Concorde v 54th OCA

Match Report

If events at Concorde were slightly overshadowed by those unfolding at Headingly, it could hardly be surprising since the incredible innings by Ben Stokes, which has been widely lauded as the finest by an England player since Sir Ian Botham’s against the same opponents in 1981. Whilst no one outside of an Englishman ever wants England to win against any one, at least Jordy (a Kiwi) was heard to mutter proudly that Stokes is a Kiwi. Not any more he isn’t!

Away from Headingly, there were some excellent performances on the green sward of Send albeit culminating in a result that was as far away from the exciting match in Yorkshire as it is possible to get.

On winning the toss, 54OCA invited Concorde to bat which, on perhaps the hottest day of the year, they were more than happy to do. Jordy opened the innings with debutant David “Suppy” Joseph who during the brief time that he was at the crease, showed that this was a man who could bat. Sadly, there was little time for this to be shown in the form of runs since he had only faced a few balls before running himself out. Hopefully, we will see more of his talents in the weeks to come.

Jordy, however, and Ashley moved the score along well, both striking the ball beautifully before Jordy was bowled for 35, put together in his usual muscular style. Ash continued along his merry way, gliding the ball elegantly through the covers and occasionally over the top and passed 50 for the 4th time in as many games this season. When he was adjudged LBW for 57, Adam and Nikhil kept up the scoring rate with Nikhil being particularly savage on the bowling compiling 27 with the aid of 2 sixes and 3 fours before being bowled.

Adam continued to show what a fine all round cricketer he is becoming by passing 50, hitting some lovely shots all around the wicket before also being bowled for 57. Brandon with a quick 14 and Nick Freeman with an even more rapid 33 took the score to 250 in 39 overs when the declaration game.

Due to a mix up in the playing conditions, it is probably fair to say that the Concorde innings was somewhat over extended meaning that, once the error became apparent, it meant that having batted for three hours, the opposition would get no more than 2 hours batting time. Consequently, 54OCA did not feel inclined to chase the target down which made for a fairly turgid second half to the match.

It was immediately obvious to all that 54OCA were “going slow” perhaps in protest at being kept in the field excessively and all efforts to bowl them out on a batsman friendly wicket, proved fruitless. In all, 8 bowlers had a bowl including 8 overs from 13 year old Ben Western who finished his spell with 1 -16, aided by a marvellously athletic overhead catch from Josh Griffiths at wide mid on. Wickets also fell to Brandon, Ashley and Nikhil whilst the 5th wicket fell to a superb piece of ground fielding by Adam in the form of a run out – slightly bizarre in the context of the game!

A total of 37 overs were bowled, only two short of the total bowled at Concorde. Those 37 overs produced a total of 89 runs of which only 63 came from the bat making for a pretty dull afternoons cricket. Nevertheless, we have has some great games against 54OCA and no doubt we will have plenty more in the future. Perhaps this one is best consigned to the past while we focus on England’s great win instead.