RNVR Cricket Club

Scorecard

Leigh CC v RNVR Cricket Club on Sun 24 May 2026 at 2pm
RNVR Cricket Club Lost by 4 runs

Match report It’s invariably tricky the first 3-4 games of the season to intice players onto the field from their hybernation… the theory is everyone’s raring to go and there will be an over whelming response to every call out. We at the RNVR buck that trend with the rule that the weather needs to warm up and a few match reports needed to have been posted that suggest an adventure in a field was had and finally FOMO kicks in…

Well here it is teammates the 4th report of the season and the one to welcome all-comers to the season! This match had everything. The inevitable administrative challenges of drawing people out of hibernation. The strangely silent opposition captain as the week drew on. The excitement that for the first time this year we were gong to have 11 from the start. The forecast was beyond good, there was zero chance of either it being called off for poor conditions nor any doubt that the jumpers could be put at the back of the wardrobe where they belong! Suncream, factor 50+, hats and as much modern breathable material as could be found for the minimum amount of kit to be worn… In fact is that why Tom Badger, debutant, claimed his brother had pinched his whites, inadvertently secure permission to wear shorts from the skipper… the most comfortable player on the pitch award goes too…

I digress. All the excitemnet had it’s bubble poked and prodded the night before… a calf injury took us back to 10…. and at 10PM, a message from the inigma that is Mr Hillman politly enquired as to where and at what time were we playing tomorrow… Again with hindsight what it did allow for was a reminder to be there on time and he was so perhaps that’s a note for the MMs…

The Day. 12:00 at The Dolphin in 30ºC a quick pre-match pint, Scotch egg and chips in a tee-shirt, ask Buckland. We nearly didn’t leave as a groundbreaking announcement from Tim Hardman had us all feeling reeling… petrol cap locations are indicated on the petrol guage on the the dashboard… whaaat!

The Ground. 30.5ºC Everyone there. Captains meet. Lost the toss and lost the discussion on format. Hindsight and superstition point to things coming in 3s. But that’s numbers and this skipper does pictures. The picture was bright, 31.5ºC bright, and no one was suprised at the result of losing the toss, we were in the field.

Sir Alex Beard took the new ball from the ’top end’ with William Buckland volunteering for the 'up hill’ end we won't dwell on the combined ages of our openers especially not as they defied their lack of youth with tight and effective spells. Alex taking 3 for which included a sharp caught and bowled and 2 clean bowled. He also brought up the first of 5 - yes FIVE - hat-trick opportunities from the match! Having taken the first 3 to fall William joined the party with the 4th. Mriksh Bhanushali was given the ball after Alex’s 6th. By this time it was clear to all the the pitch was definitely suffering from the heat, grumpily refusing to provide consistent bounce or true direction, on more than one occasion the usually unflappable Cadle was heard to express his displeasure from behind the stumps… his bruise count probably matching wickets taken. Leigh’s number 2 had been plugging away at accumulating a score whilst all around him were flailing and falling to our bowling efforts. Will William completed a 9 over straight spell which in the heat was a monumental task, it didn’t seem to effect him though as he then proceeded to assist the father and son duo who had taken over the bowling, catching 2; one each for Yogesh and Mriksh. Yogesh added to the hat-trick ball total by adding 2 himself. The other thing Yogesh did was to find us an 11th player who arrived just as our bowling innings was about to finish. The conclusion of Leigh’s batting had taken them to 161. Their number 2, Rizzick Faz contributing 76 of those. Yogesh finished with 5-16 from his 7 overs! We took 4 catches AND DROPPED NONE: William 2, Tom Hillman 1 Sir Alex 1.

Tea between innings was a very welcome break and if not rest-bite from the heat it was at least in the shade and was allowed a generous chunk of time.

At 32ºC it was time for Cadle and Crichton to put on insulating pads, gloves and it shall record here for Health and Safety reasons that they also donned helmets to keep them warm and head out to begin the chase toward 162. They made decent headway and bit a sizeable chunk into a 50 partnership… unfortunately the scorebook suffered from the heat too so it’s a little hard to be exact, however it was a good start. Having watched at close quarters the variable reactions of the pitch Cadle gave a text book example of nullifying the pitch demons by going to meet the ball early, playing elegantly and forcefully off the front foot. A lesson that was not always observed by the melting throng. The fall of CC for 19 that would read double anywhere else, brought Mriksh to the crease. After a good bowling spell the day off revision was going well until… well his first ball. Pitching very nearly off the strip the ball had ‘leave me’ written all over it, I’ve since looked it up in the Pass Notes and can confirm it says the same. Unfortunately the pitch decided to act like a cruel examiner setting a question outside the curriculum… it turned prodigiously back in a clean bowled a bewildered Bhanushali Jnr. Hugely disappointing of course but it did add to the remarkable hat-trick opportunity stat by bringing up the 4th one of the day. New boy Tom Badger strode out to the crease and it was to this commentators advantage that he is 6 foot 5 as otherwise it might have been hard to discern him in the throng of opposition cricketers that now surrounded the bat. He survived. And whats more after a couple of slightly rusty - it has been a few years and indeed a continent or two since he last played - began the second fruitful foil to Cadle’s raising total. Another close to or past 50 partnership… the statisticians are not going to be happy… including a power 6 into the road from Tom before he departed for a debut 22. Cadle had passed 50 btw. Tim Hardman batting no 5 for the first time in a while became wicket no 3 for opposition member Arun and as it was to a first baller it brought around the 5th, yes 5th, hat-trick opportunity of the day. Yogesh saw it off, but the second ball he faced was rather too close for comfort. He survived that shout and decided to go on the attack. It was effective but unfortunately short lived; 2, 6, 4 out. The details of the next part are a little woolly and not just because we had been baked in the field and on the boundary but things moved a little quicker… Cadle finally played one shot to many and was bowled for a significant and substantial contribution of 70. Sir Alex defied his instincts and looked to steady the ship, Hillman with his new bat looked to form a partnership however both came and went. Arun had 5 for. And soon enough the pairing of Buckland and Dale were at the crease. No wickets remaining and 15 or so runs required. In a symmetry close to the start of the day the combined age of these too was… well quite large. Both hit 4s and it came to be that 4 runs were required to win. There was plenty of time/overs remaining but for some reason Dale decided that a half volly on middle and leg should be dispatched through mid on to secure the game in a single blow. Maybe befuddled by the heat or more than likely just a little too keen, he was there early and the elegant on-drive turned into an ugly-too-early-swish that went skyward. The opposition captain was under it and that was that.

Although not the conventional declaration format we had somehow got it down to everyone having had an opportunity to contribute and both results possible at the last wicket stand. Altogether a wonderful day. As is more often than not the case at Leigh. So whilst the stats will record the first loss of the season the asterix next to it says a good day was had all round.

Leigh CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 7w 16b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
30
161 (31.5 overs)		     
Barry b  Beard 8
Rizzack ct  Bowled M Bhanushali 76
Subbu b  Beard 0
Mish ct  and bowled Beard 9
Malkit lbw  Bowled Buckland 3
Williame lbw  Bowled Y Bhanushali 13
Selva ct  Bowled Y Bhanushali 0
Arun ct  Bowled Y Bhanushali 17
Shiva b  Y Bhanushali 0
Deepak b  Y Bhanushali 0
Pinnock. N Not Out  2

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sir Alex Beard6.0037312.336.17
William Buckland9.0233133.003.67
Mriksh Bhanushali8.0039139.004.88
Yogesh Bhanushali6.501653.202.34
Ben Dale2.001700.008.50

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 3w 4b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
11
158		        
Laurie Cadle b  Deepak 70 11 1
Charlie Crichton b  Shiva 19 3
Mriksh Bhanushali b  Arun 0
Tom Badger ct  Bowled Arun 22 3 1
Tim Hardman b  Arun 0
A.N. Other b  Arun 2
Yogesh Bhanushali b  Arun 12 1 1
Sir Alex Beard ct  Bowled Pinnock N 3 1
Thomas Hillman b  Williame 2 1
William Buckland Not Out  4 1 2
Ben Dale ct  Pinnock. N 4 1

Leigh CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Williame6.0023123.003.83
Selva4.002100.005.25
Shiva2.0019119.009.50
Arun8.004358.605.37
Subbu4.003500.008.75
Deepak3.00717.002.33
N Pinnock2.41321.501.13