Academy Team
Tim Hannam : 07850804405
The main aim of our academy team is to provide a frienly environment in to play cricket. Our team includes players from our junior sides and adults of all ages who want to start playing cricket or start playing again.
Tha academy team trains every Friday night at 6 pm at the cricket pitch. The sessions are run by Suhail (our overseas player) who is a highly qualified coach.
Horncastle CC Academy Team, match report
Match date – 25-07-09
Opponents – Friskney CC
Competition – RP Smith Transport League
Result – HCC Academy won by 8 runs.
Confidence was high after the previous weeks comfortable win at Grainthorpe and skipper for the day Andrew Bullivant, was happy with the decision to put the HCC Academy team in to bat, on a glorious day at their Coronation Walk ground.
Dan Freeman made the best possible start with 10 runs off the first over and along with Jonno Barrs put together a comfortable first wicket partnership of 87, before Jonno was out for 26. Dan was out soon afterwards, bowled off his pads for 65, which was to be the Academy top individual score,
Most of the batsmen got into the runs, though no one went on to make another big score. Elliot Dixon, batting at number 4, made his top score of the season, 31, which included 2 well struck sixes. Skipper Andrew Bullivant lent some weight to the lower order batting with 28 runs not out, from 7 scoring strokes at the end of the innings, with three sweetly timed sixes.
The Academy XI finished on 221 for 8 from their 40 overs.
The Friskney reply did not start well, when Andrew Bullivant bowled their number 1 batsman in the fourth over with only 13 runs on the board. Elliot Dixon took a superb reflex catch off the bowling of Nick Scofield, last weeks top bowler, for the second wicket. Iqbal Hussein bowled the number 4 & 5 batsmen in quick succession and HCC Academy XI looked in complete control at this point. The Friskney no. 6 batsmen, J Wilson, had other ideas. He joined the opener M Griffiths and started to build a usefull partnership, which began to turn the match in the oppositions favour as the run rate increased dangerously. The spectators were treated to a real thriller as the run chase was reduced to 25 runs needed from the last 3 overs, with two batsmen fully established and scoring freely at the crease.
Five runs off the 38th over left all to play for. Dan Freeman bowled the 39th over, conceding 7 runs off the first 5 balls. With the last ball he deceived the Friskney no.2 who scooped a catch to David Dixon, leaving Friskney 6 balls to get 13 runs, to pull off an unlikely victory. Skipper Andrew Bullivant bowled the last over admirably, conceeding only 3 runs, leaving HCC Academy XI as winners.
Horncastle CC Academy Team, match report
Match date – 20th June
Opponents - Grainthorpe
Competition – Friendly League
Result – Grainthorpe won
The Horncastle CC Academy team hosted a strong Grainthorpe XI in their latest RP Smith League match. Having won the toss, Grainthorpe elected to bat and having survived a shaky start, started scoring steadily. The Academy bowlers persevered and managed to take 4 wickets while the run total reached 204 from their 40 overs. The pick of the Academy bowlers was Phil Roberts who took 2 wickets for 17 runs from his 8 overs.
The Horncastle reply started well , but with 30 runs on the board the first wicket fell, and continued to fall in the face of some decent bowling, though a couple of injudicious shots contributed to the fall of wickets. Jonno Barrs fell for a good 51, with the total on 87 for 3. This brought Andrew Bullivant to the crease and with a growing confidence he managed to keep the run rate close to its target, while wickets continued to tumble at the other end. With the score on 122 for 8 Phil Roberts joined Andrew in the middle and the pair started to look like they could turn the game round, though the run rate was starting to climb. Eventually the pressure to take quick singles took its toll as Andrew was run out for 39. Horncastle were all out soon after this for161 giving Grainthorpe a comfortable win.
Horncastle CC Academy Team, match report
Match date – 6th June
Opponents - Frieston Competition – RP Smith League
Result – Frieston Won
For their third league game this season, the Horncastle Academy XI hosted last years league winners Frieston. Skipper Rory Hannam won the toss and elected to bat on a dry , breezy and overcast afternoon. The batting was steady in the face of some good opening bowling, which eventually saw Elliot Dixon and Anthony Howe lose their wickets in quick succession, with 34 runs on the board. Jonny Clarke started batting in a positive manner with two boundaries in quick succession before falling to S Burns, a left arm swing bowler, who exploited the conditions expertly and was the pick of the Frieston bowlers. Jonno Barrs was out soon afterward, also to Burns, having scored 20 runs. David Dixon used his experience to hold the middle order together and score 32 valuable runs before he was out. Ewan Hannam reached his top score this season of 20, before he was caught. Andrew Bullivants innings was the last one of note in terms of runs scored, with another 20 runs before being the last wicket to fall. Having been let down by a player not turning up, the Academy team were one player short, and a valiant Ashley Bullivant, one of the rising stars of the U11 team, stepped in to fill the place. Batting last he scored one run and was not out, having helped his older brother Andrew to put on 10 runs for the last wicket. Horncastle managed 152 runs from 39.3 overs, which looked a respectable score for the conditions, but it would need a good performance in the field to defend it
Frieston started their run chase steadily with 31 runs on the board before Andrew Bullivant caught & bowled Mick Warrington. A second wicket partnership of 49 laid the foundations that Frieston needed to reach their target. A run out from Tim Hannam broke the partnership and soon afterwards Jonno Barrs trapped A Lindsey LBW for 47 runs, but after this point there was only one team in it, as Frieston easily reached their target with 11 overs to spare.
Horncastle CC Academy Team, match report
Match date – 23rd May
Opponents – Graves Park (Away)
Competition – RP Smith League
Result – G Park won by 8 wkts.
Horncastle travelled with a relatively inexperienced Academy team to Graves Park, for their second league match of the 2009 campaign.
Batting first, Horncastle lost two early wickets, against some accurate bowling, with the ball swinging and seaming with apparent ease. Elliot Dixon and Jonno Barrs were able to stay at the crease in the face of this bowling, though scoring opportunities were few and far between. As the two opening bowlers were changed after 6 overs each with only 26 runs on the board, the run rate started to increase. Elliot’s innings of dogged resistance, which was not entirely in character, came to an end having shared in a partnership of 69 with Barrs. Jonny Clarke helped to raise the run rate with a breezy and competent 20 runs. The new batting impetus was continued by Andrew Ponder with a very rapid 13 before the rest of the innings fell away in an anti climax. The highlight of the innings came from Jonno Barrs, who carried his bat for 84 runs out of a total of 174 for 7 from their 40 overs.
The start of Graves Park reponse was not completely assured, in the face of some accurate bowling form the Horncastle opening bowlers, Andrew Bullivant & especially Rory Hannam (5 overs for 8 runs). Having said that, the batsmen stepped up a gear as the change bowlers arrived. The first wicket fell with 89 runs on the board, to debutant Will Rawdon. By the time the second wicket fell with the total on 116 runs, to Andrew Bullivant, Horncastle were on the back foot and unable to cope with a strong batting display from their hosts. Graves Park duly passed the required total in the 33 rd over for a comfortable home win. The pick of the Horncastle bowlers were Andrew Bullivant, 1 wicket for 35 runs from 8 overs, Will Rawdon, 1 wicket for 18 runs from 5 overs and the most economical bowler of the day Rory Hannam with 22 runs from 7 overs.
Horncastle CC Academy Team, match report
Match date – 2nd May Opponents - Grimoldby
Competition – RP Smith League
Result – Horncastle won by 6 wickets
Batting first in glorious early May weather, the visitors started solidly till the first wicket fell with 33 runs on the board. Recovering well from a shaky second over, Rory Hannam bowled Jake Sanders in the eighth over after a spell of sustained pressure from him and his opening partner Dan Freeman. From this point on Grimoldby lost wickets at regular intervals. Jack Bradbury batted very well for the visitors, but could not find a team mate to build a decent partnership with. Jack eventually fell for 54, with Andrew Bullivant taking a stunning catch on the boundary off the bowling of skipper, Liam Wilkinson. Horncastle’s bowler of the match, Andrew Bullivant, then stepped up to dismiss the last two batsmen in two balls and finish the match with figures of 5 wickets for 7 runs off 7 overs. In his fourth over , having bowled only one run scoring ball, Andrew was extremely unlucky not to get a hatrick.
The Grimoldby total of 104 from 35 over always looked a bit on the light side, but after 6 overs Horncastle were wobbling having lost four wickets for only 10 runs. Making his Academy debut, David Dixon was joined at the crease by young gun Danny Freeman and this blend of youth & experience steadied the ship and in their own time, which they had plenty of, turned the match round. In the end it was a comfortable win for Horncastle with Danny top scoring on 49 not out, having batted very maturely.