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Wow, what a performance. Despite losing two players at the last minute and drumming in a couple of reserves the Under 11s managed the best performance of many seasons. Winning the toss and electing to field, captain Archie Wall then directed his team to bowl their very best against Uphill Archers. They all responded well and took 15 wickets with new boy Martyn Mail being the pick with 5-9 in 3 overs. They were bowled out for 171 in 20 overs.

Blagdon then embarked on a run-fest with an opening stand of 55 (surely the highest in U11 cricket) between Clayton Davies and Tom Blanchard. Ed Williams and Archie rounded up the innings trying to out-do the openers. But despite some extraordinary running between the wickets, this pair only managed to equal the stand. Everything came right on the day and Blagdon scored 354 to win by 183 runs.
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Byo won the toss for the first time this season and asked Chipping Sodbury to bat first.

The Chipping innings started with us only having nine players on the pitch as Ian Nairn and Tampa were stuck in traffic coming down from London. Graham Withers filled in until they arrived but the opening pair of Richard Bennett and Craig Scully took full advantage of the gaps in the field to put on 32 off 39 balls for the first wicket before Andy Nairn removed Bennett. Scully was then involved in partnerships of 23, 15 and 22 for the next three wickets before he was dismissed by Andy Nairn for a classy 47. John Rendell batted well to score 24 runs in partnerships of 27 and 15 for the fifth and sixth wickets respectively but after he was dismissed the last four wickets only yielded a further 19 runs to bring the innings to a close on 153 in the 43rd over. Byo did the damage at the end as he followed up his haul of 4-28 last week with an even better 4-10 this week. Andy Nairn ended up with figures of 2-42, Smalls took his first league wickets for the club in his spell of 2-53 and Huddy took 1-41.

Our run chase got off to a bad start as Smalls was dismissed for a duck with the last ball of the first over. Ian Nairn and Tampa then batted well to put on 34 runs for the second wicket before Tampa (10) was bowled by the impressive 16 year old Jamie Wakefield. This brought Boardy (23) to the crease who entertained the crowd with two massive sixes off a Jeremy Penfold over but Penfold had the last laugh as he bowled Boardy a couple of overs later. Ian Nairn then put on 18 for the fourth wicket with Wessy before he was dismissed for a well constructed 28 and Sagey (8) also had a partnership of 18 with Wessy before he hit the ball straight down deep mid wickets throat to leave us on 97-5 after 31.1 overs. Byo (8) hit a huge six over the pavilion in his brief cameo innings before Andy Nairn (16) put on a crucial 35 runs for the seventh wicket with Wessy to take us to the brink of victory at 144-7 from 41.2 overs. Huddy (1) was dismissed after a further five runs had been scored and Jon Withers hit a four to bring the scores level which left Wessy to win the game with a leg bye off the first ball of the 44th over. Wessy finished on 35 not out which was a true match winning knock if ever there was one.
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Bodger, who was playing in his 600th match for the club, won the toss and asked Patchway to bat first. He becomes only the fifth player in the clubs history to reach the 600 match milestone.

Patchway scored 164-9 in their allotted 45 overs, which is the highest score we have conceded so far this season, but it could have been a lot worse as they were 117-2 at one point. Robbo (5-31), playing in his 100th match for the club, was the pick of the bowlers and Seany D (3-35) picked up another three wickets to take his seasons tally to 14 in just three matches and reach the 200 wicket milestone in all matches for the club. Butchy (1-34) was the other wicket taker.

The runs were knocked off in the 39th over for the loss of five wickets as Robbo followed up his five wicket haul with 43 and Wobble continued his good form with the bat by scoring 41. Other useful contributions were made by Bodger (22) and Caddy (21).

Bodger's innings of 22 took him past the 12,000 run mark for the club and he becomes only the second player to reach this milestone. Wessy is of course the other one.
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This Sundays match against Temple Cloud has been cancelled because they couldn't raise a team.
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This game has been cancelled as Weston are unable to raise a team. Re-arranged date to be advised.
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Portway, our opponents in the first round of the B&D cup failed to turn up tonight so we were awarded a walkover and a second round tie against either St Mary Redcliffe or Alveston at the Bartons on Wednesday, 9 June.
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Not to be outdone by our U11's League victory at Claverham the previous day, the U15's visit there again on Monday in the Cup confounded current form as they proved to be good enough to record a hard worked win by 3 wickets with 2 overs to spare.

Claverham were bowled out in 17 overs for a modest total of 70, which nevertheless presented a challenge given our recent batting performances. Haydon Lyons did the damage on the bowling front, taking 4-20 in 4 overs, assisted by James Ratcliffe's 2-15, Adam Burroughs 2-14 and 1-6 from Nick Bartlett.

After an early unfortunate run-out of Nick Bartlett, backing up and caught out of his crease by a bowlers deflection of a powerful drive from Ali Palmer (11) the other end, did not un-settle the top order as, apart from Ali, James Roscow (11) and Jacob Hartrey (10) both made double figure contributions. It was, however, man of the match, Haydon (31) who was the lynch pin of the innings with a disciplined display which saw us home to victory, although unfortunately, with just one run needed, falling victim to Wilson. The latters 4-13 had threatened to upset proceedings at the end as Adam Burroughs saw off a hat-trick ball but then duly scampered a single from the next.

This victory means a Semi-Final encounter away to Cleeve, anything could happen!
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This years Annual Dinner will be on Friday 8 October at the Burrington Inn which will be the third in a row there.

I've organised the last seven dinners and think it's time to give someone else an opportunity to take on a small manageable job for the club, so I don't intend to organise it again. This should give time for people to have a think about some different ideas for 2005, such as those mentioned at the AGM last year.
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The second weeks draw has been made and congratulations go to Ben Board and Mark Sage who win £24 and £12 respectively.
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This Sunday under a successive near cloudless sky at Claverham we deservedly secured our first league win by a margin of 42 runs, with a stronger team and a much improved and disciplined performance.

Batting first we did nothing rash whilst keeping the runs flowing. Good performances from Clayton Davies (11) in our opening pairing and Will Yard (11) in our final pairing were complemented by some steady play from our middle order as we protected our wickets, losing only 3 in the 20 overs for a total score of 271, our highest so far and a challenging target.

With a few odd exceptions our bowling was tight enough to thwart Claverham's attempts to overhaul this. There were a couple of points where they threatened to get within striking distance but Archie Wall (3-15) and Will Yard (2-10) ensured that we took wickets at just the right times to pin them back. They were ably assisted by Tom Blanchard (1-9 ) and Martyn Mail (1-5) as Claverham were restricted to 229-7.
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Bedminster batted first and thanks to some sloppy bowling and fielding reached a massive 276-5 in their allotted 40 overs. The only bowlers to come out of it with reasonable figures were Huddy (0-23 off 8 overs) and Witho (1-27 off 7 overs). Seany D (2-42) and Byo (1-22) were the other wicket takers and Tim Nicholson also made a superb run out.

Our run chase got off to a great start as Bodger (41 off 50 balls) and Byo (63 off 55 balls) put on 112 for the second wicket but after their dismissal the runs dried up until Tim Nicholson blasted a quick 40 off just 27 balls at the end to get us up to a respectable total of 218. Huddy also batted well for his 25.
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Byo lost the toss for the third time in a row this season and Stoke Bishop decided to bat first.

Tight bowling from the opening attack of Andy Nairn and Pazza meant that the Bishop batsmen couldn't get much away and the score reached just 15 after the first ten overs. The opening partnership was ended by Pazza with the score on 23 and the second wicket partnership realised 21 runs before change bowler Huddy struck for the first time. A couple of quick wickets saw the score reduced to 58-4 from 26 overs but useful partnerships of 21 and 34 for the fifth and sixth wickets respectively saw the total rise to 113-6 in the 41st over. Byo, bowling for the first time this season, then proceeded to take a wicket with the fifth and sixth balls of his sixth over and the first ball of his seventh over to complete his first ever hat-trick as he ended up with figures of 4-28. This put us back in with a great chance of getting the Bishop all out which we duly did thanks to a catch by Huddy in Nairny's last over. Pazza ended up with the excellent figures of 2-24 from his 15 overs, Huddy took 2-34 from ten and Nairny took 2-35 from 12.5.

Our run chase got off to a great start thanks to some steady batting by Ian Nairn (6) and fine strokeplay by Smalls, who oozed class in his 68 ball knock of 47 which included eight boundaries. Their opening partnership of 51 from just 76 balls set us on the road to victory and the good work was continued by Wessy (24) alongside a brutal 29, from just 17 balls, by Boardy. Despite losing three wickets in quick succession as we neared the victory target we ended up winning with over 14 overs to spare and picked up maximum points for the first time this season.
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Bodger won the toss and asked Thornbury to bat first.

They reached a competitive total of 150 before their last wicket fell in the final over. This could have been a lot less if it weren't for their number nine batsman scoring 63 runs. Seany D demolished the top order with career best figures of 7-46 and Butchy (1-15), Jimmer (1-17) and debutant Chris Cox (1-26) were the other wicket takers. Butchy's wicket took him up to the 200 wicket milestone in all matches for the club.

The runs were knocked off in just 27.3 overs thanks to a classy knock of 78 from just 88 balls by Wobble, who passed the 500 run milestone in all matches for the club during his innings. He was assisted in partnerships of 62 for the second wicket and an unbroken 85 for the third wicket by Bodger (26) and Buckers (24*) respectively.
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The list of this years V-P Club members has been uploaded.

The first weeks draw has already been made and congratulations go to Viv Lyons and Simon & Buffy Westbrook who win £24 and £12 respectively.
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In the second round of the cup we were at home to Nailsea.

Nailsea won the toss and elected to bat. Nailsea batted steadily throughout their 20 overs and finished with a score of 95 for 9. Our best bowling was from Steve Huggins (2-3) and Tom Coles (1-3).

We started our batting well and were 45 without loss after 8 overs. We continued to bat well and at 83-5 off 15 overs were favourites to win. Unfortunately, the loss of some important wickets and good closing bowling from Nailsea prevented us from completing a well-deserved victory. Best batting figures were from George Bond (38) and Angus Yard (16).
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Having been put in to bat, this was the third consecutive match we have showed our now legandary consistency as A.N.Extras top scored yet again! This time it was Alex Ray's turn to hit the only double figure score (13) as he helped us manage to avoid what looked like being our lowest total yet as we recovered, if that's the right word, from 32-7 to finish on 55-9. The only improvement was that we limited the ducks to five.

Cleeve lost no time in chasing this total and had 32 on the board after the 5th over with Le Mare (32no) punishing anything loose. Simon Hill (1-22) managed our only bowling success but the remaining 24 runs required were easily knocked off without further loss by the 9th over.

At this rate it is difficult to see where our first win is going to come from?
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On a gloriously sunny morning (lets hope there are more to come like it, given the recent weather) we unfortunately failed to shine quite so brightly! Batting first we never got going against an accurate Uphill attack and just managed to hover around the 200 mark, as each time we put on runs there was an equivalent loss of wickets, although not as many as last week. Our final total of 204-7 was never likely to be enough to gain a victory.

Although we held our own for a while the last two Uphill batting pairs proved too strong as they gradually accelerated away with a steady flow of runs without losing their wickets and finished well ahead on 262-5. A defeat for us by 58 runs.
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The Travellers batted first and got off to a good start as their opener D Lockwood scored a rapid 78 which took them to a total of 135-2 but after his dismissal the batting crumbled due to a devastating spell of 5-13 from Tim Nicholson and they were dismissed for 154. In taking 1-22 Byo reached the 200 wicket milestone in all matches for the club and became only the 12th player to achieve the 2000 run/20 wicket double.

Our run chase got off to a very slow start with the score crawling along to 19-3 after 16 overs, but a brilliant fourth wicket partnership of 152 between Huddy and Byo took us to victory with over three overs spare. Byo ended the innings with a six to take his score to 108 off just 93 balls (his sixth century for the club) and Huddy played an important anchor role to finish with 40.
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Bright sunshine greeted the players at the Bartons this week as Byo lost the toss again and we were asked to bat first.

The opening pair of Smalls and Ian Nairn got us off to a good start by adding 50 runs before Smalls (17) was bowled by the lively Gary Ball. Nairny (15) followed shortly afterwards along with Wessy (1), Boardy (4), Tampa (0) and Stiff (0) to leave us on a precarious 65-6 after 22.5 overs. A partnership of 28 for the seventh wicket between Byo (26) and Huddy (7) steadied the ship and a brisk 17 from Andy Nairn helped the last three wickets add a further 29 runs to take the final total to a below par 122 all out.

The Twyford run chase got off to a bad start as they were reduced to 15-3 inside the first six overs as Pazza proved to be almost unplayable from the top end. Mark Fowler (30) was then involved in partnerships of 18 and 31 for the fourth and fifth wicket respectively to get Twyford back on track but after he was dismissed two wickets fell within the space of 12 balls to leave Twyford faltering on 67-7 after 25.4 overs. A partnership of 37 for the eighth wicket between Robin Moore (22) and Andy Kemp (13) put Twyford right back into the match but when they were both dismissed within the space of two balls the match had swung back in our favour. A spirited last wicket stand of 13 saw Twyford almost snatch victory but Wessy (2-8) had other ideas and he bowled Gary Ball with the second ball of the 43rd over to end the innings on 117. Pazza ended up with the excellent figures of 4-15 from 13 overs and Huddy took 3-19.
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The 2nd XI's season finally got underway at Y.M.C.A. as Bodger lost the toss and we were asked to bat first.

The innings got off to a steady start as we reached 50-3 before Bodger (21) and Caddy (27) put on 59 for the fourth wicket, but a batting collapse then saw the innings go from 131-5 to 144-9 before the last wicket pairing of Butchy (6*) and Hazzo (1*) got us up to 150 and the fourth batting point. Jimmer (24) also batted well.

Y.M.C.A. were reduced to 38-4 in their reply but partnerships of 48 and 40 for the fifth and seventh wickets respectively took them within striking distance before they lost their last wicket in the 43rd over still 17 runs short of victory. Hazzo (5-34) was the star of the show once again with his 82nd five wicket haul for the club and he was ably supported by Seany D who took 4-32.
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An article on Andy Nairn which appeared in tonight's edition of the Evening Post has been uploaded to the 'Blagdon In The Press' section and you can view it by clicking here.
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As a result of last night win versus Barrow Gurney we are now playing Nailsea at Home in the second round on Thursday 20 May.
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At the third attempt, the first round cup tie between Blagdon and Barrow Gurney finally got under way with Barrow winning the toss and electing to field.

Blagdon batted superbly and after the allocated 20 overs had scored 130 for 2. Best batting figures came from Angus Yard (44 n.o.), George Bond (33 n.o.) and Lloyd Davies (19).

Just as impressive was Blagdons bowling. With a large score on the board, all of the side were given two overs each. Barrows total was 72 for 9 off 20 overs. High points of the innings were Tom Coles taking a wicket with the very first bowl, Stuart Fennel taking three wickets in his first game for Blagdon and seven catches (3 by Angus Yard). Best bowling figures for Blagdon were Stuart Fennel (3-10), Doug Gray (2-6), Steve Huggins (1-2), George Bond (1-3), James Binding (1-4) and Tom Coles (1-13).
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Fid has arranged a fixture against Wrington at Wrington on Wednesday, 23 June. It will be a 20 over thrash and will start at 6pm.
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I have been informed that Arthur Day our last surviving pre-war player (I think) died last year - he figured as a schoolboy on the famous photo and was running a cricket team right up to his death at the age of 90 odd!

He played in the famous fixture when Yorkshire and England players played for Blagdon (against Cheddar I think) and featured in a further 46 matches for the club before playing his last match in 1950.
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This match is the best example, in all my years associated with our Youth Teams, of how to contrive an effortless defeat out of victory.

From bowling ourselves into a match winning position (S.Hill 4-5 off 3.1 overs.. just missing a hat-trick) in which we had Congresbury on the ropes and virtually buried at 22-9 by the end of the 9th over, we allowed them to add another 33 runs (J.Dewar - 21no & T.Weymss - 13) in the next 4 overs before finally taking the 10th wicket at a score of 55.

Not an insurmountable task you would imagine but you needed unbelievably vivid imagination that involved 6 of our batsmen getting ducks, extras being the highest score, ahead of our only batsmen (Ali Palmer - 13) to hit double figures and a total capitulation to 37 all out by the 18th over, equalling our previous lowest score versus Wrington last season, but that then was entirely due to the playing conditions which had no bearing in this game. So an ignominious defeat by 18 runs and a lot of soul searching as to how we possibly managed such a fete?
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The U11's managed to get their first game in, thanks to being able to use Clevedon's artificial wicket despite the continuing wet conditions, but with a largely inexperienced and young side we never gained any foothold in the game.

On the contrary a lot of our players were losing theirs and their wickets as even the artificial surface was slippery. Apart from a few occasions during the first couple of overs where our score managed to rise above above the 200 run start point from thereon it became a steadily downward trend as wickets regularly tumbled, with only a couple of players registering a positive score.

Clevedon on the other hand lost a lot less wickets, most of their batsmen contributing runs to their total, as our bowlers struggled to find some rhythm. In the end Clevedon ran out clear winners by 79 runs but nevertheless a good learning experience for our younger players which can be built on.
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As you can see the web site has had a major overhaul but all of the usual stuff is still available, it just looks a little different now.

Any feedback on the new look is appreciated so please leave an entry in the guestbook or send an email using the 'email us' link at the top of each page and let me know what you think.
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Despite persistent overnight rain the Bartons was fit to host our opening home league match of the 2004 season against newly promoted Coalpit Heath. The game was the first to be played under the new regime of Byo/Stiff and saw the league debut of Smalls. Byo lost the toss and it was no surprise that we were asked to bat first on a damp wicket.

Things could not have got off to a worse start as Smalls was bowled with the first ball of the innings and a further 26 deliveries were bowled before the first run was scored. A battling partnership of 13 from 58 balls for the second wicket between Ian Nairn and Tampa was ended with the bizarre dismissal of Tampa (12) who was caught at cover after the ball had first hit his pad and then bounced onto his bat. Nairny (1) followed him back to the pavilion four balls later which left us on 13-3 after 10.2 overs. Boardy (8) and Stiff (8) then put us back on track with a swift 19 run partnership for the fourth wicket before both of them fell within six balls of each other which reduced us to a decidedly dodgy 32-5. A fantastic sixth wicket partnership of 53 from just 69 balls between Byo and Andy Nairn then lifted the whole teams spirits as we realised that runs could actually be scored on that pitch and it put the Coalpit bowlers on the back foot for the first time in the match. Nairny was eventually dismissed for 25 and Byo followed shortly afterwards for a true captains knock of 33. Huddy (11), Buckers (6) and Pazza (14) then added some useful runs at the end to bring the total up to a competitive 134 all out with 49 runs being added by the last four wickets. Butchy (1*) was the not out batsman at the end.

The Coalpit batsmen began the run chase carefully but they were reduced to 7-2 from the first eight overs as Andy Nairn and Pazza both bowled excellently. The third wicket partnership of 54 from 77 balls between the overseas professional Wayne Kylander and Vikash Patel swung the initiative back towards Coalpit but when Kylander (23) was caught behind by Stiff off Nairny the game changed and wickets fell steadily from that point on. Patel (40) added a further 13 runs for the fourth wicket with J Sienesi but after he was bowled by Huddy no other batsman looked comfortable against Nairny's pace and Huddy's nagging accuracy and the innings subsided to 92 all out in the 33rd over. Nairny ended up with the magnificent figures of 6-40, which took him past the 100 wicket milestone in 1st XI league matches in just his 30th match, Huddy ended up with figures of 3-5 in his five over spell and Pazza also bowled excellently to pick up figures of 1-20 from his 11 overs.
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Persistent rain on Saturday morning meant that this fixture was cancelled.

This means that the 2nd XI have yet to play a match this season as the friendly against Y.M.C.A. in April was cancelled along with last weeks opening league match against St Mary Redcliffe.

Bodger is praying for good weather this week so they can finally get their title challenge underway on Saturday against Y.M.C.A.
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The first league game of the season for the U13’s was away to last years league champions Nailsea. Blagdon’s captain Lloyd Davies won the toss and elected to bat.

Some very fast and accurate bowling from Nailsea resulted in Blagdon scoring 49 for 6 off of 20 overs. The best batting total was from Angus Yard with 11 not out.

In return Nailsea reached the required total of 50-2 to win off of 8.3 overs.
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Although the weather relented just enough on Monday afternoon to squeeze in our first evening youth league game of the season, there was no relenting by Nailsea, who were last year's U15's Champions, as we were comprehensively beaten by 91 runs.

Accumulating a massive 157-6 in their 20 overs our bowlers had no answer to their batting superiority, of whom Walker (90) was outstanding and in a class of his own. Russ Moore's 2-21 off of four overs produced our best bowling figures.

We never recovered from the loss of two wickets in the second over and despite batting out our full 20 overs wickets fell steadily (Dowling 3-8 off of 4 overs) with no-one reaching double figures apart from Josh Chastney (19) as we fell well short of the asking rate and a final total of 66-9.
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