played reasonably well. Graham Persson batted quite well and also did a good job keeping wicket. Kristian Brown did well in his first game and I hope he is keen to play regulary as he can only get better with experience because I saw plenty of potential in him. Although we lost our vice captain put in a great effort making 14 runs and bowling a really great spell. If he continues with this effort he is capable of having a great season with bat and ball. So this week Man of the Match goes to Josh Atkinson. Great effort bud keep it going. It's going to be a tough season but I hope we can dig in and keep up the effort which will hopefully see us have a good season. Just have to remember there is a long way to go. Not our day today, but I'm sure it will be soon. Thanks to all who played and the effort that was made. Cheers guys

Holsworthy won by 7 Wickets

Bideford C.C 2^nd 11

North Devon League Division 3

Season Review 2011

Top Five Bowlers

Top Five Batsman

Award Winners 2011

Batting- John Weeks

Bowling- Paul Shepherd

Fielding- James Greenleaf

All rounder- Dan Barratt

Captains Player Of The Season- Fred King

Bideford C.C 2^nd 11

North Devon League 2012

Preview

My first season as the Sunday 2nds captain was quite a difficult one at times. We did struggle but when we did have good selection we were able to put in some descent performances and just about managed to survive in division three. This season I fully expect to have many of the same issues cropping up. But I do really hope that a few extra players will make themselves available to play on Sundays. I am really keen not to have to travel with ten players in any game this season as this had a massive effect on the results of these games. Had we had full sides I'm convinced one or two results would have been different. In particular our away trip to Sandford. I would like to thank all those who played regularly last season as without you we wouldn't be able to raise a side. And also I'd like to thank all that stepped in last minute too. I hope all these players will be equally as committed this season. With one or two younger colts becoming available and hopefully a few more seniors too, I'm convinced we can put out good full sides and have a great season. Last season we lost several games due to a lack of concentration. With a very young side on occasions this was probably due to a lack of experience and not ability, which I believe we have plenty of. We just need to keep working hard, putting in the practice and give 100% every game we play in. Some of these guys have another years experience behind them and so I will be looking to them to push on and hopefully step up with some good performances. When things aren't going our way we need to keep our heads up and keep going right to the end. Once or twice last season we let opposition teams stroll to easy wins because we seemed to throw in the towel, almost accepting defeat. I've seen plenty of games turned around from impossible positions in the past. Continued fighting right to the end is what we need to do and then you never know. It wont always work but if there is no fight then you will never find out. We have some great players and if we all work together there is no reason why we couldn't have a great season. We just need one or two to step up and start fulfilling all the potential we know they have. Five or six of last seasons games were lost due to our own failings, mainly when batting. Had we been able to rectify these then we could have been very close to the top of the league. No team was too good for us and I believe that, that will be the case this season.

Fred King was my player of the season due to his commitment to playing, great attitude and of course his awesome improvement throughout the season. He played 30 second team games and 6 first team games and was only unavailable once which is an astounding effort. As second team captain, commitment to playing is massive to me as we quite often struggle to get a side out. And this is the main reason I give out the award. This amazing effort won him both second team awards and he has set a very high standard which I hope others will follow. I'm looking forward to the new season and hope plenty of others are too. We need to make sure we enjoy playing because that is the main reason we play and if we can do this then we will have a great season regardless of the results. Enjoyment will bring great performances and in turn hopefully bring positive results. I'm raring to go and hope everyone else is too. Lets have a great and enjoyable season. Good luck to all.

Cheers

John Weeks