A comprehensive win

Verwood's third game of the cricket season was at Swan Green on a breezy but warmish day. It really is a great place to play cricket set in the heart of the New Forest amidst picture postcard thatched cottages.

We struck with only the second ball of the game, a fine slip catch by Marc off Gerry, but there followed a partnership which threatened to take the game away from us. They'd got to 70+ for the loss of one wicket but after my second over going for 10, I got a catch off my bowling which gave us some momentum. John ended up with 4 for 35 as he finished their innings off, while I managed 3 for 43 off my 12 overs. That left us facing 185 to win which seemed quite a tall order at the outset but proved to be nothing of the sort.

A brisk opening stand of 48 saw the team gain momentum and Charlie stepped up to smash an unbeaten century supported by Marc who carried his bat in a selfless innings. We reached the target in the 29th over for the loss of just one wicket, a fantastic achievement which builds on last week's win.

Bank holiday woes

The start of the half term break has not gone well with a school meeting over running considerably and leaving me stuck in Southampton traffic alongside the drivers making their way south west on the motorway. Sadly my car was telling me there was a problem with the engine as the warning light came on and put paid to my plans to collect Bridie from Plymouth. It will be a few days before the garage can check the fault out, hopefully something small and easily fixed, and in the meantime I have another courtesy Ka, blue this time rather than the ugly green one when I got hit last year.

The meeting with the new Academy leadership team went better than I'd hoped, despite going on so long, and it appears there is a clear commitment to building on our previous successes. Even better is that the staff have been rewarded with the top positions within the school in competition with the other closing school. That recognises their achievements at least.

Quite remarkable

Quite remarkable as David Coleman used to say. Sparkshop have now won a third game in a row, that is quite literally three victories over other sides made up of 7 players all of whom were able bodied and still breathing and still managed to lose to this ragged bunch of wheezing geriatrics. At least that is what we were, but thanks to the inspired leadership of Mr Kevin Trill and his managerial acumen in persuading three rather good recruits to join us, we have been transformed beyond recognition into promotion challengers! That will have put paid to that idea at least but perhaps we've benefited from being in a different division. Whatever the explanation, we not only won last night, we crushed the opposition in a display of attacking power and ruthlessness. The website says 7 - 3 but it was actually 8 - 2. I can only think that when Kev hit the post and the rebound, travelling to safety, hit the keeper on the back thus returning it to goal, the referee mistook it for a goal to the other side. In an act of charity though (!) the goal is awarded to Kevin for his heroic shooting prowess.

That goal was the third in a straightforward first half. We'd started against 6 men, something most didn't notice until we were 2 up. A Kev Trill shot spun heavenward from the prone keeper and was calmly nodded home by new Matt in a classy finish. He turned provider next with an unselfish ball across the face of goal leaving me with the simple task of tapping home into an empty net. Something I should have done better for Kev later in the game to be fair.

Three up at half time became 4, 5 and 6 in a rush as the ball seemed to find me in front of goal with uncanny regularity and provided me with a 'perfect hat trick'. Matt broke into the box and was thwarted by a stray hand. Advantage was being played when he set a subtle pass to my left foot and for a change the shot produced a sweetly struck shot in to the bottom corner of the goal. Moments later a defensive mix up left the ball four yards out in front of goal and I smacked it home right footed. Finally a useful interchange of passes released Dougie with the freedom of the park and he tore in a great cross which the keeper flapped at, succeeding at letting it drop onto my head to be steered home with aplomb.

By this stage Kev was screaming for me to come off so he wasn't left too far behind in the scoring stakes. However, it was the other side who scored next with a ball bouncing around the edge of the area finally being hit home with a neat finish to the bottom corner. Immediately though Kev hit our reply. It really was good play as we set up an attack down our right culminating in a neat lay off and tidy finish from the lethal foot of Mr Trill who tucked the ball effortlessly into the far corner.

There was time for another goal from our opposition which was hit home from distance and past Kev who inadvertently left Rich unsighted in goal giving him no chance as ball nestled in the corner. The scoring continued apace with a sublime finish from another swift one touch move down the right, new Matt tucking the ball sweetly into the far corner again.

After such a glut of goals it was good to remind ourselves of the more comical moments of the game. Kev started things off with a terrible volley in the warm up which left the ball in the metaphorical row z and continued with a lovely shot from Dougie that looked destined for any goal bar the one he was aiming for. Unsurprisingly he was met with a volley of frowns and groans but his time will come, it's just a case of watch this space.

The best moment of the game was Dom's mystery foul. Having headed the ball touchward he ran at full pelt to retrieve it or at least make sure he cleared any residual danger. Yards from anyone he stumbled into the ball and threw himself at the ball with such force that he found his feet had disappeared and, much to everyone's amusement, found himself tumbling to the floor with real force and grazed his arm as he rolled about on the floor. It could have been a foul had anyone been anywhere near him and is unlikely to be repeated without the aid of a safety net. The unfortunate Chris was the victim of the game's only proper foul and it was right after he had beaten someone with a piece of theatrical skill which bought him time and space only to find he was hitting the deck instead of embarking on a mazy dribble to goal. There's always the next game.

Team

Rich Dom Dougie Kev (2) Matt C Chris New Matt (2) Iain (4)

It might even be worth keeping a tally of our goals this time round. At last we have some to tot up.

Oaklands at St Mary's

Having won through to the final of the Hampshire Cup, our Year 11 lads played at St Mary's on Friday with a game to remember. Most of the team had a PE exam in the morning but with that out of the way, they were treated to a pre match meal before arriving at the dressing rooms to be greeted by new kit with their names emblazoned on the back. The warm up was extensive and allowed them to enjoy the luxury of a pitch without having to clear the ground of piles of poo or having to avoid the mini mopeds roaring across the field. The downside is that they over did the amount of work, allied to the headless chicken approach early in the game, and there were many cases on both sides, of them going down with cramp in the last quarter of an hour.

The outcome was a 3 - 0 defeat sadly. They conceded a goal with the last kick of the first half in what had been an evenly matched game, and that meant they had to push for an equaliser. As is the case in proper football, that meant exposing themselves at the back. (Sounds familiar to Dougie!) Two breakaway goals gave a false impression of the divide between the teams but there is no doubt the other side played with more composure. Our lads lost if a bit and I was able to get on to the pitch to separate a few of them who were having a bit of a melee in front of a 12 year old referee. At least he looked 12.

I won't mention any of the trouble afterwards. It was all fairly low key!

The garden

I thought I'd video the garden as we prepare to sell up in the summer and make sure we have something to remember it by other than the photos. It always looks at its best at this time of year and we spent most of the day out hedge cutting, grass cutting and tidying up before having an evening on the swing seat in the cooling heat.

Glen's aquarium

Glen has 6 neon tetra, a black widow tetra, a rainbow tetra, a shark, 3 of the clown loach, a barbed tetra and Nobby whose family I can't remember. All seems very stable in the tank and we haven't lost any fish in a long time.

School and staff

I did a lot of interviewing this week to help staff prepare for their interviews as the ringfencing process nears completion rather late in the day. Those teachers in a competitive interview situation have to resign their positions by the end of May if they want to find something outside the Academy and therefore are having to make provision for being unsuccessful which means making a choice between seriously going for another job whilst not knowing if they could stay in their preferred post in Southampton.


The risk is that we will lose good staff because of the uncertainty whilst the irony is that many staff will leave although they want to remain and I stay even though I wanted to go. It's also strange how the people you expect to interview best don't always do that and that those who maybe appear less capable, interview very well. It just goes to show how poor the interviewing process can be. Whether that's down to poor interviewing I don't know but I can see how easy it is to appoint the wrong person.

Cricket

Verwood played their first game of the new league season yesterday and it was a familiar story with the team suffering a heavy defeat playing at home. We batted first and made painfully slow progress with just 108 on the board off the 42 overs. I made my first golden duck for years as a tail end batsman trying to hit a few runs off the final balls of the innings which was a little disappointing. It was a good way to get out though with an edge hitting the top of the bail, dislodging it and then being caught by the wicketkeeper. In that sense I was out twice which makes me feel a lot better. The top score was only 26 and that was a painstaking effort as well.

The runs were never enough and we were swiftly put out of our misery with only three wickets going down for the opposition. I was fortunate enough to take all three, ending with 3 - 33 off nine overs.

Having gone down a division, I had hoped we would be more competitive this season but we were pretty awful all round and have to sort ourselves out quickly.

Sports round up

Glen played his last league game of the season and had a bit of a stinker to be honest. We had a 9.30 kick off at Guys Marsh prison or rather just next to it and played Shaftesbury who were no match for Rossgarth after a disappointing season. It was all too easy at half time with Rossgrath 9 - 2 up and I think the ease with which they were scoring accounted for some slipshod play in the second half in which the opposition scored 4 times whilst everyone on the Rossgarth side was more intent on scoring themselves than in playing as a team. The win was secured at 13 - 6 which is more like the snooker score at the moment.

The highlight of the game was a goal scored by Shaftesbury when their keeper scored direct from a kick out as our keeper, unreliable at the best of times, totally lost the flight and bounce of the ball and watched it roll gently in.

Verwood started the cricket season with a friendly against CBBEA at Winton Oval. Having lost by exactly 100 runs last season, we did the same this year but with 5 fewer runs for either side. I topped scored last time round with 36 but only managed 7 this time but that was largely because everyone else was out leaving me stranded having watched 3 wickets fall at the other end.

I did manage a run out but I got no wickets in my 5 overs. It looks like a difficult season again but we are in a lower league this time round and that should make a difference.

I'm now getting back to work preparing for the Academy in Sept. I am having to do 4 mock interviews with staff tomorrow to prepare them for real interviews with the new school as they fight for the roles they were not matched to.

An interesing week

This seems to have been a particularly busy time with lots of development in the situation at school and the opening of the Academy in Sept. Having resolved my position last week and had that confirmed this week alongside salary, other staff have now received letters confirming where they are currently placed in the new staffing structure which means lots of interviewing for posts where there exist more than one natural successor. As well as that stress, a number of staff have been placed in areas where they are unhappy as their experience and skills have not been recognised which means there have been more than a few tears here since Wednesday.

The communication has been appalling at times and some of the problems could have been easily avoided with a little more consultation and sharing of information. It seems weird trying to balance the needs of my present position in a school I love being in against the needs of the new school which I have no great enthusiasm for, at least at present. However, communication is now progressing more positively and I hope I can improve morale and enthusiasm, not least my own.

Last night was an auction of promises in which I ended up with two large bottles of single malt whisky and £1500 was raised in total which is going towards the costs our final day at school which will be a celebration of the work that has been done over the past 25 years.

Tonight I am taking glen to football training swiftly followed by a trip to Bournemouth Airport to drop Sandra off on a flight to Dublin before flying to States tomorrow. In the morning Glen has a last match of the league season at Shaftsbury at 10 followed by the first cricket match of the year in Bournemouth. So I will need the long weekend to relax after the business of promotion and relegation from the Championship is decided. Plymouth are safely playing without fear of promotion or relegation but Saints need a point at least on Sunday to stay up. It would be such a change in fortune for a club that survived with a struggle in the top flight for years and then was doing so well with cup final and high league finish just a few years ago. To think they could be playing Bournemouth in a half empty stadium!

The big fella at the back will remember a cracking game we watched a few years back at St Marys in which the Geordie fans were great but Saints won 3 - 2 with Kieron Dyer being taken out and some would say, he has never truly recovered. It might be a while before that type of game is at the stadium again although our under 16 team has reached the Hampshire Cup Final and have been given permission to use the stadium free of charge on May 16th in what should be a fantastic experience for the boys. Not sure we'll fill the stadium though.

Good luck to Bristol again once the play offs start. Hull look to have the impetus but there doesn't seem to be any great quality amongst any of the sides involved so it should give any of them a chance.