Garboldisham Cricket Club

Last Sunday (6 Dec 2015) Garboldisham played the last of their group matches in the Breckland six-a-side indoor league. They were up against local rivals Old Buckenham who had beaten them a few weeks earlier so they knew that it would be a tight game. Here’s the match report from captain Rob Fuller…

Team line up: Rob Fuller (captain), Gavin Barnes, Matt Allin, James Worby, Paul Baker, Sam Baker

Bucks won the toss and decided to bat. The opening Old Buckenham pair got off to a very good start, accumulating quite a few runs and only losing one wicket. Garby kept it a little bit tighter in the next four overs with Batesy bowling deliveries reminiscent of the great Shane Warne. The final pair for Bucks were intent on pushing the score up, but a top last over by Fuller who bowled a wicket maiden, meant that Garby were chasing a net score of 238 to win.

Worby and Sam Baker opened up for Garby and kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely, losing only one wicket. Barnes and Allin were the second pair in to bat and they continued to push the score along until they managed to give 3 wickets away in 3 balls… again. (The 4th time Barnes has been involved in such an event this season). But they made up for things with the next 8 balls, scoring 3 off every delivery. This put Garby into a strong position and it meant that Fuller and Baker could coast over the finishing line without taking any risks. The only blemish was Fuller getting out to the last ball of the night.

Old Buckenham 267/6 (net 237) vs Garboldisham 280/6 (net 250)

GCC are now through to the finals night on the 3 January and they face Bradenham in the first semi-final with the winner going through to the winner of the other semi-final between Old Buckenham and North Elmham.

Ian ‘Yogi’ Melvin. RIP. 23 January 1962 – 8 December 2014

It was a year ago today that Ian ‘Yogi’ Melvin sadly passed away. Yogi had been a huge part of GCC for nearly 35 years and he is still greatly missed by all. On Sunday a group of club members gathered at Risby Crematorium near Bury St Edmunds to pay their respects to Yogi one year on. Club captain Danny Cash took along the Norfolk Alliance Division One winners trophy and pendant and they were placed alongside Yogi’s grave while members stood for one minute’s silence. Yogi would have been thrilled to see Garboldisham 1sts reach the Premier Division and we know that he’ll be looking down on them and cheering them on next season.

The picture shows GCC Club Captain Danny Cash receiving the Dipple and Conway Norfolk Alliance Division One Winners Shield from Matthew Conway (Dipple and Conway) and John Tythcott, vice-chairman Norfolk Cricket Alliance Picture. You can read more about the awards night on the EDP website here.

Picture Credit: Newsmakers PR

A message from Peter Barnes

It is nearly one year ago that our good friend Ian (Yogi) Melvin passed away. Myself and other club members will be meeting at Risby Crematorium this Sunday 6 December at 1.15pm to pay our respects to Yogi. Please do come and join us if you’d like to. Afterwards we hope to go for a drink and something to eat. Please call or text me on 07825 351062 or 01953 681026 if you’d like to come along.

Peter Barnes

GCC clocked up their third win out of four in yesterday’s (Sunday 22 Nov 2015) Breckland Indoor League match. Here’s the match report from captain Rob Fuller:

Thetford 267-9 net 222 Garby 267-4 net 247. Garby win by 25.
Team Fuller, P Baker, Fev, Allin, G Barnes and a very well lubricated P Barnes after 1.1/2 bottles of red wine in the afternoon.

Thetford won the toss and decided to bat. Fev started off as Garby normally do indoors and bowled a wide first ball but then bowled 5 dot balls. Some good balls were followed by a few “hit-me” balls allowing Thetford to pick up regular runs but also lose wickets at regular intervals. Fev and Allin got off to a slow but steady start. The normally highly entertaining Barnes batting partnership was a subdued affair this week as Peter batted sensibly and used all his experience by farming most of the strike from the sometimes skyward-bound batting by Barnes junior. With the last 4 overs to bat Fuller and Baker still had quite a bit to do. Some sensible batting  and some quick running got Garby ahead of the required score with an over to spare. So all was needed in the last over was Fuller to do his best Geoff Boycott impression and bat out the last over without losing a wicket which he managed. Garby have one foot in the final but just need to finish it off next week vs Mundford.

Just 10 days to go until the GCC Quiz night at Garboldisham village hall on Saturday 28th November. Doors open at 6.45 for a 7.30 start. £7 per person including hot food. Book your places now. Teams can be up to a maximum of six players. Don’t worry if there’s only a couple of you because we can always pair you up with others to make a bigger team. You can buy tickets from the village shop or from Peter Barnes 01953 681026/07825 351062 or from Trevor Lee 01953 681192. See you there!

Here are some statistics from the Dipple and Conway Norfolk Alliance Division One which of course Garboldisham Firsts won back in August:

Rob Fuller and Callum Olpin finish 5th and 7th with best bowling averages

Kristian Williman is in 3rd position with best batting average and he has the 2nd highest number of runs. Kieran Pask finishes 9th

Pascal Walker has the best league wicket keeping figures and finishes way out in front

Captain Danny Cash takes 12 catches to finish in 3rd place

We’re short of a picture this week so here’s one of GCC u14s from 2009 who finished as runners up against Vauxhall Mallards in an indoor tournament at UEA featuring, back row: Joe Paul, Harry Youngson and Henry Phoenix and front row: Nathan Lamb, Ben Asker, Joe Seaman and… Matt Allin

Garboldisham had an exciting game last night (Sunday 15 November 2015) against Old Buckenham in the Breckland Indoor League but lost out by just 18 runs. GCC had won their first two games but they failed to make it three out of three against their old rivals who they’d defeated in last season’s final. Garby went into the game with two changes to their line-up – Matt Allin (back from Australia) and Chris Jones were drafted in to replace the injured duo of Paul Baker and Charlie Worby. Garboldisham captain Rob Fuller won the toss and elected to bowl first but a poor start with some wayward bowling and disappointing fielding, allowed Old Buck’ to set a net target of 242 for Garby to chase down.

Fevs and Sam Baker got GCC off to a good start and they were up on the run rate at the end of their four overs. Next pair in were Gavin Barnes and Matt Allin but the loss of three or four wickets (and therefore runs deducted) left the last Garby pair of Fuller and Jonesy with a little bit too much to do and Garboldisham pulled up short finishing with a net score of 225.

Next Sunday sees Garboldisham face Thetford again. Fixtures here.