Concorde v Sanford CC

Match Report

An heroic effort by Ian Cudworth ably assisted by a strong effort from Ashley meant that we were able to take the field with 11 men which on Saturday morning had looked highly unlikely. Chris Turvill had his arm well and truly twisted by Ian as did Chris Paterson and Ashley persuaded his brother Daryll and friend, Nick Cahill to join us as well as Young Ben, who needed no persuasion.

Having lost the toss, Concorde were invited to bat which they did with very little distinction. It must be said that the wicket was very slow as was the outfield but with the score at 43 -5, any chance of posting a competitive score seemed remote. However old stagers Chris Turvill and Jerry Wright mounted a rearguard action, initially very much in the form of watchful defence but with the occasional spark of attack particularly from Chris who in spite of having played very little cricket for two years, looked in good working order.

The score was slowly massaged up to 90 before Chris was caught for an excellent 30 and when Jerry was bowled by a shooter for 17, the innings subsided to a close although enlivened by a couple of big blows by Daryll who succeeded in smashing a pavilion window in the process. Bearing in mind the difficulties with the pitch and outfield, this score probably equated to something closer to 140 under normal conditions but never looked like being enough.

Until that is, Johnny Ayling, guesting from Woking & Horsell, and Ashley went to work! Making the ball move around , these two were a handful, taking two early wickets each and when Ben picked up a 5th wicket for less than 50, our prospects looked significantly brighter. However, the arrival at the wicket of the Sandford no 6 revealed a batsman of very much higher quality than had been seen hitherto during the day. A flick off his toes to the midwicket boundary was instantly recognisable as the shot of a good player and he was soon unfurling some lovely drives down the ground. Supported by some staunch batting at the other end, this batsman took the game away from us in completing a very good 50 and we were well beaten by 5 wickets.