Belbroughton v Bedouins – at Belbroughton – 26/5/21

Bedouins lost by 8 wickets

After missing a whole season of cricket in 2020 and possibly more importantly, having no indoor nets to help get back in the swing of things, Bedouins played their first game of 2021 away at Belbroughton.

Our first two fixtures fell victim to the inclement weather so it was a relief to finally get a game on. A few Bedouins had already played a little with their club sides. Thank goodness. Those that hadn’t looked a little stiff and rusty.

Beds batted first on a wicket that could best be described as a ‘pudding’. Very slow and with little bounce it proved hard for both sides to get the ball off the square. Branch and Howells opened with the former departing quickly, losing his stumps when on one. However, the evergreen Howells showed his quality and even ran four twos in one over on his way to 20 before being bowled.

The wicket wasn’t conducive to Jono Hill’s big hitting although he did manage a six in his total of eight before being bowled. Stanier took a while to find his rhythm but once he did he found the boundary several times in his 26 before being stumped going for another big hit.

Wickets tumbled quickly towards the end of the Beds innings as they tried to add to a low total and in the end they scraped together a total of 87 for the loss of nine wickets.

Things looked promising for the Bedouins at the start of the Belbroughton innings. Bywater and Robertson opened the bowling and both made it very hard for the batsmen to get any momentum. In fact they had only amassed 14 from the first seven overs. Robertson’s spell proved to be the pick of the bunch, returning figures of 2 for 12 from his four overs.

Two new batsmen settled in for Belbroughton and after a while they started to show their dominance, regularly finding the boundary. The result then only ever looked like going one way and they reached their target of 88 at the end of the 19th over and for the loss of just the two wickets.

Towards the end of a dull evening the sun broker through and it all ended with a very enjoyable curry supplied by the host club. As the photo above shows, we ate outside and watched the sun disappear over the trees. It’s great to be back.

Bedouins v Kinlet at Kinlet

August 18^th 2019 – Bedouins lost by 13 runs

We should have known what to expect. In the pre-match conversation between skippers, we learned that the home side required a “no retirement” rule for batsmen, instead of the usual 40-over match restriction of retiring at 50. Sure enough, Kinlet produced an opening batsman with Minor Counties potential, who cut and drove his way to an elegant and punishing 100, including five sixes and 12 boundaries, before deciding he had feasted enough and retiring. It was particularly galling that he could, and should, have been dismissed when only on 9.

Meanwhile, his opening partner was less forthright in his play but still managed to work his way to 50 before he, too, decided enough was enough. It was much to the credit of the Beds’ bowlers that they stuck to their task and never lost their sense of humour, and to the credit of the batsmen that they finished only 13 runs short of Kinlet’s 221 for 2. And it should be noted that one of the Beds players made the highest individual score ever recorded by a Bedouin. But more of that in a moment.

The Kinlet ground was looking at its picturesque best for our Sunday afternoon game in mid-August. The sun was shining; sheep were safely grazing; skylarks were skylarking. The welcome from the Kinlet players was as warm as usual. In fact, the whole game was played in the usual friendly spirit between Beds and Kinlet.

The only wicket for a bowler went to Mick Robertson, who completed 8 tidy overs for 34 runs. Vying for bowling honours was David Pearson, who once again showed his devotion to the Bedouins cause by travelling down for the day. He completed 8 overs for 36 runs, although 7 of those went for only 19 runs. Meanwhile Mike George wheeled away for 8 overs that went for a mere 28 runs.

All round, an impressive performance by the Beds attack, supported by some excellent ground fielding.

Between innings there was another of those tasty Kinlet teas, taken alfresco in spite of the freshening wind. There it was that the unfortunate “incident of the chairman’s sandwich” occurred. Taking a seat with a plateful of goodies in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, the chairman decided to place his plate on the ground while sorting himself. As he sat down, a dog belonging to one of the Kinlet ladies poked its head through the chair legs and snaffled one of his sandwiches. To add insult to injury, the dog selected the chairman’s favourite egg sarnie for the smash-and-grab. Well, I ask you! Sympathy from fellow Beds? Not a lot!

The Bedouins openers, Paul Lippitt and Andy Hill, began the pursuit of 222 in fine style, but the latter fell to a boundary catch after making just 14, including one six. Son Jono was just getting going when he was lbw for the same score as the old man. Then followed quick dismissals for Lee Bywater and Neill Smith. The latter to another lbw decision (there’s no such thing as a “good” lbw decision, is there, Neill?).

All of which brought Paul Lippitt and Jon Stanier together in a fifth wicket stand of 106 that almost gave the Beds an unlikely win. Stanier was out to another boundary catch for 61, but Paul Lippitt was definitely the star. He batted almost right through the 40 overs, hitting 15 boundaries in completing 92 not out, at which point he went in the fetlock and was forced to retire. It established a Bedouin record for highest individual score (he actually made more runs than his age!), and it was just a shame that he was unable to complete the century that his terrific effort merited.

The game thus finished much closer than many had expected, with the Bedouins falling short by only 13 runs. Quite a game to finish the Bedouin season. So now we all try to find somewhere to store those huge cricket bags that everyone uses these days and look forward to another successful season next year. Bedouins’ next get-together is the agm on Tuesday, November 5^th (should be a cracker!), followed by the Duck Supper on Friday, November 29^th. Get those dates in the diary.

Kinlet 221 for 2 (Robertson 1 for 34)

Bedouins 208 for 5 (Lippitt 92 (retired hurt), Stanier 61, A. Hill 14, J. Hill 14)

Postscript: There has been some speculation among Bedouins as to the identity of the writer of these website reports – they want to know who to sue! Well, it’s time to reveal that identity. The writer of the reports is ….. aaaargh!

Bedouins v Ashby Albion at Enville

August 11^th 2019 – Bedouins won by 27 runs

Don’t panic, dear reader. The headline does not indicate that the Bedouins have dug out their old baggy shorts and solid-toed football boots, and fielded a side to take on the real-life Baggies. No, it’s merely that the series of encounters between the Bedouins and Jono Hill’s footballing chums from Ashby Albion now stands at one-all, after the Beds won another entertaining encounter at Enville by 27 runs.

That the game got under way at all was down to the terrific efforts of Neill Smith. OK, Neill, you didn’t get a chance to shine with the bat and your one over with the ball was on the costly side of expensive (!), but you did the Beds a great service by manhandling the covers, on your own, on to the wicket as the rains started to fall in the morning (the Enville boys having failed to do so after their Saturday game the previous evening). The result was a damp, but not unplayable, wicket and a soggy Smithy.

Invited to bat first, the Bedouins openers found it hard to score freely in the early stages. The Ashby fielding was as smart as you might expect from a band of young footballers and showed no sign of the effects of a couple of “interesting” evenings around their temporary digs in Worcester. With a 40-over game in prospect, Paul Lippitt and Adrian Susman built a solid platform with an opening stand of 45 before Lippo went for 15.

Susman went on accumulating steadily until he was out for 36, followed by Lee Bywater (11), and that brought John Howells and Andy Hill together in what proved to be the decisive stand of the match – 87 unbeaten for the fifth wicket. Hill senior was particularly belligerent, hitting four boundaries and two sixes in his 47 not out. The reliable Howells belied his 70 years with some nimble running between wickets in hitting 31 not out.

Faced with a challenging total of 187 to beat, Ashby Albion had an early setback when the venerable Mike George (discarding his long lens for a moment) clean-bowled one of the openers. There was an early wicket too for Lee Bywater – a catch in the deep by our most welcome guest for the day, Jim Robinson, who had made the trip from Halifax (Yorkshire, not Nova Scotia) to turn out for the Beds.

Although Ashby Albion had made twice as many runs in the first 20 overs as the Beds had managed to accrue, the arrival of the “spin twins” Stanier and Susman, slowed the run rate. The former snapped up 4 for 27 in his 7-over spell, while the latter signed off for the season – doffing his fedora, as he made for the airport and a two-week break in sunny Mexico – taking 3 for 22 in 8 tidy overs. Skipper Lee Bywater weighed in with 3 for 30, and the Beds had the win by 27 runs and with best part of 10 overs to spare, and with our erstwhile Bedouin, Jono Hill, contributing 23 to the visitors’ 160 all out.

The ultimate winner on the day was Ashby Albion’s nominated charity, Ovarian Cancer Action. But there was also the newly presented shield, now for annual competition, won by the Beds and now in the safe hands of the Bywater household but back in circulation when, no doubt, the series will be continued next season.

Bedouins 187 for 4 (A. Hill 47 not out, Howells 31 not out, Susman 36, Lippitt 15, Bywater 11)

Ashby Albion 160 (Stanier 4 for 27, Susman 3 for 22, Bywater 3 for 30. George 1 for 22)

The Bedouins continued their run of good results with a 6-wicket win over Austin’s Army (fresh from its Wollaston barracks) on a Wednesday evening in which the light faded late on quite dramatically and a little more readily than the Army’s hopes of a victory. It was one of the Beds’ better run chases; they rarely achieve a total of 123 to win successfully but did so here with 5 balls to spare.

Field-Marshall Austin Gregory led his army to its 20-over total of 122 for 4, making a classy 30 before retiring to the mess room (or should that be “men’s room”?). For the Beds, Paul “Sticky Fingers” Lippitt enhanced his already considerable reputation as a reliable outfielder, with a couple of catches that many a Bedouin might have spilled.

There was a wicket apiece for Mike George, Mick Robertson, Adrian Susman and Richard Spratley, and a catch for stand-in keeper Neill Smith.

Paul Lippitt continued his good form with the bat, hitting 33 before retiring. He got the innings under way with 8 runs from the first 4 balls of the first over. All were run twos, and residents of the pavilion swore that they heard an “Oh no, not again” from a somewhat breathless Neill Smith as he was called on to get his legs in gear for the fourth brace.

Jon Stanier contributed a welcome 25, establishing some kind of a record by including the Beds’ first ever reverse-sweep. “Not like that in my day.” With our very own version of “Beefy”, Lee Bywater, hitting a huge 6 in his 17 and Adrian Susman withstanding what is now popularly known as “scoreboard pressure” in making 22 not out, the Beds were able to reach 123 for 4 with five balls to spare.

Austin’s Army 122 for 4 (Robertson 1 for 12, Susman 1 for 15, Spratley 1 for 15, George 1 for 27)

Bedouins 123 for 4 (Lippitt 33, Stanier 25, Susman 22 not out, Bywater 17)

Bedouins v Fossils at Enville

July 28^th, 2019 – Bedouins won by 4 wickets

After a week in which headline writers were hugging themselves with glee as “Britain baked” under clear blue skies and in record temperatures, come the weekend and the Bedouins were due to meet the Fossils again in the return match at Enville, it became far more a matter of:

R is for rain that’s falling again

And shiny streaks on the window pane

And we can’t go out, but I’m trying to think

That it’s nice for the fields to be getting a drink.

And if I keep on watching, perhaps by and by

A rainbow will come and brighten the sky.

There – isn’t that nice? Not particularly appropriate to a report of a cricket match, but nice nevertheless.

It rained all day Saturday and was still drizzling Sunday morning. Should we go ahead or not? That was the question. But thanks to the increasingly strong bond between the Enville groundsman and our head of watery wickets, Adrian Susman, we decided to take a chance on things improving during the day.

Fortune favours the brave and, with the Fossils showing commendable patience while keeping the teapot busy, a shortened game was able to start about an hour late. Fossils had first use of a wicket where the covers had done their job well. The Beds’ opening bowlers, Adrian Susman and Mike George, were both in mean mood, the former going for just 10 runs in his 6 overs and the latter taking 1 for 14 in his.

Here we must enter an apology for Georgey. Mike was incorrectly stated in our previous report as being 99. He is not, of course. Therefore, apologies, Mike, we forgot about the leap year!

Join Stanier had two wickets and Mick Robertson one, while Paul Lippitt, who took a wicket with the first ball he bowled, completed just 1 over for 3 runs at the end. All of which gave the Fossils an acceptable score of exactly 100 for 5 in 35 overs.

The Beds lost 6 wickets in reaching their target in the 24^th over – all clean-bowled (when did the Beds last lose all wickets clean-bowled). It was all pretty relaxed, as the score mounted at just about the required 4 runs an over. Then Tony Hancock, enjoying the heady heights of number three in the batting, fell to an unlucky dismissal – at least, that’s what he says – when the ball came off his bat on to his toe, up his arm and on to the top of a bail. Sounds pretty straightforward to me!

John Howells was proceeding serenely to 26 before being bowled, but big Lee Bywater was in no mood to hang arouind, hitting three 4s and two 6s in his 34, and it was left to Adrian Susman to round things off with 12 not out. Another win in an increasingly successful season for the Bedouins.

Fossils 100 for 5 (George 1 for 14, Stanier 2 for 20, Robertson 1 for 31, Lippitt 1 for 3)

Bedouins 101 for 6 (Bywater 34, Howells 26, Susman 12 not out, Lippitt 11)

Bedouins v Enville at Enville

July 17^th 2019 – Bedouins lost by 30 runs

It is a basic principle of the ageless and immutable law of landlord and tenant that the landlord should always win in the end. It would be taxing the memories of Bedouins cricketers to recall the last time that we (the tenants) got the better of Enville (the landlords) in a 20-over encounter on a Wednesday evening. It must be many years ago.

No matter. The lengthy series of matches between the teams has always been conducted in the appropriate manner, respecting the basics of the great game but relying more on the enjoyment of the occasion than on the result. Which is just as well, because the Beds always seem to contrive to snatch a defeat. And so it was on their most recent encounter, the Beds losing by 30 runs.

A cursory glance at the scorebook will give a clue as to the reason for the defeat. At halfway Enville had a score of 59 for 4; at the same point the Beds had a score of 55 for 4. But the tenants could not match the acceleration found by the landlords and finished 30 runs short of Enville’s 141 for 6.

When the home team’s innings started, it was the perennial (something to do with flowers, isn’t it?) Mike George whose customary accuracy produced figures of 1 for 12 in 4 overs – pretty good for a 99-year-old! At the other end Spratters’ slowish slow stuff also produced a wicket, though somewhat more expensively.

Austin Gregory began his “Man of the match” performance with 4 tidy overs for just 15 runs, and there was a wicket apiece for Paul Lippitt and Jono Hill – the latter an lbw from the first ball he bowled, but downhill a bit after that, wasn’t it Jono? Most successful of the bowlers was Martyn Smith, who took great delight in dismissing two of his erstwhile Enville colleagues.

Smithy rubbed it in by then opening the Beds batting and hitting 20 runs before falling lbw. The main contribution came from Austin Gregory, who retired with 31 to his name. There were also double-figure scores for Adrian Susman, John Howells and Tony Hancock – our beloved treasurer displaying “exquisite timing” (that’s the way they put it in the dailies’ sports pages, isn’t it?) in stroking two boundaries before a rush of blood to the head.

So the law of landlord and tenant played out in its usual fashion, with the Beds going down by 30 runs; but with any luck it should have ensured that the landlords won’t be putting our rent up any time soon!

Enville 141 for 6 (M. Smith 2 for 32, George 1 for 12, Spratley 1 for 37, Lippitt 1 for 13, J. Hill 1 for 16)

Bedouins 111 for 6 (Gregory 31, M. Smith 20, Susman 12, Hancock 11, Howells 10)

Bedouins v Fossils at Birlingham

July 14^th, 2019 – Bedouins won by 111 runs

“Engerland swings like a pendulum do; Bobbies on bicycles two by two” – shows how long ago those were the words of a current pop song (a major prize for anyone who can name the perpetrator of this 1960s hit, without looking it up). But “Engerland” definitely did swing on one famous weekend in July 2019.

In-car on the way to Birlingham, Aggers was on the radio saying words to the effect of “What a weekend of sport. England v New Zealand in the cricket World Cup Final at Lords; Federer v Djokovic in the men’s final at Wimbledon; F1 British Gand Prix at Silverstone (AKA the Lewis Hamilton procession); and the World Netball Finals.” What he forgot to mention was the Bedouins playing against the Fossils. Tut tut, Aggers.

It’s always a pleasure to be on the beautiful Birlingham ground, and to be meeting our good friends from the Fossils. We fielded a strong batting line-up, which, as it turned out, performed pretty much to its potential; and our bowling attack wasn’t that dusty either. As for the fielding – well, there weren’t too many dropped catches this time.

Batting first, the Beds got off to a cracking start, with Paul Lippitt and Andy Hill putting on 50 runs for the first wicket in just 7 overs before Lippo went for 21. Hill senior, now joined by Hill junior, stayed true to his belief that running between wicket is for numpties, hitting 8 boundaries in his retirement score of 41 – a total that was matched by Jono Hill, who did his best to match the old man’s prowess with 6 boundaries.

Lee Bywater was fresh from his prodigious efforts the previous day for Oldswinford CC, when he hit 130-plus not out at Pedmore, and carried on the good work with 40 retired. Not to be outdone, Adrian Susman also reached the 40-run retirement score and, with Jono’s mate Jake Somerville hitting a late six, the total finished on a healthy 231 for 6 after 35 overs. The Beds’ 29 boundaries and one 6 must surely constitute some kind of record?

So the batting was good – but there was a “Man of the match” performance in the bowling of “Dangerous” Dave Pearson, who had made his usual devoted trek for a Beds Sunday game and was rewarded with two wickets in two balls and an overall analysis of 2 for 19 in 7 overs. Don’t know what he’s on, but many of us would like some of it.

There was a wicket apiece for Messrs Somerville, Susman, and Stanier, with 7 parsimonious (look it up) overs from Mick Robertson for just 15 runs. At the end, Fossils were well short of the target at 120 for 5. And that got us all off the pitch just in time to see the drama of the tie-break over that resulted in an England win in the World Cup. Quite a day!

Bedouins 231 for 6 (A. Hill 41, J. Hill 41, Bywater 40, Susman 40, Lippitt 21)

Fossils 120 for 5 (Pearson 2 for 19, Somerville 1 for 23, Susman 1 for 24, Stanier 1 for 27)