Buccaneers Cricket Club

2013 fixtures, match managers and other details have been published.

The fixture card can be accessed by clicking on this  link: Members Fixture Card.

Copies of the fixture card will be posted to members shortly.

Order before 30th April to be included in a list of Patrons

Richard Gwynn, our very own Hack Laureate, has contributed a chapter on the club to a new history of wandering cricket. Titled ‘Gentleman, gypsies and jesters’, it is published in July.

Written and edited by Anthony Gibson and Stephen Chalke (both past winners of the MCC & Cricket Society Book of the Year prizes), it is a 320-page guide to over 120 wandering clubs, and also features pieces on Old Boys cricket such as the Cricketer Cup.

If ordered directly (see details in the flyer – link below), all proceeds after postage will go to Chance to Shine – a charity aimed at keeping cricket alive in schools. Already the charity has reached 6,500 schools, but with only 10% of state schools playing cricket, a huge opportunity remains.

Gentlemen, gypsies and jesters order form

Order before 30 April and you can have your name included in a list of Patrons at the back of the book. The book costs £25, with a further £15 donation allowing you to be a Friend of Chance to Shine (you’ll also receive a free tie).

If you have any questions, please contact Richard Gwynn.

Who were the leading batsmen and bowlers in 2012?

Will the leading all rounder have a higher batting than bowling average?

To find the answers to these and other questions, click on the link below:

Buccs_in_2012_averages final

The Annual Dinner will again be hosted at the East India Club on Thursday 28th February. The AGM at 18.30 will be followed by dinner at 19.30.

Ticket application forms and speaker details will be available shortly.

To read an inspiring tribute and obituary of our much-loved team-mate Ed How, who was killed in a skiing accident in March, please click on the below link to the latest edition of the Carthusian magazine (pages 28-30).

http://issuu.com/schoolwebsite/docs/carthusian-2012?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

End of term ‘House match’ report.

Rydon Royals A*

Stringer Super Kings C

After sterling work by James Stringer in gathering enough Buccaneers and ringers for the annual end of season clash (and ancillary work by Simon Woolfries in coordinating lunch and tea with the Dog and Pheasant) all was set for a prompt 11.00am start in glorious sunshine. However, Bob Palmer was late and as his car contained four players we had to wait for the strike bowler to pitch up.

First delivery at 11.30am and all was tickety-boo with the world. Bob and Paul McCann bowled a tidy opening spell and accounted for ‘China’ White and Simon Leefe. However, in the new political climate where Conservatives can bed down with Liberal Democrats, Jim Harcourt can play for the Royals. And play he did. In a masterful display of man management, Rob coaxed the best out of Jim who played a powerful yet controlled innings. Apart from a sharp chance off Adam Wyartt, who was having his ludus horribilis, Jim ground effortlessly through the gears. Phil Hobcraft, with a welcome return to the fold, took up where he had left off and complimented Jim with a range of classy shots all round the wicket. When he had had enough, Rob Rydon joined proceedings and showed his limited range of aerial leg side assaults (hitting a parked car – luckily on the first bounce), before falling to a sharp catch in the gulley by Paul Hobson off Bob. Apart from Jim showing his lack of fitness and running skills, the sparks continued to fly as he dispatched all and sundry for a well deserved century. Will Digby and Sandy Henderson (accounted for by Ben Kee) and finally Miles Collin kept Jim company at various stages, with Warwick Okines being kept in reserve. So a declaration came at 227 for 8 with half the day done.

Was it enough? Probably. Did the Super Kings (Players) have the skill to fend off and dispatch a mainly public school attack? At tea the answer was definitely no, with Stringer and the Chakravarti brothers back in the hutch at 21 for 3. Half an hour after tea the answer was still no as the Super Kings slumped to 35 for 7. The Sherborne pace attack had been replaced by the crafty spin twins from Radley and Haileybury (Leefe and Okines) and all looked lost for the Players. However, grammar school boy Richard Gwynn was not going to be beaten by Dave Cameron’s palls and dug in doggedly with the classy Paul Hobson (another Buccaneer back from exile). With ten overs to go, it looked like they had done enough to hold out for the draw. However, Rob had other ideas and was keen for a beer. So, returning down the hill, he had Hack caught behind with his first ball and castled Bob Palmer with his third. Adam countered the triple wicket maiden with a lusty blow through the vacant third slip area, but fell soon after to Paul Hobcraft’s crafty spin.

All out for not many, and a great evening of non-gloating (far too well brought up) for the Royals in the pub.

Innings of Rydon Royals

S White b McCann 5

S Leefe b Palmer 5

J Harcourt not out 120

P Hobcraft b Carter 31

D Close lbw Carter 7

R Rydon ct Hobson bPalmer 30

W Digby ct Morgan b Kee 2

S Henderson lbw Kee 0

M Collin not out 6

Extras 19

Total 226 for 7 dec

Bowling

R Palmer 11-1-49-2

P McCann 10-1-34-1

A Wyartt 3-0-24-0

J Carter 7-0-31-2

P Hobson 8-1-43-0

B Kee 4-0-18-2

R Gwynn 2-0-13-0

Innings of Stringer Super Kings

J Stringer lbw Rydon 1

Subir Chakravarti b Rydon 9

Sujay Chakravarti lbw Digby 10

P Hobson not out 37

A Morgan ct Hobcraft b Leefe 4

B Kee ct Digby b Okines 0

J Carter b Leefe 0

P McCann b Leefe 0

R Gwynn bct Harcourt b Rydon 4

R Palmer b Rydon 0

A Wyartt ct b Hobcraft 0

Extras 5

Total 76 all out

Bowling

R Rydon 6-2-14-4

W Digby 5-0-8-1

W Okines 8-2-11-1

S Leefe 10-5-11-3

M Collin 5-2-11-0

P Hobcraft 4-0-13-1

Grey, overcast and damp were the conditions to great the match manager as he popped back from Portugal for the weekend to play in this fixture. Things didn’t get any better as he lost the toss and was invited to field in this forty over match. Apart from debutant, Crispin Vollers and Warwick Okines, the Buccaneers singularly failed to field, as crucial catches went down throughout the afternoon. Neil Robertson shelled a sitter at mid on when their No 3 was on 18. Unfortunately he went on to make 114 not out. Neil made amends by fathering Hamish (aged 12) who bowled the tidiest spell of a messy afternoon.

Catches were also dropped by Rob Rydon, Subir Chakravarti, Jim Harcourt and Richard Gwynn. Any way, enough of the naming and shaming; Crispin flung himself around in the outfield, James Stinger, Subir and Jim held on to catches; Rob, Hack and OllyKayes took a wicket each but Henley romped to 285 off their allotted 40 overs.

So eight an over was the asking rate. James and Subir started circumspectly as was appropriate. However, the rate accelerated as Crispin entered the fray. A debut innings of fifty and out was played in true swashbuckling Buccaneers’ style. The fact that Crispin scored his fifty with 11 fours and one six was even more impressive. Neil Robertson started to make amends for his drop with some sound batting and after he was joined by Rob the run rate accelerated. After 15 overs, the Buccs were ahead of Henley at a comparable stage. Sadly,

Neil’s flexibility deteriorated and a pulled groin resulted in a runner and askier (at least no run out). Rob went in a similar aerial destruction as Henley showed how to hold on to catches. Simon Woolfries and Hack poked around in the damp and gloomy conditions but even so were somewhat surprised when the umpire lifted the balls and declared it was too dark to play. A few beers later, in the smartly refurbished pavilion, Hack was heard to state that ‘not in my fifty years of cricket have I ever gone off for bad light’.

Innings of Henley

B Mitchell ct Chakravarti b Gwynn 110

P Neville ct Harcourt b Rydon 1

N Johnson not out 114

S Davison ct Stringer b Kayes 25

A Johnson not out 19

Extras 16

Total 285 for 3 (40 overs)

Bowling

O Kayes 8-0-60-1

R Rydon 9-0-65-1

W Okines 7-0-41-0

S Woolfries 8-0-48-0

H Robertson 5-0-32-0

R Gwynn 3-0-27-1

Innings of Buccaneers

J Stringer ct Johnson b Chapell 27

S Chakravarti ct b Laing 2

C Voller ct b Chapell 50

J Harcourt b Chapell 1

N Robertson ct b M Hussain 23

R Rydon ct b E Hussain 39

S Woolfries not out 3

O Kayes lbw M Hussain 2

R Gwynn not out 13

Total 165 for 7 (33 overs)

Bowling

DWilliams 5-0-28-0

H Laing 5-0-22-1

J Neville 5-2-21-0

H Chapell 6-1-31-3

M Hussain 5-0-42-2

E Hussain 5-1-13-1

P Neville 2-0-9-0

For the second consecutive year, a warm sunny day greeted our 11 Buccaneers for the match at Brook. The toss was again won by skipper Simon Woolfries and we chose to bat on a reasonable deck.

Openers Doug Murphy (over from Oz for the Olympics) and Sujay Chakravarti bludgeoned Brook’s bowlers from the get-go, but Murphy was bowled for 14 by Wrenn.

Striding to the wicket came Pete Wilson, Stratford upon Avon CC’s Australian overseas, and in a breath-taking innings smashed the ball to all parts of the ground. He reached his century in a staggering 68 minutes.

With some well-crafted stroke play and some expansive shot making Sujay (56) and Wilson had taken us to 201 for 1 at lunch, a commanding position.

After lunch (and with his subs paid up to date) we welcomed back Paul Hobson (33 n.o) to the Buccaneers fold after a three year absence and with the assistance of Subir Chakravarti (14) and a solid knock from Will Metcalfe (43 n.o), we declared on an impressive 313 for 4 from only 40 overs.

Our opening bowling attack this year included the pace of Justin de Jager, another Stratford CC overseas, from Cape Town who also made his debut for the Buccs in the searing heat.

Things began shakily as he was hit for 10 from his first over but with able support from Metcalfe who trapped Ward LBW for 14, Brook succumbed to the pressure and were 47 for 1. De Jager found his rhythm and kept the Brook batsmen at bay, bowling 15 overs but only receiving 1 for 50 for his tireless efforts.

The introduction of John Bryant proved decisive, and by taking the pace of the ball, bamboozled Mann, the Kiwi opener who relinquished his wicket for 77. He also bowled Smithers cheekily, and had Straker fabulously caught by De Jager diving forward two handed at point. His spell finished with figures of 12 overs, 3 for 51.

Archie Marsh was then brought into the attack to add some guile to the proceedings and ended with an excellent bowling spell of 10 overs, 2 for 57, removing Allen for 42 and catching Davenport LBW for 0.

With Woolfries stealing an LBW, 1 for 21 from his 5 overs, and Wilson being introduced into the attack to remove the tail-enders (6 overs, 2 for 7), our quartet of spinners proved too much for Brook’s batsmen.  Coupled with top notch catches from the 3M’s (Metcalfe, Murphy and Marsh) and with some excellent ground fielding we dismissed them for 212 in 54 overs to seal a truly emphatic victory!

Sunshine, full team (well almost as farmer Will was sorting out some hay),and winning the toss. What more can you ask for? It was an easy decision for the skipper to have a bat with the dream team opening combo of Kim Ross and Doug Murphy.  Runs, they came a plenty, but Doug was certainly suffering from his arthritic ankle (gout?) and could only hobble to a quick 30 before being LBW. Jim Mann entered and provided support for Kim who effortlessly placed the ball around the ground. A bit of a dampener with Jim being bowled in the last over before lunch, but 152 for 2 was not a bad place to be. Will Rydon lunched well and had to be hurried away from seconds of cheese and biscuits to go and bat. He played as gracefully as Kim (which is very gracefully) and kept the score board rattling along. At last a Buccaneer recorded a century, in this dampest of seasons, as Kim deservedly hit the mark. But then things fell apart a bit – Will caught, Richard ‘The Hack’ Gwynne retiring hurt with a torn hamstring (too much Olympics) and then Kim out as well. Olly Kayes came and went and it was left to Rob Rydon and Warwick Okines to steady the ship. A fifth wicket partnership of 62 restored order, with Rob clearing the ropes a few times. However, Warwick was heard to grumble that he was only 96 short of his hundred and we may have declared a bit too early on 266 for 5.

 So to bowling and fielding, with Rob down the hill and Adam Wyatt up it. Adam employed the random deliveries tactics and surprised Doug at first slip with a catch which went down. No worries, Adam’s next over induced another edge and Doug stooped low to hold on to it. That was the last of the good news for a while. Adam tested our highly qualified scorer, John Marsh ACA, with a nine ball over followed by a ten ball over and OHJ’s took tea at 81 for 1.  Olly showed good pace up the hill, while Harry Mann steamed down it. Rob dropped the opener at mid-on off Olly and as he went on to score another hundred against us, probably changed the course of the game. Anyway, we were soon able to bring on our two leg spinners (that’s proper wrist spinners, not SLABs) and Warwick and Archie Marsh toiled away causing the occasional false shot. However, the batsmen were well set and familiar with the easy paced pitch and the next bit of excitement was in the 29^th over when Wozzer bowled a maiden. Near the end, Adam took a high catch out of the sun off Warwick, but it was far too little too late and OHJ’s romped home with two wickets down.

Murphy 22, Ross 115, J.Mann 21, W.Rydon 20, Gwynn 1(retrd hurt),Kayes4, R.Rydon 58*, Okines 4*, H.Mann, Wyartt,A.Marsh dnb

Wild ct Murphy, bwld Wyartt 2, Semmance 125*, Viggor ct Wyartt, bwld Okines 107, Harrison 22*

 R.Rydon 5ov 0 for 29

Wyarrt 3 ov 1 for 34

Kayes 8.2 ov 0 for 61

Okines 9 ov 1 for 44 ( 1 maiden)

H.Mann 6 ov 0 for 42

A.Marsh 8 ov 0 for 53