April 6, New Place - one week before season start

Photograph © Pete Croxson

”The outfield’s probably going to be a bit slow today Rob”...
“So today’s the day we’re trying out the white ball then?”...
“Going to have to be careful with your footmarks on the wicket today Kev”...
“I’m sure he was fielding over near that snowman with the maroon cap on”...
“What do you mean it keeps sliding down the leg side, Deano?”...
“It’s not often you see an umpire come out with four jumpers round his shoulders!”

April 13 vs Stansted Park at New Place

The 2008 season starts in the same manner that bedevilled most of the 2007 season as the New Place pitch is declared unfit for our first fixture against the “new” Stansted Park CC - an amalgam of Rowland’s Castle and Old Eldonians.

April 20 vs Broadhalfpenny Brigands, away

It is a traditional early season match on a typical early season wicket - slow, low and thoroughly uninspiring to bat on.  New skipper Pete Croxson leads his team into the field for the first time and the Brigands make steady and typically slow runs until the opener gets run out by Rob Tate with the score on 43.  Two more wickets fall for 6 more runs, debutant Peter Hicks claiming his first wicket for the club.  Another decent stand of 45 sees the home side on 94-3 before the remaining six wickets fall for just 20 more runs. Final score is 114-9 in 43.5 overs with Kev Hewitt bagging three wickets.  Rob Foster and John Lowe open the batting and are soon scoring briskly before John is bowled with the score on 29. The middle order collapse arrives a little early with Paul Hawkins, Matt Gleaves and Pete Croxson all failing to trouble the scorers - 33-4.  Rob Foster takes total control of the game at this point on his way to 64, successive stands of 41 with Shripal Modi and 32 with Rob Tate sealing Brigands fate, the total being overhauled for the loss of 6 wickets in 26.2 overs. First win of the season and the first jug for the end of season “do”.  A good start!

April 27 vs DACD at New Place

This match was borderline until a thunderstorm in the late morning ruined any hope of play on the day.

May 11 vs Rogate at New Place

This is a fixture that has been plagued by bad weather over the years so it was a pleasant change for the skipper to be able to win the toss and elect to field first.  Rogate were soon in trouble with 2 wickets falling in the first 7 balls. With Peter Hicks bowling very economically (6 overs for 2 runs), Rogate were soon struggling at 33-5. Ringing the changes in the bowling department, no less than 9 bowlers were used in dismissing the visitors for 91 with 7 of those bowlers taking one or more wickets. After the break, IBM were 0-1 after 1 ball, John Lowe being bowled for a platinum duck.  His opening partner, Pete Croxson, however was in better form, hitting 69* in 19 overs to steer IBM home for a very comfortable 7 wicket victory.

May 18 vs Droxford, away

To Droxford on a fine, if fresh, day - a pitch that has so much timber in the outfield that even Rob Tate’s London & South Western Railway sleeper with a handle only adds a tiny fraction to the total.  Winning the toss, Pete Croxson elects to field first and thus begins an innings of three parts.  Part 1: maidens aplenty, runs in short supply, wickets falling - score 4-2. Part 2: runs aplenty (sometimes aided by the trees), wickets non-existent, bowlers unable to break through until Taddy Williams comes on for his second spell (first spell produced 2 wickets for no runs in five overs!) - score 107-3. Part 3: total collapse, ducks in numbers - final total 112. A bad day with the bat for Droxford as 98 runs were contributed by two batsmen and there were 12 extras, leaving two runs to be shared by the remaining 9 batsmen. Pete Croxson produced figures of 4-15, but Taddy Williams’ 7.5 overs, 6 maidens, 6 wickets for 1 run was truly outstanding!  After the break, John Lowe fal ls with the score on 44, bringing Shripal Modi to the wicket to share the duties with Phil Stride on his way to 70* and a rare victory against our Meon Valley neighbours.

May 25 vs Goodwood, away

A gorgeous day at a gorgeous setting played to the accompaniment of Merlin and Griffon engines as Spitfires, Mustangs and Harvards strut their stuff overhead.  It is, however, a very, very depleted IBM XI who take to the field against one of our stronger opponents.  Rob Foster on his way to 71 and John Lowe put on 49 for the first wicket, but after John and Fossie, only Matthew Stride at number 11 offers any resistance with a spirited unbeaten 22. A smattering of runs from the other batsmen contribute to a meagre total of 143-9 at tea.  IBM’s true weakness on the day is then exposed as the bowlers fail to make any impression whatsoever as the two Goodwood openers make their way relentlessly to the target in just 24 overs - a complete and utter 10-wicket thrashing, in stark contrast to the previous week’s 9-wicket victory.

June 1 vs Clanfield at New Place

A 40-over match this week against a team that we have never beaten.  Skipper Croxson wins the toss and elects to have a bowl.  James White and Peter Hicks repeat their performance against Rogate by picking up a wicket each in their first overs - 0-2. Things don’t improve much for the visitors as two further wickets fall at 6 and 18 before a couple of decent stands take them to 74-6.  A further collapse, sees them struggle to 82-8 before the last three batsmen give a semblance of decency to the score - 124 all out in exactly 40 overs.  Stand out performance is Peter Hicks with 3 catches; himself, James and Taddy Williams taking 2 wickets apiece in the process. In a complete reversal of the previous week’s debacle, openers Craig Robson (58*) and John Lowe (56*) steer IBM to a 10 wicket victory.  And so the roller-coaster season of “thrash or be thrashed” continues!

June 8 vs Curdridge at New Place

Curdridge matches tend to be high-scoring affairs but with this season’s topsy-turvy events anything is possible!  However, this one, at least follows a fairly normal pattern.  Curdridge win the toss and elect to field first. Rob Foster and John Lowe provide a nice solid opening platform of 61 before John trudges back to the “pavilion”. 61-1 becomes 74-5 before skipper Pete Croxson arrives at the crease and blasts 75 runs off 55 balls with 6 fours and 5 sixes laying the foundations of a decent total of 179. Early breakthroughs after tea see Curdridge reeling at 40-5, but their No. 6 bat (who has scored highly against IBM before) steadies the Curdridge boat with a gutsy 71*.  Requiring 100 runs off the last 10 overs with 5 wickets left standing, Curdridge pick up their game and, as well as saving the game, manage to get within 21 runs of the IBM total, somewhat aided by the appalling statistic of 39 extras (mostly wides, and Deano not playing!) donated to the visitors. Whilst the bowling lacks penetration, the fielding was generally of the highest order, with the Stride brothers contributing significantly in that arena. Six games played, four wins and one draw!  Not a bad start to Pete’s first season at the tiller!

June 15 vs Lavant, away

Lavant seem to be one of those teams that can blow hot and cold, somewhat like IBM, so you never know what you’re going to get with these fixtures as they follow no real pattern.  Against any kind of pattern, skipper-for-the-day Rob Foster wins the toss and puts the home side in to bat.  The first wicket falls on 21 and that proves to be the catalyst to speed up the scoring rate which increases from a meagre 2 an over to approaching 4 an over over the next half-hour or so. Set against this backdrop, the IBM bowling keep taking wickets just often enough to stop the scoring rate getting out of hand, but not frequently enough to claim the upper hand.  Mark Cross’s deceptively straight spin claims 3-22 and Taddy Williams bags a pair of wickets as Lavant get to 180-7 after 44 overs. The tea-break came and went, and the IBM openers, Rob Foster and John Lowe, took to the field to start the run-chase. Unfortunately both were back in the pavilion with the score on 29. Chris Swales supports Rob Tate well as a further 22 runs are added before Chris is bowled - and then the rain arrives. And stays put. Match abandoned, IBM 51-3 in 13 overs, well up with the run rate, but maybe a wicket or two worse off than would have been wanted.

June 22 vs Shedfield, away

An extraordinary week when only four players are available leaves Pete Croxson no choice but to cancel the match on the Thursday - our sincere apologies to Shedfield for this disappointment.

June 29 vs Hythe and Dibden, away

A first-ever fixture against Hythe & Dibden as the previous year’s fixture was monsooned off.  Losing the toss and being asked to bat first, IBM adopt the “let’s get the collapse over with early” attitude, with the top four only managing to contribute 22 runs between them. Unfortunately, the bottom 6 managed two less than that! Only the flashing blade of skipper Pete Croxson gives the innings any degree of credibility at all as he hits a quick fire 74 including 2 sixes and 13 fours in a rather poor total of 117. The Hythe reply is slow and steady and punctuated by frequent wickets. So much so, that for a while it looks possible that IBM could scrape the win.  Finally, however, the winning runs are hit in the 41st over with 8 wickets already down. A good spell of 3-26 off 12 overs by Peter Hicks and 2 wickets each by Kev Hewitt and Matthew Stride keeps IBM in the hunt. Whilst a two wicket defeat doesn’t look too bad on paper, the batting side of the balance sheet does not make pretty reading!

Read Hythe & Dibden’s account of the match here.

July 6 vs East Meon, away

A welcome return to mid-summer fixtures at East Meon... so of course it rains so much in the previous week as to make the pitch unfit.  Ahhh, the joys of the English summer!

July 13 vs Wickham, away

An overcast day with a dubious weather forecast greets the teams at Rookesbury Park. Wickham win the toss and elect to field first. Rob Foster and Rob Tate get off to a flyer, scoring freely in the first few overs until Fossie is caught out. Enter Nick Wells for his first match of the season; Zimmer frame cast aside, Nick rolls back the years with an entertaining 29, outscoring Rob Tate who was, himself on his way to 52.  They both fall within a few overs of one another, but at 122-3 off 21 overs, the prospects for a decent score are good. And then the runs dry up, partly due to some outstanding fielding by Wickham and partly due to the fact that IBM just don’t hit scoring strokes.  Thirteen overs later, five more wickets have fallen and only 26 more runs are added.  Mark Cross adds a valuable unbeaten 24 towards the end of the innings to get IBM to 175-8 off their 40 overs.  A small shower over tea and the early part of Wickham’s innings reflects the latter half of IBM’s, with the score crawling along at 2 to 3 an over. The younger members of the Wickham team accelerate the scoring in the middle order, but the required rate still sits at over 6 an over with 10 overs left and things don’t improve over the next 5 overs.  However, a few hefty blows suddenly brings the win within reach of the home side. In a nail-biting finish, Wickham find themselves needing 2 to win from the last ball. A scrambled single, a slight error in backing up, and a second run is suddenly on.  A cool throw back to the wicket and the batsman is run out by about a foot.  The match is tied with Wickham also having scored 175-8 in their 40 overs. In the end, extras were the difference, Wickham conceding 31, IBM conceding only 10. Pete Croxson is the pick of the IBM bowling with 3-19 off his 8 overs with good support from all the others. An excellent afternoon’s cricket!

July 20 vs Cowplain at New Place

Cowplain were unable to raise a team and at short notice there was no chance of a replacement fixture.

July 27 vs Beaulieu, away

Traditional Beaulieu weather greets IBM for the first time in a few years - hot, slightly humid and not a cloud in the sky - ideal to win the toss and bat.  So IBM take to the field after losing the toss. With a dearth of wicket-keepers, skipper Pete Croxson elects to take the gloves and promptly drops a catch in the first over. Fortunately this is none too expensive as Graham Stride picks up two wickets in his second over; the batsman watching the ball trickle onto the stumps agonisingly slowly for the second one. Another tidy spell from Peter Hicks sees him pick up a wicket in his final over plunging Beaulieu to 15 for 3. Things could have been worse for Beaulieu as a less-than-convincing display of fielding saw a number of catches spilled. Beaulieu rally and settle into an easy cadence of 4 runs an over with the occasional wicket tumbling.  Nick Wells takes the gloves from Pete Croxson after the 20th over and, showing solidarity with his skipper, drops one in his first over as well! Despite tight spells from Matthew Stride and Rob Tate, IBM are unable to mop up the tail and at the end of the 40 overs, the home side have posted a total of 161-8. Rob Tate and Nick Wells open the batting and add 24 before Nick is bowled bringing Trevor Lee to the crease.  Another 20 runs are added before he, too, is bowled bringing Pete Croxson to the middle.  A somewhat harsh LBW returns Rob to the pavilion with the score having reached 71.  However, Pete is striking the ball cleanly (most of the time, anyway) until he is caught out quite brilliantly on the boundary at which point IBM are 108-6 with 13 overs left and still well in the hunt. 108-6 falters to 114-9 five overs later and the victory is looking less than probable. A spirited 10th wicket partnership between Peter Hicks and Taddy Williams adds a further 23 runs before Taddy is caught and IBM go down to their first defeat at Beaulieu’s hands since 2003.

August 3 vs Andover II, away

Persistent rain in the previous few days rendered this match a non-starter due to a conditions on the pitch being more conducive to windsurfing.

August 10 vs Bedhampton Mariners at New Place

Incredibly, considering the previous day’s deluge, the New Place pitch turns out to be perfectly playable.  Bedhampton win the toss and elect to bat first. The Bedhampton openers give the visitors a solid lead and the score is well over 50 before the first wicket falls (the score book lacks a certain amount of detail I’m afraid). At times the visitors threaten to run away with it, and then a wicket falls, reining them back in for a while. With Pete Croxson returning his best figures of 6-51 and wicket-keeper John Lowe grabbing four dismissals (three catches and a stumping), the score is kept to 178. And we won’t mention Matthew Stride’s catches... as there weren’t any... except off a no-ball.  This was always going to be a stiff target and with three of the top four back in the wooden shack by the time the score has reached 10, things don’t look too good. Pete Croxson comes to the crease and firstly with Pete Rowson and latterly with Tom Linley , the scoring rate gets ahead of the requirement.  Pete is then caught for 36 while going for a big one with the score on 76 and four batsmen follow suit in short order taking the score on to 88-9. Only a late flurry of runs from Taddy Williams and Matthew Stride give the final total an air of respectability before Taddy holes out with the score on 115. It’s fair to say that Bedhampton were the better side on the day, in all departments, so ultimately, a fair result.

August 17 vs Purbrook II at New Place

Purbrook are one of IBM’s stronger opponents and after being put in to bat by skipper Pete Croxson they proceed to prove the point! A watchful start sees the score move to 28 after 10 overs, the 50 partnership coming up in the 13th over. New boy Richard Crampton bags the first wicket with the score on 53, but the scoring accelerates further with the 100 coming up in the 19th over and the second wicket falling in the 20th on 110.  It then takes just 5 overs for the 150 to come up, but Rob Tate coming into the attack slows the scoring rate down.  He proceeds to take an excellent 4-58 to throttle back the visitors, but the total still reaches 256 at the end of the 40 overs.  This is a day for rapid scoring during the run chase and after 10 overs the score is 41 without loss. The necessary acceleration never comes though and despite a stoic innings of 52 from John Lowe, no-one else makes an impact with the bat, and with 4 overs left, the last wicket falls while IBM are still 140 runs adrift of Purbrook’s total.

August 24 vs West Meon, away

Remarkably, considering the overnight conditions, the text message is received that the match is on. A wicket that was never going to be full of runs prompts Pete Croxson to elect to bat first and bowl on the worn wicket second. 15-1, Craig Robson bowled. 16-2, Pete Croxson bowled - not a day to be hitting across the line as the bounce is very variable. 31-3, Ray Stanley bowled. A partnership forged in experience (104 years combined age and somewhere in the vicinity of 900 games for the club between them) follows with Nick Wells, bowled for 50, and Trevor Lee (stumped on 29), putting on 67 for the fourth wicket.  With Tom Linley getting 11* and Matthew Stride 11, a very defendable score of 137 is reached with no less than 8 people being bowled (the other two both being stumped ). The home side never get into their stride - the first wicket falling second ball, and a middle-order collapse to rival IBM’s best - 34-2 becoming 37-5 in no time at all.  Extremely tight bowling, especially from Tom with 4-18 off his 13 overs and almost half of all overs bowled being maidens allied to tight fielding all round gives West Meon no chance of going for the victory. A desperate rearguard action for the last wicket sees the home side hang on by the skin of their teeth for a draw in very trying batting conditions.

August 31 vs Rogate, away

Poor weather causes yet another cancellation.

September 7 vs Bosham at New Place

The necessity to wear galoshes to inspect the wicket gives skipper Pete Croxson the excuse to call yet another game off.

September 14 vs Lavant at New Place

Despite a mostly-dry week, the pitch was still unplayable come Sunday morning providing ample evidence for the high water table.

September 21 vs Fair Oak at New Place

Weather that is vaguely reminiscent of summer finally arrives with two weeks of the season left.  Fair Oak win the toss and elect to bat first in a 40-over match.  Peter Hicks and Taddy Williams open the bowling and are soon being put to the sword, 55 runs coming off the first eight overs. Rob Tate and Pete Croxson replace them and slow the run rate down somewhat and take three quick wickets and after 16 overs the game is nicely poised with the visitors on 91-4.  Further bowling changes are made and Fair Oak’s number 6 finds them to his liking, everybody being on the receiving end of his willow thereafter.  In fact, from the point he came to the wicket, he scored no less than 132 of his team’s 186 runs after the fall of the fourth wicket.  A couple of late wickets are little more than consolations as a combination of good batting, poor bowling and, at times, dreadful fielding allows Fair Oak to notch up a healthy 267-8 at tea. A big target, but not an ungettable one as history has shown at this ground.  A healthy opening stand of 53 with Paul Hawkins contributing 33 and John Lowe being the anchor on his way to a measured 63.  Steady progress, but rather too slow is made in the middle order and it isn’t until the rather bizarre dismissal of Pete Croxson for a somewhat unfortunate duck, bringing Rob Tate and Phil Stride to the crease together, that the tempo picks up.  Rob is out immediately after unknowingly scoring his 10,000th run for the club and from that point on, the result never looks in any doubt.  Rob’s knock of 37 and Phil Stride’s cameo 24 gives hope for a while, but in the end IBM run out of wickets shortly before they run out of overs.  Final score 216 all out and a disappointing 51 run defeat.

September 28 vs XIIth Men at New Place

XIITh Men’s second ever visit to New Place was blessed by decent weather again, the visitors winning the toss and electing to have first use of the cherry.  IBM get off to the worst possible start with the score on 1-2 when John Lowe is run out.  Ray Stanley hangs around for a while in support of skipper Pete Croxson, Mark Cross picking up the baton when Ray’s wicket falls.  When Pete is out for 29 taking the score to 47-5 things are not looking too good.  Trevor Lee and Tom Linley dig in against good bowling on a difficult wicket and grind out a partnership of 59 in the next 20 overs before Trevor is out for 39.  Tom continues on to 27 before he too falls and Taddy Williams cements the lower order together with a steady unbeaten 19. The final total at tea is 148-8, normally not considered a good score at New Place, but on the day a very good effort.  Tom Linley and Taddy Williams open the bowling with good economical spells, Taddy picking up the first wicket in the 12th over with the score on 25. No runs are added before Peter Hicks takes the second and with ten more on the board he adds the third. With scoring above 3 an over being difficult, the target of 5 an over looks daunting for the visitors. A steady war of attrition follows with Matt Easton picking up two wickets and Mark Cross the key wicket of their opener, but in the end XIIth Men hold out for the draw, reaching 118 at stumps in a match played in the best possible spirit.

Pete Croxson’s review of the season...

Well, this season was my 6th as a player for IBMSHCC but my first as Sunday Captain and I have to say it was the most topsy-turvy season I have known. Firstly, our dear friend mother nature. She was particularly moody this year as we had a blanket of snow covering New Place a week before the season started and sunny & dry weather in September when we all shoulda been at home on a Sunday watching the Grand Prix as rain hammered at our windows! The rest of the "summer" wasn't that great either, it was certainly a season of extremes. 

Secondly, availabilities ... I can count on one hand the number of weekends where I had to make a selection from more than 11 players.  This obviously makes my life harder and means I spend much of Thursday to Saturday frantically calling & texting people to see if they can play. It also proves an issue when deciding the batting order when you look at the list of names and realise you have 10 bowlers and a wicket keeper!

Now, you may all be thinking I am taking a leaf our of Sir Alex's book here ... getting in my excuses nice and early, but it's all relevant in explaining why we didn't win a game after the 1st June!  Obviously, we started really well, winning 5 of 6 completed games ... most with some excellent performances from various people within the team. In that time, we'd recorded 8 jugs for some excellent individual performances and spirits were running high.  Clearly, captaining the team was easy, or so I thought!

After that, we spent the rest of the season enjoying much less success with each game featuring usually one person having a good game and the rest not.  Batting was certainly not our strong point, nor was consistent form - it says a lot that the 2 batsmen with the most batting jugs were also tied for the duck cup!  However, saying all that, every single game we played was done so in a great spirit.  The banter was on top form and I greatly enjoyed my time on the field. I'd like to thank everyone that played, especially those who made themselves available at short notice and rearranged other plans to be able to play.  With a bit more luck in terms of weather and availabilities, I think 2009 will be a much better season results-wise and so long as we all continue to enjoy the cricket, then we can't really go wrong!

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