Tour Report

After a years break, the junior section toured Bristol in August of this year. The 3 previous tours (2000, 2001, and 2002) had been to Taunton where unfortunately we couldn’t find accommodation this year. Instead Bristol was identified as a suitable venue so off we went on August 9th for a week of cricket that would include 3 matches.

The party this year was quite young, we had 1 player from the under 16 age group, 2 from the under 15s, 6 from the under 13s and 2 from the under 11s. Also accompanying the group in a player coaching capacity were Antony Platt and Ben Witschge. We stayed at Hiatt Baker Hall, part of Bristol University, where the facilities were everything you would expect.

On arrival on Monday evening the squad were put through there paces by messr’s Platt and Witschge who provided a tough fielding session. This proved a more than useful team bonding exercise and set us up for our first game the next day.

Game 1 was played at Portishead which is probably the prettiest ground I have ever had the pleasure to go to. Mike Woodage was suitably impressed with the computerized score board and everything was set up for the game. Brooklands batted first in the blazing sun and posted 138 in there 40 overs. A J Hart contributed 50 and in partnership with Elliott Woodage provided the platform for a big score. The team failed to capitalize on this platform and ended up being indebted to Jon Pearson who scored a quick fire 20 odd to carry the team to there final total. That Portishead won the game by 1 wicket in the last over of the game is testament to the bowling and fielding of the team. AJ and Steve Johnson got the side off to the best possible start and with great support from Mike Roberts, Wills Mitchell and Dominic Booth we almost scraped a win.

Game 2 on Wednesday saw us playing Cheddar CC who accommodated us at short notice after Nailsea cancelled there game. We again batted first and struggled to reach just 93 in 30 overs. Again Jon Pearson got some valuable runs while George Drakonakis and Dominic Booth gave us a glimpse of the future with some super batting at the end of the innings. We again bowled and fielded very well and pushed Cheddar as hard as we could, but 93 was never going to be a big enough score. We had a long chat afterwards in the changing room about the problems with our batting and were hopeful that on Friday we could round off our tour with a win.

Thursday saw us braving the monsoon and heading for Taunton. A much needed relaxing day was had by all at the county ground as we watched England u19s take on Bangladesh u19s. By this point the group had gelled really well and the likes of Will Pidgeon and Dan Darbyshire kept us royally entertained all day. Will, as well as keeping solidly all week, does a top notch impression of Mat Beardsley! Whereas Dan, as well as being a promising batsman, informed us that the ball feels great!

We checked out of the accommodation early on Friday and headed off to Claverham for game 3. Today was the day that everything clicked and Brooklands ran out convincing winners. We posted a score of 205 including a first century to A J Hart and a first fifty to Elliott Woodage. Well done you 2. Everyone else chipped in down the order giving the best team batting performance to date. Claverham were then overwhelmed by our bowling and fielding. Special mention here for Mike Roberts whose left arm chinaman bowling proved a highlight of the week and was just to much for the Claverham top order. We eventually ran out winners by somewhere near 100 runs. Well done team.

A good tour enjoyed by all. My thanks to Mike Woodage and Ian Roberts for accompanying the tour and there help with the arrangements. Platty and Ben did a great job and the boys behaved superbly. Plans for 2005 are already underway and we are certain to return to Bristol where we were made very welcome.
 

Scorecards

1st Game versus Portishead CC

BROOKLANDS CC CRICKET TOUR BRISTOL  2004
Match 1: 40 OVERS
PORTISHEAD CC V BROOKLANDS CC
Portishead, Somerset
BROOKLANDS	How Out	Bowler	R	M	B	4	6
M. Beardsley	Ct Savory	Leggett	0	2	5	0	0
E.D. Woodage	Ct Savory	Gibson	15	78	52	0	0
A. J. Hart*	Bowled	Leggett	54	93	81	7	0
M.J. Roberts	Bowled	Leggett	2	20	20	0	0
J. Pearson	Not Out		38	51	52	3	1
S.M. Johnson	Ct Phillips	Durran	0	7	2	0	0
D. Darbyshire	Ct Kelly	Parsons	5	25	19	0	0
W. Pidgeon+	Bowled	Phillips	0	7	6	0	0
D. Booth	Run Out		0	2	0	0	0
W. Mitchell	Bowled	Van Lawn	0	1	1	0	0
G. Drakonakis	Not Out		0	1	2	0	0
	Extras	(B 3, LB 6, W 14, NB 1)	24
	Total	(9 Wkts, 40 overs, 148 mins)	138
FoW: 1-0, 2-77, 3-87, 4-89, 5-89, 6-123, 7-135, 8-136, 9-138
Bowling:
J. Leggett 7-2-11-4, S. Phillips 8-2-23-0, L. Durrans 7-1-25-1, J. Van Lawn 6-0-29-1,
J. Bull 4-0-15-0, B. Kelly 2-0-17-0, S. Gibson 4-2-4-1, L. Voisey 1-0-3-0, G. Parson 1-1-0-1.
PORTISHEAD	How Out	Bowler	R	M	B	4	6
L. Voisey	Bowled	Hart	2	15	13	0	0
O. Savory +	Bowled	Johnson	4	11	9	0	0
J. Crees	Ct Pidgeon	Johnson	0	8	6	0	0
G. Parsons	Bowled	Booth	9	37	31	0	0
S. Gibson	Bowled	Roberts	47	71	87	3	0
B. Kelly	Bowled	Booth	6	16	15	0	0
J. Bull	Ct Darbyshire	Roberts	16	25	20	1	0
J. Leggett *	Bowled	Roberts	1	13	10	0	0
J. Van Lawn	Not Out		24	42	31	2	0
L. Durrans	Bowled	Hart	9	16	14	0	0
S. Phillips	Not Out		2	6	6	0	0
	Extras	(B 4, LB 2, W 9, NB 5)	20
	Total	(9 Wkts, 39.3 overs, 154 mins)	140
FoW: 1-6, 2-6, 3-8, 4-29, 5-45, 6-79, 7-85, 8-106, 9-131
Bowling:
A.J. Hart 7.3-4-15-2, S. Johnson 8-2-14-2, W. Mitchell 6-0-26-0, D. Booth 5-0-24-2,
E. Woodage 2-0-12-0, M. Roberts 8-1-26-3, J. Pearson 2-0-8-0, M. Beardsley 1-0-9-0
RESULT: PORTISHEAD won by 1 Wkt.
Notes: A. J Harts 50: 71 mins, 70 balls, 7-4's)
2nd wicket partnership of 77 between Woodage & Hart.

 2nd Game versus Cheddar CC

BROOKLANDS CC CRICKET TOUR BRISTOL  2004
Match 2: 30 OVERS
CHEDDAR CC V BROOKLANDS CC
Cheddar, Somerset
BROOKLANDS	How Out	Bowler	R	M	B	4	6
M. Beardsley*	Bowled	D. Stacey	3	22	20	0	0
M. J. Roberts	Run Out		15	56	44	0	0
A. J. Hart	LBW	D. Stacey	0	1	1	0	0
S.M. Johnson	Bowled	Thompson	3	23	21	0	0
J. Pearson	Bowled	McQueen	29	37	35	4	1
D. Darbyshire	Bowled	Young	1	4	3	0	0
W. Pidgeon+	Ct B. Stacey	Tinton	2	12	10	0	0
G. Drakonakis	Run Out		10	27	20	1	0
D. Booth	Not Out		5	22	25	0	0
W. Mitchell	Not Out		1	6	3	0	0
	Extras	(B 6, LB 2, W 14, NB 2)	24	1	2	0	0
	Total	(8 Wkts, 30 overs, 109 mins)	93
(A. Platt did not bat)
FoW: 1-8, 2-8, 3-31, 4-33, 5-40, 6-61, 7-79, 8-89
Bowling:		</