Concorde v Sheen Park

Match Report

After much coming and going this week, it was a relief to be able to field what appeared on paper to be a reasonably competitive side featuring returns to action for this season by Edgar and George and a guest from Harpsden in the shape of Will Neale (no relation to Graham).

The opposition with whom we have had many good natured and enjoyable games, looked a somewhat younger and fitter side than is usually the case and when on winning the toss their Captain immediately opted to bat, one could not avoid the feeling that they appeared very confident.

Adam and Will opened our attack and though both bowled whole heartedly and with good pace, there was a lot going down leg side which gave Nick Freeman a torrid time. The upshot was that they got off to a fast start, putting 50 on the board before the shorter of the two batsmen was taken in the leg trap by Jerry Wright off Will. The replacement batsman, however, looked assured and it was only when Adam was replaced by the cunning of Matt Stockbridge that the other opener drove one hard to cover where Jerry Wright look the catch to his left and at head height.

With Jerry into the attack, the slower bowling seemed to be having the effect of slowing the scoring rate and when Jerry got one to bounce a bit, it glanced off the batsman’s gloves and was well held by Edgar over the Keepers shoulder. Very soon, thereafter, the batsman drove one hard back at Jerry who got a hand to it from whence it deflected onto the stumps, running out the hapless batsman at the non strikers end.

At about 140 – 4, we looked well in the game but alas, this was to be our last success as the batsmen settled in and took control of the game. With a good batting wicket and a lightening quick outfield, runs became a torrent, helped it must be said by an increasingly poor fielding effort with runs going through legs and catches going down. Edgar and George entered the attack and although both bowled some good balls, the rustiness showed through and boundaries flowed. Eventually, a halt was called at exactly the time allotted for tea with Sheen Park on 268 – 4.

The Concorde innings commenced at 4.50pm with Edgar and James at the crease. Edgar in particular looked in belligerent mood after his long lay off and anything short or pitched up was despatched and whilst James was a little more subdued, a good opening partnership was put together against some testing quicker bowling. A highlight was Ed’s straight dive into the oak tree to the faster of the two openers and it was a surprise when James lofted an on drive straight to the only fielder on that side to be caught for 12.

Chris Patterson took his place and was his usual watchful self in support of Ed who was by now enjoying himself and he had progressed serenely to 15 when he was bowled. Adam looked in very good form , unleashing a number of lovely shots, most memorably a drive through extra cover and again looked in no trouble at all until being caught for 24.

At this point, Temple Sheen introduced some bowling into the attack which was barely worthy of that description comprising moon balls which had barely sufficient pace to arrive at the other end and indeed many did not, resulting in a 12 ball over (could be more – I lost count). Whilst this may have been an attempt to feed us some runs to keep us interested in going for the win, it failed miserably and was swiftly abandoned in favour of some more conventional methods.

This was the start of a bad period for us as in quick succession, Edgar was dismissed for an excellent and hard hit 59 (11 boundaries) and then Nick Freeman was bowled by the best ball of the match (his words) for a very rare duck! Jerry Wright joined Will who had gone in at no 5 and had been pretty much at the non strikers end as wickets tumbled. Firm words from Jerry Wright impressed upon Will the need for stout defence to stave off any possibility of defeat, words which Will evidently took to heart by employing the oldest, and considered by some to be the best, form of defence – otherwise known as all out attack!

To his Captains grimaces, frowns and calm down gestures, Will presented an apologetic grin before firing off yet another big blow but to be fair, he played very straight and to some extent wrested back the initiative although winning the game was never a viable option. These two had taken the game down to 2 overs remaining when Jerry got a leading edge for the third time this season to be caught for 18 and Matt Stockbridge then displayed the customary Stockbridge brick wall to close out the game with Concorde on 202 -6

Will was unbeaten on 34 of which 32 had come in boundaries. I look forward to seeing him play when asked by his Captain to attack! It should be spectacular!

An honourable draw then which could have been very different had the Sheen Park Captain taken a slightly more attacking attitude by declaring half an hour earlier with 30 runs less on the board. Having said that, it must be said that they maintained attacking fields throughout and did employ the services of some fairly questionable bowling to feed us some runs.