Concorde v Christchurch CC

Match Report

CONCORDE LOSE IN A NAIL BITING FINISH

This has been a season full of very exciting games and I am pleased to say that this was no exception with the balance of power see sawing back and forth throughout but particularly during the climax of the match which actually finished half an hour after the scheduled close due to the tension generated.

We were pleased to be able to field a strong team which we felt confident would give a good account of itself and this was comforting as the opposition arrived, showing themselves to be a team of distinctly Caribbean make up which usually means fast bowling and destructive batting. On winning the toss they put us in which I took to mean that they were rather more confident of their batting than their bowling and in general terms, this was probably a fair summation.

Since Jordy was to be delayed due to putting his parents on a plane back to NZ, our innings was opened by Nikhil and Josh, a new combination, which worked out extremely well. These two took the score to 50 with Nikhil, as always combining watchful defence with the occasional powerful drive of which the highlight was a majestic drive through extra cover early in his innings. When he was bowled for 18, it was something of a surprise. Josh meanwhile was playing a lovely innings of superb touch and elegance mixing some delightful drives with some beautiful clips off his legs to the boundary. I am told that he has been working hard on his batting and it certainly showed.

Joined by Brandon, these two moved smoothly along with Josh passing 50 for the first time for the club and looking nailed on to progress to three figures. However, the bowling while never looking especially dangerous was not easy to get away on a slow pitch and the scoring rate was such that a sub two hundred score looked on the cards slightly to the unease of the captain who viewed 230 as par.

When Brandon fell for an excellent 37, the later batsmen were sent out with the instruction to push on and wickets began to fall as they unselfishly tried to hit out. Nick Freeman was caught for 14 after striking a lovely six and Jordy (11) was amazingly well caught low down at square cover. Josh’s fine innings of 82 came to a close as he was bowled and Pat Wells was stumped so it was left to Adam to strike some good blows in making 21 before being bowled almost on the stroke of tea with the Concorde score on 191 for 7.

Our bowling was opened by Adam and Brandon who both bowled with pace and hostility and initially looked to have the Christchurch openers in a bit of trouble, However, the batsmen played in survival mode for about 5 overs before Robertson began to open his shoulders and it was clear that this was a very good player. Brandon, fortunately, gained an LBW decision against the other opener but Robertson continued on his way taking every opportunity to spank the ball to the boundary.

Nikhil replaced Adam and Jerry came on for Brandon and a modicum of order was restored but still the scoring bounded along with the number 3 batsman Khan also looking very competent and with the score at 88 – 1, it was a relief to reach the drinks break. During the drinks break, Jerry engaged Robertson in conversation for some minutes, a subterfuge which reaped an immediate dividend as Jerry’s first ball after the break took out Robertson’s middle stump.

Again, the replacement looked good and at 130 – 2, things did not look good for Concorde. Thom Griffiths replaced Nikhil and bowled three overs of very decent off spin but at this point and with 10 overs to go Brandon and Adam came back into the attack. Almost immediately Brandon struck getting an LBW against Khan (43) and then knocking out Hewitts stumps for 28. Now we were back in the hunt and Adam began to bowl very fast and very straight and in successive overs he worked his way through the middle order and tail so that suddenly we only needed two wickets and they needed 10 runs off two overs.

Adam took his fifth wicket to leave them 9 down and with 3 to win off the last two overs, Nikhil bowled the penultimate over which only went for 1 run, a superb effort. However, the winning runs came with 3 balls of the match left to cap off a superb game played in a great spirit throughout, Christchurch winning by one wicket. Unusually, every wicket taken in the Christchurch innings was either bowled or LBW, a testament to some very straight bowling.