Concorde v Thames Valley Ramblers

Match Report

Following heavy rain for most of the day on Saturday, the wicket, when inspected at 1pm on Sunday, was really quite damp so on winning the toss, Jerry Wright asked TVR to bat without hesitation.

This looked to be an excellent decision as the opening overs from Josh Griffith and Adam Carter proved difficult to negotiate, the ball lifting regularly off a good length and runs proved hard to come by. To make it even more difficult for the batsmen, a sudden outbreak of uncharacteristically fine catching had broken out among Concorde fielders with Matt Hallam diving full length to his right to take as very sharp chance in the gulley and then Mike Anning holding on to a full blooded pull right off his ankles.

At 18 for 2, Concorde were very much on top but the middle order then staged a fine recovery to take the score to 98 before Jerry Wright drew the batsman down the wicket and he was well stumped by Tom Mumford making his debut for the club. With George also taking a couple of quick wickets, Concorde were again very much on top and it was a pity that a couple of fairly simple chances were missed which again allowed TVR to recover to the relative comfort of 140 before George nipped in again and the returning Adam Carter knocked over the stumps at the other end.

148 for 8 gave us every hope of keeping the score to around 150 but Paul Smith coming in late in the TVR order put bat to ball and TVR were able to declare at tea having posted 178 for 8 which looked a useful score on a slow wicket.

Jerry Wright opened the batting with Tom Mumford in very contrasting styles. Whilst Jerry applied a well honed Test match approach, Tom went very much down the T20 route, stepping outside off stump and despatching as much as possible over mid wicket or to cow corner. This should not imply bad batting in any way as the tactic proved highly successful with Concorde posting an opening stand of 50 with Tom having made 42 of them.

With the score at 68 and having completed a very valuable 50, Tom was out and Jerry was joined by Adam Carter who played very nicely as the score was progressed with Jerry crunching noisily into second gear and 20 overs was reached with exactly 100 required at 5 an over – not an unreasonable ask. However, against tight bowling, risks were needed and Jerry was bowled for 36 going for a big shot with the score on 121.

Now the pressure to score quickly was acute and Miles Reucroft and Josh Griffith both perished quite quickly in the pursuit of quick runs and Adam went the same way for an excellent and quick 36.

The task now looked impossible and the innings subsided to a quiet end as Matt Hallam and Nigel Wright played out the draw, Concorde finishing on 147 – 5. In the end, a slightly disappointing end to the game but one which we would happily have taken at the start of the match, such was the thinness of the batting line up available.