Story Briggs Bullets...Moving On Up! (Battrick)

[Briggsey]

Down At The Nets

This weeks nets took place yesterday, and the two youngsters, Des Midworth and Pradnesh Ahmed were given a good work out. Both had valuable gains from the nets this week, and are said to be looking forward to continuing their schedule next week. The results are as follows;

Pradnesh Ahmed - BT Rating - Increased
Des Midworth - Batting - Respectable to Proficient

Des' pop came as a suprise to manager Briggs, this week was ear marked down as the week Pradnesh would pop to Strong in bowling, but either way, a fine week for Des and at just the right time, his pop will help the teams batting lineup and make it substantially stronger in time for the big game on Friday.

 

[surendar]

It seems Ali brothers are very fond of Indian teams They played a good rescue role to win against Viral's team!

 

[aussie1st]

Very nice pop for Midworth, definitely will help the team out.

 

[borncricketer]

Midworth is looking good, should become another good player

 

[Briggsey]

Preperations For Tomorrow

16/03/2007
League Game 9
Briggs Bullets v Postwar's @ The Bullets Dome
Start Time: 10:30am

Pre-Match Notes:In what looks set to be a cracker, the Bullets welcome table topping Postwar's to the Dome. With both teams in brilliant form coming into this game, the stakes are set even higher for what looks set to be one of the games of the season. A win for the Bullets could see them close the gap to 4 points at the top, a win for the visitors however could end the Bullets promotion hopes for yet another season. Postwar's have recently sold their leading fast bowler Owen Mccrave in the lead up to this game, but have brought in yet another top class spin bowler, and with Kesterton having already destroyed the Bullets earlier in the season, a pitch favouring pace bowlers could be the key to a Bullets victory.

Judging on my last league match and Postwar's last league match, and depending on the teams for tomorrow, the summary would be as follows:

                [B]Briggs Bullets[/B]          [B]Postwar's[/B]
Top Order:      respectable             proficient
Middle Order:   competent               competent
Lower Order:    abysmal         [B]V[/B]       worthless
Seam Bowling:   respectable             strong
Spin Bowling:   respectable             proficient
Fielding:       woeful                  feeble

Postwar's out-do the Bullets in all key departments, however the departure of Mccrave does weaken that seam bowling attack. Its going to take an almighty effort from the home side to clinch a victory here, and a similar performance to that against the barbadian buses here a couple of weeks ago could be needed.

Briggs Bullets Lineup to face Postwar's tomorrow (from):
1.Ainsworth, 2.Sohail, 3.Moodley, 4.Ali(c), 5.Midworth(wk), 6.Pickford, 7.Jepson, 8.Burdett, 9.Gillman, 10.Bignot, 11.Storer

Briggs' View
"Tomorrow will make or break our season. If we win our hopes are still alive, if we lose we've got to focus on next season and continue to build a team capable of promotion. No doubt they are the strongest outfit in the league, their spin attack is outstanding and Kesterton showed his class against us earlier in the season, and now this new lad they have brought in will add a further dimension to that attack. We dealt with them pretty well earlier in the season, just the chase for runs at the end rather undone us and left us with a lower score than we should of had. If we bat like that again tomorrow, and bowl like we have done in recent weeks, there is no reason why we cant win this one."

Last Meeting

26/01/2007
Postwar's v Briggs Bullets @ The Ho's Bowl
Postwar's Won The Toss And Elected To Field

Briggs Bullets 256 (49.4)
Moodley 129
Kesterton 4/43

Merthyr Tydfil CC 259/2 (42.4)
Viljoen 102*
Pickford 1/49

Postwar's Won By 8 Wickets

 

[Left_Hander]

It is going to take a huge effort from your players to win this one. Good luck!

 

[borncricketer]

Good luck for ur game briggs, looks like a tough 1 there
Are you gonna GFI it?

 

[aussie1st]

His bowling is a major plus over yours but not impossible to get a win here.

 

[Briggsey]

Good luck for ur game briggs, looks like a tough 1 there
Are you gonna GFI it?

Yep GFI, not sure whats going on with the pitch change, it was Hard and Fast (attempting to get to Flat) last night but I look now and its Green (attempting to get to Flat) so no ideas?

His bowling is a major plus over yours but not impossible to get a win here.

Expect those ratings to swap, he sold one of his frontline seamers and brought in another spinner, whether they both play or not Ill have to see but my top order usually thrive against spin bowling (from what ive seen) so if the top 4 are still around after the early overs, they should be fine.

 

[aussie1st]

Interesting move by him, that definitely evens things out. Never actually thought about looking at the guys transfer before the match.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Was Crouch the new spinner or a seamer? Cause he surely did you in...

 

[Briggsey]

Was Crouch the new spinner or a seamer? Cause he surely did you in...

Crouch he had just recently bought too for ?2.5m, RFM bowler, BTR of 97,464 and his wages are close to ?15,000. He must be some player because my batting has certinally never been done over like that before, it was like I was playing an II or III side. Post the game later.

 

[Briggsey]

Review Of The Match

16/03/2007
League Game Nine
Briggs Bullets v Postwar's@ The Bullets Dome
Briggs Bullets Won The Toss And Elected To Field

Postwar's 205 (43)
Viljoen 68
Gillman 3/13

Briggs Bullets 56 (15.3)
Jepson 19*
Crouch 5/7

Postwar's Won By 149 Runs

Scorecard

A game which was supposed to be one of the games of the season ended up being a one way steam roller as Postwar's left a demoralised Bullets team scratching their heads in dismay as they hammered the home side by a huge 149 margin. On a beautiful day in Bradford, Bullets captain Nalin Ali won the toss and decided to put the opposition in to bat on a track which looked like it was offering very little to the bowlers. Postwar's openers made their way out to the middle but one of them would soon be making that journey back in the 2nd over as Storer gave the Bullets a perfect start, forcing 17 year old Phil Lockwood into a faint edge behind to Midworth for only 5. That wicket saw star batsman Dom Viljoen make his way out to the crease to join Baptiste, and these two are well known to the Bullets, having scored big against them in the past. The two looked set on doing that again, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground and forcing the captain to make a change and bring himself into the attack. It immediately paid dividends as Midworth came up to the stumps and Baptiste attempted to steer the ball very fine but only succeeded in steering it into the hands of Midworth who jumped for joy on taking the catch. At 61-2, Postwar's looked in a spot of bother, but the run rate was more than healthy and the arrival of Webster to the crease saw in increase further. Viljoen and Webster set about hitting the bowlers to all parts, Webster hammering 2 huge sixes in consecutive balls from the captain. The breakthrough would eventually come though, Fitz Gillman was brought into the attack and the man who is getting the tag as a partnership breaker did it again, taking an outstanding return catch from Viljoen who was in disbelief at the acrobatics displayed by Gillman. The big bowler would then strike again a couple of overs later, cleaning up the wicket keeper Claassens with an outstanding inswinging yorker. 177-5 would soon turn to 181-6 as the captain brought himself back and again struck, this time Clavert edging straight into Midworth's gloves. A fightback by Iwan Crouch saw his side reach 200, but some fine bowling by Burdett saw him clean up the tail, dismissing Postwar's for 205 and leaving Crouch stranded not out.

Chasing 206 on a pitch which looked like it was offering nothing for the bowlers, looked like it was a total the Bullets batsmen were capable of, and Ainsworth and Sohail walked out to a huge roar of encouragement from the home faithful, knowing that they could be in with a shout of upsetting the league leaders. However those roars would soon turn to moans as Ainsworth was beaten hook line and sinker by Crouch who took the main man's middle stump out of the ground with an incredible delivery. Islam would offer some relief at the other end, his line and length no where near the immaculate Crouch, but as soon as he returned, he would do so in a big way. In only his 2nd over of the game, he ripped the top order of the Bullets out, taking 3 wickets and removing Moodley, Ali and Midworth, the heart of the Bullets middle order in the process. At 8-4 after only 3 overs the Bullets were in all sorts of mess. Sohail had lost 4 partners and had only faced one delivery himself. The crowd were in shock but when Pickford hit Islam for the first boundary of the innings, a huge cheer let loose and the signs of a partnership were possibly beginning to evolve. Sohail saw off an entire Crouch over next up, handling him very well, but it would be the lesser fancied Islam who would deal the major blow, Pickford attempting to pull a delivery which he only succeeded in dragging on to his stumps to leave the Bullets 24-5. Crouch would not be outdone though and soon got back in on the act, claiming his 5th victim of the innings in only his 4th over, bowling an absolute snorter to Sohail who could only glove it straight to Claassens behind. That wicket left Jepson at the crease with only the bowlers for support, Burdett showed he was more than capable, seeing off Crouch's 5th over and picking up some runs in the process. Jepson showed he was no mug either, the former number 3 hammered Islam for a huge six out of the ground, something for the home fans to cheer about at last. The two would put on 24 for the 7th wicket, but the introduction of spin would soon see a wicket fall. Grady Nash doing the business, removing Burdett, and then Clarkson would follow suit, picking up 2 quick wickets of Gillman and Bignot. Nash would then close the curtain, picking up the final Bullets wicket and giving the away side a comfortable victory in the process. A shocked home contingent left the Dome in disbelief at the game they had just witnessed, and in the knowledge that their season for now, is over for another year.

Man Of The Match

Managers View

"There is a dressing room of dissapointed lads back there, and so they should be. I told them to go out their today and show this lot what we were made of. I thought i'd got the response I wanted from them when we got them in trouble at 180 odd for 6 and then to bowl them out for 205 was a fantastic achievement. They came back in heads held high and confident that they could win it, and I told them all they could as long as they kept their nerve and didnt play any silly shots. As soon as Ainsworth went in the first over, heads dropped, they saw this Crouch lad and thought he was unstoppable, he was putting it through at some pace; true, but they just seemed to become nervous. Ainsy came back and told us that was the best delivery he has ever faced. From their on the tale was written, he went on to destroy us and the tail couldnt handle the spin. I didnt need to say anything to them afterwards, you could see the dissapointment on their faces, Nalin held his usual team meeting afterwards and has assured me spirits are still high and that this game will be just a minor blip in a otherwise great season. Ive seen a couple of lads in the nets already after the game seen how it finished early and all so they are obviously determined to learn from their mistakes, and hopefully we can put things right on Sunday."

League Table

 

[surendar]

Tough luck Briggy.. Also Gud luck for the PC league tmrw

 

[Jaztheman]

unlucky hope you can win in PC league