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DISAPPOINTING WEEK FOR CCC

After the euphoria of last week's fine win against table-topping ORPs, CCC have come down to earth with a bump, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on three occasions in five days.

OVINGHAM (F) - Sunday 27th June
The annual away friendly at sweltering Clara Vale was brought forward to 10.30 in order to finish in time for England v Germany. Unfortunately at the start time only Simon E, Gerry and debutant Chandra had arrived, with Johnson's car lost in transit and Guy's car in the possession of his mother. On agreement with the opposition Gerry and Simon opened, and did so tentatively. Gerry struck the ball well, but to fielders, and Simon (30 retired) only got going when other players finally arrived. Mark Nicholls on his debut hit a fine 33 (retired) and Ian Smithson (25) another good knock on his second appearance in a CCC shirt. 121 of 20 overs should have been enough, but it wasn't to be. With everyone bowling at least two overs, Nicholls, debutant Tom Mullee and Johnson all bowled well and pacily without luck. In the end it was Hash and Ian S who picked up the wickets, and Johnson took two tidy slip catches, but a couple of leaky overs in the middle of the innings and at least three dropped catches cost CCC as they slipped to final over defeat. And there was no consolation in the football either.

CCC: Gerry, Simon E, Mark, John E, Ian S, Hash, Peter, Ian J, Tom, Guy, Chandra

SEATON BURN - Tuesday 29th June
Another case of CCC setting what should have been a defendable target, this time 125 (Fiaz 38, Matt P 55), but failing to defend it, succumbing to a penultimate ball defeat (Nicholls and Fiaz two wickets apiece).

CCC: Nick, Fiaz, Peter, Matt P, Mudassar, Ewan, Mark, Ian S, Ian J, Matty, Guy

WEST END - Thursday 1st July
And yet again a repeat. CCC bat first, Chris (58) and Simon E (54) put on 118 nfor the first wicket, but both get out with a couple of overs left leaving the difficulty for new batsmen of trying to score in dark, windy conditions right from the off. The result was CCC 130-2 instead of 140-2. Even then it shouldn't have mattered as Mark N (2) and Ewan reduced West End to 7-3 from 3 overs before Ali (40), Ahmed (49 not out) and Azam (37 not out off 17 balls) gave relegation rivals West End an unlikely win with an over to spare. No dropped catches this time, but too many four balls and some dodgy fielding.

CCC: Chris, Simon E, Matt P, Fiaz, Peter, Simon W, Mudassar, Mark, Ewan, Matty, Guy

McDonald Breaks Records as CCC Win Again

CCC's season has been a stop-start affair with weather, selection problems and player transfer controversy all contributing to a sluggish story so far. Last night at the Medicals the season finally clicked into gear as they recorded their finest victory for several seasons against table-topping ORPs.

Winning the toss CCC chose to bat in mid 20s temperatures. Immediately they were handed the initiative through wayward bowling from the ORPs openers who sent down a succession of wides. When they did bowl straight they were punished by Welsh Matt - fresh from a century FOR ORPs on saturday - and Nick. Matt was finally dismissed for a fluent 39 from what looked like a bump ball, before two wickets in an over seemed to hand the initiative back to ORPs: first Fiaz clipped one to square leg before Nick was unluckily run out for 29 backing up when Peter's drive clipped the bowler's boot.

Peter (25, out to a sensational one-handed catch at mid on), Simon E (23 not out) and Mudassar (10 not out) batted sensibly and pushed the score to 162-4 from 16 overs.

This was always a tough ask for ORPs despite their attacking line up, and with CCC's pace attack of Matt and Ewan opening well it became more difficult. It turned out to be Ewan's day as he had Jason caught behind in his first over, then followed up with four wickets in his next two overs to finish with 5-24. At this stage CCC were cruising but a succession of dropped catches off ORPs opener Xohaib kept ORPs in the game, and when he took 24 off luckless Guy's third over (which included two drops) CCC got the jitters. thankfully Fiaz stepped up and bowled him for 75 in the next over. This left CCC to play out the game comfortably with Fiaz taking 3-26 as ORPs finished on 142-9.

CCC 9; ORPs 3
Team: Nick (c), Matt P, Fiaz, Peter, Simon E (w/k), Mudassar, John E, Ewan, Ian J, Guy, Matty

Cap: Peter for excellent batting and a fine catch on the midwicket boundary (NB it would have been Ewan but he wasn't at the pub!)
Duck: John Edgar for what would have been a dropped catch if he had got his hands on it (and some scorebox-related banter)

Park House Demolished in Friendly

CCC provided one of their most convincing performances in years for their fans on Friday. Celebrating 9-man Park House's 25th anniversary, unsporting CCC racked up 203-7 from 35 overs at sunny Cochrane Park. Ed and Ayan, both guesting from ORPs, made 25 and 26 respectively. Ian Johnson played well for 11, and though skipper Simon was brilliantly caught for only 4, Zico (also guesting) and John Edgar restored momentum with 35 (retired) each. A clean knock of 9 from Gerry (until caught by 'guest' fielder Simon) helped debutant Ian Smithson (18 not out) bring up the 200.

With everyone required to bowl 2 overs CCC set about defending the target and Ian J immediately dismissed former CCC star Keith Reader. All the bowlers chipped in either with wickets or tight spells and there were hardly any poor balls. The fielding was excellent with only a couple of blips and Ed (2) and Simon (2) taking catches. Ian Smithson kept for the first time ever and hardly let one through: indeed he turned out to be the star as having donated the pads to Guy he took 3-21 as Park House succumbed for 146, in time for an excellent BBQ and presentation ceremony in the Cochrane Park bar and balcony prior to the England vs Algeria game.

Cap: Ian Smithson - a very good debut
Duck: very difficult as everone played well, but it went to ORPs Ed for his less than mobile fielding and run-free batting.

Team: Ayan, Ed (both ORPs), Ian J, Zico (ORPs), Simon E, John E, Hash, Ian S, Gerry, Cliff, Guy

Mallards Beat CCC in Friendly

Mallards exacted revenge for CCC's convincing win last season with a comfortable five wicket win at Riding Mill last night.

On an evening of 20+ degree temperatures, visitors CCC were asked to bat and made a circumspect start. Andy was lost early, but Roger progressed sedately to 20 before retiring. At this point Ewan decided to tee off and hit a couple of sweetly timed boundaries before holing out for 19. Simon hit a brisk 30 before retiring according to the pre-game agreement, whilst Matt C became the latest CCC player to get a golden duck on his first appearance. Ian started slowly, but suddenly started to middle the ball, finishing 16 not out as CCC totalled 109-3 (20 overs).

The asking rate simply wasn't challenging enough for Mallards, and although CCC took two early wickets Browne (20), Nitsch (30 not out) and Morgan (27 not out) eased them home with 8 balls to spare. Ewan, Ian, John Reed, Cliff, Gerry and Mohammed Shoaib all bowled three overs, all conceded about a run a ball and all took a wicket bar Gerry, but quite simply CCC had set a target 20 runs to few.

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Indoor 6 a-side league: ORP's beat CCC

With our skipper absent celebrating his Grandfather reaching a lengthy innings of 90 it was my job to take over the reins as CCC took on ORPS in a must-win game. I got off to a poor start by losing the toss, and OPRS had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. Rian and Matt started with slightly wayward spells, both struggling with a brand-new ball that was swinging all over the place, and the ORPS openers took full advantage with some powerful stroke play. Matty came into the attack and had no luck at all with the ball just evading the fielders on numerous occasions. My over was dreadful, and we were really staring down the barrel with them on 110 after 7 over with two men having retired. Good last overs from Matt, Matty and then Rian dragged things back a little as we took a couple of wickets, one with a great piece of stumping from Si and the hilarious run-out of Britains' Favourite Crooner when he'd been caught off a no-ball and left his ground thinking he was already out. Their total of 148 was still quite daunting to face and the highest we'd conceded all season.

Myself and Chris got our innings off to a good start, mixing well-run threes with hard hitting down the ground and we both retired on 25's in quick time. There was a slight point of contention when I faced 4 consecutive bouncers off one of their bowlers, one which hit me on the glove and then the head, and one that I hit over extra-cover with a tennis shot and NONE were called no-ball. Rian and Matt were unfortunately run out whilst looking good, before Simon W played one CCC's best innings of the season so far. He retired on 27 having faced no more than 10 balls, which included one huge 6. Matty entered the fray with us needing around 30 from 9 balls and me at the non-strikers end. Unfortunately we couldn't get their quickest bowler away and and I couldn't get on strike. As well as keeping the runs down he left a couple of painful blows from more short-pitched bowling. That and the extra 12 (at least!) runs we should have from no-balls meant that the 20 run defeat left a sour taste in the mouth, and the nagging feeling that we've been exceptionally unlucky in this competition. We haven't made finals night, but should seal a comfortable mid-table finish with a good win over Genetics in the final game next week.