Concorde v Pyestock

Match Report

With the opening fixture having to be cancelled it was great to get the season underway in warm, brilliant sunshine.

Stand in skipper Chris T got the season off to the best start, winning the toss and in Concorde tradition put the opposition into bat, keen to avoid the heavy defeat suffered at the hands of Pyestock this time last year. The youthful pair of Adam Carter and Josh Griffiths opened the bowling and after a flurry of good shots Josh managed to get a leading edge with Nick Freeman completing the catch that seemed to be in the air for an age. Shortly after Josh bowled the number 3 in a good opening spell. Adam beat the bat at the other end on numerous occasions and when he found the edge Dean Carter failed to take a hard chance at second slip.

In the absence of Cudders and Wright Snr, Dean Carter and Dave Nash provided the disciplined line & length bowling with subtle variations of pace. Dave bowled the other opener & Dean caught & bowled the number 4 with a clever slower (if a little wide) ball! Dave picked up 2 further wickets proving the old adage “you miss, I hit”. Meanwhile the Bromley J (number 7) having not played for a while but lower down the order than capability played a very positive sensible innings and the score began to build. Adam C replaced Dean and again was unfortunate not to take a wicket beating the edge again and again, with the number 10 in particular managed to get something in the way of the straight ones. George Howard replaced Dave N and settled well and despite the variety of reverse sweeps/pulls/ramps bowled the perfect off spinner back through the gate and on to leg stump to dismiss Bromley J for a well-made 40. George then enticed the number 10 down the wicket and Nick F completed the stumping, Pyestock closed on 150 all out, 30 minutes before tea, Griffiths 2-25, Nash 3-25, Carter 3-24, Howard 2-9.

Tea was taken early and the famous Victoria Sponge made an early season appearance (thanks to Mick Reeve for organising the pick-up from Janet along with the rest of his hard work on Sunday).

A variety of middle and lower order batsman at his disposal Chris T surprised everyone by choosing to open the batting with himself along with Paddy Haddow. With the extra time Paddy and Chris played very carefully against some tidy opening medium pace, gradually growing in confidence and picking off runs when they were on offer. At this point the pitch must be mentioned, playing at an easy pace with true bounce, very different from the standard spongy, damp wicket normally found at this time in the season. Paddy having played a couple of good drives and pulls was surprisingly bowled when trying to pull a short ball that didn’t get up to the 2nd chance medium pacer. At 47 for 1 Nick F joined Chris at the wicket and started what proved to be a very good partnership. At this point Chris T had started to play with more freedom and accumulated well with punches through the off side and glances off the legs, amongst some classy drives and upper cuts (from full tosses) to the bound ary, bringing up his 50 from 67 balls.

Pyestock tried a number of spin variations and were capable of turning it both ways and made it difficult for Nick to play with any fluency. However, Nick stuck it out, managing to put away the bad ball when it presented itself, happy to support Chris at the other end. Drinks were taken and the score then started to gain momentum and despite a couple of close LBW shouts both Nick & Chris (with the help of a 6 over mid-wicket) cruised to the target with over 10 overs to spare. This completed a 9 wicket victory with the first century partnership of the season (104 unbeaten), Nick F finishing on 39 not out and Chris T 80 not out, his highest Concorde score on his 50th appearance for the club.

Let’s hope this is the start of a good, competitive season of cricket and we look forward to seeing some more of the senior pro’s the next few weeks!