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Match reports 2006 SATURDAY APRIL 22nd 2006 LJUBLJANA CC vs MORTON CC at Valburga Season 2006 began with us hosting Morton CC of Scotland. On a glorious, sunny day at Valburga, Dan Ryan won the toss and chose to have a bat. 34.5 overs later we were all out for 106. Highlights of the innings were some big hitting by Jakofčič brothers Egon and Robi (both helping themselves to a big 6). Some rather obdurate batting from Al Green ensured that, from our alarming 5/32, we were able to reach the three figure score we ended up with. Upon bowling we worked hard and took regular wickets, but 106 was never going to be a big enough target to protect. Brad Eve 2/9 and Al Green 2/34 both were among the wickets but some good bowling from Egon and Robi were pleasing signs of early season form.
We have the chance for revenge on Sunday. Scorecard here
Game number two in two days exposed some of our heroes to a few aches and pains and a truly rusty performance in the field. Morton batted first and scored 130 despite some good bowling from Ian Donchi, Dave "the bastman" Ibbotson and Borut Čegovnik in all 3 players 1st match for the season. Our batting was another moment of insipidness however as we collapsed to be all out for 101 with only 2 players bothering to score double figures. Brad Eve scored 15 including a nice legside 6 while Ljubljana's best player today Ian "Sideboard Bob" Donchi helped himself to his maiden half century finishing on 54 with 5 fine fours and a lovely legside launch for 6. Here's hoping for a better performance next week against old friends Munich CC. Thanks to Morton for a fun weekend and to Sandy for umpiring. Special mention too, to Graeme Turton for switching camps to us in order to register one of the much-coveted Duck-on-Debut club memberships. Scorecard here
SATURDAY MAY 6th 2006 LJUBLJANA
CC vs ZAGREB CC at Valburga
A welcome return to our good friends from Zagreb
CC gave Ljubljana the chance to restore some form and pride at
Valburga. Not having beaten Zagreb for about 3 years now, we
wanted revenge. Winning the toss, we chose to bat and with
Captain Mark Oman, Slovene bowling legend Urban Blaznik and
Lalantha Karunatilake all returning to the side for the first
time this year we hoped to put on a big total. Sadly the Zagreb
bowlers had different ideas. Rob Crawford top scored with 40 and
slapping a big 6 over the fence was one of the batting
highlights. After putting on 58 for the opening stand with Oman,
however the rest of the team capitulated to 102 all out, with
only Oman and Egon Jakofic reaching double figures (16 and 10
respectively). Still the game wasn't over yet, if our bowling
had anything to say about it. As the Zagreb innings developed we
took regular wickets with stand-in keeper Tom Furness taking 3
smart catches, Dan Ryan grabbing a brilliant slips chance and
Rob Crawford also taking 2 and 2nd slip. Good tight bowling by
Eve, Oman, Ryan and Blaznik kept the pressure on Zagreb until
Sunil Kumar and Krešo Franič came together at 5 for 45. They
batted sensibly and although Brad Eve split the partnership up
at 6 for 83 with a yorker that smashed the leg stump into 3
pieces (pleasing the bowler immensely) and followed it up with
the next ball with another bowled victim, Zagreb eventually
scraped through with only 2 wickets in hand. Should our batting
perform a little better and we put a full 11 people on the
field, we should win a few more matches. Bring on St Anne's
Allstars CC from the UK in 2 weeks time.
SATURDAY MAY 20th, SUNDAY MAY 21st LJUBLJANA
CC vs ST ANNE'S ALL STARS CC at Valburga. Saturday Miserable grey weather welcomed our visitors from the UK to our ground at Valburga. Acting Captain Tom Furness won the toss and chose to have a bat. Rob Crawford continued his good early season form with the bat scoring 35 with 3 well crafted fours. Tom Furness and Rob Howland in his first game this year both struck 18 quick runs but highest score for the day went to Dan Ryan with a confident 41 including 3 fours and a well struck legside six. 165 for 6 from 35 overs was our final score. Taking to the field Brad Eve (3 for 5) hit the stumps twice early and was well helped by Howland (3 for 13), Borut Čegovnik (2 for 19), David Archer (2 for 42) and Dan Ryan (1 for 21). Both Robi and Egon Jakofčič bowled well without luck as well. The fielding was good with Robi Jakofčič taking 2 good catches in the outfield. St Anne's All Stars eventually being dismissed for 140 giving LjCC its first win of the year. Scorecard here |
Sunday
Sunday saw a change of format with two 20 / 20 matches planned. With rain looking imminent we began with St Anne's batting first in the 1st match. With Steve Mayland making his first appearance for the year and Mark Oman returning after not having played the day before, the bowling line-up appeared even stronger on paper than it had been on Saturday. Both Mayland (1 for 29) and Oman (1 for 11) soon hit the stumps and all 4 other bowlers added scalps to their tallies too. Dan Ryan (1 for 10) bowled particularly well and if he himself had fielded in the slips might have had a few more. 102 for 7 was the final total off the 20 allotted overs.
Chasing the runs again Dan Ryan proved to be our highest scorer elegantly clipping another legside six and blasting 3 fours on his way to an innings high of 27. Brad Eve scored a cameo of 10 with a big straight six over long off before being bowled by one which kept rather low. Tom Furness 7 and Mark Oman were left to chase the last few runs for victory but fell one short as Furness was run out attempting to complete the 2 needed off the final ball. This left (for the first time in the club's history) a tied match.
Scorecard here
The rain still hadn't managed to arrive so we played the 2nd match as well (though due to it being rather late and getting a little dark it was reduced to 15 overs a side). This match saw us chasing 87 to win, which we managed to do with 1 ball to spare. Highlights including 2 fine slips catches from Ryan to add to his one in the first match, and Borut Čegovnik's 23 not out topped the batting with Brad Eve (18 not out) and Tom Furness (14) contributing to the final total of 88 for 3.
A good weekend was had by all and some good practice for a lot of our players one week before our first league match vs United Nation's CC (Vienna) in Velden. Let's hope we can continue some of the good all round form showed over the weekend which contributed to us returning to winning ways.
Scorecard here
SATURDAY MAY 27th LJUBLJANA CC vs UNITED NATIONS CC (Vienna) at Velden.
Our first match of the 2006 Austrian Open League (National Conference) saw us back at Velden. Injuries and various other complications left us with a very limited player pool to call on, but we began with 11 players on the field, won the toss and chose to have a bat. For 16 overs we batted carefully and had collected 49 runs until Rob Crawford (19) was dismissed LBW. Dan Ryan joined the not out captain, Mark Oman and added 11 runs including a couple of confident fours until being beaten by a straight one. Damir Alidžanović (7) (making only his 2nd appearance for the club in 2 years) looked good for a while until mistiming a shot to a nearby fielder. From then on it was not a pretty sight as 5 ducks were scored out of the next 7 batsman. Kevin Morrison (on debut) joined the notorious Ljubljana cc Duck on Debut club, Paul Freebairn managed to score his highest ever score of 6, but there was really only one batsman who could be satisfied with his performance. Mark Oman, remaining not out on 60 after having batted the whole 46 overs of our innings.
Although we grabbed 2 early wickets (one apiece to Eve and Alidžanović, 136 was never going to trouble the UNCC batsmen and they quickly knocked off the required runs to grab the maximum 14 points possible from the game. In short, a very disappointing day all round for LJCC.
Scorecard here
SATURDAY JUNE 3rd LJUBLJANA
CC vs VIENNA LIONS CC at Velden.
Another week and another Open League (National Conference)
match, this time against Vienna Lions CC in their first game for
the year. Having suffered injuries to several
players we were left with a weaker side than usual, but we
were still determined to put up a good fight. Having lost the
toss we were sent in and Rob Crawford and Mark Oman set about
building a partnership that would allow us to try and put a
competitive score on the board. When Crawford eventually
departed for 12 we had put 45 on the board (however in the 27th
over, mainly due to the 4 consecutive maidens bowled by Lions
bowler Ananda
Sarathkumara.) Dan Ryan joined Oman and the run rate increased
at the same rate as Ryan's confidence. However he was rather
disappointed at mistiming one to a fielder when he had reached
21 and had been looking very comfortable. Just before Ryan's
departure Oman damaged his calf and was forced to continue his
innings with a runner. With the assistance of Farrell, Howland
and Eve he limped on to 52 not out at the end of the 50th over
with Ljubljana reaching 151 for 4.
With Oman unable to take the field, everything was left to
bowlers Brad Eve and Dan Ryan. However with only 8 in the field
runs were easy for the Lions batsmen to score, with slips
chances going for 4 on a couple of occasions. Rob Crawford came
on to change the pace of the bowling and was rewarded with the
1st wicket of the match, (well caught by the reliable Ryan in
the deep). The Lions eventually finished off the job in the 19th
over although they lost a further 3 wickets (1 to Howland and 2
to Eve). However by the end of the match it was a sorry story as
with Ryan damaging his hamstring shortly after the match had
finished and Oman's calf injury, it meant that our squad was
decimated and has already had to forfeit Saturday's match
against Pakistan. Here's hoping we will be able to recover
before our next league match.
Scorecard
here