2024 Season Review

Season Summary

Things got off to a slow start. We lost six of our opening seven games, with the other one being called off. Things improved after that with a well earned draw against Christ Church. The second half of the season was much more productive winning six out of the seven matches played.

We finished the season with an 'All Stars' game at Cheriton, with the BP / Cavs combo coming out top against EBC & CCW.

Saturday 11 May 2024, Eastleigh BC, Riverside Park

Team - 

Well, the start of another season for BP and our first game was against our friends from Eastleigh at Riverside. After a wet Spring, we suddenly had sunshine and a lot of it. As ever at Riverside, the pitch looked interesting- Pete was in the Priory for tea addiction, so we were led by Will. We also gave debuts to George and Ethan who bought our average age down significantly. One of them was James’s son and the other was his mate, but I can’t quite remember which. Both reallly proved their worth with excellent fielding.

Eastleigh won the toss and batted first. After some early boundaries, BP got into the game with 2 quick wickets- Gav had the ever dangerous James caught at slip by Jono who was tying his shoelaces. George (or Ethan) then took a good catch in the covers and when Will got another wicket, Eastleigh were soon 30-3.

BP were  bowling well and Will soon got a second as did Jono to leave the score at 55-5. It was at this point that 2 of our batsmen stepped up with the ball. Neil and Robin both bowled excellent spells and took crucial wickets that seemed to have tilted the game in our favour. Their captain Toby rallied the tail however and after 30 overs, we were chasing 115 to win.

Fortified by the Sumpter’s excellent lemon drizzle, we began our innings positively. Scoring however was tough and it seemed that every time we played an attacking shot, a wicket would fall. At 45-4 after 15 overs, it was in the balance and Robin was striking the ball well. We reached 70 before a cluster of wickets left us in trouble. Enter Will and Howard who got us to 90 and back in with a chance. Both hit excellent boundaries but in the end, the bowling proved just too good.

It was Eastleigh’s day but congratulations to our debutants and our new bowlers.

Wednesday 22 May 2024, Brookfield School, Riverside Park

Rained off

Saturday 25 May 2024, Eastleigh BC, Riverside Park

Second game of the season, which we lost.

Wednesday 29 May 2024, OMCC, Sports Centre

Third game of the season, which we lost.

Wednesday 5 June 2024, Museums, Sports Centre

Fourth game of the season, which we lost. A trend is starting to form. Defending 63 was always going to be tough. Bad luck seems to be following us around.

Wednesday 8 June 2024, Christ Church, Winchester

Fifth game of the season. We lost. By one run. Our luck must change soon.

Wednesday 19 June 2024, St Cross House, Millbrook Rec.

Sixth game of the season. We finish second.

Saturday 22 June 2024, Christ Church, Riverside Park

Seventh game of the season. Its a draw! Things are improving!

Wednesday 3 July 2024, Deportivo, Sports Centre

Game eight and we are up and running with a win.

Saturday 6 July, Cavaliers, sports Centre

Cancelled due to lack of players. In part this was due to England being involved in some kind of a football competition.

Saturday 20 July 2024, Cavaliers, Riverside Park

Game nine. This is more like it. Antoher victory, with Howard hitting the winning runs despite suffering a rather nasty hand injury earleir in the match.

Wednesday 31 July 2024, OMCC, Sports Centre

On a hot and humid evening, we made our way to pitch 5 and took on our old opponents OMCC

for the second time this season. Always a strong outfit, they had their usual mix of big hitters and rapid

bowlers,so we knew this would not be easy. At least we had a full 11 including debuts for Gav's mate,

Steve, who turned out to be an excellent fielder, and Milo's buddy, Dharv of whom more later.

We fielded first and Pete opened with Gav and Milo, who sound like a boy band from the 90's. Both

bowled well and our fielding was on point, Milo was rewarded with a wicket with a fast yorker, and 

we were in the game. Next on was Will who bowled beautifully from ball 1. He ended up with 3 wickets for only 7 runs 

including a sharp stumping from Howard, and the crucial wicket of their tall all rounder, Niall.

Next came a good spell from Phil M with a wicket and a Robin assisted run out. There was also a first wicket for

Dharv and OMCC closed on 114 off 18 overs.

BP opened with Robin and Duncan who  were positive from ball 1 against pacy bowling. Robin went to a good catch,

but Dunc was in good form with the 4's coming regularly. Milo now followed up his excellent bowling with a 

succession of boundaries and by the 12 over both had  retired on 25 plus not out. Next it was Phil M and Dharn who took 

up the chase. Phil was batting with strong shots around the ground while Dharv decided the best place to go was

straight back over the bowler's head. This took some courage as they had their tallest fielder stationed at long off.

Undeterred Dharv smashed 2 long hits which were both dropped in identical fashion and the score mounted . 

It was still tight and we need 30 odd off 4 overs - Dharv and Phil ran well but the turning point was when Phil hit a 6 over long on.

Eventually we came out winners with one over to spare. Top effort all round and welcome to Steve and Dharv.

Saturday 3 August, Eastleigh Baptist, Riverside Park

With many of the team training abroad and Howard involved in a fruit based romantic triangle, we arrived to play our old friends Eastleigh with an optimistic 9 players. It was a debut for Will’s neighbour Johnny who turned out to be not only a lovely guy but also a talented cricketer.

Eastleigh sportingly gave us two players in Steve and new guy Chris and we got underway batting at Riverside.

Duncan and Arvind got us off to a good start and we were soon 25-0 when they faced the fast but erratic Gus. After what seemed like 15 wides and no balls, They were both bowled by fast straight deliveries and we welcomed Milo to the crease. Suddenly boundaries flowed until he was undone by a lack of pace and bowled for 18. Lewis was batting well and slowly the score built on a typically uneven wicket. Having nearly nailed the umpire with a straight drive, Lewis was out and new Chris took things on with a series of worryingly correct cricket shots. After cameos from Pete, Will and Robin we posted 139 although it should be noted that extras passed 50 which sort of helped.

So to the most important part of the afternoon- Will had made brownies which were thoroughly enjoyed.

Back to the game, and Pete opened with Jono and Will. In one of his classic inspirational speeches, he pointed out that “it wasn’t about pace “.  He turned out to be spot on as Will bowled beautifully again for his wicket and Jono removed both openers one of who was bowled having played 3 different shots before the ball finally arrived.

At 15 overs, following some canny overs from Arvind and some absolute rockets from Milo meant Eastleigh were 42-4. As ever, they had hidden some strong batsmen that n their middle order, but wickets for Johnny and 2 for Chris meant Bp were ahead. Robin then ran out one player and Pete bowled a great length and line. The key moment was when Chris and Lewis ran out Toby and BP came out winners by about 40.

Another great team performance and our results continues.

Wednesday 7 August, Shirley CC, Sports Centre

a much tighter match but once again we find a way to win

Wednesday 21 August, Deportivo, Sports Centre

Blood, sweat and beers

And so we arrived at our final evening game of the season on the back of a 5 game winning run. This had coincidentally happened when Milo returned to the team so it was with some concerns that we heard that he was away studying flora and fauna in Croatia.

Nevertheless spirits were high which was appropriate as we were on pitch 5 at the Sports Centre. We lost the toss and Deportivo decided to bat. They are always a strong team and tonight they attacked from ball 1. Original Mike bowled with great pace and Gav soon found his best form at the other end. Edges flew past fielders until Will took a good catch off Gav and they were 20 odd for 1. Their middle order were now swinging the ball to the boundary and when Jon was bowling over the boundary but BP never gave up and soon Howard took a smart stumping off Will. Rob also engineered a smart run out but after their 16 overs, we were chasing 132 to win.

We opened with Robin and new Simon ( like original Simon but less swearing) and they got us to a rapid 20 before Simon was out. Some of the bowling was rapid and a bit short and Phil M was hit just below the eye when he top edged a pull shot and had to retire. Robin batted well and Rob then came in a hit a classy 25 not out including consecutive sixes. Neil was also timing the ball beautifully and he too retired as we passed 100 with 3 overs to go. In the end, we came up short by 18 but a brave effort. When asked if he needed a lift home, Phil heroically declined and explained that he’d be ok as although short sighted, he could see the bench ….which was 8 feet away.

We retired to the pub and argued happily about the champagne moment.

Saturday 31 August, Cavaliers, Riverside Park

This was the deciding match of our series against our old mates the Cavaliers, and it was good to welcome Milo back into the team. We were missing Pete who was busy negotiating with Liam about the contract for his gospel choir to support Oasis their reunion tour. Luckily Pete and Liam go way back  so a deal looks almost certain. 

Will won the toss and BP batted first under overcast skies. Howard and Gav got us off to a great start. Howard’s flick off his legs for 4 was a particular highlight and we were 25 before H tried a cheeky second, and was run out. Robin soon followed to another run out as the Cavs bowled and fielded well. Gav and James V then saw us to drinks on 63-2. 

After the break, the Cav’s spin trio of Barrat, Murray and Jim made runs hard to find,but Gav was in fine form and made an excellent 48 before he was caught and bowled. Daz who was playing his 30 th anniversary game, hit some great shots before getting the first of a number of unplayable deliveries- which also accounted for Rob and Milo. The pitch was definitely not easy. Lewis then got some quick runs before Simon made a crucial 21 not out off the last 4 overs   We finished on 132 and the game was in the balance. 

Fortified by Will’s apple cake ( part of a new range from the tech company), we opened with Milo and Jono. Troubled by Milo’s pace and accuracy, the batsman seemed so relieved when Jono bowled, that he missed a slow full toss and was lbw. When Dunc then pulled a ball to Simon at short mid wicket, the Cav’s were 18-2. Murray and Barat however batted with real authority taking the Cavs to a competitive 62-3 at the break. 

This was anyone’s game,  but Will kept the field up and Howard was keeping brilliantly on a tricky wicket. Then came the breakthroughs - Will trapped Barrat lbw and Rob had Jim and the excellent Murray caught to turn the game our way. Milo’s catch to dismiss Jim was a thing of wonder being high and one handed to his right. ( Phil - the ball was high, not Milo). 

BP then kept it tight with James and Gav taking well deserved wickets and an excellent slip catch by Lewis. In the end the game was won by BP and Daz very kindly bought the world’s largest round at the Hop.

Saturday 7 September, Christ Church, Cheriton

Cancelled due to the early arrival of winter.

Saturday 14 September, All Stars XI, Cheriton

Bitterne Park & The Cavaliers Vs Eastleigh Baptist Church & Christ Church Winchester

Team: Mark, Duncan, Suneet, James, Sam, Murray, Samson, George, Ethan, Carl, Nick

The run of good September weather for our usual Cheriton-based epilogue to the season sadly let us down for the previous Saturday’s scheduled match.  The team discussion around whether and when to concede to the conditions warrants its own match report but for the sake of brevity (and sanity) let’s just reference the WhatsApp and leave it there.

With many players unavailable for selection it was touch and go whether this match would go ahead, but with a better forecast and James V’s parents planning to turn up to the ground in any case, a determined effort gathered the necessary bodies.  Some handy maths-based investigations of the willing players (carry the one) showed that an obvious combination yielding 11 v 11 would be for BP and Cavs to join forces and take on the combined Eastleigh and Christchurch.  Unfortunately the oppo mislaid a player on the day but Carl gamely offered to field for both teams and spent most of the time trying to find the ‘cricket’ mode on his activity tracker.

Everyone gathered at the appointed time.  Toby and Tim tossed to see who would captain Eastleigh\Christchurch after a very British discussion, ‘after you’, ‘no after you’…  Toby won and proceeded to also win the actual toss.  James V, in his inaugural (actually in this case) game as stand-in captain had spent the build-up developing a mantra of ‘bat first, bat first, bat first…’ and was therefore caught somewhat off guard when Toby won the toss…and put BP\Cavs in to bat.  It soon became very clear why.

All of these players are used to the Riverside pitches, but even so, this day’s Cheriton pitch was a contender.  The groundsman had done his best and the ground looked splendid as usual, but there is only so much which can be done in mid-September after the summer we have had.  There was a lot of green, and mud not too far away.  There was cloud, and a breeze, and altogether perfect bowling conditions.

We never did quite resolve in the game what to call ourselves: BP\Cavs, just BP, Bavaliers, ‘The Pagans’ (vs the Christians) were all tried out but we will stick with BP\Cavs here. 

Unsurprisingly, BP\Cavs struggled to score initially with the ball swinging and bouncing unevenly and a slow outfield.  Mark and Duncan battled to 10 off the first 7 overs before Mark fell to Noah (aged 12) who bowled superbly all game.  Suneet no sooner settled before being caught off Noah.  Sunil didn’t get a wicket but throughout was bowling extremely tightly, only conceding 8 runs from his 6 overs.  James V joined Duncan and they began to get the scoreboard ticking along as the sun came out, although still only up to 39 at the 15-over drinks break.  At this stage an early finish to the game seemed a fair bet.

After the break things improved, with Duncan hitting out as James V anchored.  Duncan was somewhat in the wars – having to dive for the crease to avoid run outs more than once as quick singles were attempted.  After James V was brilliantly caught by Aaron, Sam joined the fray but struggled to reach full demolition mode as the good bowling continued.  One shot went straight at Duncan and thankfully he managed to deflect most of the force with his hand although still gained a fat lip from it.  Duncan continued to progress but fell agonisingly on 49, just short of a well deserved 50 but the stand out contribution to our innings.  Murray and Samson helped Sam to a handy 17, with a good showing from ‘extras’ taking us to 112 after 30 overs. This had a hint of competitiveness to it, and certainly much healthier than feared earlier in the innings.  Now, would the conditions turn for the second innings?

A few snacks refreshed the players and BP\Cavs took to the field in bullish mood.  Carl was playing his first game this season after some serious triathlon training and he quickly found good form with ball, as did the ever reliable Samson.  The resulting scoreboard pressure put us on top, and the wickets followed when Sam and Murray came on first change.  The conditions were a shade better for batting, but at drinks the opponents were almost exactly at the same position that we were at the same stage, so the game would be won or lost in the final quarter.

The next 10 overs saw the momentum swing backwards and forwards repeatedly and made for an exciting end to the season.  Suneet did a great job behind the stumps, and took a ball to the eyebrow after James V bowled Noah, thankfully without serious injury.  Nick fielded admirably on his debut (having got to grips with the scorebook while we batted), although the ball did seem to follow him around and he gained some trophy bruises for his effort.  George and Ethan also proved their contributions earlier in the season were not one-offs and fielded really well at cover and midwicket throughout.

Toby and Tim threatened to take the game away from us as Carl and Samson came back on in the final few overs.  However, the regular fall of wickets (including 2 in Duncan’s only over!) meant that Eastleigh\Cavs ran out of batsmen with Carl taking a smart caught and bowled to give BP\Cavs the win with 2 overs to spare.

Overall a good friendly end to the season with some entertaining cricket, a win to take us exactly tied for the season overall for wins\losses, and the inevitable trip to the Flower Pots to finish.