Match Report
NICK WRIGHT STARS WITH 88 AS CONCORDE STOP THE ROT
Sunday 2nd saw us entertain Northwest CC, a new fixture for us, against a combined Pakistani/Afghan XI from London. As some of us feared, whilst they were collectively a decent bunch of lads, they were clearly totally unfamiliar with our format of cricket, playing a timed game, with one ball, where we like to end up sharing a drink with the opposition (alcoholic or not) after the match.
After John had quite rightly refused their request for a 40 over game & explained in intimate detail how declaration cricket worked, Northwest elected to bat. On a very hot afternoon, despite the fact they potentially had 2 hours 45 mins to bat, Northwest went off like a ‘train’ and both Prash from the pavilion end and skipper John from the mansion end, both suffered as the openers ‘threw the bat’ at anything pitched up and rattled along at about 7-8 an over before Prash induced the shorter opener to top edge a catch which Jerry safely pouched over his shoulder at mid-wicket to make it 57-1. With Prash suddenly out of the attack with a back spasm, John decided to turn to spin with Jerry & guest player Kevin Cobb from W&H taking over and it brought immediate results as Jerry secured a successful lbw first ball to make it 63-2. The opposition however seemed to have an endless stream of ‘hitters’ and the runs continued to build, albeit at a slightly slower rate as the pace was taken off the ball. Kevin gained a successful lbw to send back the remaining opener, and Nick Wright then took a good catch off his father at deep mid-on and at 133-4 we thought we were back in the game but then the experienced no.5 and younger no. 6 stepped it ‘up a gear’ and the score rapidly accelerated with Matt S. , who had replaced Kevin at the pavilion end, particularly suffering on this occasion as several of us, including the writer, have in recent weeks. However a lot of shots were going in the air and our torment subsided a bit when in rapid succession, both nos.5 & 6 found the safe hands of Kevin Cobb at long on, off the writer to reduce the visitors to 233-6. It seemed an ample total to us but they batted on until finally all out for 262, still about 15 mins before the scheduled tea interval, with myself & Nick Wright mopping up the tail.
After tea, things got off to a bad start when the opposition (who at the start had declared that they didn’t have a new match ball) suddenly found one and insisted on using it for our innings despite being told the rules at the beginning! To add insult to injury, skipper John W. was then caught at first slip second ball, for a duck! Nick W. joined Prash and they formed a solid and entertaining partnership, both watchful in defence but ruthless on anything over pitched or short, adding 86 in 16 overs before Prash was caught at cover for 31 in the 16th over. Nick continued to build nicely against varied & tidy bowling, with some classic driving and in tandem with Matt Stockbridge took it up to 124 when we suddenly lost 3 wkts for 2 runs in the space of three overs with Matt departing for 6, Nick F. for 2, and Jerry W. joining the skipper in ‘not troubling the scorers’. At 126-5 Rob Symondson, the last recognised batsman, joined Nick and with about 9 an over now needed, and little offensive batting to come, sensibly decided just to bat out the last 10 overs. The opposition couldn’t quite understand what was going on, and were clearly puzzled why we weren’t simply throwing the bat. Nick was nearing a century when he was slightly surprisingly bowled for 88 with 14 fours & 1 six. Nigel blocked out the final over and Rob Symondson finished 16 n.o. As we finished on 175-6.
The opposition didn’t put ‘a penny’ across the bar and vamoosed immediately after the game finished which is always disappointing. Had they understood the game , I’m sure Northwest could have declared at 233 which was an ample total and given themselves an extra 30. mins to try to bowl us out. So, in the end a stalemate but after recent results it was good to end a run of defeats with our highest score of the season so far.
ConcordeNorthwest CC 