Match 1. April 24th- Home to Horsham 3rds
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Glorious sunshine greeted everyone for the 2010 season opener. Having turned down Horsham's offer to switch the match late on friday evening the scene was set for a Manor XI of young/untested/old against a Horsham team who we'd been promised would be similarly skilled. Amongst the half-dozen teenagers were a couple of 'oldies' (ie >40!) and a couple who just from appearances had to be good players.
Skipper for the day Chris Salt won the toss and decided to field. Although a friendly it was decided to follow league rules of a 94 over match (49 overs for team batting first).
When Horsham racked up 90 after 15 overs a score of 350 was on.
The chap who looked like a cricketer (Rose) turned out to be one too...smashing the ball to all parts supported by a shorted version of himself who pulled well anything dropped short and pull well anything that wasn't too. Luckhurst 8-0-33-0 and David Livermore 6-0-49-0 were replaced by Andy Murray 3-0-27-0 and (making his home debut) Hugo'Agogo'Harding, who with the score on 104 induced a top-edge off a thigh-high full-toss to remove the 'smaller' opener for a rapid 53.
Horsham's left-handed no.3 decided to ignore his club's policy of technical excellence by hoicking everything to leg. Six boundaries in a 25 was nipped in the bud by Sam'pop'Gunn's leg spin. Stumped by David'I'm 40 now'Smith.
Yes, David Smith who 20 minutes earlier had taken the pads from Owen'Mr C'Voice who had the misfortune to see one of Rube's leg-side deliveries hit the end of the 'mat' and then hit him flush on the nose. Cue calls for the first aid kit whilst the claret drip-drip-dripped from the snoz of the stunned keeper.He retired for a few hours, firstly looking like Hannibal Lecter with a bandage wrapped around his head then looking like a Koala Bear as it swelled. Anyway - stumped Smith. Actually it was his 4th career stumping so there!
Meanwhile Mr Rose crashed his way past 100 and could perhaps have had time for another had he not been caught by a bespecled Horsham junior acting as a sub (who was their keeper of the day).
Loz Judges was the bowler, who will unfortunately for Manor miss the next couple of months going back to Uni, but with the top order now gone the score of 228-3 with over 15 overs to go still had 300 as a possibility.
However, that handfull of juniors that had been sat watching the runs flowing were soon in/out in a blink of an eye as Loz 9-0-42-6 bowled a good line and with 4 missing straight balls as they amassed 10 between them. Rubes picked up his second skier of the match too. The 'Judge' pick up his first 'pfeiffer' and doubled his previous best a 'three-fer'
After 'Huggo' 5-0-41-1 and Gunn 7-0-60-1 had seen the carnage, David Livermore came back for 2-1 in an over to finished with 7-0-50-2.
Horsham had gone from 228-2 to 258 all out.
Due to the match rules, the 10 overs not used by Horsham meant Manor had 55 overs to score 249. Game on.
A massive debut-tea by Mrs Agogo was flush with sarnies and home made cake. Although the 2-bags of crisps per plate were more the choice it seemed to the Horsham lads than the Fruit Salad. Kids eh.
With Voicey looking like Karl Malden, he chose to Umpire rather than bat as Smith and French strode to the middle.
50 Mins later with the score on 85 after 16 overs Nige's innings came to an end flicking at a leg-side ball and walking when perhaps only the keeper appealed. He had played his usual array of brutal drives and 'holding the pose' defensive shots.
Skipper Salt interupted his vocal celebration of all things Chigley/Trumpton to last 2 balls. But new-lad Brad Hunt showed promise for a 16 year old to hang in with Smithy and put on 41 in 7 overs in scoring 6 - which did include a pretty good square cut.
Hugo sauntered to the wicket under a Fat-Gat-Hat and soon showed equally solid technique. Smithy meanwhile kept on stroking it around and he had hopes of a hundred too as 4's and 6's flowed.
But he got out at 160-4 for a fluent 80 with 10x4 and 3x6 in 100 mins. Well played.
Luckhurst did a Salt and was soon followed by Rubes who smacked a maximum before falling for 11. Loz did one-ball better than Salt/Luckhurst and then when Harding had perished for a well played 45 (in only his 2nd match for Manor) which included 9 boundaries we were 205-8 but had 17 overs to either survive or get the runs.
Young Livermore lasted a few more balls in making the 4th duck of the innings and we thought that was it. But having left the field some 15 minutes earlier out strode Mr C with what looked like a cigar/tampon up his nostril.
Commeth the hour, he joined young Sam who continued to play straight and looked much improved from '09 in starting to give Manor hope. Three crashing boundaries in an over from the Caveman and 235-9 with 9 overs remaining had everyone twitchy.
The chit-chat from the fielders had been stemmed somewhat, but the wiley Horsham Skipper, Mr Cheeseman, kept plugging away and was rewarded with his 8th wicket at a cost of 28, in removing Owes for a swashbuckling 21 for Manor to fall just 23 short with those 9 overs spare.A cracking start to the season with new/old skills to the fore.
Sun-kissed-cheeks-all-round the Manor-Massive headed for the huge Leather Sofa in the Potter.
Match 2. May 8th - Away to Rustington
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Manor arrived in drizzle to hear the good news that we had 11 players (it was going to be 10 in each of Manor's teams at one point) but then sorry to hear the 2's game had been scratched by their opponents.
With the wicket looking firm Skipper Livermore won the toss and fielded.
A sub fielder was soon required as Mr Smith found he only had one shoe and quickly departed homewards to fetch it.
When the 2nd ball from "D-Livers" fizzed through head-high to Gaz Mason confidence was up and a couple of tight overs followed too from Dan Muncer who that morning had been promoted from the 2's to open the bowling(!).
It was an impressive spell from young Livermore who's clean action sped the ball on not without the hint of a bit of swing. One edge avoided Beefy in the slips who spiked his own thigh which ended up looking like he'd been attacked by a wild tiger/woman/spiked shoe.
Two quick wickets from Livers and another from Muncie (two catches by skip) put us on top - however...no-balls were frequent from David who twice ripped stumps out after the call from the Umpire.
A 2-30 spell off 6 overs was completed.
Dan finished with a handy 8-1-22-1 to justify his inclusion. Luckhurst replaced David and soon was swinging and seaming it around (yes really) and a tidy 7-1-16-0 spell was scant rewarded.
Meanwhile two-shoes Smith had returned to the field to drop two catches.
Manor were still pretty chipper about things as the score reached 103-5, despite the drizzle and the cold. nasty November weather.
Rustington's no.6 had been swishing and missing for a while, when he started connecting, which increased Manors' sloppiness in the field. Mis-fields, over-throws and easy runs were taken as the 6th wicket pair added some 75 to the total in pretty rapid time. Their energetic running made 1's into 2's, 2's into 3's etc and throw in a simply abject attempt at a catch by Luckhurst, saw heads drop further and 200 come into sight.
David had returned for a second spell and those 6 overs went for 39 as the boundary was found more frequently. Daddy Livermore had replaced a tidy spell from Milo (in his 150th Match) and took 3-53 off 8 overs with slow wabblers. Milo returned to replace David and nipped out the last 2 wickets for Rustington to be all out for 210 in 42.3 overs.
Milo 7.3-0-42-3, also took a skier safely to show it was possible to catch a wet ball.
150 was acceptable, 210 was not, although we did have the 'luxury' of 51 overs in which to score them.
Manor tea'd well whilst catching up on the lastest footy results
Gaz (in his 400th 1st XI Match) and Dave strode out in increasing gloom - with the joy of no sightscreen and trees behind two bowlers who's tails were up to greet them. After Gaz flew to 13 with 3x4's he lost one in the trees to see his stumps splattered behind him. Thereafter it was a steady procession. Nige hit a cracking boundary only to be castled, Skipper nibbled one that seemed/lifted. Worrying that the early failure of the top order the tail was long and really none of them could deal with quickish bowling on a wicket that was still doing alot. Hugo had a finger broken in three places by one lifter in front of his chest midway through a half-hour innings of some stubborness, young debutant Tom Wilkins was hit on a thigh-pad-less-thigh first ball and generally it was beyond us to get anywhere near the target. We lasted 22.3 overs in being 74 all out with Milo's 14, Gaz 13, Hugo 11, Dave 11 being the only double figure scores. Beefy bagged another duck, LBW half-way down the track - thanks homie.
Tel Griffin's 6 out-scored the whole of his efforts last season.
Opening bowler figs of 11-3-30-3 and 10-3-38-6 showed what Manor missed. Had they been on our side I suspect we would have won.
A half-six finish meant we could at least enjoy KP bashing the boks in the 20/20, even though he's not really English.
Roll on the summer. Roll on warmer balls.
Match 3. May 15th - Home to Brighton & Hove 3rds
Report - Steve Luckhurst
First up we had a sunny day - bar a half-hour spot of drizzle which enabled a full afternoons play. Which was nice.
As always, any 3rd XI from one of the County League sides arrived with a mixture of teenagers and, er, 'old boys'.
Manor had two debutants in Chris Lawrence and Ross Garnham (who's uncle just happened to be late great Russell Wood).
Skip Livermore won the toss and decided to bat with the sun shining down on a fairly lush looking outfield - which in hindsight probably knocked off 50 runs from the combined scores.
With the solid pairing of Mason and Smith opening the batting, Manor flew to 37 in 9 overs before Smudger nudgered one to the diminutive young keeper to depart for 22 with 5 boundaries.
Chris Salt came in and steadied the ship. Perhaps a ship that was sailing smoothly, but his innings proved to be invaluable as Mason upped the tempo the other end before succumbing to the finger of Umpire Ken. Playing a pull/sweep/nudge/flick thing to a ball up on his ankles it was still a surprise to see the finger raised and the B&H Lanky-Leggie had his first of the afternoon as Mason trudged off for 35 in 76 mins with 4 boundaries.
Enter Nige'Froggy'French who nearly caught up with Salt as boundaries started flowing more freely.
Salty perished at 132-3 in the 33rd over for a gritty 30 in 78 mins with 3 boundaries.
With the 'big guns' of Scerri and Livermore at 7 & 8 there were still 16 overs to go and a couple of possibilities - either they would get the last couple of over, or be in at 140-6 - but it proved to be none of anything really as both debutants departed quickly - Ross chipping his first ball an inch over cover, before departing for 4, then Chris played around a straight ball within a minute to join those bagging a duck on debut.
Froggy smashed one ball into the shin of mid-off who was to hobble into action later in the game - Frenchie then upped the tempo further with the second mighty six of his inning before being yorked by 'Francis the Aussie' for a splendid 47 in 52 mins with 5x4 and 2x6.Pressure was now on Milo/Livers.
Nige had remarked that it made a change to face an Aussie who wasn't a world beater...
Milo smacked a six before being (in his view) harshly adjudged stumped despite his bat not leaving the ground for 16 off that Leggie who finished his spell of 14-1-51-3.
Liver's nibbled behind for the second week running for 2 and suddenly our 132-3 had become 173-8 with 9 overs to go. 'Aussie' Francis then mopped up the last 2 wickets with 'Mr.C' and 'D-Liver' bagging ducks to finish with 6-34. Not bad for a non-world-beater. Manor were all out for 179 with 6 overs of their 49 outstanding. Not outstanding.
That talk of doubling the 130-3 was perhaps forgetting that any team can collapse and Manor have done that a million times before. Well, perhaps not a million, but enough not to be surprised by it.
We feasted on Salty's curly cucumber and 26 packets of 'value crisps' at tea thinking that 51 overs for the opposition was going to make things challenging for the 4 regular Manor bowlers in the team.
When the 'Aussie' walked out to open we wondered whether Nige's words would bite him, but luckily not today. After a tight opening spell from Luckhurst and David Livermore, the Junior opening missed a straight one to make the breakthrough. Ken's finger was finally raised at the third appeal to dispatch the Aussie and 16-2 put the pressure on B&H. Or so we thought.
no.4 Mr Khilare came in and smote 5 boundaries in a Livermore over and quickly took the score to 64-2 with the help of no.3 Bradley who the previous week have smacked a match winning 83.
Here he flicked to leg-side, through and over mid-wicket time and time again as the runs flowed.
Beefy then hit the pads of Khilare and screamed an appeal only for the Umpire to point towards the departing batsman who's stumps had been hit from the deflection off the pads. C'mon! Good wicket to get and very timely.
Young Bradley (the no.3) continued to pepper the mid-wicket so Mr.C was planted 10 yards in from the boundary. An over later the ball plopped into his hands. Only to ploppin' plop out again.
The score had now passed 100 as Livermore had made way for Scerri to swing into action.
He was swung over the boundary by Bradley who reached 48 before trying another flick to a Luckhurst straight ball before seeing his stumps splattered. Well, nudged anyway.
101-4 and now Manor were really up for it. Confidence restored that another 70-odd runs by the junior middle order and the tail could be tough. I suspect we'd have found it as tough.
Luckhurst's cramping legs were relieved for the afternoon after a potentially match-winning spell of 14-4-37-4 that had ended a run of a 4 wicketless matches.
Milo was replaced by a returning David not before getting his backside in the way of a shy at the stumps by Captain Grumpy.
Skippers' son soon removed a stubborn no.6 and when Skipper himself tempted the 'short' left-handed no.5 (the keeper) to loop one to 'safe hands' Salt at Mid-On 128-6 meant another 52 runs with the tail in.
The next man in, injured Batsmen, was accompanied by his second choice runner. Skippers' refusal of 'Bradley' being the runner was recorded in the B&H scorebook thus 'Opposition skipper refused Jack being runner because he was "too quick"'. Not strictly true. But heh.
As it was, Liver's ripped him out soon too as his tail was now up with the tail now in.
Milo secured his first wicket with a full toss onto the shin for an LBW given by that Aussie - 134-8 and Manor were on a roll - although with nearly 20 overs to go, the 46 runs weren't totally impossible.
However, another youngster fell to the wiley slow-in-swing of Livermore snr who collected his 250th 1st career wicket, which along with the 50 he took for the 2nds of course meant 300 Club Wickets was achieved. Any celebration of that was forgotten at the time as the last man came in. Sporting more Tattoo's than teeth, he surprised just about everyone by scything Milo over Long-Off for a boundary. One swish later and his stumps were grinning too as the bails flew. All out for 146 and Manor had won by 33 runs with 11.3 overs remaining.
Beefy humbly led the team off followed by Livermore snr who's 6-2-6-3 nailed the match. Milo's 9.3-2-47-2 and David's 10-0-42-1 were equally important in their efforts and timely breakthroughs.Well done chaps!
Six bowled, 2 LBW's, one nick to Gaz and a chip to Mid-On proved that straight bowling is containing as well as wicket-taking.
Manor's visit to leaders Crawley Eagles 2nd's the following week was dreaded by many who'd experienced various thumpings over the years. Eagles once scored 396-4 against Manor. But next week WILL be different.
Match 4. May 22nd - Away to Crawley Eagles 2nds
Report - Steve Luckhurst
A blazing hot day, massive outfield (with loads of 'space' beyond it) saw Manor rejoice when Skipper Livermore stated he'd lost the toss and we'd been inserted. As openers Smith & Salt faced the first few overs the local juniors' were dumbfounded about us batting. They then repeated their amazement, repeatedly. Over and over. You get the picture.
Especially as our old friend/for Musawer was appearing for Eagles - perhaps somewhat meatier/hairier than before, but his presence brought back memories from the '90's - and not good ones!
Anyway Salty does what Salty does whilst Smithy began carving the bowling to all parts - blasting 6 boundaries in a run a minute 29 before 'fingers' Muncer fingers got working. Firstly Salty played off his hips, keeper appealed, Salty stood, finger up, Salty trudged. Then the bowler thought he'd capitalize on the away seem by going round the wicket and firing across the Smithster.
Pitching it up he was struck in line and up went the finger - it was a close call, but pitching leg and hitting off
He had passed 10,000 1st XI runs on the way - only the 3rd player to do so.
39-1 off 9 overs. Frenchy swatted one down to third man, then was bowled soon after.
Nick'Nugent'Brown was a surprise at 5, but hung around for 29 mins in making 4 - with Skip hitting out the score reached 80 when the Fudgester popped one to short cover.
The wicket had been really 'tennis-balling' from the start and that was a little concerning.
Livermore continued to biff it supported by Simon'Shag'Haggis who was making his seasonal debut after missing the last month of '09 with a dodgey knee.He appeared as Stretch Armstrong in a shirt he must have worn when he was 12.
One ball after bringing up his 50, Livers chipped one to Long Off who nonchelantly pouched it.
Milo bagged a duck as he did on his last visit here.
The opening bowler had since departed after bagging 3-19 , walked off never to return although a substitute fielder waltzed on in his place.
143-7 with 10 overs to go had some potential. Either 150 all out or 200-7.
The 170 all out we actually got was about par for Manor these days - Shaggy's hour-long battle ended at 29, Luckhurst 10, Muncer 2 and a late blast from Shops' with 15 saw 2 spare overs to be given to the Eagles. The dangerous Raza had only taken 2-38 - he averaged nearly 5 a match last summer in taking 62 wickets at 7 each!
A pretty good tea was provided - loads of Egg Mayo - and a choice of around 7 types of cake - whilst we caught the last 10 mins of the Blackpool play-off win. Well done and enjoy your one season in the Prem.
The sun had barely dimmed as Shop's bowling debut for the season saw him take the new ball. 3rd ball to Musawer saw it bludgeoned over wide-mid-on for a 6.Seen that a few times.
He swished at a few and connected a few times whilst his partner Raza did similarly the other end. David Livermore was unfortunate that a top edge skier (well, 30 foot up) came down to gully with all eyes on Smithy. Who's eyes failed to see the ball into his hands.
A similar top edge to fine leg saw Shops' dazzled by the sun and lose the ball totally that fell 10 yards in front of him.
Ironically, he then took Smithy's cap......
A double bowling change saw Muncer and Haggis come on - and the both took wickets in removing the openers for scores of 40-odd each.
88-2 off around 15 overs meant restricting Eagles was never an option, we'd have to bowl them out.
Brown replaced Muncer(4-0-19-1) as skip thought he would trouble the batters - then proceeded to place 4 fielders on the leg-side boundary.Shaggy took another for 120-3 to be still behind the 8-ball.
After Fudgey's 2-0-13-0 spell Luckhurst came on 'fresh' from his 14 overs the previous week and duly bowled the no.5 then nipped out the no.4 a couple of overs later with a loppy nick to Milo keeping wicket - pouched in front of Baker at slip.
133-5 was now good - wish we'd had 200, but the confidence was hit away by their no.6 who biffed couple of boundaries from a ham-strung Beefy (5-1-14-2) and followed by a couple off each of D-Liver (unlucky 10-1-44-0) and a returning Baker (8.4-0-40-0). Shaggy's 8-1-36-2 was a good sign for the summer ahead. knee permitting.
172-5 off 37.4 overs. 10 overs spare was a big win in the end, but not totally outplayed.
The mood was lifted by news of the 2nd winning and then the thoughts of the evenings events- not until Shaggy's litre of Mango was added to the Smith Showering experience.
Match 5. May 29th- Home to Aldwick
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Rain swept throughout the day and it was no surprise when at lunchtime the match was called off. Shame as both 11's had 11 which would have been great for the club.
Match 6. June 5th- Away to Felbridge & Sunnyside 2nds
Report - Dan Griffin
The mighty Manor drew for the first time this season, and only the second time since the switch from limited overs cricket, in this close contest on the Surrey border.
There were a few dissenters among the more Corinthian-spirited Manor men when skipper Livermore called off the run chase with 60 needed from 7 overs – Haggis was firmly ensconced at the crease & Scerri had set off to join him at the fall of the 6th wicket – but in the event the decision probably made no difference to the outcome; we were always just a bit behind the clock.
I can’t remember playing a league game at a more attractive & well maintained venue, and the sides were clearly equally matched. Manor began well, Livers jnr rewarded for a probing first over when the opener poked the last ball straight back to him, and rewarded for a probing second over when the other opener poked the last ball to slip, well snaffled by Shaggy.
F&S began to score pretty freely thereafter though, as our bowlers laboured in the humid conditions. The home side’s order had no real weak links (no.11 may well have been completely useless for all we know, but the 10 we saw were all very capable), and though Manor took fairly regular wickets, the run-rate never dipped much below 5 an over.
The number 3 (Chapness) made a hard-hitting 71 (11x4 1x6) before being castled by game-hog Shaggy and the skipper (Holland) dug them out of a bit of a hole at 130-odd for 6 with an assured half-century from number 7 (inc 8x4).
For Manor, it was all about Shaggy, who bowled unchanged for 20 overs in a superbly consistent spell of 3-74. Both Livers’s bowled well at times, and deserved their 2 wickets apiece. (David 11-1-70-2 Andrew 12-3-46-2) The only other incident of note was when Griffin, minding his own business on his return to the side, surprisingly decided to try and take a slip catch with his mouth. The decision backfired somewhat, and he spent the rest of the day dribbling egg sandwiches, blood and Carlsberg all down his shirt as painful bits of lip kept dropping off & getting in the way. Never mind.
F&S declared one over early at 226-8. Luckhurst 4-1-17-1 and Gunn 1-0-12-0 were the other bowlers used.
Salty & Smudge began the reply with optimism – 227 didn’t seem too far over-par on the fast scoring ground. Smithy (21, 4x4) looked in decent touch until a soppy chip to mid-off, and then Griff survived an iffy start to contribute a breezy 41 (48m 7x4), before being bowled aiming a hoik at some left arm spin.
Anchor man Salt (31, 88m 3x4) was a bit unlucky to play on to a Colin Montgomerie lookalike, who ran in gamely in the heat for 16 overs, and was the pick of the home attack - unluckily finishing with just one wicket for his toils.
Brad Hunt was the first of 3 to be foxed by F&S’ promising young leggy. Froggy toiled uncharacteristically for an hour over 19 (2x4), while the skip’s dismissal for 23 (43m, 2x4) was much more in character as he holed out to long off after a couple of good blows. With that, he decided we weren’t going to get there, and Shaggy’s top edge to slip for 23 (19m, 3x4) soon after underlined the point. Beefy (2no) and Miles (18no, 3x4) played out the last 6 overs without alarm.
So Manor paid the price for 6 of the top 7 getting in and getting out, all for between 19 & 41. And F&S paid the price for being a seam bowler short. Actually, I think this was true of the Manor as well, and with both sides batting well down the order, the draw was perhaps inevitable. So what was nearly a cracking finish ended up just being a pretty good game, on a very nice afternoon, against a decent bunch of blokes. More of the same would be fine.
Match 7. June 12th - Home to Belgrave Adelaide 1st XI
Report - - Dan Griffin
This old fashioned Brighton league battle from the 80s or 90s looked a good opportunity for a win, against fellow lower-half opposition.
The Manor side looked strong on paper. But as we all know cricket is played on a synthetic polycarbon surface, not paper, and we were rubbish on that.
Shops, David & Shaggy all bowled pretty decent spells, and we took regular wickets, but the total set was always 50 runs or so short of being competitive, and there was no stage of the Belgrave innings where anything other than an away win looked likely. Opener Ruben Hibbet drove powerfully through mid-on & mid-wicket for 60, before apparently tiring, throwing himself to the ground every other ball and giving his wicket away. Tharme at no.4 saw his side to the brink of victory with a solid 30.
Earlier, Manor had made a decent start which saw them at 60 odd for 2 after an hours play. But when Smudge was caught at point for 38, the innings went into an irreversible decline, only Salty’s staunch unbeaten 25 saving it from complete ruin. Griffin, Livermore & Scerri were all bowled playing big shots before they’d got themselves in; French, Smith, Haggis & Baker were all well caught in a very good Belgrave fielding performance. Reynolds knock & dismissal have completely slipped my mind, sorry about that. Nippy opening bowler Smith deserved his 4 cheap wickets. Harder to explain are the 4 taken by leg-spinner/dobber Sadler, who bowled 11 unchanged overs without conceding a boundary, despite every delivery looking like an invitation to be whacked on to the downs. Well that’s what it looked like to everyone who wasn’t facing anyway.
Can’t remember any comedy moments in this match either. The highlight was undoubtedly tea, where a full cheeseboard was provided by Shops (I wonder if his nickname changes to ‘Cricketing’ as he shoves his trolley around Morrisons?). But even here there was destined to be disappointment. The stilton was more than acceptable, the brie nicely melting. I’m sure the cheddar was irreproachable, although I stuck to the blue myself. But the last of the quartet was some abomination with cranberries in it. I mean, why do they do this? There are hundreds & hundreds of fine, traditional cheeses from all over Britain, or they could have widened the net to include some of the delights of France, or maybe even a Norwegian Jarlsberg. But no, some idiotic executive in a cheap suit has decided that what the public want is a cheese with bloody cranberries in it. And we swallow it. Well, not this correspondent I can assure you. I will not sully my taste buds with this inexplicable nonsense. I’d sooner have one of those square orange slices you get in burgers. Actually they’re quite nice.
Match 8. June 19th - Away to Bury
Report - Steve Luckhurst
After much effort to get 11 to Bury - Trains, Planes and Automobiles, well, without the Planes anyhow, the boys stood aghast at the wicket as the tram-lines of drainage angled across a good length caused much concern. Luckily, we were to play on the less prepared, but less scarred strip and what with Skipper Livermore deciding to take a break from his duties to play golf, Skipper Salt won the toss and put the home team in. None of the few who'd played at Bury before could remember a win. Some could remember being all out for 50 on a sunday then seeing the first ball of the reply fly for six. (cough). We lost the beer match that day too with Nelly behind the stumps at one point!
Anyway, Shops took the new ball along with David Livermore and after 10 overs the score of 10-2 bode well. Both snaffled wickets. Shops rejoiced at Smithy's stomach that parried the ball into his hands at short leg. Dave'I have a Cricketing Brain' had fooled the Batsman into thinking he was a lumbering ejit.
Debutant Jamal Saiyed had lept like a Salmon and clung one-handed at Mid-On to surprise us all in giving Livers' a deserved wicket. It's not we didn't think he'd catch it, it was more that we'd not seen many/any of Manor fielders catch that sort of chance. Game on.
Salty then turned a 2 into an all-ran-five to long-on which was followed by a three to long-off next ball. The Batters' had nearly doubled the score in two shots.
Jamal replaced Livers 6-2-6-1 and immediately got things moving. A lively skiddy spell which saw at least 3 chances missed and a mixed bag of beaten edges and thumps to the boundary.
Luckhurst came on and struck lucky second ball as Umpire Ken raised a belated finger to a lone-voice-appeal. The well-set Batter on 22 was near-half-way down the wicket. But it was straight! 45-3. Beefs next over saw the no.5 missed a straight ball. 57-4 off 20 overs.
Shaggy had replaced Jamal 7-1-32-0 and did his usual thing of keeping it relatively tight too. The scoring ground to a halt as Beefy's spell of 10-4-13-2 finished due to cramp/tight hammy/average protection not before his smart pick-up-and-throw to Gaz from back-ward square-leg saw no.4 Run-Out for 37.
75-5. There was a quick spurt from the Batters, mainly home Skipper Will Rowsell with 42 who biffed three boundaries off Shaggy before being castle by the Mango-Kid just after Dan had taken 4 attempts to drop which he succeeded. 127-6.
Lawrence Judges came on and with the last few overs the Bury Boys hit out before Shaggy nipped out another two - another pouched by Mr 'CB' at point. Shaggy's 3rd Wicket was his 300th 1st XI Wicket - the 9th Player to reach that particular Milestone.
Milo then ran-out the last man/lad as the last three wickets fell at 130/140/140.Shaggy 11-4-36-4 and a returning Shops 9.1-4-30-1. Lawrence had 5-0-22-0.
Tea was at best 'minimal' and rushed as the Dish-Washer was keen for all the Tea-Cups before Bury re-took the field. Not good.
Gaz opened with Smith who used that Cricketing Brain to get off the mark with a spoon over Mid-Wicket. He fell for 7 caught low at gully. He stood, Umpires gave the nod and off he went.
Gaz had already flicked his way towards 20 in this time and continued to play as if the wicket was Manors' Placcy - joined by Dan Griffin the score raced to 82 in 19 overs including a straight six by Gaz (who kept calm despite his joy at such an extravagent shot) and Dan himself who biffed a short one into the trees at square leg.
He departed for 20 to be replaced by Miles Scerri - promoted to no.4 as a quick finish was desired all round.
He duly supplied the biffing while Gaz continued to flick and drive around and pass his 50. Only the 2nd individual 50 the team had scored in the league this year and had not been in trouble at all.
Milo biffed 3 boundaries in an over and plopped one at long off in the same placed as Salty had fielded earlier...except Gaz/Milo ran 2...
Milo under-edged onto his stumps to be out for 33 in 38 mins with 5 fours with the score at 138-4. Three to win and Skipper Salt sacrificed his own ambition by promoting Jamal ahead of him.
Mainly so he and Dan could continue the debate over what a Chandler was. Dan convinced it was a Candle-Maker. Chris determined that a Candle-Maker was surely filed under the 'Butcher, Baker and Candle-Stick Maker' historical reference. Smithy's Blackberry soon confirmed Dan was right. Chuffed he was.
Jamal chipped to Mid-On for his first two runs for Manor as we romped home at 141-3 in 31 overs (14 overs spare) - Gaz had finsihed on 75 not out with 9 fours to go with that flukey six in 106 mins.Well played all.
All was left was for Smithy to attempt revenge on Shaggy in the showers.....
Match 9. June 26th - Home to Worthing 3rds
Report - Steve Luckhurst
A gloriously hot day found the visit of nearby Worthing 3rds. Arriving with their clutch of talented teenagers, they also arrived with the usual moans about the artifical wicket, the trees, 'not being able to stand up in the outfield without spikes' and then losing the toss......
Returning skipper decided to bat. Then watched as Dave Smith and Gaz Mason smoat it to all parts at a rapid rate. 46 of 10, 77 off 15, 98 off 20, 135 off 25, 200 off 32. They passed 50 in consecutive balls (Gaz with 10x4, Dave with 8) as the 244 record partnership loomed again.You may recall them putting on 239 in 2009.This time the wicket fell at 224. The 21 year old record of Reynolds/Eke remains.
The 224 was the 5th highest partnership for the 1st XI.
Dave was again first out, chipping to Mid-Off for a magnificent 108 in 125 with 18x4 and 1x6. It was his 8th Manor Ton. Gary followed amazingly in the same over, playing on for 94 with 17x4 and 1x6.
At 81 he had reached 10,000 Club Runs - only the 5th to do so (following, Reynolds Griffin, Wood and Smith).
With an early declaration on the cards the batting order was mixed a little, not before Miles Scerri hit 4,4,6 in an over before being out for 18, followed by 1st-Team debutant Andy Ferguson for 4, Skipper Livermore to a 1st-Ball-LBW. Enter Jamal Saiyed who trumped Smith's six into the Long-On (Potter End) trees, by simply whipping the ball over the trees to land in Manor Road - no-one recalls a bigger six. He finished on 22no supported by a quick 12no from Dave Baker.
Skipper Declared after much thinking (and a bit more thinking) at a huge 288-5 off 45 overs giving 49 overs to Worthing - which considering the ability that they potentially had, the speedy outfield and Manor's occasional head-dropping in the field was deemed just about right.
However, when both the score was 15-4 off 6 overs the game could only have two results. Baker and David Livermore had each snaffled a pair, with Shops bowling Worthings' skipper 1st ball - to complete a double for the Captain's. Manor's fielding was good and everything was ticking over nicely.
Runs were steadily ticking, with further wickets falling at 56, 107, 108 and the 8th falling at 113 still with some 15 overs to go. Shaggy Haggis' 7-0-41-1 was unusually expensive along with an under-par 6-3-19-1 for Luckhurst meant that rotation of bowlers was a must. Jamal had whooped for joy as Shops caught an absolute blinder at first slip 2mm above the turf by his feet - followed by a leap 5ft in the air by Milo at cover to snaffle another.
Skipper shuffled his bowlers further - even trying David down the hill for 1 over - before doing half the job himself in a spell of 4-1-10-1 in removing the 9th wicket.
Shops returned to target the last pair, but despite all the close fielding attention, the last 5 overs were negotiated with the only alarm being a very difficult chance to Salty at Mid-On from a real thump.
Worthing hung on at 181-9 off the 49 overs. Shops' 14-2-30-2 was perhaps a couple of wickets short of what he merited. David's 9-2-31-2 was also getting back to his best. Jamal 9-1-32-2 had 'w's in the scorebook for the first time.
Manor remain 4th from bottom at the half-way point of the season. With three going down the feeling is that on their day any team is beatable and at home we should be confident.
Taking a break for tour could see Manor slip into a relagation position - but that's for another day - next stop Malta!
Match 10. July 3rd - MALTA TOUR MATCH - MARSA CC
Report - Steve Luckhurst
A full tour review would involve much about sun, drinking and taking in the local delights - so the reports here are regarding the matches - for everything else, go to the website and view the pictures!
Matches starting at 10.30 were on the cards as Salty suggested the light dips early as we were near the Equator. The fact that at 9pm we would be walking in sunshine in the town seemed to bypass everyone later.
Anyway, we always like to field first on tour and so we did in this 40 over match against Marsa CC at the old Army Base/Sports Complex (complete with football/rugby/pool/golf/horse-track etc.
'Lovebird'Luckhurst and 'Fudge' Brown opened the bowling in stifling heat onto a artificial wicket which fortunately had 15 yards beyond each wicket which meant running on damp mud/grassy clumps could be avoided - they 'sprinkle' the ground each morning which leads to soggy patches in places.
A wicket 2nd ball and 10th ball for Luckhurst to two short-wide deliveries found fielders in the gully and point duly leaving a 'beetroot beefy' on 899 career wickets - 10-2 looked good and when the 3rd went in the 13th over at 60 Manor were on top. This wicket was Luckhurst's 900th and a whoop and double-fisting(!) celebration followed - just as another round of distant fireworks erupted - so, just another 100 to retirement then....
Andrew Livermore had replaced Brown and kept things tight - followed by Reynolds replacing Beefy who's 8-1-30-3 was reward.
Nelly snaffled 7-0-34-2 with wiley old flighted left-arm stuff and with Liver's unrewarded at 8-0-27-0 it was left for Griffin and a returning Brown to complete the overs as Marsa chipped away at 4 an over through the 100/120/130/140 mark.
Tel's 8-0-31-0 left him near-death as the early afternoon temptrature hit 130", well nearly and wickets in 3 of the last 4 for Nick meant his 3-0-19-0 had become 8-0-46-3. He even managed to spill blood in catching a top-edged caught-bowled.
Marsa's 179-8 with 17 boundaries was about even and Manor dined on Big Baps and swam in the pool at lunch thinking life was good.
Losing Mr Voice in the 2nd over for 2 wasnt the plan.
Losing Mr Salt for 13 at 37-2 in the 13th over wasn't either. Whether Smithy planned to run Chris out was unknown.
Gaz Mason strode to the wicket fresh from 75no and 94 and was promptly bowled first ball.
A few overs after 37-3 had been steadied by 'Tour Virgin' Andy'Fergie'Ferguson who biffed a couple of 4's in his 14 before falling at 75-4. Smith then fell for 31 (1x4) at 79-5 and in perhaps belatedly dawned on Manor that we were still 100 short with 20 overs left.
Our guest player, Ronnie Sacco, who boated over from the isle of Gozo for the two matches had nudged and swished steadily supported by Livermore (4) and Luckhurst (10, 2x4) who put on 29 for the 7th wicket to take the score to 120-7 with 13 overs to go.
In other words, 60 needed off 78 balls. It wasnt to be as Ronnie went for Smithesq 31 at 134-6 leaving Brown and Reynolds to take us to the brink. Well to 153 when Nelly went for a nibbly 11 for last man El Tel to come in with 26 needed off 5 overs.
The fact that only 7 were scored in those last 5 overs was more to do with playing out maidens(!) and thinking there were two overs still to play when the were waved in - Even if there were two overs to go, 19 being scored was a heap of effort which a couple of earlier swings could have brought into sight. Needless to say the pair were booed off and heavily fined.
Manor finished on 161-9 (with only 5 boundaries) and players duly jumped in the pool again before cracking into the refreshments at the ground, back at the hotel and in various bars in town. Phew what a scorcher and dreams of doing it all again the next day.
PS - Dave Smith won the Man-Of-The-Match aware for 31 surely confirmation that Cricket is a Batsman's game.
Match 10. July 4th - MALTA TOUR MATCH - MARSA CC
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Manor arrived at the same venue for the second of the double-header against Marsa. Only one of the previous days' opposition was present, although Ronnie Sacco was also to appear for his own side this time, rather than Manor. Our 10 players were understandibly worse for wear after the previous days exersions and perhaps one or two were put out by our guest being a nine year old Patrick Brooke.
Anyway, Batting first Marsa soon racked up 58-0 off nine overs as Tel Griffin 5-0-40-0 nearly fell apart in his efforts and Beefy being Beefy had for the third tour in a row managed to limit is ability in the field by getting injured the previous day. A half-run-up didn't work as 8-1-42-0 was the return. Best bowler of the day was Andrew Livermore, who's 8-1-36-2 coulda/shoulda/woulda been better rewarded on another day. Nelly 8-1-50-1 and Fudgie Brown 7-0-62-0 were soon biffed around by their no.4 Nowell Kholsa who reach 98 without alarm. Cue Beefy telling Nelly that it'd be funny for the batter to get out now, only to drop a skier the next ball. Cue celebration of 100 and the batter retiring (out). This had followed young Patrick's introduction as a bowler. Having already claimed the record for the youngest ever Manor player, he duly claimed an full-toss-LBW to become the youngest ever wicket-taker. At 9 years and 50 days.
Marsa finished on 251-6 off their 40 overs.
More baguettes and splashing in pool followed before Manor set out on the difficult task.
Reynolds and Livermore had taken the scored from 37-1 to 92 off 20 overs when Livers departed for a fluent 32 with 3x4 and 2 massive sixes. When Reynolds (29) and Andy Ferguson (5) departe when caught spectacularly on the square leg bounadary, it was left for Smith (29) along with Owen Voice to take things on. 152-5 when Smithy went and with 8 overs remaining and nearly 100 required the bowling was opened up and Voice (39no) and Salt (28no) had little alarm in taking the score through to a respectable 210-5
The decision for Man-of-the-Match was in the hands who had a mate who looked like Voicey. So depsite Livermore deserving it, Voicey claimed the cut-glass trophy. Clearly his cardboard cut-out keeping had gone un-noticed. Still, it was a good effort in the end and against stronger opposition we made a stronger fist of it. Cue more swimming and beer necking prior to the fines meeting which was a bit of a shabbles and ended with everyone forking out €30 as enthusiasm for adding the totals up had been drained by the heat. We said our thanks - the Marsa boys had been great and would recommended a tour to Malta again for a.n.other team - but Manor like to dip their toes in pastures new each year, so wont be back for another 25 years - probably on a Bowls tour.
Match 12. July 10th Home to Rustington
Report - Chris Salt
A game of fluctuating fortunes left Manor two wickets short of victory and Rustington 18 runs from their target.
At various stages both sides would have fancied their chances of winning, so a draw was probably the right result, even though Manor seemed in the driving seat when Rustington slumped to 77 - 6.
Having lost the toss, the Manor innings proceeded in fits and starts, the promise of 72 -2 (Nigel French 27) soon becoming 77-4. Recovery came in the shape of an 88 run partnership between Andy Long, who transferred his good form with the seconds to make an impressive 60, and Neil Reynolds, who rediscovered the art of hitting 4s in a season's best 36.
Both departed just as thoughts were turning to an acceleration and with them went all momentum as the Manor innings crashed from 165-4 to 197 all out, three runs short of the maximum batting points that had seemed a formality.
On a fast outfield that total was below par, but by no means uncompetitive. Though Rustington gained an extra two overs, Dave Baker made a breakthrough in his first over and was soon threatening more. A 61 run second wicket stand meant that these did not materialise quickly, but after Shops removed the other opener, five wickets fell in the space of 14 runs as he and Simon Haggis got to work. At 77 -6 only one result seemed in prospect, but hopes of an early finish were scuppered by a 75 run partnership for the seventh wicket.
Mixing solid defence with calculated aggression, Martin Payne (51) and M . Patel (38) kept Rustington up with the required rate of around eight an over. Luckily they failed to achieve the one big over that might have tilted the balance and once both were snared by skipper Livermore the draw was secured. Bowling honours were shared between Shops (4 -40), Simon (2 - 37) and Andrew (2 -25), with all eight dismissals being bowled. Whether this says something about the mat, the quality of our catching or the technique of the Rustington batsmen is something that I shall leave others to speculate about!
Match 13. July 17th Away to Brighton & Hove 3rd XI
Report - Chris Salt
Windy conditions greeted Manor's arrival at the vast open spaces of the Nevill Ground. In such unappealing circumstances our collective enthusiasm has been known to suffer and a tough afternoon looked in prospect as B&H immediately set about batting with aggressive intent after winning the toss. The prolific Scot Francis looked in ominous form and after just four overs Andrew was making his first bowling change (and on a day when the Manor line-up contained only four recognised bowlers).
Thereafter things improved and a run rate which initially threatened seven runs an over was pulled back below five. During this period Francis departed for 60 with two further wickets falling to run-outs, one a direct hit from Andy Long and the other good work from a Haggis/Mason combination. Mind you the second of these merely hastened the B&H number five, Yossi Bahemou, to centre stage and his hard hit 83 helped speed them towards an early declaration. This came about after a flurry of three quick wickets at 244 -7. The toiling bowlers were Andrew (2-69), Simon (2 -86) and Neil (1- 41), though arguably the best performance came from David Livermore, who bowled without luck in searching conditions to return 0-45 in 12 overs.
With 50 overs to face, the Manor equation was less than five an over. On an excellent batting pitch and a lightning fast outfield, the declaration was certainly a very fair one and meant much hinged on us getting a good start. Initial signs were good as Gary's first four scoring shots each went to the boundary. However, that was to prove a false dawn and at no stage did Manor ever threaten a successful run chase. The most telling statistic was that the biggest partnership was 29, while four batsmen departed without scoring. Two of these went to Josh Comarchi who gained prodigious turn with his leg spin during a spell of 5 - 42 in 14 overs. On a more positive note, Dave Smith again played well in making 30 (including a straight six off a disagreeable opening bowler), but top billing for the second successive week went to Andy Long, whose first team career best 61 not out made it a run of four consecutive half centuries. This makes it doubly unfortunate that he's threatening to pull on his football boots rather than his whites next Saturday!
Limp though the Manor innings was, an eventual haul of nine bonus points still represented a reasonable return against a well-balanced B&H side who must be favourites to win the League. The good news is that those proved enough to take us above Rustington, who were on a free week. The bad news is that Aldwick leap-fogged the pair of us after beating Bury, so we remain third from bottom and in the relegation places. The next two games against faltering Crawley Eagles and away to Aldwick promise to be key matches, so here's hoping that availabilities are good.
Match 14. July 24th Home to Crawley Eagles 2nds
Report - Steve Luckhurst
With 6 matches to go and Manor sitting in the relagation 'zone' we really needed to pull a smart victory off against opponents we've beaten perhaps twice in twenty attempts.
Batting first we soon lost Mason for a duck and thereafter French 14 (1x6 1x4) and Livermore 10 (2x4) followed. When Smith went for 26 (6x4!) we were 67-4 off 20 overs and the thoughts of 250 were gone. Even 200 was a long way off as Salt and Reynolds rebuilt. They did superbly though and when Salt was (perhaps unluckily) LBW for 41 (6x4 1x5!) the score was 159-5 after their 92-run partnership.
Reynolds had at 15 reach 20,000 Career runs, the first and probably last player who'll achieve it, unless our 24 fixtures become 44 again.
He was out for 53 in a knock of much nurdling and pinched singles - no-one winds up the fielding side better than Nelly in prompting shys at the stumps.
When Nelly went at 161-6 off 41 overs we had 8 remaining to get to that 200 (and max batting points) - it was though tough, with Voicey 14 singles in half-hour and with Luckhurst (8) wafting and not connecting too much to take the score to a final 189 when Beefy was out with 2 balls to go of the 49.
When Eagles were 27-0 off 6 overs it was signs that this could be a desperate task. David gained a generous LBW to remove the dangerous Raza at 30-1 and when Luckhurst found an edge to Mason we thought things could be going our way. This only brought in our old adversary, Musawer who had destroyed our bowling many times in the 1990's when playing for PAK and then Eagles. He crashed things from ball 2 around the park and although skipper Livers nipped out two of his team-mates to leave CE on 99-4 he crashed on and over. One six off Beefy landed just short of the roundabout, one hell of a biff and brought shrugged shoulders all-round. Beefy departed with 11-2-52-1 following David's 6-0-40-1.
Liver's juggled his bowling further taking himself off 7-1-36-2 replaced by Brown 4-1-22-0 and Tel Griffin 6.5-0-41-0 who found the rampaging Musawer a tough opponent. With 4 needed for victory and 8 for his ton, there was thought of a 2 followed by a 6 seal things - but no, a six over wide-long-on (no-one bothered to fetch the ball) saw victory and the Inzy-lookalike finish on 98no supported by Ish on 22no.
Hard work for the bowlers who probably wouldn't have been able to defend 250 as CE won with 10 overs to spare, but even the 20 or so runs conceeded for mis-fields wouldn't have saved us. This now leads us into our last 5 matches where a minimum of 2 wins are required to keep us up. August brings summer holidays and the usual 4/5 players disappearing for 2 weekends and what with the football starting, we could be in for a struggle. Game Faces on now!
Match 15. July 31st Away to Aldwick
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Once everyone found the Aldwick ground, via phone-calls, sat-nav and St.Bernard we found a wide-open playing area which brought memories of the B&H fiture a couple of weeks previously.
Fielding first skipper Livers opted to open with David and a returning Loz Judges, who together kept things relatively tight whilst the opening bat, Joel Lodge, biffed the occasional boundary.
David's first spell of 6-0-23-0 was tough as he bowled as quickly as at any point this season. Loz kept going with his outswingers and his fine spell finished at 9-3-20-1 and should have earn't a later spell.
Haggis and Luckhurst came on with 50-1 off around 13 overs on the board and again a mixture of dot balls and boundaries meant the score kept bouncing along at some 4-an over, which given the size of the outfield was steady stuff.
Luckhurst was removed after 6-1-23-0 (inc a drop behind by Gaz) to bring back David as being 16 he has to have a 6 over break after bowling 6 himself and saw his first ball biffed for 6. His 3 over spell went for 26 as Lodge put his foot down and supported by hard hitting no's 3 & 4 took the score well past 100.
Haggis swapped ends with the Skipper bringing himself on at the North End.
Shaggy immediately started chipping away with wickets - helped by great efforts in the field, most notably Miles Scerri who seemed to be chasing everything - he redeamed himself for dropping a sharp chance at square leg by catching a real sky-er.
Shaggy kept going and soon had 2,3,4 (inc Lodge for a well hit 79) and a 5th wicket as Loz Judges caught a huge mow to cow corner on the mid-wicket boundary off a full-toss!.
This was only the 3rd time that Simon had taken 5 wickets in an innings for Manor in over 250 matches - but he's always been consistent with 2/3/4's over the years, but those Pfeiffers have always been hard to get.
Skipper relieved himself to bring back David for a third spell and again the first ball went for 6 and a one-over spell went for 19.
Shaggy duly got a career best 6th to finish with 14-1-59-6 before Skipper came back to knock the last two over to end with 8.1-0-47-2
David ended with 10-0-68-0 and his league average for the season is now appoaching 50. He is a much better bowler than that, but the stats show our opening bowler is also going for nearly 5 an over too which along with the absence of main strike bowler Baker means we're struggling to keep the opposition scores within grasp. Aldwick finished on 233 all out with an over spare.
Manor to have 46 overs for that target always meant a major contribution was needed by the quicker scorers, Smith/Mason/French/Scerri/Livermore - however losing Gaz for a duck for the successive week was not the start - especially when Smith followed at 15-2.
Pressure was on French now as someone needed to score a near ton supported by two other contributions.
Nige played very well, his usual array of shots, but was cut-off for 36 as the run-rate increased after Milo had come and gone quickly for 18 (inc 4x4). Skipper started positively but was out to a freakish one-handed catch at mid-off for 14 with scoring shots of 3,4,3,4.
After Fergie had been denied an easy run as Nige wanted strike the following over, he was duly castled for 0.
Salty came in and follwed the previous weeks' fluent innings with another including pulls and drives that was looking good for Manor's survival after Nige had departed and with Shaggy and the tail to come the target dropped from the wining 234, to perhaps the 200, or 175 for bonus points and a draw.
Salty unluckily played on for 26 and it was left for Shaggy to look after Luckhurst, Judges and David Livermore with 15 overs to go. After 5 of those Luckhurst was out for 9 to a diving catch at wide mid-on with the score at 149-8 and next over Shaggy himself was bowled for a very solid 33 at the same score - the target had now dropped to getting to 150 and the extra bonus point. It wasnt to be as Loz gloved to slip for a duck and 149 all out.
Well done to Shaggy for his all-round efforts.
Disappointing innings that offered so much - but perhaps we were chasing 50 too many and do not have enough 'hitters' to bash a quick 30/40. Four matches to go and Manor are 4th from bottom. 3 go down. We actually went up a place as our next opponents, Felbridge lost while obtaining only a few bonus points. Therefore the upcoming match could well decided where we play next season.
We cannot bank on beating bottom placed Bury in 3 weeks time, especially as Smith/Mason/French/Salt will all be on holiday!
Match 16. August 7th Home to Felbridge & Sunnyside 2nd XI
Report - Steve Lukhurst
Now, I didn't actually play in this game, but as nobody has come forward with anything, I'll cobble together something from the scorecard.
Now F&B arrived with only 4 of the team that had the better of a draw back in early June, but arrived as perhaps favourites.
Manor however had perhaps the strongest batting line up for many years - although Griffin/Salt with over 22,000 runs between them would want to muscle in.
F&S batted first and basically struggled against the sustained swing of David Baker who remarkably finished with the figures 17-3-29-0 which is a record number of overs for 'no wickets'. He was supported by Simon Haggis who followed his previous weeks 6-59 with 15-2-63-4. David Livermore had been unluckily wicketless again with 6-0-22-0 and Skipper Andrew 8-1-35-2 nibbled away a couple of late wickets too as F&S's opener David Jones held the innings firm with 89.
A late thumping from no's 6&7 took the score to 197-6 off 49 overs as a late introduction of Miles Scerri 3-0-33-0 boosted the target.
Still with the Manor batting line up (Smith,Mason,French,Eke,Prees,A Livermore,Scerri,Reynolds,Haggis,Baker and D Livermore) having nearly 75,000 runs between them, it didn't seem too much.
However at 60-odd for 4 it was looking decidedly dicey after Mason had fallen for half that total.
Enter Skipper Livermore to join Steve Eke - and built a near match-winning partnership of approaching 100 before Livermore departed for 51. Eke had passed 5,000 Manor runs as he too passed a half-century. It's feasible that Eke would be around the 20,000 mark if he'd stayed with Manor rather than moving to higher levels some 20 years ago, but even in his early 40's he shows much of the style and class that outgrew Manor. He was joined by Milo Scerri who assessed that 6 overs were remaining with 12 to win and promptly biffed 4,4,4 off the first three balls of the 40th over. Eke remained 60no as 198-5 saw Manor home by 5 wickets.
As one of our rivals for relegation this was a great win and sets us up for the last three matches of the League campaign.
Match 17. August 14th Away to Belgrave Adelaide 1st XI
Report - Steve Luckhurst
"I can't stand the rain, against my window"... actually standing watching the drizzle at Sussex Univercity meant a 'draw' of sorts - although as it turned out a couple of our rivals played and kept us really in the battle for the drop.
We did however go back 20 miles to the Manor (passing the rapidly erecting Falmer Stadium) to witness the Manor 2's in sunshine in Lancing. Opportunity for many of us to see Barry Firkins in full biffing action.
Match 18. August 21st Home to Bury
Report - Steve Luckhurst
We desperately needed to win today against relegated Bury and so the morning rain didn't bode well. All morning calls/texts were flying all over the place as more than one player was looking to the skies.
However, arriving through the traffic that was heading for the annual Shoreham Air Show for the earlier 1pm start found the ground drying and play clearly possible.
With only 8 players present at the allotted start time, Bury had no hesitation in batting first to take advantage of the gaps in the field.
20 mins after start, Dave Smith rolled up having thought it was a 1.30 start - despite being our League Rep!. 20 mins after that Will Stanford arrived having been working (so we'll let him off) but half-hour into the game there was no sign of bowling-hog Haggis.
Meanwhile Baker and Livermore snr had bowled more than tightly and a couple of wickets at 35 saw the breakthrough as they both nipped out an opener.
Livermore jnr was introduced after some 18 overs of the innings and promptly fell over bowling his first ball. Both his 'smooth soled' trainers and the 'mud-trail' that his father had left on the wicket were blamed, but a quick show change and after nipping out a wicket in his second (caught by dad at mid-off) over he was removed from the attack. This was mainly as the Bury batsmen had already noted the conditions and we didn't want an issue when they bowled. So back to Skip to bowl. Shops' Baker had nipped out another as his accuracy and swing was too much for most of the batters.
Liver's got a nick. Batsman stood. Next ball hit the pads. Generous LBW given. Justice methinks.
Bury had bundled their way towards a hundred mainly on the strength of Hylands 44 who Liver's nipped out for his 4th wicket to finish with 16-5-40-4. Baker's 16-6-45-2 was scant reward and when Luckhurst was brought on and grabbed no's 9&11 for 2.5-1-7-2 there was a rueful smile on Shops face. Well, I think that's what it was. 105 all out in 36.5 overs meant Manor had 57 overs for victory. Haggis had still failed to arrive.
A massive tea of assorted home cakes by Mummy Livermore was too much for some and although Smith/Reynolds could perhaps have squeezed more in, they went out to bat.
Facing a couple of medium pacers they nibbled the score along before the introducing of J.Waller who's previous bowls in the summer had seen him go round the park. However today he bowled as fast as anyone we'd seen this summer and was certainly not afraid to bowl the odd bouncer. Well, maybe 3 an over.
After Smith had crashed a couple of square boundaries and also tried to chest one to the fence, he nicked behind for 22 (5x4) at 35.
Eke then tried a pull to the same bowler but was late on the shot and top-edged to mid-wicket for 8.
Reynolds was hit on the fingers defending in front of his chest in consecutive balls - he wandered to the boundary seeking 'spray' but just received nowt but sympathy.
Livermore had tried to leave but gloved to the keeper too and we were suddenly 50-3 and in trouble.
This was bigger trouble as Nelly played all round a slow leggie-dollop to be bowled for 14. Andrew Clarke and Will Stanford were 5&6 - one new to the Manor, the other who was helping us to get 11 on the field. Oh, Haggis still hadn't arrived.
Between them they nudged a couple, defended courageously to get us past 60 when Will played on for 3. That was a career best and got his career average from 0.80 to 1.17!
Enter Miles Scerri with the score at 68-5. He did what we'd hope he did, smack the leggie around with a 6 & 4 and then did the same to the returning opening bowler. After a third 6 he was 30 in 14 mins with 2x4 and 3x6 before a bad run-out saw him stranded as a shy from cover hit the stumps. Bury went bananas as 98-6 then became 98-7 as Clarke was bowled for a stubborn 9.
It had been a crucial innings as Waller's 4 wickets dented the confidence of those watching. Especially the skipper who wandered around cursing everything he could think of and the thought of Div5 in 2011.
However, Shops joined Luckhurst and after confusion by Umpire Ken about how many balls were still to come, Shops creamed his second ball through Extra Cover to take the score to 102 and a hit away from Victory. Waller failed to bowl the obvious yorker, instead short (again) but thankfully wide and Luckhurst smashed it through/over gully for the winning boundary, tucked the bat under his arm and strode off.
Job done. Never in doubt eh Shops!. Manor had got home in 22.1 overs, so 35 overs spare!
We all retired to the Potter at 5pm to be joined by the returning 2nd XI (who had a mirror of our match, albeit a loss) to work out the league table on Smithy's Blackberry. Well, apart from Haggis that is.
The following morning the other results were seen and Felbridge had beaten title chasing Brighton&Hove! We were still 3rd from bottom! Not good.
Therefore we need to win at table-topping Worthing in the last match - or get 3 points more than Felbridge to stay up.
Division 5 on paper could be far from attractive and therefore we have an Cup-Final of a last match.
Match 19. August 28th Away to Worthing 3rds
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Unfortunately with Manor needing a win to stay up, Worthing called the game off on the friday night due to a sodden pitch.
This meant Felbridge (our nearest rivals) could in theory do the same and survive. Worthing themselves had opened it up for Brighton & Hove to pinch top spot if they'd won, but as it turned out B&H's game was also rained off so Worthing won the League by 1 point.
Manor boys were checking the League Website for the Felbridge result and as it turned out they did indeed lose, but in bowling out Eagles they gained 10 points and so did what was required.
We can blame a couple of bad results - most notably the defeat and draw against also relegated Rustington, but we beat B&H in our home game and had the better of the draw against Worthing.
Division 5 appears to have 6 Crawley teams, so 12/16 games will not be the most attractive.
Trust be told, Manor passed 200 just once during the season as match-winning batsmen failed to be consistent. Bowling wise we missed the penetration of Dave Baker for more than half the season and our main bowlers were either not keeping the runs down or taking wickets. Perhaps not a suprise then that we under-performed as a team. Disappointing considering the positive vibe that the 2nd XI's performances gave the club.
Match 20. September 5th Away to Staplefield
Report - Chris Hazlehurst>
A decent team rolled up to Staplefield expecting the usual proper Sunday fare, with plenty of pies being chucked,,some decent bowling, hearty thraping and plenty of laughs at Terry’s expense. Well we got all this plus hot sausage and onion baguettes. The end.
I suppose I’ll have to expand a little…titchy changing rooms made for a cosy start to the day but Davros Spliff and Mr C were soon striding out to face Christian whats-his-name and young Stan/Dan.
Well they were soon striding back in and it was left to Hazy and Gary to rebuild the innings, pretty soon after it was up to Salty and Gary to re-rebuild the innings, which thankfully they did.
I don’t have the book so am a bit stats light but Gary was ticking along Gary-like, however he did play three mows to leg that were very un Gary-like, but the ball was stopping up a fair bit so we can let off the new member of the 10’000 club, will anyone else ever join this elite band again?
Oh, Salty did about twenty minutes later.
Gaz was finally out for a superb 70, worth double on another day, maybe, leaving Salty sea dog to battle on, he did seem to be out there for eons but I can’t blame him as the chatter on the sidelines had, as per, plummeted. Fudgey told us how he had kicked a ball in a swimming pool, fallen into a swimming pool and nearly drowned his first born, whilst ski-ing..Terry was beginning to offer up his organisational skills for the end of season doo which brought forth some good Tel-isms for the rest of the day, only bettered by the barmyness he’s being emailing all week. I think we’re going Morris dancing with Gordon Kaye a week Wednesday. Also we had spied a shadowy figure in the house opposite perving at us getting changed through his telescope while back to front sheep played cricket in his back garden on a horse racing track.
Anyway Fudgey came and went, quickly followed by Henry King and Loz, fresh from checking out some top spots on the European leg of his tour , (soon to be performing at Merstham and Streat, tickets are available), before some quality Meltons were lobbed down, thanks to their skipper who realised we were coming up a bit short of a decent total, one of which did for poor Chris.
A huge waft produced a tiny nick which lolloped onto his stumps (31), prompting the great MP botherer to ask of square leg, ‘was that a no ball?’. No.
Beefy and Shops then giggled their way to a couple of handy red-inkers (16no/12no) and we finished on a just about not bad 170 something. Sausage time! Yay!
Tea, and never ending food produced some tasty looking cakes, which weren’t as tasty as they looked, some were only half eaten, top half, leaving the best bit, fools.
Smudger tried to bag gully by fetching on field leader Hazy some more cake, feeding him up roman emporer stylee they were just missing Alma from Corrie to fan them with some palm trees, or Charles Hawtrey, I liked him on his trolley in the hospital one. He’d have a few sherbs on tour…with Bernard Breslaw as Shops, him again as the monster from the infamy one as Dan, I don’t mind being Kenneth Williams, Fudgey can grow a moustache and be Leslie Phillips, Voicey can be Kenneth Connor, Beefy as Buddha Shrewsbury used to look a bit like Matron, Dave has a decent pair of moobs so could pass as Babs, with Gary and Neil as a pair of ginger lovelies for tour guide Salty (Kenneth Williams again) to get in a fluster over while trying to erect his pole on the campsite!
Shops and Beefy opened up and were soon guilty of some comic glaring as the hairy pied piper of Lancing contrived to grass a sitter off Beefy in the gulley, prompting the great Buddha of Burgers Hole to splutter the obvious, ’he wouldn’t drop them off his own bowling’, which is precisely what Shoppings did the very next ball. However a tight spell from Shops (1-15) and good containing from Beefs (1-22) and the Staplers needed 100 from the last 20.
Tel and FDD had just entered the fray and their lanky opener and young Stanley took a bit of a liking to this as young Stan especially started biffing it to all parts. The outfield which didn’t seem to contain many gaps in our innings suddenly seemed mammoth as 4 or 5 scampering Manorites were unable to stop the runfest. Once again the stats dessert(more cake) me but while Fudgey, Tel and Loz were each bowling short spells and swapping ends the opener finally went to a spiralling catch pouched by that man Hazy, a carbon copy of one Mr C had snaffled earlier. Tel then snapped up two in two balls and upon returning to his mark told the disinterested umpire, ‘oo, I’ve never taken a hat-trick before!’ Salty from mid off piped up, ’I’ve got a good feeling about this ball Tel!’. This good feeling was I’m afraid unfounded as Tel bowled a long hop, fell over, the ball was spooned to Salty who also fell over letting the it scuttle under his body. All this cricket was obviously interspersed with some silly ramblings , including from Karl Lagerfeld-alike Tel who was trying to garner restaurant tips between wickets.
Loz then suddenly stumbled upon a ruse to tie up their slogging youth after being told by Salty to bowl at his feet, well this worked a treat and he could hardly get a bat on it, the game was duly on. Raymond Blank came back into the attack to take the pace off the ball and threw down a couple of tight overs keeping Staples at about 4/5 an over. All the while Lozza was doing the same from the other end and we looked like doing the do, well it didn’t last for Betty Boo either, and when their number 9 smacked a couple of 4’s in the third to last over it was a lost cause, leaving it to Stanley to put us out of our misery with 10 balls to go ending with a career best 71 not out.
Tel 3-32, Loz 2-45 and Brown 0-52 were the swapping bowlers.
Oh well not a bad game in the end, bonkers showering and a decent sherb in the pub at the top, now we just need to get 11 to go all the way to Merstham next Sunday…
Match 21. September 12th Away to Merstham 2nd XI
Report - Steve Luckhurst
10 Man Manor finally all arrived at the picturesque Merstham ground - perhaps the best venue of the summer - with Fudgie Brown last to arrive in his Chelsea Tractor via a local Costa Cofee for his three passengers to obtain various pies and frapachino's.
Beefy decided to be skipper, went out saw a damp wicket and thought he fancied a bowl, so did.
Loz Judges opened the bowling up the hill and off the 4th ball of his spell caught a diving caught & bowled.
Beefy then saw Fergie grass one before bowling the left-handed opener with one that straigtened to hit the top of the off stump - just like off the telly.
Loz then got his 2nd as Fergie held on at point. Salty was expected to drop a skier off Beefy due to immediately shouting 'I can't see it' as soon as it went straight up, so did.
With a move of fielder Fudgie then held a skier in exactly the same spot for Beefy's 2nd, before an edge through to Mason found a cling-on at the 2nd attempt for Beefy's third. Loz had meanwhile been bowling very well with nice away swing the right handers. The batters to be honest were not particularly strong. In fact had they played with straight bats they may well have scored some runs! - as it was with 5 down after 18 overs the score was only 40 and something had to be done to make a game of it. Luckhurst 9-2-29-3 and Judges 9-3-10-2 took a rest.
Although the temptation was to let both bowlers get more wickets due to the fact that if opening batsmen had 50 each they wouldnt get themselves out to let the rest bat would they!?
So it was that debut making Steven 'Cudleigh' Chadwick came on and bowled a somewhat nervous first spell for the senior team while Nick'Nugent'Brown steamed down the hill.
Amongst the wides and slogs wickets continued to fall - with Chadwick 4-0-19-1 making way for Chris'2 girls 1 cup'Hazlehurst coming on for a rare bowl. He took 2-1-3-1 including his first ever maiden (so he says). His wicket was by virtue of a slip catch by Chris Salt - his 100th catch - and pretty smart it was too. Having fielded at mid-off, mid-on, cover, extra cover and cow corner, he ended up at slip to prevent him running more between overs than during!
Well held. Well done.
Hazy was replaced by the Chairman, Owen Voice after Fudgies last over at 6-2-18-2 saw him done for the afternoon. Loz was preparing for a go down the hill when Mr C's 4th ball bowled the no.11. 0.4-0-1-1 was his spell. Maintains his career average after 21 seasons at 16. Admittedly he only has 7 wickets, but that's not an excuse he says.
Merstham finished at 85 all out at 3.30pm and thoughts of a beer match were raised. Then dismissed as nonsense - especially as we had an hours+ journey home.
Fantastic tea and worth every penny.
Salt and Voice were giving the task of setting a platform on a drying wicket. After a few hearty blows from both they were soon half-way there and the following batsmen in the order were beginning to be shuffled in order to give the chance to others - ie, young Henry King promoted from 6 to 4, to 3 as Fergie, Mason, Hazlehurst dropped a place each.
As it was, Salty swept a couple more boundaries and lots of singles (six in one over for example) kept things at a good rate. With both men in the mid-30's the first talk of a 10-wicket victory came up. There was still talk of a 'Manor' collapse and defeat too, so nothing could be certain. Salt/Voice exchanged boundaries as Voice who had been 10 runs behind suddenly caught up at 38no/34no - then boundary was hit by Voice to take him personally to 396 runs for the season and that was a best ever total - then he pinched a single off the last ball of an over to bring the scores level and him to a 39/38 lead. With one to win he biffed it to mid-wicket - confusion then arose that the boundary didn't count as the first run they completed won the match - but in my book and our scorebook it went down as a 4. 43no to Voice and 38no to Salt to complete a 10-wicket victory. The equal 5th best ever 10-wicket victory. Slaty actually holds the record, 210 with Reynolds back in 1995 as the best ever chase. Voicey actually 'starred' in a 10-wicket victory chasing 25(!) back in 1989 for the 2nds at Amberley so becomes the only player to feature in a 10-wckt victory for both XI's.
The time was 4.58pm and no talk of beer matches was raised - great game for the 6 bowlers and 2 batters that featured. The early finish was especially welcome as half-hour later a call was received stating there had been a pile-up on the M23 and most of mid-Sussex had ground to a standstill. So everyone got home the 'normal' time anyway!
Match 22. September 19th Away to Boxgrove
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Unfortunately we could not get an XI out on the field, which is very disappointing and has probably cost us that fixture in the future - seems Sunday cricket has lost a lot of it's appeal - i recall around 1990 when we had 25-30 available most sundays. Maybe we should consider Saturday friendlies in September.
Two matches to go and Loz can retire for the summer safe in knowledge he's won the bowling cup with 11 cheap wickets. The Batting Cup is a 3-way tussle between Mason, Smith and Salt - although Mr C has to now play the last 2 matches to be in with a quite remarkable achievement.!
Match 23. September 26th Home to Streat & Westmeston.
Report - Steve Luckhurst
Despite starting the match with only 9 players, Manor had the better of the draw against our regular/popular opponents.
Despite losing the toss and being inserted - something skipper Luckhurst would have done to them - Manor's batters' got on with the job in increasing gloom - even at 1pm.
Voicey played back and was bowled early on and knowing he was due to get a taxi to Airport for a flight to Korea at 4pm his contribution was over for the afternoon - unless Manor crumbled to a low total and he would get to keep. However, David Livermore, promoted to no.3, played well for 15 before too being bowled. Joined by Chris Salt, Smith took the scoring on. Knowing he needed 100+ to overtake Mason in the Batting Averages he ploughed on hitting boundaries galore until the drinks break with an hour to go at 130-2 with him on 80+.
A couple of biffs later and he perrished, caught on the mid-wicket boundary for 97!
Salty kept things ticking over, playing his most fluent (ie, quickest) innings of the summer and with a quick-fire 18 from the late (as in late arriving) Brad Hunt the score more through the 160's, 170's and with Steven Chadwick's first 1st XI innings cut off at 5 and Steven Livermore bowled for 0, Salty biffed past a first 50 of the summer supported by Fudgie Brown who raced out to the wicket with 6 minutes to go before tea, hitting 8 before being caught and bowled and the delaration at 4.28(!) with Salt 61no (and now top of the batting averages himself!) and the score at a very solid, above par considering the condtions, 216-7.
Beefy's Tesco-Value Tea of Sausage Rolls, Tarts and Jaffa Cakes was tacked with gusto as the gloom dropped further and the possibility of no play after tea was a distinct possibility.
We waved goodye to Mr C - then watched as Brad Hunt showed increasing promise with the ball as he sped in and bowled a very good spell of 6-2-22-0 which if we had a couple more fielders coulda/shouda/woulda been better. He then pulled a groing muscle (I guess playing football in the morning and cricket in the afternoon is too much, even for a 16 year old!). But he showed enough to suggest that in 2011 he should be in the 1st XI.
David Livermore opened the other end and yet again was wicketless and luckless and how he wished someone would play-on or have a heave-ho rather than block'n'drive him.
After Brad, Tel Griffin did what Tel Griffin does. Shuffle and bowl steadily and duly picked up a couple of wickets. 5-2-15-2 was reward and perhaps could have stayed on for another over or two. However, a double change mean Fudgie Brown trundled in for 8 overs up the hill for a 'whooping' wicket before a 2-over spell by Chadwick 0-19 and 4 off a single Steven Livermore over saw him retire to the Pavillion with a hurt hand as well as possible pneumonia from standing in drizzle not helped by blinding car headlights which surely should have been telling us to shake hands and go home.
At 120-3, Beefy finally bowled a straight one, but with a returning D.Liver unable to make a breakthrough it was agreed to call it off with one over of the last 20 to go. Beefy thought with 6 balls and 6 wickets needed we should have stayed on, but took his 8-4-15-1 to the Pavillion.
With a wet ball, cloth-wiped after each delivery and un-cut sodden outfield, gloom, drizzle and a dull result on offer it must rank as one of most miserable endings to a match/season we've experienced.
With 3 substitute fielders too, it had a touch of farce and the drive-by-hooting from Mr Reynolds suggested he was correct in giving it a miss.
Hats off to Smithy who became only the 6th Manor player to reach 600 matches. Plaudits to go to Chris Salt, who barring a miracle should win his first 1st XI Batting Trophy after 25 season with the Club. Having passed 10,000 Runs recently it is reward for consistency (Career Average circa 25) and it's good to see a new name on the Cup.....however, there is one fixture left...weather permitting....getting XI players permitting.....
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