Concorde v Pirbright

Match Report

Match report courtesy of guest reporter George Howard

Sunday 6 August 2017. A picturesque scene awaited the Concorde and Pirbirght players as they arrived at Sendholme to play out what turned out to be an enjoyable game. The weather was clear, with a light speckling of clouds, similar to the opening of the Simpsons, as Jerry Wright and the Pirbirght skipper strode to the middle for the toss, with Jerry winning and, as usual, electing to field first. The sun shone brightly as the Concorde players emerged from the changing rooms, their whites gleaming in the August sunshine and some joints creaking from the two week break.

Adam Carter opened the bowling from the Pavilion end with a good spell of probing pace. He had the openers swishing and swashing at balls on and around off stump and this resulted in Adam taking the first wicket, having the Pirbright opener edge a full ball straight to gully where Rob Symondson reached up and snaffled the ball above his head. At Number 3 came one of the more established Pirbright players, who settled in and looked quite comfortable running singles and hitting boundaries. Adam then had the second opener LBW for 1 which bought another accomplished batman to the crease. With the score at 13 for 2 it was a decent start, but the number 3 and 4 were starting to look more and more at home at the crease.

From the house end Josh Griffiths bowled with venom and pace, however was slightly wayward, but looked menacing enough, especially for the Pirbright batsman, who were quite flustered at the yorkers aimed at their stumps. Young George Howard was bought into the attack, replacing Josh from the house end, after 8 overs of examining pace bowling from Josh, and he started well, getting some turn but was unable to sneak the ball through the gap between bat and pad – every so often he dropped short and was pulled to the man sweeping out on the boundary – much to his annoyance. Replacing Adam at the pavilion end, Edgar Fernandes was introduced to the attack with his leg spin also unable to create a chance early on. The spin twins twirled their way through 10 overs between them, creating a few chances that were either dropped by the ring fielders, or at slip. Edgar was replaced by the skipper, who was bowling his medium pace off spin and started if with an exquisite delivery to have the number 3 caught at slip for 76 and then bowled the number 4 for 73! A truly marvellous bowling change and, as the bowler himself put it, exquisite captaincy. Jerry bowled 7 overs for 16 runs and 5 wickets. Jerry then somehow managed to bowl 2 in two balls, and the field came up for the hat trick delivery, which was blocked out, just. The nerves must have tingled for the Pirbright batsman with 11 wicket thirsty Concorde players around the bat!

George, his hair and whites immaculate as always, was replaced by Simon Griffiths at the House End. Simon lacked the pace of his son, however bowled well producing the odd good ball. Adam was bought back on from his favoured Pavilion end, and bowled the number 9 for 14. At this moment the Pirbright captain declared and the players followed Jerry Wright off, congratulating him for his 5 wickets!

Tea was consumed quite heartily by both sides, with very little left overs and this may account for the slow scoring of the Concorde innings which began with Edgar and Nick Freeman opening up against the Pirbiright bowling attack. Bowling from the house end was a tall fiery red head who bowled with good pace, bowling 3 maidens on the bounce, while from the other end the Pirbright bowler Hansen (Not the former Match of the Day pundit) induced a false cut from Nick Freeman who played the ball onto his stumps for 2. Coming in at 3, Mark Neale strode to the wicket, and as the bowler began to run in, Mark pulled away, realising, just in time that he was not as protected as he would have liked! Mark removed his box from his pocket, and popped it into place with one fielder asking if the box had been strategically placed in his pocket to protect his i-phone. Mark looked very composed but, sadly, he also chopped onto his stumps for 7 off Hansen. This brought Nick Wright to the crease. Nick played well enough, unleashing a powerful straight drive as only Nick can but then missed a straight one and was bowled for 5. Nick trudged back to the pavilion claiming that it was sickness that made him miss the ball, or that it moved, or there was a hole in his bat. We’re not quite sure which!

This brought the evergreen Rob Symondson to the crease, to applause from his fan club, which included his little granddaughter. He played well , staying at the crease long enough for his family to leave, and made a tidy 17 off 40 balls, knocking the bowling around and running rapid twos with Edgar. Rob was playing well forward but was not forward enough and was struck on the pad and given out LBW. This finally brought the skipper to the crease. He strode out with 13 overs remaining and looked chirpy after taking his 5 wickets. Jerry and Edgar played out the last remaining overs from the fiery red headed bowler contrasting with high looping bowling from the other end and, most importantly, managed to ignore the cacophony from the confident young wicketkeeper.

A special mention must be made for Edgar who carried his bat through the Concorde innings, being the calming influence, and played himself into some decent form for the rest of the season. He made a gutsy 69 off 115 balls grinding down the Pirbright attack.

The matched ended in a draw with Pirbright making 217 for 8 and Concorde producing the attritional cricket for which they are famed in making 145 -4