Concorde v Sanford

Match Report

MAIDEN TON FROM NICK FREEMAN SECURES BATTLING DRAW.

Last Sunday saw us finally take to the green & pleasant land of Sendholme once again for our opening fixture of what will be a shorter season. The opposition came in the shape of Sandford CC, a former pub team from Guildford but a good bunch of lads and it turned out to be a very good game.

The visitors batted first and made a cautious start against our opening bowling attack of young Rhys Maturin and Ashley. Both bowled a very decent line & length, casting aside any early season ‘rustiness’ and Rhys was rewarded with two wickets, accounting for the two openers, one bowled going back to one he should have pushed forward to, the other well caught by Jody Mycroft at extra cover off a mistimed drive to make it 36-2. The opening bowling pair gave way to young Liam Browne from the pavilion end, and the writer from the mansion end, who made the next breakthrough, bowling the no.3 batsman ‘neck & crop’ with one which ducked back in off the pitch to make it 63-3. Liam struggled to find any consistency and skipper Jerry Wright swiftly brought on George Howard, back in the side after a couple of years away. Unfortunately, the number four batsman for the visitors Chris Cooke a powerful hitter of anything too full or even slightly short, gradually started to take command, and in tandem with the steady & more experienced no.5, they put on 104 together before two wickets in successive balls temporarily checked the scoring. George had given way to Michael Sachdeva, formerly of Worcester Park, who was making his debut for us, and his off spinners first bowled the no.5 for 38, and next ball a shorter delivery was pulled hard and high to deep mid-wicket where the safe hands of Richard Ingham pouched the catch. At 167-5, we had hopes of keeping the score to around 200 but Chris Cooke had other ideas and he quickly moved to an unbeaten 112, and despite Jerry Wright picking up a deserved wicket bowling the ‘swishing’ no.7, the visitors declared at tea on 240-6.

Concorde Bowling figures – Rhys M. 7-0-40-2, Ashley W. 8-2-26-0, Liam B. 2-0-18-0, Ian C. 7-0-28-1, George H. 5-0-35-0, Jerry W. 7-0-40-1, and Michael S. 7-0-23-2. Pick of the fielding came from Richard, with Ash, Michael & Rhys also catching the eye!

After a fulfilling tea, courtesy of the writer (sponsored by M&S) and Jo Mycroft’s excellent home made cakes, we started our reply with a new opening pairing of Michael S. and Jody M. Both started brightly against Sanford’s opening attack of a seamer and a spinner, with Michael striking three successive boundaries off his first three balls faced, but in the fourth over, Jody skied a simple catch to depart for 9. Liam came in at no.3, nudged a quick single immediately but next over played all around a straight one to be bowled by the seamer. We then enjoyed a good period for half a hour or so with Michael and Nick F. In tandem, both looking in no trouble whatsoever, but then having reached a composed and stylish 44, including 8 fours, Michael was surprisingly bowled by the seamer with one that kept a bit low, which reduced us to 76-3. We still looked in decent shape on paper but in the ‘blink of an eye’, we endured one of those all too familiar Concorde collapses where we lost 4 wickets for 6 runs in about 5 mins with nos.5-8, Ash, Rhys, Richard & Jerry all falling for 0. It should be said however that Richard’s dismissal was incredibly unlucky, run out at the non strikers end when the bowler deflected Nick’s hard hit straight drive onto the stumps- the type of dismissal you’ll rarely ever see in your life let alone suffer from yourself!

At 86-7, with well over 20 overs to go, it looked all over, as the last recognised batter, Matt Stockbridge joined Nick F. in the middle. However, these two played sensibly, whilst punishing anything loose, with Nick always ready to throw the bat at anything pitched up, with Matt employing the ‘trademark family’ pull behind square on three or four occasions and the partnership soon began to grow. We were just wondering if the unlikely might happen when Matt was adjudged lbw for 17, including. George H. was always one of our best no.11’s in terms of defending his wicket and relishing the no.10 spot this time, he got off the mark, then blocked or left everything for the next 25 mins , whilst Nick suddenly went on a bit of a boundary spree and just a couple of overs before the end he reached his own personal milestone with his maiden century which included no less than 20 fours. This was a truly tremendous effort given how most of the other recognised batters had struggled. Off the last ball of the penultimate over Nick called for a quick single which saw George run out by a foot, but he crucially secured the strike for the last over which he safely negotiated whilst the writer looked on from the non strikers end (not that I would have been out of course) and we finished on a respectable 200-9 to secure the draw, which felt like a win!🏅

A very enjoyable, slightly topsy-turvy game, including two centuries, all played in very good spirit, an a day Nick will never forget. A good start to the season!