Concorde v Haymakers

Match Report

This was a new fixture for us arranged at short notice against Haymakers Cricket club which, as it turned out, is actually an unofficial team of ex Kings School Canterbury pupils. A very pleasant set of chaps they turned out to be and as might be expected of a group brought up playing cricket in a public school environment, all well versed in the art of the game.

Having won the toss, Haymakers elected to bat and it was immediately apparent that the team name was entirely appropriate. Whilst Brandon, bowling with considerable fire and pace, was treated with respect, Cudders was despatched to all parts and after 2 overs was removed from the firing line and was replaced by Adam and together these two tyros brought some order to the game.

Brandon soon clean bowled the opener and the other was caught behind but this brought to the wicket no’s 3 & 4 who looked extremely well ordered and whilst not looking entirely comfortable against Adam and Brandon, they lost no opportunity in putting away anything loose and the score mounted fast.

With the score having reached about 150, George induced a lofted drive from the number 3 to mid on where debutant Luca Coleman ran 20 yards to pluck a marvellous running catch out of the air. Lifted by this great moment, Jerry Wright induced much the same from the batsman at the other end where Adam at Long on pouched the catch with complete assurance.

Alas, any thoughts that we might now be in the ascendancy were soon dispelled as at the other end, the number 4 batsman batted with total control to complete an excellent century and it was something of a relief when a declaration at tea came with the score on 248 -6 with Adam having picked up a late wicket and Nigel Wright also picking up a wicket in the final over.

248 always looked an unlikely total bearing in mind the rather weak batting line up on the Concorde side and a good start was going to be essential. The two old Pro’s Wright and Symondson went out to face the storm in the shape of two lively (and young) opening bowlers and neither looked in trouble in getting the total to 25 and it was something of a surprise when Rob was caught for 6 and Jerry was bowled behind his legs for a carefully crafted 2, extras having played a large part in advancing the score to that point.

Nigel Wright, coming in at 3, made the second top score of 12 giving plenty of ammunition for a lengthy post match analysis of each run and Brandon batted very well for 25 before being unluckily bowled by a ball spinning off his defensive shot and back onto his stumps. Thereafter, the remaining batsmen subsided to a paltry total of 110 with no one else reaching double figures and a rather ignominious defeat by 138 runs was duly chalked up.