The tone of the day was set early in the day, when Vice Captain Tony Whaley was rather unceremoniously left behind at the club, luckily captain Morgan realised the error of his ways before we reached the Cock and Dragon. Then the team set off on what must be described as the longest away journey in the history of the club. We later found the team we were to face played in the Oxfordshire league. 

As always when Captain Morgan leads the way we took the longest possible route and had the obligatory stop at the Tesco garage to ask for directions. However, by this point Jimmy 'the travelator' Grant had had enough and taken the wise decision to make his own way to the ground. By the time the rest of the team managed to join him at the ground, the travelator was perusing the pitch pondering what was to come.

News came back from Captain Morgan that Cockfosters were to bat, a fact that was greeted by certain team members not looking forward to nursing their headaches from the previous night in the baking heat. The game got of to a steady start with Captain Morgan and the travelator building a steady innings and deciding to not to use the boundary to score runs, instead focusing on their running between the wickets. Events on the boundary were also of note with Simple not able to move from the bench due to the previous nights experiences, sending Kirk to get him light refreshment from the bar. Kirk returning with a pint of coke and a can of cider, for once Simple opted for the non-alcoholic version, yes it is true.

With the fall of Captain Morgan and the purposeful walk to the wicket of Vice Captain Whaley, the side felt ready for some fire works and the peppering of the boundary. What followed was truly amazing; we found we had two travelators in the middle whose feet did not move when they ran between the wickets. This spectacle did not last long with Whaley being triggered LBW hitting the ball onto his pads and the umpire raising the figure before the finger was raised.

The fall of Whaley bought Simple to the wicket with the fumes of Long Island Ice Teas, Fosters and god knows what else trailing behind him. Well, Simple and Grant steadied the innings, Westbury finally making use of the facilities and crashing a boundary much to the delight of the bald nutter, Richard Blaby. However the stand did not last long with the travelator edging one behind, bringing Josh Kirk to the wicket, his highest batting slot of all time apparently. Well the Strongbow must have gone to his head and he was quickly back in the pavilion.

Then came Adam Blaby who showed good technique and maturity handing over control to Simple who was proceeding nicely at the other end to smash the ball to parts of the ground, nearly taking Adam’s head off at the non-strikers end at one point. The stand lasted a while but Adam was given LBW by Morgs, bringing Nitin to the crease for his obligatory one ball before he was dispatched lbw by the Skipper.

The departure of Nitin gave poor Simple a flashback when he heard the bat crashing in the changing rooms, all of a sudden memories of a 6ft 4in West Indian came flashing back into his mind. However, Simple was now joined by Dean Johnson who was making his Fosters debut. These two looked confident at the wicket and Deano progressed nicely to 21, before going back to a ball he should have gone forward to. Deano had obviously had a word with the nutter Richard Blaby and tried to repay the Simple’s compliment to Adam by nearly clearing Simple’s hangover in one easy step. With the departure of Deano, Duncan Pearce came to the wicket looking comfortable until he played a nice shot to the one fielder on the team who looked like he may be able to catch.

This bought tension to the wicket as the bald nutter informed Simple that he was on 46 on the none strikers end. The nutter gave Simple the strike allowing him to complete his first 50 for Fosters. Obviously delighted by this achievement Simple missed the next ball, which trickled into his middle stump. The innings was over with Cockfosters 118 all out.

Despite the low total, Fosters took the field with hope and started well. Duncan Pearce bowled well and was unlucky to have the one shot wonder of an opener dropped by Captain Morgs. However, the nutter Blaby soon corrected this relying on the stumps to take the wicket in the following over. The nutter bowled well to return figures of 1 wicket for 23 runs. Also dislodging their attacking opener with a brilliant run out. 

Following a good spell from Pearce, Morgs turned to Simple for inspiration, obviously trying to get the game over quickly. However, Simple managed to bowl a spell of 5-1-15-2. Despite these efforts and some bowling from Deano which shows promise for the future. The game was soon over and Fosters returned under direction of the Travelator Grant who knew the quick way for a few beers in the Shed.

June 4 CCC 168-9 40 Overs Maccabi Vale 164-9 40 Overs – CCC Won by 4 runs - Richard Wells

On a gloriously sunny day (at long last) Cockfosters embarked on the short journey across Barnet for a friendly fixture against Maccabi Vale II’s.

Having won the toss and electing to bat Cockfosters were cruising along at 43 for no wicket after 11 overs. Then came the collapse. First Simon (Simple) Westbury missed a straight delivery which sent the bails flying. Then Nitin (to many nicknames) Gupta played, what can best be described as a wild shot, and returned back to the pavilion the very next ball. Wickets continued to fall around the opening batsman, Chris Edwards, who made a solid 51. Neil Hale added a well made 30-odd and Richard Blaby smashed a huge six from the last ball of the Cockfosters Innings – closing on 168 for 9 from our allotted overs.

Having been informed by our friendly Webmaster that Maccabi ‘would not be that strong’ 168 seemed like a good score. Richard Blaby and Duncan Pearce opened the bowling without much success – Maccabi reaching 50 inside the first 11 overs. The runs continued to flow and Maccabi looked to be cruising to victory. The introduction of Sam Penny and Richard Wells slowed the scoring as wickets began to fall. The require run rate began to creep up with Maccabi requiring around 70 runs from the last 10 overs. The runs began to flow but a superb throw from the boundary from Sam Penny resulted in a crucial run out. Maccabi required 17 runs from the last 2 overs with 2 wickets in hand – at this stage the game could have gone either way. Sam bowled a tight over although with men patrolling the boundary 9 runs came from it. 8 runs required from the final over. A suicidal attempt at a run second ball of the over resulted in  an easy run out for Neil Hale. Maccabi managed just 4 more runs before the 40 overs were completed.

All in all a good game with everybody contributing with either bat, ball or in the field.
 

Epping won the toss and chose to bat on another somewhat unpredictable home pitch. Skipper Greggs opened up with the remarkable figures of 12-9-6-2. At the other end returning to the cricket field after many year's absence was Paul Bullen, who, not surprisingly struggled a bit to find his line and length. Paul was soon replaced by James Stead who then bowled almost unchanged for excellent figures of 5 for 43. Josh Kirk was very unlucky to go wicketless at the other end after replacing the skipper.

To open things up a bit a few 'guest' bowlers came on, but Epping failed to take advantage - Neil Hale uprooting the off stump (his words those - the bail barely fell off!) and Lee Pierpoint claiming a plumb LBW - as the Epping innings subsided for 102.

There was lots of confidence at tea but this soon wore off as Geoff Williams uncharacteristically got out cheaply and was soon followed into the hutch by Messrs Grant, Gupta and Pierpoint. Paul and Anthony Levy steadied the ship briefly but both were removed by good deliveries. Neil Hale was left to do a bit of clubbing for a rather embarrassing top score of 12 as the Fosters fell to an unlikely 47 run defeat.
 

Apr 29 Kenton II 234 for 3 drew with Cockfosters 2nd XI 79 for 7 - Richard Wells

On a surprisingly sunny April day the 2006 2^nd XI pre-season fixtures continued with a home friendly against Kenton’s 2^nd XI. Having won the toss and chosen to bowl Cockfosters took to the field with a mixture of youth and experience. This fixture also saw the debut of Shaff Babwah.

The first ball, on the newly laid wicket at Chalk Lane, was delivered by the Captain, Richard Wells – which to the surprise of some – was short and provided and early welcome to the Kenton opening batsman. The second ball was of a fuller length and was edged to second slip where John Worley took a sharp catch. In the third over of the day Kevin Brady took a catch at gulley to reduced Kenton to 4 for 2. All seemed to be going well for Cockfosters at this point. Then came the Kenton fight back. Having been in trouble early on Kenton’s third wicket pair plundered a double century partnership, despite the best efforts of our bowlers and fielders – Sam Penny having two catches dropped off his bowling was unlucky to remain wicketless. The Kenton captain batted his way to a well made century before declaring the Kenton innings on 234 for 3 from 48 overs.

With Kenton having batted for over three hours we were left with only 39 overs to chase down what was an insurmountable total. The Cockfosters innings got off to a slow start with early wickets falling. Kevin Brady (18) and Simon Westbury (12) batted well and steadied the ship. Some further resilient middle order batting meant that we eventually finished on 79 for 7 from our 39 overs with Joe Clune and James Stead remaining unbeaten – a draw being a fair result.
 

Apr 29 Berkhamsted 202-10 (37.2overs) drew with Cockfosters 1st XI 141-5 (40overs) - Matt Fisher

For the final Saturday warm-up game of the new season Cockfosters took a blend of youth and experience to Kitchener’s Field on a bright but blustery April afternoon.

After succumbing to the home captain’s demands - a 40 over match with no limit on bowlers!! - Cockfosters’ skipper won the toss and duly elected to field. An opening dose of Robinson and Stead did early damage (three wickets between them – all bowled), but Berkhamsted’s innings soon got going when a debutant from New Zealand started plundering it to all parts.

The combination of a boundary that would be deemed short by Under-11’s standards and an inspired piece of captaincy (bringing on Xav to bowl at two left-handers with the short boundary on the legside) meant that the home team’s total raced along. Cockfosters hung in there though and some smart fielding from Tony Pigden, Flat-track O’Leary and keeper Becker kept things in check. Mark Sayers rarely strayed from a good line and length and was rewarded with his first five-wicket haul of 2006.

A smart catch at long-off by Adam Pigden (money on the ball) off the bowling of Sayers wrapped up the innings and ended a superb knock of 115 by the Kiwi. Never mind, we all thought, at least he isn’t a bowler….“erm, sorry lads, he’s a former Under-19 international leg spinner who doesn’t normally bat”, came the reply!!

After a hearty tea and a check on the latest footy scores O’Leary and Fisher began the task of dismantling Berkamsted’s attack and reaching the 203 needed to win. Some dodgy running aside, the openers did alright before Fisher inexplicably dabbled at a short, wide delivery. Little headway was made thereafter, except for a useful 32 from Tony Pigden. Despite sussing out Tosh’s dependable late cut, Berko continued to bowl to it and even with a field of three slips, two gullies and two backward points, the old master notched up runs.

Having given up the ghost of reaching the target, Cockfosters limped to a well under-par total of 141-5, but the match served its purpose – overs under the belt for bowlers and time in the middle for batsmen. There’s plenty of time yet for dramatic run chases!!

Special thanks go to Cheesy for stepping up into the side from what would have been a cosy afternoon at Chalk Lane in the 2’s, bowling to his heart’s content. Instead he had to chase leather and wear a couple in the field, before the obligatory umpiring stint. That’ll be £11 please…..
 

On an amazingly glorious day for late April skipper Wells lost the toss which was irrelevant as given our batting line up Dunstable were always going to bat first.

Wellsy got 2 early wickets - ironically both dismissals coming immediately after the previous ball had kept very low - the first in fact bowling the batsman off a no ball. Richie Sumner bowled well at the other end but with no reward. Depsite regular inroads into the Dunstable line up their 55 year old opening bat came through unscathed and ended up with a well made 100 - even if he managed to loop the ball unwittingly into open spaces twice while in the 90s. Joe Clune took 3 wickets with his wiley spin as did Wellsy in total as he came back later for another one. Some excellent work in the field from Adam Blaby secured a run out.

Wonderful to see the thespian off side field with James 'Richard E' Grant alongside John 'Popstar' Kershaw.

After the usually rewarding tea Cockfosters set out to give themselves some usefull batting practice. The early effort was good with Richard E and Anthony Levy putting on over 30 for the opening wicket. Wickets then tumbled until the Popstar was joined by Richie Sumner. Some good biffing by these two saw the Popstar to a top score of 33 and the feeling that a good contest was in sight.....before a clatter of wickets wound it up for 118.

All in all though an excellent opening practice match with all the bowlers getting a good test an all the batsman getting a chance. 
 

Tea looked pretty good with nice baps on offer. Then Fosters went out to bat.

O’Leary and Shag opened the batting and safely negotiated the first 10 overs before O’Leary spooned one up to mid-off with a shot straight out of the Munson school of off driving. Dunstable had some good bowling on offer, a left arm Beds opening bowler called Matthews quickly made mince meat of Fosters number 3 Adam Pigden. Bowled off a no ball he was then given out LBW next ball. Shag and Xav had a good stand seeing off Matthews and other Beds bowling outsider A Wilson. Both did well getting the score up to 83 until Shag ran X-man out in true village fashion. Edwards departed soon after scoring a noble 26 which was third highest score of the entire game and after seeing off the best of the bowling did well. Penny and Westbury had a brief stand until Penny run Westbury out by making Westbury’s call for him but Penny made amends by not getting out & top scoring for Fosters on 27! We eventually ran out of overs on 130 for 7 with Hillier making 11 and T Sayers still in at the end with Penny. The pitch flattered to deceive and scoring runs second was difficult.

Overall good performance to start the season off, we were chirpy in the field and pretty disciplined bowling. Had we taken the two dropped catches we could have limited the oppo’s score but 185 is a reasonable target. Should have scored more runs but Dunstable had a strong bowling attack and the massive slow outfield did not help

Man of the Match went to Matt Hillier for his wicket celebrations. Great debut sport figures of 10 5 15 4 says it all. Special mention to Sam also who has a bit of everything in his locker including runs, a great arm and Haribo.