Concorde v Sanford

Match Report

The wicket was in excellent condition and full credit was given to our Chairman Mick Reeve for delivering arguably the best looking track seen at Sendholme for many years.

Concorde were to bat first and Edgar started with new recruit Jody Mycroft (who had played against Concorde for Haymakers in previous years). The pair set off at a very decent pace bringing the score close to 50 before Edgar succumbed to a low keeping quick ball on 11 runs.

Jody was joined by Justin and they both enjoyed a good spell of hard hitting and boundaries were found with relative ease. Justin was caught on 21 after an impressive display of cricket shots. John Wilson then entered the attack which helped see Jody get his 50 on his debut, 8 Fours and 1 six leaving little room to bother with running between the wickets! Sadly, on 50 he fell to a LBW, bringing myself to the crease. It took me a while to get the feel of things but by now at one end the bowling had become slower and less accurate. The odd loose ball heading to the boundary. John was bowled on only 2 runs but looked good until that point. Rob similarly didn’t last long and then was replaced by Matt Stockbridge who found some form and punished the bad balls. I managed to push onto 53 before being bowled. In came Vice Captain Jerry Wright who gave the tail a final wag. Stockers Junior was dismissed on a well earned 21 which brought 13 year old James Briley to the crease. James managed to slot away his first boundary for Concorde bringing possibly the loudest cheer of the day from the entire crowd! James ended on 5. Ben W and Ian were called upon but this time did little damage to the score. Jerry finished on 14 not out and Concorde a respectable 202 declared for tea with 9 wickets lost.

Tea was fabulous as ever supplied by Janet & Dotty.

The 2nd half got underway with myself and Ben opening the bowling. My first over started rather wayward but fortunately got better.

Ben bowled a steady fast paced attack with a good line & length. As often happens in Sunday cricket the weaker bowling often gets the results – my first ball in the second over surprised their opener as was straight and hit the middle stump. My second wicket came with an edge and to Jerry W’s safe hands at slip. The following over it was Ben’s turn to get a wicket with Jody going for Olympic scoring points for his catching dive! Young James Briley took the sight screen end and bowled a tight and fast paced 4 overs. Ben continued a bit longer before being replaced by Edgar who had a frustrating time with a few dropped opportunities. John Wilson bowled a very tight spell getting for only 23 runs from 7 overs. Jerry replaced Eddie and bowled very well with several chances being dropped, none more painful than my own drop of one of their strongest batsmen who was still in single figures. The match started to get away from us and we needed a break through. Ben W came back into the attack and bowled a few shockers before taking a catch off his own bowling at lightning speed, finishing 2 wickets from 11 overs for 44. Next over Jerry got his reward and I redeemed myself taking a catch at deep mid off. Suddenly the game was in the balance with a sentiment shift in our favour. Cudders replaced Ben and it wasn’t long before he had his first scalp. The Jerry Wright and Ian Cudworth old guard bowling attack was in full swing, Jerry picking up 3 wickets from 6 overs for only 23 runs. Ian taking 1 wicket from 4 overs for 16. Sanford were now 8 wickets down and needing around 30 runs from the last 5 overs. We tightened the fielding only to see the next ball hit straight back past Cudders almost for 6.

The game really could have gone either way but finished probably fairly in a draw and was played in a wonderful spirit – both sides dropped several catches but I think we left the ground feeling that had we held on to a couple more….indeed catches win matches!

We look forward to hosting Sanford again next season.