Concorde v Fleet Street Strollers

Match Report

Fleet Street Strollers generally provide strong opposition so whilst we were struggling to find 11 men of Concorde to take them on, it was a relief to hear that Scott Baldwin, who had caused a stir when playing against us for the Presidents XI was available and was bringing with him, a friend Tim Soper. Mick Reeve generously offered to stand down and so we had 11 plus a reserve.

Unfortunately, on the morning of the game, The Griffiths, Father & Son, were struck down with illness so with Mick back in the side, we were down to 10.

Perhaps mindful that last year we had chased down a target of 255, The FSS captain invited us to bat first and so Jerry Wright and Ed Fernandes took the field having agreed not to run any quick singles and definitely no more than two leisurely runs at any time, having only one serviceable leg each on which to operate.

Facing some accurate swing bowling, they started cautiously but had 27 on the board before Edgar drove a full blooded ball to silly mid off and was brilliantly caught one handed for 10. The opening bowler was then replaced by a gentlemen who lobbed the ball skyward and invited one to commit hari kari, a strategy which has surely brought him rich rewards over the years. Initially, Jerry and Scott Baldwin played this quite well, coming down the wicket and playing a mixture of big shots and dabs for singles before Jerry played a little early (hard not to!) and was caught and bowled for 23.

Scott, now joined by Rob Symondson, went on the attack and there was a flurry of sixes and fours which was only interrupted when Rob was given out LBW for 2. Nick Freeman played in his usual pugnacious manner, smiting the ball strongly over the bowlers head before being out for 26 and when Scott walked down the wicket to the slow lob bowler, missed and was bowled for 47 (2 x 4’s, 3 x 6’s), our score of 110 for 4 was looking rather inadequate.

We need not have feared, however, as Adam Carter chose this moment to play an excellent and very mature innings, ably supported , first by George and then by Tim Soper, in making a fine 50, his second for the club. A leg break bowler was at this point introduced to the attack and he produced a beauty to bowl George with one that pitched on leg and took off and then produced another good ball to bowl Adam, who admittedly was attempting a slog sweep which may not have been the ideal shot.

The Concorde innings closed on 181, a total that looked about 30 runs below par.

In spite of suffering some long term shoulder problems, Scott Baldwin is a fairly fearsome proposition and with Tim purveying some very accurate seam at the other end, FSS found the going very tough initially but defended well until there came a devastating over from Scott who uprooted off stump twice in his 4th over and also forced the next batsman to play on giving him 3 wickets in the over and putting us firmly in the driving seat.

George then replaced Scott and having found an excellent length and getting a little turn, took a smart return catch to reduce FSS to 40 -4 and looking as though their challenge was gone. Ian then replaced Tim after a long and very accurate spell in which as so often happens, he had no luck at all. Ian, however, swiftly induced a leading edge and himself took the catch and FSS looked in even deeper trouble with 5 down for 50.

One of their early order batman still remained and he dug in with the afore mentioned leg spinner and they proved hard to separate, mixing watchful defence with some big blows and the score mounted at an uncomfortable speed. With 20 overs left to play, FSS required no more than 4 runs an over to win and had their minds very much on winning and by the time that 12 overs remained, they required only 50.

At this point Adam came into the attack but was clearly struggling with a back injury and not bowling with his usual control. Nevertheless, a short one was smacked by the leg spinner off the back foot to Tim Soper at Mid off and we had the wicket we needed. We then played our trump card with Edgar coming into the attack with his leg spin and this brought immediate results. The, hitherto, totally comfortable top order batsman tried to work the ball through a large gap at midwicket and was bowled by one that turned and his replacement went in almost an identical way a few balls later. When the next batsman hit Edgar to midwicket, Scott took the catch and it all looked over. However, the last pair played well enough to save the game and indeed finished the game only 9 runs short of a win, a close result which had looked unlikely for the vast majority of the innings.

Scott bowled 10 overs, 3 – 18, Edgar 7 overs, 3 – 24 and Tim Soper a very economical 14 overs for 44 runs

A drawn game then but strongly contested in an excellent spirit throughout and much enjoyed by both sides.