Throughout the season, we will update this page with match reports and pictures. If it is possible we will do this on a match by match basis, however it may take a few days to complete so please check back in a day or two if the report you are looking for does not appear below.
Saturday 26/07/08 - Away v Greens Norton
The hottest day of the year to date and it was vital that we had 11 men and didn't have to field in the baking sun first, however a late withdrawal meant the team had 10 men and with Captain Colin failing to win the toss meant we had to field in the heat. Layers of sun cream were put on by the sensible members of the team and we all trudged out to the middle, Nick Stanger and Ollie Church were again charged with the new ball and all that was left was to get the game started.
The Greens Norton openers were moving along at 4 runs per over before Ollie Church got M. Bristow to drive straight at Mat 'safe as houses' Folkes, this however was the last of the wickets for a while as N. Taylor and S. Horley the put on 60 for the second wicket and in doing so increased the run rate to 5 runs per over, it was looking like a big target and some of the heads and hearts began to sink, a few missed opportunities didn't help the cause and a late barrage of boundaries saw Greens Norton finish with 213-7. Nick Stanger deserved more from his spell and somehow only finished with 2-45 from 12 overs, Ollie Church had a great opening spell but couldn't replicate the same in his second spell and eventually finsihed with 9 overs 1-44, Ian Gough made a rare outing with the ball and bowled well finshing with figures of 1-44, the other wicket taker today saw Ashley Griffiths take 2-33 from 5 overs.
Teas were taken in the pub, a good oportunity for the boys to freshen up and revitalise themselves for the second innings, again it was left to mat Folkes and Nick Stanger to open the innings and making good use of his good form and new bat Mat Folkes scored a handy 31, Nick Stanger batted beautifully and for the first wicket they put on 60 albeit in 17 overs, this however was to be the end of the good batting; Ben Jones, Marcus Mears, Alex Piggott, Colin Piggot and Ashley Griffiths all fell in quick succession with a combined score of 18, C. Bowmer taking a hattrick of the two Piggott's and Ash. It was left to Nick and Ollie Church who scored a big hitting 20 to push on towards the total, unfortunately overs were running out and the focus switched from a team effort to trying to get Nick to his first 100, with the final balls of the 39th over looming Martin Piggott ran himself out to put Nick on strike and in the 40th over Nick needed just 8 runs to make the magical 3 figures; he managed to get 4 from the first 2 balls but in trying to force the issue he was bowled and finsihed on an agonising 96.
The game was unfortunately marred with some unsavoury comments made by a few of the Greens Norton bowlers who really should be reprimanded for their involvement. The game should be remembered however for the great batting display from Nick Stanger, who in the last 2 games has scored an amazing 171 runs and only gave his wicket away trying to reach the magical 3 figures. WELL BATTED NICK and long may your form continue, it just leaves the rest of us to improve and help the side win more games and get out of this relegation zone so that we stay in division 2 for next season.
Saturday 19/07/08 - Home v Sibford
On a hot day, captain Colin lost the toss and were asked to bowl by the visiting captain, the line up for Gawcott today saw Aaron Critchley and Steve Blackwell return and Marcus Mears behind the stumps again. Nick Stanger and Ollie Church opened the bowling and blew the opposition away, Nick bowled a succession of tight overs whilst Ollie bowled a terrific opening spell in which he took 3 wickets, roughed up the batsmen and forced the skipper into adding more and more fielders into the slip corden, at one stage it resembled the famous England v West Indies picture of everybody fielding behind the wicket!! Keeper, 3 slips, 2 gully fielders, a man at point, cover, mid-off, 1 man at mid-wicket and a fine leg. For Sibford only Ian Wollerton made a telling contribution with the bat, notching a fine 94 and without this Sibford would have been rolled over for not very many, as it was they clawed their way to 166-9.
Ollie Church finished the innings with a highly creditable 3-30 from 10 overs, Nick Stanger took some late punishment to finish with figures of 2-42 from 10 overs, Steve Blackwell bowled aggresively for his 10 over spell and finished with figures of 3-41, proving that on our day Gawcott can produce good performances and with a full compliment of players to choose from are capable of winning matches. Another area in which the team excelled today were the amount of extras conceded, only giving 6 wides and 1 no-ball away from the bowlers and no byes let go by the keeper.
In the tea break, the team were confident of chasing the total down but the general consensus was "they got too many runs", all members were happy but felt we should have bowled them out for 120 at the very most. Anyway it was left to Mat Folkes and Nick Stanger to continue their opening partnership that had led to our first victory at Warwick, Mat went off like a train scoring 10 runs in the opening overs before being caught out with the score on 20, however this bought Aaron 'Chilly' Critchley to the crease with his dancing feet style of batting. Nick and Chilly scored at a fair pace and managed to put on 91 runs in 22 overs before the later departed for an entertaining 29, this bought Marcus Mears to the crease who has been struggling for runs of late, however with the run rate at approximately 6 runs per over, he didn't hang around looking for form, a quickfire 15 along with continued good batting from Nick Stanger saw the pair reduce this to 5 runs per over with just 6 overs remaining. Marcus got out LBW trying to improvise a boundary which saw Steve Blackwell enter the fray, he also scored quickly but lost his wicket at a vital time and with Ollie Church unable to produce the same form as the week before by falling for a golden duck, it was left to Captain Colin Piggott and Nick Stanger to see the side home. The final over was as follows: Ball 1 = 2 runs (Nick), Ball 2 = 1 run (Nick), Ball 3 = 4 runs (Colin), with the game tied at 166 each and three deliveries remaining, both sides must have known the win was heading to Gawcott but..... Ball 4 = A big heave and a miss from Colin, thus adding to the tension, Ball 5 = A big heave from Colin but this time a top edge over the keeper for 1 run saw Gawcott take victory for a second week running. Nick Stanger finished with a brilliant 75 not out and he is really enjoying some good form with the bat this year and will hopefully carry it on into the closing games of the season.
For Sibford J. Barton bowled 12 overs and finished with 0-35, N. Pratt was under bowled and finished with 8 overs 3-25, L. Gilbert made a brief appearance only bowling 4 overs 0-23, the bowler who took the biggest beating was S. Chard who bowled 7 overs and ended up going for 43 runs without taking a wicket, finally C. Sabin bowled with good intent and finished with 2-32 including the prize wicket of Marcus Mears!!
Victory again breathes life into the team and will push them onwards and upwards, the game against Greens Norton can't come quick enough and with them loosing 6 straight games they are clear in the sights of the boys and will hopefully be yet another victim for the resurgant Gawcott & Hillesden C.C.C.
Saturday 12/07/08 - Away v Warwick Uni Staff 'A'
Today wil be remembered for 2 things, the first victory and Nick Stanger getting to meet his beloved Coventry City team as they turned up for pre-season training at Warwick University. The long trip to Warwick didn't fill too many of the team with high hopes, a long season of nearly wins and frustrating games, combined with a 40 mile drive in the rain and wind for a game that could get called off at any stage because of the weather wasn't the best of starts to the day. Also with only 8 names on the team sheet at 11am some late rallying by the skipper was needed and we eventually clawed together a team of 10 men. Upon arriving at the ground, a gleaming row of Bentley's, Mercedes, BMW's and all types of expensive cars lined the car park, this certainly wasn't the opposition and it actually turned out to be Coventry City who were using the facilities for pre-season training ahead of their summer tour training camp in Germany, this seemed to perk the players up and all were buzzing before the game and after a brief shower play began.
A brand new opening partnership was formed in the shape of Mat Folkes and Nick Stanger and it was a steady start for the pair who scored well putting the bad ball away and seeing off the opening bowlers, unusually Nick missed a straight one but this allowed the skipper to make his was to the crease and he duly obliged by stroking a beautiful 47, surviving a dropped catch at slip along the way; another man to survive the dodgy slip corden was Mat Folkes who applied himself very well at the top of the order to score 29. Ollie Church, who has struggled with the bat for a while shrugged off his problems and obliterated the opposition bowlers, smashing all comers around the park on his way to a blistering 40 and provided the finishing touches to a highly commendable 152-8. The bowlers who stood out for Warwick were spinner Harsimrat Singh 3-33 and Depak Kumar 3-26, other than these two the bowlers were subjected to Ollie Church and his mighty slab of Willow.
In reply to Gawcott & Hillesden's total, Warwick Uni Staff 'A' never looked like getting close to the total, Ollie Church continued his fabulous match with some very quick and hostile bowling, to be fair the pitch was very slow and unresponsive so Ollie's effort was amazing, he eventually finished with 4-41 (12 overs), not wanting to be overshadowed in the man of the match awards, Colin Piggott chipped in with 4-28 and Nick Stanger grabbed the remaining wickets to finish with 2-18. There was some late hitting from the home side, Depak Kumar scoring 23 and Pratysar Sonar 19 but with the required rate climbing to over 10 runs per over they were never going to score enough to deny the side their first victory of the season and make the long trip worth it.
VICTORY AT LAST, WE'VE WON, 20 POINTS, and many other joyous phrases were banded around at the end of the game and this win will now take the team onwards and upwards. With confidence bouyed and the first win out of the way it is only a matter of time before the team will leap out of the relegation battle and achieve mid-table obscurity.
Saturday 05/07/08 - Home v Croughton
On a breezy day in Gawcott Croughton skipper Steve Connors won the toss and elected to bat first, the openers scored at a slow rate of 2 runs per over for the first 12 overs before Ollie Church was introduced into the attack to break the partnership, a great spell of hostile bowling that deserved more reqard than the one wicket saw him return figures of 1-22. The dangerman in Croughton's lineup Steve Connor was dismissed for just 14, not a patch on his recent form which has seen him score over 200 runs without losing his wicket.
Unfortunately there was a huge moment of controversey in the game when it appeared Rio Wetherill glanced a leg side delivery to the keeper, however he failed to walk and was adjudged not out by the standing umpire, he used this good fortune to score a valuable 46 and along with Ian Skuce, who scored 40, took the visitors up to 154-7 from their 40 overs. Nick Stanger chipped in with 3-30 (12 overs) to show some form with the ball and give the Gawcott boys something to aim for in the run chase, a feat that so far this season has been lacking.
In response Gawcott & Hillesden sent out Marcus Mears and Nick Stanger to open the batting, this was not to prove as succesfull as it has in the past as the first wicket fell for just 15 runs on the board. Nick Stanger went on to score a creditable 29 and was superbly assisted by Steve Blackwell who top scored with 32, including some brutal shots through mid-wicket, and Ashley Griffiths who added 13 not out at the end of the innings. A super shot by Lewis Clarke saw the youngster smash a huge six over mid-off, but unfortunately he couldn't summon any more like this to push the side over the winning line. The Croughton bowler that did the most damage was Clive Atkins, an initial spell of bowling saw him produce figures of 1-22 from 10 overs, but it was the final spell that saw him collect 4-5 from 2 overs to kill the game off.
It was a pity the game had the controversial point in it, especially as the game finished so closely. The boys will have to pick themselves up and come out fighting next week when they make the long journey up the M40 to Warwick University to play the team that sits 1 place above them in the league as we speak.
Saturday 28/06/08 - Away v Gayton
A fine sunny day and a trip to the Northamptonshire village of Gayton faced the team, due to unavailability and injury the team had to take to the field with 10 men for yet another game this year. Having won the toss the Gayton skipper had no hesitation in batting first on what was a good hard wicket, the openers, A McDermott 49 and S. McDermott 55 tore the bowling apart and raced to an impresive opening stand of 120 in just 16 overs. After the initial onslaught however the Gawcott bowlers managed to claw things back ever so slightly, Ian Gough took the first wicket with a short wide one that was nicked to the keeper, he gained figures of 1-28 (4 overs), Steve Blackwell changed ends and claimed some revenge for an early barrage by taking 2-65 (12 overs), Nick Stanger struggled 1-59 (12 overs), the enforced captaincy taking some focus away from his bowling, however he did manage to bowl the only maiden of the innings. It was Ashley Griffiths who performed yet again with the ball for Gawcott though, taking an impressive 4-42 (12 overs), a clever mix of bowling saw him claim 1 stumping, 1 nick to the keeper, 1 catch in the deep and a quicker ball that bowled a well set batsman. Gayton finished the innings 240-8, some late runs added by P. Weilter 56, with an average run rate of 6 per over, it could have been much more as the first 15 overs they scored at 8 runs per over. On the fielding aspect, it was very rewarding to see the boys stick to their task and put in 100% effort right the way through the 40 overs, especially as the sun was beating down all afternoon and were a man short.
The task of chasing 240 always looked a bit out of reach and in the end proved so but not for the want of trying, Ben Jones opened the batting and scored 12 before getting out trying to keep up with the run rate. A spate of quick wickets killed off the slight chance Gawcott had in hauling in the target, however there were some fine strokes in Steve Blackwell's 16 before he also fell trying to up the run rate and make an audacious attempt to win the game, Nick Stanger again showed signs that the captaincy was drawing focus away from his game and scored just 10. It fell to Marcus Mears 31 not out and Ian Minney to steer the team past 100 in order to gain the much needed batting point and the missing eleventh man proved pivotal as the team eventually finished on 122, narrowly missing out by three runs on a second batting point. For a side gunning for promotion though, the Gayton captain must look at the number of extra's his team gave up as an area for improvement, both bowling and fielding indiscretions amounted to 26; the standout bowlers for Gayton however were J. Bobsin 4-31 (12 overs) and T. Drayton 3-27 (7.2 overs).
With the second half of the season looming the team now look towards a home game with Croughton and a chance to turn fortunes around, it will only take one game for every member of the team to fire and that first elusive win will arrive. Good luck boys and lets stuff the boys from Croughton and get some meaningful points on the board.
Saturday 21/06/08 - Away v Hanslope
A cold and cloudy, overcast day saw the team head for friendly rivals Hanslope, on the back of two good performances, one with the bat and one with the ball, it was a very positive side that turned up for the game, due to other commitments there were some big changes to the line-up, no Scott Rogers, Wayne De Beer, Steve Blackwell or Ben Jones, this meant that the side had 10 men and were going to be up against it from the start. The pitch was a touch green to say the least and it was highly important to win the toss and have a go with the new ball, however Captain Colin failed to win, even though he had two goes at calling!!
Heading into bat, there was yet another opening partnership, Marcus Mears and Colin Piggott; however it was not the most fruitful, only lasting 3 balls before the first wicket went down with the scorers yet to be troubled. It was another fine knock by Nick Stanger, scoring 46, and a knock that was worth much more than it actually was, Matt Folkes scoring 20 (his highest score of the season thus far) that put the innings in the realm of competitivness: 129 all out from 36.5 overs. The bowlers from Hanslope all had some success but the stand out performer was M. Chilton who took 6-32 (11.5 overs).
In response Hanslope got off to a flyer, scoring very freely in the first 12 overs reaching 45-1, M Wyeth scoring 20, however during the middle overs a great spell from Colin Piggott opened the game up with him eventually taking 4-44 (10 overs), despite some very suspect fielding. The Gawcott & Hillesden team of 10 men pushed Hanslope all the way to the finish line, J. Funnell batting low down the order due to a finger injury picked up in the first innings, scored 27 and some big hitting from M. Pell, who scored 26 got Hanslope scoring runs again but a steady performance from S. Ritchie, 26 not out, saw Hanslope over the line with 5 overs to spare but only just as the score was 130-8; Ashley Griffiths chipped in with 2-15 (5.4 overs) to continue his run of form with the ball.
A tough game against Gayton next week now looms and three good performances have led to a team morale that defies the league table position at this stage of the season, the problem now looms for the skipper as he has a full pool of players to choose from and will no doubtedly have to work his magic to come up with the right formula.
Saturday 14/06/08 - Home v Evenley 'A'
On a sunny and slightly breezy June afternoon, the match between the two lowest placed teams in Division 2 of the SNCL took place at the Richard Roper Playing Fields in Gawcott. Our captain Colin Piggott managed to continue his ways and won the toss and having had a brief discussion with the team beforehand, had no hesitation in choosing to bat first, the plan being to gain some much needed confidence after some dismal recent performances.
This week saw the partnership of Ben Jones and Marcus Mears opening the batting, it was a steady start before the main partnership of the innings came together between Nick Stanger, who eventually went for a fine knock of 70 and Marcus Mears who scored an admirable 42, this was backed up by some late hitting from Scott Rogers who finished with 30 not out, taking the overall total to 172 for 5, a marked improvement from recent weeks. The attack for Evenley came in the shape of B. Pearson 3-42 (8 overs), a very tidy performance from B.Williams 1-4 (6 overs) and a lively opening burst from B. Godber 1-17 (8 overs).
Evenley started off at a sensational pace and had reached 50 very quickly, the openers R. Darby and B. Godber both scoring 29, before some tight bowling bought the game back to a more even contest. A steady knock from S.Walker, 65 not out, and C. Scott 17 not out, eventually seeing Evenley home with 3 overs to spare for the loss of only 4 wickets. The bowling attack for the home side saw Ashley Griffiths taking 2-28 (8 overs), Nick Stanger 1-43 (10.5 overs) and Ollie Church 1-54 (10 overs).
The match today was a very even contest, both teams were keen not to give the advantage over to the opposition at the foot of the table, however it was Evenley who managed to come out on top at the end of the day. In all there were many positives to be taken away from the game, Marcus Mears scoring runs at the top of the innings, a return to form with the bat by Nick Stanger and Ashley Griffiths getting amongst the wickets again. The attention now turns to next saturday's away game at rivals Hanslope, which now that the batsmen are finding form and the bowlers have got into a good rythmn should be a good chance for claiming that elusive first win of the season.
Saturday 07/06/08 - Away v Hinton-in-the-Hedges
Ok so the first match report, not quite in sequential order but hey the season started before I got a chance to do this!! I was hoping that the new website would add some luck into the team unfortunately this wasn't to be the case. On a reasonably sunny afternoon in Hinton, Colin Piggott won the toss and made a wise decision to take the new ball and have a crack at the pace setters in division 2 this year. The line up today saw a return to action for Steve Blackwell and Oliver Church, both making their first appearance of the season, Ollie started proceedings with a superb opening burst ousting 2 batsmen in the second over and causing problems at every turn eventually ending with figures of 4-16. Steve also chipped in with 3-16, claiming the key wicket of Andy Stevens who contributed the majority of the runs for Hinton, Ashley Griffiths wrapped up the innings with 2-8, the other wicket going to Nick Stanger. Hinton finished on 94 all out.
The mood was cheerful during the tea break, with everybody seeing this as an ideal opportunity to get the first win of the season under our belts and a much needed confidence boost. Unfortunately events were not so straight forward, the team eventually being bowled out for 37, only Lewis Clark making double figures top scoring with 15. The damage was done by Mark Mousden 5-16, Sean Ellam 3-10 and Dan Soady 2-8.
Overall a fantastic performance with the ball and some encouraging signs that this particular half of the game is falling into place for the team, on the batting front a framework of consistency and application needs to be established. The focus now shifts to next saturday when we play host to Evenley 'A', who at the time of writing are the team we are battling with at the foot of the table.
Saturday 31/05/08 - Home v Wardington
This game saw the first signs that the team are going to have a real battle in the league this year. An hour before the scheduled start of the match the side consisted of only 9 players. Some frantic late calls to all players managed to scrape up the required number of competitors, even if one was nursing an injury and another was still at work in Leicester. The innings stuttered all the way through with the batting line-up not settled till well after the start of the match. The team managed to score 108-10, Nick Stanger scoring 22 top scoring with Ben Jones and Ashley Griffiths both adding 17 at either end of the innings. The four bowlers for Wardington all took wickets: J. Buck 3-21 (8.5 overs), M. Taylor 2-25 (11 overs), M. Gibbs 2-40 (9 overs) and K. Jones 3-18 (6 overs).
Wardington batted well at the start of their innings, N. Wright scoring 50 before falling to Wayne De Beer 1-25 (6 overs) which started to add some panic to the middle order of Wardington, 4 wickets falling in quick succession. With Gawcott's tails up an unlikely victory was taken away by R. Field who scored 20 not out; Ashley Griffiths took 2-14 (4 overs) but unfortunately even this wasn't enough to push Gawcott over the line.
Saturday 24/05/08 - Home v Greens Norton
With the team still chasing that elusive first win of the season, Greens Norton arrived at the Richard Roper playing fields to provide some stiff opposition, a team that has flitted between division 1 and 2 for a number of years. With Greens Norton batting first the home side struggled to contain the scoring; N. Taylor scoring 33, P. Allen scoring 41 and P. Tompkinson scoring 38 all laying the platform for some late hitting by the other batsmen and coming to the end of the 40 overs with a total of 168-6. There were some economical figures from the skipper however bowling 12 overs for match figures of 1-27 and a magnificant effort by Ian Gough taking 3-17 from just 5 overs.
In reply Colin produced the first half century of the SNCL campaign, scoring exactly 50 in a total of 107 all out, the knock consisting of 7 boundaries, Wayne De Beer the only other batsman to enter double figures for the home side scoring 18. The main tormentor for Greens Norton was opening bowler C. Bowmer who took 5-13 (7.4 overs).
The team are desperate for the first win of the season and will need to apply some consistency to their permformances if this is to happen. At the end of the 2007 season the aim was to push for promotion to Division 1, however this year is obviously going to be faught at the bottom rather than the top of the league.
Thursday 22/05/08 - Away v Gayton - SNCL Division 2 Knockout Cup
A change of format and hopefully a change of luck for the side came in the format of the SNCL Cup, a 20 over match that is all about getting as many runs in as short a period of time as possible. Gayton batted first and scored a huge total of 165-4, J. Robinson doing the damage with 87 not out having come in when the score was 0-1, Nick Stanger took 2-31 and Wayne De Beer took 1-18.
Having to score at a little over 8 runs per over, the task was set to Colin Piggot and Nick Stanger, unfortunately Colin went in the first over and the side never got to grips with the total, eventually finishing 82-6 after the 20 overs, Nick Stanger with the only contribution of note, scoring 35. J. Bobsin taking 2-20 (5 overs) and the extremely economical N. Bobsin taking 1-5 (5 overs).
Unfortunately the cup run stumbled at the first hurdle and the memory of the second XI's cup final appearance in the Division 4 & 5 cup of 2007 will have to remain as the bright spark in this competion for now, maybe next year will yield the cup the team so desperately want to get their hands on.
Saturday 17/05/08 - Away v Sibford
Unfortunately we had to abandon this match after 28 overs due to persistant rain that got heavier as the day progressed. Match drawn and a boost of 10 points for the side, attention now turns to the midweek cup game against Gayton.
Saturday 10/05/08 - Home v Warwick Uni Staff 'A'
The first home match of the 2008 season saw Warwick Uni Staff make the journey down to Gawcott, thus giving the team an opportunity to rectify the opening weekend's defeat to Croughton. Warwick Uni batted first in the fixture, amassing a respectable total of 171-6, the main contributors to this being J Wortman 36 and M. Allison who finished with 36 not out. For Gawcott every bowler used managed to get amonst the wickets, Nick Stanger 1-50 (9 overs), Colin Piggott 1-33 (10 overs), Lewis Clark 1-39 (12 overs), Ashley Griffiths 1-35 (7 overs) and Archie Verney 1-9 (2 overs).
There was a much better batting performance this week in reply to the innings of Warwick Uni, the line-up being bolstered by the return of Scott Rogers after 3 years away and Wayne De Beer, both of who scored well in the overall total of 119 all out; Scott scoring 42 and Wayne scoring 29. The main attack came from W. Finnly who took 4-17 (10.4 overs) and S Cammiss 3-19 (11 overs).
Saturday 03/05/08 - Away v Croughton
A new season is upon us and the sound of leather on willow will be heard again, a new look Gawcott & Hillesden CCC started the campaign off at Croughton. Unfortunately with the solitary Gawcott & Hillesden team having to readjust and find its feet, the match ended in a defeat to the side who were relegated from division 1 of the SNCL last year. Batting first Lewis Clark was the only batsman to enter double figures, getting 11 in the overall total of 39. Clive Atkins taking 4-7 (6.3 overs), Ross Atkins taking 3-26 (6 overs) and Rio Wetherill taking 1-3 (1 over).
In reply Croughton scored 41-2 however it took them a staggering 22.4 overs to accomplish the target, Dibby Wright scored 11, Steve Connor scored 16 not out. The bowling figures for Gawcott & Hillesden were: Nick Stanger 11.4 overs, 5 maidens, 0 wickets for 23 runs and Colin Piggott 10 overs, 5 maidens, 2 wickets for 15 runs.
