Badgers Cricket Club – Season 2024 Match Reports
This page holds the match reports for all games completed so far this season. It is my intention to post at least a summary report for each game, at the same time as the result for the game, with full reports becoming available as and when those designated for the task turn in their copy. The current report will always be available in the latest section of the results page but will also be available here.
The links below provide a direct route to the report for each game plus access to the reports for seasons from 2000 to the present. It is also possible to link to them from the associated rolling results page entries and I hope to extend that facility to include all of the historical results pages, once I’ve figured out the best method of doing so.
Unless otherwise noted both summary and full match reports are written by your host and webmaster, Steve Pitts, as are all editorial comments and statistical notes. For reasons that are now lost in the mists of time, the reports are laid out in reverse chronological order, but hopefully the links above make that an unimportant detail.
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Richie opened the bowling in this one and his figures of 4 for 24 are his best ever for the Badgers, bettering the 2 for 38 he took on debut against Chipstead, Coulsdon and Walcountians last season.
Billy, bowling mostly slow stuff off two paces towards the end of the Stoke innings, took three wickets and in doing so passed Jake into ninth place on the all-time wicket takers list. Next up is Darrell, who is 69 wickets ahead in eighth place, although Jake could always ‘unlap’ himself.
Darrell played in his 284th game for the club, which takes him into a possible tie with Brian Moore for eighth place on the lifetime appearances slate. My best guess is that Brian played one more game in 1981 than the nine in which he batted but it could potentially be one or two more than that and equally could only be the nine. Either way Darrell is likely to pass him this season and set off in pursuit of Greggy and his uncle Allan in the two spots above him, both of whom he should catch early next season.
View the detailed scorecard of this game
My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Only one headline this week: Darrell Pitts hits his first ever six!! (and Jake, after all of the anticipation, you weren’t there to see it) We realised upon arrival at the ground that this was somewhere where it was possible, with the bowls club impinging heavily into the playing area at one end leaving a boundary that was probably inside the standard fielding circle at its closest point, especially as we were right on the edge of the square closest to that corner. For those that weren’t present this link to Google Maps should give you some idea of the situation if I tell you that the pitches on that square run north-west to south-east.
Having batted 226 times for the Badgers, during which time he has faced something in the region of 6,000 balls (I cannot be more accurate as the data is not recorded for 68 of those innings) plus numerous other occasions in youth cricket and occasionally for other clubs, he finally did it courtesy of a straight drive that came right out of the middle of the bat, got to no more than half a dozen feet off the ground and hit the bowls club fence on the straight side beyond that corner (ie. closer to dead straight than the anticipated extra cover drive)
Ricky, playing in shorts and Converse trainers due to being roped in at later than the last minute after a couple of eleventh hour drop outs, returned his second best bowling figures for the club (behind only the 4 for 45 at Ripley in 2019) and did such a good job that he bowled his full allotment of overs for the first time ever for the club.
Darrell’s second score of eighty odd coupled with Daniel’s two tons means that there isn’t a Gordon in the top four innings this late in the season for the first time since 2009, when Patrick was in his pomp.
There was some confusion regarding the scoring record this week, with problems with Play-Cricket Scorer discombobulating those involved, and I was prompted to record the boring detail of the necessary corrections in the Statistical Sett for the first time in a couple of seasons.
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: This loss evens our record against Ewell (and the predecessor teams) at six wins apiece but in recent times the results have gone in favour of the home side on the last five occasions with the last Badgers win coming in 2018.
Mark recorded his 150th not out (from 471 innings) a category that he already leads by a country mile. Whilst that represents 31.85% of not out innings he does not lead that category (for those who have batted at least 50 times) with that honour belonging to the man who was dismissed at the other end to leave Mark unbeaten. Vinny, despite that dismissal, has 31 not outs from 74 innings and thus has not been dismissed in 41.89% of the times he has batted. Mark is in seventh on that list and it is noticeable that most of the six above him would generally be considered lower order batters in that their averages are at the lower end of the scale. The exception is Billy who is in second place behind Vinny with 37.61% not out innings (and an average north of thirty).
Wardy played in his 266th game for the Badgers and is thus tied with Mick Willmott for tenth most appearances.
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Daniel recorded the 52nd score of 100 or more for the club, became only the fifth Badger to be dismissed immediately upon reaching the landmark (the others being Addy at Forest Green last season, Mark at Milton on tour in 2005 – both out on exactly 100 – Alan Tickner at Wimbledon Village in 2001 out on 102 after a four and Chris Morgan who hit a six to reach 104 against Stockwell Athletic in 1984), the eleventh Badger to record more than one century for the club and only the fifth do so twice in a single season (Chris Morgan in 1980, Jake in both 2021 and 2022, Mark in 2017 and Patrick Redding in both 2003 and 2004, with the latter being the only occasion when anyone has recorded three tons in one year).
Darrell’s four ball nought not out, supporting Wardy in finishing the game off, means he recorded his 55th not out (from 225 innings) which takes him past Brian Moore into fifth place on the all-time list, still eleven behind President Roy Gordon (who had 66 not outs in 231 innings).
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Three debutants this week – all housemates and friends of Amy’s – with all three of Alex Pendle, Tom Russell and Sam Taylor contributing with both bat and ball whilst all wearing some item(s) of Sam’s kit!?
A highest individual score of just 40 is the lowest recorded in the games for which I have full data, going back to 1984, where the team score was higher than 190. The previous lowest was 42 from a total of 221 in the game at Stoke d'Abernon in 1999.
Xavier Tras had a busy afternoon, with the Badgers recording 19 runs from wides amongst a total figure of 38 whilst the home side gave away just 32 sundries because they only managed 13 runs from wides.
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Another debutant this week in the form of Sam’s dad Colin who, like the rest of us, struggled against the in swinging seam of the young left armer but offered up a tidy spell of off spin during which he snared his first two wickets for the Badgers. Apparently their father and son combo has never been seen on a cricket field before and here’s hoping this won’t be the only time.
Darrell became the first Badger since Mark at Box on the 2017 tour to score as many as 89 runs but be dismissed before reaching the ton (there have been nine centuries in that span plus two occasions where Jake was not out in the 90s) but for me the most striking feature of the innings was his strike rate of 124.
Billy made his 153rd appearance for the club taking him out of a tie with Graham Davenport and into either 24th or 25th spot on his own. As ever the doubt arises because of the missing scorebook for 1981 but since I explained the full scenario after the Ham & Petersham game in 2021, I will simply point you all at the relevant paragraph in that report and you can choose to read it or not. On a not entirely unrelated note midway through his fifth over of the day he also passed Dave Bowerman into 16th on the all-time list of runs allowed and ended it just six runs back of John Rourke in 15th.
Penalty runs are an unusual event in a Badgers game – prior to this we had conceded (Banstead in 2021 and Ockley last year) and received (South Park 2013 and Deando in 2016) them just twice each – and this one felt particularly odd as it was the result of a fielder returning the ball to the wicket keeper from fine leg but underarm, all along the ground and straight into the helmet whereas all of the other occurrences have been directly from the batted ball (and in August, but...)
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: This is the 13th occasion on which all ten (or more) Badgers have bowled in an innings, at least since 1984 and most likely ever. Most of those were on tour unsurprisingly, with the first at Heythrop Park in 1999 and the most recent at Crown last year (when 11 bowled as it was a 12-a-side game). There have, however, been three other ‘regular season’ occasions with the first at Beechwood in 2011 and the most recent at Blindley Heath last season but this is the first occasion when all ten have bowled four overs each, and in two over spells, although the post-pandemic Newdigate game in 2020 came close to the former, with everyone bowling four overs in one go and the symmetry only being spoiled by Mark taking the last wicket with the fifth ball of his fourth over and only then because the opposition were one short!?
Rob played his 179th game for the club, thus taking him out of a tie with my old man into sole possession of 19th place on the lifetime appearances list. If he turns out regularly this season he should pass Keith Miller in the spot above before the year is out.
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My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is only an outside chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Jake became the second Badger, after Mark of course, to record 50 scores of 50 or more, adding a 46th fifty to go with his four centuries. He has some way to go to catch his old man up, and was already comfortably in second place having passed Pat and AT at a similar point last season. Darrell’s fifty arrived half a dozen overs later and was his 17th score of 50 or more (2 100s, 15 50s) and the 117 they put on together tied the fourth highest for the third wicket. It is also the fifth century partnership that the pair of them have put on together – a category that they were already leading ahead of six other pairs who have recorded three such together (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out the likely combinations of half a dozen Badger stalwarts who feature on that list, perhaps revealing the detail later in the season).
We play somewhat fewer timed games than we used to but this was our first win in such a contest for nearly five years (since Ottershaw in June 2019 to be precise). Only one bowler got to send down more than their normal limit of eight overs, with Billy peppering his 12 overs with some 61 dot balls. Sam was second in that category, managing 40 during his eight overs, and also captured his first two wickets for the club.
View the detailed scorecard of this game
My apologies for the lack of a report for this game, but nothing was written at the time and there is little or no chance that anything will be
Statistical Notes: Daniel made his first ever century for the club, becoming the nineteenth player to score one hundred or more in an innings, whilst bettering his previous zenith (against the same opponents last year) by just shy of fifty runs. His 117 is the fifteenth highest individual score by a Badger and the 134 that he and Dean put on together was the fifth highest for the second wicket. Ten of those eighteen made more than one ton for the Badgers but there was often a considerable gap between numbers one and two (Dave Tickner took nearly 22 years to register his second) so there is no pressure Dan (unless you care to chase Jake who did it in back to back games).
The 277 the Badgers posted was our highest ever team score, surpassing the 270 made at Tadworth in 2022, whilst the home side’s 226 is the most runs we have ever conceded after batting first, tying the (winning) total made by Seven Sports in 2006.
Sam Eade became our first debutant of 2024 earning a baptism of fire bowling his three overs whilst the opposition’s fourth wicket pair were in full flow. Hopefully that will be the first of many to come Sam.
Billy’s two catches took him past Mick Willmott into 13th place on the lifetime outfield catches list whilst the frugal 29 runs conceded during his eight overs were nonetheless sufficient to take him past Wardy into 17th place on the all-time runs allowed slate. There are three other bowling stalwarts not far ahead of him before he starts chasing Vinny in 13th spot.