Warwickshire Bears V London Sports

Warwickshire V London BCEW League

Sunday 16th July 2006

Warwickshire and London met on another hot day in Sussex in the BCEW league with Warwickshire knowing a big win would take them joint top of the table, and London still looking for their first league win of the season.

Both sides put out severely weakened teams, even from the teams that had played the day before, with both sides reduced to nine players. Warwickshire played 9 players and 5 B1’s whilst London boasted 9 players and only one B3.

London won the toss for the second day in a row and again elected to field, boosted in bowling by the return of Haq Ishmail. Warwickshire were in no mood to give away early wickets, however, and Andy Powers and Nathan Foy settled into their stride very early with stroke-making all around the wicket, taking advantage of the massive gaps on a large pitch which enabled the Warwickshire runners to toil almost as much as the London fielders, with several 3’s being added to the total.

Where Metro against London the day before and accelerated after ten overs, Warwickshire started upping the run rate early, and had reached 170 for no wicket from the first ten overs. Although London were able to take the wicket of Foy, mowing straight to mid-on from the bowling of Rob McKenzie they were never able to keep the batsmen in check and Warwickshire were able to declare in 13 overs with the score on 229, looking to finish the game off early to achieve full bonus points and looking to deny London any.

For the first time over the weekend London looked assured as they came out to bat, looking to attack as the best form of defence and with the help of some Sussex sledging from the sidelines Ishmail and Ali Sadfter were able to collect some crisp boundaries to take the London score past their dismal score of the day before.

Both perished in quick succession, however, to expose the fragile London middle order, which was capitalised on by some ruthless 2-bounce bowling by all of the Warwickshire bowlers who were able to knock London over very quickly for 45, with only one boundary being scored from the last seven batsmen, and that taking their only remaining batsman off strike. The main damage was inflicted by Luke Sugge, with three wickets, whilst Alan Humphries chipped in with two.

All in all a good weekend for Warwickshire who in holding Sussex were able to cement themselves as front-runners for the first ever BCEW title. London who are now able to look forward with a stronger squad to their remaining games, and hopefully their first BCEW win, could still have an effect on the championship yet, although their chances of winning it have gone.

	Bears V London
	Warwickshire V London BCEW League Sunday 16th July 2006 Warwickshire and London met on another hot day in Sussex in the BCEW league with Warwickshire knowing a big win would take them joint top of the table, and London still looking for their first league win of the season. Both sides put out severely weakened teams, even from the teams that had played the day before, with both sides reduced to nine players. Warwickshire played 9 players and 5 B1’s whilst London boasted 9 players and only one B3. London won the toss for the second day in a row and again elected to field, boosted in bowling by the return of Haq Ishmail. Warwickshire were in no mood to give away early wickets, however, and Andy Powers and Nathan Foy settled into their stride very early with stroke-making all around the wicket, taking advantage of the massive gaps on a large pitch which enabled the Warwickshire runners to toil almost as much as the London fielders, with several 3’s being added to the total. Where Metro against London the day before and accelerated after ten overs, Warwickshire started upping the run rate early, and had reached 170 for no wicket from the first ten overs. Although London were able to take the wicket of Foy, mowing straight to mid-on from the bowling of Rob McKenzie they were never able to keep the batsmen in check and Warwickshire were able to declare in 13 overs with the score on 229, looking to finish the game off early to achieve full bonus points and looking to deny London any. For the first time over the weekend London looked assured as they came out to bat, looking to attack as the best form of defence and with the help of some Sussex sledging from the sidelines Ishmail and Ali Sadfter were able to collect some crisp boundaries to take the London score past their dismal score of the day before. Both perished in quick succession, however, to expose the fragile London middle order, which was capitalised on by some ruthless 2-bounce bowling by all of the Warwickshire bowlers who were able to knock London over very quickly for 45, with only one boundary being scored from the last seven batsmen, and that taking their only remaining batsman off strike. The main damage was inflicted by Luke Sugge, with three wickets, whilst Alan Humphries chipped in with two. All in all a good weekend for Warwickshire who in holding Sussex were able to cement themselves as front-runners for the first ever BCEW title. London who are now able to look forward with a stronger squad to their remaining games, and hopefully their first BCEW win, could still have an effect on the championship yet, although their chances of winning it have gone.