BPCC v Nottinghamshire CCC Develoment XI Sponsored by Totemic

Nottinghamshire won the toss and inserted the Police who stuttered painfully to 63-6, only openers Will Evans 22 and Mick Martin 19 reached double figures. Thankfully Greg Gillespie 34 and Ted Roe 32 put on 70 for the 7th wicket and thanks to skipper Russ Bryan’s 15 the final total of 176 would be something to bowl at, or would it? Notts found a jaded BP attack to their liking and never troubled the wickets column. Azad 81 not out and Libby 73 not out doing a professional number on a team with an eye on the motorway! A 10 wicket loss providing a cruel but predictable end to a tough week. It also signalled the highest ever wicket loss by a BP side

Many thanks to Totemic for Sponsoring the fixture. The MoM went to Greg Gillespie

FOOTNOTES

This Tour was in the main competitive on the field but was an extremely tiring week, due in no small measure to player numbers. The final 13 fought and competed fully for 4 of the 5 days and achieved a successful 3-2 return. Sadly BP found the 5th day against the strongest opposition, the Nottinghamshire Development side, a day too far!

Day one saw the squad whittled down to a skeleton 13. Russ Bryan, Will Evans, Ryan Watkins and Ray Doyle played in every game. Eight of the remainder played in four out of five matches, with just one player managing three. It is a difficult problem but this is a hard week and insurance must be taken to account for any last minute absentees.

The Captain, Russell Bryan and vice-captain, Ryan Watkins were both new to their rolls but no matter the selection headaches ensured the week ran smoothly.

The four grounds utilised were certainly not conducive to stroke play and in general there was no flow to the batting, with only two BP 50’s. Highlights were a maiden 51 from debutant Richard Jackson and a 56 from Ray Doyle. In the field the bowling was generally economic, with Richard Jackson and Ryan Watkins becoming the 15th & 16th BP players to achieve 5 wicket hauls.

Ray Doyle also topped the batting averages and famously scored his 1,000th BP run. He became the 8th BP player to score 1,000 runs a fantastic fete achieved in the least number of innings 22, ahead of Graham Shaw 25 and Malcolm Roberts 28.

Mick Martin had a great week valuably dropping anchor on occasions and chipping in with runs and wickets, never mind a stint behind the stumps!

The new boys stepped up to the plate, Will Evans looked assured with the gloves and the bat, Richard Jackson made an all-round impression with bat and ball. The two seamers Graeme Moore and Andy Sidgreaves both had miserly economy rates and could always be relied on.

THANKS

Grateful thanks go to all BP Sponsors G4S (Team Sponsor) Stuart Canvas, Police Mutual, George Burrows, Arc Legal & Totemic (Match Sponsors), we are so appreciative of your continued support that enables this cricket week to continue so successfully.

Our thanks also go to all the administrators, ground staff, caterers and those unsung heroes behind the scenes at each and every venue used in 2014, but especially to our good friends at Sandiacre and Ockbrook & Borrowash CC for the use of their facilities and unrivalled hospitality and attention to detail.

Thanks to all the match officials, both umpires and scorers who all deserve special praise for their efforts during every minute of every match played.

BP have a superb back up team including a committee, manager, coach and physio, but it must be said they are led from the front by the most enthusiastic and dedicated Secretary in representative cricket – where would Police cricket be without him? On behalf of everyone connected with BP – many thanks Beefy!

Peter Mitchell

BP Scorer/Statistician