Concorde v Putney CC

Match Report

Another week of heroic effort by Cudders was required to get 11 men onto the field of play with the final slot being filled on Sunday morning. Daryll Westen once again stepped into the breech as did Simon Duke who brought along a friend from Walton CC, Matt Bailey. Another Walton player, Jack Dominy, also answered the call and we were immediately transported back to his last game for us when he took 6-30 against one of our toughest opponents, Nomads, who on that day had 4 players in their ranks with first class experience. It was, therefore, with some confidence in our bowling attack that we took the field albeit with some trepidation as to the strength and reliability of our batting. Finally, a legend of the club, Justin Redfern, made his return to cricket after 10 years of absence resplendent in gleaming new kit and with a new bat which gave a strong indication of his intention to make regular appearances. Matt Stockbridge too heard the clarion call and declared himself available on the morning of the match although his arrival could not be guaranteed until 3pm.

On winning the toss, Putney elected to bat and against Jack and Dukie, were 0-2 in the blink of an eye each taking one wicket. However, it was some time before a a third wicket fell as the remaining opener and the no 4 batted carefully to see off our faster bowlers. The introduction of the cunning old fox, Cudders, however, soon produced a false shot from the no 4 who was caught by Dukie at square cover and the next wicket produced perhaps the moment of the match as he lofted Cudders down to square leg where Daryll took an outstanding catch above his head to a ball which would otherwise have carried for 6. Jerry Wright and Matt Stockbridge wheeled away for about 7 overs each with Matt picking up a wicket but the opener, leading a charmed life and batting very well in very difficult conditions was still there.

The reintroduction of Jack and Dukie with the score on about 120 changed the innings, however, with Dukie picking up a caught behind, well taken by Nick Freeman whilst Jack worked his way through the tail finishing with 5-20 0ff 12 overs. The opener fell for 71 having played a fantastic innings for his team who finished all out for 147 from 48 overs.

Whilst this looked a modest total, it was clear that in the prevailing conditions, this was a better score than it looked and would require some good batting. Sadly, this did not materialise. Matt Bailey drove a couple of nice shots down the ground before being caught for 7 and a major disaster occurred when Ash was caught in the gulley second ball. Matt Stockbridge and Justin batted with defiance but found runs very hard to come by although Justin rolled back the years with a fierce drive through cover and a nice square cut for boundaries. However, Matt was bowled for 13 and his replacement Nick Freeman, after smiting a couple of good blows was caught for 12, the slow pace of the wicket finding him out as it had done to most batsmen before him.

Jerry Wright and Justin now settled in to relive glory days of yore but after 4 or 5 attritional overs without runs, Justin went for a big hit and was bowled. There is little to be said about the rest of the innings as batsman after batsman walked to the wicket, was deceived by the inswinging off spinner and walked off again. Nigel Wright defended stoutly for 3 overs before being slightly unluckily adjudged LBW and Cudders at no 11 showed his experience by walking down the wicket to the off spinner and taking the ball on the pads until he was bowled by the first ball he did not advance to. Jerry Wright faced 30 balls at the other end whilst watching the spectacular collapse as Concorde were dismissed for 57. The off spinner took 8-11 off 9 overs.

There is no denying that scoring runs was extremely difficult for both sides with only one batsman for Putney, other than the opener, reaching double figures (18) and only 3 on the Concorde side reaching double figures, the highest being 13. This puts into perspective the fine batting of the Putney Opener. This was a defeat by 90 runs.