Portcullis Cricket Club

The Portcullis Way - It's Shakey!

Portcullis's season is set to improve if the shakey start made yesterday against Stonehaven is anything to go by.

Both teams were fielding several new players, with N.Shetty, A.Leathem and R.Falconner on the Portcullis books matched by R.Balsillie and D.Anderson for Stonehaven. Portcullis were not fazed by the sight of such grades luminaries on the team sheet and set about the Stonehaven batting with gusto, with Andrew Maidment despatching a floundering Anderson with the final ball of his first over. The first few overs went reasonably well for Portcullis, with Maidment proving particularly hard to handle. Kris Nair was somewhat more productive for the batsmen, but when he was replaced by Nitin Shetty the runs dried up as the batsmen struggled to handle the combination of Shetty's cunnning spin and Maidment's vicious pace.

One of the good things about having all of our results stored on the web site database is that it is relatively easy to pull out all sorts of weird and wonderful statistics. Much has been said in the past about both our relative propensity to give our team mates out LBW compared to the opposition, so I thought I’d see if was actually true or not.

Of the 587 wickets we’ve lost since 2005, 57 have been to LBW (9.71%). Of the 536 wickets we’ve taken, 51 have been to LBW (9.51%).

That indicates to me that, whatever the rights and wrongs of any individual calls (and I’m sure we can all bring several absolute shockers to mind without any effort at all), overall we give pretty much as we get. And we need to take more wickets.

Weather permitting (and the forecast looks promising) the first practice of the year will take place at 6pm at Duthie Park. Come along and learn how to field like Jimmy A and drop like Jimmy A!!

Players old and new are encouraged to attend and all will be made welcome regardless of ability. The first game is not far away now so if you want to get your name on the MVP trophy (or just not ship too much coinage in dropped catch fines) we'll see you there.......

Whilst the county champions are playing with their pink balls in Abu Dhabi, heavy rain and snow have forced the likely cancellation of our first outdoor practice due this Wednesday. Watch your phones for any late updates but barring a miracle and lots of sunshine practice will be off until next week. Blame Bill Giles.

The clocks go forward this weekend, and that can mean only one thing - it's time for the sleeping leviathan that is Portcullis CC to shake off its winter slumbers and emerge blinking into the light. Or something like that.

Anyway - outdoor practice starts next Wednesday (31st March) on the plastic wicket in Duthie Park at 6pm sharp. Practice sessions will be managed by our newly qualified coach, Dave Elrick, so be prepared to work up a bit of a sweat!

Any prospective new players are welcome to attend and join in - just come over and introduce yourself. We don't bite.

Follow all the latest news and results from Portcullis CC on our brand new Twitter feed. (No doubt an idea soon to be imitated by several less exclusive cricket clubs...)

http://twitter.com/portculliscc

The final indoor net session will be at Sheddocksley this Sunday at 12.00 noon until 2.00pm.

Regular outdoor practice sessions will be held every Wednesday evening from 6pm on the plastic wicket in Duthie Park. The first one will be on 31st March, and they will run through to the end of the season.

It's that time of year again - time for our annual pre-season meeting.

Location : Mannofield Cricket Club

Date : Friday 5th March 2010

Time : 6pm

All welcome.

Agenda attached. Please contact the secretary if you have any questions.

• Date: Sunday 31st January 2010
• Location: Sheddocksley Sports Centre
• Time: 1 - 3pm
• Cost: Approx £15 per person (maybe cheaper if more turn up)
• Meet: Pls meet in the car park at around 12.50pm