In a match played at Caverswall CC, Ozzy won the toss and inserted the Blythe/Caverswall side. Attacking batting and some sloppy bowling soon had Blythe 50 for 0 off only 6 overs, then a nice catch from Ozzy removed their opener Burton and the good guys staged a great recovery, another interesting catch from Giggles removed the other opener Price who had been punishing our bowling with ease. Steady bowling and some good fielding and a great one handed catch from Zoe Hallam restricted Blythe to 106 all out, with Deggy and Potty picking up 3 wickets each. A target well within our grasp was suddenly looking a little hazy when Ozzy was adjudged LBW after Deggy, Giggles and Alex had all gone. Mobber went second ball to leave us on 19 for 5. Azzer also went for 0 despite Jamie looking in good form and we then slumped to 32 for 6. In stepped Wardy with a highest ever score of 9 combined with Jamie's highest ever score of 8 (although he was 15 Not Out at this point!) to put together a partnership of real quality and timing. Jamie's initial big hitting pushed the field back and then he sensibly picked up the singles on offer coupled with Wardy's good running and deft placement saw us creep closer and closer to the target. The partnership of 72 (undefeated) was a joy to watch and was extremely pleasing from a coaches point of view to see players adapting to proper cricket situations so well. Jamie unfortunately had to retire on his 50 with us only needing 3 more runs to win as it would have been fitting for Jamie and Wardy to walk off together after winning us the game. Wardy hit the winning runs with a blistering pull shot for 4 and said after that his Dad had a few weeks earlier encouraged him to play slightly more positively and he really owed it all to his advice.
April 27 - The first ever game at Little Stoke's new ground ended in dramatic fashion with our Under 13's winning by 4 runs. Losing the toss and batting first Ozzy christened the new pitch with a 'Britton' late cut off the very first ball. A 20 run partnership ensued before Ozzy was bowled for 16, Potty and Mobber put on another 20 before Mobber went the same way. Potty battled away for 12 before being trapped to a very plum LBW. We then slipped from 40 for 2 to 59 for 6 and only steady batting from George Ellis (who was sportingly recalled when caught by a fielder to close to the bat), Zoe Hallam and Mikey Pine saw us sensibly use up all the overs to get us to a creditable 81 for 8. Little Stoke bludgeoned their way to 22 before Ozzy took a great catch to dismiss opener Rory Jackson off George Ellis' bowling. Then George struck again bowling danger man Elliot Fielding for 23. At 45 for 2 though we looked to be struggling, but Potty's first spell ended with a wicket and then a solid 7 over spell from Ozzy and Mobber pegged Little Stoke back to 57 for 8. Despite Potty's warnings of complacency Little Stoke's ninth wicket partnership of 19 left them only 6 short of victory with 7 overs left. Brave bowling under pressure from Zoe and Jamie finally paid off when Little Stoke's Hicks chipped up to Ozzy at square leg off Zoe's in-swingers. Another run was added before Mobber claimed his 4th wicket clean bowling last man Langdown for 0. A mass team pile up followed as we scraped home by 4 runs, watched by a large crowd who had ventured over from watching the Under 17's game on the main pitch. Mobber ending up with 4 for 16 from 5 overs and Ozzy with 2 for 6 off his 6 overs. Meir Heath / Fenton 19 points - Little Stoke 5. Scorecard link - http://meirheath.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=10811190
April 22 2009 - New season starts with a narrow 7 run victory against Ashcombe Park. Despite only scoring a net total of 17 the boys bowled superbly restricting Ashcome to a net score of 10 taking 8 wickets. pick of the bowlers was debutant Brandon (Dylan) Philpott-Hughes who took 3 early wickets to rock the home team form which they never recovered. Steady bowling at the death from Ozzy Crump ensured Ashcombe only scored 1 run of the last over when they needed 9 to win. Scorecard - http://meirheath.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=10808558
August 22 - The first and hopefully not last Meir Heath Junior 5's day was organised and included sides from MHCC, Hem Heath, Checkley and Oakamoor. Although the weather tried its best to ruin the day, great work from Crumpy, Critch and Brian ensured the lads had a day to remember. Some great games were played including a max zone 12 off the last ball to give Checkley a win against our lads, but after a nail biting day our lads scraped into the final against Checkley with another last ball wicket! The final was again yet another last ball game, set 49 to win off their 4 overs, Luke Morgan who had a fantastic day with bat scoring over 100 runs in the day, needing 5 to win off the very last ball of the day, driving the ball straight towards the max zone was Giggles' obvious plan and a great shot which sped over the boundary rope for 4 was only inches away from being doubled to a max zone 8. Thus the game finished a deserved tie. Hopefully all players and spectators enjoyed the day and maybe we can do it all again next year !
August 17 - Well the season has finished now with great success throughout. The Under 11s finished Runners Up to Oakamoor of their section, 13s won section 'E' with thanks to Checkley for beating Oakamoor on the final game, and also a 3 run victory against Cheadle for our boys. The 15s also topped their section beating Oakamoor (again) by just 2 points.
August 4 - Under 15's beat Blythe and Oakamoor lose to leave our 15s five points clear with one match to go where a win or even a rained off result will give the lads the title!
August 4 - Under 11's beat Forsbrook to stay 1 point adrift of Oakamoor with one match to go, Oakamoor need to lose and MHCC Under 11s win to claim the title next week. Deggy has flown back from Spain to play the last 2 games as well !
July 30 - Under 13s beat Blythe by 12 runs to stay joint top, 2 games to go !
July 28 - In the big game v. Oakamoor our Under 11s went down by 1 run, this means we have to win our last 2 games and Oakamoor need just to lose their final game of the season for us to win the league, whatever happens the guys have done tremendous and hopefully are all better cricketers which is the main reason for entering these competitions.
July 21 - Under 11s beat Checkley by 31 runs last nights thanks to Ozzys 12, Will G's 12 and Deggys 11, Ozzy also took 3 wickets 2 catches and a Run Out. Stars of the night though were debutants Will Ward and Lewis Colby who lost only 1 wicket in their pair and bowled 4 overs between them for the cost of only 5 runs.
July 16 - Under 13s beat Uttoxeter last night by 61 runs to remain top, Tom Edwards top scored with 27 and Luke Morgan chipped in with 14. Tom also took 3 wickets and also dropped 3 catches off other bowlers, Jamie 'Jesus' Hassall also let off some steam with one of the loudest farts ever heard during a game.
July 13 - Under 17s go down at home to Moddershall despite these great shots from Tom and Cal.
July 10 - Our Under 11s also moved to the top of their league with a comprehensive victory at Cheadle, Will Gallimore and Chris Mobley picking up 2 wickets each, top scoring with the bat was Josh Critchlow who hit 14 Not Out.
July 9 - Under 15s made 89 mainly thanks to Tom Edwards' 38, and it proved too many for Checkley who finished 10 short on 79 for 9, Frank Gallimore picking up 2 for 11 in 4 overs. The 15's maintain their 100% league record and stay top.
July 4 - Well done the Under 13s as they won their 8th straight win of the season to stay top of the league against Wootton, Tom Edwards taking 3 wickets and Jamie Hassell picking up 4 wickets. The lads took an amazing 12 wickets in the 16 overs, and only lost 2 batting second, Tom Edwards top scoring with 20 Not Out.
June 27 - Ozzy Crump 30 and Will Gallimores 16 eased U11s Valiants to victory against Blythe.
June 25 - Tom Edwards 38, Ozzy Crump 23 and Luke Morgan 18 helped the U13s to an easy win at Cheadle.
