Cardiff Cavaliers Club Archive: 2011

In this document you will be able to find details of:  Officers & Award winners  Player averages  Results & Match reports  AGM reports & minutes If you know the name of a person or a match you particularly want to see please use the “Find” box in the PDF (usually at the top of the page)

Officers & Award winners

Officers (serving for 2011 season):

Honorary President: Graham (Joey) Newbury Chairman: Jonathan Thomas Captain: Jimmy Marchant Vice Captain: Jason Duffy Secretary: Glenn Chapman Treasurer: Andrew Graveson

Awards:

Player of the Year: Jimmy Marchant Clubman: Mike McVeigh Top batsman: Andrew Steadman Top bowler: Adi Ramegowda

Notable achievements

Record number of fixtures played in a season: 39

Equal record number of members

Willow League – achieve highest ever points average

Testimonial for Ross Bowen: testimonial game on Sunday 24 July v South Wales Sri Lankans see match report below and check out the photo gallery link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65640415@N06/sets/72157627152693877/

Jimmy Marchant sets new club records: most appearances (35) and most catches (19)

Player averages Appearances/ Qualification: 5 completed M Inn NO HS Runs 4/6 50s 100s Ave Andrew Steadman 24 20 2 94 590 57/2 5 - 32.78 Michael McVeigh 7 6 1 50* 133 19/1 1 - 26.60 Jimmy Marchant 35 31 9 56 609 52/13 3 - 26.48 Tom Corcoran # 14 13 3 56 245 24/1 1 - 24.50 Andrew Graveson 21 18 4 43 305 37/5 - - 21.79 Nigel Adams 14 14 3 40 238 29/3 - - 21.64 Jonathan Davies 14 10 5 42* 103 7/1 - - 20.60 Glenn Chapman 23 20 2 109 332 41/3 - 1 18.44 Jonathan Thomas 20 17 1 49 231 24/0 - - 14.44 Alasdair Fraser 14 12 3 37 124 14/1 - - 13.78 Michael Dawkins 12 11 3 42 101 11/1 - - 12.63 Siva Kollipara # 18 18 0 61 221 27/2 1 - 12.28 Jason Duffy 21 15 2 58* 149 13/1 1 - 11.46 Steve Davis 14 8 3 16 47 3/0 - - 9.40 Graham Newbury 6 6 0 14 55 4/0 - - 9.17 Dan Bailey # 18 16 2 31 119 13/0 - - 8.50 Jeremy Sparkes 20 13 6 23* 59 7/0 - - 8.43 Gareth Payne 17 15 0 19 110 16/2 - - 7.60 Adi Ramegowda # 9 8 0 26 49 4/0 - - 6.13 Paul Davies # 9 7 1 14 36 2/0 - - 6.00 Devineni Avinash # 16 14 3 18 62 1/1 - - 5.64 Bill Ward 17 13 0 14 54 5/0 - - 4.15 Chris Evans 8 7 0 11 24 3/0 - - 3.43 Wyn Pritchard 14 10 2 6 12 1/0 - - 1.50

Also played/batted M Inn NO HS Runs 4/6 50s 100s Riaz Anwar 3 3 1 13 23 2/1 - - Ross Bowen 7 1 1 5* 5 - - - Graeme Brown 11 5 3 10* 16 1/0 - - James Gardner 1 1 0 1 1 - - - Chris Hajgato # 2 1 0 6 6 - - - Chris Hopper # 6 3 0 15 25 1/0 - - Nigel Moore 2 2 0 9 9 - - - Glyn Poulsom 9 7 3 11* 33 2/0 - - Neil Simons # 5 4 1 14 19 1/0 - - Pritpal Sagoo 2 1 0 16 16 1/0 - - Matt Thomas 2 1 0 38 38 4/2 - - Mark Twaits 7 4 1 20* 33 4/0 - - # indicates debutant * indicates

Bowling/ Qualification: 16 overs

Ovs Mdn Runs Wkts S/R Best Ave Ct/St Adi Ramegowda 21 2 106 9 2.33 3/13 11.77 1 Mark Twaits 27 1 119 8 3.37 2/6 14.87 1 Jeremy Sparkes + 18 1 137 7 2.57 2/7 19.57 2a/0 Jonathan Davies 50 2 256 13 3.84 3/24 19.69 0 Steve Davis 37 3 197 10 3.70 5/15 19.70 0 Jimmy Marchant + 118.3 5 615 31 3.82 4/10 19.83 19b/0 Michael McVeigh 17 2 100 5 3.40 2/3 20.00 3 Glenn Chapman 41.4 4 203 10 4.16 2/13 20.30 5 Ross Bowen 36 5 161 8 4.50 4/35 20.12 0 Jason Duffy 78 6 361 17 4.58 2/7 21.23 3 Bill Ward 28 1 172 8 3.50 2/12 21.50 1 Andrew Graveson 96 12 377 15 6.40 4/3 25.13 4 Alasdair Fraser + 43 0 238 8 5.37 2/14 29.75 5c/0 Graeme Brown 39 1 224 7 5.57 2/33 32.00 1 Siva Kollipara 21 0 169 4 5.25 1/8 42.25 2 Chris Evans 24 1 197 6 4.00 4/19 32.83 1 Graham Newbury 18 0 139 4 4.50 1/12 34.75 2 Gareth Payne 21.4 0 156 5 4.32 2/27 31.20 6 Devineni Avinash 45.2 0 304 6 7.55 3/16 50.67 0 Nigel Adams 54 2 309 6 9.00 2/31 51.50 2 Michael Dawkins 38 0 224 5 7.60 1/9 56.00 0 + indicates kept for entirety or a large portion of at least one game a = all catches as keeper b = all catches as an outfielder c =1 catch as keeper

Also bowled/fielded Ovs Mdn Runs Wkts S/R Best Ct/St Riaz Anwar 6 0 41 1 6.00 1/9 1 Dan Bailey + 3 0 14 0 - 0/14 7d/1 Tom Corcoran 11 0 105 4 2.75 2/10 1 Paul Davies 14 0 119 7 2.00 2/12 0 James Gardner 5 0 32 0 - 0/32 0 Chris Hajgato 2 0 13 1 2.00 1/13 0 Chris Hopper 8 0 47 2 4.00 2/12 1 Nigel Moore ------0 Glyn Poulsom 14 0 128 1 14.00 1/27 0 Wyn Pritchard 15 0 112 3 5.00 2/17 0 Pritpal Sagoo 2 0 14 1 2.00 1/14 0 Neil Simons 12 0 97 5 2.40 2/31 0 Andrew Steadman + 3 0 18 1 3.00 1/18 12e/5 Jonathan Thomas + ------5f/3 Matt Thomas 1 0 11 0 - 0/11 0 + indicates kept wicket for entirety or a large portion of at least one game d = 2 catches as an out-fielder e = 4 catches as an out-fielder f = 3 catches as an out-fielder

Thanks to Chris (Evans) for keeping the stats this year Results & Match reports

Fixtures: 48 Played: 39 Won: 14+1 Lost: 23 Tied/drew: 2 Cancelled/Rain: 9

Match reports are in chronological order with the earliest game first or click on a game in the summary below and it will take you direct to that report

Date Opposition Result Score Summary

BWCC 223/5 (Duffy 2/34)

Sat 16 Apr Barry Wanderers Lost Cavaliers 94ao (Chapman 29) S Wales Sri SWSL 251/7 Sun 1 May Lost Cavaliers 154/7 (Marchant 53*, Graveson 26) Lankans Cavaliers 148/8 (Corcoran 56, M Thomas 38) Tue 3 May Eclipse Print Lost EP 152/2 Consmen 89/5 (J Davies 3/26, Twaits 2/6) Thu 5 May Consmen (WL) Won Cavaliers 90/0 (McVeigh 50*) Hurricanes 122/7 (Ramegowda 3/13) Mon 9 May Hurricanes Lost Cavaliers 102/9 (Hopper 15, Fraser 15) Thu 12 Rhiwbina 101/7 (Corcoran 2/10, Hopper 2/12)

Rhiwbina (Cup) Won May Cavaliers 104/1 (Steadman 26*, Corcoran 26*) Sun 15 Cavaliers 224/8 (Chapman 109)

Newport Fugitives Won May Fugitives 199ao (Bowen 4/28, Ramegowda 3/32) Thu 19 Peterston-super- P-S-E 172/4 (Marchant 2/5) Lost Cavaliers 167/9 (Marchant 41*) May Ely Sun 22 Cavaliers 144ao (Steadman 60, Kollipara 29)

Llanvapley Lost May Llanvapley 146/2 Tue 24 Cardiff Hockey Hockey 140/5 Won Cavaliers 141/4 (Steadman 52, Marchant 31) May (WL) Tue 31 Cavaliers 114ao (Chapman 39)

Uni Staff (WL) Won May Uni Staff 105/7 (J Davies 3/24) Eclipse 171/4 (Marchant 2/13) Thu 2 Jun Eclipse Print Lost Cavaliers 98/5 (J Thomas 30*) Ystradfellte 204/7 (Ward 2/16)

Sun 5 Jun Ystradfellte Lost Cavaliers 183ao (Graveson 43, Adams 40, J Thomas 33) CBBs 142/6 (P Davies 2/12, Marchant 2/17)

Tue 7 Jun Cardiff BBs (WL) Lost Cavaliers 63ao Casuals 163/6 (P Davies 2/19) Thu 9 Jun Casuals (Cup) Lost Cavaliers 135/9 (Graveson 34*, Steadman 24) Tue 14 Mitres 148/5 (Avinash 3/16)

Cathedral Mitres Lost Jun Cavaliers 122/7 (Marchant 31*, J Thomas 30*) Thu 16 Rhiwbina 174/4 (Graveson 2/33)

Rhiwbina (WL) Won Jun Cavaliers 178/4 (Kollipara 61, Corcoran 44) Sun 19 Newbridge 293/6 (Adams 2/31)

Newbridge Lost Jun Cavaliers 60ao (Graveson 22) Wed 22 South Glam 90/8 (Graveson 4/3)

South Glam (WL) Lost Jun Cavaliers 88/9 (Kollipara 20) Tue 28 Hurricanes 151/6 (Twaits 2/14)

Hurricanes Lost Jun Cavaliers 105/9 (Steadman 31) Thu 30 Casuals 100/7 (Marchant 3/23)

Casuals (WL) Won Jun Cavaliers 101/3 (Corcoran 39*) Sudbrook 198/9 (Brown 2/33)

Sun 3 Jul Sudbrook Lost Cavaliers 122ao (Adams 38, Graveson 24) Chartered Trust CT 172/4 (Bowen 2/26) Tue 12 Jul Lost (WL) Cavaliers 144/6 (Marchant 56*, Steadman 27) WBS 101/7 (Duffy 2/7)

Thu 14 Jul Welsh Blood Won Cavaliers 105/6 (Marchant 39*) Cavaliers 93/6 (Ramegowda 26, Marchant 24)

Tue 19 Jul Hockey Won Hockey 57ao (S Davis 5/15, Duffy 2/8) South Glam Walk Thu 21 Jul Won (Shield) S Wales Sri SWSL 144/6 (Evans 4/19) Sun 24 Jul Won Cavaliers 146/1 (Duffy 58*, Marchant 53*) Lankans Cavaliers 121/8 (J Thomas 40, Adams 25)

Tue 26 Jul Uni Staff Lost Uni Staff 124/3 Cardiff BBs CBBs 149/1 Thu 28 Jul Lost (Shield) Cavaliers 110/9 (Sparkes 23*) Eclipse Print EP 134/8 (Graveson 2/9, Marchant 2/26) Tue 2 Aug Lost (Shield) Cavaliers 118/8 (Steadman 36, Marchant 30*) Cavaliers 116/5 (Marchant 49, Fraser 37)

Thu 4 Aug South Wales Echo Won Echo 108/5 (Pritchard 2/17) Hockey 112/5 (Duffy 2/15)

Tue 9 Aug Hockey (Shield) Won Cavaliers 116/4 (Chapman 32, Graveson 29*) Old Guard 101/9 (Steadman 21, Marchant 20; Tue 16 Parvenu McVeigh 2/3, Ward 2/12) Won 1 Aug (Challenge) 1 Parv‟u 91/9 (Graveson 18; Marchant 4/10, S Davis 2/11) Cavaliers 174ao (Steadman 94, Adams 32) Fri 19 Aug Tewkesbury Lost Tewkesbury 177/5 (Sparkes 2/7) Sun 21 Newnham-on- Cavaliers 234/7 (Steadman 63, McVeigh 47, Won Dawkins 42) Aug Severn Newnham-o-S 190/7 (McVeigh 2/16) Tue 30 Cavaliers 86/6 (J Davies 42no, Payne 18) Hurricanes Lost Aug Hurricanes 87/5 (Fraser 2/14) Drawn Lisvane 197/7 (Ward 2/27, J Davies 2/31) Sun 4 Sep Lisvane (rain) Cavaliers 83/5 (Bailey 31, Adams 29) Sat 10 Cavaliers 150ao (Steadman 56, Duffy 36) Park End Lost Sep Park End 151/7 (Marchant 4/25, Davis 2/22) Sun 18 Drawn Cavaliers 105/7 (Kollipara 30, Chapman 21) Usk Sep (rain) Usk did not bat (rain) Sat 24 Cavaliers 153ao (J Thomas 49, Marchant 26) Barry Wanderers Lost BWCC 156/9 (Chapman 2/13, Payne 2/21, Duffy Sep 2/27)

1 not included in total of wins for the season

Barry Wanderers, Hayes Point, Sat 16 April 2011. BWCC 223/5 (Duffy 2/34). Cavaliers 94ao (Chapman 29). Lost by 129 runs

The weather always seems to be set fair whenever we play at Hayes Point, whether it is April or September. In line with the weather, there was the usual warm welcome from Barry Wanderers and following some NATO style negotiations between the respective captains the Cavaliers took to the field with skipper, Jimmy, starting off behind the stumps.

Fine from Jason and Al, well supported by keen fielding kept the rate low but we failed to make a break through with a wicket. JD (0-17) and T‟Asbo (0-32) took over the bowling but the column remained blank – indeed, before we knew it there was an excellent opening partnership between Thomas and Hissan. After 20 overs Al took the gloves allowing Jimmy to bowl with immediate success in his first over – bowling Hissan (51). Glenn bowled a very good short spell (0-12) and Al, always keen to impress, decided to appeal at every opportunity to the bemusement of the rest of the Cavaliers. Al did an excellent job behind the stumps and later took a fine catch to dismiss Thomas (55) off Jimmy‟s bowling (2- 40).

Jez bowled at the other end and soon tempted Hughes to “hole-out” to Gareth on the . Jez then completed his new “all rounder” role by taking the gloves allowing Al (0-23) and Jason (2-34) to return to finish off the bowling. All the bowlers were well supported in the field with particularly JT and James preventing a number of boundaries but we did manage to spill quite a few catches which didn‟t help our cause. Barry Wanderers finished their innings on a very healthy 223 for 5.

Glenn and JT opened the batting against some excellent bowling from Bowles and Nakanti ably assisted by a wicket of uneven bounce. After some lusty blows Gareth followed JT back to the pavilion. There was a partnership of sorts between Glenn and Glyn with the former scoring all the runs. Glenn was eventually out for an excellent 29. Glyn clearly trying to beat his own Club record of facing 48 consecutive dot balls however he failed miserably only managing to face 32 balls before scoring his first runs.

JD and Jason hit some fine boundaries towards the end of the game but we were all out in the 34th over without even reaching three figures. A disappointing start to the season result-wise but nevertheless a very enjoyable game in a great setting.

Then we came to the most important part of the day – a visit to the Sully Inn to establish the ground rules for the fines this season (and the first fund raising opportunity as agreed at this year‟s AGM). Fines will be levied for such heinous crimes as dropped catches, front foot no-balls, scoring a duck, slow run rate, poor umpiring etc. Indeed, anything which the match reporter for that game deems as appropriate. It was agreed that the nominated match reporter would be the sole adjudicator of the fines for that particular game. So all Cavaliers beware! – whether batting, bowling, fielding, umpiring, scoring the book – your skills are being tested at all times!

Champagne moment: Gareth‟s excellent running catch on the boundary off Jason‟s bowling towards the end of the innings.

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Steve Davis, Jeremy Sparkes, Gareth Payne, Jonathan Thomas, James Gardner, Jonathan Davies, Glyn Poulsom, Alasdair Fraser, Glenn Chapman

South Wales Sri Lankans, Morgan Jones Park, Sun 1 May. SWSL 251/7 (Pritpal 1/14, Twaits 1/21). Cavaliers 154/7 (Marchant 53*, Graveson 26). Lost by 97 runs

With the Sri Lankans managing a mere 9 runs from the first 8 overs we were riding high. Graveson squeezing every last ounce of bounce from the very green pitch and forcing acrobatics from our very own gymnast, wk Steaders. At the cover boundary watching Graveson bowl was like watching a ping-pong match, every ball all I wanted to keep saying was „boing‟. One Sri Lankan came on without a helmet = death wish from where I was standing. And then there was Ross to punctuate this onslaught with his own (very effective) version of hop-skip-n-urrr-out.

The middle overs ignited with arrival of my foe (and of course in the spirit of the game, friend) Fari not to mention Niluka, when our skipper bowled out his last over for 23 I knew we had let things slide just a wee bit. But nevertheless we are Cavaliers and no matter how daunting the task we enjoy every last minute. Twaitsy trying very hard to bounce his body off the outfield with JD shouting sideshow every single time. Our very own Rabbit burrowing himself on the crease shooting a cool 6!

After a heavy bite to eat it was down the the chase. Down to Speedy-Steaders and myself Styrofoam-Prit to open the batting. As much as I tried, I could not fathom why every time the ball hit the track the whole team erupted with shouts of howwzzzaaat … Now I‟m no Billy Doctrove here but surely that wasn‟t quite right! Far from it in-fact and I don‟t blame Steaders for responding with an eloquently fashioned version of „shut the hek up‟ as he walked over to their most senior player and requested them to pack-it-in.

And there we were with the ball hardly coming onto the bat with the wavering light & wind (work with me here, I don‟t know how they scored 251 on that pitch). Our soldier of all soldiers, Mon Capitan, to hold the fort. Graveson got unlucky, just as he was attempting to tap into the form he showed at nets (smacking the ball to all corners of the Cathedral school hall, disturbing all those cockroaches and ) he fell.

All in all after the start we had with the ball, I can‟t help thinking we short changed ourselves. I guess this is why we play the game and why we the Cavaliers will pummel a team or two by the season‟s end.

Like always, big thank you to kit bag keepers, skipper, scorers, most importantly to everyone for being a complete team.

Champagne moment: Rabbit‟s „leg glance‟ off the master for four

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Andrew Graveson, Ross Bowen, Andrew Steadman, Devineni Avinash, Jonathan Davies, Chris Evans, Pritpal Sagoo, Mark Twaits, Wyn Pritchard, Bill Ward

Notes: debuts for Devineni Avinash

Eclipse Print (friendly), Cathedral School, Tue 3 May. Cavaliers 148/8 (Corcoran 56, M Thomas 38). EP 152/2 (Marchant 1/6, Ward 1/22). Lost by 8 wickets

With an agreed toss and the delightful new pavilion casting an ever increasing shadow over proceedings two Cavaliers bravely strode out to the crease, McVeigh to open and Bailey (on debut) his partner in braving the virgin pastures.

McVeigh began in such good fashion that the skipper began to fret at not having come to an agreement on retirement scores with his opposite number but was relieved of any worries as McVeigh returned to the pavilion, off Bonelle for a record quick 12 if such records were kept.

Number 3 brought in Corcoran, final guest for the Debutant‟s Ball at the crease. Some fine strokes followed with boundaries a plenty before Bailey was on 15, a recurring theme for the innings. Thomas entered the fray and began a fruitful partnership with Corcoran, helped by a quick outfield, some short boundaries ideally placed for the odd edge and, lest we forget, some excellent batting.

With the scoreboard rolling over a single too many was called and Thomas was run out on 38, Corcoran left standing alone pondering what could have been. In came Avinash, who JD had kindly reminded was on a double as he sat in his pads. With the remainder of the over kept out and JD‟s comments fading from memory a run that was a run then was not a run then became a run out and a despondent Avinash trotted back in to the hutch. Evans, angry at losing two spikes on Sunday, strode out for a short lived blast for 11 with two fours, his innings ending when he threw himself upon his sword before the final over, not wanting Ward to be dressed up with nowhere to go.

Corcoran was to follow him at the beginning of the final over finally going for an excellent 56 on debut including 10 boundaries. Pritchard bravely defended 4 of the final deliveries before falling and Poulsom tried to get something on the final ball but unfortunately lost his stumps, leaving Ward on 0 not out. Cavaliers ended with 148 for their 20 overs.

With Eclipse in bat only McVeigh and Marchant were able to come away unscathed on the bowling front in terms of runs, everyone else was battered around the pitch. The two wickets coming from the latter and Ward late on but not early enough in the innings to have an impact. A fair few boundaries went through the hands or past the boot and, as the light began to fade, Eclipse had run away with it and the runs were reached in 16.3 overs, the last over bringing a half century to the opener despite Pritchard‟s best efforts.

Champagne moment: Corcoran‟s half century on debut [from 34 balls faced].

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Michael McVeigh, Glyn Poulsom, Dan Bailey, Tom Corcoran, Matt Thomas, Avinash, Chris Evans, Bill Ward, Wyn Pritchard, Andrew Steadman

Notes: debuts for Dan Bailey & Tom Corcoran

Consmen (Willow League), Cathedral School, Thu 5 May. Consmen 89/5 (J Davies 3/26, Twaits 2/6). Cavaliers 90/0 (McVeigh 50*). Won by 10 wickets

The date 5/05/2011, dark skies, drizzle in the air it was time for CRICKET SEASON and the first league match of the season for the Cavaliers in the Willow League and meaning a return to their home Cathedral Ground under the guise of the new pavilion which all have admired.

The warm-up of a game of donkey was duly stopped by Capt, who instigated some fielding practice. The toss took place under secrecy, though all we know was that Cavs would be fielding first (meaning „Cyril‟ won the toss).

The Cavs took to the field in buoyant mood, and eagerly awaited Graveson‟s 1st time to bowl on the Cathedral Ground. Grav managed an excellent spell without reward, regularly beating the bat, and also generating bounce and pace on a normally low and slow wicket. Along with Mr. McVeigh who also had a good spell without reward. After bowling their allotted overs the Simpson duo of Side Show Bob along with the Comic Book Guy took over the bowling duties and managed to break the opening partnership. Between them they took 5 wickets for 32 runs with Comic Book Guy nearly taking a well deserved hat-trick after changing to spin. Duffy came on for 1 over though the batsmen were swinging at the latter stages of their allotted overs and Duffy took the brunt of their slogging.

Overall in the field all the Cavs were effective and kept the Consman to a low and reachable target, also worth a mention was Steaders behind the stumps who kept well.

After a quick turn around McVeigh and Steaders took to the field and duly set about the Consmen target. McVeigh was in good touch and took the lead with Steaders taking the support role. McVeigh eventually ending the innings on 50 not out off 29 balls that included a huge 6 which cleared the boundary by some clear distance (and 8x4); along with Steaders who ended 23 not out and survived a few lbw shouts. Cavs reached the winning total of 90 runs in 8.4 overs which stands us in good stead for the rest of the season in-terms of chasing down totals. All retired to the Butchers for a well earned pint after a few cavs had tried out the showers to celebrate an emphatic winning start to the Willow League with 15 points!!!

Champagne moment: Mike‟s 50 which included a huge 6.

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Andrew Graveson, Andrew Steadman, Jonathan Davies, Pritpal Sagoo, Mark Twaits, Matt Thomas, Glenn Chapman, Michael McVeigh, Tom Corcoran

Notes: Rain affected match. Reduced to 16 overs per side, as per League rules, with 5 bowlers to be used and no bowler to exceed 4 overs

Highways Hurricanes (C&H Trophy), Cathedral School, Mon 9 May. Hurricanes 122/7 (Ramegowda 3/13). Cavaliers 102/9 (Hopper 15, Fraser 15). Lost by 20 runs

Having contemplated visiting a local builders‟ merchant with a view to building an ark earlier in the afternoon it was with great surprise that the fixture went ahead, glorious sunshine greeted us upon arrival at the sumptuous setting of the Cathedral School to face the arch rivals who have proven to be a thorn in our side.

The Cavaliers were being led for the first time by Al Fraser, he quickly went about arranging the toss, we can only assume that this went in the opposition‟s favour judging by the fact that they choose to bat, especially as only 6 members were in the pavilion at that time (Hurricanes watches run 15 minutes slower than GMT we have established over the years).

With debutants Chris Hopper and Adi opening the bowling we were off to a decent start, with the Hurricanes finding runs hard to come by due to the tight lines bowled, it was only a matter of time before wickets fell and Greenly (2) went first from a off Adi, his first for the club courtesy of a catch from the new captain.

Spirits were high in the field and things were about to get better when Adi dispatched D Stagg (6) thanks to fine delivery and a catch from Bailey. Whilst we were all getting back into position this was followed next delivery with a superb ball which rattled the stumps of Jeffries (9) leaving Adi on a hat-trick (bet he wishes they never crossed).

The moment was set, on debut and just about to make Cavalier history. With the field in tight we held our breath, unfortunately excitement got the better of him and the ball was dragged down leg, still a great start to his Cavalier‟s career finishing with figures of 3-13. Special mention must go to Chris who kept up the pressure from the other end also finishing with great figures of 0-10 off his overs albeit without the wickets to show.

Fellow debutant Paul Davies was given the ball, after a slippery start he was kindly donated some spikey footwear from close fielder Sparkes, a quick change and those shoes were running the fastest they have for 20 years. Paul was quickly rewarded with the wicket of O‟Brien (1) who was caught by Payne, although he along with several other bowlers were later to suffer at the hands of J Stagg.

Wickets fell around Stagg with McVeigh bowling Griffiths (22), the stumps being hit with such gusto that the bail was sent spinning towards the boundary landing 10 yards from the rope. Captain Al along with Glyn picked up a wicket apiece bowling Bowen (7) and Rees (6) respectively, the Hurricanes seeing out their 18 overs with J Stagg not out on 47.

A quick turnaround saw Bailey and Payne arrive at the wicket, both getting off the mark in the opening over but were not to stick around for long, Payne (3) bowled followed quickly by Bailey (4). Anwar (2) too was to return to the pavilion without offering too much resistance and Ward (2) followed suit shortly after.

The flow of wickets only halted for a short period time when Hopper (15) was joined by fellow debutant Davies (10) who together put on a decent partnership although this was not to last with both being bowled. McVeigh (9) and Fraser (15) came in launching into some powerful shots but they too could not stop the rot. Adi arrived but failed to trouble the scoreboard, leaving Poulsom and Sparkes at the wicket to the end. Much to the surprise of everyone Glyn (8) played a glorious shot for 4 leaving him not out at the death along with Sparkes.

Not a performance to shout about, especially with extras top scoring, although promising debuts with the ball suggests a bright future for the club.

Champagne moment: (Adi‟s spell of bowling early in the inning bringing about his hatrick ball, if only this could have been completed)

Team: Alasdair Fraser (capt), Glyn Poulsom, Dan Bailey, Jeremy Sparkes, Michael McVeigh, Chris Hopper, Riaz Anwar, Gareth Payne, Bill Ward, Adarsh Ramegowda, Paul Davies

Notes: (1) The Cavaliers & Hurricanes Trophy (C&H Trophy) is played for annually over a series of games. The team with the most wins in the season is awarded the C&H Trophy. (2) Debuts for Paul Davies, Chris Hopper and Adarsh (Adi) Ramegowda.

Rhiwbina (Willow Cup), Cathedral School, Thu 12 May. Rhiwbina 101/7 (Corcoran 2/10, Hopper 2/12). Cavaliers 104/1 (Steadman 26*, Corcoran 26*). Won by 9 wickets

The Cavaliers arrived at the magnificent setting of the Cathedral School playing fields dappled in evening sunshine, assembling in good time only to find the state of the art seven figure facility locked, leading to a rather old school „al fresco‟ (as the Oracle dubbed it) change into our whites on the boundary edge.

Jimmy lost the toss and the Pines chose to bat, a decision Jimmy was entirely happy with, confident that we could chase down a total with a strong looking batting line up.

As ever, the Cup tests a team‟s all-round ability, and there is little room to hide bowlers in particular with the spectre of extras looming large. A general rule of thumb in most short forms of cricket is the team that concedes the fewest extras will win. The Cavaliers took note of this with a well disciplined bowling performance which conceded just 7 wides and 1 .

Graveson and McVeigh opened up taking advantage of the hard ball and hard green pitch extracting some bounce from the pitch rarely seen in recent years at the Cathedral School. Several deliveries whistled through at chest and chin height with a couple of close calls for possible nicks through to the ever- improving Steadman behind the stumps. Gravey ended unrewarded in terms of wickets but conceding just 11 from his allotted 2 overs. McVeigh also wicketless, but supremely accurate conceding just a single run from his spell.

The opening burst set the tone for some really good bowling all 9 players called into attack with nobody going for more than 15 runs from their two overs which is a credit all round, as its usual for at least one or two bowlers to be carted around in this format.

Duffy struck the first blow, bowling John for 7, whilst the other opener Clayton held things together whilst Davies, Corcoran and Marchant picked up nos. 3,4 & 5 respectively without much damage. The damage sadly came in the form of McVeigh‟s last involvement in the match, taking his second catch, a fine effort running to his left from long-on. He sadly badly injured his knee, a recurrence of an anterior cruciate ligament injury no less, or „ACL‟ as referred to by the man himself. Helped by his team mates to the boundary edge in some discomfort, we were treated to the sight of the Oracale (eventually) entering the fray as a sub-fielder.

Clayton retired after reaching a well-made 25 in the 7th over, and Rhiwbina ticked along at a modest 5 an over reaching 50 in 9.5 overs. Some excellent bowling and arguably cautious running between the wickets keeping them in check. Corcoran picked up his 2nd wicket with a possibly generous caught behind decision down the leg side which was nevertheless well gathered by Steaders. Jimmy channelled his moody anger from missing a sharp caught and bowled chance by disturbing the timbers of the dangerous Damant the very next ball just before he could retire at 23.

Khan entered the fray in a tracksuit intent on injecting some athleticism into proceedings dancing repeatedly down the wicket playing cross bat shots which were likely to fly anywhere. Combined with some running of almost Steadman batting indoors (i.e. manic) he turned singles into twos and threes as the Cavaliers threatened to lose their heads. However, some excellent death bowling from Hopper in particular and Fraser ensured that the run rate barely increased throughout, with the Pines finishing on 101 for 7 of their 18 overs, the final ball ball seeing Hopper bowling Khan (which I‟ll return to below).

Back in the sanctity of the Cavaliers dressing room a strange quiet confidence, indeed expectation was present that despite losing McVeigh, we were well capable of chasing the target. Steaders and Corcoran opened and did a superb job in keeping well above the rate without taking unnecessary risks. A wise move given the biggest threat to our chances of progressing was the loss of early wickets. Steadman raced to his 25 and retired after just 17 balls in the 6th over despite no obvious aggression, just lovely stoke play and Corcoran played a more cautious role, playing out a maiden where necessary such as against the accurate Clayton, without being flustered. He eventually reached his retirement with 26 from 32 balls in the 11th over with the score on 74. The Cavaliers were well set for victory with Jimmy making a quick 14 before finding out how to take a sharp caught and bowled chance the hard way. Bailey and Gravey saw us home in comfort, the latter hitting 4 lusty boundaries (ok, a couple were edges behind), and we reached our target for the loss of just one wicket with 25 balls to spare, helped by 16 mainly leg-side wides.

It would be remiss of me to take an opportunity to educate my fellow Cavaliers on the laws of the game at this stage. The Oracle kindly pointed out to me that if a ball bounces more than twice before reaching the batsman it should be called a no ball, not a as I had done as it also went down leg. Both are extras granted, but the batsman could have been given lbw if it had been straight or indeed whereas both of these possibilities are eliminated by the call of no-ball. It would also be remiss of this reporter not to remind The Oracle that it is prudent to be ready to enter the field as a sub at any given moment rather than take an age putting on layers of shiny new club clothing :o)

After such a comprehensive victory the atmosphere in the dressing room was again one of quiet satisfaction - a job done and onto the next. A sign that this new era of Cavaliers maybe did join the club to win things.

Champagne moment: Hopper‟s 2nd wicket on the last ball of the innings – a brilliant example of „death‟ bowling not being put off by the tormenting Khan dancing around and taking a left handed guard and switching to a right handed guard in the delivery stride. Fast, full, straight and „Goodnight Vienna‟. (Although honourable mention goes to McVeigh for holding a catch in spite of injury).

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Andrew Graveson, Ross Bowen, Andrew Steadman, Alasdair Fraser, Michael McVeigh, Jonathan Davies, Tom Corcoran, Chris Hopper, Dan Bailey

Notes: Willow Cup is played over 18 overs, with maximum of 2 overs per bowler and batsman retire after scoring 25 but may return later if all other wickets have fallen

Newport Fugitives, High Cross, Sun 15 May. Cavaliers 224/8 (Chapman 109, Payne 19). Fugitives 199ao (Bowen 4/28, Ramegowda 3/32). Won by 25 runs

Sunday 15 May. How would the Cavaliers be feeling after the day before which saw Manchester City triumph in the FA Cup Final, Manchester United winning the Premier League, Aviva Premiership rugby union, rugby league Superleague ...... and, of course, the Eurovision Song Contest. How many would be jaded after that glass of rose too many at the Eurovision parties so many of the team attended late into the night (but few actually admitted to)?

This was the first time we‟d had a fixture against the Fugies and, as the skies turned grey and the temperature dropped, we wondered whether we‟d leave High Cross as excited as Jedward after too many sweeties and fizzy drinks or slightly disappointed and feeling a little Blue.

The toss was another one of those curious affairs where Jimmy and the Fugies skipper managed without a coin and it was agreed that we should bat first – Jimmy had clearly lost the discussion! Jimmy asked Dan B if he could go in as “My Number One”, Dan said “I Can” and as soon as he and Jez were padded up we were off.

Unfortunately it wasn‟t long before both openers had gone, we were 9 for 2, and it was down to Glenn and Grizz to steady the ship. They just had to “Believe”, take their time and pick their shots and it soon became clear that Glenn was in very good nick. He looked comfortable and in command, playing proper cricket shots – there was no “Boom Bang-a-Bang” about his innings as he accumulated runs, respected the bowling and punished the bad balls with aggression. Grizz departed with the score on 58 leaving Glenn to push on while supported by a number of partners, each chipping in with useful runs.

Gareth raced to an aggressive 19, Adi scored a brisk 16 and Dawko got a handy 14 before getting stumped from a leg-side wide! “Why Me” he must have thought and knew instantly he was on for a post-match fine.

However, all of this was just a sideshow as Glenn‟s innings remained the main event. He was the mainstay throughout and reached a richly deserved century, his first for the Cavaliers and a chanceless knock which was applauded by teammates and Fugies alike. Inevitably the mixture of concentration, determination and fatigue meant that Glenn wasn‟t able to stay in until the end and he met his “Waterloo” on 109 – he was defeated but would we still win the war?

Rabbit followed quickly leaving JT and the Skipper to see out the last over and a half, taking us to 224 for 8 in 40 overs and allowing us to head inside for a warm and tea. And what a tea! Sausages and chips which we tucked into enthusiastically only to realise that this had been part of the Fugies master plan when inviting us to bat first – fill them up with “All Kinds of Everything” so they won‟t feel like running around in the field for 40 overs! We all felt a bit sluggish but still alert enough to spot a serious fashion faux pas by both Jimmy and Jez during the tea interval – sandals and socks? Gentlemen, please! I know it was cold but really...?!?

Confident that we had a target we could defend, we took to the field. We knew we would have to work hard to topple the Fugies with their mixture of experience and talented youngsters and for Jimmy, it was a case of “Making Your Mind Up” as to how he should juggle the attack to contain what proved to be some decent Fugies batting.

All our bowlers acquitted themselves well with Ross taking a deserved 4 for 38, Adi 3 for 32 (recovering well after a shaky first over), Gareth 2 for 27 and Jimmy picking up 1 for a miserly 23 from 7.3 overs. Wickets fell steadily and dangerous-looking partnerships were broken before they could become really damaging to the Cavaliers‟ cause. The bowling was backed up by some excellent Cavaliers fielding – Glenn, Magnet and Dawko doing some fantastic work in the deep, Jez and Dan sharing the keeping duties and our catches being held.

Dan took a couple – the first a particularly nonchalant effort at mid wicket much to the astonishment of the Fugies opener who must have thought the ball was on its way to the boundary for a flat six. Grizz took his first catch for a season and a half, Jimmy took a nice one stretching high above his head and even Chairman Havers managed a couple – turning the first from a straightforward effort at mid on into a theatrical goalkeeper-style dive for the benefit of the cameras before returning to form with the second, allowing a skier to bounce off his chest before pouching it gratefully!

Jimmy first introduced himself into the attack when the Fugies innings was gathering some momentum and we needed his control to hold them back for a while, toying with each batsman like a “Puppet on a String”. He brought himself back on at the end of the innings, supported by Adi and then Ross when it seemed that J Warren, the Fugies number 5 looked like he could guide his team to a “Fairytale” victory. However, when he was out for a well-played 48, we knew that the target of 225 was going to be beyond them.

The Fugies were eventually all out for 199 after 39.3 overs and the Cavs were left to celebrate the first weekend win of the season – “Hallelujah”.

It was a great game of cricket played in excellent spirit with the Fugies being welcoming hosts – we‟d love to arrange a reciprocal fixture with them at the Cathedral School and make this a regular feature in coming seasons. However, it‟ll be best remembered for Glenn‟s tremendous maiden century for the club. “Congratulations” Candyman!

Champagne moment: The look of pleasure and relief on Glenn‟s face when he reached that century

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Michael Dawkins, Ross Bowen, Jonathan Thomas, Nigel Adams, Gareth Payne, Wyn Pritchard, Dan Bailey, Jeremy Sparkes, Glenn Chapman, Adi Ramegowda

Peterston-super-Ely, Cathedral School, Thu 19 May. P-S-E 172/4 (Marchant 2/5). Cavaliers 167/9 (Marchant 41*). Lost by 5 runs Note: a handwritten report was provided but not transcribed. The scorecard is, therefore, included here Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Devineni Avinash, Siva Kumar Kollipara, Neil Simons, Bill Ward, Chris Hopper, Michael Dawkins, Nigel Adams, Andrew Steadman, Alasdair Fraser, Wyn Pritchard

Notes: (1) debuts for Siva Kollipara and Neil Simons. (2) Friendly game with batsmen retiring on 30 (but can return later) and aim for everyone to bowl but no-one to have more than 4 overs. (3) Cavaliers 12th man, D Bailey, replaced Chris Hopper due to injury sustained while fielding. Peterson-super-Ely‟s 12th man replaced M Debbage Cardiff Cavaliers v Peterston-super-Ely – Thu 19 May 2011, Cathedral School. Toss: Cavaliers P-S-E NAME HOW OUT BOWLER RUNS 4 6 1 T Lewis Retired Not Out 30 2 C Brain + Bw Siva 13 3 O Watkins * Bw Simons 22 4 J Arter Retired Not Out 34 5 M Debbage Bw Marchant 15 6 A Grabham Bw Marchant 24 7 G Philips Not Out 13 8 G Cooper Not Out 0 9 J Cutlan Did not bat - 10 H Williams Did not bat - 11 J Critcher Did not bat -

Byes 8 Wides 9 Extras 22 TOTAL 172 Leg Byes 3 No Balls 1 Overs 20 Wickets 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 46 117 151 158

BOWLER OVERS MAIDENS RUNS WICKETS Fraser 2 0 19 0 Hopper 2 0 11 0 Siva 2 0 8 1 Dawkins 2 0 15 0 Adams 2 0 23 0 Simons 2 0 31 1 Pritchard 2 0 17 0 Avinash 2 0 11 0 Ward 2 0 15 0 Marchant 2 0 5 2

Cavaliers NAME HOW OUT BOWLER RUNS 4 6 1 A Steadman + Bw Philips 12 2 - 2 Siva Kollipara LBW Williams 1 3 N Simons Bw Williams 0 4 A Fraser Bw Cutlan 14 2 - 5 J Marchant * Not Out 41 7 - 6 D Avinash Ct Cooper Watkins 8 - 1 7 W Pritchard St Brains Watkins 1 8 D Bailey Ct Brains Watkins 5 1 - 9 W Ward Bw Lewis 14 3 - 10 M Dawkins Bw Arter 16 3 - 11 N Adams Not Out 17 2 -

Byes 4 Wides 28 Extras 37 TOTAL 167 Leg Byes 4 No Balls 1 Overs 20 Wickets 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 18 18 23 74 79 86 100 130 153

BOWLER OVERS MAIDENS RUNS WICKETS RESULT Williams 3 0 22 2 Lost by 5 runs Philips 2 0 16 1 Critcher 2 0 17 0 NOTES Cutlan 3 0 23 1 Debuts for S. Cooper 2 0 14 0 Kollipara & N. Grabham 2 0 9 0 Simons Lewis 2 0 16 1 Arter 2 0 16 1

Llanvapley, Sun 22 May. Cavaliers 144ao. Llanvapley 146/2. Cavaliers 144ao (Steadman 60, Kollipara 29). Llanvapley 146/2 (Sparkes 1/15, Brown 1/24 ). Lost by 8 wickets In the week that saw reports of one of the greats of the game returning to its pleasures, it was also announced from the other side of the globe that Martin Crowe was seeking to emulate Brownie. Crowe said he‟d had a lot of text messages with just one word – “why”. Such matters do not worry the Cavaliers founder, mainly because he has yet to discover the „joy of txt‟.

“… probably a bit of mid-life crisis” was how Crowe described his thinking but who knows what lay behind our veteran Cavalier‟s first appearance of the season: was it the luscious feel of polyester on skin, the lingering whiff of liniment in the nostrils, or the gentle joshing on the eardrums of his confreres? Perhaps all three.

There was some consternation late on Friday as to whether the club could field its regulation number of old stagers with the withdrawal of Mr Adams who had sustained an injury more prevalent among soccer players but, happily, not of the sort that leads to super-injunctions, Tweets or the front pages of Scottish newspapers.

Cometh the hour, though, cometh the Rabbit; a replacement for the Grizzler and, after various shuffling around of club kit bags, lifts, etc, Cap‟n Duffy had a full complement for the trip to the nether environs of Abergavenny.

Despite dire warnings from Casuals concerning the Brigadoon nature of trying to locate the village, Gravy and his passengers arrived without any mishaps despite the driver‟s enquiry several miles along a country lane, “Jez, perhaps we should turn the SatNav on?” Others were less fortunate, with Mr Poulsom apparently distracted by the profound philosophical discussion ensuing between his passengers, Rabbit and Steaders.

This was our first venture to Llanvapley and we found the ground in a delightful setting and very welcoming hosts. Jason had been pre-warned that it was local custom to play a traditional “time game” whereupon it is possible, if the skill set of each side is of a comparative level that neither can win, a result is reached that so bemuses our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic, “the draw”. This led many of our number to recollect, wistfully, the halcyon days when 185/2 from a full day‟s play in a test match was considered “good going”.

The intricacies of a time game were explained to our skipper in the visitors‟ dressing room by Messrs Graveson, Chapman, Poulsom and Sparkes but he still needed his counterpart to help him through the technicalities when they went out for the toss.

Jason, flush with his new knowledge, decided that we should bat and our pairing of Steaders and Siva took to the crease under the watchful umpiring eyes of Glyn and Jez who demonstrated why they are considered to among the doyen of amateur officialdom as they noted only 10 fielders on the pitch. Enquiry of the captain ascertained that this was their playing strength so Jason quickly lent them a spare fielder (initially Rabbit, then Jez and, latterly, Glenn).

Both batsmen began watchfully, seeing what the pitch was like yet able to dispatch any wayward delivery to the boundary including a majestic pull/hook from Siva for a maximum. However, ripples broke upon the surface of this serene start when Steaders appeared to pull a muscle in the leg. He requested a runner, a role filled admirably by Gravy. This seems to be a feature of the Cavaliers‟ season to date with an assortment of ailments to keep the District Nurse busy – Steadman‟s Strain, Hopper‟s Quad, Grizz‟s Groin and McVeigh‟s McKnee.

Despite slowing they were able to keep some momentum until Siva was caught behind for a good 29, having helped post 65 in 12 overs. Jason made his way to the crease with the „helpful‟ advice from Bill echoing in his ears “no pressure, skip, only your family here watching” as young William had arrived to witness his dad‟s exploits. Happily, he survived his first delivery and played some lovely shots which enabled his team mates to identify to his offspring the different fielding positions that had been set by the opposing captain. Sadly, in trying to thread the ball through the field rather than to it, he was bowled for 4. Chapman and Ward followed fairly swiftly, while Steaders kept going as best he could, eventually falling for a workmanlike but highly valuable innings of 60, made from 73 balls and included 6 fours.

It was the introduction of Llanvapley‟s spin twin pairing that might, if Mr Adams was reporting, be compared to facing a youthful Warne and a wily Bedi, save for the fact that the leg-spinner, Carpenter, had all his own hair and their left armer, Lovell, was un-turbaned. However, they were just as effective as the legends finishing with 4/25 and 3/23 respectively including deliveries that deceived such accomplished batsman as JT, Gravy and Glyn.

Only Sparkes and Pritchard could be said to have given away their wickets, the former in particular had waited patiently for the bad ball and then picked out the fielder with unerring accuracy, and with enough pace that the man had no time to be in two-minds yet with insufficient velocity that it wasn‟t going to do anything other than nestle gently in the hands.

From such a promising start we had faded, declining from 81/1, and there was still an half hour to tea. Gravy was the only other man to reach double figures, 23, which included 2 huge sixes. Duffy thought we now had a longer break until he was re-advised of the concept of a time game and that, with tea being taken now, Llanvapley would simply have the advantage of beginning their reply by a corresponding number of minutes earlier and so have longer to reach their target.

After a very pleasant repast, Jason led the fielding with a strong leadership performance that ranged from inspirational – opening the bowling with Brownie who took a wicket in his first over – to the perspirational, bending his own back with a good spell of bowling that merited more and nearly pulled off what would have been among the all time great caught and bowleds (and then had to suffer the ignominy of being fined for it later as the Club captain has declared, “if you get something on it, it goes down as a chance”).

The scorebook shows that their left-handed opener was “Ct Steadman (wk)” but rarely can so few words be as ineffective with regard to describing the actuality. The batsman made to sweep Brown‟s delivery that was tight on middle & leg, only to misjudge it badly, see it loop gently from the face of the bat, along his arm and over his head. The keeper, faced with what appeared to be the simplest of chances, remembered that cricket was also supposed to be entertaining and so proceeded to provide an audition that befitted the Big Top.

He juggled it from one glove to the other, then to his arm, then back to a glove, then to his chest, back to the other glove, then to his thigh before, finally, slumped on two knees he managed to pivot and half-turn and clutch it firm to his belly. The batsman would have been well within his rights to have accused the keeper of prolonging his agony and of giving him false hope of relief on at least 5 counts. Meanwhile we await news of whether Steaders has run off to join the circus.

This was to be our only scent of possible victory as their opener, who survived a torrid examination by Graveson who extracted considerable lift and movement but went wicketless, put on 126 with their No3 who proved a class act. No3 offered barely a glimmer of a half chance, and dispatched all and sundry to the boundary, including 2 similarly huge sixes off Sparkes. Jez, though, did manage a riposte to this battering by producing his first genuine off-break for a many a year pitching it outside off, luring the batsman forward, beating the outside edge with totally unexpected turn and seeing it gently caress the off stump, dislodging a bail. It was hard to know who was the more surprised – batsman or bowler.

Fairy tale endings, though, happen in fairy tales and Llanvapley were deserved winners with only 3 of the mandatory last 20 overs required and 6 men not required to take their turn at the crease. Our thanks to our hosts for a warm welcome and particular mention to their scorer who kept both books during our fielding innings to save us the hassle of having to copy details afterwards – much appreciated.

Creativity was required for the post-match fining session at the Clytha Arms as only Jez and Jason had obliged during the game but sufficient „cause‟ was found to ensure that others helped top up the Club‟s coffers.

Champagne moment: with little to cheer on the playing side for us, the moment goes to Jez for his final delivery which was good enough to defeat their top batsman and gave us brief hope of a Leinster-style fightback

Team: Jason Duffy (capt), Jonathan Thomas, Wyn Pritchard, Jeremy Sparkes, Glenn Chapman, Bill Ward, Graeme Brown, Glyn Poulsom, Andrew Steadman, Siva Kollipara, Andrew Graveson

Note: the “time game” is among the oldest traditions whereby one side bats until it declares (usually at tea) and then the other team seeks to score the runs to win or to hold out to deny their opponents the victory and so “save the match” with a draw, with the “last hour” operating (a minimum of 20 overs or at least 60 minutes to be played).

Hockey (Willow League), Cathedral School, Tue 24 May. Hockey 140/5 (Graveson 1/17, P Davies 1/21). Cavaliers 141/4 (Steadman 52, Marchant 31). Won by 6 wickets Cavaliers 13pts, Hockey 2pts

A fine body of men arrived in good time at the Cathedral School in expectation of a competitive tussle with Hockey. Confronted with an unexpected bout of timeliness, captain Marchant ruthlessly crushed all pretence of wicket-inspection or tactical discussion. Catching practice began.

With the toss won, the Cavaliers took to the field of play focussed on restricting Hockey‟s total. They didn‟t take to the field alone. An impressive array of supporters stood behind them to provide encouragement:

JT: Immaculately attired Chairman. Patrolled the boundary like a patrician Mafia Don Glyn: Svengali-like backroom presence. Pulled the strings in captain‟s batting absence JD & Freddie: Big smiley faces (each required occasional “winding”) Mike McV: Endured spectating poorly. Expected to feature on crutches in next game Siva: Joined Mike in playing the entire game in his mind. Sure to feature soon Brownie: Sported headwear last seen on ITVs‟ 1979 Saturday tea-time schedule. Brave Jez: Happiness truly is a perfect scorebook. Jez was happy Rabbit: Disproved notion that men cannot do two things at once. Smoked and grunted his support in tandem.

Hockey got off to an electric start with opener Egan dispatching the first ball of the game for six. The opening pair of Graveson and Duffy managed to tighten things up a little from there but the occasional bad balls were punished heavily, in particular by Egan who was clearly in confident form.

Fraser and Marchant took over the bowling duties after eight overs and managed to maintain some control over the scoreboard in the face of aggressive batting. As Hockey continued their acceleration efforts Hopper was also to join the bowling fray. Thanks to decent bowling and fielding, the Hockey score pushed along but never really got away from the “obtainable”. The fact that wickets weren‟t falling quickly however enabled Hockey to establish a solid platform to defend.

As Hockey progressed to their final total of 140 a couple of individual stand-out moments kept a lid on the eventual score. Captain Marchant brilliantly ran out a batsman with only a single stump to hit. The excellent Egan (72 runs) left the stage following a good catch by Glenn in the deep. Davies bowled an extremely tight final over when the Hockey score might otherwise have become intimidating.

The Cavaliers padded-up. 141 required to win.

Openers Steadman and Corcoran got the team off to an excellent start. Corcoran (18 runs from 26 balls) kept the scoreboard ticking over and provided the strike to the in-form Steadman. Steadman cleverly accumulated from the good balls and punished the poor balls with boundaries. He even hit a six, though he should remember in future that this isn‟t allowed. His rapid 52 came from just 38 deliveries.

Corcoran was to depart following a stumping as he looked to push on and Steadman left the field of play as a result of a sharp run-out with the score on 72 in the 11th over. They were followed by the ever-efficient batting pair of Marchant and Chapman. Both kept up with the run-rate thanks to smart working of the gaps, “sprinted” singles and hitting the occasional bad ball hard. Marchant scored 31 runs from 28 balls and Chapman hit his 16 from 19.

Having been set-up perfectly by the first four batsmen, it fell to Graveson and Davies to complete the victory on behalf of the team. Graveson notched up the required runs with judicious use of his edge and the thoughtful targeting of large outfield divots.

This was a truly competitive, close and exciting cricket match between two closely matched sides (either of which is well-capable of beating the other on their day). This of course made the victory (and the points) very satisfying for the Cavaliers team and their support. Equally satisfying however was the fact that both sides displayed good spirit before, during and after the game. This contributed greatly to an enjoyable evening for everyone involved on both sides.

The evening concluded with a sitting of the fines committee. A successful evening on the field was hardly conducive to revenue-generation. However, it escaped no-one‟s notice that Gareth left the pub considerably poorer than he had entered it.

In order to secure the financial future of the club several new offences were created by the self-appointed pub-legislature. Through quasi-legal precedent-setting, these rules now sit permanently on the statute- book. Non-present members are therefore warned for the future to avoid despicable offences such as “youthfulness”, “self-fining” (punishable by fine), “limping” (especially if already accused of “youthfulness”) and the frankly unforgiveable act of being “overly supportive”.

Champagne moment: Al Fraser bowling wicketkeeper Price. For everything else, there‟s MasterCard

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (v.capt), Glenn Chapman, Andrew Steadman, Andrew Graveson, Chris Hopper, Paul Davies, Alasdair Fraser, Tom Corcoran, Gareth Payne, Dan Bailey

Uni Staff (Willow League), Cathedral School, Tue 31 May. Cavaliers 114ao (Chapman 39, P Davies 14). Uni Staff 105/7 (J Davies 3/24, Graveson 1/10). Won by 9 runs. Cavaliers 11pts, Uni Staff 4pts

Was it Jimmy's fault?

We all told him we needed to win the toss and bat second, but did he listen? No, he lost the toss and we batted first!

Was "Gaverson" to blame (of the variations on Graveson, "Gaverson" is my favourite --- I have no reason other than personal preference)?

When, quite wrongly, we had been told to bat first, Gaverson asserted (with authority, as though he was being realistic) that we should look at setting 200 --- or 190 if things don't quite go our way.

Or Siva and the two wides? Were they to blame?

Gaverson's predictions looked modest after two legitimate deliveries. First (illegitimate) ball 2 runs (a wide and a run from the wide); next (legitimate) delivery (a Siva 4 through extra cover); next (legitimate) delivery (a Siva four through mid-on). At ten for nought from two deliveries, we were on course to score 1200 for no wicket, with a 500% strike rate. Who needs the IPL? It looked as though Siva would score 1080 not out (a club record? - I don't know, ask The Oracle for clarification); with Steaders scoring nought not out (from 60 illegitimate and no 'legal' balls faced); and 120 from wides. Were our aspirations a little unrealistic at this stage, thanks to Siva --- Gaverson's predictions seemed only a pre-match warming-up exercise.

Time for a re-think?

With Siva out from the third legitimate delivery, wickets and occupation of the crease were potential issues, as we were on course for 100 all out from 30 deliveries. At least that would have allowed the caretaker plenty of time to lock up and allow Jeremy more opportunity to prepare for his early start the next day (I understand he was going to Birmingham).

What about the Uni Staff?

In fairness, they bowled well at times, exploiting the green wicket, getting some lateral movement both ways and getting the ball to wobble through the air. S Hughes extracted some life from the pitch, bowling Siva for a Subaru Imprezza-style 8 and Jimmy for 1. Whilst the consistent Munday used his trickery and guile (or did he just bowl two straight balls that neither batsmen looked at?) to remove Steaders and Gaverson, Gaverson contributing 1 to his intended team target of at least 190. Lord and Grosvenor bowled well at "the death", taking two wickets apiece.

No more headings . . . for now (they are causing me mild irritation) . . .

Glenn batted majestically to score 39, his best shot a beautiful 6 over long-on . . . two strides down the wicket and a lovely clean hit that easily cleared the boundary, landing near the pavilion. Definitely a champagne moment contender, this one. Other highlights included a handy contribution from Paul (good timing of the ball, letting the ball come to him and playing it late), dismissed for 13.

The Uni Staff had played well and put us under some pressure. When Mike Dawkins was bowled by Lord (in the second ball of the final over) we were all out for 114.

Jimmy gave a between-innings speech to his team and the idea was that we should show a lot more focus in the field than we had been able to do whilst batting.

Gaverson, we forgive you for your outlandish predictions . . .

Gravy, Gaverson, Gaviscon, Graveson if you like, bowled extremely well. In my view this is the quickest (through the air) I have seen him bowl. I think he took the most important wicket of the Uni Staff innings, when he removed Lord (who looked able and had batted with fluency) for 16. I feel that Lord could have taken the game away from us if he had not been dislodged at this stage. This was a key (champagne?) moment. Gaverson took (only) 1 wicket for 10 runs from 4 overs. But he deserved more wickets.

JD bowled (shall I say) a variety of deliveries, sometimes very accurately and sometimes less so. But he took great delight in reminding Gaverson that it is wickets that count, the strike rate and the average number of runs per wicket. JD (on a hat-trick at one point) finished with figures of 4 overs, 3 wickets for 24 runs.

The Uni Staff target was achievable, so it was vital that all our bowlers absorbed the pressure and our fielders remained sharp, which we were able to do --- just about! There were important contributions from Eady (25, run out with a direct hit from Gaverson) and Bonelli (bowled JD for 16). Jason and Jimmy bowled well, but Dawkins really did well in managing to keep his composure. With 11 needed from the final over, Dawkins took a wicket with the first delivery of that over and conceded just one run. T Hughes was left stranded at the non-striker's end (for a very good 25) as he observed this miserly final over.

It was with relief that we reflected on how we had managed to just about clinch victory. Uni Staff could have won it and almost did. The game had been played in the right spirit, despite its closeness. We repaired to the pub, collected fines, made fun of one another and reflected on an enjoyable evening of cricket.

Man of the Match?

That could be Dawko for holding things together whilst being put under intense pressure by the Uni Staff batsmen; Glenn for holding our innings together; JD for proving that wickets matter; or Gaverson for a very hostile, economic (but unlucky) bowling spell, not to mention an important run out he achieved with a direct hit (we'll forget his other throw that went off course by 70 yards). I'm going to go for Gaverson, partly because I feel guilty for having just insulted him and I am sorry about his current knack of not picking up as many wickets as he should.

Champagne moment: If an over was a moment (which I suppose it could be, but I know it isn't really) I would give the champagne moment to Dawko.

In the tradition of match reporters giving champagne moments to themselves I could give myself the champagne moment (by the way it is me, Andrew Steadman) -- I was feeling pretty proud of myself when I advanced down the wicket and sweetly timed the ball through the mid-wicket region to pick up four, only for my smugness to be removed when the bowler clean-bowled me next delivery.

No, my champagne moment goes to Glenn Chapman, who combined grace and power to dance down the track and lift the ball over the boundary for an effortless six

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (v.capt), Glenn Chapman, Andrew Steadman, Andrew Graveson, Michael Dawkins, Paul Davies, Jonathan Davies, Dan Bailey, Siva Kollipara, Gareth Payne

Note: 4 „Primaries‟ were recorded, that is, being out first ball – Messrs Graveson, Duffy and Dawkins for the Cavaliers and Mr Wallis for Uni Staff. The Primary Club is the charity for disabled cricketers and other sportsmen and we encourage all those who record such a score that they either subscribe or renew their membership to this excellent cause (link on the Cavaliers website on the Cricket weblinks page)

Eclipse Print (friendly), Cathedral School, Thursday 2 June. Eclipse 171/4 (Marchant 2/13). Cavaliers 98/5 (J Thomas 30*). Lost by 73 runs

WHO WON TOSS? Cavaliers took the field minus Adams and Brown who were delayed by traffic. Fortunately the home side operated rolling substitutions and were not disadvantaged The Fifty somethings took the field like miscreant schoolboys. By then Fraser‟s first ball had removed the usually prolific Williams first ball. However this proved to be a false dawn as a succession of batsman reached 30 before retirement

Avi caused Eclipse some temporary discomfort when winding Condon in a brisk spell. Davis, Pritchard, Ward and Brown flight and guile proved fruitless and Marchant wisely protected the boundary. This proved successful to an extent but dot balls were as rare as an objective Atherton article about Cardiff. This pattern was broken when Brown‟s final delivery went for the max via the despairing fingers of the outfielder.

Corcoran toiled fruitlessly but Adams run into the eye of a storm with three successive deliveries being smashed over the ropes by Gihan. “All good deliveries they were” according Grizz as reported by Club president Newbury in a welcome visit. Sparkes‟ reputation as a “golden arm” was reinforced by Steadman‟s stumping of Allaway and Jimmy restored some normality to proceedings with 2 wickets in the last over. Eclipse closed on 171-4.

Cavaliers opened confidently before Corcoran fell in the 6th over with 30 on the board. Bill Ward fell trying to maintain the run rate. JT accelerated to an impressive 30 characterised by meaty pulls before mandatory retirement.

Adams was on a mission and “raged against the dying of the light” and gained a measure of sweet revenge with a sumptious straight six off his nemesis Gihan. When he fell followed quickly by Avi the target disappeared into the distance for a Cavaliers “Carling Cup” line up short of a gallop.

The interest then moved to the new scoreboard. This contraption requires the arrangement of a series of reversible Black and White strips which set against the black background can be adjusted to show the correct score. Some figures such as 0 or 1 are so simple that a 9 year old girl could work them out. Others not so. When one member was asked to perform these tasks he point blank refused and shuffled towards the nets to have a ciggy. Whilst a super injunction prevents me from naming him suffice to say he should be force fed Spanish lettuce imported from Germany. Brown took up the challenge but failed on 4. He attempted to enlist help but was given the wide berth by his team mates usually accorded to Geoff Boycott by the current England squad. To his relief the 9 year old daughter of the oppo ended his distress by calmly re arranging the strips in the appropriate manner. She also took up these duties for the remainder of the game. Brown dissolved into the background to check his latest pension statement and to contemplate retirement from public life. Whilst this vignette is another example of the rising generation of talented females it also celebrated the world weary wisdom of the middle aged male well practised in the art of “passing the buck”.

The game drew to its conclusion with an interesting partnership of contrasting approach. Marchant kept the young lady busy with his array of strokes. Rabbit decided to re enact Monty‟s last stand at the Ashes Test. After 19 balls he awoke from his coma to edge the ball through vacant third man. Steadman broke off from his lonely vigil awaiting a knock to comment that Panesar has not played for England since. We are all confident that this is not a fate to be shared by the master blaster from Mackintosh.

POSTCRIPT: The moral of this story is to not offend the cricketing gods by turning up late. Grizz was punished by his entry into the attack at exactly the wrong time while Brown in his haste forgot his shin pads and was rewarded with smack on the ankle which forced his withdrawal from the next fixture. Be late at your peril.

Champagne moment: Grizz Adams straight six

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Andrew Steadman, Alasdair Fraser, Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Nigel Adams, Jeremy Sparkes, Devineni Avinash, Wyn Pritchard, Bill Ward, Jonathan Thomas, Tom Corcoran

Ystradfellte Rams (friendly), Aberdare CC, Sun 5 Jun. Ystradfellte 204/7 (Ward 2/16). Cavaliers 183ao (Graveson 43, Adams 40, J Thomas 33). Lost by 21 runs

There were clear skies in Cardiff which was a promising start for the trip into the valleys. Having successfully managed to collect the skipper (with only one wrong turn and knocking on the wrong door due to not listening to the Satnav), the weather began to make a change for the worse during the rest of the journey. The clouds began to hover and the forecast looked pretty bleak.

Once we had all arrived at the ground, changed for the game, toss decided and fielding practice underway, it decided to rain. This brought on the covers and caused some delay to the start of the game. This resulted in most of the Cavaliers remaining in the changing rooms discussing the finer points of tea! The drinking kind. Where it‟s from, the best tea and it continued. The rain continued and so did the conversation from discussion about Elvis, Spinning Jenny, the spinning Wheel, to tales about the Opera. It was at this point that the rain decided to settle.

The covers came off and the game finally got under way. Having shaken off the cobwebs the Cavaliers took to the field with Graveson and Dawkins opening the bowling. Graveson made the first break through with the score on 13 when he bowled Tay for 9. Having completed their spells without further success, Graveson and Dawkins were replaced by Avinash and Marchant. The Rams were being steered by A. Williams who was very patient in his batting and would punish anything that was slightly wayward.

Avinash manage to get another wicket with a fine delivery bowling Wethersby for 13 with the score on 64. The Rams at this point settled with Williams and Roberts putting on a further 59 runs before Marchant took the wicket of Williams ct and bowled for 68. Poulsom, Davies and Sparkes were all brought into the attack to keep the pressure on the Rams now that Williams had finally gone. Sparkes was successful during his spell claiming the wicket of Roberts ct behind for 41. Ward and Adams were the last of the Cavaliers to enter the attack again with more success. Ward in his 3 overs managed to take two wickets for 16 runs while Adams in his 3 overs took 1 wicket for 20. Adams took the wicket of Griffiths who smacked the ball straight back at Adams so hard that it would have taken most men in its way off of his feet. Adams held on to the ball without flinching and holding his smile in sheer delight awaiting for his picture to be taken. With the score on 197 the Rams moved their score on to 204 for 7 from 35 overs. Jones making 36 not out and Weathersby Jnr not out on 1.

Tea was taken and many thanks to the Rams for the amount of food provided and how nice it was.

Thomas and Sparkes opened the batting and with the score on 18 Sparkes lost his wicket when the ball was pitched short but forgot to bounce. Graveson joined Thomas at the crease and the two settled into a solid partnership putting on 65 runs with some aggressive shots being played by both. Graveson who was dropped 3 times managed to make 43 before the Rams finally held on to him. The Rams began to pick off the Cavaliers batsmen as they tried to put a dent in the Rams total. Thomas had put on 33 before he was ct. Adams decided that he would take the fight to the Rams putting on 40 runs hitting five 4‟s before being ct .The Cavaliers ended the game 183 all out of 34.4 overs.

The game was one in which the Cavaliers worked hard to try and reach the target set by the Rams. Despite the end score the game was closer than it looked at times. The Rams with a mixture of youth and experience approached the game in the right manner setting what was a difficult target. The Cavaliers however took to the challenge and tried until the last. The game was played in a good spirit and appeared to be enjoyed by all that participated. Refreshments were provided following the game which most stayed behind to enjoy in addition to paying their customary post match fines

Champagne moment: goes to Nigel Adams for his David Bailey moment. Having taken what was a fine catch off his own bowling when the batsman smashed it straight back at him, Nigel remained in the same position for approximately 10 + seconds (it‟s a long time to stand there waiting for a picture to be taken that never is).

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Dan Bailey, Glyn Poulsom, Steve Davis, Nigel Adams, Jeremy Sparkes, Devineni Avinash, Bill Ward, Jonathan Thomas, Michael Dawkins, Andrew Graveson

Cardiff Bay Barbarians (Willow League), Cathedral School, Tue 7 Jun. CBBs 142/6 (P Davies 2/12, Marchant 2/17) Cav 63ao. Lost by 79 runs. Cavaliers 0pts, CBBs 15pts

A busy week of league and cup action began with a game against the CBB's, who we were especially keen to beat after last season‟s debacle out at Wenvoe. Our batting performance couldn't get any worse than that day... could it?

Jimmy lost the toss and we were invited to field first. Gravy (0-15) opened up and bowled another beautiful spell which went largely unrewarded, beating the bat regularly and getting good pace off what is a much livelier Cathedral School track this season. Jase (0-25) joined in from the other end and kept it tight, restricting the openers to the odd expansive drive for 4 whilst also being unlucky in inducing an edge that went flying past first slip in his first over.

The opener Clegg, who looked good in getting runs against us last season, was again looking positive, punishing any width outside off or anything short of a length, while his fellow opener seemed happy driving anything full.

The breakthrough came when Jim (2-17) brought himself on and was duly driven down to long on where JT took a good catch which never looked in doubt. A second wicket followed, when Cyril clean bowled the new batsman for a duck but this brought Reddy to the crease, who forged a partnership with Clegg that produced 49 runs in double quick time through good running and clever placement.

Dawko (0-29) and Joey (1-38) suffered a bit as the field spread to try and prevent boundaries and it was left to Paul (2-12) to again display his talent as a death bowler as he finally picked up Clegg, caught by Steaders for 61. Gravy, with a good throw from long on, and Jason also combined for a run out during these last few overs as the innings closed on 142-6

This represented a decent finish as after 16 overs we were facing the prospect of a huge total to chase down – our overall performance in the field could have been better in the face of a team that ran hard, and there were too many 2‟s and 3‟s, but we felt positive whilst padding up - a look around the changing room told us that we had a team packed full of batting, so much so that it was difficult trying to pick a number 10 or 11..

What we then encountered has been best described since by the Oracle and Lifetime Director of Cricket, Jez, in an email describing the game to a fellow member:

„There are some games you lose cos you don‟t play well, or you lose concentration, or all the luck goes the other way, or they‟re in a different league altogether – and then there are the ones, like last night, where one of the opposition is just on fire and in the zone; well, they had two, one opening the batting who was good enough to make sure the other guy faced most of Gravy‟s deliveries so avoided getting the edge that might‟ve gone to hand rather than in to the gap, to know which balls to defend, which to sneak in to a gap and which to welly; and one opening the bowling who got late movement from a low slingy action and every ball just seemed to be in the right place (or the wrong one, from our perspective) and you just have to take those days on the chin‟

Within 5 overs we were 18 for 5 and after 7 overs we were 23 for 7 as Rakesh (5-17) proved unplayable. His strange action and skill with the ball baffled all those that strode to the crease and he was ably supported by Dileep (1-15) who bowled with a quick, low action that was difficult to score off.

It was only when Joey (14) and then Jase joined the housewives favourite, JT (10), that a partnership was formed but by then it was too little too late.

63 all out in 13 overs. Our worst effort in a league game for quite some time.

Whilst we were unlucky to be on the receiving end of such a good bowling spell ,which seemed to mesmerise players who have all got runs at some point this season, we could and should have applied ourselves and played better against what was an 'unusual' action.

Thanks to Jez for 12th man duties and Glyn for umpiring all the way through, and to our fanatical support (Neil, Dan, Mike & Brownie – newly crowned the Pontcanna Paedo by the President) – our attendances have been brilliant this season and the support makes a real difference to those on the pitch so thank you.

I will leave „Doorgate‟ for another day but I am happy to report that the captain has been completely exonerated of trying to open the changing room door with his cricket bat after being run out – dodgy workmanship has been found to be the cause!

At least we had the opportunity to get back on the horse two days later in the cup game against Casuals...

Champagne moment: I am of the view that the champagne moment is there to be won, not simply to be given away – in my mind there was no stand out moment and therefore no award will be made for this game.

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Andrew Steadman, Glenn Chapman, Siva Kollipara, Michael Dawkins, Jonathan Thomas, Tom Corcoran, Paul Davies, Andrew Graveson, Joey Newbury

Casuals (Cup – Quarter Final), Wenvoe, Thu 9 Jun. Casuals 163/6 (P Davies 2/19). Cavaliers 135/9 (Graveson 34*, Steadman 24). Lost by 28 runs

Despite a disappointing defeat in the league on Tuesday evening the Cavaliers arrived at Wenvoe in good spirits but knowing an improved performance was required, especially with a semi final place in the cup to play for.

It was also heartening to see a good turnout of travelling support with eight Cavaliers in attendance. With the toss won the Cavaliers took to the (rather large) pitch and looked to restrict the Casuals to a manageable target.

Despite some tight bowling from Graveson and Duffy early on the Casuals got off to a good start and cruised to 38 off just 5 overs, exploiting the large outfield. The Cavaliers never really recovered and couldn‟t apply enough pressure on the Casuals batsmen to stem the run rate with three of their top five retiring after reaching 25 runs.

The return of Graveson and Davies at the closing stages of the innings brought about some fine dismissals with Steadman taking some sharp catches behind the stumps. Despite this late resurgence from the Cavaliers the Casuals knocked up a very competitive 163 runs off 18 overs.

Steadman and Corcoran lead the Cavaliers reply knowing that the score was more than achievable if they could make a good start. Steadman made a typically brisk start with some quick running and an array of strokes. He fell just short of his retirement score looking to accelerate the run rate and at 43/1 off 5 overs the Cavaliers were looking in good shape. However, it was to be short lived as the Cavaliers charge stuttered with the introduction of Stephens (6-3) and O‟Reilly (20-2) into the Casuals attack. After 10 overs the score was a less healthy 76/6 and the game seemed beyond reach.

Graveson showed some defiance and kept the game alive (or at least kept victory a mathematical possibility), blazing his way to 25 in no time at all and returning at the end of the innings to end with 34 not out with 21 balls faced. I was keen to know the secret to his success to which his response was “all good innings need a cigarette break”, a tip not to be found in any coaching manuals but effective in Gravy‟s case nonetheless.

Newbury also chipped in with some swift runs but the run rate was just too high for the Cavaliers who closed on 135 for 9, some 28 runs shy of the total. The defeat ended a disappointing week for the Cavaliers but the post match drinks were typically upbeat, despite several members leaving considerably poorer than when they arrived due to a double fining session.

Champagne moment: Graveson 34 not out with 21 balls faced

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Andrew Steadman, Glenn Chapman, Siva Kollipara, Paul Davies, Tom Corcoran, Dan Bailey, Andrew Graveson, Nigel Adams, Joey Newbury

Mitres (Friendly), Cathedral School, Tue 14 Jun. Mitres 148/5 (Avinash 3/16). Cavaliers 122/7 (Marchant 31*, J Thomas 30*). Lost by 26 runs

The nice sunny temperature of 18C on Tuesday afternoon put the Cavaliers in good spirits. After the warm up they were ready and up for the challenge of victory over their local rivals, the Cathedral Mitres. The game started well when the Cavaliers won the toss and selected to bat second.

The Mitres took advantage of the quick outfield and got off to a steady start of 33 off 4 overs, despite some good bowling from Duffy and Dawkins with figures of 0-10 and 0-23.

However, it was the arrival of Avi (with figures of 3-16) in the mid session of the innings that started to swing the match into the Cavaliers favour, slowing the run rate down and taking 3 quick vital wickets over 4 overs.

Despite the pressure from Avi, and the steady bowling from Davis, Simons, Marchant and Sparkes, the Mitres started to regain momentum and the runs started to come again. However, before the end of play two outstanding catches by Marchant were taken at long off, from Simons bowling, to leave the Mitres with a final innings of 148/5.

The Cavaliers knew that with a good start to the innings there was an excellent chance of achieving the 7.45 run rate set by the Mitres and gaining victory over their local rivals. Thomas and Marchant opened the batting for the Cavaliers and made a brisk start with a display of text book strokes and fine running, and it wasn‟t long until both Thomas (30 runs) and Marchant (31 runs) reached their retirement.

However, after Thomas and Marchant‟s departure the runs dried up and the wickets started to fall with just 18 runs coming off the next seven batsmen. The Mitres were now in the driving seat, but Avi was not willing to go down without a fight and scored a further 18 runs.

But as the game went on the run rate was steadily creeping up, and in the end was just too high for the Cavaliers to achieve with a final score of 122/7. The defeat started the week with disappointment for the Cavaliers, but with two games still to come on Thursday and Sunday I am sure there is still time to put things right and finish the week on a high.

Champagne moment: Avi‟s bowling spell

Team: Jason Duffy (capt), Andrew Steadman, Neil Simons, Bill Ward, Michael Dawkins, Wyn Pritchard, Jeremy Sparkes, Steve Davis, Devineni Avinash, Jimmy Marchant, Dan Bailey

Note: we apologise for the fact that the scorebook was not of its usual high standard – our guests felt unable to maintain our book at the same time as doing theirs. This meant that time had to be spent ensuring we had transferred our bowling and fielding stats across to our book during our batting innings, and so some of the detail which we normally have time to record was not imparted to paper. Normal service will be resumed as quickly as possible

Rhiwbina (Willow League), Cathedral School, Thu 16 Jun. Rhiwbina 174/4 (Graveson 2/33). Cavaliers 178/4 (Kollipara 61, Corcoran 44). Won by 6 wickets. Cavaliers 13pts, Rhiwbina 2pts

I believe it is safe to say that there were no Jonathon Trott moments after this match, the Cathedral School Club House remained intact, no smashed windows and, in particular during the change over, even the dressing room doors somehow managed to stay on their hinges!!!!

That was not surprising as this was definitely a game for the record books. The Cavalier‟s total of 178/4 was the second highest score made batting second in a mid-week game to win a match. The previous highest being 183/2 v CBBs (or Oz Bar Wizards as they were called in those days) in August 2006.

After winning the Toss and Captain Jimmy Marchant having made the decision to take to the field, the Rhiwbina Pines got off to a flying start, with openers D Cain (36) and D Clayton (41) notching up a quick fire 50 off just 5 overs!!

After a first over of „complete tosh‟ (thanx for the encouragement Glenn!!!), Paul Davies managed to take the „breakthrough‟ wicket of D Cain and eventually ended with 1 for 36 off 4 overs. It is fair to say that Cavaliers blowing attack was flayed around the ground and with a number of catches being dropped Rhiwbina were 72 for 1 from their first 10 overs.

With the rumour that had just re-signed for Glamorgan ...... the Glamorgan scouts would have been more than impressed by the return of the Gravester for his second spell from the Clubhouse End, and a more than well deserved wicket of D Claton literally demolishing his stumps and sending the middle wicket hurtling into the car park of Llandaff Rugby Club (well, ok, a bit of poetic licence is required as it was that impressive!!!!!).

With the Rhiwbina Pines racing to 105 with the loss of just 2 wickets, the support emanating from the clubhouse became quite raucous, and at times it was hard to believe that we were at the tranquil setting of the Cathedral School Grounds...... were the Barmy Army in the house or had the venue changed to Monkey World? With the third wicket down that only brought to the crease the gorilla that was Ollie Jenkins who, with 6 fours and 2 sixes, managed an impressive 57 not out. The last over saw a magnificent last over from Glenn Chapman and Rhiwbina finished their 20 overs for 174 with the loss of just 4 wickets.

Despite what seemed a momentous challenge Jimmy „Trott‟ Marchant produced an inspired dressing room speech and Steaders and Tom took to the field with a spring in their step (or a limp in Steaders‟ case).

I am lead to believe that Steaders has the best of the Cavaliers batsman. However, I am not sure what happened, could it have been the fact that he was playing with a pulled hamstring or was it the fact that he had actually washed his whites for the first time in (a long time) and with no mould in sight to remind him of past glory he managed just to face just 7 balls before he was caught by Mckenna off the bowling of Dammant.

Could the ghosts of the previous 3 matches be coming back to haunt the Cavaliers? Most definitely not, step up to the plate Mr Siva Kollipara who hit a majestic 59 off of just 33 balls. Siva was in sight of equalling the club record for the fastest 50, but became becalmed on ball 20 and when on 47 he‟d decided it was time for a drinks break. He finally reached his 50 in just 23 balls to become the 3rd fastest 50-getter in club history (Gravy set the new record last year off 21 balls, beating the previous record of 22 balls that had stood for 13 years)

Siva was eventually dismissed for 59 on the day but I have been reliably informed that Siva‟s actual recorded score on the night was wrong. Jez, having counted it twice backwards and twice forwards (I have to admit that is not my idea of porn either!!) states that it actually came to 61 and it would appear that the no-ball which he hit for 2, and which was shown in his ball/score figures, had been missed.

Together with Tom Corcoran, 106 was put on for the second wicket which saw the Cavaliers overtake the Pines run rate. Off their first 10 overs the Cavaliers were 92 for 1 and 131 for 2 from 15 overs. With Siva being caught by Dammant off the impressive bowling of Cain (3 for 35 off 3.5) Gravey was promoted up the batting order. With 1 four and a six he didn‟t disappoint with a quick fire 22 runs before taking a trip down the wicket in an attempt to hit Mr Cain out of the ground.....Unfortunately he missed and the ball went on to dislodge the bails. That left Jimmy and Glenn Chapman to close off the run chase which was achieved with an impressive 7 balls to spare. A resounding victory for the Cavaliers!!!!

With no prawn sandwiches in sight, the usual hardcore support was in attendance and a big thanx to JD + Freddie, Jason + William, Dan, Mike McVeigh, Bill, Jez.

A comedy moment that has to be mentioned is the continual sledging by Jez of Rhiwbina‟s official scorer that any Aussie would have been proud of...... ‟do Pine needles drop?‟ He asked, and as the tension rose, steam pouring from the latter‟s ears, Jez casually moved away from the officiating table only to continue „no I believe they droop or do they wilt? That‟s it they wilt in the sun‟!!!

Champagne moment: The accolade of „Champagne moment‟ without doubt has to be the six Siva hit out of the ground and which was briefly threatening the windows of the Cathedral School until smashing into the trees.

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Andrew Steadman, Glenn Chapman, Siva Kollipara, Chris Hopper, Jonathan Thomas, Tom Corcoran, Paul Davies, Andrew Graveson, Ross Bowen, Glyn Poulsom

Newbridge (Friendly), Newbridge, Sun 19 Jun. Newbridge 293/6 (Adams 2/31). Cavaliers 60ao (Graveson 22). Lost by 233 runs

The game was played in the viewing line of the Newbridge Rugby Club stand and thankfully the crowds from the Gwent town were not in attendance in this structure to view the thrashing of the Cavaliers Social old guard. The Gwent side had two good openers playing and a youthful team who were far better than the majority of the older generation in attendance from the Cavaliers.

The difficulty was compounded by the shortage of Bill (Dan) Bailey who had crocked his knee riding about in a car which had crashed. It was good that he was not seriously injured but we were left with 10 players who took the field with a high average age and lacking the dynamism of youth and unused to the “high octane” challenge of keen Gwent cricket. The damage of age was apparent in the mental as well as the physical capabilities of the gathered crowd of Cavaliers.

Prior to the game it was revealed that Grizzly Adams was accused (once again) of being a Technophobe and failing to follow the strictures of the new Cavaliers hi-tech developments which have involved every member being wired into the “Matrix” and being fed bits and bytes at a faster and faster rate to ensure they follow the new age dictums. Grizz was given advice by Gravy that he needed to join the “Silver Surfers Union” and get on a modification course to have his old chip removed and a new Pentium superdrive inserted to bring him up-to-date with new applications being fed from the Matrix. These include chimpmail and Zoho along with yahoo, bahoo, yabah dabah do, soho, poo poo & moo moo. Come on Grizz get a grip and get modernised to the new speak of us modern men.

The cricket was played on a partly wet wicket believed to be caused by a misplaced hose off the covers. The sun came out, the game commenced and we were off. The fabulous “Smokey Graveson” sent down his usual good range of deliveries, eight overs off the reel for no reward and a return of 0 for 53. He challenged the two openers and passed the bat with his good deliveries but they were good players and produced some good pulls and hooks to anything short and rising.

At the other end Avi sent down 6 overs for a return of 34 runs and no wickets. The two openers were in and going well. Marchant came on first change and ended with 1 for 20 off 6 overs and bowled well and Davis was flayed for 31 off 3 overs and no wickets.

Payne came into the attack and despite having no visible suntan managed 5 overs for 51. Siva was also introduced and gained success bowling the opener for 74 by surprising him with a full delivery that crashed into the stumps and we had our first wicket down for about 170 on the board off 23 overs (approx, based on Davis memory calculations.) Hurrah, we cried and danced and sang with delight at the relief from our torture by this cruel pair of whackers of balls.

During the game a curious incident occurred due to the great Palmist of balls old “Teflon Irongloves Oracle Sparkes”, the understudy for Matt Prior. He for some reason needed a helmet for keeping (wimp) but mostly spent his time taking it from one end to the other placing it behind his posterior. He claimed it was an art installation of modernist interpretation to represent the miners of Gwent of the last 100 years and the helmet was to represent their toils of underground. He was seeking a Heritage Lottery grant to make it a semi-permanent feature of the landscape with a miner wearing a helmet set in resin and hoped the Saatchi brothers might seek to buy his idea and place it along their half sheep in formaldihyde. However, the point is that twice, not once but twice, palmed the ball on to the helmet costing the team runs. He later at the fines session tried to claim the Newbridge scorers did not score the second misdemeanour out of kindness for his artistic intent – what a liberty.

Back to the game Siva finished with 1 for 44. Adams came into the attack and twirled like a dervish to take the best figures of the day from 6 overs of 2 for 31 and Wyn the rarebit launched his missiles with effect to return 1 for 23 off 3 overs. The square leg umpire made an interesting observation about Wyn‟s fielding technique earlier in the day. He described it as rocking on the spot, launch at speed of one leg and full stop. This works for Wyn as he fielded well and nearly beat me on one race to the boundary.

Another interesting event was the attempted run out off the last ball of the innings when the batsman was struggling to make his ground the ball was returned to Adams who did a double roll, triple pike and half turn, twice tried to hit the wicket with ball in hand but ended up missing completely twice and eating dirt for his efforts. The only man not to bowl was Cornish Havers who patrolled the covers and boundaries with great skill and saved a few runs for us all. He had driven back from the West country retreat to play and had the pleasure of watching the bowlers being flayed.

Tea was taken and it lacked the usual selection of Gordon Ramsay treats, you could have ham sandwiches or ham sandwiches with slices of pizza either pepperoni or pepperoni. There was no caviar or truffles a la pasta delight but it was enjoyed as a suitable filler for a carbohydrate boost to the ball chasers of Cardiff.

We took to batting and sadly we lacked the necessary skills to hold up the youngsters for long. The 10 men were all out for 60 runs losing by 233 runs. The star man was Gravy with a well constructed 22 and Gareth Payne who hit a quick 11 before the Skipper ran him out. The Mrs Payne received a text off him describing the skipper as a Twit or similar word, which his 6 year old son opened and relayed to Mum – who was driving, the message read word for word. His education into the various swear words in the dictionary is developing at a pleasing rate. Marchant 8 and Siva 8 were next highest scores and the rest of us went for 3, 1 or 0. We managed to use about 24 overs but could not compete with the vicious attack sent against us.

The final session of the day was spent in the evening sunshine fining miscreants and recidivists. It transpires that Siva has built up a high level of debt that will need collecting and the treasurers fund is growing well because of dropped catches and no balls managed by the Cavaliers.

We learnt later in the day that the opener who retired on 155 had recently had surgery for a tumour in his knee for the second time and had just been diagnosed with cancer of the blood. He wanted to play as much cricket as possible before he could not manage it anymore. This gave us some understanding as to why a very talented batsman was playing and flaying us to all parts. Hopefully he will defeat his cancer and return to the green fields of cricket to ply his trade but, please, not against us.

Champagne moment: The end of the Newbridge opener‟s innings

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Wyn Pritchard, Jeremy Sparkes, Steve Davis, Devineni Avinash, Jonathan Thomas, Siva Kollipara, Nigel Adams, Andrew Graveson, Gareth Payne

South Glam (Willow League), St Fagans, Wed 22 Jun. South Glam 90/8 (Graveson 4/3) Cavaliers 88/9 (Kollipara 20). Lost by 2 runs. Cavaliers 5pts, South Glam 10pts On a fine blustery night we lost the toss and were put in the field by a somewhat lethargic S.Glam team who did not seem to want to join in the festivities, well that‟s the impression they gave out by taking an age to take the field. Eventually the batsmen appeared then one umpire and amazingly another then appeared so we were able to get on with the eagerly awaited game at around 6.15pm. Within minutes, they were probably wishing they had not come out at all as they were put to the sword by a magnificent spell of bowling by Gravy, who finished with astonishing figures of 4-2-3-4!

Jimmy then added to the show with an outstanding run out, the batsmen seemed mesmerised by a raucous appeal for LBW, but forgot he was standing outside his crease along with everyone else on the field except for a very alert Jimmy and thankfully the square leg umpire! This brought to the wicket the consistent Sparks, certainly in my time with the Cavaliers he has been a constant thorn in our sides. He certainly did not disappoint this time either, putting on a stand with Rushy, who early on called for a runner, but later made a miraculous recovery to bowl a 4 over spell and made some athletic stops, the interval refreshments must have worked wonders, perhaps we should have called in the doping team! This stand put them on course for recovery and a final score of 90 which, after their start, was very creditable.

Overall the fielding performance was very good, with only the occasional lapse which allowed the opposition to reach a challenging target on what was turning into a difficult wicket. They are certainly a team who have some wily old characters who continually held up play and I have to say broke up our momentum when we seemed to have them on the rack, but they are champions and are consistently at or near the top of the league year on year.

After what seemed like another age, with our openers at the wicket along with two very experienced umpires handpicked for the job, Sth Glam took the field and then proceeded to have a team huddle which delayed matters even further. Despite this act of blatant time wasting, both Tom and Siva got our innings off to a good start with some fine attacking shots. An early change in the bowling brought the first wicket, Siva having seemed to be bowled in what can only be said, were suspicious circumstances. Holmes and Watson, the experienced umpires conferred but no concrete evidence could be found and they were unable to take up the case!

The innings then seemed to stutter under some fine accurate bowling and ultimately wickets started to tumble. A brief recovery by Paul and JT ended when the honourable Nigel Havers, who had earlier shown amazing courage by agreeing to keep wicket, was run out, and another flurry of wickets followed.

This ultimately brought to the wicket, two of the Cavaliers outstanding academy members, 54 year old Joey and 54 stone JD! With 21 runs required off the final two overs, both young academy players showed their athleticism, with some magnificent running between the wickets, which included a swallow dive never seen before at St Fagan‟s, and hopefully never again according to the groundsman! Despite this valiant effort and some brave umpiring decisions by Jimmy, who awarded a no-ball followed by a wide off the last ball, we eventually came up just short, losing by 2 runs!!

It certainly was a disappointing loss after what was a good team effort, however as I have mentioned previously, the opposition were very wily and continually broke up play in both innings with unnecessary delays, I certainly feel this did not help our cause. On a personal note, I do not think I have ever been on the winning side against Sth Glam, but one thing is for sure, I doubt I will have a better chance than this one.

Ed: tho’ Joey can’t recall when we last beat them and notes they’ve been Champs for the past few years, we should also reflect that there is probably no other team who could be minus 6 front line players – Mike M, Glenn, Jason, Steaders, Twaitsy & Chris H – and not only be able to put a full XI out but one strong enough to give S. Glam their closest match in, as one of their guys said, “a hell of game”. Disappointed not to have won, yes, but also much encouragement to draw from it too.

Man of the match: Gravy for a spell of bowling I have never seen in my career, truly outstanding, well done.

Champagne moment: Jimmy‟s run out, another piece of outstanding cricket, well done Jimmy

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Gareth Payne, Siva Kollipara, Jonathan Thomas, Tom Corcoran, Paul Davies, Andrew Graveson, Alasdair Fraser, Jonathan Davies, Devineni Avinash, Joey Newbury

Highways Hurricanes (C&H Trophy), Cathedral School, Tuesday 28 June 2011 Hurricanes 151/6 (Twaits 2/14). Cavaliers 105/9 (Steadman 31). Lost by 46 runs

With heavy cloud above it looked a good night to bowl first, as Twaitsy proved by bowling Jeffreys with the first ball of the match. Siva repeated the trick in the next over and we were dreaming of being in the Butcher‟s by 7.30 when Hurricanes were 3 down after 3 when Twaitsy struck again. As is the way against Hurricanes though, some edges flew safe and Griffiths batted well to raise the score until Sullivan fell to a good catch by Jimmy from House of‟s bowling. With wickets in hand the runs began to flow, with Griffiths being bowled late on and Jez trapping Normansell in front with a wonderfully disguised slower ball.

151 seemed a lot on a typically slow pitch and we fell to another Hurricanes defeat, perishing to some good bowling, some poor shots and catches that another day would have gone to ground. Steaders top scored without getting going and the middle order struggled against some mixed bowling. The last pair avoided being bowled out, but we were well beaten.

Champagne moment: Jez transforming himself mid match into Sloth from the Goonies by disappearing into the changing room and ripping his teeth out!

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Chris Evans, Glyn Poulsom, Mark Twaits, Wyn Pritchard, Jeremy Sparkes, Jonathan Thomas, Gareth Payne, Bill Ward, Siva Kollipara, Andrew Steadman

Casuals (Willow League), Cathedral School, Thu 30 Jun. Casuals 100/7 (Marchant 3/23). Cavaliers 101/3 (Corcoran 39*). Won by 7 wickets. Cavaliers 14pts, Casuals 1pt

As we reached the mid-season point, both in chronology and the fixture list, it was fitting that the Bishop‟s Fields was bathed in warm sunshine that stayed throughout the evening befitting the olde fashioned game of ye cricket and how pleasurable it was that our opponents were all there ready to start on time (so a shame that we weren‟t quite, after all our gripes and moans but hey, ho).

Marchant won the toss and inserted the Casuals who made a solid if undramatic start. Graveson continued his fine form and, not for the first time this season, was not suitably rewarded in the wickets column but his pace and movement meant that the openers were on the back foot (literally and figuratively) throughout his spell. Davies (J) from the other end proved a good foil and, again, was unlucky not to have a wicket or two with several deliveries being within a cat‟s whisker of the edge. This meant that the captain could keep both on to bowl through their spells.

Our first change bowlers, Bowen and Marchant, kept up the good work, bowling to their field and, just when Casuals looked to accelerate having reached 55/0 in the 10th over, they both struck. Bowen first, with a smart stumping by Steadman, and then Marchant when he found the edge of the bat and Graveson made a looping catch at backward gully seem easy. This was followed up in his next over with a great take by Steadman to a thin edge and then the incoming batsman was completely bamboozled, being cleaned up first ball. Sadly, the hat trick delivery wasn‟t quite up to the same standard, but the momentum of the game had changed and Casuals were now 70/4 off 14. This soon became 5 when Chapman saw the backing-up batsman out of his ground and slow to turn, putting down the stumps at the bowler‟s end from shortish wide mid-on as the batsman made an ultimately fruitless dive back towards the crease.

The captain lost the plot slightly when he failed to realise that Bowen had completed his spell and had hastily to rearrange his bowling line-up. Duffy came on and would have had 2 wickets in an over had Sparkes not spilled the simplest of chances – perhaps the token OAP‟s mind was on his approaching bedtime as he made a complete and utter horlicks of a gently spooned offer at extra cover . The only saving grace being that the batsmen, assuming it would have been held, failed to take a run. Duffy made sure of his own effort a few balls later with a ct&bw to a skyer.

Chapman came on at the bottom end and, after a few rusty deliveries, hit his straps only to see Sparkes, again (but a harder chance) and Davies (J) put down chances. Still it was kept tight, particularly the last over bowled by Chapman which conceded just 2 runs and took a well-deserved wicket. Casuals might have been disappointed with just 100 after a good start; certainly we felt that the first half had gone well for us.

With Steadman still struggling a little, it was a new look opening partnership of Davies (J) and Siva that took to the crease and though both were out earlyish they kept us up with the rate from the off, aided a little by some wides, signalled in his archetypal way by Sparkes who seemed to relish his restoration to the umpiring role. This brought Corcoran and Marchant together and they all but saw us home with both putting away the bad ball to good effect and running smartly between the wickets, picking up 2s where the Casual thought it would only be a single, causing some consternation among the fielders.

Corcoran, who is running into a fine vein of form, played some delightful shots, including 3 fours all in the “V” between mid-off and mid-on, including one clump back over the bowler‟s head. Despite ringing the changes with their bowlers, Casuals could find no-one to either pick up wickets or stem the flow. It was surprising then when Marchant, who‟d seemed comfortable throughout, was bowled.

Chapman joined Corcoran amid instruction that, with only 3 an over needed from 9 overs, it was important not to lose another wicket as it would cost us a further bonus point. The two then played sensibly but did not eschew the opportunity when it arose, both playing delightful tickles down to fine leg when the bowlers strayed on to the pads, the last being the shot that brought up a victory with more than 5 overs to spare.

Champagne moment: Corcoran‟s crunching drive back past the bowler all along the ground that left the long-on fielder on the boundary no chance to intercept it – a shot out of the top drawer

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Glenn Chapman, Andrew Steadman, Ross Bowen, Siva Kollipara, Tom Corcoran, Paul Davies, Andrew Graveson, Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Sparkes

Sudbrook (friendly), Caldicot, Sun 3 Jul. Sudbrook 198/9 (Brown 2/33). Cavaliers 122ao (Adams 38, Graveson 24). Lost by 76 runs

An absolutely stunning day brought us to the home ground of Sudbrook, scene of last year‟s 2nd game of the tour – A few of us may or may not choose to remember the game, depending on the level of illness post the previous night…..The Cavs arrived all on time, with only a few of us missing the turning into the ground. We arrived to watch our opponents warming up in nets, with a bowling machine no less. They looked like they had a young-ish side to put out so we all anticipated a competitive encounter.

Chairman Havers was skipper for today‟s clash, and after losing the toss, Sudbrook put themselves into bat. It was a very hot day and 40 overs in the heat meant that a few of the Cavaliers had to dose up on sun tan lotion. Gravy and Fraser opened the bowling, Gravy keeping it tight, with Fraser showing his lack of cricket this season meant he got knocked about early.

However, Fraser drew the 1st wicket (Pescod) with one that lifted, got the edge and JT safely snaffled. Shaw and R Voke put on a good partnership, with Gravy then taking R Voke and then completing his 8 overs straight through with figures of 33/1 off 8ovs. Adams, on for Fraser, took Shaw soon after.

Then a young lad came in at No. 4, J Voke, the rumour was that he was 15, but the match reporter was at 3rd man, and found out that he was in fact 13 years old, from his mother camped out with the family on the boundary. He went on to make a fine 28, with Twaitsy taking him with a catch by Gravy. They batted well, with runs ticking over, with their top 6 all in double figures. Sudbrook totalled 198/9 off the 40ovs, with Brown, Chapman and Fraser chipping in with wickets.

A pleasant tea, whilst watching the end of the Wimbledon mens final and it was the Cavs out to bat. Fraser and Chapman, then Twaits in the scoreroom, enjoying working out the electronic scoreboard….!

Payne and JT opened up, with JT falling early, after playing across the line. Payne swung at everything, as his unique style, and caught a few nice 4s, but the strategy couldn‟t continue and was soon bowled for 16. In came Bill Ward, who got severely fined for 23 dot balls on the bounce, and got bowled for 5 (off 39 balls).

Grizz was in fine touch and played a few nice shots over the top, finally being bowled with 38 off 50 balls. Gog, Glenn and Gravy added a few more, but then a succession of ducks meant the Cavs were 122 all out off 33.1ovs.

Sudbrook is a lovely ground, a very pleasant, accommodating team, and one to enjoying in the Cavs cricketing calendar.

Champagne moment: Grizz for his nice 38 with 6 fours – good to see Grizz in good touch

Team: Jonathan Thomas (captain), Alasdair Fraser, Glenn Chapman, Andrew Graveson, Steve Davis, Graeme Brown, Gareth Payne, Nigel Adams, Bill Ward, Mark Twaits, Wyn Pritchard

Chartered Trust (Willow League), Cathedral School, Tue 12 Jul. CT 172/4 (Bowen 2/26). Cavaliers 144/6 (Marchant 56*, Steadman 27). Lost by 28 runs. Cavaliers 1pt, CT 14 pts

An overcast evening start @ the Cathedral ground some say this is rare for us!!!!

Cavs fielded first, and the opening pair seemed to enjoy the bowling of Jimmy, though was pegged back by a tight and lively spell from Gravy who as usual wasn‟t rewarded.

After the 1st change it was Panda who removed the opener from his 1st ball of his spell and then removed the other opener in quick succession. Panda ended his spell with figures of 4-1-26-2.

„Candyman‟ Chapman picked up Scott (50) LBW with the only other wicket been picked up by Avi, which needed a great catch in the deep from Payne under the now darkening skies at Cathedral School (note to ed. how about we use pink balls for the evening games).

With 173 runs to chase it was going to need a strong start, we lost 3 wickets for 48 (Steadman 27) we then lost a further 3 more wickets with the score on 100 runs. Jimmy (56 not out, of 46 balls incl. 3 huge 6‟s) and Twaits (20 not out) managed to steady the ship though were only able to put on another 44 runs leaving us short by 28 runs.

After the match and once showered the dejected Cavs headed to the Butchers for some potato snacks washed down with some hops mixed with water. Conversation entailed a variety of different subjects, for example dominant ass cheeks in terms of toilet seats!!! and other subjects that are too risky for match reports.

Champagne moment: As described by an unnamed Irishman (took out an injunction) a „Dyslexic Reversible Dilshan Scoop‟ by Jimmy (for those who were not there to witness this feat it was a Dilshan scoop except hit on the back on the bat!!!)

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Gareth Payne, Glenn Chapman, Andrew Graveson, Mark Twaits, Andrew Steadman, Jeremy Sparkes, Siva Kollipara, Ross Bowen, Tom Corcoran, Devineni Avinash

Welsh Blood Service, Cathedral School, Thu 14 Jul. WBS 101/7 (Duffy 2/7). Cavaliers 105/6 (Marchant 39*). Won by 4 wickets

On a sunny evening at the Cathedral, the Cavaliers elite were primed and ready on time. Unfortunately this was not the case for WBS so a “full throttle” catching practise took place with fine effect. Ready and rearing to go a toss took place with both captains agreeing for WBS to Bat first. The Cavaliers took to the field with a proud C. Hajgato gracing the Cathedral outfield for the first time.

The eccentric pre game practise session seemed to have full effect with a brilliant opening bowling partnership from Duffy and Adi. Duffy was bowling full and straight and the opener Erasmus seemingly having no answer, was subsequently bowled for 1.This tight start was also followed up in the field with no let up from the fielders with the debutant Hajgato in particular, on several occasions his „rocket arm‟ from the boundary caused the batsmen to stay alert and also the fielding side and umpires to keep their wits about them. Further wickets for Adi and Duffy left the opposition struggling on 38-3. Duffy eventually finished a fine spell on 2 wickets for 7 runs off his 3 overs.

With his team struggling, H. Thomas realised the need for runs and played some fines shots before Simons caught him napping to have him well caught by Anwar. This brought G Thomas to the crease who had his mind set to swing erratically at every ball and it seemed to be paying off, he raced to 34 with some unorthodox swipes. This was until the skipper gave the ball to the debutant Hajgato, a very eventful first over got the prized wicket after a short ball was top edged straight up into the air, with a near certain collision between wicket keeper Sparkes and the bowler, a diving Bailey slid underneath the pair to take a smart catch. By the end of the 20 overs WBS had amassed 101-7.

With the Cavaliers confident of chasing the total down Bailey and Anwar strode to the crease. Unfortunately the partnership did not stay long with the Cavaliers on 31-2. With the side slightly struggling the Captain stepped up playing some exquisite shots. With confidence obviously high he despatched consecutive sixes down the ground off a young lad‟s bowling. The news is that the youngster‟s confidence was so badly shot after this be has not been seen on a cricket field since. An action that wasn‟t forgotten when fines were announced post game. With ample support from down the order Marchant was left on 39no at the end with Poulsom helping the Cavaliers over the line for a hard fought and enjoyable win.

Following the win the players set off for a debrief pint, on the journey from the car park to the pub McVeigh asked Steaders what he would be drinking. Steadman quickly and confidently replied “Sorry Mike I‟m going to need a sausage first” make of this what you will. Following fines being handed out the players duly rounded off a good evening for the Cavaliers.

Champagne moment: Duffys fine opening spell setting the standard for the rest of the innings

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Adi Ramegowda, Neil Simons, Dan Bailey, Riaz Anwar, Glyn Poulsom, Jeremy Sparkes, Nigel Adams, Wyn Pritchard, Chris Hajgato

Notes: debut for Chris Hajgato

Hockey (friendly), Cathedral School, Tue 19 Jul. Cavaliers 93/6 (Ramegowda 26, Marchant 24) Hockey 57ao (S Davis 5/15, Duffy 2/8). Cavaliers 93/6. Hockey 57ao.Won by 36 runs

The Cavs were at the home ground in full strength and raring to go ½ hour before the scheduled time of play while the Hockey team were slowly trickling in.

After a good session of catching practice our captain Jimmy won the toss and elected to bat first, while still wondering why a friendly fixture was arranged against our league rivals, our captain worried that we will be exposing our strengths and weakness.

Ever reliable Steaders and Adi opened the batting for us, with Hockey team still short of 2 men. Sparkes kindly agreed to make up the numbers for them.

A good opening stand of 43 brisk runs were scored before Adi attempted 1 shot too many and was out for 26. Jimmy came into the middle and carried on from where he had left off during the previous match, middling the ball very well and hitting boundaries at will before he was caught and bowled by Jones on 24.

With Steaders also out on 13, it was Avi and Duff with a partnership of 25 runs towards the end helped us reach a total of 93 runs in 18 overs. The pick of the bowlers for Hockey was Masson with 3-13.

Duffy opened the bowling for us and rattled the middle stump (which he has made a habit of sorts) of the Hockey opener in the very first over. Davis bowled from the other end with some very good flight and variation. Davis had 2 wickets in the first over both caught by the ever alert and safe hands of Steaders.

Duffy without further ado rattled the stumps again in the second over, with Davis getting his 3rd wicket in his 2nd over Hockey had just managed 14 runs for the loss of 5 wickets, it looked like Cavs were in for an early finish and quick to the pub for some much needed beers. Evans was our first change bowler, he bowled an excellent ball in his first over luring the batsman to come forward and forced a mistake for his first wicket, he was aided by the brilliant stumping from Bailey.

Our very own spin wizard came to bowl his 3rd and final over which turned out to be the most eventful over. Davis got his 4th scalp of the 3rd ball. In came the next batsmen and Davis had 3 more deliveries to get the much deserved five for. Our captain ensured a very tight field and there was enough pressure on the batsmen not to mention the pressure on Davis. Davis decided not to wait till the 3 delivery, he bowled a well flighted ball, Hockey‟s Eaton hit the ball in the air towards covers only to find the safe hands of who else but Steaders!! Steaders had his 3rd catch of the match all from Davis‟ bowling, the moment definitely belonged to Davis who had his 5th wicket. An amazing performance, the moment to cherish.

With just 2 wickets left before the Cavs could wrap up the match Brown came in as an ideal replacement for Davis and straight away took a wicket, in his very first ball, a good catch taken again by Steaders!! Steaders was indeed having a field day, there were 9 others fielders honestly but the batsmen seemed to have taken a liking for Steaders.

With just a wicket to be taken before hitting the pub in came Sparkes to bat for hockey; Sparkes delayed our trek to the pub. He was the joint highest scorer for Hockey on 11 and put up a partnership of 29 runs for the last wicket. Sparkes was finally dismissed in the 13th over by Adi with Brown taking the catch.

Cavs won the match convincingly by 43 runs. Cavs were ably supported in the stands by our chairman JT, Gravy and his lady, Tom and Chris Haj were spotted in the crowd as well.

Champagne moment: without doubt the flighted delivery by Davis which got him his 5th wicket and the celebration which followed [Ed: subject to verification by the Club‟s Antiquarian, it is believed that Gog‟s bowling return is among the top 12 or 13 in the all-time Cavaliers pantheon]

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Gareth Payne, Adi Ramegowda, Graeme Brown, Dan Bailey, Devineni Avinash, Steve Davis, Bill Ward, Chris Evans, Andrew Steadman

South Glam (Shield), St Fagans, Thu 21 Jul. Won (S Glam forfeited the game and withdrew from the Shield competition)

South Wales Sri Lankans, Cathedral School, Sun 24 Jul. SWSL 144/6 (Evans 4/19). Cavaliers 146/1 (Duffy 58*, Marchant 53*). Won by 9 wickets

The Ross Bowen Testimonial Game v Sri Lankans (South Wales Branch) photo gallery link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65640415@N06/sets/72157627152693877/

Aston Villa were in hibernation and sensing that this must mean the cricket season was underway that big Panda bear of a man Ross Bowen disturbed his slumbers from a faraway cave in Newport to trundle down the M4 to Cardiff in search of wickets. He brought the baby bears too (Millie & Phoebe) along with his other faithful followers, Mama bear & Mama-in-law bear. I know this sounds like a tall tale, but BEAR with me and I will get to some cricket. Ross has been known as Panda since taking a “dolly catch” on the snozzle and turning up for the next game with two beautiful black eyes, resembling a Panda‟s facial features. He has written a book on Pandas as he became interested in the topic following this accident called “Eats, shoots and leaves” which is a story of his days back in the Midlands when he would stay out on a Saturday night, have his Chinese takeaway (bamboo shoots of course) pick up a floozie bear give her his attention – shoot the panda juice and take a taxi back to his leafy cave at Villa Park. There are rumours he has left a tribe of blonde haired twins across the county from Coventry to Northampton. It was a great relief to Mrs Bowen (Mama Bear ) when he took one in the “Nads” doing his famous “Bowen double open legged dive” to stop a boundary off his own bowling and this put paid to his prowess.

When Ross first joined the Cavaliers he was used as a bowler but often aspired to open the batting and to be fair he looked good with the bat often holding the pose for half an hour after the ball was played back with a high lift forward defensive. However he did not often get the opportunity and during most games could be heard chuckling & wheezing in his run up to sling outswingers at cowering batsmen. He recently took his 100th wicket and has been a marvellous servant of the club having captained the side and been club secretary. He is a friendly guy and gets on with everybody but does enjoy the occasional scrap with bunnies. He does also moonlight as a Policeman and I recently found a paper cutting with him admiring Erica Roe following her streak at Twickenham. If you see me at a game ask to see it – for the younger guys Erica‟s name will mean nothing to you; I am talking rugby in the 80‟s.

It was also interesting to hear from Ross‟s mentor of captaincy “Grizzly Bear” at the presentation, this told of the day Ross was handed the captain‟s chalice in Roath. Ross gained an assessed NVQ in cricket captaincy by responding to a series of set questions by the ex-captain Adams – these included such gems as Wardy 1 and Guido are batting as the last pair and you need 20 to win off the last over, what are your tactics? The response should be “head for the showers & cry” and he knew the answer to perfection.

Anyway the cricket – this was Chris Evans‟ day and Duffy‟s best return in 5 years, for the Moody March it was just another 50, I am sure one day he will hit the ton but not this day. The Sri Lankans opened the batting and were held tight in the bear‟s grip as Bowen & Duffy plied them with balls at the speed of sound. The fielding was good and they were struggling to make headway. Skipper Bowen finished with 7 overs , 2 maidens 0-15 and Duffy ( father of Will-I-Am ) 4 overs 0-8, the late arrival Ravy Gravy fresh from his 10 overs for Usk on Saturday rattled in for a fiery 5 over spell and finished with 5 overs 1 maiden 0-16.

However the spin bowling at the Gog/Evans end was the class act, with the copper beech behind him masking the ball to perfection Chris Evans (he of Mrs Evans choccy brownies Inc) took the Sri Lankans apart with figures of 5 overs , 1 maiden 4 for 19. The other bowlers could only admire this performance, Spin Doctor Poulsom, who was later shot by sniper from the copper beech tree, bowled a couple as did Cyril Marchant and Gog, Avi and Moonhead had 4 overs apiece with Glenn bowling the batsman after spraying a couple, Ward No 2 bowled a couple and Brownie Bear bowled 3 taking a controversial wicket in his overs. It all transpired from an innocent delivery that struck the batsmen and was given out leg before by the myopic umpire (Chris Evans will explain Myopia). There was a little doubt about whether the ball had struck the bat first and one fielder suggested the bowler might call him back because of the doubt. At this suggestion Brown Bear went from pink, to pale white to Red and then puce, foaming at the mouth at such a suggestion screaming and ready to spring at the person who had made such a statement. He had to be restrained and calmed down with an injection of Brains dark and was able to finish his spell, 3 overs 1 for 10. Steadman kept well behind the stumps and the game was also unusual being a 12 a side version, the Oracle with his Putney cap on stated that it was the first 7 to 3 field he had seen in a game. Ross had given all the fielders a twirl (11 bowlers used) and a tight campaign had kept the Sri Lankans to 144 for 6 on a slowish wicket and outfield.

An excellent tea was taken with Riaz producing pokaras from his kitchen, Steadman had unsliced his sandwiches for which he was later fined and there was melon, cakes, brownies and a plethora of good food for all to enjoy. This was followed by the presentation to Ross of a Cavaliers bearskin shirt for his years of service and some speeches which have been commented on earlier.

The Cavaliers took to the batting task and the rate of 3.5 per over was always within range. Avi and Duffy opened with Avi getting a straight one that pierced his defence without troubling the scorers, Duffy has dined out on his high score at Penarth for over 5 years and today he played some good shots and was 58 not out at the end, sharing a 2nd wicket partnership of 120. Jimmy March had entered the fray and went on to retire not out at 53 with a six off the twirling Oracle of Putney who was guesting for the opposition, this allowed the Testimonial Bowen to have a look at the bowling and show his calibre and Panda Bear (aka Pancho Villa) finished with 5 N.O. The Cavaliers reached 146 for 1 with a few overs to spare and had paced the chase well.

At the subsequent session the fines were dispensed, beer drunk from the stone age fridge and semi-stale sandwiches guzzled away. Talk was of tour in 4 weeks. It was good to see other Cavaliers turn up to the Testimonial and Grizz, Rabbit, Riaz, Jiffy and Havers were in attendance to reflect what a popular guy Ross is and he presided over a good victory as we had not beaten the Sri Lankans for some time.

Champagne moment: Duffy‟s drive to long off that brought up his much-deserved 50

Team: Ross Bowen (captain), Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Glyn Poulsom, Glenn Chapman, Andrew Graveson, Andrew Steadman, Jason Duffy, Jimmy Marchant, Chris Evans, Bill Ward, Devineni Avinash

Attendance: Bowens (x4), Duffys (x3), Gravesons (x2), Chapmans (x1), Michael McVeigh, Riaz Anwar, Jonathan Davies, Wyn Pritchard, Nigel Adams, Jonathan Thomas, Jeremy Sparkes + 3 SWSL supporters. Messages of congratulations were received from Messrs Newbury, Simpson and Thorney.

Uni Staff (friendly), Cathedral School, Tue 26 Jul. Cavaliers 121/8 (J Thomas 40, Adams 25).Uni Staff 124/3 (Newbury 1/14, Dawkins 1/16). Lost by 7 wickets

The nice sunny temperature for a perfect match put Cavaliers good spirit after warm up they were ready and challenge the Uni staff. After winning the staff Uni Staff has made the decision to take on the field.

JT and Dan open the batting for Cavaliers and JT made a quick start with perfect shots and other side loss of early wickets of Dan and Gareth cause Cavaliers some inconvenience.

Then the arrival of Adams put Cavaliers in a good position and other side JT was going good. After the departure of JT and Adams the runs dried up and the wickets started to fall quickly and cavaliers ended with a good score of 121 for 8 in 20 overs.

Uni staff open with a sturdy start of 27 for no loss and they were in a good position then with a perfect deliver by Dawkins got a break through wicket for cavaliers. Other side avinash ended up the bowling with 4 overs for 18 runs and dawkins with 4-0-16-1.

Then the arrival of Cavaliers boy Siva has made a partnership with Eady and made Uni Staff in a good position and the other end the Cavaliers sturdy bowling from Anwar, Evans, Newbury, Jimmy could not cause any problems to Uni Staff and leave Uni Staff with 124-3 .

With a little disappointment on defeat Cavaliers players left the field.

Champagne moment: Fantastic batting of JT with 40 runs with tremendous shots which made Cavaliers in a good fight back

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Gareth Payne, Michael Dawkins, Devineni Avinash, Chris Evans, Riaz Anwar, Joey Newbury, Jonathan Thomas, Dan Bailey, Nigel Adams, Wyn Pritchard

Cardiff Bay Barbarians (Shield), Cathedral School, Thu 28 Jul. CBBs 149/1 (Newbury 1/27). Cavaliers 110/9 (Sparkes 23*). Lost by 39 runs. Cavaliers 0pts, CBBs 2pts

Start with the Shield game with Bay Barbarians with the game haven‟t played the week before because of the game called off as South Glam not shown interested to play in the Shield games.

As the game started in time the toss has been won by the Cavaliers, as usual the most dedicated captain put BB in to bat and as usual Cavaliers strike bowler and the big all-rounder with his exceptional talent once again started the bowling with a great spell for just 6 runs of 3 overs with a maiden as well but unlucky no wicket and on the other end our rugby man (JD) started with a good spirit as well and maintained the good line and length and managed to give a run a ball and finished with 18 runs off 3 overs which made us to have a good start.

On the other side BB batsman Dai managed to start hitting some great shots into the gaps and managed to start the acceleration a little bit more than the start as on the change of bowling Duffy of a very good smart vice captain came to the track and managed to stop the giant shots which was been smashed by the dai but on the other end Evans trying to stop giving the boundaries but dai managed to get some huge sixes instead of boundaries and then the young charming politician (avinash) came in to the attack to replace the Evans but can‟t manage to stop giving the runs and he didn‟t think this was the bad day in the whole season dai hit 3 hat- trick sixes which avinash cant able to see whether there is a spring in the dai bat...... on the other end jimmy came over and took the charge and managed to get the wicket of dai, but he too got battered with couple of sixes. At the end Cavaliers tried to manage BB to stop for 149 which is good score but looks easy to chase on the track like cathedral school.

Look like a normal but change in the batting order as a Gravy and Siva took the charge of the batting and started with a good execution of shorts with couple of fours for gravy & Siva as the score is going alright and tried to play well on the attack of rakesh who managed to get 5 wickets on the same track previously on cavaliers, but suddenly he lost the line and managed to battered this time by both the batsman and suddenly with a run outs of Gravy & Siva which Cavaliers lost the wickets which the run rate is going well and seems we can manage the total with the good line up by Cavaliers.

Jimmy came to attack and tried to manage to play some good shorts and glen on the other end playing some good batting with the good singles and after that within a time we managed to lose 3 quick wickets and JD tried to manage to play a cracking shorts but no one gave a company, but there u go we forgot that we got a great wall MR Dependable (Jeremy) who should come and bat, Jimmy then realised that and send the Jeremy in to the attack where he played exceptionally a good batting which I reckon I never seen Jeremy batting like that ever before which he played a very good 23 tried to make Cavaliers win the match but the sad thing is we don‟t have enough overs to chase.....

And finally the result is cavaliers yet again lost the game with BB. Hope we can see it won‟t be repeated again next year.....

Once again really sorry for delaying the match report as I never used of this reports but tried to manage a report with some spices. Any grammar fault don‟t take it to consideration.

Champagne moment: Mr Dependable Great wall (Jeremy) the highest score of the season on whole of the team in a single game I reckon and managed to play some cricketing shots and worthwhile [Jimmy should not forget him next time]

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jason Duffy, Glenn Chapman, Andrew Graveson, Jeremy Sparkes, Siva Kollipara, Joey Newbury, Chris Evans, Jonathan Davies, Adi Ramegowda, Devineni Avinash

Eclipse Print (Shield), Cathedral School, Tue 2 Aug. EP 134/8 (Graveson 2/9, Marchant 2/26). Cavaliers 118/8 (Steadman 36, Marchant 30*). Lost by 16 runs. Cavaliers 0pts, Eclipse 2pts

Well the weather held off and we managed to get the game underway on time, all be it one player down. It is always nice to see Adi rushing into the changing room as the first ball is bowled. Adi the game is 18 overs long not 17!

Cavaliers bowled first and managed yet again a great start. For once JD (3-0-14) seemed to be the foil for Graveson (3-9-2) who yet again bowled an exceptional spell. For those who have played against Eclipse in the past it was a pleasing (without an air of malice) to see a certain opening bowler for Eclipse receive a short ball onto his forearm. The first wicket came when Graveson bowled to Stork (never an opener!) and Glenn “candy man” Chapman took a great catch over his right shoulder. Then having softened the other opener up with some short stuff, Graveson picked up his 2nd when the batsman chopped a full delivery onto the stumps.

After a good start the Cavaliers seemed to let a good Eclipse team claw their way back and through a number of profitable partnerships and some average bowling and fielding they finished on 135 after 18 overs. Those on the pitch would agree that this was at least 25 more runs than Eclipse should have had.

In reply the Cavaliers got off to a flyer with Steadman and Tom setting a fair pace. Tom after playing much of a supporting role to the ever scampering Steadman played some classic shots but struggled to get the ball past a very well placed Eclipse field. In his frustration he climbed into a ball from the impressive Condon and edged unluckily to a deepish fine leg. Siva entered the fray and showed what his fellow countryman didn‟t at Trent Bridge, a little guile and panache!

He played some lovely shots as he raced to 19 very quickly. He however fell again to the bowling of Condon. This brought Skip “Cyril Sneer” Marchant to the crease. With wickets falling around him Steadman tried to up the pace and played some text book shots, the kind that we are used to from our own little Tendulkar. Jimmy carried his bat through scoring 30 runs not out but the runs dried up a little with the next 5 wickets only bringing 15 runs. The Cavaliers finally finished up 16 runs short of Eclipse. A good effort but a game the Cavaliers really should have won.

Champagne moment: Graveson sending a Snorter down to Mike Williams, Panda would have loved that one having been hit on the head some years back by a Williams bouncer during an indoor match!)

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jeremy Sparkes, Glenn Chapman, Andrew Graveson, Andrew Steadman, Siva Kollipara, Tom Corcoran, Nigel Adams, Jonathan Thomas, Jonathan Davies, Adi Ramegowda

South Wales Echo (friendly), Cathedral School, Thu 4 Aug. Cavaliers 116/5 (Marchant 49, Fraser 37). Echo 108/5 (Pritchard 2/17). Won by 8 runs

The Cavaliers won a hard fought victory in a hugely enjoyable game played in the spirit of cricket. The captains wisely agreed to reduce the overs to 16 in view of the gloomy overhead conditions. Cavaliers won the toss and openers Siva and Fraser took the field. They were accompanied by “Gog” Davis who fielded for the visitors as a one of their number was running late. It was pleasing to note that ever since the Echo moved to morning publication late arrival still blights the bugle of Cardiff and the Valleys. Your correspondent still recalls the anxious wait outside Bakers in Wellfield Road for the “Pink Un “ to find out how Montrose had got on against East Fife with a pools coupon resting in his hand. I digress.

Siva opened with his usual forthrightness and it was a surprise when he exited for 9 from just 5 balls. At the other end Fraser booked in. Meaty pulls mixed with a more subtle touch was his trademark. One late glance to third man delighted the purist. It was worthy of Bell‟s epic at Trent Bridge last week but no Cavalier would be allowed the charmless graciouslessness of the Warwickshire man.

He was joined by Marchant for the defining partnership of the match in adding 88. The skipper played a commanding hand, brutal to anything short with a quick eye for the sharp single. He fell one short of a deserved half century off 41 balls and he was soon followed by Fraser (37) from 30 balls.

Sparkes‟ form not class (he will know what I mean) continued with a run a ball 12 before being run out selflessly off the last ball. Ward had perished trying to maintain the momentum and Avi got the red ink on 2. All these events recorded by McVeigh who has not let his injury spoil his summer‟s enjoyment. Well done!

A rate of just over 7/over was far from impossible and would require tight bowling backed up by keen fielding to defend it. The experiment of “Gog” opening the bowling continued. Although not reaching his recent heroics the Echo could only deal in singles. Dawkins went for an early boundary but responded by inducing Colley to edge into Sparkes‟ gloves.

“Gog” refused to keep out the action. When attempting a routine throw back to the keeper he ended up lobbing the ball over his head like a superstitious old woman throwing salt over her shoulder for good luck. After scampering back to retrieve the ball and return it he came to the assistance of his fellow old codger Brown who had cracked a rib laughing.

Twaits snared a victim, and he and Brown crucially kept Media Wales behind the run rate. All this seemed about to change when a pensive Rabbit conceded two boundaries in succession. An unwanted hat trick looked on the cards when Rhys smote the ball into the distance. We had no need to worry as Big AL Fraser pouched the offering. Rabbit was now in his stride and, in the following over, he needed no third party assistance. He bemused Evans with flight and the ball crawled onto the stumps. Avi applied further pressure and with 3 overs left 39 was required. Despite Ward bowling Law, forceful stroke making and some wayward bowling saw our visitors needing 11 from the last over. Game on!

Marchant wisely summoned Big Al from boundary patrol and he answered the call. The rugby players had long departed from their nearby pitch and the game‟s final act was played out in a silent intensity only disturbed by a gentle breeze rising up from the river bank and the distant hub of the city. Big Al rose to the challenge firing the ball accurately outside the left hander‟s off stump (never an easy angle). Sparkes took the deliveries, occasionally with the gloves, and the Echo could only scramble 2 runs from his over. The Cavaliers prevailed by 8 runs.

Several of the Cavaliers celebrated by the taking of cold showers. This is a habit I understand shared by the public schoolboys of Eton, Harrow and Winchester and is called character forming. No doubt this would explain why several members whilst towelling down were proposing tax cuts for the super rich whilst arguing that we are all in this together. It also explains why everyone else was making a mad scramble to the Butcher‟s to enjoy another convivial evening with our fellow cricketers. As I left the school I could see a small shadow rolling his own and making his way across the field toward the city in the gathering twilight. It was Rabbit no doubt enjoying his moment when fate smiled on him. He was not originally picked, he gets hit for a few fours and yet he grabbed the two wickets that turned the game. For sure the summer game never fails to surprise. For this day at least The Echo certainly were our Rabbit‟s Bunnymen.

Champagne moment: Al‟s final over

Crowd: 3 (inc 1 away supporter) + Steadman who arrived in time for the showers and post-match refreshments

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Mark Twaits, Graeme Brown, Jeremy Sparkes, Steve Davis, Michael Dawkins, Alasdair Fraser, Bill Ward, Devineni Avinash, Wyn Pritchard, Siva Kollipara

Hockey (Shield), Cathedral School, Tue 9 Aug. Hockey 112/5 (Duffy 2/15). Cavaliers 116/4 (Chapman 32, Graveson 29*). Won by 6 wickets. Cavaliers 2pts, Hockey 0pts

Panto season had come early to the Cathedral School with the evil villain Price taking centre stage for Hockey, his antics in previous encounters had not gone unnoticed by the Cavaliers who were determined to keep him quiet.

Opening the bowling for the Cavaliers JD bowled with discipline and guile, runs were hard to find heaping pressure on the opening pair, this soon told with the scalp of Egan being taken by the jubilant JD. Graveson was steaming in at the other end having renewed his friendship with Price, an lbw appeal seemed to spark this match into life with a few choice words being spoken (not family viewing).

Price and Thapan managed to put a partnership together taking the Hockey score up to 40-1, with the skipper now bowling this was brought to an end by a fine delivery which had whizzed through the gate, much to his delight. The bowling was disciplined, with old timers Messrs Duffy and Chapman operating at each end, it was Chapman who was to benefit next taking the wicket of Arter with a straight ball which clattered the stumps.

A mini revival between Price and Davies followed taking the score towards 100 although this would have curtailed had dropped catches been taken, one too many quick runs took its toll on Davies who walked gingerly back to the pavilion having retired hurt.

With overs running out Hockey tried to up the pace, they had not counted on the fine bowling of Duffy, with the wickets of Price and Savage being taken in one over. He was really unlucky during his spell not to take more with deliveries missing the wicket by small margins and a dropped catch in that fantastic over. The innings came to end at 112 off their 18 overs, which seemed a decent total to chase down.

The Cavalier batting innings started promisingly, with fine running between the wickets, taking every possible run available to them, the board was ticking over nicely which was helped also by the healthy supply of wide deliveries from the erratic Hockey opening bowlers.

An unfortunate mid wicket collision between Siva and the Hockey wicket keeper then took place, having made a quick single the opening pair then decided to follow this up with a tight second, Siva turned and proceeded to scarper up the wicket, with his eyes firmly set on the crease he failed to see the keeper‟s head directly in front of his knee about 5 yards out. This was clearly an unfortunate accident, both players requiring treatment, thankfully the Cavaliers doctor was on the scene within seconds, having been given a clean bill of health the game continued after a short interval.

The unforgiving Steadman then proceeded to make the by now incapacitated Siva run quick singles, with this in mind possibly Siva was first to fall lofting the ball high above the wicket keeper for him to turn and gather, this brought Marchant to the middle.

A strong set of wrists were required for the first boundary of the innings from Steadman to glide the ball through point, this was followed up with some elegant flicks from Marchant, unfortunately he was soon to follow Siva back to the pavilion being given out leg before by Umpire Duffy (was he smirking?), the bruise on Marchant‟s leg which we were all shown post match seemed to support the theory that this was a little harsh, if only hawkeye was in operation.

Good running between the wicket between Steadman and Chapman kept the board ticking over, matching the earlier efforts of Hockey, this was not to last with Steadman holing out to an ugly full toss which was caught in fine fashion square of the wicket.

Cavaliers supporters then congregated in front of the pavilion for the imminent fireworks display with Chapman being joined by Graveson, it was no surprise to us all that the first maximum of the innings followed not long after coming from the railway sleeper of Graveson, the ball flying high over the bowler‟s head for a straight six. Again running between the wickets was of the highest order maximising every opportunity to pinch runs, although Glenn was unlucky not to clear the ropes on several occasions. This reporter never thought he would see the day but Graveson was even nurdling, picking gaps with precision leaving us 59-3 at the halfway mark.

Wides were helping us keep the run rate up (28 extras in total). A glorious pull shot through mid wicket brought a well deserved boundary for Glenn who was continuing in his excellent form, the slow outfield was not putting off the pair who had by now put together a decent partnership made up of bludgeoning and skilful shots helping the Cavaliers get out of what was a precarious position.

This partnership brought us oh so close to the finishing line, but it was not to be with an apologetic Graveson running out the by now heavy breathing Chapman. Tom came out to the middle and was quickly up to speed, strong stroke play followed, how fitting that it was the imperious Graveson who saw us over the line with a drive through deep extra cover to earn a wonderful and most satisfying victory. I am reliably informed that this is now the third time Graveson has been there at the end to win the match against Hockey with a boundary, I wonder why Price is not a member of his fan club.

[Ed: we‟ve done the Treble over Hockey this season, beating them in the League, the friendly and now the Shield – not a bad accomplishment as they finished above us in the League and were looking to retain the Shield with a win last night]

Champagne moment: Fine bowling and batting displays by a number of individuals, but it could only be one moment that deserved the bubbly, it was when Siva decided to run through the Tourette‟s suffering Hockey keeper whilst returning for a quick second run. He not only ran over the wicket but he also managed clatter the poor individual full on the head resulting in concussion; thankyfully Dr Adi was on the scene to offer support whilst the remaining Cavaliers laughed their pants off in the pavilion. I know some of you may think this is unsportsmanlike, I believe it is called karma.

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Glenn Chapman, Andrew Graveson, Andrew Steadman, Siva Kollipara, Tom Corcoran, Gareth Payne, Jonathan Davies, Adi Ramegowda, Chris Hajgato

The Old Guard v The Parvenus (for the “Bragging Rights”), Cathedral School, Tue 16 Aug. Old Guard 101/9 (Steadman 21, Marchant 20; McVeigh 2/3, Ward 2/12). Parv’u 91/9 (Graveson 18; Marchant 4/10, S Davis 2/11). The Old Guard won by 10 runs and claim the Club bragging rights 

For this game a reporter for each team was appointed: green is the view of the younger generation, dark blue of the establishment.

The much anticipated Cavaliers team clash was finally upon us after the first fixture had been abandoned due to bad weather. There was much to play for and a great anticipation to see who would claim the honours on the night. McVeigh v Marchant, the Old Guard v The Parvenus, it was all setup to be a cracker.

A sense of anticipation prevailed as the players arrived for the inaugural Old Guard v Parvenus(!) interclub match at the Cathedral School for our penultimate midweek game. After rain had caused the cancellation the previous week, it was pleasing to be greeted by a bright sky and a lush (long) outfield; exactly the sort of conditions that would grace the Donkey Derby, another club event to keep an eye out for later in the season.

The game began with the old guard batting first. Steadman and Glenn opened the batting and the newcomers knew a good bowling and fielding performance was required as the opposition had plenty of experienced batsmen in their side. The Old Guard made a comfortable start but the ever present threat of Gravy made life uncomfortable and he produced a good ball to bowl Glenn.

As the troops amassed it was decided that Jimmy‟s golden oldies would bat first and Steaders & Chapman strode to the crease to face the opening salvo from Gravy and Adi. Runs were once again hard to come by and the score was only 14 when Glenn was the first wicket to fall, in Gravy‟s third over, bowled by one which nipped back and knocked over leg stump.

This brought Marchant to the crease who looked comfortable and along with Steadman kept the scoreboard ticking over with some efficient run scoring. Just as they looked to accelerate the run rate the wickets began to tumble and the veterans found themselves in a less comfortable situation with the score 54-4.

Skipper Cyril joined Steaders to build the only meaningful stand of the innings, with Payne & Evans unable to find a breakthrough during their spells. Thirty seven runs were added before Jimmy holed out off the bowling of Neil, caught safely by Adi in the deep.

This started a mini-collapse as the Presidential jinx that is Joey and top scorer Steaders fell to good catches from Chris E and Boris/Gus/Bradley/Doug the rug/‟House of/‟Mad Frankie etc etc Fraser. Both fell in the same over bowled by bustling Bill Ward, who, as well as displaying some much improved bowling this season, is also assembling his own impressive raft of nicknames! Watch this space for further additions Swanny..

The Greenhorns showed their skill in the field with some fine catches but all were eclipsed by the „injured‟ McVeigh taking a spectacular catch at square leg.

Duffy & JD tried to rebuild before the vice was out off the bowling of Tom, snaffled by skipper McVeigh who dived forward to hold onto a cracking catch, and thereby maintain the faultless, uncavalier-like catching performance of his team. JD soon followed, held in the deep by Buckets Graveson off the bowling of Siva, which allowed Mooro & Jez to join forces to edge the total over 100 with some nice glides through point (Mooro) and clubs through mid wicket (Oracle).

Mike and Al were now bowling the final overs and the skipper‟s straight-legged tweakers soon accounted for Nigel, caught by a surprised looking Bill (1 from 1) as he sprinted (slowly whilst laughing about something) back from mid wicket. The batting just kept coming as Gog now marched out to the middle, only to depart in controversy, run out without facing a ball in what has since been labelled „Goonie-Gate‟ – a dark hour in the history of the club..

Sparkes had tried to get across his stumps to deflect the penultimate delivery of the innings behind square but missed it and got struck in front of middle stump leaving Marchant to raise the umpires‟ crooked finger without hesitation. This was duly ignored by WG Gra..sorry Sparkes who then proceeded to sacrifice Gog with a suicidal single..double bubble! This heinous crime would be left for the judge to deal with at that evening‟s court session, along with every other session until the end of the season! That‟s the pitch hire shortfall covered!

A good bowling performance was maintained throughout the innings and the newcomers felt confident going into the break having restricted the Old Guard to 101/9.

Browny came in to face the last ball and whipped it through square leg to take the total up to 101 for 9 – a challenging total on a tricky pitch.

The Newbies batting display began brightly enough with McVeigh and Corcoran opening the batting and looked to get off to a solid start. The innings soon began to stutter though as the Old Guard applied the pressure through some accurate bowling which made runs hard to come by. Davis kept one end tight and finished with an impressive 2-13 off 3 overs.

After a quick turnaround the old guard took to the field knowing that anything other than a tight bowling performance would make it difficult to defend a lowish total.

Mike & Tom opened up against the twin (as in the film) threat of Duffy and JD and took the score to 10 before the skipper was caught in his crease and was given out leg before in Bully Beef‟s second over. Chris H and Tom then put on a further 20, mixing careful defence with good running before golden arm Gog struck a double blow, in a way only he can, getting both out in consecutive deliveries – Chris caught by Jimmy and Tom bowled by the slowest of slower balls.

Gravy and Fraser kept things interesting towards the latter half of the innings and it was shaping up to be a close finish. Marchant introduced himself late on and produced an excellent two over burst taking four wickets and suddenly 102 runs to win seemed a much tougher target.

The game swung firmly in the favour of the old guard when one of the oldest guards, Browny, came on and took his customary wicket, having the dangerous Siva well caught by Jimmy in the deep, leaving the score 32-4 after 7 overs. Dan & Gravy had clearly not read the script however and set about forging the biggest partnership of the innings putting on 36 in 7 overs with some excellent running and careful placement, taking advantage of the older, wearier joints of the fielding team.

The newcomers never recovered and the Old Guard took the honours with 10 runs to spare.

It had now become a short chase as 36 were needed from the last 4 overs but the Skipper Cyril came to rescue, taking 2 quick wickets by bowling Dan before having Gravy, who had become nervously becalmed against the philanthropic Rabbit, well caught in the deep by Joey.

Gareth & Adi both came in looking to go big to keep up with the rate but perished as Jimmy made it 4 wickets in 5 balls to take his 103rd and 104th wicket of the season and with Joey keeping it tight from the other end the, Al & Neil were left to try and find the gaps and make ones into two, which they did manfully. It was a bridge too far in the end though as Jason came on to bowl the last over with 18 needed to win and promptly castled Doug the Rug for a flamboyant 14.

Bill joined Neil for the last ball but, despite a creditable effort, the new boys had finished 10 runs short.

A close fought and good humoured match was rounded off with a few beers and some excellent food prepared by Avi. Many thanks once again for a very nice gesture.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable game which was made even better by the generosity of Avi, who missed the game in order to cook up a feast of Indian food which was duly demolished by the grateful members of both sides. On behalf of the players I would like to extend our thanks to Avi for this kind gesture and I hope that we will see you again in future seasons – it helped to cap a great evening and I look forward to doing it again soon!

Champagne moment: McVeigh‟s outstanding catch to dismiss Duffy

Champagne moment: Special mention for Mike‟s diving catch with only working knee (one of a number of well taken catches) but there is only one clear winner – the Indian feast that was waiting for us at the end!

Teams The Old Guard: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jason Duffy (vice captain) Glenn Chapman, Jonathan Davies, Andrew Steadman, Jeremy Sparkes, Joey Newbury, Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Wyn Pritchard, Nigel Moore, Jonathan Thomas Parvenus: Michael McVeigh (captain), Alasdair Fraser (vice captain), Gareth Payne, Andrew Graveson, Tom Corcoran, Chris Hopper, Adi Ramegowda, Chris Evans, Neil Simons, Bill Ward, Siva Kollipara, Dan Bailey

Cinematography: Bill Ward © Cardiff Cavaliers, 2011 Back row (l-r): Jonathan Thomas, Glyn Poulsom, Neil Simons, Adi Ramegowda, Nigel Moore, Andrew Steadman, Andrew Graveson, Joey Newbury, Alasdair Fraser, Glenn Chapman, Jonathan Davies, Bill Ward, Tom Corcoran, Dan Bailey, Michael McVeigh, Chris Evans, Chris Hopper

Front row: (l-r): Siva Kollipara, Devineni Avinash, Graeme Brown, Wyn Pritchard, Jeremy Sparkes, Jimmy Marchant, Jason Duffy, Steve Davis, Gareth Payne

Absent: Nigel Adams, Riaz Anwar, Ross Bowen, Paul Davies, Michael Dawkins, Gary Elliott, Chris Hajgato, Pritpal Sagoo, Matt Thomas, Mark Twaits

Tewkesbury (Tour), Tewkesbury, Fri 19 Aug. Cavaliers 174ao (Steadman 94, Adams 32). Tew’y 177/5 (Sparkes 2/7). Lost by 5 wickets

The first tour game was played in a pleasant setting at a ground, Nigel Adams informed us, where John Player Special (county cricket) games had once been played. himself had apparently batted on this ground, many years ago. Probably the groundsman, the quality of the pitch and the outfield had somewhat changed since then. Nonetheless the playing conditions were good, with conditions allowing something for both batsmen and bowlers. It was a fine, sunny day and all of the Cavaliers were eagerly anticipating this opening tour fixture.

Tewkesbury were clearly a side that had played at a very high standard, League Division 1 Champions a couple of years ago (the league contains six divisions, so this was no mean feat) resulted in them being promoted to some sort of super league. It did appear, however, they had since slipped back into Division 1. Nevertheless, with at least five first-teamers in their chosen XI in today‟s game, it was never going to be an easy task for the Cavaliers to emerge as victors.

Tewkesbury generously invited the Cavaliers to bat. Wickets tumbled when McVeigh defeated himself (bowled) by playing the wrong line to a straight delivery from Clarke; when Thomas (JT) played around a swinging delivery from Roberts (bowled); when Payne, after some powerful straight hitting, missed a straight ball to Clarke (bowled) ; and when Chapman was defeated (LBW) by Roberts. At 43 for 4 it looked embarrassing for the tourists. Steadman looked bemused after a succession of batsmen had told him he must occupy the wicket, with the same batsmen failing to do this very thing themselves. He could have been forgiven for thinking he was watching aeroplanes leave Heathrow airport (not batsmen being dismissed), such was the frequency of departure.

It was the stalwart Nigel Adams who managed to form, with Steadman, the only significant partnership of the team innings. Adams was dismissed for 32 but he and Steadman had by then progressed the score to 152 for 5, a partnership of 109. Wickets then fell quickly as before, the Cavaliers reaching 174 all out from 36.3 of their allotted 40 overs. Steadman was dismissed for 94. A respectable team total had been reached, but nobody could really have felt this was enough to seriously challenge our opponents. A score of 220 might have been a sterner test.

Tewkesbury clearly had some fine players. But Twaits, Dawkins, Marchant and Fraser were nevertheless able to apply some pressure, picking up three wickets along the way. Brixey, however – after playing himself in – began to play more freely before easing his way to a half century with a towering six. He then retired. Sparkes then bowled, managing (somehow) to take two wickets, one a minor and one a very senior player. Our opponents easily reached the target we had set them, with 3.2 overs to spare. Had they chosen, they could probably have finished us off in 30 overs.

A couple of asides:

1. Not wishing to comment on any particular youngster (today‟s youngster was “okay”) . . . but with the greatest respect, not every cricketer who is young is talented merely on account of being young. There is a category of player that is young and untalented. It is in fact the most common category of young player!! They then grow up to be untalented adult cricketers. Incidentally, untalented adult cricketers are the most common category of adult cricketers!!

2. It is a little patronising thinking we should bowl more slowly to youngsters when (a) we don‟t have any fast bowlers to begin with and (b) they can see and react just as well (or not) as any oldies!!

Just my own thoughts . . .

So in the end we were hammered, we all had a lovely time though, we collected fines, spoke at length to our opponents about the day‟s events, went out to various hostelries, and then returned to our hotel ...

Champagne moment: I cannot remember a Champagne moment. Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Glenn Chapman, Andrew Steadman, Jeremy Sparkes, Jonathan Thomas, Michael McVeigh, Alasdair Fraser, Gareth Payne, Mark Twaits, Michael Dawkins, Nigel Adams. 12th men: Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Jason Duffy, Bill Ward

Newnham-on-Severn (Tour), Newnham, Sun 21 Aug. Cavaliers 234/7 (Steadman 63, McVeigh 47, Dawkins 42). Newnham-o-S 190/7 (McVeigh 2/16). Won by 44 runs

Rise and Shine was the call on this the last day of what was a fantastic tour. Sunday morning saw most of the boys up wiping the “sleep” out of their eyes downstairs for breakfast after a weekend of cricket, socialising, drinking fine wine, beer, lager, cider, shots and any other alcoholic drink that could be consumed in 48 hours. If there was anyone that was still half asleep by the time they reached the reception area they were quickly woken by the psychedelic green interior décor with matching stools and tables. It was a master plan by the designers of this Big Sleep, which offered comfortable, spacious, clean tidy modern accommodation befitting of any touring party.

Colin, our driver, must have similar décor at his house as he was up bright and early, ready and willing to assist the human chain in loading up the coach before we were off on our way making a few wrong turns to face Newnham but not before stopping off for a bit of Sunday roast. The lovely setting of a riverside pub was very appealing as Colin finally managed to find his way and let us get off to take in some of the rays and eat some food.

Refuelled and energised we were soon back on the bus for the short journey to Newnham‟s ground to be greeted by sheep directing the coach up to the top field, home of Newnham on Severn Cricket Club. With the toss agreed Cavaliers were batting first. Opening the batting was JT and Steve Davis who both made a steady start before the first wicket fell with JT going for 10 LBW with the score on 15. Duffy entered the field but didn‟t last long bowled “by a 7 year old” for which he was duly fined. With the score still on 15 and 2 wickets down Steadman came to the crease to join Davis. Together they moved the score on to 57 with Davis and Steadman getting to grips with the Newnham attack before they made a breakthrough taking the wicket of Davis for 16. Dawkins joined Steadman and supported Steadman has he moved on quickly to make 50.

A short drinks break saw Steadman make the decision to open up his bat to push the score along. In doing so Steadman came down the crease only to miss his shot and be stumped having made 63 runs from 53 balls. McVeigh stepped up next to continue where Steadman left off. Boosted by moving up the order, Dawkins began to try and play some shots actually managing to hit his first ever 6 in a competitive match. The excitement of that must have got to him as despite being on 42 he took one swing too many and was caught off the bowling of Legg in his first over hitting 42 off 55 balls. McVeigh playing some textbook drives pushed the score on making 47 from 67 balls. Ward put on 9 “runs” batting runs that is, Brown 10 not out with a particularly beautiful cut shot for 4 and Adams put on 2 not out. Cavaliers made 234 for 7 off from their 40 overs.

Tea was provided and it was of a high standard. Newnham went out with the target of 234 to chase. Adams and Brown opened the bowling. Adams made a huge impact by taking the first wicket with the score still on 0. Brown and Adam‟s bowled well restricting Newnham to 39 runs from 10 overs. With the introduction of Ward and Chapman, the Cavaliers could still not make further breakthrough but bowled well keeping the Newnham run rate down. Marchant managed to make a further breakthrough taking the wicket of Fenn who put on 45 for Newnham putting the Cavaliers into a strong position. With Davis backing up from the other end, Duffey (1) and McVeigh (2), Steadman (1) taking wickets just as the Newnham batsmen began to settle. The Score of 234 was just too much for Newnham to reach although it was not as easy as the score line may indicate. Newnham ended the game making 190 for 7 from their 4 overs.

This was a good victory for the Cavaliers which capped off another fantastic tour and allowed the Cavaliers to enjoy their trip back to Cardiff. Newnham were wonderful hosts and worthy opponents with their mixture of youth and experience making the day a very enjoyable occasion.

Fines were dished out for offences ranging from Adams, Ward and Dawkins pirouetting whilst in the field, Duffy for being bowled by a 7 year old, to Fraser for sleeping on the boundary raising £18

Champagne moment: Brownie‟s cut/guide/glance for four (not sure how best to describe it but it was a shot worthy of CM)

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Glenn Chapman, Andrew Steadman, Jonathan Thomas, Michael McVeigh, Michael Dawkins, Nigel Adams, Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Bill Ward. 12th men: Alasdair Fraser, Gareth Payne, Jeremy Sparkes, Mark Twaits Highways Hurricanes (C&H Trophy), Cathedral School, Tue 30 Aug. Cavaliers 86/6 (J Davies 42no, Payne 18). Hurricanes 87/5 (Fraser 2/14). Lost by 4 wickets

The Cavaliers arrived at Cathedral School on a gloriously gloomy August evening for our final midweek game of the 2011 season, the opponents were the Hurricanes (the constant thorn in our side). With us trailing 2 -0 in the best of 3 series – pride was to be played for! The outfield was long and green and the area in front of the pavilion looked like cattle had only just finished grazing, this however did not stop us having a usual pre match dropping session on it.

The game was to be 16 over‟s side as the light was going to be an issue. Cavaliers chose to bat with Chapman and Marchant opening up – both eager to get some runs. From the first ball it was evident that scoring was going to be difficult, the pitch was damp and the ball not “coming through”. Chapman was soon off the mark with a neat drive and pull for 4 through mid wicket (finally using his “cuprinoled” bat that has been in his bag for the last 2 years). Marchant didn‟t trouble the scorers when he was caught behind for a blob. Glenn followed shortly after to the same bowling of Shearer (not Alan) picking out a man who can catch at square leg when it seemed a certain boundary. Adi came and went, no doubt undone by the slowness of the pitch – finding a top edge when looking to clear the ropes.

This brought together Payne and JD, with the latter suffering a nose bleed being so high up the order! The pair batted extremely well in tough conditions, they played back the straight ball and punished the bad ball; Payne playing a couple of lovely straight drives and a few clever shots behind square. When Gareth fell for a decent 18 JD was in full stride, he had warmed up properly and was now taking some “quick” one‟s and two‟s. Avi was undone by the slow bowling of Sully when he was stumped for no score. Mooro also departed for no score, c&b by sully (It was nice to see him playing his annual game). Al was next in and seemed prepared to keep up with JD‟s quick running, both playing some good shots and pushing the field the score was building to something we may be able to defend. JD clubbed a big six in the last over and with some brave running and theatrical dive/slide the pair got us to 86, a fair score on a tricky pitch.

With a quick change around we took to the field and had the briefest of tactical talks, we would need to bowl the Hurricanes out and the order of the day was to bowl straight. The ball was given to Duffy to open up and with the advice of bowling straight ringing in his head the vice captain proceeded to throw down wide/loose deliveries to the dismay of his on looking team! However after a few more wide deliveries Duffy had opener Shearer (not Alan) caught by Chapman for a duck – it seems he knew what he was doing all along.

JD and Duffy toiled away and were unlucky not to pick up more wickets. The change in bowling brought another wicket, the wiley spin of Brown accounting for the Jeffries for 24. From the other end Fraser was steaming in and bowling some fine deliveries, Fraser also seemed to add some new noises to his repertoire; never had we heard some of his ooh‟s and aah‟s. The celebration he displayed when he bowled Campbell was also a new one – arms aloft as he was running across the square, it was fine delivery that just clipped the bail. He ended with good figures of 2 for 14 from his 3 overs. Everyone bowled well and each unlucky not to pick up more wickets.

Despite Chapman bowling Bowen for 31, the Hurricanes got the required runs, 86 is generally not enough runs to win a cricket match. We tried hard in the field, Jez doing a fine job behind the stumps, Avi, Adi and Gareth with some good work in the deep. Ultimately it was another disappointing loss to the Hurricanes. They really do seem to have hoodoo over us, something that we will definitely have to look at next season when a 3-0 series to win to us is a must.

After ANOTHER cold shower we retired to the Butchers for a post match drink and customary fine session to deal with those who under performed.

Champagne moment: I‟m afraid I am of the view that a third loss to the Hurricanes does not warrant a champagne moment. Feel free to rectify this in 2012!

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Jeremy Sparkes, Gareth Payne, Glenn Chapman, Adi Ramegowda, Alasdair Fraser, Nigel Moore, Graeme Brown, Jonathan Davies, Devineni Avinash

Lisvane (friendly), St Mellons, Sun 4 Sep. Lisvane 197/7 (Ward 2/27, J Davies 2/31). Cavaliers 83/5 (Bailey 31, Adams 29). Match abandoned - rain

To coin a phrase from innumerable football pundits, it truly was a game of two halves. At least where the weather was concerned.

The Cavaliers arrived at the Lisvane ground in St Mellons on what appeared to be a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon and it swiftly became apparent that the captain was stuck in Haverfordwest with an unidentified drinking malady (“I don‟t usually get hangovers and didn‟t even drink that much”). The call had been made to Brownie who selflessly forewent his Sunday roast to bring the numbers back up to eleven even if he did take to the field with his trousers on back to front.

The pitch looked good, in spite of a night of rain, and the general consensus was that we should bat first especially with the weatherman (Davis) reliably ensuring us the rain was sweeping east across the country and likely to hit us later in the day. The toss was subsequently lost and we were put in to bowl.

Before we hit the field Graveson had managed to shoehorn into the conversation the previous day‟s figures of 7-35 and said that a single spell was all he could manage (that spell would come as the opening 8 overs). Expectations were high hoping for a similar set of figures today.

The bowling started off steady with the first Lisvane wicket falling to Graveson within the first few overs. This wicket brought together a very steady partnership of batsmen in Bowen and Rogers who proved effective in keeping the scoreboard ticking over and see out the remaining overs of Graveson and bowling partner Davis.

Subsequent bowlers did well keeping a decent line and length for the most part but anything wide of the mark was punished by the batsmen. Finally wickets started falling firstly that of Rogers, just short of his half century, bowled by Davies and a subsequent Davies delivery to Bhareava caught by Hopper who appeared to be chalenging Jonty Rhodes with a low fingertip catch.

Wickets fell more frequently after this with a solid bowling spell from Ward who picked up 2 wickets for himself but also oversaw 2 run outs as the Cavaliers fielding started getting sharper. Big hitting Clarke was a thorn in the Cavaliers‟ side hitting a quickfire 42, significantly increasing the run rate and pushing for the 200 total. It was down to some tight bowling and great fielding in the last few overs that stopped the 200 being scored and Lisvane finished their innings on 196 for 7.

It had become apparent towards the end of the Lisvane innings that the weather was not likely to hold out as we managed to swing from Summer into Autumn within the space of an hour. A quick tea was scoffed down and the Cavaliers took to the wicket to start their innings. A couple of early wickets (Siva and Hopper) fell to some good line & length bowling from the Lisvane youngsters and Bailey and Adams started putting together a decent partnership as the rain started falling.

The teams persevered for as long as possible having been off and back on again as the rain came down harder but eventually it became apparent there was going to be no further let up and the teams returned to the clubhouse with the Cavaliers having lost a few further wickets in the rain – match abandoned.

Beers were had and fines were collected to round of the day with a very courteous host team.

Champagne moment: Lunging fingertip catch from Hopper

Team: Jason Duffy (capt), Graeme Brown, Chris Hopper, Bill Ward, Steve Davis, Nigel Adams, Jonathan Thomas, Siva Kollipara, Dan Bailey, Andrew Graveson, Jonathan Davies

„Away‟ supporters (9): Mrs J Davies & Master Freddie Davies, Thomas Graveson, Mum Bailey & Uncle Bailey, Alasdair Fraser, James Marchant, Jeremy Sparkes, Siva‟s “Sancho Panza”

Park End (friendly), Park End, Sat 10 Sep. Cavaliers 150ao (Steadman 56, Duffy 36). Park End 151/7 (Marchant 4/25, Davis 2/22). Lost by 3 wickets

A quick Google search will tell you that Park End is a pleasant village in the heart of the Forest of Dean which once enjoyed a thriving coal mining industry. You‟ll find out that the village is surrounded by woodlands, has delightful village pubs and a cricket pitch right in the centre of the village – “ideal for spending a lazy summer‟s afternoon”. What it doesn‟t tell you is that during the course of the season a collapsed mineshaft caused a large hole to appear in the outfield and the curious Cavaliers were quick to take a look when they arrived for this attractive late season fixture.

What it also doesn‟t tell you is that many of Havers‟ ancestors come from these parts and may have been responsible for digging the hole in the first place.

Bill immediately incurred Jimmy‟s wrath by emerging from the car in his white England rugby jersey (that‟s the new away strip, isn‟t it?). Bill might have been trying to curry favour with the locals but the response from the skipper was to make him bat at number 11, even though we only had 10 men.

It was unfortunate that only 10 Cavaliers were able to make the trip after a number of late drop outs. Jez had answered the last minute SOS and, although Brownie‟s injured rear-end prevented him from taking to the field, he came along for the day to add much appreciated assistance umpiring and keeping the book. As we arrived there was much speculation as to whether we‟d get a full game in. There had obviously been a lot of rain in the last couple of days which meant that the wicket was going to be a bit sticky, and there was a threat of a shower at about tea-time. The decision to bat or bowl was taken away from us as the Park End skipper won the toss and fancied a bowl. Jimmy pointed at Steaders and JT, shouted “pads” and we were off.

Park End‟s young opening bowlers soon found their pace and their line and both Cavaliers openers found in difficult to get the ball off the square. JT didn‟t last long – another disappointing effort as he chased a wide one that was going wider and offered up a fairly regulation catch to gully. Dawko came to the crease and initially looked as if he was going to carry on the form he showed last time we were in the Forest at Newnham. Two lovely cover drives took him quickly to 6 and not even a dramatic scramble and dive following one of Steaders‟ quick singles could take the smile off his face. However, this was short lived as he was out a couple of balls later to one of the most understated LBW appeals ever heard – the bowler appeared to whisper “Howzat?” apologetically to the umpire who slowly raised his finger. It seemed that only the umpire knew what was going on but it soon dawned on the fielders, and then Dawko that the second wicket had fallen.

Glenn joined Steaders and they managed to calm things down with some assured, patient batting. A few boundaries started to come, particularly from Glenn but just as the score was taking on a degree of respectability he was bowled for 16 (3 fours) by one that cut back in. This brought Jimmy to the crease. No need for the depleted Cavaliers to panic as we now had our two most prolific batsmen together in the middle...... but not for long. After getting off the mark Jimmy found himself facing another of the Park End spinners. A couple of looseners didn‟t require shots and the third ball saw the skipper take a long stride down the track, only to be hit on the front pad. Just as he was re-taking his stance Jimmy realised that another shy appeal for LBW had been confirmed by the umpire and he was on his way, shaking his head. Unfortunately the referral system wasn‟t available for this fixture so the decision had to stand.

Steaders was still at the other end, accumulating his runs nicely while watching his team mates press the “self-destruct” button. If he could stay there and get the support of the lower order, perhaps we could get a score we could defend. Jez came and went quickly to a tight run out and then Dan, clearly influenced by the return of Strictly Come Dancing, decided to foxtrot down the strip to a slow one only to miss it, offering an easy stumping.

Jason joined Steaders and immediately batted with the confidence he‟s shown recently. Again, was this the partnership that would take the Cavaliers to a decent total? For a while it looked as though it might be. The Forest of Dean BMX posse skidded up and gave some vocal support to both batters and bowlers and even the roofers working opposite gave up their attempts to chat up the local lovelies to enjoy the efforts of both teams. However, another excellent innings by Steaders came to an end as he tired – caught for 56 – bringing Bill “Swanny” Ward to the wicket. Jimmy couldn‟t believe his eyes! While he and Havers had been strolling around the boundary reflecting on what a stupid game cricket is, Jason had promoted Bill from his allotted number 11 slot! Insubordination from the vice-captain!

To make amends, Jason continued to bat with some authority, building an innings which included 4 fours and a six. Bill was caught for 2 and when Jason was finally out – well caught for a valuable 36 – the Gog was left stranded on 2 not out. There was some speculation as to whether Brownie might have been persuaded to put the scorebook down, deny the pain of his damaged derriere, and bat as last man. However, he was firmly “in the zone” with the scorebook and, when he saw that he would be keeping Gog company, he politely declined!

150 all out - better than it could have been but possibly 30 short on that wicket.

And so to tea at The Fountain Inn, which was lovely. There were chips and scones!

While reflecting on his tactics in the field Jimmy mentioned to Dan and JT that they were the only ones who hadn‟t bowled this season and that today would be their turn. Havers was appalled at the prospect of conceding more runs in a single over than he‟s managed in 4 innings with his new bat and immediately decided that it was time to pull rank. He declared that he would much rather keep wicket and legged it to get his hands on the gloves before Dan had the chance to tell the skipper that he‟d never bowled before!

A heavy shower cast some doubt as to whether Dancing Dan Bailey would get his name in the bowling records for 2011 but the clouds blew over and Park End were faced with the prospect of the Cavaliers opening the innings with him bowling up the slope, and the terrifying pace of the Gog from the pavilion end. Both acquitted themselves admirably. Dan returned a respectable 0 for 14 of 3 overs and was unlucky that the ageing Havers could only get fingertips to a difficult chance that looped wide and slowly off the opener‟s glove. His Honour, Judge Gog QC used his experience, his change of pace and his wonky arm to return an excellent 5 overs, 1 maiden, 2 for 22. His first wicket saw JT redeem himself by taking a neat stumping and his second, two balls later bowled the baffled young batsman.

After entertaining the field with some rag-based impressions (Pontius Pilate and Tutankhamun), naughty Bill Ward was called on to bowl but both he and Jez suffered at the hands of the confident Park End batsman. Jimmy brought himself on and he bowled a spell which, at one point, looked as if it might turn the game our way. He kept things tight and ended up with 4 for 25 off his 8 overs. His last wicket was an excellent catch off his own bowling and, with Jason operating from the other end (6 overs, 1 maiden, 1 for 27), we were able to exert some pressure on our hosts.

All our bowlers were well supported by some energetic fielding – Steaders and Dan were excellent in the deep – and our “loan signing”, 11 year old Tim showed sound technique. However, naughty Bill managed to trip over his own feet and Dawko delivered another of his signature pirouettes to miss the ball while skipping around the boundary to bring a sense of balance to proceedings. We all knew that our total wasn‟t enough and Park End were ahead of the rate without having to push too hard.

With the scores level on 150, Jimmy invited young Tim to bowl at his more senior clubmate –a decision which was the cause of some alarm to the batsman. An early wide gave Park End the run they needed to win but we allowed Tim to continue, beating the bat with a one that turned beautifully before “bowling” the batsman to bring things to a close after 34.5 overs.

A good attempt by the 10 men of Cardiff and, despite the frustrations on the pitch and the threat of the ground literally swallowing us up, this is a really nice fixture to have as our season draws to a close.

A special mention should go to Brownie for umpiring almost 45 overs across the two innings and for keeping the book when he wasn‟t – great effort.

Champagne moment: there was no “special” cricketing moment although Bill Ward‟s Egyptian sand-dance with the ball cleaning rag on his head was pure Cavaliers!

Team: Jimmy Marchant (captain), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Bill Ward, Steve Davis, Jonathan Thomas, Dan Bailey, Andrew Steadman, Michael Dawkins, Jeremy Sparkes, Glenn Chapman. Travelling scorer/umpire: Graeme Brown

Travelling supporter: Suka

Usk (friendly), Usk, Sun 18 Sep. Cavaliers 105/7 (Kollipara 30, Chapman 21). Usk did not bat (rain). Drawn

Driving along the M4 and then up the A449 for the game at Usk, one would have never have thought that the game would be played – it was hammering down on the way up. Even upon arriving at the picturesque ground, the weather wasn‟t too clever, the covers were on, and dark cloud cover aplenty. The match was put back til 2pm, the weather brightened and it looked like we‟d get a game. 2 x 20 over games was agreed by the skippers and Jimmy won the toss and elected to bat first.

Note – Gravy was today playing for his „other‟ side, our opposition, Usk. He was relishing bowling to Steaders and many of us were relishing smashing him out of the ground!

Steaders and Siva opened up, with Gravy opening the bowling for Usk. Good pace and lift from Gravy, flirting with the off stump, made both openers play, but without the edge. Siva picked off the odd bad ball and put them away for a few 4s. Steaders hadn‟t really settled and, with only 4 to his name, came a calamitous run out of Steaders, who claimed to call for the second run, whilst Siva firmly stood in his crease after running the one. Much debate ensued during and after the game, without real conclusion as to what really happened.

In came Paul Davies, after a spell away from the side, again not really settling and after 2 runs, was another run out. Siva coming in for a bit of stick at this point…..Siva ended on 30 before being bowled, Glenn put on a nice 21, Dan 5, and Jimmy given a very dubious LBW, who has a habit of getting out in this way. JD was also run out for 0 after a great throw from the keeper and Fraser and Dawkins had a bit of a knock at the end to reach a first innings total of 105 for 7 of 20 overs.

And that was it. The heavens opened not once, but twice and then stayed open. Covers came on and we retired for possibly the best tea we‟ve had away all season, and the skips agreed to call it all off during the tea. Shame really as it‟s a very nice ground, the Usk team are a good bunch and we all wanted to face or bowl to our very own Gravy.

Let‟s hope this becomes a regular fixture to the Cavaliers fixture list (though leave the start time arrangements to someone else Grizz) [Ed: to be fair to the Grizzler, on this occasion it was the opposition who made a late call to change the start time as it dawned on them that the evenings draw in during September, which it has probably been doing for centuries…].

Champagne moment: Steaders – for a record amount of fines at a game

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Steve Davis, Dan Bailey, Jonathan Davies, Michael Dawkins, Andrew Steadman, Siva Kollipara, Alasdair Fraser, Paul Davies, Glenn Chapman, Jeremy Sparkes

Barry Wanderers, Hayes Point, Sat 24 Sep. Cavaliers 153ao (J Thomas 49, Marchant 26). BWCC 156/9 (Chapman 2/13, Payne 2/21, Duffy 2/27). Lost by 1 wicket

Saturday 24th September, we woke to the usual Barry Wanderers blue sky. We all arrived promptly at the ground for a 1pm start for one of our favourite fixtures. Tacky Senior was waiting for us and informed us that it was raining down West and we wouldn‟t complete the game. The only other person waiting for us for the 1pm start was the grounds man who was busy sucking up the leaves on the outfield. At 1.31pm Grizz who arranged the fixture was pleased to inform us we were starting bang on time, unfortunately he hadn‟t told the rest of his team mates the 1.30pm start time. I think this has happened before.

Jimmy did a fine job losing the toss and we got our desired outcome of batting first. Our opening pairing consisted of JT and Dan who put on 14 before Dan was run out after hesitating for the second run for a second too long. However a good first season by Dan, and we have enjoyed having him at the club.

Tacky junior then joined JT at the crease and was in no mood to score runs or get out given that he only needed 17 to get to the mighty 600 runs for the season. At one point it looked as though he was going to get 600 dot balls in a season after facing 18 balls in a row without scoring, he did however reprieve himself by breaking the shackles for a straight 6. Jimmy did make it to 26 before being stumped and got his 600 runs, not however before a simple catch was put down by a small boy on 16. No paddy followed for a change as tacky senior was on behaviour watch. JT and Jimmy put on an excellent 65 run partnership with JT coming nicely into form on the last day of the season, scoring 49 runs off 58 balls before being adjudged LBW off the bowling of Wade. Unlucky not to get his 50.

Al (15) & Neil (14) were both batting up the order for some well-deserved time at the crease. And it came to the attention of a few Cavaliers that Neil was playing nicely, but had unfortunately forgot to tell the captain at the start of the season that he was an accomplished batsman... Al & Neil put on a handy partnership of 31.

We then started a late middle order collapse, Avi caught and bowled for 3 on his final Cavalier appearance, Brownie bowled for 2, Payne caught for 4, Duffy stumped for 1 and Glenn caught for a duck in the final over. In between this Grizz was in fine form and was left on 18 not out which included a fine 6. We finished on 153 which included 13 extras.

This looked a fairly competitive total on which was a slow and low wicket as you would expect this close to Christmas.

As ever at the Wanderers a good tea was enjoyed and the weather was holding up albeit closing in. Tacky Senior didn‟t comment.

The bowling was the opening partnership of Brown (0/33 off 5) who has been in particularly good form this year and Duffy (2/27 off 8). Wanderers opened up with their Gowerton player who looked to push hard and was lucky to escape a stumping, but the ball was so slow coming through to our wicket keeper JT that he got back. He was finally adjudged LBW and the opening partnership was 37 runs off 9 overs.

Next in to the attack was Grizz (1/18 off 8) who has also been rolling back the years of late. He kept the scoring under control with Glenn (2/13 off 8) and picked up a clean bowled wicket. Glenn bowled with some good accuracy, clean bowling two of the opposition. After 27 over Wanderers were 99/5 chasing 154 to win. The game was nicely in the balance.

Payne (2/21 off 4) bowled well when he found the wicket clean bowling 2 of the batsmen including the important wicket of Ridgewell for 26. Al Fraser (0/13 off 2) playing as a specialist batsman today was only allocated 2 overs so it was left to Avi (0/17 off 2.2) to finish off the game and fly home as a Cavaliers legend supported by Jimmy who had his shirt tucked in especially for his dad. Unfortunately it was not to be and the Wanderers won with 4 balls to spare and 9 wickets down. Jimmy (1/5 off 2) bowled well and it looked like we had every chance of that final wicket when he was bowling.

Although we had a couple of showers we managed to complete a good close game, and a good finish to the season which has been very enjoyable with many highs. The Cavaliers returned to the local pub in Sully followed by another customary end of season night out in Cathay‟s, a late night for some I am informed...

Champagne moment: Jimmy‟s 6 to break the monotony of his dot balls

Supporters inc Tacky Marchant (for the record I believe he got his nickname before the infamous incident involving tacks and bikes at the recent Iron Man in his home county...)

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Dan Bailey, Jonathan Thomas, Alasdair Fraser, Devineni Avinash, Glenn Chapman, Gareth Payne, Neil Simons, Graeme Brown, Nigel Adams

AGM – Officers’ Reports & Minutes (presented to 2011 AGM)

Chairman’s report

In last year‟s report I reflected that “2009 was always going to be an interesting season”, pointing to a new-look committee, new team selection processes and new members bringing new energy to the club. We all could have been forgiven for thinking that 2010 would be a year of consolidation and stability but it certainly had its challenges both on and off the field.

On the playing front, 2010 was a season that initially flattered, only to deceive as the summer went on. We enjoyed a fantastic start to our league campaign, remaining unbeaten longer than any other club. This backed up my comments at last year‟s AGM that the Cavaliers continue to be a competitive force in the Willow League although we struggled to maintain our early season momentum and the real turning point for me was our cup defeat at the hands of the Consmen. We had just beaten Cardiff Hockey in a game that had gone to the last over but then suffered the same fate ourselves in the cup match. This seemed to knock our collective confidence and, when added to the fact that a number of players lost form at the same time, we came up with a series of below par performances in the second half of the season.

We did end on a high with a tremendous win in the last game of the season against our old friends and rivals, Barry Wanderers and our overall record shows a reasonable return of 13 wins and 1 tie from 35 games. In the past we would have been delighted to finish a summer with this record but it‟s a mark of how our standards and expectations have risen that many of us were left with a feeling of disappointment based on what could have been.

We often talk about the culture and ethos of the Cavaliers. We want to be a friendly club, encouraging new players with the promise of playing competitive cricket with a smile on our faces. However, we don‟t have the formal structure of many of our weekend opponents which highlights a problem we face - age! We don‟t have a stream of young players joining the ranks and, on occasions, we find it difficult to compete against younger, fitter teams. In the field, their speed and agility restricts our run scoring while our more pedestrian efforts turn their 1‟s into 2‟s and their 2‟s into 3‟s. We‟ve taken a serious look at our weekend fixtures for the coming year and tried to match ourselves against teams we can compete against and who “get” what we‟re all about. This is not to lower standards but is an attempt to get more decent, competitive, enjoyable contests throughout the summer.

Despite this slightly downbeat assessment of the season there are some stand-out performances to celebrate including:

 Andrew Steadman‟s 928 runs, smashing his own club scoring record and holding our innings together on more than one occasion  Andrew Graveson‟s impact with both bat and ball during his first summer with us, including breaking the record for the most 6‟s scored by a Cavalier in a season (14)  Some great bowling - JD‟s miserly bowling throughout the year, performing consistently in the big games and topping the bowling averages with 13 wickets at just 14.2 a piece, Al Fraser taking 25 at 17.6 Mike M taking 23 at 19.1, and Jimmy taking 26 at 21.  the continued success of our indoor squad under the management of Al Fraser

It is always appropriate for the Chairman‟s report to recognise the contribution made by individual members to the successful running of the Cavaliers - without them, we wouldn‟t have a club:

 Jimmy and Jason for their leadership on the pitch throughout the season  Al for the enthusiasm he brings to managing the indoor squad  Grizz for the work he does in arranging our weekend fixtures  JD for arranging our pre-season night out at Cosmo‟s  Gog and Browny for organising our tour to Twickenham in August, and to Mike McVeigh for sorting out the official tour merchandise  Glyn, Jez and Glenn for taking the lead in arranging our annual dinner and presentation evening  Jez for the work he does behind the scenes, his wise counsel, his work with the Willow League, sorting midweek fixtures, and for supporting the excellent communication that exists within the club  Glenn for assuming the role of Secretary so smoothly and efficiently this year  Mike D for taking on the role of “Kit Master General”

We should also congratulate JD and Rhiannon on the birth of Freddie, and Jason and Julie on the birth of William and commend them on their planning - making sure the babies were born right at the end of the season, maximising their availability!

My thanks go my fellow committee members and to all those connected with the club for the support and guidance I‟ve received during the year. It‟s a privilege to be your Chairman and I look forward to a great year in 2011.

Treasurer’s Report/Financial Update

During the year Dave Parsons gave up his position as club Treasurer and I have overseen the financial management of the Cavaliers since September.

Due to the unusual circumstances behind the change we don‟t have the information available to us to provide the normal, detailed analysis of our income and expenditure during the year. We can, however provide a summary of the club‟s current financial position:

£ Funds available as at 1 January 2010 1,135.56 Net outflow of funds during 2010 (330.93) Funds available as at 31 December 2010 804.63

Represented by: Bank Account 779.63 Cash in Hand 25.00

The change of Treasurer has given us an opportunity to review certain processes and introduce new controls which will give greater security and control over club funds. These are:

 a change to the bank mandate which now requires 2 signatures to support any cheque payment or transfer of funds. The panel of authorised signatories will be changed in 2011 to be the Treasurer, Secretary and Chairman; and  having a spare cheque book and paying-in book, to be kept by the club Secretary.

The club remains in a healthy financial position. Any forthcoming financial commitments/obligations can be met from current funds and we do not believe there is a need to invest heavily in new equipment.

There will almost certainly be an increase in pitch hire fees with our anticipated return to the Cathedral School (which also includes a return to hosting teams at home games and the associated costs) – we will recommend subscription and match fee levels for 2011 to the members at the AGM.

Jonathan Thomas

Captain’s Report

Played 35 Won 13 Lost 21 Tied 1

2010 was quite a strange season we had some very memorable team performances and some very in-different team performances, and thrown in some very interesting off field incidents!

I would like to give my thanks to the committee for their support and organisation this season, JT, Glenn, Glyn, My thanks also to Jez for his continued support and advice and to Grizz for arranging our weekend fixtures. As ever I owe huge thanks to my vice (Jason) for organising emails, selection and taking over the reins when I am absent. I certainly feel that JT deserves a special mention for his role this season; the Chairman had a lot deal with! Thanks to Al Fraser for taking on the task of organising the indoor cricket, we once again had a very creditable campaign. Cheers to all.

We had another great couple of days away on tour although the Sunday looked a day too many for a few! Thanks to Gog and Brownie for arranging the 2010 tour.

Despite us finishing in the top half of the league and making the shield competition I cannot help but feel that the season was a disappointing one. From the blistering start we had and the players we have in the club this was definitely and under achievement. Our form in the latter half of the season was extremely frustrating at times, on a few occasion this did get to me and I showed a little bit of petulance, for this I offer my apologies, I should not be acting in that way.

As none of us are getting any younger maybe the onus is on ourselves to get sharper and work on our skills to improve our own game. The more success you have as an individual, the more success we have as a team and the more success we have as a club. Plus the better you are performing the more fun it is playing!

As ever there were some standout performers this season, Andy Steadman amassed a huge 928 runs; including one ton. A remarkable batsman! Glenn was once again in fine form and proved to be one of our most consistent players. Mike McVeigh built on his debut season and was excellent with bat and a ball and thoroughly deserved to be voted player of the year. JD was in fine form with bowl and it was only a shame he did not play more games; congrats to him for taking the bowling award. Al Fraser also bowled extremely well and picked up a lot of wickets and was devastating in last game of the season picking up a 5 for. Andrew Graveson made a massive impact in first season with bat and ball, he smashed a record 14 6‟s, and also unlucky not to pick up more wickets. Nick Hutchings notched up another fantastic ton at Tonyrefail.

Once again we had a great influx of new players (Pritpal, Gravy, Bill and Gareth) who have slotted in really well into the club. We are really lucky to keep attracting such good blokes. I hope you all enjoyed your first season and will be sticking around for more.

Finally thanks to all of you for your support on and off the pitch this season, I hope that everyone enjoyed the year. It was again an honour for me to captain the Cavaliers for a third season. Our final performance of the year at Barry Wanderers was truly one of the more remarkable efforts I have seen during my time with Cavaliers, I think this is true reflection of the potential we have in this club. It really did finish the season of in style.

Once again I would like to thank every member of the club for the support during the season. Roll on 2011!!

Jimmy Marchant

Secretary’s report

In a season that started with such promise, with 8 wins recorded before the end of May, there was no outright silverware, with us finishing 5th in the League & Shield competitions. We exited the Cup early, with an unbelievable defeat to the Consmen, lost the Ashes 2-1 to Chartered Trust but shared the C&H Trophy with the Hurricanes after rain forced the abandonment of the decider.

The key points of the 2010 season are:

 Membership has remained strong with us welcoming more new members to replace some of the retiring old guard. Once again the website has done a great job of publicising the club and attracting new enquiries. Our thanks go to Jez and the ever illusive webmaster, Kaiser Soze, for the maintenance and upkeep of this valuable resource.

 It was a pleasure to welcome our new members and it was noticeable that they contributed, on and off the field, towards the healthy running of our club. I hope this reflects your enjoyment and understanding of the ethos, spirit and sense of fun that the Cavaliers strive for, and I trust that you can look forward to being part of the club for many years to come.

 There were 47 fixtures planned this season with 12 of these either rained off or cancelled, with August proving to be a wet month once again. We cannot influence the weather, but I believe that the current number of fixtures seems to about right, given the availability of the membership. There will be one or two changes to this season‟s fixture list as we aim to replace a couple of teams who badly let us down with late cancellations in 2010.

 In previous seasons, a return of 13 wins and a tie from 35 completed fixtures would have represented a successful season. It therefore shows how far we have come, and how much our cricket has improved, that I am left feeling slightly deflated by our final stats. I believe that with hard work and a bit of luck we can improve these figures significantly this season.

 The availability and selection process continued to work well after a couple of early blips. It will only continue to be successful and to keep workloads to a manageable level for the selectors, if everyone continues to provide their small contribution. This means taking personal responsibility to provide up-to-date availability during the season and responding promptly to team announcements. Please keep the standards up. Thanks to Jimmy & Jason for their ongoing hard work in this area.

 Tour proved another great success so thanks to Gog & Browny for their work in organising it – I look forward to our visit this year to Cheltenham under the capable stewardship of JD & „Bradley‟ Fraser.

 Thanks also to Grizz for his work in organising our weekend fixtures, and to Jez for the midweek ones. We had some great new additions this year, most notably Lisvane & Park End.

 We had another excellent night at the Masonic Hall for the annual club awards and dinner. Having observed the massive amount of work that goes into planning it I would like to thank to Jez & Glyn for their continued hard work in organising this, and to Chris Evans for his help with keeping the stats this year

 Finally, in my debut season as secretary I would like to thank the committee and Jez in particular, for their guidance and ongoing assistance in making the job a lot easier. Glenn Chapman

Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club Annual General Meeting: Minutes (approved at 2012 AGM) 28th January 2011, The Woodville, Woodville Road, Cardiff @6pm

Present: Jonathan Thomas (Chair), Glyn Poulsom, James Marchant, Jason Duffy, Nigel Adams, Jonathan Davies, Glenn Chapman, Graeme Brown, Steve Davis, Wyn Pritchard, Mike Mcveigh, Chris Evans, Mike Dawkins, Gareth Payne, Jeremy Sparkes, Al Fraser, Bill Ward, James Gardner.

1. Apologies: Andrew Steadman, Andrew Graveson, Alistair Steadman, Mark Twaits, Ross Bowen.

2. Toast: A toast was proposed, by Jeremy Sparkes, to the Ashes-winning England team that had kept us awake all winter.

3. Minutes of the previous AGM held on 31 January 2010 were approved as a true record.

4. Officers’ Reports for 2010 season  Chairman (full report provided in advance to members and available on the web site) Confirmed that, given the membership numbers and position of the finances, the club was in decent health.  Captain (full report provided in advance to members and available on the web site) Highlighted that it showed how far the club had come in that we were disappointed with the final stats from last season having had such a good start.  Secretary (full report provided in advance to members and available on the web site) Reiterated thanks to those that had helped out with various tasks during the year and stressed the importance of this for easing the workload on the officers.  Treasurer (full report provided in advance to members and available on the web site) JT confirmed that in accordance with good practice the club now requires 2 signatories on each cheque.  Al Fraser raised the question of how we address the mid season slump in results. It was agreed that fitness and form played a large part in this slump but several ideas were suggested. Jon Davies suggested that fielding & noise in the field needs to be better in every game, while Jon Thomas suggested that nets need to be taken more seriously. Jimmy Marchant stressed the importance of fielding drills before each game so we start ‘match ready’. Chris Evans thought that mid season nets might be useful, especially for those who had been injured or unavailable for the early part of the season.  It was decided that we would try and ensure that fielding drills & catching practice took place before each game as well as looking at the option of a fielding practice session at certain points during the season, providing they were well attended. The possibility of mid season nets would be explored but would need to be co-ordinated with the fixture list and the weather with perhaps one or two dates highlighted as possible nights to switch to indoor nets, should the weather cause postponement of a game. We would be unable to reserve the sports hall for every fixture as this would need the caretaker to be on site for every game which would incur a cost.

5. Election of Officers for the 2011 Season. The following were elected un-opposed:  Chairman: Jonathan Thomas (moved by Glyn Poulsom, seconded by Wyn Pritchard)

 Captain: James Marchant (moved by Jonathan Thomas, seconded by Mike McVeigh)

 Secretary: Glenn Chapman (moved by Glyn Poulsom, seconded by Jonathan Davies)

 Treasurer: Andrew Graveson (moved by Jonathan Thomas, seconded by Glyn Poulsom)

Vice-Captain will also join the Committee once chosen by the Captain. The appointment of the Convenor of Selectors will be made by the Committee.

6. Subscriptions, match fees and budget for 2011  It was confirmed that Cathedral School would be available to us for the 2011 season following the completion of the new pavilion. Jeremy Sparkes confirmed that the cost of hire would however increase to around £60 per midweek game, if we were to use only the lower level of the pavilion. This would be broadly in line with Llanrumney (£55ish for poor quality pitches and outfields) and St Fagans (£50-55).  Jonathan Thomas proposed that we return to Cathedral School, with the option of having fund raising events during the year to pay for the increased hire costs, as opposed to raising annual subs or match fees. If the fund raising events didn’t work out, then we would consider the increase in subs & fees next season, to take the pressure off the club funds.  Chris Evans offered an alternative suggestion of increasing annual subs by 10% (£3) which could be handed back at the end of the season if fund raising went well. Jeremy suggested that another increase of the upfront membership fee, so soon after an increase last year, may put off potential new members.  It was agreed that JT’s original proposal would stand and this was ratified by the members.  Fund raising ideas were requested – Gareth Payne suggested asking the Butchers for sponsorship if we go back there after games. Jonathan Davies suggested similar with both The North Star & The Malsters, as well as proposing a summer dinner, with partners. Jeremy Sparkes brought up the idea of a match ball sponsorship and it was decided that we would try and implement a fining system in conjunction with more court sessions that we enjoy on tour. Finally, consideration could also be given to tagging a fund raiser on to an established event such as the curry night, the tour or the dinner.  Glyn Poulsom suggested that anyone who had any ideas for fundraising should approach one the officers so that these could all be discussed at the next committee meeting with a view to formulating a strategic fund raising plan.  In summary, we will return to Cathedral School and subscriptions (£30 before the 31 May) and match fees (£2/£4) will remain unchanged.

7. Kit Inventory  Jeremy Sparkes and Michael Dawkins undertook the inspection, with the kit generally being in good condition. New keeper’s gloves & inners were needed. Al Fraser has a pair of keeper’s gloves that he would supply to the club and Jimmy Marchant agreed to source inners and counters. Balls would be ordered from the league once Jimmy and the vice captain established how many were needed. A new scorebook was also required. Jonathan Thomas thanked JS and MD.  A volunteer was requested to look into a new online clothing supplier. Mike McVeigh offered to look into the options for the club.

8. Tour arrangements 2011  Jonathan Davies & Al Fraser confirmed tour has been arranged to Cheltenham 19-21 August 2011. Big Sleep hotel has been booked for 14 people. Aim is to leave Cardiff at 11am on Friday, play Tewkesbury CC at 2pm followed by a day of leisure on Saturday. We then return to Cardiff on Sunday via the Forest of Dean, where we play Newnham on Severn CC at 2pm.  Cost of the tour is £100 to include 2 nights’ accommodation with continental breakfast - will start collecting at nets.  The cost of a minibus/bus has been looked at, and a show of hands confirmed that there would be support for this idea. JD & AF agreed to explore exact costs but initial indications point to a cost of £12-15 per person for a bus with a driver or a minibus without a driver could be paid for from the tour funds without any additional cost, subject to 14 people touring.

9. Nets 2011  Jeremy Sparkes confirmed that the sports hall at Cathedral School was now available and that 4 sessions had been booked starting on Wednesday 30th March at 7.30pm until 8.30pm (shorter session as club has indoor game), with the following 3 sessions running from 7.30pm-9pm. An outdoor practice is planned for the w/c 25 April, weather permitting.  It was agreed that sessions would need to be planned to get maximum benefit from them and Jimmy agreed to take responsibility for organising this.  Net managers will be appointed again to help smooth running of sessions.

10. Fixtures 2011  Nigel Adams confirmed that most weekend fixtures are in place. Highlights include an early start to the season with a game against Barry Athletic on Sat 02 April and new fixtures against Newbridge, Newport Fugitives & Ystradfelte. NA asked the members if they wanted him to try and organise a fixture on the second weekend in April and the general consensus was that this would be a good idea if it could be done. NA also indicated that he thought there could be scope for some sort of festival in mid July, where we have 2 consecutive w/e fixtures, which could tie in with a testimonial event. Jonathan Thomas thanked NA for his efforts on this.  Jeremy confirmed that the midweek fixture organising had now been passed over to Ross Bowen. Glenn Chapman thanked JS for his considerable efforts over many seasons in this role.

11. Willow League 2011  Jeremy confirmed that no AGM date had yet been set, although it was likely to be early in March. There may be a proposal to exclude GE from the league due to non-fulfilment of fixtures and poor communication. If this is carried then league would drop to 10 teams as there have only been light enquiries to join. (Since the AGM, Jonathan Thomas & Glenn Chapman have both advised that they would be able to attend the AGM, allowing Jeremy Sparkes to attend as an independent representative).

12. Any other business  Jonathan Thomas raised the issue of the annual dinner venue, indicating that he felt the Masonic Hall did not meet their usual standards this year. He suggested looking at other venues for comparison such as the Swalec Stadium, where some members had recently enjoyed an evening at a Barry Wanderers anniversary dinner. Jonathan Davies suggested inviting guests, however Graeme Brown & Glenn Chapman felt that guests may find the speeches and awards boring. GB also felt that we shouldn’t discount the convenience and privacy that the Masonic Hall offers. Nigel Adams suggested that the USM should be considered and it was decided that NA & Glyn Poulsom would look into all of these options and report back to the committee.  Wyn Pritchard proposed having a second team as he felt he didn’t play much last year. The members present decided that a lot of work goes into getting fixtures and availability for one team and that a second team would not be viable. WP was reminded that he had played 3 of the last 5 fixtures he was available for.  Glyn Poulsom registered a vote of thanks to the Committee, and in particular to Jonathan Thomas, for their efforts behind the scenes.  Jeremy Sparkes asked for volunteers to help out with keeping the stats for batting & bowling – Chris Evans agreed to look after these again.  JS again offered scoring and umpiring refresher sessions but needed people to commit to attending. It was agreed that JS and GP would assist with this at nets, while Graeme Brown also said he would be happy to give people basic guidelines for the level we play at. Chris Evans & GB both agreed that we should decide, as a club, that any batsman who knows he has nicked it should walk, so as to help out the person who has volunteered to umpire.  A volunteer was sought for arranging the curry night – Gareth Payne agreed to do this, assisted by Jason Duffy.  Jonathan Thomas proposed Ross Bowen as a candidate for a testimonial season this year, to reflect his many years service to the club. This was unanimously approved.  JT also advised that the discussions around awarding ‘caps’ were still taking place in committee meetings, but issues were being encountered around the number of appearances that a member should make before receiving a cap and the cost implications to the club of setting this benchmark. Discussions to continue.

MEETING CLOSED AT 7.50PM ------