July saw another month of unrelenting heat and sunshine with grounds rapidly resembling the Sahara desert and the only interruption to the flow of games being England’s unexpected progress in the football World Cup.
U10s - Our U10s had a difficult month, with a playing record of played 4, won 1 lost 3.
Our solitary win came against Coseley with a convincing win by 77 runs with all players chipping in with runs and a particularly good bowling performance by U9 Harees Mohammed with his promising in-swing bowling.
In our two other games in the Powell-Tandy Shield, we lost, away to a strong Wombourne team by 21 runs with Kieran Patel (also U9) impressive with 23 and also lost narrowly to Halesowen by 14 runs.
We have now completed our programme in this league, currently lying 3rd in the table behind Wombourne and Halesowen and will now qualify for U10s Finals Day at Himley on Sunday 9th September.
The only game we played in the WCB County Premier Division was a competitive game against Ombersley which we lost by 23 runs which is respectable against an always strong Club at this age. Excellent batting by captain, Jack Cookson with a brilliant 30 and Joe Harris with excellent bowling figures.
We currently lie 4th in this league with 3 games to be played.
U11s - Our U11s enjoyed a successful month with a record of played 6, won 5 and lost 1.
We started with a win at Coombs Wood by 37 runs with Ariyan Nagi having a great game with bat and ball; 25 not out and bowling figures of 3-0-5-3.
We then had a big win at home against Earlswood with runs all down the order and 3 wickets apiece for Harveer Rai and Jonathan Blewitt.
We also recorded a great win against our big rivals Halesowen by 48 runs with Joe Wright in the runs with 27 not out and some excellent, disciplined bowling backed up by great fielding with Dan Wainwright getting a brace of wickets to peg back the Halesowen reply.
We have now completed our programme of matches in the WCB North 8 a-side pairs competition and I’m pleased to say we won the league comfortably with 8 wins out of 10, so well done all. We now await who we play in the next stage of this competition.
The U11s played 3 games in the WCB County Premiership Division, winning 2 and losing 1.
We had a great win in a tight game against Bromsgrove. Bromsgrove posted a competitive 135 in their 20 overs with Jack Cookson being the stand out bowler with figures of 4-0-12-2. We paced our reply excellently with the top 3 batsmen all retiring on 30s not out (Dan Wainwright 30*, Joe Wright 32* and Jack Cookson 30*). But with their retirements, panic set in a little and we lost wickets regularly, leaving the last pair at the crease needing 4 off the last over. Shaurya Gupta held his nerve and pulled Bromsgrove’s leg spinner for 4 through mid-wicket for a great win.
Our only loss was against our nemesis at this age, Worcester. We bowled well to restrict them to 115 with a disciplined bowling performance but Worcester were excellent in the field and despite a 30 not out from captain, Joe Wright, we fell short by 11 runs.
We now lie 3rd in this League with 3 games to go.
U12s - Our U12s had a good month with a playing record of played 6, won 4 and lost 2.
The month started with a massive 119 runs win away at Oldswinford with Rohan Patel in the runs with a 30 not out and Amit Rajput and Keane Gutteridge getting 3 wickets apiece. In the same WCB North 8 a-side pairs league, we beat Beacon at home by a large margin with the most startling statistic being the 56 wides bowled by Beacon. Much tighter bowling by Himley restricted Beacon’s reply with U9 Kieran Patel’s excellent figures of 3-0-11-3.
Another huge win at Coombs Wood by 114 runs followed with Will Kirkham and Rohan Patel in the runs and Aarav Jillela picking up a brace of wickets.
A closer game followed against Stourbridge at home by 23 runs. We posted an imposing 156 off our 20 overs and Stourbridge were always in with a sniff but excellent all round bowling and fielding allowed us to restrict the Glassboys to 133-2.
We visited Halesowen with a weakened team due to school trips etc and despite restricting them to 120-3, we lacked a little batting on the day and fell 28 runs shy.
So, with 8 wins out of 10, we finished this pairs league in a highly respectable 2nd place to Halesowen who won all their games. I think only the league winner progresses to the next stage of this competition so good luck to Halesowen.
Our only game in the WCB County Premiership League was an away defeat at Barnt Green. We restricted the Greenys to 122-8 with some excellent bowling and fielding but disappointingly fell short of the target by 7 runs.
The U12s now lie 5th in a league of 12 with 5 games to go.
U13s - The U13s had a busy month in the Reg Barber Memorial Trophy pairs league with 7 games in total and struggled to compete throughout. Despite this poor record, the small squad of players remained committed and most of the 7 or 8 players played nearly all the games, proving the old adage “it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that counts”.
We started the month with a discouraging loss at home to Coseley by 46 runs who we had beaten earlier in the season.
This was followed by a home defeat by Beacon by 64 runs with the game taking place on the main ground which obviously inspired the visitors more than it did the hosts.
This was followed by back to back defeats by Halesowen, home and away, by large margins which was very dispiriting.
The following game at home to Swindon broke the drought, metaphorically speaking, with an overwhelming win by 94 runs and welcome respite from the run of defeats.
The next two games, albeit we lost both, away at Wombourne and Beacon, I detected an improvement all round which gives us encouragement for next season.
U14s – Not a great month for the U14s; a quiet month starting with a very narrow 3 runs defeat to Pedmore with too many lost wickets in this format of the game (10 a-side pairs). We then suffered another defeat to Stourbridge with again the loss of wickets being punitive and so unfortunately, in a tight, competitive league, we finished bottom.
In the only other game the U14s played in July, we hosted Barnt Green in the quarter-final of the Worcestershire Cup. Barnt Green were inserted and racked up an intimidating total of 154-7 off their 20 overs with their nr 4 who Barnt Green had arranged to be released early from a County match, scoring a crucial quick 44 not out. Himley suffered the setback of losing captain, Hasan Ahmed early and were always behind the “eight ball” in this tough chase despite a fighting 40 from Ben Southern. So good luck to Barnt Green in their semi-final and perhaps Himley will ask for their County player to be released in future to even things up………
U15s - The U15s started the month with two games in the WCB North 11 a-side league. The first, at home to Old Wulfs, saw us bowl out the visitors for 91 with good bowling all round, particularly Dan Ross with his leg breaks, giving him figures of 4-0-18-3. We knocked off the runs in only 10 overs with Ben Hopkins and Ross Unitt being the belligerent batsmen.
In the second game in this league, we visited Wightwick and Finchfield and restricted the host team to 100 exactly off their 20 overs. Himley cantered to a comfortable 6 wickets win with Hasan Ahmed retiring on 51* and George Turner chipping in with 24.
The final game in this 11 a-side league finished in a disappointing defeat away at Halesowen.
The final league standings saw the U15s finishing runners-up to Wombourne with 5 wins from their 7 games, so well done.
The other two games played by the U15s in July were both in the 8 a-side Dennis Lewis Trophy which would see them complete their programme of games in the league format. Disappointingly, we lost again at Halesowen by a convincing margin of 43 runs and then gained a win concession from Old Wulfs who were unable to raise a team with holidays beginning to kick in.
Our final game was away at Coseley on a dust bowl of a wicket that resembled a 5th day pitch in Calcutta. We managed to toe end a few runs on an utterly dead strip which made run scoring almost impossible. Coseley made even harder work of it and we ran out winners by 67 runs.
So our final standing in this pairs league was top with only Old Wulfs capable of equalling our points tally.
The U15s will now play in a semi-final match at home for the right to join the U10s at Finals Day at Himley on 9th September.
U16s - It would be fair to say that the much anticipated U16 season of games has been a complete and utter disaster.
The late start of matches was designed to avoid clashes and unavailability in the exam period but a combination of England’s surprising progress in the football World Cup, Enville’s withdrawal from the competition, Kidderminster’s disinterest in playing any games and various Clubs failing to show up for scheduled games, both home and away, have made a mockery of this year’s once prestigious Alf Foley Memorial Trophy. We even had Halesowen call off a game in the driest Summer for 40 years because of a waterlogged square.
We did get to play some cricket in this competition however, starting off with a home defeat to Swindon. 129-7 off our allotted overs was never going to be enough and Swindon duly knocked off the runs; U14 Will Trinham picked up 3 wickets though.
The second game in the competition was one of the most extraordinary I’ve seen in many a year. Barnt Green were our visitors and at 6.15pm, Himley only had 7 players, due to reasons I won’t bore you with. Joe McKaig’s sister, Molly agreed to play, so we got underway with Barnt Green also lending us a couple of players. Barnt Green lost a couple of early wickets but their nrs 3 and 4 took the score to 120-2 off 14 overs with a big total seemingly imminent. Both nrs 3 and 4 retired when they reached 50 and Luca Wright then proceeded to scythe through the remaining batting with his medium pace, backed up by some good catching and we incredibly restricted The Green to 133 all out, with a Luca hat-trick and amazing overall bowling figures of 4-0-15-6. Himley’s reply started disastrously and we were 25-4 off 6 overs when Dan Ross joined Scott Ralph. They started cautiously, with Scott aware that if both players could get close to 50 but not retire, we were in with a chance. We slowly gained more confidence, with Dan taking the majority of the strike and with the help of 35 extras, we got the winning runs with a Scott boundary. An epic win again against a clearly shell-shocked Barnt Green.
However, we came back to earth with a bump in our return match with Swindon. Swindon put up a decent score of 159 on their small ground and despite a 68 from Scott, we fell 20 runs short but we are still in with a chance of qualifying for the next stage of the Midlands Taverners competition.
Next month’s newsletter will be the last of the season and a quick heads up that Junior Presentation Evening will take place at the Club on Thursday 27th September.
Matt Wall – 10/08/2018
Junior Chairman
U10s - Our U10s had a difficult month, with a playing record of played 4, won 1 lost 3.
Our solitary win came against Coseley with a convincing win by 77 runs with all players chipping in with runs and a particularly good bowling performance by U9 Harees Mohammed with his promising in-swing bowling.
In our two other games in the Powell-Tandy Shield, we lost, away to a strong Wombourne team by 21 runs with Kieran Patel (also U9) impressive with 23 and also lost narrowly to Halesowen by 14 runs.
We have now completed our programme in this league, currently lying 3rd in the table behind Wombourne and Halesowen and will now qualify for U10s Finals Day at Himley on Sunday 9th September.
The only game we played in the WCB County Premier Division was a competitive game against Ombersley which we lost by 23 runs which is respectable against an always strong Club at this age. Excellent batting by captain, Jack Cookson with a brilliant 30 and Joe Harris with excellent bowling figures.
We currently lie 4th in this league with 3 games to be played.
U11s - Our U11s enjoyed a successful month with a record of played 6, won 5 and lost 1.
We started with a win at Coombs Wood by 37 runs with Ariyan Nagi having a great game with bat and ball; 25 not out and bowling figures of 3-0-5-3.
We then had a big win at home against Earlswood with runs all down the order and 3 wickets apiece for Harveer Rai and Jonathan Blewitt.
We also recorded a great win against our big rivals Halesowen by 48 runs with Joe Wright in the runs with 27 not out and some excellent, disciplined bowling backed up by great fielding with Dan Wainwright getting a brace of wickets to peg back the Halesowen reply.
We have now completed our programme of matches in the WCB North 8 a-side pairs competition and I’m pleased to say we won the league comfortably with 8 wins out of 10, so well done all. We now await who we play in the next stage of this competition.
The U11s played 3 games in the WCB County Premiership Division, winning 2 and losing 1.
We had a great win in a tight game against Bromsgrove. Bromsgrove posted a competitive 135 in their 20 overs with Jack Cookson being the stand out bowler with figures of 4-0-12-2. We paced our reply excellently with the top 3 batsmen all retiring on 30s not out (Dan Wainwright 30*, Joe Wright 32* and Jack Cookson 30*). But with their retirements, panic set in a little and we lost wickets regularly, leaving the last pair at the crease needing 4 off the last over. Shaurya Gupta held his nerve and pulled Bromsgrove’s leg spinner for 4 through mid-wicket for a great win.
Our only loss was against our nemesis at this age, Worcester. We bowled well to restrict them to 115 with a disciplined bowling performance but Worcester were excellent in the field and despite a 30 not out from captain, Joe Wright, we fell short by 11 runs.
We now lie 3rd in this League with 3 games to go.
U12s - Our U12s had a good month with a playing record of played 6, won 4 and lost 2.
The month started with a massive 119 runs win away at Oldswinford with Rohan Patel in the runs with a 30 not out and Amit Rajput and Keane Gutteridge getting 3 wickets apiece. In the same WCB North 8 a-side pairs league, we beat Beacon at home by a large margin with the most startling statistic being the 56 wides bowled by Beacon. Much tighter bowling by Himley restricted Beacon’s reply with U9 Kieran Patel’s excellent figures of 3-0-11-3.
Another huge win at Coombs Wood by 114 runs followed with Will Kirkham and Rohan Patel in the runs and Aarav Jillela picking up a brace of wickets.
A closer game followed against Stourbridge at home by 23 runs. We posted an imposing 156 off our 20 overs and Stourbridge were always in with a sniff but excellent all round bowling and fielding allowed us to restrict the Glassboys to 133-2.
We visited Halesowen with a weakened team due to school trips etc and despite restricting them to 120-3, we lacked a little batting on the day and fell 28 runs shy.
So, with 8 wins out of 10, we finished this pairs league in a highly respectable 2nd place to Halesowen who won all their games. I think only the league winner progresses to the next stage of this competition so good luck to Halesowen.
Our only game in the WCB County Premiership League was an away defeat at Barnt Green. We restricted the Greenys to 122-8 with some excellent bowling and fielding but disappointingly fell short of the target by 7 runs.
The U12s now lie 5th in a league of 12 with 5 games to go.
U13s - The U13s had a busy month in the Reg Barber Memorial Trophy pairs league with 7 games in total and struggled to compete throughout. Despite this poor record, the small squad of players remained committed and most of the 7 or 8 players played nearly all the games, proving the old adage “it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that counts”.
We started the month with a discouraging loss at home to Coseley by 46 runs who we had beaten earlier in the season.
This was followed by a home defeat by Beacon by 64 runs with the game taking place on the main ground which obviously inspired the visitors more than it did the hosts.
This was followed by back to back defeats by Halesowen, home and away, by large margins which was very dispiriting.
The following game at home to Swindon broke the drought, metaphorically speaking, with an overwhelming win by 94 runs and welcome respite from the run of defeats.
The next two games, albeit we lost both, away at Wombourne and Beacon, I detected an improvement all round which gives us encouragement for next season.
U14s – Not a great month for the U14s; a quiet month starting with a very narrow 3 runs defeat to Pedmore with too many lost wickets in this format of the game (10 a-side pairs). We then suffered another defeat to Stourbridge with again the loss of wickets being punitive and so unfortunately, in a tight, competitive league, we finished bottom.
In the only other game the U14s played in July, we hosted Barnt Green in the quarter-final of the Worcestershire Cup. Barnt Green were inserted and racked up an intimidating total of 154-7 off their 20 overs with their nr 4 who Barnt Green had arranged to be released early from a County match, scoring a crucial quick 44 not out. Himley suffered the setback of losing captain, Hasan Ahmed early and were always behind the “eight ball” in this tough chase despite a fighting 40 from Ben Southern. So good luck to Barnt Green in their semi-final and perhaps Himley will ask for their County player to be released in future to even things up………
U15s - The U15s started the month with two games in the WCB North 11 a-side league. The first, at home to Old Wulfs, saw us bowl out the visitors for 91 with good bowling all round, particularly Dan Ross with his leg breaks, giving him figures of 4-0-18-3. We knocked off the runs in only 10 overs with Ben Hopkins and Ross Unitt being the belligerent batsmen.
In the second game in this league, we visited Wightwick and Finchfield and restricted the host team to 100 exactly off their 20 overs. Himley cantered to a comfortable 6 wickets win with Hasan Ahmed retiring on 51* and George Turner chipping in with 24.
The final game in this 11 a-side league finished in a disappointing defeat away at Halesowen.
The final league standings saw the U15s finishing runners-up to Wombourne with 5 wins from their 7 games, so well done.
The other two games played by the U15s in July were both in the 8 a-side Dennis Lewis Trophy which would see them complete their programme of games in the league format. Disappointingly, we lost again at Halesowen by a convincing margin of 43 runs and then gained a win concession from Old Wulfs who were unable to raise a team with holidays beginning to kick in.
Our final game was away at Coseley on a dust bowl of a wicket that resembled a 5th day pitch in Calcutta. We managed to toe end a few runs on an utterly dead strip which made run scoring almost impossible. Coseley made even harder work of it and we ran out winners by 67 runs.
So our final standing in this pairs league was top with only Old Wulfs capable of equalling our points tally.
The U15s will now play in a semi-final match at home for the right to join the U10s at Finals Day at Himley on 9th September.
U16s - It would be fair to say that the much anticipated U16 season of games has been a complete and utter disaster.
The late start of matches was designed to avoid clashes and unavailability in the exam period but a combination of England’s surprising progress in the football World Cup, Enville’s withdrawal from the competition, Kidderminster’s disinterest in playing any games and various Clubs failing to show up for scheduled games, both home and away, have made a mockery of this year’s once prestigious Alf Foley Memorial Trophy. We even had Halesowen call off a game in the driest Summer for 40 years because of a waterlogged square.
We did get to play some cricket in this competition however, starting off with a home defeat to Swindon. 129-7 off our allotted overs was never going to be enough and Swindon duly knocked off the runs; U14 Will Trinham picked up 3 wickets though.
The second game in the competition was one of the most extraordinary I’ve seen in many a year. Barnt Green were our visitors and at 6.15pm, Himley only had 7 players, due to reasons I won’t bore you with. Joe McKaig’s sister, Molly agreed to play, so we got underway with Barnt Green also lending us a couple of players. Barnt Green lost a couple of early wickets but their nrs 3 and 4 took the score to 120-2 off 14 overs with a big total seemingly imminent. Both nrs 3 and 4 retired when they reached 50 and Luca Wright then proceeded to scythe through the remaining batting with his medium pace, backed up by some good catching and we incredibly restricted The Green to 133 all out, with a Luca hat-trick and amazing overall bowling figures of 4-0-15-6. Himley’s reply started disastrously and we were 25-4 off 6 overs when Dan Ross joined Scott Ralph. They started cautiously, with Scott aware that if both players could get close to 50 but not retire, we were in with a chance. We slowly gained more confidence, with Dan taking the majority of the strike and with the help of 35 extras, we got the winning runs with a Scott boundary. An epic win again against a clearly shell-shocked Barnt Green.
However, we came back to earth with a bump in our return match with Swindon. Swindon put up a decent score of 159 on their small ground and despite a 68 from Scott, we fell 20 runs short but we are still in with a chance of qualifying for the next stage of the Midlands Taverners competition.
Next month’s newsletter will be the last of the season and a quick heads up that Junior Presentation Evening will take place at the Club on Thursday 27th September.
Matt Wall – 10/08/2018
Junior Chairman