Old Owens Cricket Club

21/06/2026

21/06/2026

**2s Get First Win of the Season**

The 2s were at home to Bentley Heath, who started the day sitting second in the table, while the Owens found themselves down in tenth.

After winning the toss, the skipper elected to bat, and a new opening partnership of BC and Sibbers strode to the crease. They gave us exactly the start we were looking for.

The pair brought up their 50 partnership inside 10 overs, and at drinks both remained unbeaten, with BC already past 50 and Sibbers battling away on 25.

A few overs after drinks they were shaking hands again, this time for a century partnership, and the platform was set for a big score. The opening stand was finally broken at 133, with BC departing for a superb 83 from 85 balls.

A couple of wickets fell as the score edged towards 200, but Sibbers continued to anchor the innings. Then came the arrival of Bomb Squad captain Joe Ruler, who effectively ended any hopes of a Sibbers century with a blistering 43 from just 27 balls, including a huge six into the sightscreen.

Sibbers carried his bat through the innings for an unbeaten 87 from 136 deliveries as the boys finished on 279-5 from their 50 overs. Remarkably, it was the first time we'd batted out our full allocation since week one, when we scored 260. Amazing what can happen when multiple players get into double figures and we occupy the crease for 50 overs.

With a good pitch and a rapid outfield, the question was: could we defend 280?

The answer wasn't immediately obvious. Bentley Heath got off to a flying start and after 10 overs had raced to 95-0. The breakthrough eventually came courtesy of Karanvir, making his first appearance of the season, but with the score at 95-1 it was clear the bowlers had a battle on their hands.

The lads were up for it.

Step forward Robert "The Goat" Sibley. The man you always want on your side when the pressure is on produced a masterclass: 10 overs, 4 maidens, 3 wickets for just 18 runs. Included in the spell was his 700th Old Owens wicket, as he squeezed the life out of the middle order just as they looked ready to accelerate.

Robbo then returned for a second spell and continued to keep the Heath batters tied down, finishing with figures of 2-27 from 10 overs.

Young leg-spinner Danny Rowswell also came to the party, producing his best spell of the 2026 season with 2-45 from 8 overs. Bowling under pressure, with batters attacking and a patio packed with 1st and 3rd team players watching on, he showed real skill and composure.

A special mention must also go to BC. After his excellent 83 with the bat, he backed it up behind the stumps with three catches and a stumping.

Bentley Heath closed on 241-9 from their 50 overs, leaving the Owens 38-run winners.

An outstanding all-round performance. Not everyone got the contributions they would have liked with bat or ball, but every player gave 100% in the field, and most importantly the Owens finally have a win on the board.

Next up: Bayford & Hertford, who are also flying high in the top four.

CP

21/06/2026

It was great to see so many old friends yesterday amongst a large crowd (bolstered by the 1’s and 3’s who unfortunately lost quite quickly) who saw the 2’s to their first win of the season.

OOYES!

21/06/2026

We want to take a moment to recognise an exceptionally impressive landmark achieved by our erstwhile offspinning stalwart Rob Sibley (aka The GOAT).

Having opened the batting yesterday for the 2’s and carried his bat for a match defining 87 not out (a rare and excellent achievement by itself) against one of the leading teams in division 5A, Rob then took 2 for 18 in 10 overs in a very high scoring match. Yet another superb performance for the club.

But we are writing about Rob’s first wicket yesterday, which was his 700th for Old Owens CC! 700!!

Rob is by far our highest wicket taker in “the Play Cricket” era. Bowling offspin can be a hell of a slog and Rob has always done so at our highest level, including our first ever season in the Premiership. Sibbers is tireless and never gives anything less than his best for the team.

Rob we salute you!

#🐐700

21/06/2026

A very warm and humid day saw us back at home for the first time in 4 weeks with our guests being St Albans V.

Shaun won the toss and elected to bat first. After 10 overs we were 21 for 2 with both Ian and H back in the sheds for 4 and 3 respectively. At that stage Naman and Devang (on debut for the 3s) briefly took control until Naman holed out to deep mid off for 25 and then in what was probably the critical moment Devang spooned what was a poor ball straight to a fielder behind square leg for 22 and we were reduced to 66 for 4 at drinks.

Very sadly this was as good as it got as in less than 10 overs after drinks, we lost a further 6 wickets for just 26 further runs (Jason top scoring with 9) and we were all out for 92 - for what was one of our poorest team batting performances of the last 5 years.

At tea I don’t think any of us thought we could win but we were determined to get some wickets and save face.

Shaun opened the bowling with Kejal and Sid (who after 1 expensive over of medium pace switched to spin) and we got our 1st reward in the 5th over with Devang taking a sharp catch at gully off Kejal with the score on 21. Sid joined the party with an LBW. Kejal had 2 more caught with an amazing over the shoulder catch running back by Devang and a very sharp if messy catch by Ian at slip.

Devang then took a further catch at gully off Sid and St Albans had subsided to 42 off 5 off just 11 overs. With Sid then getting a second LBW and a bowled St Albans were reduced to a paltry 57 for 7 and for the first time we had our noses in front with Naman and Shaun coming on to bowl.

Sadly, it was not to be with Shaun’s second over going for 12 priceless runs and despite us picking up an 8th wicket (Devang at gully again) St Albans got home in the 25th over.
Interestingly, there were only 4 scores in the match that reached double figures with Naman (25) and Devang (22) for us and their Number 3 who got 28 not out and their Extras score of 19. In a tight game every run counted!

Aside from the excellent opening spells from Kejal Sid, who both bowled their full allocation of 8 overs and took 7 wickets, the most significant achievement in the game was undoubtedly Devang 4 catches, all taken in the gully area, and none of them easy. I don’t think I have ever been in a game where somebody other than the wicket keeper has taken 4 catches! So we snatched a good game out of a poor batting performance and unusually having finished early by 5pm we were then able to watch the last 25 overs of the 2nd XI match, with beer in hand and cheer them home!

That loss leaves us in 8th, just ahead of Baldock but 24 points behind WGC in 7th. Next week sees us travel to table topping Holtwhites-Trinibis 3s, so we will need to bring our A game if we are to get any joy.

19/06/2026

Blox’s first ever Premiership fivefer (the club can’t have many of these, as this is only our second ever season in the Prem) sees him feature in this week’s Honours Board.

Brilliant stuff Bloxy! G’wan Babe!!!!

14/06/2026

Massive congratulations to Chris Palmer who has just passed 8,000 career runs for Old Owens!!

CP is by far the highest run-getter in the Play Cricket era!

Well batted CP. Bat on mate.

14/06/2026

Ian Tyler reports on the first win by any of our teams in the league in 2026!!

A sunny Saturday and a trip to Widford to play one of our friendliest oppo in the form of Ware 2s. Shaun was otherwise engaged in club business, so our stand in captain for the day was vice captain Naman.

We had asked for an early start of 12.30pm, so it was slightly disappointing that at 12.30pm we still only had 7 players at the ground and perhaps a relief that as stand in for the stand in I had lost the toss and we had been asked to bat first.

Alan opened with Seb but Seb chased a wide one and spooned it to deep gully early on. Ansh, filling in at 3, played some decent defensive shots against good bowling before also departing and after 8 overs we were 21 for 2. Then, not for the first time this season, Naman joined Alan and slowly built a partnership such that by drinks we had progressed to 50 for 2.

After drinks they accelerated and the key 10 overs in the whole game took us to 111 for 2 after 30 overs. 61 off 10 overs in the context of a pitch with a slow slightly low bounce and a lush outfield was a great return. Having completed the 100 partnership (the second time this season for this pair) Alan finally departed in the 33rd over for a very valuable 39 with the score on 122. The last 6 overs saw a succession of wickets fall with Ian (2), Umair (0), Naman for a massive 85 and Freddie (1) leaving Akash on 5 not out and a total of 149 for 7 off our 40 overs.

Thanks to Naman and Alan we had posted what I thought was a competitive par score on what was a lowish scoring pitch.

After tea Ansh and Umair were asked to open the bowling and after 10 very tidy overs Ware were just 17 for 2 with both bowlers having bowled one each.

A double change of bowling brought Akash and Sid on and in the 16th over Sid picked up their number 4 with a sharpish catch at gully by Ian. Ware progressed to 54 for 3 at drinks and the game was very evenly balanced.

After drinks Ware scored more freely getting to 81 off 25 overs before, with a little encouragement, Naman brought himself on to bowl and immediately bowled a maiden! At the other end after a short spell from John, Naman was able to bring back Umair to bowl his last 3 which he did to great effect picking up a further 2 wickets for just 5 runs, including a decent catch at deepish cover by Akash.

But arguably even more impressive was Ansh who had to bowl his last 3 overs at the death and did so for just 8 runs whilst also picking up a 2nd wicket. With 2 run outs, including one off the last ball, Ware finished on 132 for 9 and we had won our first game of the season, by 17 runs!

A decent performance in the field by our bowlers, well supported by our fielders had seen us home and victory tasted sweet.

Lots of important contributions eg Seb stopping a certain 4 and turning it into 1, Freddie behind the stumps but obviously we wouldn’t have got the runs without Naman and Alan and Ansh and Umair were the pick of the bowlers.

30 points moves us up into 8th, above the 2 relegation spots and we are only a handful of points from 6th and mid table respectability!

Next week we are home to St Albans V and hopefully we can have 11 players at the ground well ahead of the start time!

Onwards and upwards!!

PS. I should also say thank you to Imtiaz for coming along to make us up to XI - it really did make a difference when defending a modest total and lastly to Piers who was our travelling support and some might also say our lucky mascot!

14/06/2026

A message from Club President, Mr Alan Hunter:

A fantastic evening was had last night in the Clubhouse to a packed audience with a QA of the 2 great West Indies opening fast bowling cricketing legends from the past, Sir Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, who were provided by Lashings World.

The Managing Director of Lashings, Dave Fitzgerald, was a superb compere and also included an auction and raffle of cricket memorabilia.

This is the first time an event such as this has taken place in the Clubhouse since we moved here in 1988 and the evening was most enjoyable and successful.

Thanks to all those involved in organising the event, especially Shaun Flook the Cricket Club secretary, for his tireless effort in promoting, advertising and selling tickets for the event, to Sian the Clubhouse manager and her staff for the hospitality provided regarding the food and drinks, to the sponsor Gilberts Chartered Accountants from St. Albans and last but not least everyone who attended the event.

with a will

13/06/2026

🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🏏 🇯🇲 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲

We are ready to greet two of the best fast bowlers in cricket history to Coopers Lane.

Sir Curtly and Courtney we cannot wait!

🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🇦🇬🏏 🇯🇲 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲