Sunday 02 October 2005 20:14

Match Report | Grittleton: Captain Ben Adlington won the toss and elected to bat. We stuttered at the start of our innings, but soon settled down with Alex Chamberlin scoring 45, and together with Henry Dodson, put on 53 for the 3rd wicket. The star batsman though was Suraj Varma, who scored an excellent unbeaten 54 including 9 fours and one six, with his 50 coming up in 25 balls and 34 mins. We declared at 186 for 6, which we believed to be a good score on that pitch. We bowled very tightly, and soon reduced Grittleton to 67 for 6, with Suraj taking 3 for 21 off 11 overs before our normal skipper David Maddocks got the ball right in his face! After lots of blood, drama, icepacks and towels, David was taken to hospital and given 5 stitches above his eye. After the incident, Grittleton did not want to go back on. We took this as conceding, as we were well ahead, and by their own admission, had no batting to come.

CAC 186-6 (Varma 54*; Chamberlin 45)
Grittleton 67-6 (Varma 3-21)

Sunday 02 October 2005 20:12

Match Report | Rode: This was the first game of our annual Somerset tour. Captain David Maddocks lost the toss and Rode elected to bat. We got off to a goodish start, but then rather lost our way. Chris Brown and Suraj Varma opened the bowling and bowled economically. We had Rode 48 for 2 before they started piling on the runs. Rode's third wicket partnership added 80 before Hugh Lenon took a very good catch running around from Long On. Suraj was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2 for 28 off his 8 overs and Rode finished up on 267 for 6. We set off in pursuit, losing Henry Dodson in the 2nd over. Alex Chamberlin (50: 60 balls, 79 mins) and Chris then put on 116 for the second wicket before Chris fell for 40. Despite Alex's excellent innings (falling 3 short of his century) we were well behind the run rate and fell 39 short.

Rode 267-6
CAC 229-4 (Chamberlin 97; Brown 40)

Wednesday 17 August 2005 07:05

Match Report | Refreshers: Our last match before the annual August break was against the Refreshers, who won the toss and elected to bat and bat and bat and bat, for almost 4 hours all told. We bowled very tightly before lunch. Ben Adlington and Paul Costelloe opened the bowling, followed by Nic Singleton and Suraj Varma, who took a vital wicket just before lunch, leaving them at 56-3. Their 4th wicket put on 90, but we stuck to our task, bowling and fielding well with not many chances going down. Nic and Alex Chamberlin took good catches in the deep at long on & long off respectively (although Alex split his finger in the process), before Ed Skillbeck took an outstanding low catch at mid on off Ben. All the bowlers bowled very well, Ben to the fore, Nic, and Paul (who must be the unluckiest bowler ever, as the 2 or 3 chances we did put down were all off his bowling.) Suraj was the pick of the bowlers, wheeling away from the pavilion end almost all afternoon, taking 4-36 off 14 overs. We eventually bowled them out after very slow batting in 51 overs. We set off in pursuit of their 2003 after tea, losing wickets every so often, falling slightly behind the clock and needing someone to start knocking it about a bit. Nic was the man, and attacked their bowling, ably assisted by Henry Dodson (29), ending up with 66 (50: 44balls; 46 mins) after some hard hitting and giving us a real chance. In the end, we fell a few short and a very unsatisfactory draw. They bowled quite a few less overs at us, so what might have been....!

Refreshers 203 (Varma 4-36)
Chelsea Arts Club 188-6 (Singleton 66)

The Somerset tour is almost finalised. There are 6 matches in September (with the Rascals fixture hopefully being rearranged for 24th September). Chances to improve your averages?! There are spaces, so let the Skipper know. Have a good August.

Monday 27 June 2005 23:34

Match Report | Rascals: The game was cancelled by the opposition.

Monday 27 June 2005 23:30

Match Report | Friend & Falcke Marauders: This was our solitary mid-week game played at the delightful setting of Burton's Court (Royal Hospital) in Chelsea. It also happened to be one of the best and closest matches we have played in a while. After winning the toss, Friend & Falcke Marauders elected to bat. We didn't bowl terribly well, although Ben Adlington (3-29) and John Lane-Mullins bowled far better in their second spells than their first. Chris Brown bowled extremely well, conceding only 17 runs off his 5 overs and David Maddocks took 2-6 in 3 overs (ostensibly a special performance to impress his old man!) Our fielding was poor in the first 20 overs. However, with tighter bowling and better fielding, we restricted the Marauders to 36 in the last ten overs. After Joce Maddocks's splendid tea, we set off in pursuit of their total. We had a brisk start between Dominick Wilkinson and Alex Chamberlin, before Alex mistimed a pull and was caught at square leg. Dommo then continued on a serene innings of 85* (50: 44 balls; 96 mins), again pacing it to perfection and winning us the match. He was well supported by Henry Dodson (23) in a third wicket stand of 71. Dommo hit the winning boundary off the second ball of the last over.

Friend & Falcke 172-7 (Adlington 3-29)
Chelsea Arts Club 174-6 (Wilkinson 85*)

Tuesday 21 June 2005 23:49

Match Report | Dunsfold: We turned up with nine players, which was especially embarassing because the game was against the club whose ground we hire 8 times a year. Dunsfold won the toss and inserted us into bat. After a disastrous first 3 overs, we found ourselves at 7 for 2. Henry Dodson and Shafraz Karim then hauled us back to some respectbility, adding 39 for the third wicket. Shafraz's innings in particular was excellent. Given we were short, all batsmen needed to perform, which did not happen. We made a paltry 83, by far our lowest score of the season. Although Ben Adlington, Paul Costelloe and Shafraz bowled manfully and unluckily (including a couple of dropped chances), Dunsfold came out easy winners.

Chelsea Arts Club 83 (Karim 36; Dodson 24)
Dunsfold 86-1

Tuesday 21 June 2005 23:26

Match Report | V&A Museum: This was the first match of our doubleheader this unusually warm weekend. Captain David Maddocks won the toss and put V&A into bat. John Lane-Mullins and Christy Kulasingam opened the bowling. All bowlers bowled tidily, with Dominic Wilkinson being miserly, going for 28 in his 8 overs. The pick of the bowlers was Charlie Mayes, taking 3 for 10 in his 5 overs. Henry Dodson was, as always, sharp behind the stumps (once he had his "'proper" gloves on). Although the fielding was generally good, we put down 2 or 3 chances. Apart from the numbers 3 & 4 batsmen, who put on 60, we were able to contain V&A, who ended up on 166 off of their 37 overs. Dommo paced our innings to perfection, scoring a good 66* (50: 94 mins; 59 balls) getting good support from Christy Kulasingam (20 retired) and then Johnno in his first proper innings for the club. We ran out fairly easy wiiners in the end, with 6 overs to spare.

V&A 166-8 (Mayes 3-10)
Chelsea Arts Club 167-4 (Wilkinson 66*; Lane-Mullins 35)

Tuesday 21 June 2005 23:11

Match Report | Rode: For the first of our few London-based games this season, Captain David Maddocks won the toss and elected to bat. We had a disastrous start, finding ourselves 16 for 2 after 5 overs. Dominic Wilkinson and Henry Dodson then steadied the ship, putting on 70 for the third wicket. Nobody really batted fluently and we declared at tea with the bare minimum total needed to defend. Apart from John Lane-Mullins, who bowled well, missing the outside edge on a number of occasions, we didn't bowl decently enough. We also had absolutely no luck. Rode hardly gave a chance and ran out worthy winners.

Chelsea Arts Club 153-8 (Wilkinson 42)
Rode 156-0

Tuesday 07 June 2005 07:52

Match Report | Further Friars: The Saturday game of our Wilshire Tour resulted in an unfathomable loss. Captain Maddocks won the toss and elected to bat. Chris Brown and Michael Hosford-Tanner got off to a solid start, putting on 51 for the first wicket before Michael was bowled by their good opening bowler. The middle order again failed, amassing just 1 run between them and we were soon 74 for 6 and getting runs in a trickle. Vitally, Chris had dropped anchor, and was very solid in supporting David Logue's quick-fire 52 (50: 54 mins; 33 balls) with 2 huge sixes and 4 fours. David's arrival at the crease galvanised Chris into rapid action, advancing to his 50 (123 mins; 92 balls) and almost carrying his bat. Together they put on 75 in 12 overs, which brought Chelsea Arts Club up to a respectable 163. We quickly had the Further Friars 9 for 2. After the Skipper's spectacular airborne catch, they were 40 for 3. It then went a little pear shaped and they got the remaning runs for the loss of five wickets. They did have two very good batsmen who kept on finding the gaps, but we still should have had their measure.

Chelsea Arts Club 163-8 (Brown 61; Logue 52*)
Further Friars 166-5 (Adlington 4-62)

We are still looking for 3 players for Sunday 19 June v Dunsfold at Dunsfold. Please contact David Maddocks.

Monday 30 May 2005 17:27

Match Report | Trengilly: For the first game of our Cornwall Tour we turned up in beautiful Constantine on a sunny but cold day. Bitter wind, exacrbated by playing on the top of a hill, made bowling conditions very difficult. Captain David Maddocks lost the toss and Trengilly elected to bat. We would have had the Trengilly opener (who went onto make 84) out very early on, but dropped a straightforward catch. He was later well run out by Storm Maddocks, who hit the wicket with only one stump for aim. The damage had already been done, however, with a century opening stand abetted by our bowling and ragged fielding. We set off in pursuit of their 198, and in spite of useful contributions from Michael Hosford-Tanner, Charles Hickey and Christy Kulasingam, we were soon 104 for 6 with 13 overs of the last 20 to go. Then Rupert Belfrage and Ben Adlington came together and with great placement and very good running -- turning singles into 2s -- put on 90 in 13 overs. With victory within our grasp, Ben was needlessly run out. We needed 4 off of the last ball, which didn't happen. Rupert was left undefeated on 66 (50: 39 balls; 53 mins).

Trengilly 198 for 3
Chelsea Arts Club 196 for 8 (Belfrage 66*, Adlington 45)

Monday 23 May 2005 23:58

Match Report | Chelsea Nomads: The Nomads game was diappointingly a washout. We will try and rearrange a date later in the season.

Monday 16 May 2005 21:35

Match Report | Artificials: A match that was a little to close for comfort, although when the Artificials turned up with only seven, it didn't look like much of a game. However, after a trawl of the local pubs, they improved to nine with one of ours and a very useful Yarpie, who could bowl and bat. Skipper David Maddocks won the toss and elected to bat. We were soon in trouble, with the South African getting prodigious swing, quickly slumping to 17-2. We then managed a partial recovery with a 50 run partnership between Paul Lubbock and Dominick Wilkinson. Ironically, Dommo was then bowled off his pads by our loaner, Christy Kulasingam, and Paul carried on to a solid fifty (50: 78 balls;78 mins). Others scratched around for a bit, but for a delightful cameo from Ben Adlington, who hit 28 off 14 balls. Although 170 would have been a par score, we had to settle for 157. That left the Artificials an hour plus 20 overs to get the runs and at 50 for no wicket after 7 overs, things were looking decidedly dodgy. Things didn't really get any better, but with their best bat in and only needing about 3 an over, the Artificials soon were 118-2. Dommo was wheeling away at one end and Ben at the other, but 3 an over was not looking much of a challenge. Even though the fielding was generally good, we did put down too many chances. Things then suddenly changed as we were staring defeat in the face. Dommo took a hat trick (only the second in Arts Club history), which rather knocked the stuffing out of the opponents. Ben returned at the other end, and after being luckless in his first spell , took the last three wickets for 2 runs with Dommo claiming the other. Both of them thoroughly deserved their wickets, having bowled 28 overs between them. The Artificials were therefore all out 10 runs short, losing their last 6 wickets for 24 runs.

Chelsea Arts Club 157-7 (Lubbock 56)
Artificials 147 (Wilkinson 4-46; Adlington 3-64)

Tuesday 10 May 2005 07:22

Match Report | Ripley: For the 2nd of our games this weekend, we won the toss and elected to bat. Our skipper David Maddocks was feeling quite bullish until the home skipper requested an overs game. (David is not a fan of the limited overs format for our matches.) Chris Brown and Ed Skilbeck put on 50 for the first wicket off only 11 overs when Ed chased a wide one and was caught behind. After the middle order failed, it was left to Hugh Lenon, who made a sparkling 27, and extras to haul us up to 156 off our 35 overs. The target we set was always going to be about 25 runs too short, and although we tried valiantly, including an excellent catch by Michael Hosford-Tanner and some very good bowling by Andy Lawlor, they won by two wickets.

Chelsea Arts Club 156-9 (Skilbeck 34)
Ripley 157-8 (Lawlor 3-10)

Tuesday 10 May 2005 07:13

Match Report | Canbashers: We may well have won this game. But, sensing that we were quite strong, the opposition skipper decided to kill the game by batting on after tea and giving us only 28 overs (compared to the 40 they used up). We did very well in the field, where we hardly did anything wrong, including some sharp fielding. As for the bowlers, John Lane-Mullins worked up quite a head of steam, especially from the pub end, and removed Ed Skilbeck with a beauty. He was fairly menacing all afternoon and was ably supported by Dominic Thomas, who was as reliable as ever and finished with 2-38 off 13 overs. Dominic Wilkinson was the pick though, with their batsmen unable to pick up his flight at all. We set off in pursuit of their total, but with with the exception of Dominic Wilkinson (50: 72 mins; 55 balls), nobody really got going, although Jaffer Akbany was going along nicely, including one 'scooped' 6 when he was given out to an outrageous LBW decision by one of our own! We kept on going for it, but when Dominic Wilkinson and others were out, it was left to Christy Kulasingam and Storm Maddocks to steady the ship for the draw. Hugely frustrating.

Canbashers 151-9 (Wilkinson 3-25;Lane-Mullins 3-45)
Chelsea Arts Club 102-6 (Wilkinson 53)

Sunday 1 May 2005 18:36

Match Report | Phene Philanderers: Our 2005 season got underway on a high note, continuing where we had left off last year, with a victory over the Phene. We had ended the 2004 season with a comprehensive victory over the same opponent.

We inserted Phene in after winning the toss. Most of the bowlers bowled exceptionally well, especially Ben Adlington and Paul Costelloe. Ben's ball to remove their opener was a peach, swinging by a good 8 inches and taking out his off stump as he was shouldering arms.

Paul also was swinging the ball, and off his bowling skipper David Maddocks held on to a catch. It is true: there were many witnesses. He has now proved his value to the club! Seriously though, it was a fairly poor Phene side, but we still had to bowl them out.

Getting the 63 for victory was very easy; Ed Skillbeck's 36 came off of 26 balls. It would have been nice to win by 10 wickets, but Chris Brown managed to get bowled round his legs.

Phene 62 (Adlington 4-17; Costelloe 4-21)
Chelsea Arts Club 65-1 (Skilbeck 36*)

We are still 1 light for next Sunday against Ripley, so please contact the Skipper if you can play (a keeper would be good, as the person who will be keeping is a useful bowler.)

Sunday 1 May 2005 10:56

Practice Nets | Change in Venue: Our net sessions have relocated to Spencer Cricket Club's indoor facility in Earlsfield. Our normal venue, the Ken Barrington Centre at the Oval, has closed for refurbishment.

Spencer Cricket Club's website can be found here. The address is Fieldview, Earlsfield, London, SW18 3HF. A map from Streetmap is here. If you are coming by train, take Southwest trains to Earlsfield. Turn left out of the station, another left to Madalen Road at the first light, then the 5th right onto Fieldview. The clubhouse is on the rightside after the cricket pitch.

We typically meet around 19:45 on Tuesdays for a net session from 20:00-21:00, followed by a pit stop for a thirst-quenching beverage nearby. The indoor nets will continue through mid-May.

We plan to continue with periodic nets throughout the season, likely at a different (outdoor) venue.