Concorde v Cuddington Casuals

Match Report

TIGHT BOWLING PERFORMANCE SETS UP COMFORTABLE WIN

Last week saw us entertain our old rivals Cuddington, in what turned out to be a low scoring game between two sides both slightly under strength in quality and both with 10 men.Jerry was unable to lead the side with an ongoing knee niggle so asked me to deputise. We won the toss and duly asked Cuddington to bat first.

With Josh unavailable this week, our two other young guns Adam & Brandon took the new ball and made life very difficult for the visiting openers, particularly for Cuddington stalwart John Sattaur who incredibly survived a barrage of ‘yorkers’ and full length balls which he somehow managed to get a bit of wood on to preserve his wicket. Brandon made the breakthrough bowling Scott Barlowwith one that moved back in and Adam finally got just reward hitting the very top of John Sattaur’s off stump. Edgar relieved Adam at the pavilion end and with an inspired bit of captaincy I sent out young Brandon to deep square leg- Edgar promptly tempted the powerful young left hander to sweep and a top edge was safely pouched on the fence by Brandon. Shortly afterwards Ashley cleaned bowled the no.4 and Cuddington were in trouble at 54-4. Pete Sattaur and Matt Stockbridge looked like the last real partnership for the visitors but their hopes of posting a competitive score took a ‘body blow’ when Edgar took a return catch off Pete Sattaur’s mistimed drive and after a couple of lusty blows to the boundary the young no.7 was bowled to become Edgar’s third victim. Matt Stockbridge was the last real hope for Cuddington but after depositing the writer for a one bounce four over square leg he was bowled through ‘the gate’ next ball, and when George then took two quick wickets it was innings ended for 98. On a side note, young Cameron Lesser arrived about 20 mins before the end of the innings to bring us up to 11 men, having played two junior games earlier in the day and in his short time on the field he stopped everything that came his way and threw it in with the arm of a 16 year old (I think he’s 9).

Over tea I reflected on the order, offered Stockers the opportunity to open against his old mates, but when he decided to stay at no.7, I went with Nick & Edgar.They made a solid start but surprisingly after one boundary Edgar tried to pull one which didn’t get up and he was plumb lbw to reduce us to 17-1. Adam joined Nick and this was to be the vital partnership in the game, as they batted sensibly, running well, punishing the bad ball and Cuddington simply didn’t have the firepower or guile to dislodge them until the score reached 89 when suddenly we lost 2 wkts in successive balls to the young left arm opening bowler, first bowling Nick for a solid 40, and then Rob for 0, swishing at his first ball. Brandon joined Adam, hit a couple of quick fours and that was that for a 7 wicket victory, with Adam finishing on a very mature 38 n.o. and Brandon 9 n.o.

A slightly disappointing game for the ‘crowd’ I suppose but we’ll happily take it and concentrate our minds for the visit of Magdalen next week which should represent a far ‘stiffer’ test.