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16.07, GSY 135 for 7 off 37.3
Kimbo couldn't repeat the magic of KL and is run out for 3. Nussbaumer goes out to join Frithy. Some big hits from the Bam would go down very nicely right now.
16.12
The view:
16.17, GSY 141 for 8 off 39.4
Frithy goes for 76, caught at 3rd reverse sweeping. Start the car...
16.34 GSY 145 all out off 43.3
Stuart Bisson goes for huge wipe and is cleaned up. Gary Rich goes out and is lbw first ball. That's it. It's all over.
It feels slightly disappointing but we've got to remember that Singapore are the favourites to win the tournament. Hey ho. It's now time to enjoy my birthday!
10.37, Tuesday 21 February, Guernsey v Argentina, Singapore Cricket Club
Good morning everybody. Today’s match has been delayed due to rain.
It had been pouring down earlier but it’s stopped now. The covers are off and we’re waiting for the toss.
I apologise for a lack of blogage yesterday. But my birthday celebrations on Sunday night, yesterday was write off to say the least!
10.50
Some pics from today:
The Argentinian camp. They looked good in their warm up footy kick around. Especially their little number 10…
The Guernsey boys. They didn't look so good in their warm up kick about.
11.09
The captains have tossed and Stuart Le Prevost has lost his third toss in a row - Guernsey are batting. The match will be 42 overs long.
11.28
And we’re underway. Team news: The management have decided to play an extra batsman and Andy Biggins has come in for Gary Rich.
The left handed Biggsy is opening up with GH Smit.
11.43 GSY 11 for 1 off 3
Biggsy goes first ball he faces. A leading edge caught at gully. I feel for him. He must be gutted. Frithy ambles out.
11.53, Gsy 25 for 1 off 5
GH is looking good out there. Back to his old self.
Some more pics from earlier:
The boys help with the covers or is it the world's biggest slippy slide?
12.05 Gsy 34 for 2 off 9
After looking so good, GH goes lbw to Fennell for 16. Tim Ravenscroft goes out. It’d be nice to see The Raven get a score today.
BTW – you can follow the action at http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/scorecard.php?type=C&matchId=45201
As I write this… Tim goes for a duck going for a big one and he’s caught at point off Paterlini. We’re now 37 for 3. This isn’t good.
The Argentinian bowlers are medium trundlers. We’re getting ourselves out.
Stu Le Prevost walks out. We need to get back on track.
12.13 Gsy 40 for 3 in 11
Got an email from former Guernsey keeper and legend Gary Kimber who is also the father of current keeper and hero in Malaysia. Kimbo senior writes:
Scoonesee me ol mate,
A belated happy birthday..... 28 again you have aged well mate.
I hope you and the lads are well and enjoying the tourney, shame about the opener but a long way to go, i'm sure we will be celebrating a win in due course.
Keep up the good work and best of luck for the rest of the tournament, i hope Tommo can repeat his heroics from last year and help the greens to march on!!
Best wishes
GK.
12.25, Gsy 53 for 4 in 15
More bad news as Frithy goes for 18, pulling a short ball from Ryan and is well caught by the diving Dugmore behind the keeper.
I’ve also been refused service in the Singapore Cricket Club because I’m not a member. I’m going to do a lap to calm down.
13.15 Gsy 95 for 4 off 27
It has been painstaking but Stu and Ross Kneller have steadied the ship and are now starting to open up. Talking to the boys the pitch is difficult.
180 seems to be the target.
13.25
Now you’re stalking… Here’s a pic of me on my birthday with the one, the only… Graeme Labrooy!!
He seems genuinely pleased to see me. I decided against giving him my best Bill Lawry impression of ‘Grahemy Labrooy???’
13.31 Gsy 122 for 5 off 31
Ross ‘The Great Gatsby’ Kneller is showing some real class out there. He moves on to 37.
13.38 Gsy 122 for 5 off 31
Ross passes his 50 with another glorious six. The self-proclaimed best-looking man in Guernsey cricket is showing some mettle.
13.48
This is magic! Here’s a pic I’ve just taken of Graeme Labrooy scratching his nose while I’m listening to the 12th Man (if you look closely!) and the famous ‘Grahemy Labrooy?? His name’s Graeme Max!!’ bit. It doesn’t get any better…
13.50 Gsy 163 for 5 off 36
Ross is going beserk! He’s just hit the spinner MacDermot for a massive six over wide long off!
14.03 Gsy 191 for 6 off 38.4
Ross goes for 86 caught in the covers. He’s done a massive job here for Guernsey. Taking us out of the mire and putting us to a place where we can get over 200, when at one point 150 looked only just possible. He's hit an amazing six 6s!!
14.17 Gsy 213 for 4 off 42
We’ve ended up with 213. A great effort on a wicket that is not the easiest. Ferbs deserves special credit as well for his 33* off 46 balls.
Another ice bath pic. This time of star Ross Kneller, flanked by Gary Rich and team physio Adam 'Fizz' Rochford. I don't know whats funnier: Kneller in a Mickey Mouse bath or Stan's Action Man pose. He stands like that all day...
15.07 Arg 10 for 1 off 5.4
The lads have got off to a good start here and have removed two Argentinian batsmen very cheaply. Lets keep this going...
15.13 Arg 10 for 2 off 5.4
Worryingly we’ve just had a bit of thunder, the wind’s picked up and the clouds are gathering. The locals say that it rains at 3.35pm everyday… We're ahead by nine runs on DL though but that doesn't count yet.
15.34 Arg 36 for 3 in 14
Another wicket! Frithy traps the right-handed Savage for 6. Rain is about... The boys have just refused drinks and with spin on at both ends, the Guernsey side are desperately trying to get the overs in and get to 20 so that we ‘have a game’ and therefore DL comes into affect.
15.58, Arg 54 for 3 in 19
Infuriately the rain has come down one over short of the magic 20. Argentina’s batsmen were clearly delighted to come off while Guernsey were frankly not HP. Argentina would have needed have more than 90 runs at the end of the 20th over. It's now belting down vertically. Things are not looking rosy at the mo.
16.30
Great news! It's stopped raining. The sun is shining. The covers are coming off. Good times.
17.07
The maths have been done... Argentina need 163 to win after 29 overs. So they need 109 runs off 10 overs.
Here's an action shot of Kneller from earlier. No surprise that it's on the leg side.
17.25 Arg 80 for 4 off 22
Got him! GH has got the big wicket of Dugmore. The Argentinian dangerman went after a wide long hop and managed to feather it to keeper Kimbo. The tale right-hander was on 42.
The Singapore Cricket Club's new groundstaff. The words 'chocolate', 'fireguard' and 'as much use as' come to mind.
17.34 Arg 95 for 5 off 24
A great high catch by Ferbs at deep cow and right in front of the Supreme Court sees the end of Siri, who when isn’t the new iPhone voice control system is quite a handy batsman, for 22. Guernsey well in control.
17.47 Arg 124 for 7 off 27
Andy Biggins takes a brilliant skier at long off to get rid of Tissera off Ravenscroft for 3. It’s nice to see Biggsy eventually join the game….
17.51 Arg 129 for 8 off 28
It's all falling apart for Argentina...
17.53
And it’s all over. Guernsey take a well-deserved victory. Although at one point earlier today, things could have gone very, very wrong…
10.09, Wednesday 22 Februaury, Guernsey v Malaysia, The Kallang
Good morning everybody.
Today we’re at one of my favourite grounds in the world – The Kallang. It isn’t the prettiest but it has a drive-thru MacDonald’s and KFC right behind the pavilion.
I’m gonna have a word with Rovers Svengali Paul Porter when I get back and see if we can do the same thing down at the Soif.
Team news: ‘The Manage’ have decided to play an extra bowler so Gary Rich comes in for Andy Biggins.
Malaysia won the toss and are batting.
10.28 Mal 59 for 2 off 17
In the face of some poor bowling (apart from Jamie N) and questionable field placings, the Malaysians had got off to a bit of a flyer. But the introduction of spin has stemmed the flow somewhat.
The Malaysians in their black and yellow kit (I might call them ‘The Bumblebees’) were 45 for 1 off about 9 and they scored about 18 off the last nine overs.
Thanks to Dave Piesing for help with the maths on those stats.
10.55 Mal 86 for off 25
At the halfway stage of the Malaysian innings and the Bumblebees are coasting it a bit. Guernsey are mixing up their bowlers and a couple of wickets now would be delightful.
11.11 Mal 101 for 3 off 30
We’ve got a breakthrough! The veteran off-spinner Gary Rich takes a simple caught and bowled to get rid of Faiz who was on 26 off 66 balls.
In other news, it’s 28c here and muggy and I’m drinking a McDonald’s coffee. Well ‘ard.
11.25 Mal 110 for 4 off 33
Another wicket! Alagaratnum goes lbw to Frithy for 19.
Remember you can follow the action at:
http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/scorecard.php?type=C&matchId=45203
Also, Mark Latter is updating the Guernsey Cricket twitter feed @guernseycricket. Plus you can follow me @RedSixty6.
11.33
Here’s a pic from Sunday night. The team physio Adam ‘Fizz’ Rochford is such a pro that he missed his sister’s wedding to be here with the team.
But the agreement was that he had to link up by Sykpe to the service. So here he is sat in the hotel foyer, wearing a shirt, while on the other end of the line, a laptop was placed in the front row of a church in Bath! Emotional.
11.47 Mal 140 for 5 off 40
Ten overs to go… Got to say that Guernsey have been sloppy in the field. A couple of catches have gone down and they have been plenty of misfiels. Maybe yesterday’s win over is taking it’s toll on the boys.
The Malaysian captain Navaratnam has hit a couple of sixes and we could do with seeing the back of him.
11.57 Mal 153 for 5 off 42
Navaratnam has just launched Frithy into the road. David Hooper dropped him earlier and it’s proving to be expensive for the poor lad who is beating himself up every time Navaratnam hits a boundary.
As I write this, he’s just been put down again. This time by Tim Ravenscroft.
These could all prove to be costly.
12.03 Mal 157 for 6 off 42.5
Thankfully it doesn’t prove to be too costly as Navaratnam goes a couple of balls later as Hoops gets his revenge when Frithy holds on to a good low catch at midwicket. Navaratnam had 31 to his name.
12.23 Mal 182 for 7 off 47.5
Yes! Hoops has got rid of Arudin for 27. Caught by Smit who had left Stu Le Prevost to take a high catch off the left-hander a few ball before. Unfortunately Prev had the same idea and the ball drop harmlessly between them.
Hoops deserved that wicket. He’s bowled beautifully today.
12.28 Mal 118 for 8 off 49
Last over and Guernsey have bowled well the last couple of overs to restrict Malaysia.
12.35 Mal 194 all off 50
The last ball and a brilliant piece of work by Tim Ravenscroft on the boundary! The Raven dived full length to stop the ball going for four and while still on the ground threw the ball 45m to Hoops who relayed the ball to Kimbo for the run out. Great to end on a high note after some mixed fielding earlier.
The locals say that 220 is par for here. This is very gettable but the lads are going to have to apply themselves.
12.39
Got a difficult decision now: KFC or McDonald's for lunch...
Some action shots...
Guernsey's Paul Collingwood - Dave Hooper
Guernsey's Harry Styles of One Direction - Matt Renouf of No Direction
Guernsey's Albert Steptoe - Gary Rich
13.16
After a most agreeable lunch at KFC, it’s noticeable how much hotter it’s got. It’s currently 32c as GH and The Raven go out to open the batting for Guernsey.
13.21
Talking of food, for the last two nights I’ve had chilli crab for dinner. It’s Singapore signature dish and I love it. Especially with little fried buns that use to soak up the sauce with!
Here’s me on The Riverside about to tuck in…
13.31 Gsy 7 for 1 off 3
Tim’s bad run continues as he nicks one behind off Navaratnam for 6. Frithy goes out and very first ball… he ducks into a short one that doesn’t get up.
Fizz goes out to give him some treatment. He’s clearly dazed. After a short pause, Frithy continues.
14.02 Gsy 28 for 1 off 10.3
Frithy and GH are building something here. Malaysia has brought on some spin at one end in the form of Rahim and Frithy has introduced him to Mr Sweep…
14.32 Gsy 51 for 1 off 19
Frithy and GH are ticking along nicely. Finding the boundary rope regularly and picking off singles with ease. Long may it continue…
14.51 Gsy 75 for 3 in 24
Why do we keep doing this?? The boys were going along very nicely until a suicidal run out and Frithy is gone. The throw only just clipped the stumps and it took an age for the bail to fall off.
But nevertheless it was daft.
Then the next ball, GH is out lbw to the returning opening bowler Ghulam.
Back to square one. Two new batsmen are in – Stu Le Prevost and Ross Kneller. The heroes from yesterday’s match.
15.02 Gsy 84 for 3 off 26
The Malaysians are getting excitable out there as Stu and Ross play some shots. The reason being rain looks like it’s on the way and we’re about 12 runs behind the dreaded DL…
15.19 Gsy 102 for 3 off 30
Stu and Rosscoe are taking it to the Malaysians. And the rain is holding off. And we’re ahead on DL by six runs.
15.21 Gsy 109 for 4 in 31
The curse of the blogger strikes again… Stu runs himself out in another silly call. Why do we like to make life difficult for ourselves??
Ben Ferbrache walks out.
15.28 Gsy 114 for 5 off 33.3
Ferbs goes clean bowled after playing some nice shots. Hoops makes his way out to join Ross. The rain on the horizon seemed to eased off. We might miss it…
15.36 Gsy 123 for 5 off 35
We’re at 12345 again…
Remember you can follow the score at http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/scorecard.php?type=C&matchId=45203
15.40 Gsy 127 for 5 off 36
Drinks and it’s edge of seat stuff here. Kneller is looking a class act again. We need him to be the man again.
15.49 Gsy 130 for 7 off 37.3
The wheels are falling off. We’ve just lost two quick wickets. Hoops goes followed by Kimbo first ball.
Jamie Nuss joins Kneller. Cometh the hour. Cometh the man.
15.59 Gsy 146 for 7 off 40
10 overs to go. Guernsey need 49 runs to win off 60 balls. Easy when you put it like that.
Sorry for the lack of pictures but it's proving a nightmare to upload any at the minute.
16.04 Gsy 150 for 8 off 41
That’s the end of Kneller well caught by Rahim over his shoulder at midwicket off the bowling of Aziz for 47. Real backs against the wall time now.
Bisson goes out.
16.11 Gsy 154 for 8 off 43
Stu and Jamie are keeping it simple. Nothing rash. Just what we need.
16.16 Gsy 154 for 8 off 44
Saying that.. Stu’s just seen out a maiden and went for a massive hoik the last ball. He’s still in though.
16.19 Gsy 156 for 8 off 45
Another low scoring over. Ghulam’s bowling well. But the boys are still there. The bad news, rain’s in the air. We’re well behind on the DL.
16.23 Gsy 165 for 8 off 46
A great over for the Greens – 9 runs coming from it. The Malaysians are starting to quiet.
16.27 Gsy 171 for 8 off 47
Another good over. We need 24 off 18 with two wickets left.
16.32 Gsy 185 for 8 off 48
Jamie’s hit a massive straight six off spinner Aziz then a couple of balls later he hits an even bigger one!!! Dreamland time!!!
10 off 12 needed.
16.36 Gsy 188 for 9 off 49
Stu’s run out the last ball of the over but it gets Jamie on strike for the start of the last over. Gary Rich goes out.
Guernsey need 7 to win off six balls with one wicket left. Tense is not the word.
Scrambled two off the first ball. 5 off 5
Jamie's clean bowled the next ball. Gutted. So close.
It was a valiant effort in the end but we should have won this match. There's now a real possibility of relegation. We now have to beat Cayman Islands to ensure we avoid relegation. Needless to say, the mood in the camp is very flat.
Friday 24 February 2012, 09.46, Guernsey v Cayman Islands, The Kallang
Good morning everybody. We’re back at one of my favourite grounds in the world – The Kallang Sports Ground, complete with a drive-thru McDonalds and KFC less than 50 feet away behind the pavilion.
Guernsey skipper Stu Le Prevost has lost the toss again (which is a surprise considering that he’s normally such a good tosser) and Cayman have elected to bat first.
And in the face of some wayward bowling, they’ve got off a bit of a flyer and are currently 39 for 1 off 6.
The one wicket was of Hall who was superbly run out by Ross Kneller with a direct hit.
10.09, Cay 69 for 1 in 9
Jamie Nuss and Matt Renouf have been whipped off and have replaced by Jeremy Frith and David Hooper. I think taking the pace off the ball is the way to go on this wicket.
Guernsey need to stem this current flow of runs, otherwise they’ll be chasing a telephone number at this rate…
I think the Malaysian defeat has taken it’s toll on the boys.
Team news: Young Matt Renouf comes in for Stu Bisson, who is being rested for tomorrow’s playoff match.
10.15 Cay 69 for 1 in 12
Frithy and Super Hoops are starting to build a bit of pressure and it’s lovely.
10.17 Cay 69 for 2 in 12
And just as I write that, Frithy traps opener Willis for 18. Just what we needed.
10.29
Got to say I had a most agreeable rest day yesterday. I took in the Singapore Art Museum for some contemporary art before taking in the Singapore Southern Islands on a trip on an old Chinese junk.
Melted Superman in front of the Singapore Art Museum. I felt like that on my birthday.
The view of Singapore from the old Chinese junk. Just like the view of Town from the Herm Trident.
10.51 Cay 103 for 3 in 22
Wicket! Opener Gordon, who had just past 50 and had started enjoying himself, is caught at long off by Nussie jr off the bowling of Smit. We needed that as Cayman were beginning to run off again.
11.02 Cay 113 for 4 in 26
Hooray!! We’ve got another wicket! Bovell caught by Frith at point off Rich. At the moment, I think it’d be nice to skittle Cayman out for less than 200.
Again, sorry for a lack of pictures but it's taking an ice age to upload them to the server.
11.18 Cay 119 for 5 off 29
Jamie Nuss has just bowled Sealy for 19 when the middle-order went on the pull to one that kept low. I was thinking that pace wasn’t the way to go on this wicket. I’m glad to proven wrong!!
11.28 Cay 126 for 6 in 32
Ifill goes c Kimber b Rich for 2. He went to sweep the veteran off-spinner and only managed to glove up in the air for Kimbo to take a simple catch.
However, the little Cayman batsman didn’t wanna go and he held his ground for a while before walking off displaying his disappointment to the umpire. He might be in trouble now.
11.51 Cay 146 for 6 off 40
Ten overs to go. Couple of wickets now would be lovely… Cayman are building a little platform here before launching into a big finale. Pinning them back now would scupper that.
12.04 Cay 152 for 7 in 43
A wicket! The skipper has held on to a skyer to get rid of Hollett for 16 off Smit. A great catch.
C’mon boys! Let’s keep them under 200. Or dare I say 180…
As of course… as I write this, another Cayman batsman goes. Ferbs takes a nice catch at long on to see the end of Bazil for a duck off Smit’s filthy off-spin.
Cay 153 for 8 in 44
Make that under 170?
Remember you can see the score at http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/match_zone/series/scorecard.php?id=2326_1330030800
12.10 Cay 154 for 9 in 44
Jamie cleans up Wright for 17. One more to go…
12.15 Cay 155 for 9 in 46
This has been a fantastic turn around for the Greens – 74 runs have come off the last 30 overs for six wickets. Cayman were 69 for 1 in 9…
Let’s wrap this up now boys!!
12.20 Cay 164 all out in 47
Kiss kiss bang bang!! That’s it. Morris goes for a big wipe and is bowled by Hoops for 7.
A great turn around by Guernsey. The job’s not done yet…
Harry Styles of One Direction (or is it Matt Renouf of No Direction?) sends one down
12.24
And thanks to the rules… because we’ve bowled Cayman out, we’ve now got to straight back out to bat for a few tricky overs. It’s ridiculous. We’re been penalized for doing well.
12.37 Gsy 2 for 0 off 1
Smit and Ravenscroft go out for the Greens. We understand that the Caymans bowling attack is predominantly seam up. Could be just nice for us on this wicket…
13.03 Gsy 24 for 0 off 7
Well Guernsey nicely sidestepped that potential banana skin. GH and Tim batted solidly to see us through to lunch. Unfortunately though, it does mean that they have to start again after some food.
14.00 Gsy 37 for 0 in 10
Tim and GH are carrying on from where they left off before lunch. Picking the low fruits…
I had a very nice lunch myself. I missed McDonald’s and KFC and went to a local hawker centre to have beef hor fun. Two words: A winner.
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