Coach fumes as team is 'robbed by the rules'
THE Channel Islands were left fuming by the rules of the competition when they finished last at the Canford Under-12 Festival despite having an extremely strong team.
THE Channel Islands were left fuming by the rules of the competition when they finished last at the Canford Under-12 Festival despite having an extremely strong team.
oach Jason Shambrook attacked the value of the points system (two for a win, one for the draw as well as 0.01 for every run up to 200 and 0.2 for every wicket taken) after seeing his side outclass other teams but not get the rewards they deserved.
The problems were highlighted on the opening day of the tournament against Wiltshire.
The CI gained maximum batting points after a shaky start, with Tim Ravenscroft, Ben de Figueiredo, Hywel Robinson and Jon Clark all out for less than 40.
Daniel McAviney batted patiently for 30 overs to make 29 not out and with hard hitting from Oliver Tett and William Peatfield the target was defendable.
In reply, Wiltshire lost two cheap wickets and then made no attempt to chase the total which meant that Clark, the CI captain found it difficult to take the wickets of top-order batsmen who were not intent on scoring runs.
The match finished a draw with the CI receiving fewer points than Wiltshire despite out-classing their opposition.
The following day, Dorset won the toss and put the CI into bat, with the opening pair of Ravenscroft and de Figueiredo putting on 100.
Useful contributions from the rest of the batters including Clark's 19 helped the CI to 178 against a very useful Dorset side.
Once again, after three wickets fell there was no attempt to try and score the runs needed to win the game and Dorset were content to play for a draw, much to Shambrook's chagrin.
'I find it difficult to see how we are going to produce the next Ricky Ponting or Matthew Hayden if youngsters are not encouraged to score runs,' he said.
'It seemed that not losing matches is more important than winning. We have, and always will, play positive attacking cricket which in my view, is the only way to play the game.'
When it came to the final game, the only way the CI was going to win the festival was to bat first and score maximum points then bowl Oxfordshire out.
The Channel Islands batted poorly, with only Tim Ravenscroft getting into double figures (50), and their chances were gone.
'We lost wickets at crucial times during the match like just before lunch and after drinks breaks. The Oxfordshire side bowled well in general but there are no excuses, we just did not apply ourselves properly,' Shambrook said.
'There were a lot of positives from our performances in the festival. Andrew Hutchinson bowled well throughout and Ben de Figueiredo took to the task of opening the batting well.'
