Mad Dogs Vs Merion on 10/22/06 By JPM

The captain not being Quirk but Lawrence, the toss was won and the Dogs batted. Moore soon departed, yorked by Shaffikool for 4 (15 balls) with the score on 18 thanks mostly to wides from Prashant. Satish and Prasanna then put on a steady 32 against decent but not particularly threatening bowling before Satish sanjayed a horrible full toss from Ayaz to be caught by Parnell for 10 (28 balls).

A major stand of 79 in 14 overs then developed between Prasanna and Achal, neither batsman being troubled and both seeming content to roll the score along fairly steadily without too much fuss or drama. Soon after reaching 50, Prasanna appeared bored with proceedings, the bowling not being good enough to test his skills, and seemed to be attempting to hit catches. His skipper then asked him to retire to give some others a go, the doubly altruistic gesture crediting Prasanna with a not out that moved him to the top of the batting averages (60* from 60 balls, 3 x 4).

The next over, Achal was also asked to retire after a nice knock (41*, 54 balls, 2 x 4). Kimberley was then run out by the length of the pitch in a closing-overs muddle with Parag to leave with 8 (14 balls). Parag batted well in the final few overs to score 22 not out from 26 balls (1 x 4), helped by Simon (6 not out, 11 balls) as the Dogs' total meandered to 176 for 3 off 35 overs.

Simon and Santosh put in good opening spells, immediately putting the Merion run-rate behind the clock. Simon soon removed Charu for 0, who sliced a cut hard but straight to Lawrence at gully. Hounsell batted well, hitting some good shots in partnership with the adhesive Parnell before Santosh nipped one through his gate to bowl him for 18.

The next phase of the Merion innings was dominated by the highly aggressive Prashant, accompanied by a series of less talented partners, against an array of Dogs' slow bowling as Lawrence rang the changes (at one stage, five different bowlers bowled five consecutive overs from one end). One way or another the wickets were whittled away. David fell to Bhuiyan for 3, Kimberley juggling a catch at mid-wicket at least 3 times before wrapping the ball up in his fleece, then leg-spinner Parag removed Parnell after a long knock of 9, thanks to an easy catch to Prasanna off a mistimed shot. Ayaz was stumped by Banerjee, advancing to Parag and missing, and the critical wicket of Prashant (44) fell to the same bowler, a slog out to deep mid-wicket being well held by Kimberley (without any dubious use of the fleece.).

The remaining batsmen were pretty bunny-like, and Parag mowed two of them down in fine style, courtesy of a lobbed catch to Lawrence at short mid-wicket and an easy return catch to finish with excellent figures of 5 for 19. Kimberley took a wicket with a filthy full toss (totally planned - nk) that was top-edged by Martin straight to Simon at square leg, and Moore bowled Danish for 0, the batsman simply missing a straight one. Shafikool, a very decent player, came in at #10, way too low to make an impact. The final total was 111 all out from 29.5 overs, leaving the Dogs comfortable winners by 65 runs.

Simon 5-1-19-1
Santosh 6-1-14-1
Bhuiyan 5-0-25-1
Parag 6-0-19-5
Lawrence 2-0-12-0
Prasanna 1-1-0-0
Moore 3.5-1-6-1
Kimberley 1-0-4-1

Mad Dogs Vs BOCC 10/21 By JPM

A bright cold day in Philadelphia saw Quirk lose his 13th consecutive toss, a 1:8192 against probability, prompting speculation about parallel universes in which Quirk won 13 consecutive tosses, and also scored some runs - but the odds on the latter were considered just too astronomical to calculate. The Dogs were therefore inserted.

Bhuiyan and Lawrence put on a steady 46 against good swing bowling, Bhuiyan riding some early luck but eventually settling in, and Lawrence looking as formidably solid as ever. The first wicket fell to a run-out, Bhuiyan failing to beat a nice throw from fine leg to be out for 11 (38 balls).

Quirk scored a decent-enough 9 from 18 balls before unaccountably driving one straight to deep mid-off. Kimberley then joined the gradually accelerating Lawrence to add 40 in sprightly style, with a few meaty blows, before he too drove a catch to the deep, this time off the veteran Griffiths to leave with 17 (24 balls, 1 x 4).

Banerjee then promptly ran out Lawrence, never a good idea, soon after the man had reached yet ANOTHER 50, a typical innings of care and power when needed (54, 83 balls, 5 x 4). Moore emulated Kimberley by driving the same bowler to a deep straight fielder (2, 6 balls). Then, as the overs ran out, wickets tumbled: Satish slogged a full toss vertically to be caught and bowled for 8 (14 balls); Ike's first ball for the club knocked his middle stump out; and then in the last over, Santosh was stumped for 3 (5 balls) and Simon caught behind for 0 (4 balls), leaving Banerjee not out on 14 (21 balls, 1 x 4), a useful knock in the closing stages of the innings. The final total of 147 for 9 from 35 overs didn't look to be enough.

Simon took an early wicket, bowling Satish for 2 with a beauty that nipped back nicely. But Hasan and Vikri batted solidly against Simon, Satish and Santosh, scoring steadily to take the score to 60. Moore, on for Simon, made the breakthrough, persuading Hasan to drive in the air to deep mid-off where Bhuiyan judged the catch well, out for 30.

Moore took a second wicket soon after, Turner getting a thick edge to cover, where Harrison held an excellent one-handed catch. The slow bowler was a little unlucky not to take a couple more wickets, as catches were dropped or didn't quite go to hand. Quirk bowled well without luck, and Harrison was responsible for the next wicket, fielding a drive off his own bowling and shying down the stumps at the bowler's end, with Khan out of his ground - sharp work!

But the steady Vikri and the highly aggressive Sri whittled away at the total pretty quickly, Sri in particular taking a liking for whatever was bowled his way. Harrison was unlucky to have Sri dropped in the deep twice in an over off big hits, as the batsman decided the long-handle was the thing to use. The end came soon after Vikri reached a well-deserved 50, with Sri also unbeaten on 38 and the total on 151 for 4 in 30.5 overs. The Dogs were a bit outgunned today.

Simon 6.5-1-24-1
Satish 4-0-16-0
Santosh 3-0-20-0
Moore 7-0-31-2
Quirk 5-0-19-0
Harrison 4-0-26-0
Ike 1-0-4-0

Mad Dogs Vs BOCC 10/21 By JPM

A bright cold day in Philadelphia saw Quirk lose his 13th consecutive toss, a 1:8192 against probability, prompting speculation about parallel universes in which Quirk won 13 consecutive tosses, and also scored some runs - but the odds on the latter were considered just too astronomical to calculate. The Dogs were therefore inserted.

Bhuiyan and Lawrence put on a steady 46 against good swing bowling, Bhuiyan riding some early luck but eventually settling in, and Lawrence looking as formidably solid as ever. The first wicket fell to a run-out, Bhuiyan failing to beat a nice throw from fine leg to be out for 11 (38 balls).

Quirk scored a decent-enough 9 from 18 balls before unaccountably driving one straight to deep mid-off. Kimberley then joined the gradually accelerating Lawrence to add 40 in sprightly style, with a few meaty blows, before he too drove a catch to the deep, this time off the veteran Griffiths to leave with 17 (24 balls, 1 x 4).

Banerjee then promptly ran out Lawrence, never a good idea, soon after the man had reached yet ANOTHER 50, a typical innings of care and power when needed (54, 83 balls, 5 x 4). Moore emulated Kimberley by driving the same bowler to a deep straight fielder (2, 6 balls). Then, as the overs ran out, wickets tumbled: Satish slogged a full toss vertically to be caught and bowled for 8 (14 balls); Ike's first ball for the club knocked his middle stump out; and then in the last over, Santosh was stumped for 3 (5 balls) and Simon caught behind for 0 (4 balls), leaving Banerjee not out on 14 (21 balls, 1 x 4), a useful knock in the closing stages of the innings. The final total of 147 for 9 from 35 overs didn't look to be enough.

Simon took an early wicket, bowling Satish for 2 with a beauty that nipped back nicely. But Hasan and Vikri batted solidly against Simon, Satish and Santosh, scoring steadily to take the score to 60. Moore, on for Simon, made the breakthrough, persuading Hasan to drive in the air to deep mid-off where Bhuiyan judged the catch well, out for 30.

Moore took a second wicket soon after, Turner getting a thick edge to cover, where Harrison held an excellent one-handed catch. The slow bowler was a little unlucky not to take a couple more wickets, as catches were dropped or didn't quite go to hand. Quirk bowled well without luck, and Harrison was responsible for the next wicket, fielding a drive off his own bowling and shying down the stumps at the bowler's end, with Khan out of his ground - sharp work!

But the steady Vikri and the highly aggressive Sri whittled away at the total pretty quickly, Sri in particular taking a liking for whatever was bowled his way. Harrison was unlucky to have Sri dropped in the deep twice in an over off big hits, as the batsman decided the long-handle was the thing to use. The end came soon after Vikri reached a well-deserved 50, with Sri also unbeaten on 38 and the total on 151 for 4 in 30.5 overs. The Dogs were a bit outgunned today.

Simon 6.5-1-24-1
Satish 4-0-16-0
Santosh 3-0-20-0
Moore 7-0-31-2
Quirk 5-0-19-0
Harrison 4-0-26-0
Ike 1-0-4-0

End Of Year Stats

Any thoughts on whether the stats from the "Dogs in their prime" v "Dogs over the hill" game should count in the season tally? I think that certainly the stats gained by the "Over 40s" should count as there is no question of the legitimacy of the opposition but is it really fair to count us taking the wickets of a few old-timers or dispatching some military-medium pace bowling to the fence??? Any opinions??? :-)

Follow Up - Space Available!

Still short two players for Saturday, and one for Philadelphia... Let me know if you want to play

Neil K

10/7 One Last Change by NK

Now a game vs Westchester - but they have 9 guys, so we will sub them 2...

At least we have a real opposition for a real game

N

10/7... Change in Schedule - By Neil K

Tri City got cold feet about the drive down, so its time for us to make make the best of a tough situation.

With loads of people available, it seems that the best alternative may be to play an intrasquad game, rather than just cancel.

Please let me know if you have any additional ideas on players - we are at around 15 currently - with a goal of 20 or so.

I have reached out to Yale to see if any of their lads may be interested etc.

Look for updates

Neil

Neil H - our multitalented captain

I found an article in the website of Japan's Indian based cricket team, confirming our captain Neil Harrion's multi skills. Not only being a an excellent captain and a slow bowler who bowls like "throwing a pie", as quoted by one opposition, he is reportedly an excellent unmpire. Please see the link below where Neil Harrison umpires in the women's international cricket games between Japan and Papua New Genia. Neil, we thought your recent trip to Japan was for a conference, and not for following Japanse girls!

http://www.ieccjapan.com/newsletter/newsletter67.htm

Also, take look at another article on the same page taking about some international athletes like Kapil Dev, Mike Gatting, Dion Nash, Pat Symcox, Devon Malcolm, Ray Bright, Clive Rice and South African rugby World Cup winner, Joel Stransky have recently got together for a charity cricket game in Tokyo. Sorry, Tony and Keith, I had the invitations from Japanese Cricket Association for you guys but I failed to forward it to you.

Hide