Start date: Saturday 14th January 2012

Last Session: Saturday 24th March 2012 (12 weeks in total)

Time: 12-2pm for all players

Venue: HANDSWORTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Cost: £3 per session

To book contact: domashton@hotmail.com or 07810 753 840

PLEASE NOTE: Entrance to the Sports Hall for Handsworth Grammar School is from Baker Street, off Soho Road, by the Bank of India. Go across the Car Park and through the gates onto the school car park. If you go to the main school entrance on Grove Lane you will not be able to get access to the sports hall.

We will be running teams from U-10’s up to U-17’s in the West Midlands League and the Warwickshire League in the 2012 season.

Registration form

Aston Manor Cricket Club Senior Nets will again be held at Handsworth Grammar School.

They will start on Thursday 2nd February and run for twelve weeks until Thursday 19th April.

Our time slot will be 08.15pm until 09.45pm (1.5 hours again).

Further details to follow nearer the date.

The senior presentation night will be on Saturday November 12th.

More information to follow…

We will be having a car boot sale down the club on Sunday 27th November.

It will be open from 8 until 12 and refreshments are available.

The cost is £5 per car.

Members and non-members are invited to the curry night on Saturday, 22nd October, to help raise funds for the club.

Tickets are priced at £10 per head.

Starters, main dish and desert. Over 10 different dishes to enjoy.

Tickets available from the club’s bar.

Please come along and celebrating in our youth success on and off the cricket field.

Awards to be given out to all winners belonging to all age groups up to the under 15s cricket squad. Entertainment will be available, so please come along and support the Aston Manor youth.

Also a curry night has been organised on the same evening, and your are most welcome to stay (£10 per head). Tickets available in advance at the clubhouse, behind the bar.

Leamington 185 all out off 43,3 overs.
Aston Manor 4ths 114 all out off 26 overs.

Putting in Leamington the opening pair of tools to Liam and young Kieran. At 10 overs, no wickets and 70+ on the board. Time for a change, Usman Rana from the top and Bilal to try to tie things up from the bottom. Ussie took first blood to break the opening partnership, with a superb c & b from Bilal to remove the other opener. As the run rate started to slow Ussie got into the Leamington line-up. Wickets were now what was required, Ussie did what he does best returning a 5 for 59 off an unbroken 14 over spell. At the other end the wily wind commander wheeled away in possibly his final regular game. Geoff Knowles continued to do what he’s always done, taking wickets. Another cracking performance Geoff (3-0-20-3). Yo Parvez took out the last wicket. The 4ths need 186 to win from 46 overs.

Unfortunately the Manor reply was the exact reflection of Leamington’s innings. Alex and Bilal were both back in the pavilion after only 10 balls. The Beast took on one end, Tony Heaney the other, to try to rebuild. Whilst Amritpal closed down the bottom, Tony hit back with a run a ball 42 before holing out to a superb catch. The Beast continued, everyone else struggled. No one styed around and the “gettable” target faded into the distance. As we limped by the 100 mark, Beast became the 8th wicket for a hard earnt 33, and the rest is history all out for 114. At least Geoff once more did what he’s always done, yet one last; not out. Nil. Geoff left the field to his second applauded honour guard of the day. A testament to his longevity in the game that honour guard included the whole of the opposition and everyone who watched.

Thanks for the last two years especially Geoff, the 4ths would not have got off the ground otherwise.
League title in 2010, promotion, and 4th in this only our 2nd season have much to do with the man of many names Mr Geoff Knowles, G-mann, The Wing Commander, Brucie… good game, good game.

Moseley Ashfield 94 all out in 30,4 overs
Aston Manor 4ths 95 for 0 in 14 overs
Aston Manor won by 10 wickets

Squirrels won the toss and put the Moseley Ashfield into bat, Liam Rake and Geoff Knowles bowled with control and guide, not allowing any flow of runs and taking regular wickets.

At 55-5 heavy drizzle took us from the field in commanding position. Time ticked by, overs being deducted with the Aston Manor boys desperate to get back on to finish the job. After an eternity we returned to the square, Liam (11-2-38-3) and Geoff (11-2-33-3) finishing their stints to allow Usman Rana (4,4-1-17-1) and Bilal Khalid (4-2-2-2) to complete the job.

95 required to win off 37 overs.

Nick Farrell and Bilal opened the reply, the instruction be solid. The response 43 to Nick, 48 from Bilal, a ten wicket victory in just 14 overs. Not just solid… emphatic.

Redditch 3rds 152 all out off 33 overs
Aston Manor 4ths 154 for 6 off 20 overs
Aston Manor won by 4 wickets

This was a much closer match than the score suggests. Winning the toss for the 1st time in a long while we put Redditch into bat on not a very good looking track. The Redditch opening pair belied the nature of the wicket to put on 111 off 20 overs. Some boundary edges and byes help the partnership but the Manor bowling was just not in the groove. Luckily once one wicket was gained we eventually managed to learn line and length pay dividends. Bilhal Khalid took 2 for 70 off 15 overs while the star eventually was Usman Rana with returns of 6 for 41 off 11. Redditch lost all their wickets for just 21 runs in 13 overs, once we got it right.

As we had proved, the pitch was apt “to do a bit”, so batting would require application, there was plenty of application with Alex Rose 44 and Bilhal 36 before lofted a drive to a ball that help up with the total on 84. Usman was in then out, duck. Alex missed the straight one after the one that turned square. Yo Parvez got going before another ball held as for catching practise. Liam hit 18 before giving the bowler the ball back, in the air! 5 down, only 9 players (Amar Javid tried to play catch with his face, so gave the Royal Alexander a visit, thanks to Elaine for your help) and one Awol.

In other words, 3 more wickets to go. The skipped would have struggled to hit a football, but stayed around. Adam Hurran all at sea after hitting a 4, out 2 wickets left. In stepped Turner A to steady the ship, block out, take the extras and eventually guide 2 runs off his hips to win the game.

Another get out of jail. Thanks to Redditch for their help with first aid, taxi service etc, they could have and maybe should have won.

Aston Manor 296 for 5 declared off 44 overs
Kenilworth 132 for 8 off 46 overs
Winning draw to Aston Manor

Kenilworth put the squirrels in first, Alex Rose returned a dogged 39 in a partnership of 81 with Bilhal Khalid. Bilhal forged a further 122 partnership with Tony Heaney (69 off 53 balls). With another partnership with Usman Rana, Bilhal finally converted his maiden senior 100, scoring 128 off 113 balls, before becoming the last wicket that Kenilworth took. The previous week 295 had been a winning target for Bridge Trust Old Boys, and once that was surpassed, the skipper then realised his maiden declaration.

Needing more than 6 per over Kenilworth were never close and settled for the losing draw early on. Manor tried 9 bowlers, 21 maidens of the 46 bowled, a wicket each for Usman Rana and Yo Parvez, Geoff Knowles 3/14 and Jagit Sandhu 3/21. Unfortunately for manor an excellent rear guard 52 n.o from the Kenilworth skipper saw out the required over.

Manor 4ths back on form, top form, well done Bilhal on your 100 and Tony for his umpteenth 50.