Concorde v Christchurch

Match Report

DOUBLE MATT FINISH GLOSSES OVER BATTING STRUGGLE!

A very enjoyable game against very useful and sociable opposition made up of mostly Caribbean players, ended in a slightly lame draw but in the end we were just pleased to maintain our unbeaten record against a very handy bowling attack.

With skipper Jerry Wright not on duty this week, on winning the toss on a damp soft wicket, under cloudy skies, I invited Christchurch to bat. The pitch was very slow and the Christchurch openers found it difficult going with the ball hardly coming onto the bat. Brandon and Matt Jarratt took the new ball in the absence of the likes of Simon, Matt Hallam and Adam, and they both bowled very well, with the odd short ball being despatched but both troubled the batsmen and Brandon especially was getting swing and seam movement and after 14 overs the total was just 36-0. Jacob replaced Brandon at the pavilion end and had immediate success when the younger opener went for an expansive drive and skied one to point where Josh took a well judged catch. Unfortunately that opened ‘Pandora’s box’ as Mr George came in at no.3- a powerful and fit batsman who swept Edgar for two boundaries in his first over and changed the complexion of the game at Jacob’s and Edgar’s expense with some explosive hitting and quick running between the wickets although this did bring us another success when he pushed the veteran opener Andy Robinson into a tight second run and Brandon’s bullet throw to the keeper saw him run out by two yards! 76-2. We then saw two 19 year old lads at nos 4 and 5 both from the St Vincent under 19’s, come out in succession to support Mr George. The left handed no.4 struck a quick 13 before the returning Brandon had him caught behind by Nick in his first over back, 117-3, but his replacement looked even better, hitting an enormous six onto the pavilion roof and a similar blow into the field at the other end. But at 129 we enjoyed a ‘champagne moment’ when the dangerous Mr George hit one hard to mid wicket and set off for a run- Josh made a good but not entirely clean stop but then recovered in an instant, spun round and threw down the stumps at the bowlers end to send the batsman packing. Brilliant fielding!

Soon afterwards, an astute piece of captaincy saw Matt Stockbridge moved from slip to reinforce the off side and first ball of Edgar’s next over saw him take a smart catch at extra cover to send back the hard hitting no.5, 155-5. Edgar then picked up his second wicket when James Aston took a very good catch at backward square leg off a hard pull that had ‘4’ written all over it! We hoped we had seen the last of their offensive batting but the no.6 after blocking a few initially, decided to launch his own offensive against the writer, who had belatedly replaced Edgar, and young Brandon and his quick 30 took the opposition up towards 200. The end of their innings saw Matt Stockbridge replacing Brandon at the pavilion end and remarkably taking 4-9 in three overs with his ‘off cutters’ bowled off about 3 paces with cap on, with peak reversed. I only put him on to give him a go and save Brandon from any further ‘tail end slogging’ and his final wicket saw Josh pull off a tremendous catch running and tumbling to his left in front of the pavilion to the great appreciation of the watching opposition. Oh, did I mention he was fielding with a broken finger?

It was a strange innings, with us controlling it for the first hour, then Christchurch putting us ‘to the sword’ for an hour then us reining them back at the end. Generally the fielding was very good with Josh truly outstanding, (so much so, we’ll ignore the six in overthrows), and a couple of missed routine boundary catches off the writer towards the end (I won’t mention names), whilst Nick Freeman had another good game behind the stumps, except for one stumping chance, he would normally have swallowed. The Camberley boys always raise the fielding ‘bar’ when they play but new additions Richard, James and Matt J., as well as Jacob returning to us, have all made a big difference. Nigel also had a very good game in the field again so, that aspect of our game was very satisfying.

Our innings in reply takes rather less time to summarise. Christchurch had a very good opening attack, the under -19’s no.5 batsman Mr Brown was as quick as anything we have faced for 2-3 years and the left handed bowler from the mansion end bowled 4 successive maidens at the start , so it was a battle for survival for our new opening pair of Josh & Edgar. After 9 overs we were 8-0 , which became 10-1 when Edgar was bowled for 3, and after a couple of boundaries Josh was bowled by Mr Brown for 8, 26-2. Brandon & Richard Ingham made a bit of a recovery particularly when the change bowlers came on but they were also very accurate if less menacing, and Richard was caught at point for 9 to reduce us to 59-3 when the last 20 overs started, Brandon then ‘tickled’ one to the keeper down the leg side for 26, 61-4, James then went back to a ball he should have pushed forward to which kept a bit low and was bowled for 0, 63-5, and then Nick Freeman who had made a fairly rapid and belligerent 22 got a truly ‘horrible’ ball, a ‘pea roller’ which he could do nothing about and was so plumb lbw, even I couldn’t not raise the finger.

At 74-6 with 11 overs to go, the last two recognised batsman Matt Jarratt and Matt Stockbridge rightly decided to demonstrate their excellent temperament and techniques to avoid the prospect of Messrs. Wright, Nizzola & Cudworth having to face Messrs. Brown and Bartley. Although I consider myself amongst, if not the best, no.11, in Concorde history, I fully commend the judgement of the two Matt’s. We finished on 98-6.

Not very competitive in the end but a nice fixture, and we won’t face that bowling too often.

Next week it’s The Nomads !