Skip to main content

Player Profile #12: Jamie Cummins

 


Not so long ago a lengthy spell for Jamie Cummins might only have featured a solitary over but potentially comprised 18 deliveries, such was his occasional inability to land the ball on the cut bit without the aid of diagrams and instructions. 

On such occasions it seemed as though he might get lost on his way to his destination long before he reached his delivery stride. 

These days he may still mix in a liberal helping of wides in every spell - his best effort to date this season was four in a row - but he is firmly on pace to take more wickets than any other Offley seamer in 2021, having claimed 15 by the end of June.

Considering he only picked up 27 wickets in his first five seasons after making his debut in 2016, it's fair to say that Cummins has taken a substantial stride forward this year and is assured of taking the new ball whenever he plays.

While lacking express pace he has developed the ability to get the ball to move dramatically at times, something that was superbly illustrated in the wonderfully friendly contest with our great chums from Steppingley where he pitched one delivery outside leg stump and brought it back to clip the top of off.

On reflection this might not have been such a good thing because it freed the opening batsman up to return to the middle and cheat. 

Did I say cheat? My apologies. I meant umpire.

The highlight of Jamie's career to date was a dramatic spell of 5-25 against Luton Indians, a spell that would surely have contained a hat-trick had his captain and wicketkeeper not suddenly decided to stand up to the stumps, thereby missing a regulation edge.

He has quietly developed into one of the more reliable fielders at the club, heroically throwing himself around at short fine leg and has also taken some excellent catches in the outfield, notably off the slower bowlers. 

This is something that has not unfortunately always been reciprocated off his own bowling when he's found the edge and slip chances have not quite gone to hand.

Jamie customarily bats when all hope has gone.

Needless to say when he is called upon to make his way to the middle with his blade in hand it generally means that the innings is all but over.

31 innings have produced 52 runs and he has been dismissed without scoring on 11 occasions - he was a worthy recipient of the Duck Award in 2018.

He has yet to reach double figures - his highest score is 9 - and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that by the end of 2021 he will have taken more wickets for the club than he will have scored runs. 

The wickets currently trail by 10 but are closing fast.

Did You Know: Since the club fines system was introduced penalising all batsmen who fail to socre at least 10, it means that Jamie has been fined every single time he's batted....


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The People's Champions

"We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors' victory." A day out that was confidently expected to end around lunchtime eventually drew to a close in the early evening as heavy underdogs, Offley & Stopsley C.C., otherwise known as the People's Champions, took their leave of Knebworth Park having reached the club's first final since 2008. Unquestionably no one was more surprised at making it through to the final than the team themselves, the semi-final victory prompting a flurry of hastily rearranged plans. Ultimately they were not victorious on the pitch - not exactly a shock as they were up against a side six divisions above them in the Saracens League, a gap that will be confirmed as eight divisions once the tables are finalised on Saturday night. Yet at the end of a torrid season where the club flag has been subjected to shot and shell, it was heartening to know it still fluttered defiantly in the...

The Triangle of Triumph

OSCC, 116-6, beat Shillington, 115-9, by four wickets OSCC, 174-6, beat Harpenden, 166 all out, by eight runs OSCC, 245-6, beat Hexton, 152 all out, by 93 runs Having started the season by losing six out of six - and conceding a seventh to boot - Offley kicked the season into life with a three-game sweep of assorted opponents. The week that began with the unfortunate Bus Wanka saga ended with the victory beers overflowing. Captain Roger Piepenstock secured the first win of the season against Shillington, having been elected to the position on the grounds of his patrician bearing and the fact he was the only one with a coin (a golden guinea presumably) to toss up. Manouvering his fielders with a combination of frantic arm-waving and polite requests one that conjured images of a pissed up usher at a garden party, Captain Piepenstock ensured Shillington were restricted to 115-9.  Mark Kirkman and Shane Jones were the pick of the bowlers with three wickets apiece but there were also tw...

iBat; iBowl; iPad

  OSCC, 71 all out, got about halfway against Leverstock Green, 155 all out iPad At the captain's request (for a direct line please dial 0-9 for Wardy) I'm not allowed to mention what effect Saturday's result has had on our survival prospects. However, I think I am free to point out this challenging mathematical poser, namely what would happen if you took the points we have accumulated in the Bedfordshire league (depleted by 10 after Sunday's concession) and added them to those we have accumulated in the Saracens League? Answer: we'd still be pretty severely fucked.... Things did not begin well on Saturday.  Richie Barker missed out with a nasty toe injury (laughably sustained attempting to bowl seam in the nets) and Danny O'Brien was forced to withdraw on the morning of the match after a tough week at work. Roger Piepenstock, a man who lives within a stone's throw of the ground, although perhaps not if that stone is being thrown by an Offley fielder, subseq...