Weekend Round Up - On a blistering Saturday, all 5 teams were in action hoping to shine in the sun!
The 1st XI travelled to Barnsley CC boosted by the return of Billy Root and the first competitive game for new boy Azeem Rafiq! Dicko lost the toss and we were asked to bowl in the heat. Luke Shutt and Henry Eldred made a mockery of the decision reducing Barnsley to 1-3 and then 6-4!! When Henry removed Barnsleys IPL import Harpreet Singh Bhatia for an explosive 25 from 16 balls they were 25-5. After the dream start we turned to spin as Azeem and Billy settled into long spells applying the pressure. Azeem finished with 14-4-18-3 and along with 1 wicket a piece for Dicko and Josh Varley helped bowl Barnsley out for 137.
In reply Tom Rowley and Dan Priestley set about chasing down the total, to keep up our great start to the season. Tom continued his fine form cruising along to another 50, as he and Dan put on 97 for the first wicket. Tom fell for 63 from 73 balls, before Eliot Callis joined Dan to complete a 9 wicket win in 30 overs. Dan finished on 35* and Eliot 32*. Another comprehensive win and great to be back playing after a frustrating weekend of rain last week!
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The 2nd XI hosted Darfield CC at Abbeydale looking to bounce back from a couple of disappointing weeks. Boosted by the return of Chris Stewart, Danny Walton and Rob Shaw the team looked strong and ready for a good win. Having chosen to bat first Darfield got off to a good start with some aggressive batting as Rob and Eddy Lomas struggled for control. Eddy got the breakthrough with the key wicket of big hitter Alex Morris, 45-1. Spin was then introduced with Matt Lee and Tom Eldred looking to turn the game back in our favour. They delivered with brilliant success. A mixture of tight bowling and brainless batting meant Darfield collapsed from 78-2 to 118 all out. The pick of the bowlers was an easy choice as Matt Lee had figures of 11.5-3-29-7!
In reply a new opening pair of Lexi Moore and Danny Walton played brilliantly putting on 50 for the first wicket. Some good running and punishing stroke play from the pair put Darfield on the back foot from the start. Lexi fell for 27, before Chris Stewart joined Danny to take the score up to 99. Danny passed 50, before falling for 54 from 67 balls. Chris and Tom Hancock saw us over the line for an 8 wicket win in just 26 overs. A cracking win and a marker for this team going forward.
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The 3rd XI hosted Upper Haugh CC on the top pitch, with a very strong looking team, a result of the strength of the top 2 teams! Batting first Adrian Meadows and Jake Foster got off to a great start, before they fell for 38 and 13 respectively. At 3 and 4 came Ben Fielding and Nick Gaywood, showing our strength in depth! The pair put on a huge partnership, helping us towards a big total from our 46 overs. Ben finished on 69 runs, whilst Blade scored a brilliant 114 from 101 balls with 15x4s and 4x6s! The team finished on 276-5.
With the ball it was not easy work and our attack were made to work throughout. Wickets were shared between Oliver Tyas, Jim Lomas, Alex Masterson, Ben Fielding and Andy Tyas who picked up 3 wickets. Wickets were taken at regular intervals and despite some late hitting our total was too much for Upper Haugh, as they finished on 210-8 from their 46 overs. A good 66 run win for our 3rd XI to continue their good run!
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The 4th XI travelled to Whittington Wanderers CC with some familiar faces in the side, in the shape of Mark Hickman and David Seal! Having been asked to bat first (they chose to bowl in that heat!) a brilliant 61 from Bully on his return along with fantastic support from captain Tony Miller (41) and Tom Wellman (48*), helped us post a score of 195-5 from 46 overs.
With the ball, it seems Whittington had felt the heat in the field as they struggled from the off. A very good spell from Jonathan Walmsley of 9-3-13-2 meant scoring was hard for their batters. However in a phrase that will keep on being repeated, it was Satyam Verma who was the chief tormentor as he bowled a remarkable spell of 8.1-4-14-7! Whittington opener scored 30 runs, however the other 10 only managed a combined 27 as they were bowled out for 71. Another brilliant victory for T's side!
sheffieldcollegiate.play-cricket.com/website/results/2966346
Our 5th XI made the short trip to Chesterfield Barbarians CC. In what turned out to be a cracked of an encounter we bowled first in the soaring heat, with James Hall and James Speck opening up. A good knock of 61 from one opener set the stall for a good total, however a good spell from Specky of 11 overs 1 for 29, kept their scoring in check. 2 wickets for Harvey Rowntree and 4 for Hamzah Shah, meant Chesterfield posted 190-8 from their 46.
In reply we got off to a great start with 22 from Pat Edwards, and 40 from skipper Mick Rowntree putting us in a good position early. Unfortunately we lost regular wickets, and despite another good knock from Adursh Ruparella of 61 we lost our 9th wicket still short of the total. Hamza Irfan and James Hall got us to within 1 run, but unfortunately it was not to be as James was run out on the last ball, 189 all out. Chesterfield won by 1 run, in a brilliant game of cricket. Yet more promising signs for Mick's team.
sheffieldcollegiate.play-cricket.com/website/results/2966354
Not quite a full house, but what another great weekend of cricket this club has enjoyed! With weather to match all teams put on a show and were a credit to our great club!
#UTC ...
NEWS - Huge congratulations to Tate Miller who has been selected for Yorkshire B u12s!
Always great to see our juniors rewarded!
🦁#UTC ...
Performance of the Week - With rain hampering any chance for our juniors to show their skills on Saturday we only have one performance this week.
Mike Simpson - Who else could it be after hos sensational performance on Sundays T20 final. Mile scored 71 from just 28 balls, with 3x4s and 8x6s. Remarkably his innings also included 10 dot balls which meant his strike rate of 253, could have been 394 had he not blocked it!!! Some typical brutal hitting and to quote Mike himself, he pressed L for Launch!
Congratulations to Mike for this weeks award!
🦁 #UTC ...
Weekend Round Up - Only 1 game managed to avoid the weather on Saturday, but the weather was kinder on Sunday where the 1st XI looked to start their defence of their T20 title!
The 2nd XI travelled to Wath CC, which somehow had managed to avoid the rain across Yorkshire and was bone dry! Skipper Andy Simpson won the toss and chose to bat. Unfortunately the batting frailties returned and we lost regular wickets throughout the innings, falling to 58-7. The only bright spot amongst the batters was Tom Hancock, who had moved up from the 3s. Tom scored a very good 50 from 90 balls from number 3. A very good innings to build around, but turned out to be a stand alone knock in the top order. Another highlight was Tom Eldred, batting at 10, scoring 21 from 57 balls showing a lot of fight and continuing his improved form this season. 114 all out in 47.3 overs.
With the ball, early wickets were needed from Abishek and Ed Lomas to try and apply some pressure with a low score to defend. Credit to the Wath CC batters who managed to see of the new ball, forcing us to turn to spin. Matt Lee and Tom Eldred bowled a good, long spell between them, with Tom picking up 2 wickets. Apart from a Ben Rooke run out no more wickets fell and Wath reached the total 3 down in 27.5 overs. A disappointing loss, but plenty to come from the 2nds.
sheffieldcollegiate.play-cricket.com/website/results/2914883
On Sunday our 1st XI started their National T20 campaign, where they get to the last 16 in the country last year, with a tough game against Wakefield Thornes CC. Captain Josh Varley won the toss and chose to bat, with a big score the target. Opener Simon Guy got us off to a great start with some early boundaries and powerful hitting. Simon ended on a brilliant 65 from 39 balls with 8x4s and 3x6s. Unfortunately wickets kept falling at the other end and apart from Josh (16 from 26) and Mike Simpson (13 from 5) nobody else got into double figures. We were all out for 154 in 18.5 overs. A decent total but short of where we wanted.
In reply a good start with the ball was needed and was delivered by Rob Shaw who bowled 2 overs for just 4 runs, with the wicket of one of the Wakefield openers as well. At the other end runs were coming quickly, but a good slower ball from Josh got rid of the Thornes opener for an aggressive 35 from 12 balls. The pair of Matt Lee and Henry Eldred were then introduced to spark some magic into the game. Neither disappointed, with Matt getting the key wicket of David Toft, and Henry bowling some serious pace picking up 3 quick wickets. Wakefield collapsed from 50-1 to 88-8 thanks to this great spell and a good comeback from Matt Tyas. The innings was wrapped up soon after, with Wakefield all out for 104 in 16.3 overs. A 50 run victory in the semi final.
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With the day being hosted by Wickersley CC, it was always going to be a tasty encounter when they too had reached the final and had the local support. However our lads are built for pink ball and coloured kit cricket and put on a show! Wickersley won the toss and batted looking for some early runs. Despite Rob Shaw sending the off stump cartwheeling early on, then seeing the almost polar opposite in the same over as the bail only just fell off, Wickersley got off to a flyer thanks mainly to Matthew Burton who scored 35 from 19 balls, with 3 sixes. When Burton fell to Josh the score was 63-3 from just 5 overs. A cracking spell from Josh, keeping the score in check, was rewarded with his second wicket when he had danger man Tom Knight out LBW. Another brilliant showing from Matt Lee and Henry Eldred meant wickets kept falling and with them so did the run rate. Wickersley fell to 105-7. Some late hitting was curtailed by a strong finish by Luke Shutt, and some good fielding by Eliot Callis with a late run out. Wickersley 143-8 from their 20.
In reply we lost Danny Walton early, but with an in form Simon and Eliot we had a great start once again. The score moved past 50 fairly quickly before Eliot fell for 26 from 16 balls. Mike Simpson joined a set Simon looking to chase down the total quickly. What followed was what every Collegiate player and fan had hoped to see that day, a Mike Simpson masterclass. With Simon playing a crucial role, he could only watch as Mike, in his own words "pressed L for Launch". He went after the slower Wickersley bowlers with typical brutality, reaching his 50 from just 22 balls, hitting 6 of his 6s on the way. He kept going and finished the game suitably with a 6, to end on 71 from 28 balls, 3x4s and 8x6s! A 253 strike rate, in an innings that remarkably included 10 dot balls! Simon finished on 45 from 35 balls in his second brilliant innings of the day. 145-2 in 14.3 overs. The juggernaut rolls on!
sheffieldcollegiate.play-cricket.com/website/results/3178407
🦁 #UTC ...
Performances of the Week! A full fixture card and despite mixed results there were still plenty of strong performances to choose from.
Performance of the Week - Lexi Moore - Lexi made a remarkable 103 not out from just 69 balls! In an unbeaten opening partnership with Jake Foster of 165, winning the game by 10 wickets, Lexi hit 16 fours and 1 six. A brilliant effort from Lex and one of many brutal big scores this season we're sure!
Junior Performance of the Week - Tom Connolly - Despite a humbling defeat for our 5th XI the stand out was Tom who not only top scored with 15, but then followed it up with a unbelievable bowling effort. Tom bowled 5 overs, collecting 4 wickets for no runs! Figures of 5-5-0-4 are a very rare sight at any level! A great effort by Tom to try and get an unlikely win.
Congratulations to both! 🦁 #UTC ...
Very sad news. One of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I had the pleasure of playing for Collegiate with him for a number of years. He was wonderful with us younger ones and always encouraging. We had a great weekend in Detroit when I was living there and he was working in the US. He always called me ” short ‘ouse “. Great Bloke.