Captain: Mike Kiernan Vice Captain: Manav Maini

2006 - Season Review

The Old Pauline 2nd XI can look back with satisfaction on a relatively successful season, which saw us finish 6th in the league, though only 4 points behind the team in 4th. Remarkably, we managed to use 56 players during the summer and it was our inability to put out anything resembling a settled side that made any chase for promotion implausible. Having said that, everyone who represented the club did a great job and although we weren’t mathematically safe from relegation until the penultimate weekend of fixtures, we were generally able to maintain a decent position in the table throughout the season.
Our best two performances of the season came in the victories at Ashford and at home to Wallington, with Julian Partridge scoring unbeaten hundreds in both successful run-chases. Jules, ended up with 3 unbeaten hundreds, and an astonishing average of 141! He also bowled with great accuracy and an economy rate of 2.51 which is excellent, especially for someone who bowls on our fantastic Thames Ditton wickets. The quality of our pitches could be underlined by the fact that we twice chased 200 runs in less than 35 overs, as well as 241 against Oxted, an especially satisfying chase as it was achieved without Jules. This game saw the Kiernan brothers take 9 wickets between them, and it would have been all 10 if the elder brother hadn’t dropped an absolute dolly!

The disappointments this season usually coincided with poor availabilities as twice we were forced to perform with only 9 men. On the second occasion, on the day of the World Cup quarter-final, the club could actually put out only 20 players, meaning that the third-team game had to be forfeited.

Whilst Jules deservedly won the player-of-the season award, there were a number of players who also excelled. New-boy Chris Titley was superb behind the stumps and averaged 42 as an aggressive opening batsman. Chris Rampling also scored heavily and with great syle in the number 3 spot. Left-arm spinner Dave Newsome was very impressive after he returned from university, displaying such control that his economy rate was third best in the division for all bowlers who took at least 5 wickets. Spin-twin Cliff Holland also bowled with great guile and control and fully deserved his 16 wickets. Tom Dean, Andy Mason and Stuart Read impressed when available to bowl with the new-ball, whilst Matt Kiernan, Alastair Grant, and Rich Charlton were outstanding in the field. It was also great to get some current schoolboys involved in the club, with Jay Vara and Anand Ashok both impressing, Anand scoring 57 and 84 in his only 2 innings.

Whilst we would undoubtedly have liked to have finished higher than sixth in the table, we can be pleased with our efforts this season. The effort was generally very good in the field and the spirit amongst the team was always excellent. Many thanks to all of our opponents and umpires also. [MK]

2nd September 2006: vs Ashford (H) - Lost by 82 Runs [0 pts]

The 2nds ended their season on a disappointing note, losing pretty badly to Ashford. We managed to save our worst fielding performance of the season til the end and despite good bowling performaces by Andy, Jay and Anand, Ashford made 253-4. We made a good start to our reply, between Jules and debutant (and 56th player to be used this season) Alex Griffiths, before Alex was run out. Jules and Anand then scored very quickly before Jules was dismissed for 30, giving him a season aggregate of 422 runs at 141! Anand continued to strike the ball cleanly and at 150-4, with the runrate required below 5 we had a chance of pulling off an unlikey victory. A spectacular collapse followed as we lost our last 5 wickets for 11 runs. The light was pretty
bad, but not to the extent to casue such a terrible collapse. Their was still time for Cliffy to smack "Frangi-style" a glorious cover-drive for 4 but we were eventually were dismissed for 171 off only 32 overs. Credit to Anand for a tremedous innings of 84. It wasn't a great way to end the season, but shouldn't mask what has been a decent campaign. We finished 6th, though a further 5 points would have got us 4th, which I think would have been a fairer reflection of our season. Many thanks to everyone that has played and helped out, and hope to see you all at the dinner. [MK]

26th August 2006: vs Ripley (A) - Won by 76 Runs [13 pts]

The 2nds won their 2nd game in a row after losing the toss and being put into bat on a green seamer against Ripley. In reality it wasn't the worst toss to lose, as our opponents needed 2 wins to have any chance to avoid relegation, and hence there was no chance of a boring winning draw as against Kempton and Olinda Vandals. We started in positive fashion, with debutant (and captain of next year's school 1st XI) Anand Ashok timing the ball superbly on route to 58, out of an opening partnership of 88 with Chris Titley. This put us well ahead of the game on a wicket that was far from easy for batting, hence after a mid-innings wobble against some accurate spin bowling we were still able to post an impressive total of 202-7 off 53.5 overs, after an aggressive 7th wicket partnership of 63 between Captain Mike and Chris Rampling. Ramps finished with a "chanceless" unbeaten 57.

In the field the added quality of ouyr new-ball bowlers really put the pitch in perspective as Ripley lost early wickets in reply. Jay Vara (who later took 3 catches) bowled with real pace and took his first wicket for the club, whilst Andy Mason achieved considerable swing to take 2 wickets. Ripley's number 4 played some good aggressive shots but after he was defeated
by Cliffy's slider/ top spinner, Ripley subsided quite quickly. Cliffy finished with 4-22 off 12.3 overs, Tom added 2 wickets and their was a debut wicket for Anand. The fielding and general attitiude was excellent on Saturday, and it was great to get a win after losing the toss. Thanks also to Peter King for his excellent umpiring again. Next week we have a very interesting game against 3rd place Ashford, who will need a win to have any chance of promotion. [MK]

19th August 2006: vs Wallington (H) -Won by 8 Wkts [13 pts]

A fantastic win for the 2nd XI, which guarantees their place in the Surrey Championship for next
season. After finally winning a toss, we were able to field first, and after a brief rain delay, Stu
Read and Tom Dean began excellent opening spells. Tom swung the new ball appreciably and Stu
bowled fast and got some decent bounce and carry on a great TD wicket. Wallington were soon
struggling at 41-4 before disaster struck when Stu, in attempting a difficult catch, managed to
dislocate and break his finger and was soon on his way to Kingston hospital. We were now without
his bowling and would have to field for the last 30 overs with only 10 men. We battled on and soon
further wickets meant that Wallington were struggling at 129-7. A good 8th wicket partnership,
dominated by their skipper (finished on 82) took Wallington to 190-odd, before 3 quick wickets
meant that we would be chasing 198 in 44 overs. So modest - the captain forgot to mention his 5-70
- well bowled Mikey! [JR]

Jules and Richie Charlton got our reply off to a great start, recording a stand of 80 for the first
wicket, before Rich was dismissed for a fine 37.

Rolfey came in at no3 and smashed an excellent 28 of only 20-odd balls, adding a further 54 with
Jules. Rich Read came in and played some fantastic back foot drives and took us to our target, with
8 wickets in hand and with 8 overs to spare. Our fourth successful chase of 200 this season and
another great result. Jules finished on 101 not out, his third unbeaten ton of the season, taking
his average to 202! It was another superb innings and followed 17 economical overs with the ball!

This was a great team performance, and shows how good we can be. Thanks to everyone for their
efforts and I'm sure I echo the thoughts of everyone in the club when I say I wish Stu a speedy
recovery from his injury. [MK]

12th August 2006: vs Olinda Vandals (A) -Winning Draw [4 pts]

After losing the toss on a miserable day, we started our innings confidently, with a very strong batting line-up, before collapsing in the classic OP way. Most of the batters got in and made starts before getting out, mostly through poor-shots, ableit on a wicket that misbehaved occasionally. Baldy made an attractive 32, but we were strugglingat 150-odd for 7, before Matt Kiernan and Rich Charlton came together and put on a partnership of 80 in only 10 overs. Matt played a spectacular innings, his 87 coming in only 22 overs batting, and featured some powerfully timed drives and some outstanding running between the wickets before he was eventually run-out with only 10 balls left of our innings. His dismasal saved the administrator from making a tough decision on when to declare and made life a lot easier in the Kiernan home! Richie supported him well and scored a fine 27. We were hence able to declare before halfway having scored 247-9. We started well in the field, with Tom Dean taking a wicket in his first over. Vandals solid 2nd wicket partership was ended by a fine yorker by Al Dalrymple, making a welcome return to the team, and soon we had reduced Vandals to 70-odd for 5 with 26 overs still to go. There then followed an extremely frustrating spell of cricket as Vandals dead batted, and no matter what we tried we just couldn't get a wicket, despite all 10 fielders getting a bowl. We were finally able to capture a wicket in the penultimate over when career wicket-keeper Marcus Haywood took 2 wickets in 2 bowls. Watching his celebrations almost made the previous 90 minutes worthwhile! Dave Newsome bowled well again, going for less than 2 runs an over for the 3rd game in a row, and Al bowled superbly also. Generally our performace in the field was good with only extremely tough chances being missed. All -in-all it wasn't a bad result, though frustrating that for the second week in a row we were unable to force victory. Thanks again to everyone who braved the weather to play and well done on another good effort. [MK]

5th August 2006: vs Kempton (H) -Winning Draw [4 pts]

The 2nds gained a decent result against Kempton, though were perhaps a tad disappointed not to finish off Kempton and gain maximum points. After being put into bat, we made a poor start and were struggling for much of the first half of our innings, although Chris Titley again batted impressively for his 48 (his 3rd score in the 40s this season). The administrator battled away for a first half-century of the season, but we kept losing wickets when we wanted to start accelerating the scoring rate. As it was useful contributions from Rolfey, debutant Tom Dean and Dave Newsome meant that we were able to reach 191 off 54.4 overs. At the time it didn't feel like enough but a hostile opening spell from Tom Dean, combined with the accuracy of Christian reduced Kempton to 44-3. A fine spell from Dave Newsome (12-5-19-2) took the win away from Kempton, with one of the wickets being due to a fine stumping by Titley. The winning draw was still firmly within their grasp, but following the lose of their 6th wicket, Kempton shut up shop for the draw. Perhaps we were a bit disappointed not to force the win, but I think it was a result we probably would have taken when we were 139-7.

The fielding was again superb and it was again a very determined effort.

Thanks to everyone for their efforts and to Scab for umpiring. It should also be noted that prior to the game the administrator and Rolfey combined to show extraordinary stupidity- further details at the dinner! [MK]

29th July 2006: vs Oxted (H) - Won by 6 Wkts [13 pts]

A superb win for the 2nds as we successfully chased 242 to win by 6 wickets.

Oxted batted well after being put into bat and despite a tight opening spell of 13 overs by Christian were able to put on a century opening stand. One of their openers was a particularly good player and was in search of his 100th career hundred before Matt Kiernan bowled him. It was the first wicket of a particularly good spell by Matt and he ended up with 5-38, superb figures on any TD track. He managed to hit a superb length, which allied to his massive height made him very difficult to get away. He would have got a 6-for as well, were it not for a comical piece of fielding by his elder brother!

Speaking of whom, the angry administrator managed to chip in with 4 (pretty expensive) wickets, 2 of which came via superb stumpings by Chris Titley.

The fielding was exceptional, with standouts being Richard Charlton and Jay Vara, who took a superb Jonty Rodes-esque one handed catch at point to dismiss their dangerous no.4. Conceding 242 in under 50 overs sounds like a lot but on such a good pitch and with only 10 men it was a great effort, and a score that we definately thought we could chase.

The chase got off to a great start thanks to Sam and Chris putting on 92 for the first wicket. Titley's 42 featured some memorable drives before he holed out taking on the spinner. Sam was joined by Chris Rampling as they accelerated until we were within 80 of the target. Sam's innings ended when he was dimissed by a superb yorker for an excellent 81, leaving us needing 70-odd off the last 12 or so overs. After getting bogged down for a couple of overs we managed to get the win in the last over, thanks to an unbeaten 35 by Alex Millwood, ably supported by Matt. Alex's innings was special on 2 counts, firstly it was in front of his girlfriend, and secondly as it was his last innings before he has surgery on his knee. I'm sure everyone would join me in wishing Alex good luck with that.

It was a great win for the 2s and gives us a bit of breathing space in the relegation battle. A win nexts week will mean that we can really enjoy the last month of the season. Thanks to everyone for putting such a great effort. [MK]

22nd July 2006: vs East Molesey (A) - Lost by 6 Wkts [0 pts]

The 2nds lost their second game in a row after another poor batting performance when trying to set a target. To be fair it was a terrible toss to lose, with the clouds lowering as soon as we started and most of our innings taking place in drizzle and often quite heavy rain. The atmospheric conditions made the new ball hoop, and the moisture in the wicket meant that the ball did quite a bit off the seam. That being said not too may of us could be said to have been out to unplayable deliveries. We batted with a lot more character than the previous week, with Macca striking a superb 52 and holding us together, and 129 ended up being a decent effort. However, as soon as our innings came to an end, the wind blew the clouds away, and the sun came out to dry the pitch and it flattened out appreciatively. Stu Read and debutant Jay Vara bowled well quickly with the new ball and Stu took 3 good wickets. Dave Newsome, found a large amount of turn and bowled a superb spell, conceding only 18 runs off 15 overs. He was unlucky to only claim a single wicket. The fielding was again pretty good, and it took league leaders East Molsey 43 overs to chase down 130, having lost 4 wickets.

Cheers to everyone for another good effort. Interestingly our old mate Bazza has written a match report which perhaps suggests that we had the better of the conditions! Congrats though to our 2 "decent bowlers", especially Stu Mead [MK]

15th July 2006: vs Old Tiffinians (A) - Lost by 3 Wkts [0 pts]

A good effort in the field was not enough to save the 2nds from a 3 wicket defeat to Old Tiffs on Saturday. After being put into bat on a uneven surface we collapsed from 58-1 off 10 overs to 109 all out in 38! Credit to Tim Cato and Chris Rampling for getting us into that position, with Rampling in particular timing the ball superbly, until he was unfortunaltely run out. The rest of the batting was especially poor, against a pretty average (although occasionally "unorthodox") attack. In the field Stu Read and Andy Mason were great with the new ball and were later well supported by Cliffy as we managed to get Old Tiffs seven down, with 20 still required.

However, Tiffs skipper managed to see them home, although unforunately we dropped him twice early in his innings. A brave effort, but not enough. We remain in 5th on 50 points but are now seriously looking over our shoulders with Ripley, bottom of the table, only 10 points behind. [MK]

8th July 2006: vs Ripley (H) - Won by 5 Wkts [13 pts]

After last weeks debacle, it was vital that the 2nds got back to winning ways on Saturday against a very young Ripley side. Getting a result was made a lot easier by winning the toss and being able to chase on a belter of a TD track. New recruit Paul Fitcher bowled a superb opening spell with the new ball, he quickly realised that there was no future in banging the ball into
the wicket and after a series of yorkers, superbly uprooted the leg stump of one of the openers. Manav bowled well with the new ball also, producing the odd unplayable delivery. The bulk of the bowling was always going to be done by Jules, Cliffy and Dave Newsome and they all did a great job. Jules and Cliffy stifled the run rate and Dave took 3 vital wickets, 2 of which were
in a single over when the Ripley innings was in the balance, as 140-4 became 147-6 (and then 7). Dave's 2nd wicket came coutesey of a superb stumping by Chris Rampling. Ripley eventually managed to reach 199-8 off 54.5 overs. We certainly did very well to restrict them to that score on such great batting pitch, but there was a general feeling that we perhaps gave them 20 too many, through a bit of sloppy fielding. Jules and Tim Cato got us off to a great start in our reply, Jules scoring a brilliant 49 off 30-odd balls, and the hundred was reached by the 16th over. We then had a mid-innings wobble, prompting a few nerves, before Alastair and Graham Skelton put on a superb unbeaten partnership of 70 to see us comfortably home by 5 wickets. Alastair scored 32 not out and Graham 44 not out. The pace of scoring was so fast that we reached 201-5 off only 35
overs. This was a vital win for the 2s and puts us in 5th place on 50 points, with a vital game against Old Tiffs next week that will determine whether we spend the rest of the season chasing promotion or avoiding relegation. It was a great overall performance and really shows how good a team we can potentially be. [MK]

1st July 2006: vs Wallington (A) - Lost by 8 Wkts [0 pts]

The 2nds were decisively beaten by Walington on Saturday morning after put into bat on Saturday morning. Adam batted with great determination and some good clean hitting by John S, Fletty and Richard O'Hagan allowed us to set a target of 117. Wallington's openers put on a decent opening stand to take the game away from us, before Coxy dismissed Wallington's former 1st XI captain via a superb catch by Frangi. Frangi followed this up by robbing the other opener of his 50, thanks to another good catch, this time by John. Many thanks to everyone who turned out, and sorry again that we had to cancel the 3rd team game. [MK]

24th June 2006: vs Southern Railway & Kenley (A) - Winning Draw [4 pts]

The 2nds got a good result against unbeaten S.R.K after losing the toss and putting in a generally poor batting performance on a pitch that appeared to be a road, with a fast outfield with a short boundary. Chris Titley continued his current good form with a quckfire 48 and Mick Sturdy rescued the innings with an aggressive 32 not out, but the rest of the batsmen got bogged down against some accurate spin-bowling on a pitch that proved deceptive. The ball certainly turned and didn't quite come on to the bat, but the feeling was that out total of 182 all-out was at least 30 short. I think we probably need to look to rotate the strike a bit better against useful bowling and also perhaps be prepared to take the odd-calculated risk when we need to break the shackles.

No-doubt aided by having 4 first-team bowlers we bowled pretty well, and with a bit more luck would have managed a win. S.R.K finished 20-odd short and 8 wickets down. Richie and Chuck took 3 wickets apiece and Ash bowled a miserly spell. Stu Read was also unlucky to only claim a single wicket. It was certainly a good wicket to have 4 spinners and the fielding was generally very good as well. Mick's direct hit bringing about an extraordinary run-out, as he caught the batsman napping.

Overall, I think we had to be pretty happy with the result, as S.R.K were probably the best team we've played so far. Thanks to everyone who made the trek down south to the game (and all being early!) and well-done on another good performance. The man-of-the match was Mick Sturdy, for his great innings that really rescued us from a pretty dire situation, as well as his superb run-out. [MK]

17th June 2006: vs East Molesey (H) - Lost by 3 Wkts [0 pts]

The 2nds lost their first game of the season after a truly brave performance against table-topping East Molesey. The day started with much panic after losing the toss and being put into bat, because, with only 5 players at the ground and 2 umpires and a scorer needed... well I'll leave you to do the maths! However we batted extremely well to reach 223-7 off 52.4 overs (the declaration being prompted by the skipper telling Cliffy not to bother to pad -up). Our impressive-looking total was due to a fine maiden century by Chris Titley (a POM) and a violent 72 by aussie Dean Parkin (sorry Chris!).

Chris opened the innings and mixed composed matting with some powerful drives. Dean's knock gave the innings some momentum and featured some impressive hitting.

We knew defending the total would be tough, but were confident of getting a result. The skipper took the Brearly-esque decision to ignore the new ball for the entire innings ans we looked to take the pace off the ball on a typical TD track. We came very close to pulling off a result thanks to a marathon spell from Dave M, with good support from Cliffy, Dean and Mick.

The fielding was also superb, with no catches dropped, and Dave in particular producing a great piece of goalkepping to tip one over the bar!

In the end East Molesey got to the target with 7 balls the spare as we struggled to fill the gaps. We left the field exhausted, but proud of our efforts, and to much praise from our opposition. [MK]

10th June 2006: vs Ashford (A) - Won by 5 wkts [13 pts]

The 2nds won their second consecutive away game on Saturday against Ashford. After winning the toss, the skipper decided that since we should try to win the game and so fielded, despite it meaning that we would miss the football. After a good opening partnership, the bowling tandem of Jules and Cliffaraitharan soon had Ashford struggling on a flat wicket, with a fast
outfield. We perhaps let Ashford off the hook, but the feeling was that there score of 199-7 off 51 overs was perhaps 30 too few and the Ashford declaration was pretty generous. Jules took 3-42 off 17.5 overs and Cliffy 2-32, (one due to a catch of the season contender by whoever was fielding at mid-off). Chris Titley took a good stumping, but the general feeling was that we perhaps let ourselves down slightly in the field, especailly after the superb efforts of the previous week. Havng said that, we kept going manfully in the extreme heat. I have to thank Manav for replacing me as top of the leaderboard for drop of the season. We struggled at first in chasing our target as good bowling reduced us to 4-2, before a partnership of 70
between Rolfey and Jules set us up for the chase. Al Dalrymple's excellent 27 off not many balls gave our innings some momentum, before Jules took over to see us comfortably home with 4 overs to spare. Jules finished unbeaten on
118 (though I think 4 of those were my superb edge through 3rd slip) and was his 2nd consecutive unbeaten hundred, in his only 2 innings this season. There are also rumours that going back to last season, it is actually his 3rd consecutive ton! It was another great result for the 2s and we are now 2nd in the table. Many thanks to everyone that played, especially as it meant missing the football, and well done on another great result. [MK]

3rd June 2006: vs Kempton (H) - Won by 7 wkts [13 pts]

2nds managed to win their first game of the season against Kempton, thanks to a superb all-round team performance. After winning the toss and putting the opposition into bat, a great opening spell by Al Dalrymple quickly reduced Kempton to 3-2. We continued to apply the pressure and eventually bowled them out for 128 after 50 overs. We bowled and fielded brilliantly, with debutant Dean Parting taking 3 wickets as well as one of the the best catches I think I've ever seen! Cliffy also worked his magic to finish with 3-11 off 8 overs. Tim and Alastairs' opening partnership of 80 did most of the hard work in chasing Kemptons target. Tim made a superb 75, and Chris Scott, Irfan and Chris Titley saw us home comfortably. [MK]

27th May 2006: vs Olinda Vandals (H) - Abandoned [1pt]

2nds fielded for 44 overs in terrible conditions and had Olinda Vandals at 118-6 when the weather got to bad to continue. Hostile quick Manav Maini, focusing more on taking wickets than maintaining a miserly economy rate took 2 wickets as did Andy Mason. Christian Edrich and Julian Partridge bowled miserly spells, and Christian would have taken a deserved wicket, without a monty-esque piece of fielding by the skipper. Aside from that the fielding was generally very good, led by schoolboy debutant wicketkeeper Charlie Dewhurst. We also managed to take 3 wickets with full tosses, though I have no idea what that says about us at all!

Many thanks to everyone that played, and for braving the weather and special thanks to Peter King for umpiring and helping us to get to the magic 11 players. [MK]

20th May 2006: vs Oxted (A) - Abandoned [1pt]

Another frustrating abandonment - at least it was at 10.30.

13th May 2006: vs Old Tifinians (H) - Winning Draw [4pts]

10 man OPs got a good result against Old Tiffs, thanks in large part to Julian Partridge who scored 114 not out in our total of 196-7 off 53 overs. It was a superb innings that was worth nearer to 140 when taking the slow oufield into account. Credit should also go to Alex Millward who scored a powerful 42, and debutant Andy Mason who helped Jules put on a crucial unbeaten partnership of 80 to get us to our total. It should also be noted that we suffered a spectacular collapse thanks in large part to the Tiffs opening bowler claiming an all-bowled hat-trick, as part of an all-bowled 4 wicket over! We started pretty poorly with the ball but good fielding, including a spectacular catch by debutant Paul Goubran kept us in the game. The wise heads of Partridge and Holland then took over, taking stranglehold of the game, allowing us to eventually push for the win and comfotably gaining the winning draw. Cliffy ended up with figures of 4-25, whilst Jules took another 2 wickets. Thanks to everyone for playing and heloping us to get a good result, after such a tough week-selection-wise. [MK]

Captain - Mike Kiernan: 5-70

Julian Partridge - 101*