Shipwrecks Performance Management 2013

Summary

Generally it was a stop start season. We started a few games well and stopped a lot of our innings by running ourselves out. We only won a couple of league games but weren’t outshone in any, but just 'couldn’t get over the line'! Our season was typified by the final where, without a couple of silly run outs we could easily have won the game.

The most important thing was we played the game with good spirit and enjoyed it.

Individual Performances

In alphabetical order - with no favouritism or bias:

1. Sid (Decommissioner) Barbour

A great asset when he could play, brought experience, athleticism and sarcasm to the team, a good end to the season. Practised hard.

2. Andy (Angry) Cameron 

Fleeting appearances but showed his accuracy in bowling as ever, hope to get more out of him next year.

3. Geoff (Donkey) Dean 

Magnificent at all he tried-particularly running himself out and bowling wides.

4. Rory (Moody but Magnificent) Dean.

Developed well as a batsman and bowling improved towards end of the season. Some good fielding performances.Often had words of advice for his father.

5. Peter (Hammy) Harrison

A great start and finish to the season. Hamstrung in the middle. A great addition to the after match analysis (aka a couple of beers in the Ship)

6. Kelvin (Muller it) Maxwell 

Some great contributions with bat and gloves, succumbed to disappearing at end of season.

7. Donald (Gloves) McCuaig

Again some great performances with bat and gloves-and some we try to forget. Will be a battle to get gloves off him next year - he now sleeps with them on.

8. Alasdair (Skipper Elect) McEwen  

Showed great passion when threatening to beat all opponents any shade of blue available if we lost. Great opening bowler and developing as middle-order batsman to be relied on (sometimes).

9. Sandy (Too Far) McNay 

Reluctant to play at anywhere not called Kingholm, so not able to feature a great deal.

10. Sid (Your Call) Oates 

Hit a few good runs and enjoyed his cricket. Never heard to speak when batting.

11.  Gregory and Mathew Robertson

Not available a great deal due to other interests.

12.  “Superstar “Sarosh

Our import this year who bowled and batted with élan. Has invited all the boys to his wedding in Bangalore -TOUR!!

13. Mike (Smackit) Service

Developed his all round skills including the ability to score sixes at will (well he got one). Handy back up bowler, wicketkeeper and go-anywhere fielder.

14. Colin (Cat amongst the Pigeons) Taylor 

Usual great contributions with bat, ball, in the field, umpiring and winding up the opposition.

15. Jim (Wistful) Worthington 

Some great catches, some great drops and some decent batting. We haven’t seen the best of Jim yet.

 © Rear Admiral G. Dean c/o The Admiralty. Whitehall, London

P.s. How can you have a Performance Management Report with no KPIs?

Ee Aye Oh Dearie-o... We Didn't Win The Cup

Shipwrecks unsurprisingly failed to lift the silverware (or any buried treasure) in their Midweek Plate Cup Final against Annan at the Kingholm last Wednesday. But their defeat did not result from  being seriously outgunned but rather from the fact that the sailors once again shot themselves in the collective foot.

Having as desired won the toss and decided to bat in potentially poor light, a full squad including able seamen Harrison and Barbour (back from shore leave) should probably have seen off Annan, who arrived with only enough bodies to fill a coxed eight - which however would probably have sunk if they had all got in it at the same time.

Instead the Shipwrecks reverted to their natural game of running each other out, and three of their best batsmen - Service, Harrison and Dean Sr. - were quickly back in the figurative Pavilion after misjudging the thickness of the Kingholm hay meadow and its resultant effect on the velocity of a cricket ball according to the mathematical formula (x*ro = -x15) runs.

Sid Oates Prepares A Swipe At Pagan

After this Sid Oates and Taylor were out for five apiece trying to make up lost ground and only Rory Dean made any significant progress with a plucky 17 as Shipwrecks floundered.  Minor contributions from Sid Barbour, Alastair MacEwan and Sarosh at least steered the effort to 54 - 9 and ensured the use of the full twenty overs.

Even small totals require some overhauling at Kingholm, and Shipwrecks' fortunes rose when Harrison clean bowled McCann and McEwan struck twice for eight.  Taylor got rid of danger man Bellis but only after being hoisted to the boundary for two sixes that could ill be afforded. More wickets fell to Barbour and Dean Jr. but a couple of missed catches allowed Annan to get home on half throttle with three wickets to spare.

Rory Dean

While enjoying the rations kindly provided by sponsors Sulwath Brewers Ltd. to celebrate a game played in good spirit, it became apparent that Annan are now faced with the unenviable quest of hunting down the Plate Trophy, which like Moby Dick has not been sighted for a number of years. Meanwhile, Shipwrecks can fairly be compared to the Australian Test XI in that they have "lost the habit of winning."

Apart from Run Out, Rory Dean was democratically elected the Ship Inn Man of the Match.

Scores: Shipwrecks 54 - 9 (R. Dean 17 ; McCann 3 - ?) : Annan 55 - 6 (Bellis 18 ; A MacEwan 2-8)

Attendance: 1

Shipwrecks in Cup Final!

Astounding but true... barring an outbreak of scurvy, Shipwrecks will contest the Dumfries Midweek League Cup Final to take place sometime next week!

No, not that cup!

This extraordinary turn of events following our defeat at Dalton has been skilfully managed by Leading Engineer Geoff Dean, who had the foresight to cancel the other preliminary fixture against Annandale Insurance (Nunholm) before it stopped raining at and any more of our team members declared themselves unseaworthy.

Mysteriously, no opposition has been found for the semi-final, giving us a clear passage into the Final and a - probably brief - glimpse of cup glory to recall the former heroics of the double-winning team of 2004 and other previous cupwinning exploits (yawn, yawn...)

Watch this space for further details, as we do not know when this fixture will take place or the venue. Indeed there seems to have been a general lack of clarity about the format of the new Cup Competition this year.  Perhaps it would be worth us employing a private detective to bug the phone of League  Officials (none other than Shipwrecks legend, our own Quartermaster Everett Jeffrey).

Whatever the result, there are bound to be frenzied celebrations in The Ship Inn afterwards.

Same Old Story

Shipwrecks once again fell short in a run chase, in their latest away encounter at Dalton (a.k.a. HMSS KCC) on Thursday, ending up a bowler short when Peter Harrison's car caused problems. Possibly a lift to port on Mike Service's new motorbike would have been a better option.

On a pleasant evening, Alastair MacEwan lost the toss and was asked to field against a Dalton crew who had retained hostages Richardson and R. McBride of Dumfries 1st XI from last season's superteam.  In spite of a couple of early fours, MacEwan himself soon broke through to dismiss Umar and Barnard.  Meanwhile Rory Dean had Lee well caught by Worthington at long leg to put Dalton under initial pressure.

For a while Richardson and McBride looked a little unsteady but Shipwrecks could not capitalise and both eventually sailed on to maximums. Sarosh came on to take two quick wickets but the returning openers survived to add useful runs and the innings closed on 124 - 8.

Some erratic bowling by Sharma (20 extras overall) meant Shipwrecks were well up with the run rate after five overs but Sid Oates was bowled by caught and bowled Richardson, who also bowled Mike Service. McCuaig thought he might have got a bump ball when he half volleyed to McBride and the turning point of

Jim Worthington in the Thai Orchid

the game came when Geoff Dean got the semaphore wrong and called offspring Rory for a 'walk the plank' single and had no chance of making his own ground when sent back.

The rest of the batting did not manage much of a fight apart from Jim Worthington, who played some nice shots in his 21 not out, supported by the reborn McCuaig, to earn the Man of the Match Award, which was duly celebrated in the "Thai Orchid".

Once again the Shipwrecks got within range of victory but fell short due to lack of shortage of trained sailors - and of course it's handy to have a couple of National League players in your crew if you can hire them.

Scores: Dalton 124 - 8 (McBride 30 n.o., Duncan 30 n.o., Richardson 25 n.o. ; Sarosh 2-24, MacEwan 2-28) : Shipwrecks 109 -9 (Worthington 21 n.o., R.Dean 16 ; McBride 4-14, Richardson 3-9)

Shipwrecks Just Short

Last Wednesday the Shipwrecks again put in a reasonable watch but without result when they encountered the Healthpros, the local Hospital Ship so far yet to be taken into NHS special measures.  The Kingholm had meanwhile been transformed into a dry dock with no remaining sign of the marine conditions and plantlife prevalent for the last 12 months.

Ali McEwan and Rory Dean restricted the early batsmen nicely, claiming two wickets apiece and the Shipwrecks' chances were looking good when several of their doctors decided to run themselves out rather than face the onslaught.  However a late flourish led by Williams plus the normal accumulation of wides and byes meant that the surgeons reached a respectable 78 all out in the penultimate over.

Unfortunately, the Shipwrecks took on a good deal of water early in their innings, partly due to some shipshape bowling by Doig, Fawad and Fahad.  For the 'Wrecks, Jim 'Boy' Worthington and Mike 'Senior' Service started badly, trying to renegotiate a single in the first over, which caused Service's premature run out when he looked to be in good touch.  Then Oates and both Deans were out without adding significantly to the score and  Shipwrecks were still looking for fifty plus runs after eight overs.

Sid Barbour - MoM

This was clearly where the game was lost as Colin Taylor and Sid Barbour gradually built up a partnership that brought Shipwrecks tantalisingly in sight of a surprising victory.  But neither batsmen could penetrate the thick grass cuttings around the boundary, and when Barbour was out in the nineteenth over, Ali McEwan was faced with the task of hitting three sixes to get home. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't to be and Shipwrecks fell short by ten runs.

Man of the Match (apart from Geoff Dean and 'run out') in a good-natured game was Sid Barbour for his all round contribution.

Scores: Healthpros 78 all out (Williams 16 n.o. ; R. Dean 2-7, McEwan 2-8) : Shipwrecks 68 - 6 (Barbour 18, Taylor 15 n.o.)

Shipwrecks Confined To Port... Scottish Cricket Sunk?

Even hardened sailors could not face the weather this Tuesday, when consistent rain caused the cancellation of what would have been a fine naval display between Shipwrecks and Kirkmahoe - and a cricket game we might have had some chance of winning.

And so another Scottish cricket season trickles on, as both midweek and weekend teams find it ever harder to persuade players to turn out for fixtures that are likely to be cancelled for the weather.  The last players to have experienced playing much cricket at state schools before the changes to Teachers' terms and conditions in the eighties will just about be coming up for retirement and younger recruits have a vast array of different sports to chose from*, quite apart from rugby and football, which increasingly encroach on what was the cricket season.

As a result, the signs are that many clubs are struggling to put teams out and the standards of play are declining.  The main focus of Cricket Scotland (latest web headline: "Rain halts Scottish run chase") seems to be to put out increasing bureaucratic exercises for clubs to complete, so that one wonders if it could ever be possible to start up a new club and get into one of the Leagues without a five year development plan produced by a management consultant.

Ultimately though, there are two main problems hampering cricket in Scotland - the weather and the fact that current forms of the game are too long to attract young people hung up on instant gratification. Until someone looks seriously at shorter, indoor forms of the game, my fear is that the decline will continue.

Except of course for a small number of elite clubs in the central belt and one or two outposts with hundreds of members paying £££s each in subscriptions, who will be able during climate change to go on playing occasional and cancelling many fixtures with each other until the money runs out.  Will they at some point turn, look around at what is happening to smaller clubs and lower leagues and start to get worried?

Note: This sudden switch to editorial rant mode does not necessarily reflect the views of The Shipwrecks plc or its umbrella organisation, The Ship Inn.

*They won't however have the chance to see much cricket unless they can get Sky Sports.

Shipwrecks in Stormy Seas...

Completion of the Shipwrecks' log has been severely delayed over the past week because Ship's Writer CPO Taylor has been away on a mission in France. Apparently he was trying to recruit petanque players to join the team in the hope of reducing the number of wides conceded in future games, having overlooked the fact that underarm bowling is no longer permissible under the Laws of Cricket*.  Apologies anyway to both of you who read this regularly for depriving you of your weekly fix.

What follows is a summary of the two skirmishes that have taken place in the meantime:

Ooh, Aye and Up She Rises...

Last week our noble crew counter attacked fiercely at Lockerbie to record our second victory and first total of over 100 this season, winning by a stupendous nine wickets.

Lockerbie 105 all out (A Veitch 25 n.o., Bray 26 n.o. ; Barbour 2-17, R Dean  2-22) : Shipwrecks 106 for 1 (McCuaig 28 n.o., Service 26 n.o., G Dean  24 n.o., R Dean 11 n.o.)

Davy Potter's Locker...

Harry Potter

This trend was however not continued against Irving Meadow at Kingholm 2 on Tuesday. The mythical Harry Potter inflicted a major broadside on our batting flagship, which was almost completely scuppered at 5 - 4. In spite of a brave rearguard action from McEwen, Dean and extras, Shipwrecks could not make up the leeway and went down by 19 runs.

Captain's commendations however went to Worthington (2), R. Dean and Sarosh, who all took excellent catches.

Irving Meadow 89 for 9 (Harriman 18 ; Sarosh 4-18,  McEwen 2-17, Service 2-16) : Shipwrecks 70 all out (McEwen 27 n.o., R Dean 13)

With two games to go, will the Shipwrecks now steam ahead as in previous seasons to achieve mid-table mediocrity?

*except by prior agreement of both teams.