Village Cup Draw

The draw for this season’s Village Cup has been made with Miskin drawing a bye in the first two rounds and will have to travel to the winners of Ynystawe and Hopkinstown in round three on 3 June.  Success will lead to a Regional Final on 17 June against the winners of St Fagans and Vale who also meet on 3 June.

Full details are in the attached:

NVC2012Nat-rounds

NVC2012draw

Village Cup Rules 2012

3rd team fixtures revealed

The 3rd XI face a tough start to the league season home to last season’s division one runner’s up, Caerleon before travelling to Cardiff to play St Peters.  The local derby against Tom Pentre will take place on 26 May and the 3rds face back to back games over the weekend of 23 and 24 June against Porth and Undy & Magor, the games among a run of 4 straight games on the road.

The 3rds finish the season with 3 home games including the return fixtures with Porth and Undy & Magor.

For full details click here

Competition for Places Heats up

With 4 teams likely to operate next season, the competition for places is going to hot up in the run up to the season.  Give yourself a head start by attending pre-season training:

Seniors: Tuesdays 6:00 – 7:30 at Cowbridge

Juniors: Wednesdays 8:00 – 9:00 at Y Pant

Miskin Launches a 4th XI

Miskin Manor CC will endeavour to run a 4th XI Saturday team this season playing a series of friendly matches, with a view to entering the 3rd and 4th XIs into a 2 team league structure next season. 

The success of the 3rd XI under the captaincy of Paul Elks, plus the continued success of the junior sections, had led to a situation whereby the club could find itself with anything up to 50 senior players and more than a dozen junior members, looking for regular weekend cricket.

The benefit to junior players in playing weekend games is immeasurable and we have to ensure a future in senior cricket for as many juniors as we can.

It is envisaged the 3rds and 4ths will operate closely together to ensure that there is an appropriate mix of youth and experience in both teams, whilst ensuring the 3rds are competitive in what could prove to be, their last season in the Alliance.

If anyone knows of any clubs looking for friendly fixtures, or if you are from another club and looking for 4th XI standard friendly fixture, please contact Steve Hopkin or Keith Davies (see details here)

Senior Nets ON

Further the message below re Junior Practice, no such rest for the seniors, Senior nets are ON next Tuesday (14th Feb) as normal.

What better way to entertain the lady in your life than to drag her down to Cowbridge to watch the athletes in action.

Half term break

There will be no junior practice next week (15 Feb) due to half term, sessions will recommence the following week, 22 February.

Promotion for the 3rds

Time to call in those bets – before a ball has been bowled in anger this season, the 3rds have been “promoted” to the Alliance Division One.  Congratulations to Moose and the boys on this fantastic achievement!

A restructure in the league has seen one of the Alliance Division One clubs take up a position in Division four of the 2 tier structure, Miskin Manor CC 3rds applying to take up a similar position in Division 4 second XI.  However, losing one team has left the Alliance first division a team short and having been 3rd last season and missing out on promotion by one place, Miskin have accepted an invitation and now join Pontypridd and Porth being promoted into Alliance One.

This sets up a potential mouth-watering local derby against Tonyrefail/Coed Ely with whom the 3rds share a ground.

Speaking to the website earlier, team captain Paul “The Moose” Elks said:

“It’s a fantastic achievement for the team and we cannot wait to get stuck into those Division One boys.  Having our 3rd XI playing at this high standard will help bring on our youngsters and bridge the gap between 2nd and 3rd XIs”

 

Curry Night – 10 February – We’ll always have Porth

Porth Remembered

Miskin Manor 3^rd XI defeated Porth by 3 wickets

A special curry evening has been organised on Friday 10 February, meet 8:00pm in the Athletic Club, to remember this special occasion, and to officially retire the Porth bat.

Saturday 26 June 2010 will live long in the memories of those brave 3^rd team players travelling to play top of the table Porth at Gelligaled Park.  A flat, dusty wicket, and a baking hot day meet the players and as was customary, having won the toss, Paul Elks inserted Porth thus condemning the Miskin team to an afternoon of ball chaffing ball chasing!

What followed was a game which broke all coaching rules and a run chase the like of which the 3^rd team is unlikely to see for many decades.  The game which spawned the phrase:

Catches win matches except at Porth where you can drop 12 catches and still win the game

Porth posted an impressive 242 for 6 in their 45 overs (including the older Skelton tipping a catch over the bar for 6!) against a team who had not scored more than 150 for nearly three years, a team containing a rag bag mixture of youth and experience, but one resigned to a pleasant afternoon of batting but without much thought for the result.

Buddha Newberry had forsaken his usual opening position in order to find some solace from the summer sun, having kept wicket for 45 overs, the Miskin innings was opened by Bale and ”The scurge of Tondu, Owen Skelton.  Buddha’s rest was to last just 4 overs! 

Arriving at the wicket at 21-3, the game was all but over (well slightly more over than it was at 0-0).  However, the stylish Gareth Bale had other ideas and in the next 20 overs, Buddha and Bale added over 100 runs at around a run a ball.  Meeting every over and agreeing to start pinching singles once the field was set back, that moment never arrived and Bale continued to punch the ball through the off side, a boundary an over, to keep abreast of the required run rate.

But when Bale departed, the inevitable collapse followed, Baby Buddha and Ryans Junior and Senior coming and going in fairly quick succession, the asking rate begining to climb, Buddha senior looking very much worse for ware.  By the time Captain Elks joined Buddha at the wicket, runs had all but dried up completely and with 10 overs to go, 95 runs were still required.

“Let’s see where we are in 6 overs” said Buddha, his only concern at that point was not to be rolled over inside 45.  For the next 6 overs, the pair picked up ones and twos with the occasional boundary, and leaving a target of 66 off 4.

Confident Miskin would probably escape the embarrassment of being bowled out, Captin Moose decided to “go for it?”.  What subsequently unfolded in those remaining overs, those present could scarcely believe.  4 overs of absolute carnage followed, 16 runs scored in each of overs 42 and 43, leaving 34 required off two.  Elks, a man possessed, hitting a number of fours and then an enormous 6.  Cue the return of the Porth skipper who decided to take charge and bring himself back on for the penultimate over. 

Finally the field retreated but it was seemingly too late, fours, wides, wides which went for 4 and a boundary off the final ball and from nowhere, just 9 runs were needed from the final over.  For the very first time in the match, the prospect of pulling off the most remarkable of victories

“Come on lads, who wants it more” was the cry from square leg as the first ball of the over was bowled, crack and Elks hit it for a single, then a single, then a 4, 6 off 3 balls, 3 off three to win, Elks on strike and for the first time Miskin firmly in the driving seat. 

But how quickly a game can change, the 4^th was a dot ball, three off two. and then the 5^th a squirmed single out to square leg, 2 runs off 1 ball and the field closing back in.  With Elks off strike and the fielders in, it appeared Miskin’s moment had gone.

“As the bowler ran in, I remember thinking ‘Long on and Long off are back, I should be able to clear them, it’s not a big hit and if I hit it vaguely in that direction, it gives me longer to get back for 2’.  As the bowler approached the crease, I started to walk down the wicket.  Then the words of my junior coach, Ken “K D” Williams, advice given to me 25 years before, flashed into my head, ‘play a proper cricket shot, you’ve got to play a proper cricket shot’.  I stopped, took a deep breath and the delivery was wide of the stumps.  I knew that point was square and 3^rd man was fine and there was a big gap between them, so I dropped the bat and played a late cut.  I remember not getting enough on it and the ball flying off much too fine and towards third man,  and as I turned for two, Elksey screaming ‘he’s missed it, he’s missed it, we’ve won’ –  before dropping his bat, running down the track and flinging himself at me!”

For some of the younger players, the euphoria of that day has left them with the belief that cricket is always like that.  For the older heads in the team, the realisation that for as long as they continue to play cricket, they are unlikely to be involved in such a game again.

A fitting tribute that during the evening the bat which scored the winning runs, will be signed by those XI heroes (for that is what they are) and then retired never to see a ball in anger again.

 

Result: Miskin Manor CC – 3rd XI Won by 3 wickets

Porth CC - 1st XI

			R	B	4s	6s
Leon Jacka	ct Will Ryan	b Will Ryan	20	0	0	0
Josh Baker		A Ringsell	30	0	0	0
Jack Davies	ct A Ringsell	b Will Ryan	2	0	0	0
Ben Evans +		b Paul Elks	61	0	0	0
Geraint Tucker *		b Paul Elks	64	0	0	0
Garin Roderick		A Ringsell	18	0	0	0
Lloyd Davies	Not Out		8	0	0	0
Gareth Williams	Not Out		1	0	0	0
Craig Wilson	Did Not Bat
Nick Smart	Did Not Bat
Jordan Margery	Did Not Bat
Extras	( )		38
Total	(6 wickets, 45 overs)		242

 

Fall Of Wickets

Bowling

	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd
Paul Elks	10	2	38	2	0	0
Will Ryan	7	0	35	2	0	0
Stefyn Hopkins	10	1	39	0	0	0
A Ringsell	8	2	22	2	0	0
Gareth Bale	5	0	44	0	0	0
D SKELTON	3	0	21	0	0	0

 

Miskin Manor CC - 3rd XI

			R	B	4s	6s
Gareth Bale		b Geraint Tucker	74	0	0	0
D SKELTON	ct Ben Evans	b Josh Baker	1	0	0	0
Carl Gehler		b Josh Baker	1	0	0	0
A Ringsell		b Leon Jacka	4	0	0	0
Glenn Newberry +	Not Out		71	0	0	0
K NEWBERRY		b Lloyd Davies	0	0	0	0
Tom Ryan	ct Geraint Tucker	b Lloyd Davies	4	0	0	0
Will Ryan		b Josh Baker	3	0	0	0
Paul Elks *	Not Out		44	0	0	0
D Skelton	Did Not Bat
Stefyn Hopkins	Did Not Bat
Extras	( )		43
Total	(7 wickets, 45 overs)		245

 

Fall Of Wickets

Bowling

	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd
Josh Baker	10	3	35	3	0	0
Leon Jacka	10	1	33	1	0	0
Nick Smart	10	3	23	0	0	0
Garin Roderick	3	0	24	0	0	0
Geraint Tucker	3	0	40	1	0	0
Lloyd Davies	6	0	41	2	0	0
Jack Davies	3	0	21	0	0	0

 

200 Club Results

The 200 Club winners for January were:-     

 £20    B J Clarke

£15    G Hayes

£10    A Jackson

£5      I Martin

I didn’t win anything in the 200 Club this month which personally I think is an outrage, but I did win £25 on the Tote so all’s good.

 

Alliance Line up Confirmed

Hot off the press. One league for Alliance 2. Line up is as follows:

Miskin Manor III
Cynon Valley
Monkswood III
Senghenydd
Newbridge III
Llanhilleth
Maesteg III
Malpas III
Ebbw Vale III
Tondu III
Cardiff Cobras
Dinas Powys III

Let the punditry begin………

Paul “The Moose” Elks