WEEK 12 12-13 JULY 2008

The League Cup quarterfinals were completed on Sunday with Kirkby Stephen continuing to impress with a six wicket home win against Carlisle II. The closest result came at Lowther where Shap need a four to tie off the final ball of the match only for captain Dean Johnston sweep the ball off his legs for six. Premiership sides Scotby and Nunwick I had comparatively easier tasks with home wins against the two Wigton sides, and face each other in the semi final, guaranteeing a First Division presence in the final.

In the Premiership Stainton I and Carlisle II tied their match when, with three required for victory and the last pair at the wicket, Tony Brown hit the final ball of the match to wide mid on for two with David McMillan’s dive just beat the returning throw. Stainton have now been involved in three ties in the last two seasons. The points move them into a group of five teams at the base of the table separated by only four points. Also in the mix are Staffield, with a winning draw against Scotby and Nunwick I with a single point at Tynefield. In contrast Penrith II continue merrily on their way at the head of the table, undefeated in the league, with the result being their sixth winning draw of the season.

Cockermouth II beat their third team and move to the head of the First Division alone again following Kirkby Stephen’s home defeat by Culgaith. Temple Sowerby and Rockcliffe remain in splendid isolation at the top of Division Two and Three respectively, the former with a comprehensive win against bottom team, Threlkeld. Penrith Academy cement second place in Division Three. Having overtaken Stainton II the previous week they emphasised that situation with an eight wicket win against them this week.

Bear a thought for Dentonholme, with matches scheduled against those involved in the cup, and the unavailability of Edenside at crucial times, means that they now haven’t played a match for five weeks.

And to add on a sad note, Colin Pepper, President of Braithwaite CC, and involved in the club as player and official for the past fifty years, died on Friday. Braithwaite’s home match against Edenhall was cancelled as a consequence. Our thoughts are with the family, especially Kevin and Andrew. The funeral is at Crosthwaite Church, Keswick on Monday 21 July commencing at 11.45am. Gilbert has added his thoughts further down the page.

TEAM BATTING FIRST

SCORE

OVERS

RESULT

TEAM BAT. SECOND

SCORE

OVERS

Prem	Stainton I (a)	130	35.1	Tied	Carlisle II (h)	130/9	40
	Rick Kay Martin Ruddick	31 39			Tony Brown	45no
	David McMillan Vijay Kopparthi Ian Hutton Nick Whitfield	8-3-19-1 10-1-40-3 10-3-45-3 7.2-0-22-2			Rob Dawson Stuart Marshall Martin Ruddick Jack White	7-2-12-2 10-2-34-2 10-1-39-1 8-1-22-2
Adam writes: Some people play cricket all their life and never play in a tie, the players from Stainton have now been involved in three in the last two seasons. Stainton arrived at Edenside to see that water had gotten onto the pitch and when Jakeman lost another toss it was no surprise that stand-in skipper Nick Whitfield put them in. Stainton made slow progress on what was a tricky pitch and they lost both openers (Hall 3 and Jakeman 0) before the score reached 10. A bit of a fight back them came from the away side as Rick Kay made 31, he took one quick two too many and ended up pulling a hamstring and called for a runner. He then failed to realise that when you have a runner you don’t need to run and after a couple of overs he sent the runner off, this caused much amusement to the watching player but I am sure what was more amusing for Carlisle was that having sent the runner off he proceeded to run himself out! It has to be said it was an excellent piece of fielding by Chris Hayes at mid-off. It was then left to Martin Ruddick to marshal the tail and take Stainton to a respectable score of 130, on reflection 20 runs light. At tea the home side would have felt very much in command and clear favourites but this was soon to change as an excellent opening bowling spell from Marshall and Dawson saw Carlisle reduced to 13-3 and with Hayes, Whitfield and Blaylock back in the pavilion Stainton were back in the game. Credit must then go to Gareth Brown whose 28 came from 64 balls, the bulk of the runs being scored towards the end of the innings. He rode his luck and weathered the storm from the Stainton bowlers when wickets were falling around him. Stainton still managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals and Jack White’s spell was excellent to keep the runs down and take two wickets. All the bowlers did their bit to contribute but a partnership from Gareth Brown and his dad Tony was difficult to break. They put on 30 in fairly quick time and with runs at a premium this was vital, Gareth eventually fell to Karl Rinder and it was left to the senior Brown to do the bulk of the work. Marshall came back into the attack and took a wicket, as did Ruddick, and when Jack White had Ian Hutton caught on the boundary with Carlisle still needing 15 for victory it looked to be Stainton’s day. Tony Brown then hit Ruddick for 6 in the penultimate over and two leaving seven needed for the victory. Singles came from the first two balls and then was the turning point as McMillan mistimed a drive and Jakeman dropped a difficult diving chance at mid-off and was inconsolable for the remainder of the game as they took a single to leave four from three balls required. White then bowled a dot ball and the game swung back in Stainton’s favour, then a single left them needing three to win from the last ball with Tony Brown on strike. He clubbed the ball to wide mid-on to which Karl Rinder came round and fielded, with McMillan running to the danger end he well and truly got his skates on and a dive saw him complete the two needed for the tie. A fantastic game of cricket in which both teams could have won and lost at any point, so on reflection a fair result and one that lifts Stainton off the bottom. Our condolences and best wished go out to the Pepper Brothers and all of Braithwaite CC for the loss of their Father and President.
Prem	Staffield (h)	124	36.2	drew	Scotby (a)	114 / 9	40
	Steve Thomlinson Ivor Atkinson James Cranston	35 26* 22			Mark Vasey Peter Dixon	27 27*
	Peter Dixon Olly Driver	10 – 3 –25 - 3 10 – 2 – 17 - 3			James Cranston Geoff Brown	10 – 3 – 27 – 5 10 – 3 – 26 - 2
Tommo writes: Following a week of heavy rain Scotby captain Mark Vasey had no hesitation in asking the home side to bat on winning the toss. His decision appeared to be justified when Staffield were reduced to 3 for 3 with Chris Tuer, stand in captain Pete Armstrong and Robin Smith all going without troubling the scorers. A partnership of 49 between Steve Thomlinson and James Cranston gave the score some respectability but at 92 for 8 with 8 overs to go it looked unlikely Staffield would make the 100 mark, until a quick fire innings from Ivor Atkinson in just three overs. Scotby’s innings started in similar vain with no batsman being able to master a very slow wicket. Only Mark Vasey of the top seven got to double figures and when he was removed driving at a wide ball from James Cranston and being snapped up with a sharp chance by Steve Thomlinson at slip, it looked as though the home side were in the driving seat. But with Scotby still only needing four an over the game was in the balance. With Pete Dixon playing a typically big hitting innings it took the return of Cranston to finally see Staffield home for five much needed points after three weeks of inactivity. The game was played in a good spirit and could have gone either way right up to the final few balls.
Prem	Penrith II (h)	177/5	40	Drew	Nunwick I (a)	131/8
	Nicky Birtle Mark Challoner	96 39			Dougie Parker	48
	Neil Sands	10-2-29-2			John Iniff Jonathan Osborne Tom Sarjeant	10-5-21-3 10-2-33-2 10-2-35-2
Prem	Braithwaite (h)				Edenhall (a)
Gilbert writes: It is with much sadness that we announce the sudden death of Braithwaite President and ex player Colin Pepper, who passed away on Friday. Consequently Saturday’s game against Edenhall was postponed as a mark of respect for a man who served the club continuously for over 50 years as a player, Treasurer and President. Colin Pepper first played for Braithwaite on 21^st May 1958 against Embleton and played his last match thirty nine years later, on 12^th July 1997 against Temple Sowerby 2nds. From the records that we have, Colin played in approximately 450 games, scoring 3194 league runs. His best batting performances were on the 29^th August 1964 hitting 45 against Appleby 1^st and followed that up 22 years later with a 41 not out against Shap. As predominately a wicket keeper batsman he took 139 catches and 6 stumpings (which we know about). We do know that throughout his playing career he never ever bowled, however, it is not surprising given that Ian Hindmarch was taking 788 wickets at an average of 5.9! After he hung up his boots, Colin contributed much of his own time to keeping the club going, a trait that both his sons Andy and Kevin have continued to this day. Colin was Braithwaite Cricket Club Vice Captain from 1960-1962, Treasurer from 1974-1990 and Club President from 1998 until present time. Colin was a regular spectator with his wife, Renee, at most matches and still shared the good and bad times with the team. Unfortunately Colin had an uncanny knack of parking his car (with pin point accuracy) in the path of several sixes. As windscreen, bonnet and roof were all smashed, dented or broken. Undeterred, the following week he would again park his car right down the line of the inevitable big straight six - probably off my bowling. He was a friend to all the players and he would willingly offer hour upon hour of his own time to maintain and help out at the club. Without Colin’s unstinting involvement, Braithwaite Cricket Club would not be where it is today. The match has been rescheduled for Sunday 23 August….ed
Prem
Prem

TEAM BATTING FIRST

SCORE

OVERS

RESULT

TEAM BAT. SECOND

SCORE

OVERS

Div 1	Carleton (h)	98/7	32	Lost	Gamblesby (a)	99/1	24
					Alex Kuzbyt Ben Crouch	42no 41no
	Ben Crouch Andrew Benson Martyn Crouch Steve Watson	8-2-21-2 6-0-14-0 8-0-20-3 8-0-21-1
Div 1	Kirkby Stephen (h)	113/9	40	Lost	Culgaith (a)	116/7	30.4
					Ted Walker Nick Scaife	29 22no
	Ted Walker Martin Hadley Nick Scaife Adrian Robson	10-2-19-1 10-3-13-0