Concorde v Bank of England

Match Report

What a wonderful way this was to kick off the new and rather belated season. On a delightfully warm and sunny day we were finally able to play the inaugural fixture against Bank of England, a fixture which has been some 3 years in the planning, having been cancelled for various reasons in the two preceding seasons. And what an exciting game it turned out to be.

With all the requirements for 6 over breaks for sanitisation, umpires unable to hold sweaters or touch the ball and no tea, these are strange times but a palpable sense of relief and excitement hung over Sendholme as Jerry Wright took the toss with the Opposition Captain and having lost, we were promptly inserted. This caused some consternation as our opening batsman, Nikhil had not arrived and our no 3, Ash Westen had already indicated that he would be half an hour late. A hurried reshuffle led to Nick Freeman striding out to open with new recruit Chris Patterson and Jerry Wright stepping up to no 3.

Things did not start well with Nick Freeman top edging a cut to point and Jerry hitting a full toss down the throat of long leg with the score on 17. Nick Wright entered the fray after a 4 year lay off and treating the situation with the respect it deserved, he and Chris set about steadying the ship. On a slowish wicket against some very easy paced bowling and with defensive fields being set, runs were very hard to find and came pretty much in singles before Chris was bowled for an excellent 26 on debut and the score on 49.

Richard Ingham, Nikhil and Ashley all made valuable contributions with only Ash looking as though he might break the stranglehold but by the time all of them and Nick (40) had gone and with the score at 134, a total of 160 looked on the cards but with our two fast bowlers at the crease, Dukie and Matt Hallam, there was a sudden outbreak of violence as these two began to lay about them. Dukie, in particular, hit long and far taking 32 off one over including 4 sixes and 2 fours and within 3 overs these two had transformed the innings.

Jerry Wright was able to call them at 4.45pm with the comparative luxury of 197 on the board with Dukie 40no and Matt 23no after a partnership of 63 in no time at all.

After a short break, the BOE innings commenced with Dukie now on top of the world and bowling like the wind. It was difficult not to feel sorry for the BOE batsmen as thunderbolt after thunderbolt shot past them and although they defended bravely, Dukie tore out three sets of stumps in his first 7 over spell to leave BOE on a creditable 55 for 3, much of which had come from very swiftly travelling edges. At the other end Matt Hallam also bowled with good pace and although economical, was unlucky to get no reward. However, his big moment was to come!

Cudders came on for Matt and bearing in mind his extreme age and lack of practice, did well to land immediately on a length and using his legendary cunning was able to induce a thick edged cut to gully which was very well taken by Chris Patterson and then clean bowled the no 6 batsman to take him to 489 career wickets for the club. Nikhil meanwhile had replaced Dukie and as usual was bringing much pressure to bear at the other end which was rewarded by a clean bowled, sadly his last wicket for the club before departing for Scotland.

Jerry Wright replaced Nikhil and in his second over took wickets in successive balls, the second a good catch behind the wicket by Nick Freeman standing up – never easy!. The hat trick ball passed without positive result but there followed a few minutes of mayhem as Matt Hallam just failed to hold a very sharp chance at silly point off Jerry and then Nikhil, perhaps with the safest hands in the club, dropped a sitter, also off the Captain!

It was clear by this point that BOE could not win and so began the effort to hold on for a draw which was undertaken for some time by the 77 year old wicketkeeper who presented a straight bat to all guileful efforts to persuade him to leave and by the no 6 batsman, who by now had progressed past 50. Time to call up the artillery, and Dukie re entered the fray bowling every bit as fast as previously and the no 6 finally hit one to extra cover where the safe hands of Nigel Wright took the catch.

With the last pair at the crease and one over to go, the senior Pro Cudders urged the Skipper to bring back Matt Hallam.  All deliveries were successfully defended but to the surprise of everybody, the umpire called a no ball off the last ball and off this final delivery, the 7th of the over, Matt hit the top of middle stump to win the game for Concorde. What a finish and sportingly accepted by the BOE team who nevertheless had some choice words for the umpire! When asked why he had called a no ball off the last ball of the game, he very reasonably replied “because it was a no ball”. The simplicity and honesty of this response sums up the ideals of this great game and reflect great credit on the BOE team and club.

It remained only for Nikhil to lead us off the pitch in this his last game for us after a short period of a season and a half during which he has become an important member of the side, taking 43 wickets last year with his left arm spin, reliable catching and very useful batting. More importantly, he has been a very popular member of the club and will be much missed.