IT’S something we simply can’t deny – The Road just aren’t very good on the road.
This year’s long-awaited trip to Yorkshire ended with two games played, two games lost.
Two batsmen, Dan Sherman and Shailesh Joshi, also did something they’ll never hear the end of – got bowled out by a young, albeit very impressive, girl.
And in the 40 over match at Denby Dale we served up a treat for the oppo – probably the most horrific run-out in the history of cricket.
Poor Shailesh, who was gearing up for a big innings, was the victim of a criminally bad call after Orange Capped Sri Lankan Sham De Silva over-ruled his shout of “no, wait”.
The bowlers didn’t fare much better in either match.
After wolfing down a tasty traditional pork pie, they then proceeded to bowl a series of big fat pies of their own.
No-one managed more than one wicket a match as The Road struggled against better batsmen than they’re used to on better pitches than they’re used to.
So, despite the tour being a roaring success on the social side, The Road played miserably on the field again to leave them without a win now in three summer tours.
The first match saw King’s Road take on a Stainborough side who blasted 206 for 7 in 20 overs.
In the onslaught, Kevin Pittaway, Leon Watson, captain for the day Richard Peralta, Amir Alipour and Sham did manage to get a wicket each.
Rich and Kev also got run-outs, but it’s fair to say no-one covered themselves in glory on a slow pitch made for batting.
Yet although it definitely WAS made for batting, and had a temptingly short boundary on one side, that didn’t mean The Road could bat on it.
First, Matt Glover holed out to mid on 7. Then Emily Steers knocked down both Shailesh and Sherman’s middle stumps.
After that it was a procession with only Leon hitting 29 not out when the game was already dead to take The Road past 100 and then past the 100-run defeat mark.
The boys from Battersea finished up on a pathetic 119 for 9 off 20 to lose by 87 runs. Not the best start, although the pie was VERY good.
From Stainborough The Road traveled to nearby Denby Dale on Sunday to take on a scratch side put out by Matt Glover’s home club.
The Road’s team was bolstered by the arrival of former skip Matt Cocken, who took the place of Sham’s mate Greg Hazelwood who stood in against Stainborough.
However, the story was a familiar one after match skip Kev won the toss and decided to bat.
Again the pitch, set in a natural bowl which rose up all round at the boundary, had one very short side to target for sixes.
And again The Road’s batsmen contrived to collapse. The only difference was this time after a reasonable start.
Raju Mazumder and Matt G put on a very handy 67 for the first wicket before local boy Matt was caught off the youngster Sam Tyas for 53 off 46.
Matt G’s innings, his first fifty for the club, included three sixes and seven fours – unfortunately he got out just as he was beginning to wind up.
Click here to see the Stainborough scorecard
Click here to see the Denby Dale scorecard
Despite Matt’s fifty the run rate was still slow and it only got worse as wicket after wicket fell.
Ten runs later Sherman fell for 6, then Raju’s resistance broke when he was caught off the other Tyas brother, Jack, with the score on 80.
Leon went for 3, Matt C’s only innings on tour ended on 4, and then came the real disaster which finished any lingering hopes of putting on a good score.
Having just walked out to bat, Shailesh hit his first ball into the off side in front of square and told Sham at the other end not to run.
But Sham – with one eye on the scoreboard – shouted firmly for a quick one and the stationary Shailesh was given no choice but go for a suicidal run.
That knocked the stuffing out of The Road and not even three sixes from Sham’s 26 off 24 and a career-best 19 from Rich could push the total up to a competitive score.
The Road finished on 144 all out – way too short on a batting pitch with a short boundary against players who play there every week.
When Denby came out to the crease they wasted no time in putting The Road’s bowlers to the sword and knocked off the runs brutal fashion.
Only Kev got a wicket as the tourists crashed to a 9-wicket defeat.
It was a bad end to an otherwise enjoyable tour to English cricket’s heartland.
| Stainborough Vs King’s Road CSC |
| 1-Innings Match Played At Stainborough CC, Barnsley, 03-Jun-2011, Twenty20 |
| Stainborough Win by 87 runs |
| Toss won by | King’s Road CSC |
| Stainborough 1st Innings 206/7 Closed (Overs 20) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| Sam Dyson | Retired Not Out | 43 | 0 | 5 | 2 | |
| Chris Tomas | c M Glover | b LJ Watson | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Phil Campbell | b RL Peralta | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| J Baughan | run out RL Peralta | 37 | 0 | 6 | 1 | |
| Joe McLee | st DJ Sherman | b SPR de Silva | 21 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Jim Cooper | lbw | b A Alipour-Mehraban | 24 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Josh Abson | b KM Pittaway | 25 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Millward | run out KM Pittaway | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Emily Steers | not out | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| David Exley | dnb | – | ||||
| Ian Fletcher | dnb | – | ||||
| extras | (b1 lb11 w8 nb0) | 20 | ||||
| TOTAL | 7 wickets for | 206 |
| FOW |
| 1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-0 |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| M Glover | 4 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 2 | – |
| KM Pittaway | 4 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 3 | – |
| LJ Watson | 2 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 1 | – |
| S Joshi | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | – | – |
| RL Peralta | 3 | 0 | 26 | 1 | – | 1 |
| A Alipour-Mehraban | 2 | 0 | 29 | 1 | – | – |
| SPR de Silva | 1 | 0 | 20 | 1 | – | – |
| RSH Mazumder | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | – | – |
| JM Keating | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | – |
| King’s Road CSC 1st Innings 119/9 Closed (Overs 20) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| S Joshi | b Emily Steers | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | |
| M Glover | c ? | b Phil Campbell | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Greg Hazelwood | c ? | b Michael Millward | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| DJ Sherman+ | b Emily Steers | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| SPR de Silva | c ? | b Michael Millward | 18 | 17 | 3 | 0 |
| JM Keating | c ? | b Michael Millward | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| LJ Watson | not out | 29 | 34 | 5 | 0 | |
| RL Peralta* | c ? | b J Baughan | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| RSH Mazumder | c ? | b Jim Cooper | 9 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| KM Pittaway | c&b Phil Campbell | 15 | 15 | 3 | 0 | |
| A Alipour-Mehraban | not out | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b3 lb3 w11 nb1) | 18 | ||||
| TOTAL | 9 wickets for | 119 |
| FOW |
| 1-7(M Glover) 2-13(S Joshi) 3-15(DJ Sherman) 4-22(Greg Hazelwood) 5-45(JM Keating) |
| 6-45(SPR de Silva) 7-63(RL Peralta) 8-83(RSH Mazumder) 9-105(KM Pittaway) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| Emily Steers | 4 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 1 | – |
| Phil Campbell | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 | – | – |
| Michael Millward | 3 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Sam Dyson | 4 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| J Baughan | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | – | – |
| Jim Cooper | 2 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 4 | – |
| Josh Abson | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | – |
| Denby Dale Vs King’s Road CSC |
| 1-Innings Match Played At Denby Dale CC, Huddersfield, 05-Jun-2011, Limited Overs |
| Denby Dale Win by 9 wkts |
| Toss won by | King’s Road CSC |
| King’s Road CSC 1st Innings 144/10 All Out (Overs 36.2) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| RSH Mazumder | c Sam Tyas | b Jack Tyas | 14 | 65 | 2 | 0 |
| M Glover | c T Newsome | b Sam Tyas | 53 | 46 | 7 | 3 |
| DJ Sherman+ | b Ryan Geldart | 6 | 14 | 1 | 0 | |
| SPR de Silva | b David Firth | 26 | 24 | 1 | 3 | |
| LJ Watson | lbw | b R Lammyman | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| MJ Cocken | lbw | b R Lammyman | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| S Joshi | run out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| RL Peralta | c ? | b Paul Buxton | 19 | 29 | 1 | 1 |
| JM Keating | b David Firth | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| KM Pittaway* | c R Lammyman | b David Firth | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| A Alipour-Mehraban | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b2 lb1 w5 nb2) | 10 | ||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 144 |
| FOW |
| 1-67(M Glover) 2-76(DJ Sherman) 3-80(RSH Mazumder) 4-90(LJ Watson) 5-106(MJ Cocken) |
| 6-106(S Joshi) 7-117(SPR de Silva) 8-137(JM Keating) 9-141(RL Peralta) |
| 10-144(KM Pittaway) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| Jack Dyson | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Aidan Geldart | 4 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 1 | – |
| Sam Tyas | 4 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 3 | – |
| Paul Buxton | 3.2 | 0 | 29 | 1 | – | – |
| Ryan Geldart | 4 | 0 | 12 | 1 | – | – |
| Jack Tyas | 5 | 2 | 7 | 1 | – | – |
| Adam Ramell | 4 | 1 | 20 | 0 | – | – |
| R Lammyman | 4 | 0 | 18 | 2 | – | – |
| David Firth | 4 | 0 | 17 | 3 | – | – |
| Denby Dale 1st Innings 145/1 Closed (Overs 19.2) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| Ryan Geldart | Retired Not Out | 37 | 0 | 7 | 1 | |
| P Geldart | b KM Pittaway | 45 | 0 | 3 | 5 | |
| R Lammyman | Retired Not Out | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Aidan Geldart | Retired Not Out | 26 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Sam Tyas | not out | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Paul Buxton | not out | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| T Newsome | dnb | – | ||||
| David Firth | dnb | – | ||||
| Adam Ramell | dnb | – | ||||
| Jack Tyas | dnb | – | ||||
| Jack Dyson | dnb | – | ||||
| extras | (b1 lb0 w13 nb0) | 14 | ||||
| TOTAL | 1 wickets for | 145 |
| FOW |
| 1-0 |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| M Glover | 5 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 7 | – |
| JM Keating | 2 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 2 | – |
| S Joshi | 3 | 0 | 25 | 0 | – | – |
| KM Pittaway | 3 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 2 | – |
| RL Peralta | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | – |
| MJ Cocken | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | – |
| A Alipour-Mehraban | 1.2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – |