Reports & Newsletter - 2000

Frogs vs Wimbledon CC

Venue: Church Road

Date: 30th April

Result: Match Cancelled.

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Frogs vs Hurlingham

Venue: Hurlingham

Date: 7th May

Result: Frogs lose by 7 wickets.

After a wet spring and an abnormally protracted search for players, it was a relief to arrive at Hurlingham on a sunny morning with eleven men.  Fifteen or more would probably have been necessary on the day, however, as our rather ring-rusty representatives succumbed ineffectually to modest opposition.  We won the toss and batted but, after the disappointingly early loss of Pascal and Rosnegk, the only one to show any mettle was Owen Williams, who ran out of partners after scoring a good fifty.

When Hurlingham batted we struggled to bowl line and length and could not compensate for the lack of main strike bowlers.  Add to this the dropping of some simple crucial catches and it will come as no surprise to report that Hurlingham passed our total in only thirty nine overs.

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Frogs vs Harrow Wanderers

Venue: Ascott Park

Date: 21st May

Result: Match Cancelled.

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Frogs vs Amersham

Venue: Shardeloes

Date: 21st May

Result: Match cancelled.

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Frogs vs Grasshoppers

Venue: St Georges College, Weybridge

Date: 29th May

Result: Match Cancelled.

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Frogs vs Old Wellingtonians

Venue: Wellington College

Date: 4th June

Result: Match Drawn.

OW's               197 - 9 dec      (Chetwode 5 for 57)

Frogs                 95 - 9

OW's won the toss and batted on a rather sluggish track.  They began well, putting on a quickish 48, before being pegged back by some reasonably tenacious fielding and a fine performance from Chetwode.  Shunning his usual slot as opening bowler, he emerged from his cotton wool as first change to turn in figures of 19-5-57-5.  No OW batsman got away despite eight of them scoring between 15 and 30.  Their total, off 57 overs, seemed gettable after a solid opening partnership of 40 between Dolman and O'Leary, but thereafter, a brief flourish from Thomas excepted, nobody got out of single figures.  The welcome arrival of the end of play offered us a draw we barely deserved.

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Frogs vs Chesham CC

Venue: The Meadow

Date: 11th June

Result: Frogs win by 1 wicket.

Chesham         211                  (Chetwode 3 for 22)

Frogs               212 - 9             (Chapman 75, Thomas 37). 

Frogs won this match by 1 wicket, off the last ball of the 20 overs - what a finish !

The Chesham innings had started over half an hour late, as the Kwik cricketers from Chesham's junior section took some time to vacate the playing area. Despite accurate medium-paced bowling from Chetwode and Chew, a solid foundation was laid, and when the Frogs skipper came on to bowl, several mighty sixes were despatched into the neighbouring gardens. Duncan Thomas wove his spell with success, removing the top-scoring Chesham bat lbw for 63. Still Chesham progressed, and ended on 211 all out from 56 overs. A reasonable performance in the field by Frogs, but we all felt we would have to bat to the best of our abilities to win the game.

Fortunately, Jeff Chapman did produce an innings of top class - with 75 patient, cultured runs to give Frogs the basis for a run-chase through the final 20 overs. Richard Chalk also played an innings of great application to edge us nearer the target. Then, just when we needed a typical, swashbuckling innings from Duncan Thomas, he went to the wicket and swashed his buckles well and truly, making 37 invaluable runs in no time at all. The momentum was kept up by Steve Chew who struck 2 timely sixes when the clock looked as though it might beat us, and Brian Slade (a cricketing companion of the skipper) then strode to the wicket to lift a couple of crucial boundaries off his legs. A scrambled single off the last ball brought a well-deserved victory from a real team effort, in which everyone played a part.

Frogs vs St Georges XI 

Venue: St Georges College, Weybridge

Date: 25th June

Result: Match Drawn.

Finally some decent weather in a season dogged by rain, here was a chance for the Frogs to secure a victory over the boys of St George's College.  A strong batting line-up for the Frogs was backed up by a seam attack that would hardly strike fear into the opposition - but more of that later.

As per usual, the Frogs were asked to bat first, and the Frogs skipper sent out a strong opening pair of Pascal and Chapman: a wise head and experience on the one hand and youthful exuberance on the other!  The partnership was littered with runs for Pascal through third man, before Chapman was bowled by a good-un.  In true Frogs style, a competent higher order then wilted prior to lunch, with both Rimmer and Dolman out cheaply.  The Frogs crawled into lunch on 86 for 5!

The rot continued after lunch as Rosenegk (in an unfamiliar No. 7 role) was caught flashing on 18, and at 128 for 8 the pressure was truly on.  A fine swashbuckling innings of 74 from Lawrence, at No. 8, saved the day, with Cowen able to hold the fort at the other end.  The Frogs scraped to 200 all out with a sigh of relief.

The St George's College innings began against an opening attack of Twiston-Davis and Cowen, and some tight early bowling saw the dangerous Otteley removed for only 17 by Twiston-Davies.  A first outing as a Frog for Hoyle ended after five overs of more than generous off-breaks, and something was needed quickly to break the hold St George's had on the game.  The medium pacers were duly introduced and finally some accurate bowling paid off.  Lawrence and Rosenegk (making up for his earlier failure with the bat) bowled patiently and diligently to share 5 wickets (4-51 for Lawrence).

The skipper chance to re-introduce the quicker bowlers and took Rosenegk off, to the disgust of the inexperienced bowler, only to see his plan foiled when Twiston-Davies was promptly tonked for 26 in the next over.  A close finish was now on the cards - ending in a tight draw that could have gone either way.  The College closed on 189 for 9, a good result for them, but leaving the skipper of the Frogs ruing the lack of depth in his bowling attack.

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Frogs vs Old Cranleighans

Venue: Cranleigh School

Date: 2nd July

Result: Match cancelled.

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Frogs vs HAC

Venue: HAC

Date: 9th July

Result: Match cancelled.

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Frogs vs Hampshire Hogs

Venue: Warnford

Date: 22nd July

Result: Frogs lose by 6 wickets.

Frogs                           239-6 dec        (Bayly 114, Chapman 47, Pumfrey 34)

Hampshire Hogs         243-4              

One year on, one year off –that’s us and the Hogs. Unfortunately this was their year.  We arrived at Warnford to find that due to a Cricketer Cup upset, we were faced by both Cox and Came. Everything went fine on the batting front. The toss unusually was won and Pumfrey and Bayly went off powerfully against the traditional wayward start by the Hogs. Pont’s first baller on debut, in retrospect just deserts for a late call-off on spurious grounds later in the year, left us on 55 for 2. The joining of Bayly and Chapman then produced a fine stand of 127 after which, despite a brief falter in the middle order, meant that it was just a question of when the declaration should be judged. Or misjudged. 239 seemed about right despite the firepower in the Hogs batting line-up.

A steady start by Chew and Croom-Johnson was met by an equally steady one from the Hogs batters. Rawlinson was then introduced into the attack and, with a fine and long spell of off-breaks, deserved better figures. Blumberg also had his moments with his slow drifters, but Cox embarked on a disturbingly serene innings. Rawlinson (2-74) accounted for the openers, and Blumberg made Came cross when he had him caught by deep mid-off, but Cox continued untroubled by everything we could throw at him, and he only succumbed when Chew spectacularly caught and bowled him after a) he had reached his century, and b) it was all a bit too late. We had just the sniff of a draw, but the Hogs middle order saw them safely home with 2 overs to spare.

As Harry Rawlinson said of a total like ours, if their ‘pro’ gets nought it’s too much, if he gets a hundred, it’s too little.

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Frogs vs Stowe Templars

Venue: Stowe School

Date: 18th June

Result: Frogs lose.

No Report received.

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Frogs vs Guards

Venue: Burton Court

Date: 30th July

Result: Match cancelled.

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Frogs vs Ashtead CC

Venue: Ashtead

Date: 6th August

Result: Match cancelled.

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Oxford Festival 2000

Frogs vs Gents of Philedelphia

Venue: Keble College

Date: 7th August

Result: Frogs win by 51 runs.

Frogs                                       241-5 dec        (Bray 77, Thomas 59*, Ross 38*)

Gentlemen of Philadelphia     190                  (Naveed 4 for 41)

The first game of the Frogs Oxford 2000 festival campaign was under serious threat on the Sunday morning as we were a couple short of a full side! Things continued to look a bit dubious when the Captain tried to pick up the balls from The Cricketer's Office in Keble College to find they had disappeared! However, due to the sterling work of President Prain, he arrived at the Keble College ground with seven names on the team sheet and a promise of a guest or two from GOP. Things started to improve immediately, with news that one of the GOP guests was a wicket-keeper and a second was top Japanese cricketer, Nick Kita. This meant we were 10 and with a clever flick of the coin the toss was won - Frogs to bat. Our Radley opening bat (Oliver Ross) had not arrived at this stage (he had been told it was an 11:30 start; par for the course at this stage?) but a smile was seen to pucker the Captain's lips when told by the other two players he did not know that they "opened the batting and opened the bowling" (OBOB); “the confidence of youth is such a wonderful thing”!

The Frogs innings was opened by “young” Judge Bray (coming out of retirement after 3 years of armchair reflection) and the left handed OBOB, Simon Dickens (a Straggler of Asia who had got lost!). On a slow low pitch the openers took a careful look at the Tourists' bowling, the first four overs being maidens and only 10 runs coming in the first 10 overs. By now the Frogs were at full strength as a Wandering Minstrel (Nick Benda) had arrived at the ground looking for a game and been accepted as a musical Tadpole!

In the tenth over Dickens, looking to up the pace, slashed the last ball of Moore's first over to Brett Collins, GOP's Australian skipper, fielding in the gulley; 10 for 1. Out strides our Australian colossus, Jeff Chapman, to team up with the Judge in the highest partnership of the match (105). Whilst the running between the wickets might not have been from times gone by, the strokeplay from both was vintage, with Bray at one stage pulling his one six on to the captain's car!

The lunchtime collapse! Chapman (27) pulls Sanjay to Lawrence at midwicket with the toe end of the bat at 12:42, Bray (77) dances down the wicket to oriental off spinner Simon Williams to be clean bowled at 12:46 (10 minutes earlier than usual for the Bray pre-lunch dismissal!) and Naveed (5) turns a long hop into a yorker, bowled Sanjay 12:57. The captain arrives at the wicket slightly unimpressed with 2 minutes to go until lunch! However, the opposition generously applaud his arrival and bowl him a full toss, four off the mark obviously a quaint Philadelphia custom! (A worthy tradition that we seem to have abandoned?). Lunch is superb and with Bray supplying the claret, it is remarkable that we are back out at 13:45!

The Captain's Cameo (59*) lasts a little longer than usual as he is uncertain of the wagginess of the tail! However, this means he plays a little straighter than normal, settling in slowly and waiting until the third delivery after lunch for the first 4 and the fifth for the first 6. Meanwhile, Richard Ellis (19), the other OBOB, is putting bat to ball with vigorous intent until undone in the flight by Williams, an off spinner of true class, and being caught skying the ball to cover. This brings Oliver Ross (38*), a little later into the fray than normal, out to middle to play a delightful innings full of elegant off drives that only those smoothy left handers can produce (a purely objective view from an inelegant right hander). These two put on 83 for the sixth wicket until rain interrupts and the groundsman calls the players in saving the Captain from having to make any clever declaration calculations.

Fortunately the rain does not last long and only 20 minutes of playing time are lost. GOP start steadily enough, opening with two left handers just to confuse our OBOBs who swing the ball around with real menace, bowling unplayable deliveries to invisible right handed batsmen!

Richard Ellis (9-1-27-2) nearly picks up a sly wicket by bowling a wide full toss outside Lawrence's off stump that is pummelled, in true West Indian fashion, to Nick Kita who is lurking at cover. When he attaches his hand back to his arm Nick has saved 3 runs. However, Ellis does get the breakthrough when Marcus edges low to second slip and Chapman picks a very good catch.

A partnership now begins to build between Lawrence and Williams who appear to be the main men for the GOP. Lawrence hitting the bad ball particularly hard (although dropped a second time - this time at gulley off Dickens) and Williams serenely coping with all coming his way. By now the Frogs are operating with spin at both ends, Naveed bowling some excellent off spin, and the Captain operating from the other end. Rather surprisingly the Captain's "Top spinner" undoes Lawrence (lbw for 52) in the over before tea which is taken at 78 for 2.

Tea rejuvenates the GOP with Straw and Williams taking the fight to the Frogs. Shaw in his 23 from 20 balls takes 4 fours off the Captain (the disgruntled chuntering from the Judge at first slip could have been heard at Brasenose).

When the Captain (4-0-31-1) did eventually replace himself with Ellis the break through came straight away, well after a couple of wides and a four, with Straw touching another wide to the "Diving Judge" at first slip. This spurred on Naveed who promptly took two wickets in the next overs, clean bowling Williams with a beauty that turned a yard, and Petrook with a great quicker ball - 118 for 2 had become 118 for 5 in the space of 7 balls; 126 for 6 when Naveed won an lbw decision against Moore.

Brett Collins, GOP skipper, and Johnson now went about rebuilding the innings whilst the Captain shuffled his bowlers around trying first the oriental leg spinning surprises of Japanese Superstar Nick Kita, then the military medium of Oliver Ross, until the key was found with "Round Left Arm" Kanoffr" (who pleaded not to bowl because he wanted to be on the winning side!). In between bowling 4 wides in his two overs, he has Johnson caught by the "Diving Judge" (154 for 7) and was unlucky that a top edged sweep from Anstick fell between 3 players.

With 11 overs to go and the weather beginning to close in again, Dickens was brought back into the attack and removed Anstick with a good leg stump yorker with his first ball. (168 - 8). However, Collins and Sanjay handled the next five overs of Naveed and Dickens until Dickens (14-1-52-2) eventtually managed to find another straight ball which did for Sanjay (176 - 8). By now it is raining again, fortunately not hard enough to come off, but Collins and Bondar continue to resist – an Australian and Yorkshire heritage combination that was as obstinate as you would expect.

The last over finds Naveed bowling to Collins who has resisted for 80 minutes and seems to be comfortable until Naveed gets one to bounce and turn, Collins (32) flicks it round the corner off the middle of the bat to find Nick Kita, fielding at very short square leg, rolling over and holding on to the catch of his life.

A mention should be made of the sound umpiring from Peter Booth and Dave Scott along with thanks to scorers Orgill and Scarlett. Special thanks must go to the Gentlemen of Philadelphia for lending us their key stars Rob Wilkinson, Nick Kita and Richard Kanoffr.

As a final word, this game was a triumph for the game of cricket, played in the true spirit which is now so rarely seen amongst the leagues – let the “Gentlemen”, if not prevail, still keep the true traditions of the game alive. 

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Frogs vs South Oxfordshire Amateurs

Venue: Brasenose College, Oxford.

Date: 8th August

Result: Frogs win by 3 wickets.

South Oxfordshire Amateurs  146      (Naveed 5 for 63, Walsh 4 for 27)

Frogs                                       145-3   (Chapman 53, Ross 49*)

The extremely fluid nature of Frogs teams for Oxford 2000 was exquisitely captioned in two fine cameo performances on this, the Tuesday and second day of the Tournament.  The first saw Mark Rosnegk, captaining the side on the Wednesday of the Tournament, standing on the balcony at Brasenose, his mobile in meltdown state, ringing and haranguing a possible player for the morrow called Simon Dickins…..only to find Simon taking the call from our dressing room not five metres away!  The second saw champion bowler Mike Chetwode loll languidly onto the field of play some forty-five minutes after first ball, take up a position in the gully, bend over, as all good, and not so good, gully fieldsmen do……..and fail to straighten!  He was assisted from the field to the pavilion where he, to quote Judge Bray, "lurked like Sophocles in his tent" before paying his £16 match fee and going home!

The summary of the above is that ten Frogs, not all of them on intimate first name - or any name for that matter - terms with each other took on SOA.  Naveed opened from one end with his off spin - and save for one lunch over of moonballs from Rosnegk, middled and closed the same end…..result 29 overs, 5 for 63.  Splendid stuff!  Seam up spells from Simon Dickins, Steve Walsh(4 for 27) and Chris Sargeant from the other end saw SOA all out for 146 from 61 overs.  Frogs fielding passable given that an hour and a half of drizzle had given the ball soap like qualities.

Bray ("making runs is like riding a bike") and Chapman opened the innings for Frogs with The Judge suffering an early puncture.  Chapman continued on for a fifty and gems from Rosnegk (20).  Oliver Ross (how anyone can make runs looking like a reject from a blues brothers band is beyond me) 49 n.o and Naveed 21 n.o including a couple of full-pointers to finish it off….. and Frogs were home and (relatively) dry at 152 for 3 off 25 overs.

Frogs two from two and top of the table at Oxford 2000!  But would we be able to scrape a side together for Wednesday?

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Frogs vs Gents of Leicestershire

Venue: Abingdon College

Date: 9th August

Result: Frogs win.

No report received.

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Frogs vs Band of Brothers

Venue: Queens College

Date: 10th August

Result: Match drawn.

Band of Brothers         272 - 6 dec                 

Frogs                           271 - 7             (McIver 66, Hills 56, Atkins 39, Defty 37)

No report received. Suffice to say than chasing a target set in 61 overs the Frogs needed two to win from the last ball of the 43^rd over, but failed with Peerless run out leaving a frustrated Steve Walsh at the wicket, having struck 23 from 11 balls received.

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Frogs vs Adastrians

Venue: Vine Lane

Date: 13th August

Result: Frogs win by 8 wickets.

On a slightly mottled and cracked looking wicket the manager was not unhappy to lose the toss.  However, the pitch played perfectly well as the groundsman assured the doubters it would.  The Adastrians set off at a pace treating our opening attack lightly; perhaps their approach was too frenetic as the batsmen's calling for runs became over speculative.  Sure enough the partnership was broken by a run out, the first of three for our unexpected super-fielder Jonathan Turnbull.  A delay in the arrival of Naveed led to an over-zealous ruling to ban him from bowling until after lunch.  However this gave Brian O'Gorman a chance to bamboozle the Adastrians with subtleties of flight, and we steadily worked our way through their batsmen.

A target of under 200 at Vine Lane has to be regarded as modest, and Jeff Chapman and Thierry Pascal were soon rattling the score along.  Thierry was succeeded by David Lawrence, and we were treated to a fine display of strokemaking by Jeff and David in their individual classical styles.  Long before Naveed arrived to apply the finishing blows, a big partnership between the aforementioned two had put the issue beyond doubt.  Victory came in a flurry of boundaries with more than half of the final twenty overs unused.

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Frogs vs Beaconsfield CC

Venue: Beaconsfield

Date: 20th August

Result: Match Drawn.

Frogs               255-6 dec        (Chapman 114, Rimmer 52)

Beaconsfield   234-9               (Chick 3 for 23, Brogden 3 for 41)

No report received

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Frogs vs Sussex Martlets

Venue: Arundel

Date: 23rd August

Result: Frogs win by 1 run.

Frogs                           206 - 9 dec      (Thomas 64)

Sussex Martlets           205                  (Underwood 5 for 51, Chick 3 for 53)

A scorching hot day at Arundel Castle saw the Frogs victorious by one run after a thrilling run chase failed on the final ball as the easy single was proved not to be a rather improbable two. All credit to the Martlets, however, for trying, as they received 11 overs fewer.

Most Frogs batsmen achieved something, but few achieved much else save for the controlled Thomas. There was a feeling that we were significantly short of runs. But steady progress was made with the ball. Two Reigate imports in Chick and Underwood (yes, slow left arm) proved the mainstays of the Frogs attack. At 70-6 Frogs were favourite  but some classy batting by a slightly out-of-order Martlets line up saw a recovery to 154-7. and 200-8. Frogs fielding held up admirably with a crucial run out and it wasn't over 'till it was, well, over.

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Frogs vs Gents of Worcester

Venue: Malvern College

Date: 27th August

Result: Frogs lose by 50 runs.

Two months on and the words still do not come easily.  The mind moves, albeit grudgingly, but the pen refuses to follow.  The sub-conscious flicks channels …… desperately seeking a big-screen replay that tells it like it wasn’t.  Like it should have been.

The story is best and least painfully told in summary form. Occurrences normal for a Frogs game:

• Frogs not the full pond – nine to start, ten later and most of them frognapped from neighbouring puddles.
• Coin toss time and Sumo is still negotiating the M-something in Cornwall
• Batting collapses – 74-0 to 128-5 and 164-6 to 169 all out.
• Worcestershire Gents add 40 for the last wicket.
• Danny Baker lashes 44 from about 4 overs and Naveed follows his 24 overs 3 for 66 with a masterly 46.

Occurrences definitely not nomal for a Frogs game:

• Naveed and Thomas open the bowling with gentle, albeit accurate, spin and restrict the Gents to 20 runs from the first 20 overs.  Thomas spills a c&b.
• Rodger bags five ‘fa and causes their Number 4 to call for a lid.
• Dylan Jones refuses to walk after being (appearing to be?) bowled, and bats on with dignity and courage.
• Having gone from shoe-in certainties (74-0 chasing 209) to even money (164-6 and Naveed in full flight) to almost certain losers (169-8 and last pair in) Jones and Rodger build fortresses at either end to face the last half of the compulsory 20 overs.  Such is their heroism and stoicism that these overs speed past with them still at the same ends.  Twenty overs gone and still seven minutes to play.  Over 21 …… ditto.  Over 22 …… ditto – except they run a celebratory run off the last ball.  The last ball proves not to be the last ball by some 15 seconds (what happened to loose laces?) and …… you guessed it …… first ball of the 23rd and Frogs are finished.

There!  It’s part exorcised.  Further rehabilitation will be effected when we crunch the &#*^? &#*^?! next year.

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Frogs vs Privateers

Venue: Limpsfield

Date: 3rd September

Result: Match Drawn.

Frogs               218 - 9 dec      (Chetwode 50, Naveed 36)                

Privateers        182 - 7             (Chetwode 3 for 42)   

Our annual fixture against the Privateers was the usual mixture of chaos, cock-up and fun. Limpsfield were not expecting us so the pitch had not been prepared, there was rain about, and the Privateers’ Golf GTI brigade found it difficult to navigate their way to the ground entailing the gift of many substitutes until it showed up. Aside from that, our County fast bowler, de le Pena, announced that he was unable to bowl but was happy to open the batting. More of us should try that tack. In addition we had returns to the fold from Colin Cottrell, Francis Law, and a rare and welcome appearance from Bill Twiston-Davies.

De la Pena and Bayly started off positively enough, but 60 for 3 was hardly a comfort zone. Naveed arrived and blazed at everything in reach, scoring seven 4’s and two 6’s in his 36, but after Roberts was caught and bowled for a polished 24, subsidence occurred. 138 for 7 brought uncomfortable memories of the previous year. The entrance of Chetwode changed the whole tenor of the innings. Biffing away cheerfully in the arc between mid-wicket and long-on, he scored 50 out of the 68 scored while he was at the wicket. There followed some fun between Yule and Croom-Johnson before the declaration at just about half time.

The Privateers’ batting never settled against Twiston-Davies, Yule and Naveed’s off-breaks. Yule got a deserved lbw when the opener chanced his arm once too often, and Law took a blinding catch at slip off Twiston-Davies to prove he shouldn’t give up just yet, but it was the introduction of Chetwode’s clever medium pace that reduced them to 101 for 6. At this point the game looked like ours, but Fitch, batting at No. 8, seemed to see no danger as he laid about him, and, although the Privateers were never going to win, they ended on a positive note as we failed to locate a killer blow from within the ranks. Next year de la Pena will bowl. 

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Frogs vs Hampstead CC

Venue: Lymington Road

Date: 10th September

Result: Match Drawn

Frogs : T Darbyshire, S Bayly, R Chalk, Clark, R Ellis, S Brogden, G Prain, A Norman, H Norman, K Rodger, J Balgh 

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Frogs vs Cross Arrows

Venue: Lords

Date: 30th September

Result: Frogs win by 2 wickets.

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