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.
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Sunday, 6 March 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
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.
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
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
Saturday, 13 November 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
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.
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.
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