August  2016

 While aware of the requirement for a "thought piece" in the first  knockings of this guff,  The Tremeloes teach us that sometimes "Silence is Golden" 

 Duly noted Bob Gaudio

Longparish I

The month began well for Longparish with an impressive win away against a strong Fair Oak II side. Harry Martin and Matt Jackman took 3 wickets each as the home side were dismissed for 142. A target that Longparish passed with 20 overs and 8 wickets remaining with Michael Taplin hitting 28, William de Cani 46 and Paul Blackmore 49.

Both sides were shorn of key players in the home tie with Amport who batted first and were all out for 58 in the 28th over with Chris Clarke and Harry Martin claiming a brace of wickets each and Matt Jackman and Alex Coetzee taking 3 each. Michael Taplin, 24 and William de Cani, 37 knocked off the required runs in 32 balls to secure a 10 wicket win.

It was a different story away at Locks Heath who batted first and on a high scoring ground posted a par score of 246 for 5 with Harry Martin and Sam Trinder taking 2 wickets each. The Longparish reply remained on the required rate throughout, but wickets fell at regular intervals and the innings closed 45 runs short with William de Cani the top scorer with 83.

With four games remaining, Longparish sit top of County Division 2 and are a couple of wins away from returning to the top flight of the Hampshire League after a twenty year absence.

Longparish II

 At home to Rotherwick ITW, Barry Blackmore returned some of his best ever figures with the ball taking 7 for 32 as the Rotherwick ITW batting collapsed from 78 without loss to 137 all out. Jamie Blackmore struck 34 and Gary Taplin a season best 75 as Longparish passed the target with 5 overs to spare.

Away at Old Basing II Harry Samways and Oliver Coetzee took 3 wickets each as Old Basing set a target of 161. Adam Lister scored 20, Tim Oram 30 and Justin Jackman an unbeaten 41 as Longparish II eased to a 2 wicket win with 4 balls remaining

The home tie with Michelmarsh & Timsbury II was a brief business as the visitors succumbed for only 68 with the wickets shared between Chris Clarke, Harry Samways, Barry Blackmore, Oliver Coetzee, Alex Brinton and Christian Dawson. Jamie Blackmore stroked an unbeaten 50 as Longparish II passed the target in the 19th over for the loss of 2 wickets.

Longparish II lie 5th in Regional Division 1 and with four games to go remain in the mix for promotion.

Longparish III

Martin Savage took 4 for 26 away at Overton III who closed on 156 for 9, a target that Longparish III passed with 9 overs remaining, with Tim Oram scoring 20, Dan Pomroy and Jordan Blackmore 21 and skipper Martin Bearpark an unbeaten 78.

At home to Hungerford II, Alex Bundy, Jordan Blackmore and James Young took 2 wickets each and Nathan Smith 3 for 26 as the visitors were dismissed for 109. Barry Ewens opened with 18, Matt Paice reciprocated with 17, Dan Pomroy bunted 21 and Warren Bonathan eked out 22 in a 6 wicket win for Longparish III.

Away to Thruxton, Longparish III raced to 195 for 8; Will Arnold the principle contributor with a stylish 73.  Arnold completed a superb all round performance taking 4 for 13 as Thruxton closed 84 runs short.

Longparish III currently sit third in regional division 3 North and kick back flicking playing cards into a top hat, as with four games to go, regional division 2 cricket is a given in 2017.

Details of all Senior side fixtures and results can be found at www.longparishcc.co.uk and www.hantscl.com. Thank you to everyone who has attended games, home and away, this season to support all three senior sides.

Tichborne Trophy Final

Longparish took on SPL side Tichborne Park at the St Cross final ground in Winchester and at 119 for 1 Tichborne Park looked to be heading towards a colossal score, but Scott Sturt picked up 4 wickets in his second spell and Barry Blackmore 2 to restrict Tichborne Park to 144 for 9.  The Longparish reply set off at a run a ball but wickets fell at regular intervals, Michael Taplin the first for 16, William de Cani followed for 23 and Billy Mead was unbeaten on 31 as Tichborne Park secured a deserved 41 run win to take the Tichborne Trophy for the umpteenth time.

Longparish U15

In the Cup semi final away to St Cross U15,  St Cross closed on 150 for 3 despite the best efforts of the Longparish U15 bowling attack of Jordan Blackmore, Tally O'Farrell, Callum Giles, Liam Whitehorn and Alex Bundy.

William Samways hit 24, Oliver Wills, 13 and Cameron Proctor 26 but could not prevent St Cross U15 progressing to the Final.

 In the penultimate league game of the Colts season, Longparish U15 played host to Amport U15 who batted first and posted 110 for 6 with Jordan Blackmore, Alex Bundy, Arlo Matley and Liam Whitehorn all in the wickets. Callum Giles hit an Unbeaten 42 and William Samways an unbeaten 35 in an exciting 1 wicket win for Longparish U15.

Away at Andover U15 for the final game of the year, Longparish batted first and batted well, with Alex Bundy scoring 26, Oliver Wills 31, Callum Giles 32 and William Samways 35 as Longparish U15 closed on 164 for 2. Luke Benzing and Bailey Sampson-Bridgen bowled well, Jack Proctor and Liam Whitehorn picked up a wicket each, Tally O'Farrell took 2 for 11 and Jordan Blackmore 3 for 18 as Longparish U15 cruised to a convincing 65 run win to clinch the Winchester & District U15 B Division title!

Longparish U13

Away at Amport, William McDermott and Myles Cole bowled beautifully and Luke Robins, Harry Cardno, Harvey Randall, Louis Pereira, Oliver Oram and Keiron McHenry picked up wickets as Amport U13 closed on 93 for 6. Daniel Parkin struck 11 and Harry Cardno an unbeaten 30 to seal a 6 wicket win for Longparish U13.

The final game of the season saw Longparish U13 entertain Compton & CF U13 who batted first and finished on 102 for 8, with William McDermott, Harvey Randall, Archie Birtles, and Myles Cole taking a wicket each and Louis Pereira confirming his status as "one to watch" with 3 wickets for 5 runs. Jude Cooper Smith struck 24 and Louis Pereira 18 in a 4 wicket win for Longparish U13 who finished in bronze medal position in the Winchester & District B Division.

Longparish U11

In the perennial home friendly with London based Primrose Hill, Alfie Smith scored runs and Wilf Hillier, Harry Randall, Cameron Wigmore, Joe Fish, Cian Perret, George Gairdner and Zac Allen picked up wickets in a fun Friday night tie.

In the Oliver Plate final, Longparish U11 restricted a super strong Ropley U11 side to 128 for 9 with Kieron Tasker, Zac Allen and Finn Jannaway in the wickets.  In reply, Longparish U11 batted brilliantly, but finished a few runs short with Alfie Smith the principle contributor.

Representative Cricket

Congratulations and best wishes to all the Longparish Colts attending District trials in the coming months.

A message from Tony Hart (Google him Kids, he was very much the Damian Hirst of his day)

Doo be doo be doo be doo, be do doo, be do do be doo, doo be doo be doo be doo,

The Club are in the fortunate position of owning a gallery where critically unacclaimed photographs loosely themed around cricket are displayed each week. Initially devised as a community project the thing has been hijacked by a doofus with an idiot proof camera and an unhidden agenda to obfuscate.

If anyone has any photos they would like to appear in the gallery don't be stranger, all contributions welcome from all corners of Longparish cricket, just keep em clean, kind and focused and we will hang em high in the gallery that promises to rival the Louvre. 

The Ground

Remains one of the finest in the Hampshire Leagues (which happens to include significant swathes of Wiltshire, Dorset, Surrey and Berkshire) and a terrific place to spend an afternoon.... Well done.

Presentation Evening

Has come around all too soon, particularly for the pig, as once again a hog roast will provide sustenance on the night,  Friday 16th September and is kindly hosted by The Cricketers Inn. In a ground breaking move this year's celebration of another summer of cricket at Longparish will see an alternative "pig free" option.

Could be quiche, might be rabbit, tofu's an option .we won't write off egg custard, and venison's on the cards.

It's  a "Plat du jour" approach that relies heavily on what's on offer in Tesco, or what we find in the hedge or on the road.

 We are assured that speeches will be short and the premises are not licensed for dancing so the thing should be done and dusted in a couple of hours.  

I don't mean to be presumptuous, but it's sometimes a good do, there are photos on the website of people with forced smiles at previous events, so give it a go,

Everybody welcome: players, non players, seniors, colts, family, friends, troublemakers, peaceniks, everybody, everybody.

Ticket details to follow, possibly on Ticketmaster.

Hundred Club Draw - July

Numbers for this month continue to be plucked from the rim of the milky way in a digital manner by the space spawn of Tim Peake.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in with their first font of choice to herald the winners of this competition.

This month's winner of first choice of font is a Mr Kirk Birkenstock from Lincolnshire who writes

" I have mixed feelings about this font as it was selected by my bride as the font for our wedding invitations.  Two weeks later she eloped with the chap who printed them and I have since used the unsent invitations folded in half as place names when people pop round for dinner. Ar Blanca has served as a reminder that even in the darkest of times a little sunshine is to be found, and I find comfort in the knowledge that I have never had to buy place names since"

Nice choice Kirk, and If anyone out there has a higher number of the letter K in their name, we'd love to hear from you

 " Ar Blanca" it is,

 enjoy

£35    Anne Herbert

£15    Chris Clarke

£15    Dan Pomroy

If anyone out there has a font that they are fond of with an accompanying tale, that they would like to see used to display the Hundred Club winners, please send a postcard to:  Fonts with Feelings, Stable Cottage, Bransbury, Winchester SO21 2QJ.