TW3

 

Sunday 5 May 2024 at Wembley

National League Playoff Final

Solihull Moors 2 Bromley 2 aet

Bromley win 4-3 on penalties

 

All credit to Solihull for coming back twice with equalising goals, but in the end it was the poor quality of their penalty kicks that mean that Bromley will join the ranks of League Two next season for the first time in their history. Michael Cheek had given Bromley the lead just before the interval, only for Joe Sbarra to level the match just after the restart. Cheek’s goal was disputed by Moors, who claimed a foul in the build-up. Cheek scored his second from the spot to restore the Bromley lead, and then Jamie Osborne equalised again with a cool finish. There were no more goals in extra time. This match had been something of a clash of styles. Bromley could have easily been two up before Solihull turned up. Then Moors did better by playing the ball patiently on the ground, working their triangles. Bromley were more dangerous in the air, and more direct. But as the end of the match drew nearer, Bromley looked stronger and fitter. Bromley keeper Grant Smith saved Tyrese Shade’s first penalty, Cheek scored his and then Joss Labadie missed too. Although Moors’ keeper Nick Hayes saved from Ashley Charles it was still advantage Bromley and it fell to skipper Byron Webster to roll a penalty in and signal the start of a promotion party.

 

I’m going to grumble again about an £8 A4-sized programme in a stadium limiting bag size to A4. I don’t think I have ever paid that much for a programme and it is simply exploitation.

 

Tuesday 9 May 2024 at Lord’s

T20 Cricket, Oxford University v Cambridge University

CU Women 163-4 (20 ov) beat OU Women 127-8 (20 ov) by 36 runs

OU Men 160-5 (19.4 ov) beat CU Men 156-7 (20 ov) by 5 wkts

 

Cambridge Women were put into bat and they recovered from the early loss of Alice Bebb to post a formidable total. Issy Routledge and Ciara Boaden shared a 50 partnership. Routledge fell for 40 and Boaden was unbeaten on 77. Oxford’s fielding was somewhat ragged under pressure with a key moment being a six that went through the fielder’s hands on the boundary. Their bowlers had also struggled with line early on. Hannah Sutton finished with all four Cambridge wickets to fall, for 29 runs, but the other bowling figures all had zeroes in the final column.

 

It was not long before Oxford fell behind the required run rate and the innings was eventually strangled. The result was never really in doubt from an early stage although all of the top order got off the mark and into double figures. It was Routledge’s day as she took a hat-trick and finished with a magnificent 4-0-12-4 and a hand in a run out as Oxford’s batting turned to desperate measures. She was supported by Garima Kakkar with 2-22.

Ciara Bowden on her way to the top score. #keepertopcolourstats deemed inadmissible by the rules committee (i.e. me)

 

Cambridge men also lost the toss and were asked to bat first. They made a good start including some sharp running between the wickets but the bowling of Oxford captain Ben Swanson arrested the pace of progress. Zak le Riche was bowled by the hostile pace of Justin Clarke after an opening stand of 37, and opening partner Harry Houillon was run out for 49 as a non-striker, much to his surprise as he jogged towards the crease. That was great work by Toby Brown in the field. Alex Ferreira and Hari Kukreja weighed in with 22 and 32 respectively, but they struggled to get the rate above six an over and it felt a little short of what they would need.

 

Cambridge took two Oxford wickets in the power play overs but opener George Roberts was now joined by Justin Clarke. Roberts did most of the scoring but they were able to accelerate and get well ahead of the rate required by the end of the tenth over.  Oxford were 98-3 compared with Cambridge’s 74-2 at the same stage. Cambridge in the end did well to take the game to the final over. Roberts managed to keep enough of the strike to secure the victory, as at times his partners were becalmed at the other end. There was a moment of hope for Cambridge when Roberts fell for 79 off 51 balls, but Josh Royan came in to score 11, joining Max Kirby who finished with 15 off 27, with enough bat-on-ball moments to see their team over the winning line with two balls to spare and five wickets in hand.

 

Roberts reaches a half-century with a push to off

Saturday 11 May 2024 at Wembley

Non-League Finals Day

FA Vase : Romford 3 Great Wakering Rovers 0

FA Trophy : Solihull Moors 2 Gateshead 2 aet

Gateshead win 5-4 on penalties

 

This event suffers from the usual between-match imprisonment and it felt somewhat flat in the concourses at times compared with other years. The proportion of fans staying to watch both games seems to have declined. I was particularly irritated today at being asked to make a move (from the Moors section) even before the FA Trophy had been presented to Gateshead. That is culturally wrong and very disappointing. I politely declined and nothing came of it. I’ve given up on bemoaning the existence of popcorn, candy floss and pic n’mix, partly because I couldn’t seriously recommend the pies as the traditional football fare. I will, however, give credit as due for a sensible double programme at a fair price of £5.

 

But I digress. On the pitch, Romford (in blue) looked the more likely to score. It took 37 minutes for Great Wakering to have a real sniff in the opposing penalty area. It remained scoreless at half-time. Hassan Nalbant’s composed left-foot finish opened the scoring for Romford after 52 minutes, and it was soon followed by a second. Great Wakering were appealing for a penalty. On the resulting break, Sam Deering scored after Finlay Dorrell’s shot had been saved. The destination of the Vase was never really threatened after that point and eventually Nalbant would get his second goal in stoppage time. This was another very neat finish, a curling shot with the outside of the foot.

 

The FA Trophy final came down to penalties, and the deja-vu for Solihull must have been overpowering. You have to feel for Moors keeper Nick Hayes. He saved three spot-kicks and ended up on the losing side, and that must be very rare indeed. Tyrese Shade and Joss Labadie were given redemption chances after last week’s misses – and they both missed again. Gateshead’s Dajaune Brown finally sealed the win, and would have been very relieved to do so. The game had finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and then 2-2 after extra time. Regan Booty had given Gateshead the lead in first-half stoppage time, but Solihull again showed resilience when their equaliser came from frontman Mark Beck with 20 minutes left. This was a brave diving header from Joe Newton’s cross. Beck then scored from the spot in the first period of extra time only for Brown to redeem himself after a couple of missed chances with a goal timed at 111 minutes. Penalties were inevitable after that, but don’t mention the word anywhere near Solihull any time soon. Brown’s winner was the end of the ninth round of penalties. Cruel game, sometimes. The video clip below is Beck's penalty for the short-lived Solihull lead. Gateshead are in white.

 

No. Just No.

The four sporting confrontations so far this week gave a chance to play at one of the world’s great sporting venues to some lesser-known players, or those at the start of their sporting lives. The Wembley events are great days out (mostly) for the fans of the clubs that don’t get to play there so often. I may have seen an international cricketer or two learning their craft at Lord’s. Time will tell, but first we had two big name clubs back at Wembley. Having said that, whoever wins this next match will make club history.

Sunday 12 May 2024 at Wembley

Women’s FA Cup Final

Manchester United 4 Tottenham Hotspur 0

 

This game has had lots of coverage elsewhere. Beth England was to hit the bar in the second half but that was one of the few bright spots for Spurs. Manchester United had looked the better side from the start, but the timing of Ella Toone’s magnificent run and curling shot could not have been better, coming just before the interval. Rachel William’s headed second was from the textbook – she had had a near-miss in the early minutes, and then Lucia Garcia was gifted a third by a misplaced pass from Becky Spencer in the Spurs goal. Garcia would add her second, thanks to a neat assist from Millie Turner, before United rang the changes by bringing on their classy substitutes including Melvine Malard & Nikita Parris with no noticeable loss of dominance. Mary Earps in the United goal had very little to do other than breathe a sigh of relief when England’s header hit the woodwork. Now both of these sides will indirectly decide the destination of this season’s WSL title in the week ahead. Chelsea play Spurs on Wednesday and United next weekend and will need to win both.

So, that's 37 games at the "new" Wembley for me, spread over 33 visits because of the four double-headers. This week has seen the keepertopcolourstats database and table arrive at 301 matches, so it is time for me to learn how to do a Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance test. This may take me a while! Solihull’s results were against the trend, Romford’s and Manchester United’s went to form. The table is here, and That Was The Week That Was. Thank you for your interest.

Any of my readers know how to do one of these? Image credit: Wikipedia

Fun Runs in Leicester

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Sunday 14 August 2022 at Grace Road (The Uptonsteel County Ground)
Result	Leicestershire beat Warwickshire by 131 runs
Competition	Royal London One-Day Cup (50 overs per side) – Group Stage
Hopstats	My sixteenth cricket ground, and the first since 2019. I’ve now been to 13 of the main grounds of the 18 first-class counties, 12 if I don’t count Bristol which was an abandonment without a ball being bowled.
Context
Leicestershire start the game with a 3-1 win-loss record, and Warwickshire have two wins and a tie from their three games. So both sides will feel they have a good chance to progress further. The group stage of this competition takes place at the same time as The Hundred, so many of the “big names” are absent and these teams comprise squad players and up-and-coming youngsters. The ticket price was £1 (plus £1 online booking fee!) as part of a family fun day experience. I stayed in my seat to watch the game, but apparently this included live tarantulas in one of the outbuildings. There have clearly been developments in the concept of family fun since my active parenting days.
In One Sentence
Leicestershire won the toss and made the most of this to put an unassailable score on the board, and the match was over as a contest after about 20 overs of the Warwickshire reply.
So What?
Leicestershire have put themselves in a very good position and trail group leaders Middlesex only on run rate. Warwickshire are still in with a shout for qualification but clearly now have less room for error. The games come thick and fast and both are in action again on Wednesday. Leicester’s next game (20th) is billed as Ladies’ Day. This time the tickets will be £20, but well worth it especially if it also involves the tarantulas.
Match Report
Having lost the toss, Warwickshire’s bowlers initially appeared to be doing a good job at keeping the score down. There were only two boundaries in the ten-over powerplay, and that was a streaky edge by Rishi Patel. Liam Norwell and Olly Hannon-Darby shared the fast-bowling duties, and the latter had Patel caught in the tenth over so that the home side were 34-1 as the field moved out to the deep. Norwell stayed on in a spell of seven overs, getting the other opener Nick Welch caught behind from the first ball of the 11th over.    However, new batters Louis Kimber and Lewis Hill were able to accelerate against the change seamer George Garrett and later, spinner Krunel Pandya. The run rate was up to 5.00 by the end of the fifteenth. Warwickshire fielding was decent on a tricky, fast outfield. The innings grew with steady accumulation until the fireworks started. Kimber’s first six of the day dropped just over long-off’s head, in my general direction, followed immediately by a four. Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes replaced Norwell and was more miserly, and rewarded by an edge behind to end Hill’s innings. Wiann Mulder arrived at the crease and did not hang about, sending Rhodes to the boundary.   Lewis Kimber on his way to top score for Leicester. Norwell was recalled, presumably to try to break the developing partnership. He was greeted with a boundary by Kimber who reached his 50 from 44 balls, at 133-3. Kimber lofted Garrett over the leg side for a six, and Mulder was proving an excellent partner at the other end who reached his own half-century. Kimber scored two sixes off Pandya as the overall run-rate grew to 6.00. Pandya would have the consolation of the next three wickets. Kimber was well caught by a sub fielder, and Mulder was caught on the boundary, for 78 and 68 respectively.   Harry Swindells - the keeper keeping the scoreboard ticking over By the time Pandya took his third wicket in his final over, a good boundary catch by Dom Sibley to get Arron Lilley out for 33, Harry Swindells was moving through the scoring gears and a lofted four off Rhodes brought up the 300. His fifty came from 40 balls and new partner Tom Scriven joined the fun with a straight six. Garrett took the consolation wickets of both in the last over but it looked as if the damage had been done.   Leicestershire 338-6 (50.0 overs) (Kimber 78, Mulder 68, Swindells 54, Lilley 33, Scriven 30) (Pandya 10-0-69-3)   In the Warwickshire reply, Yates and Sibley got the scoreboard ticking at around 5 or 6 an over with a mix of playing-and-missing, edges and assured classy shots, and in fact they were ahead of Leicestershire’s rate of progress for a time until the wickets started to fall. This innings was to be a tale of several batters making a start but then getting out before a big score, and in the end the innings rather subsided in desperation. There had been hope for about 20 overs that the visitors might be able to match the hosts’ display. Sibley was perhaps unlucky to be c&b by Chris Wright and then Yates edged Mulder to the keeper, leaving Warwickshire at 44-2. Still not out of the game by any means, but with huge and increased pressure on Will Rhodes and Michael Burgess. The latter in particular took a few balls to get going. His first boundary was courtesy of a misfield, and then he hit the biggest straight six so far, bouncing off the top floor of building at the Bennett End. But Lewis Kimber got him out for 38, caught on the boundary. Scriven then bowled Rhodes for 30 in the next over, leaving the chasers on 119-4 after 21.4 overs with an growing feeling of game over. Image documentation failure but I think this is Will Rhodes Some of the families drifted away, the young tarantula fans getting tired and grumpy after a long hot day. The dwindling crowd were entertained by the final demise of the run chase, giving us the bonus of an early finish. Pandya and Lamb kept going at around six an over but the required rate climbed to eight. Lamb was run out by a sharp stop and throw by Hill and Pandya looped a top edge and was caught. Hill brought back opening bowler Beuran Hendricks who took the wickets of Kai Smith and Liam Norwell in quick succession. In the end, the last pair of Garrett and Hannon-Darby added twenty to get over the 200 line, but a final margin of 131 runs will look like a comprehensive thrashing in the record books. Wright took the final wicket of Garrett to add to the earlier scalps of Sibley and Pandya.   You know the end is near when the Duckworth-Lewis formula gives up on you Last-wicket resistance (is futile) by Olly Hannon-Darby Warwickshire 207 all out (39.2 overs) (Burgess 38, Rhodes 30) (Wright 8.2-0.29-3) Leicestershire (2pts) win by 131 runs.
The Ground
If you visit, be aware that there is a high proportion of open uncovered seating. With temperatures forecast to be in the three hundreds (Kelvin of course, what do you expect from a physicist?) I made sure I was there early to pick a shady spot, choosing the Bennett End. By the way, don’t expect to be able to park at the ground unless you are a wizard with Leicester heritage and a secret handshake. At least that is the impression that you get from the club website. I parked near the Aylestone Recreation Ground, about a fifteen-minute walk away in Knighton Lane East.   The old-school scoreboard partly obscured for me by the floodlight support, showing how cricket grounds have adapted in the last few decades.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! Family commitments take priority until the end of the month, when I am signed up for the Welsh Hop for the first time.