Its unclear at present what standard Tile Hill Village will be and indeed if they’ve ever even played a game before, but the Tile Hill in question does appear to be the one in the middle of Coventry, and it seems that at least some of the players will not be unfamiliar to Fillongley, as some of Highway’s players appear to be involved.

More news as we get it.

The 2009 National Village Cup campaign started with a comfortable win over Thorpe Arnold, who hail from near Melton Mowbray and play in Leicestershire Division 2. Next up we face Ansley at home. They won their game against Bitteswell today.

Andy Carty won the toss and chose to bat in conditions which looked right for big scores. As usual Tom Barber wasn’t going to mess about, and despatched the first over for 12. He and Tom Nightingale put on 46 for the first wicket in quick time before Tom fell for 30 going for a shot which had a few people shaking their heads around the boundary. Even so early in the game the writing was on the wall for our visitors. Pro (34), Aaron (48), Phil (27), Tom Nightingale (26) and Dan Howells (21) all scored quickly and with the score at 144-2 at the halfway stage 300 looked on. For this to happen somebody had to make a big score but there were no fifties and with wickets falling the scoring rate dropped until Andy Moore (20 no off 14) and Shawn (13 no off 6, including his first straight 6 since 1994) picked things up at the end.

Thorpe Arnolds hopes rested on Makwanna, who had taken 2-31 before switching to wicket keeper in our innings. Batting at number 3 he made an excellent 53 to give just a glimmer of hope before holing out to Tom Barber. Opener Renwick gave support at the other end but couldn’t score anywhere near quickly enough, so that once Makwanna fell the game was effectively over. While Tom Nightingale and Andy Moore bowled through in the middle of the innings, our visitors fell furthur and furthur behind the rate needed. Finally Junior (5-39) and Neil Stringer (3-10) mopped up the tail.

Reports are easy to upload now, so it would be good to have posts from others. You can upload yourself (login details from SG) or e-mail to Geoff or SG.

The Parks

20 April 2008

A new personal best…

Friendly games never seem to be the most exciting part of the season. The weather isn’t usually that great, the bowlers haven’t found their rhythm, the batsmen haven’t got their eye in yet and the pitch is usually green and wet due to the preceding winter months. It looked like the game on Sunday 20^th April was going to be no different to this.

The weather was grey, damp and a little on the cold side. Henley-in-Arden won the toss and put us into bat. The first ball was bowled at 1:59 and as the first over turned into a maiden, the stage was set for the usual pre-season friendly, with the majority of the batting side glad to be in the warmth of the pavilion. It turned out, however, one of our openers had not read the script.

As 3 of the top 4 struggled to make it into double figures, Tom Barber went on to make 193 (14×4, 16×6, 115 balls, 144 mins) – the second highest score by a Fillongley batsman, and despite his best efforts, all the balls were retrieved. He was ably supported at the crease by Aaron Blackmore who scored 73 (9×4, 3×6, 63 balls, 83 mins). Tom rode his luck, including have a catch put over the boundary, but his innings finally cane to an end when, mainly through exhaustion, he mistimed an edge to the waiting fielder. At this point, with 1.1 overs of the innings remaining, Neil declared, with Fillongley on 307 for 6.

Rather than taking a full tea, given the fading light, after a quick cuppa, Fillongley took to the field, with Steve Jnr and Chris Moore opening the bowling. Wickets were shared between 5 of the 6 bowlers, with the bowling generally being tight, although loose balls were still sent for a trip into the surrounding field. Resistance came from the batting side in the form of R. Perry, who scored 61 (1×4, 6×6, 54 balls, 104 mins) in a brave attempt to steer Henley to the required target.

Despite two dropped catches, Fillongley took just 28.3 overs to take the required 10 wickets to win by 179 runs.

Scorecard

Toss won by Henley-in-Arden who elected to field.

Fillongley: 307-6 dec, 38.5 overs

Henley-in-Arden: 128 AO, 28.3 overs

Fillongley win by 179 runs

1^st Innings

FOW: 1-15, 2-20, 3-41, 4-215, 5-216, 6-307

2^nd Innings

FOW: 1-1, 2-6, 3-45, 4-47, 5-69, 6-95, 7-105, 8-117, 9-127, 10-128