Roller coaster start to the season

Fegocowosa CC's start to the 2011/12 season has been a bit of a roller coaster. A heavy opening game loss to the ever formidable BRF CC was followed by an equally emphatic victory over the youthful Ibeju Lekki outfit.

Emmanuel Okwudili compiled a magnificent 85 against the tough BRF attack, including one imperious 6 onto the pavilion roof at TBS, but only Prosper Mgbanwa (23) was able to lend any support, and a total of 167 all out never looked like being enough. BRF overhauled our total at a canter, thanks to a pugnacious 80* from ex-national skipper Endurance Ofem.

Against Ibeju-Lekki, our 4 prong pace attack was on song, as we bundled the youngsters out for just 70. A couple of indifferent shots saw us lose 4 wickets in reply, but in truth the result was never in doubt. This weekend is a blank for us, before we lock horns with GCI Old Boys in a match which will give a big indication as to which end of the table we will be fighting at come the end of the season.

The rains are going...the cricket is coming

Fegocowosa CC start the 2011/12 CCC League campaign this Sunday 13th November with a stern test against reigning league champions BRF CC. The Warri boys have been undergoing intense pre-season training, and comfortably overcame Foundation CC last weekend in a pre-season friendly, but BRF will pose a tougher challenge.

Overall, it promises to be a highly competitive season in the CCC league Division 1. Foundation are back from the second division with a vengeance and a large chequebook. GCI are as mercurial as ever, and the youngsters of Ibeju Lekki have shored up their squad with some canny signings. But as ever, it is BRF who everyone is looking up to, unbeaten in the league for two straight seasons, will this be the weekend when that run finally comes to an end?

End of term report

So the 2010/11 season has finally come to an end, and the conclusion for Fegocowosa Cricket Clun has to be something like "has made progress, but can do better". In total the team played 14 competitive matches, winning 7 and losing 7. Our standings in each competition were:

CCC League division 1: 3rd out of 5
CCC Super Four tournament: runners-up
EDL Knock-out cup: semi-finalists
GTA T20 cup: semi finalists

We showed that we could match any side on our day, but we still lacked the consistency necessary to bring home a trophy.

Our batting was heavily reliant on Emmanuel Okwudili (448 runs), Femi Oduyebo (238 runs) and Azeez Salako (221 runs). We need another 2 or 3 batsmen to step up to make sure we consistently put big scores on the board.

The bowling attack was led by Femi Oduyebo (2o wickets), Frank Omozejele (18 wickets) and Kehinde "Kento" Olabinwonu (16 wickets). We lacked a consistent 3rd pace bowler and a regular second spinner to back up Kento.

Congratulations must go to Emmanuel Okwudili and Femi Oduyebo, who were selected for the Nigerian national team that performed so well in Botswana and South Africa. We hope they will continue to fly the FGCW flag high in Uganda and Malaysia later on this year.

So we go back to the planning board over the next 3 months. Each of the last 3 years has seen the team move forward, but as we climb the ladder the competition gets tougher. Next year will be our toughest challenge yet.

Season update

The season is drawing to a close and it has been a period of ups and downs for the Fegocowosa Cricket Club:

CCC League - In the league we lost 2 of our last 3 matches, including a particularly painful 8-run defeat to the young guns of Ibeju Lekki but we finished in style with a crushing victory over Lagos Asians to end up in 3rd place in the league. Although this was an improvement over last season, we could probably have done better given our superb start.

LSCA Knock-out tournament - After a comprehensive demolition of FCC veterans in the quarter-final, our cup dreams were ended yesterday by BRF CC as we went down by 5 wickets in the semi-final. Kehinde Olabiwonu showed again that he is probably the best spinner in the country with a spell of 4-21 against the top batting side in the competition, but it was not enough to prevent them getting past our below-par score of 159.

CCC Super 4 - The highlight of the season so far was undoubtedly our 4-wicket victory over GCI Old Boys in the Super 4 semi-final. An excellent all-round bowling performance, led by Femi Oduyebo, riding high on his elevation to the national squad, kept the Ibadan boys to a score of 147, and solid contributions from most of the batsmen ensured that we booked a place in the final without too many alarms.

Next week we commence our 20/20 campaign, and beyond that we eagerly await the Super 4 final against BRF.

Mixed fortunes in the new year

Just before Christmas Fegocowosa CC suffered their first loss in the 2010/11 League season, as they went down by 6 wickets to the defending champions Ibeju-Lekki CC, now rechristened as BRF CC. A pulsating partnership between Emmanuel Okwudili (66) and Aziz Salako (33) had put us on course for a big total batting first, but the innings fell away and in the end we only got to 198 all out. Ademola Onikoyi of BRF set out making short work of the total, but Frank Omozejele (3-38) brought us back into the game with an excellent spell. However an unbroken partnership of 92 between Varun Behani and Jide Bejide ensured that in the end we were comfortably beaten.

We started the new year with a bang as we racked up 264-9 against Lagos Asians in our first match after the holiday break. Femi Oduyebo (57) and Frank Omozejele (48) led the way but there were solid contributions all the way through the order. The Asians were never really in the hunt once Kehinde Olabiwonu (3-26) came into the attack and Newton Ikenwanso (4-9) polished off the tail as they finished on 147 all out.

We had our worst game of the season so far in the return fixture against GCI Old Boys. Their disciplined bowling and fielding performance strangled our batsmen with only Uthe Ogbimi (28) and Kehinde Olabiwonu (25) making meaningful contributions as we limped to 142-9 off our 50 overs. Ramit Gill (57) then took advantage of some poor new ball bowling by our medium pacers and they cruised past our total for the loss of just 3 wickets.

We remain second in the table with 3 matches to play.

A tight squeeze

Fegocowosa squeezed past Ibeju-Lekki CC (previously Ibeju-Lekki II) at TBS yesterday, but it was a lot tighter than the fans of the men in green would have liked.

Ibeju's ploy of sending out a small Indian boy for the toss worked for them and they chose to bat first. They made a steady start, but were let off by the Warri fielders, as two straightforward chances went down early on. Despite that, they never really got any momentum going as Kehinde "Kento" Olabinwonu, on his FGCW debut, turned the screw with a spell of 10 overs for 23 runs, while James "Spartacus" Imhanlahimi picked up a couple of wickets at the other end. Femi Oguntoke continued the spin torture once Kento was done, adding another couple of wickets, and when Femi Oduyebo returned to shoot out three in quick succession, the innings was almost done. The last pair clung on to add another 25 crucial runs, before James claimed his third scalp with the score on 148.

Seun Garuba came steaming in for the yellow-clad Ibeju boys, and laid waste to our top order. After a spell of 9 straight overs, he had knocked over numbers 1-4, and forced skipper Roland Ilube to retire hurt. At 43-4, and with doubts as to Roland's ability to return to the crease, those extra 25 runs scored at the end in the Ibeju innings looked to have assumed match-winning proportions. Oduyebo and Aziz Salako came together to begin the fightback, and when Kento took up the torch after Oduyebo fell for 22 it seemed that the alarms were over. There were more twists in this tale though, as first Aziz was run out with 30 still to get, and Kento then picked out the deep fielder 20 runs away from victory. It was left to the old soldier, Andrew A-Roy Ororho, to see us home by three wickets with 8 overs in hand.

All in all a closer game than it should have been, but neverthless we go into the game against the defending champions in 3 weeks time with 2 victories under our belt.

By popular demand - scorecard from GCI game

FGCW Innings:

1 Mgbanwa c Animashaun b Onwuzilike C 13
2 Alikali c Adegbola K b Onwuzilike C 5
3 Okwudili c Olayinka b Adegbola K 21
4 Ogbimi b Adegbola K 18
5 Ilube c Ewete b Adegbola Y 19
6 Oduyebo c Adegbola Y b Iteogu 60
7 Salako c Onwuzilike C b Adegbola Y 20
8 Omozejele not out 12
9 Ikenwanso lbw b Animashaun 0
10 Oguntoke not out 38
Extras 42
Total (50 overs, 8 wickets) 248

Bowling

Iteogu 8-0-40-1
Onwuzilike C 9-1-42-2
Adegbola K 10-0-53-2
Animashaun 5-0-28-1
Adegbola Y 9-0-30-2
Atoloye 9-0-46-0

GCI innings

1 Adeniran c Okwudili b Omozejele 32
2 Olayinka b Ikenwanso 6
3 Gill c Okwudili b Abioye 9
4 Adegbola K c Alikali b Oguntoke 64
5 Adegbola Y b Abioye 37
6 Onwuzilike O c Salako b Oguntoke 12
7 Onwuzilike C c Salako b Omozejele 12
8 Atoloye c Okwudili b Oduyebo 5
9 Ewete not out 3
10 Animashaun run out 0
11 Iteogu b Oduyebo 1
Extras 34
Total (44.3 overs, 10 wickets) 220

Bowling

Abioye 10-0-35-2
Ikenwanso 4-0-25-1
Oduyebo 8.3-0-34-2
Omozejele 9-0-45-2
Oguntoke 10-0-50-2
Ogbimi 3-0-24-0

All blades are sharp

Fegocowosa Cricket Club kicked off the CCC Lagos League season in fine style today, with a 28-run over reigning Super-4 champions Government College Ibadan Old Boys CC at the TBS Oval.

Skipper Roland Ilube won the toss (yet again) and had no hesitation in batting first. Four of the top five batsmen got to double-figures, but none of them got to 25. It took another coruscating innings from Femi Oduyebo, who is in some rare form at the moment, to take us to 200, and then an innovative unbeaten 35 from new boy, Femi Oguntoke, to get us to a truly imposing 248-8 off 50 overs.

Abiodun Abioye bowled a probing opening spell, but Newton Ikenwanso's rustiness showed at the other end, even though he picked up the opening wicket. Two more fell, but that brought the Adegbola brothers together, and they looked as if they had turned the match with an 80-run partnership. Abioye returned to castle older brother Yemi, and this was the opening that the Warri boys needed. Oguntoke, wheeling away from the Pavilion end, took out one Onwuzilike, while Frank induced an edge from the other, Now it was all down to Kunle Adegbola, but finally he gave one chance too many and the end was in sight for the Ibadan boys. Oduyebo returned to clean up the tail and cap a magnificent all round performance.

We have spent the last month sharpening our blades, and today we showed that all blades are sharp.

Once again its on

Fegocowosa Cricket Club started pre-season preparations in earnest today with a friendly at TBS against the National Club champions - Ibeju-Lekki cricket club. This was an opportunity for skipper Roland Ilube to try out his new squad, bolstered by the addition of our new recruits, Aziz Salako and Taiwo Bakare, but weakened by the defection of Friday Udoh and and the emigration of Femi Olayiwole.

As is now customary, Roland won the toss and invited his opponents to bat first. A solid opening partnership was broken by Femi Oduyebo who quickly followed with the very satisfying wicket of Friday Udoh, now donning the blue of Ibeju-Lekki. James Imhanlahimi put in a big effort to pick up two wickets while Sean Phillips compiled another half-century at our expense. The batting powerplay backfired on the Ibeju boys, as 5 wickets fell to Oduyebo (who finished with 4-17) and Frank Omozejele (3-37), leaving the peninsula team just short of the 200 mark at the end of their 40 overs.

The youthful opening partnership of Austin Alikali and Omozejele started solidly enough, but an injury sustained by Frank broke the tempo of the chase, and after the swift departure of our guest player, Dolapo Gafar and our new keeper/bat Salako, it was left to Ilube and Oduyebo to rebuild the innings. The skipper fell after the water break for 18 and when Oduyebo holed out off the spinner for 26, the game was effectively up, although Chiedozie Okolo and Bakare, ensured that we prolonged our innings until the penultimate over before we were all out for 114.

All in all quite a few positives to take out the game, but more work required before the league gets underway.

AGM

The club AGM was held on Saturday 24th of July in Banana Island, Lagos. Officers for next season were elected. The results are shown below:

Hammed Sanni (Club Captain)

Roland Ilube (Team Captain)

Andrew Aroy-Ororho (Team Vice-Captain)

Cyril Djebah (Team Manager)

Chidozie Okolo (Assistant Team Manager)

Ike Okonkwo (Treasurer)

Soji Titilola (Assistant Treasurer)

Season draws to a close with a whimper

The 2009/10 season is drawing to a close and it has been a disappointing end for the men in green. After being knocked out of the EDL cup by Government College Ibadan Old Boys a few weeks back, yesterday was our last chance to compete for a major trophy as we faced Lagos Asians CC in the GTA 20/20 cup.

Lagos Asians have been a rejuvenated side this season. They bounced straight back from relegation the previous year to comprehensively clinch the 2nd division title, and they were keen to show that they will be a force in the top flight next time around. They won the toss and elected to bat first, and despite the loss of three early wickets they kept coming at us with an array of powerful hitters. Skipper Roland Ilube juggled his bowlers in an attempt to stem the flow of runs, but it was only a late spell of 4-11 from Friday Udoh that enabled us to keep them below 150.

146 was a challenging, but not impossible task on a Unilag ground which can be very difficult to defend. However, our openers were stifled by some canny early bowling from the Asians which put the incoming batsmen under a lot of pressure. No one was able to get going and we crumbled to 78 all out. By the looks of things, LACC are a better outfit than their predecessors in division 1, and so the competition promises to be even stiffer next year. We will have to rise to the challenge.

Too big too strong

Fegocowosa CC ran into a very professional Ibeju Lekki outfit in their Super 4 clash at TBS today. Skipper Roland Ilube won the toss (if coin tossing was a competition, we would have been crowned champions a long time ago) and decided to go back to plan A and bat first. When the first three batsmen had returned to the pavilion with a combined total of zero runs between them, this didn't seem like such a good decision.

The Warri boys never really recovered from this disastrous start as the powerful Ibeju bowling attack continued to apply pressure throughout the innings. Roland got to 21 before he was castled and it was only thanks to a breezy 23 from Frank Omozejele that we were able to get past the 100 mark.

A target of 108 was never going to test Ibeju unless we got early wickets and a 40-run opening partnership basically sealed the outcome. Femi Olayiwole picked up both openers in a good 10-over spell and Emmanuel Olowookere beat Endurance Ofem in the flight but in the end the Lekki men ran out comfortable winners.

They are a good and well-drilled side, but unfortunately are beginning to pick up some of the more unsavoury aspects of South African cricket from their coach. I hope their management clamps down on this before something really unpleasant happens.

Wey dem?

After a run of 4 league defeats, the pressure was on in our EDL knockout cup match against Foundation CC at Unilag sports ground on Sunday. Our opponents also felt they had a point to prove, having just been relegated to division II.

Skipper Roland Ilube won his 9th toss in a row, and surprised everyone by inviting FCC to bat first. The early exchanges were even, with the red & gold clad batsmen of FCC scoring freely, but losing wickets along the way. However when their two gun players came together, the tide turned against us, although we did not help ourselves in the bowling and fielding department. Both Gafar and Olayinka chalked half-centuries as they put together a 130-run partnership that seemed to be taking the game out of our grasp. We rallied well in the last 10 overs to keep them to a testing, but gettable score of 229-8, when at one point it looked like 250 plus was on the cards.

Although 2 early wickets went down when our reply commenced, Friday Udoh was in determined mood, anxious to show that his run of ducks was a blip rather than a trough. He was joined by Obo Omoigui, still one of the cleanest strikers of a cricket ball on the Lagos circuit. The second century partnership of the match ensued, and even after Obo fell for 63, the force was now firmly with us. Femi Oduyebo kept the momentum going as Friday reached his 50, and then really began to motor, finally completing a magnificent hundred. Both of them perished with the finishing in line in sight,but the damage had been done, and victory was clinched with 10 balls to spare.

Buried under the Rocks

Fegocowosa CC's bad run of form in 2010 continued as they crashed to a 6 wicket defeat at the hands of the Ogun Rocks Club at TBS yesterday.

The Warri batsmen were never able to settle against some disciplined bowling from the boys from the Gateway City and limped to a paltry 86 all out. Only skipper Roland Ilube, who made a painstaking 31, and Michael Agbiboa, who hit a six and a four coming in at number 11, were able to break into double figures.

With such a small total to defend it was going to take a minor miracle to push our opponents close in the second innings, and although Michael and Frank Omozejele bowled tidy spells with the new ball, it wasn't until Friday Udoh came on that we were able to pick up our first wicket. Friday then found Yemi Adegbola's edge immediately after lunch but a simple chance went down and with it our last hope of salvaging anything from the game. The Rocks captain took this reprieve as a sign to launch the assault and although he finally perished with just 1 run required for victory - one of two wickets for James Imhanlahimi in his first spell of the season - the damage had been done.

This result means that we will probably need to beat GCI Old Boys in our final league game of the season to stay in the top flight. A lot of work is needed in the next two weeks to prepare for that encounter.

Bad start to the new year

The Xmas break does not seem to have been favourable to the Fegocowosa Team, as they have slumped to heavy defeats in both the matches they played in January.

First of all was an 8-wicket drubbing at the hands of Foundation CC, the only high spot being a return to form with the bat of Femi Oduyebo (43). This was followed today by a 7-wicket loss to Ibeju-Lekki CC, a result which confirms the Lekki boys as champions for 2009/10.

Federal won the toss for the 6th time in a row and as usual elected to bat. Although Friday Udoh went early, Roland Ilube (26) and Austin Alikali (32) put together a 70-run partnership which provided a base for us to launch an assault on the much-vaunted Ibeju bowling line-up. However, only Uthe Ogbimi (28), crossed double figures thereafter and a total of 131-8 in 35 overs was at least 20 runs short of what we had hoped for.

As in the last fixture against these opponents, our bowlers got amongst them early. Friday, Abiodun Abioye and Femi Olayiwole (en route to the airport - what dedication) all chipped in to leave our yellow-clad opponents tottering at 37-3. Shaun Phillips is however, too good a player to go through a season without making a telling contribution, and unfortunately for us he chose today to do just that, striking an authoritative 63* to see his side home without any real alarms.

2 games to go and the fight for division 1 for survival is still very much on. The struggle continues.

Xmas comes with a wave of runs

Fegocowosa CC went to the Xmas break with an emphatic win over Rocks CC of Abeokuta last week at the TBS Oval. Stand-in Captain Uthe Ogbimi proved as adept as his predecessor at the toss, as the Warri boys maintained their 100% record with the coin. As in all our previous games, we elected to bat first and this time, took full advantage.

Two early wickets brought skipper Uthe to the crease to join Friday Udoh. Uthe picked up where he left off in the last match and with Friday growing in confidence, they put on a century partnership in good time to set a great platform for the later order assault. Friday fell 5 short of a century, Uthe completed an accomplished half-century, and Obo Omoigui came in to show once again what a good finisher he is, recording the third 50 of the innings.

A final score of 280-6, the highest total posted in the 1st division so far this season, was always going to be a tough ask for the Rocks boys, and Uthe, buoyed by his fine form with the bat, decided to take the new ball. Reprising his days at Blackheath, "Magic Ball" promptly picked up 3 wickets, including an absolute beauty to account for the Rocks captain, to effectively end the contest. Friday also seemed to feed off the runs he has scored, chipping in with three scalps, before Mr Dependable, Femi Olayiwole, picked up the final two to bring the Rocks innings to a close at 116.

So an emphatic win sees Fegocowosa go into the holiday period in second place in the league, and looking up rather than down.

Uthe's century not enough

A magnificent unbeaten even hundred from Uthe Ogbimi was not enough to see Fegocowosa CC to victory over GCI Old Boys at the TBS Oval last Saturday. Winning the toss for the third time in a row, skipper Roland Ilube lost no time in electing to bat first once again, and it was the old trio of skipper himself, Obo Omoigui and Uthe Ogbimi who proved to be the backbone of the Warri batting. Although Roland and Obo succumbed after good starts, Uthe pressed on and reached his century with a superbly struck boundary off the the last ball of the innings. 188-7 looked a competitive score off 40 overs, if perhaps 10-20 runs short of what might have been.

Once again the early bowling was a little loose, but a fortuitous wicket for Friday Udoh, a superb catch on the boundary by Austin Alikali and a cracking delivery from Michael Agbiboa left GCI rocking at 32-3. However Kunle Adegbola and Wale Adeoye combined for a 60 run partnership to turn the tide against us. The water break brought another twist as Frank Omozejele found Wale's edge and then Kunle ran himself out to put the game back in the balance. It looked like Osita Onwuzulike would see GCI home until spinner Emmanuel Olowookere chipped in with two lbw verdicts, and when the last man came in for the Ibadan side, 18 runs were still required for victory. The Warri bowlers huffed and puffed, but could not blow the house down and a miscued chip for two finally broke our hearts in the 36th over.

This was really a game we should have closed out, and the bitter after-taste will remain for some time to come.

Points on the board

At the second time of asking, Fegocowosa CC managed to put some points on the board following our encounter with Foundation Cricket Club at TBS yesterday.

Roland Ilube won the toss and once again elected to bat. 5 of the top 6 batsmen got to double figures against a friendly FCC attack, but only Obo Omoigui (46) and Friday Udoh (29) were able to push on. At one stage a total in excess of 220 looked on the cards, but our lower order fell away and we just squeezed past 200, being bowled out for 202 with 9 balls of our 45 overs left unused.

Dolapo Gafar came at us hard from the off when FCC replied, racing to 50 off just 44 balls as our seamers struggled to bowl a consistent line. The game turned when the back-up pairing of Frank Omozejele and Femi Oduyebo were introduced and managed to instill some discipline in the bowling. Frank trapped Gafar lbw and after that we were able to turn the screw. Frank finished with 3-31 and Femi Olayiwole swept up the tail with 4-15 as FCC were dismissed for 146, giving us an invaluable first win of the season

Close....but not close enough

Fegocowosa CC went down fighting in their opening game of the 2009/10 CCC league season yesterday at the TBS Oval. The encounter with defending champions, Ibeju-Lekki CC, was a historic affair, being the first every organised cricket match in Nigeria in coloured clothing, and it turned out to be a match worthy of the occasion.

The Warri boys won the toss and decided to bat first in their all green strip. As expected the Ibeju bowlers were a handful with the new ball, and both openers fells to Seye Olympio within the first ten overs. The old stagers, Roland Ilube and Uthe Ogbimi, combined to steady the ship, taking us to 59-2 after 16 overs, but the water break changed things in favour of the yellow-clad Lekki squad. Uthe and Oduyebo fell to Leke Oyede in successive balls, and when Roland gloved a lifter from Bejide 3 overs later, we were in the mire at 66-5. Femi Olayiwole and Prosper Mgbanwa took us to within sight of the 100 mark, but after Prosper departed, Saheed Akolade returned to polish off the tail, leaving us 127 all out in 40.3 overs.

No one outside of our squad though this would be enough, but an early run-out exposed the much-vaunted Ibeju middle order to Michael Agbiboa - the delta express - in full cry. A high-class spell of fast bowling saw him claim 4 wickets in 6 overs, three of them clean-bowled, and the champions were rocking at 21-5. Oduyebo chipped in with one more before the score got to 50, but the lunch break gave Ibeju a chance to regroup, and after the restart Bejide (45*) and Oyede (40) put together the game-turning partnership. Olayiwole finally got rid of Oyede just before the end, and if another catch had been held straight after, we might still have pulled off a famous victory. As it was, we were left to ponder what might have been.

The age of colour is here

Tomorrow the 2009/10 CCC league season commences and Fegocowosa CC are privileged to be playing the opening match in the 1st division. This is not just any match...it will be the first EVER match to be played in coloured clothing in Nigeria. The club kit has arrived and is shown here being modelled by a professional kit model.

We have a tough opening challenge againstIbeju-Lekki CC, the reigning league and national champions. We will go in as underdogs, but with no fear...

...let the games begin