Penkridge CC Blog - 25th June in Association with MA Lawyers

A mixed weekend of results, a mixed weekend of personal fortunes, but a very important and successful weekend for the club on and off the pitch. 

After the last few weekends, we finally had some decent weather as the first team made the short trip to Cannock, coming away with a disappointing defeat after being bowled out for just 128. Only Attiq Chishti (34) made any real impression with the bat before Cannock reached their victory target for the loss of just four wickets, Chishti (2-21) also being the pick of the bowlers.

The second team entertained Aldridge first team and recorded a very comprehensive nine wicket victory. Aldridge were restricted to 167-9 from their 50 overs in the face of impressive bowling from Myles Davis (2-35) and Chris Green (3-44). An unbroken second wicket stand of 153 between Sam Horobin (37 not out) and Paul Szewczyk saw us home with some 16 overs to spare, Szewczyk sealing the victory with a towering straight six to finish undefeated on a superb 101 not out.

Fordhouses were the visitors for the third team, and we amassed 294-4 when batting first. Solid contributions from Liam Kettle (40) and Simon Parnaby (48) provided good support to Steve Jones, who carried his bat for an excellent 106 not out. The Fordhouses reply was soon in trouble at 46-6 as a superb opening spell from Matt Jenkinson put us in control, before he returned for a second spell to finish the innings and end up with the superb figures of 7-37, Fordhouses being bowled out for 189.

A very inexperienced fourth team travelled to West Bromwich Dartmouth, and endured a tough afternoon in the field as their hosts racked up 330-2. Kenny Brindley was the solitary wicket taker for us, before we were bowled out for 91 as top scorer Will Birch remained unbeaten on 19.

The Sunday first team had C&R Hawks in a little trouble at 160-8 before rain forced the game to be abandoned. Joe Oakley and Will Hinder took a wicket apiece, whilst Joe Marson (2-29) and Sam Horobin (3-12) were also amongst the wickets.

The senior fixtures only tell part of the story however. The under 10s played at home on Thursday night on the same evening as both senior and ladies training took place. Friday night saw All Stars and Junior Training sessions, as well as a very successful race night to raise funds for the club.

The Saturday games are documented above, before a beautiful evening of sunshine saw a great atmosphere on the new patio at the club, with everyone catching up on the events of the day over a drink. Then on Sunday, two under 9 and two under 10 teams were fielded in the morning, whilst William James represented Staffordshire - 25 junior players in action altogether - before four ladies teams took part in the softball festival we hosted in the afternoon. All in all, over 100 players representing the club over the weekend at various levels.

Thank you to all the coaches, parents and volunteers for their help and efforts in making this happen; special thanks must go to Neil Davis, Nick Giles and Pete Parnaby for making sure that the ground was in superb condition throughout.

And now for my - brief - weekend.... Playing in the second team for the first time this season and keeping wicket, the game started well with a comfortable catch early on. I was feeling good about my keeping and looking forward to the rest of the innings, before a low ball when standing back kicked off the outfield in front of me. It seems that using your cheekbone instead of wicket keeping gloves to stop these balls is a sure fire way to earn yourself a trip to hospital!!

Ninety minutes later, with some glue and strips to hold things back together and I was back on the pitch for the last 45 minutes of Aldridge’s innings, albeit with my hopes of a modelling and film career in tatters given the scar that I’m going to have! Special thanks to Chris Green for pointing out as I returned to the field “at least you’ll have something to write about in the blog....” Fortunately, no major damage and things could have been much worse - the speed at which I was treated, and the treatment I received at Cannock hospital was superb, especially as I wasn’t the only injured cricketer there that afternoon!! 

This week sees the usual round of junior and senior fixtures, and in addition the second team are due to host their league T20 quarter final on Wednesday night at the time of writing. Hopefully the weather will be kind and we can get some more cricket in.

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