Match Report
HERSHAM C.C. RE-UNION BOYS STAR IN TIGHT DRAW
Sunday 12th September saw us unexpectedly hosting Worcester Park for the second time this season after Northolt Manor C.C. had pulled out on Friday. In the first game we won a tight encounter chasing down 170 odd and this also turned out to be a close contest.
With Jerry absent for a family event, I stuck to my ‘Gareth Southgate’ type game plan and invited the visitors to bat on winning the toss. For this game we had a lot of bowling options on paper but lacked a real spearhead for the umpteenth time this season, but thanks to Chris Turvill we had the pleasure of welcoming 5 former Hersham players to the side thanks and despite their protestations of being ‘rusty’ I invited Simon de Fraine & Tom Sapsed to share the new ball. Simon bowled with good pace and line from the pavilion end and soon picked up a wicket caught behind down the leg side by Nick F. to make it 25-1, and it was soon 35-2 when another Hersham old boy Paul Risk took a tumbling catch at the third attempt at cover point to give Simon his 2nd wicket to make it 35-2. Tom bowled an incredibly tidy spell from the mansion end , with no great pace but nagging line & length. I was intending to give everybody about 6-7 overs but Tom was so steady I couldn’t bring myself to take him off after after drinks. Worcester Park had a strong batting line up and Mr Sadhera in particular ‘murdered’ anything short or wide and all the bowlers suffered at his hands (except Tom really), as he moved to an unbeaten century, having scored 70 odd the last time we played them. Paul Risk bowled a decent spell with no reward, Edgar removed the no.4 for 63, with the score at 159, thanks to a good catch by Hersham’s Chris ‘Wolfie’ Carr, and the writer picked up a late wicket when, the no.5 went for another big heave and played over the top of a straight one to make it 228-4. Worcester Park declared soon after on 247-4.
We started our reply with a new opening combination of Edgar & Tom which turned out to be a raging success. Tom is the one ‘Hersham Old boy’ still playing regular cricket and his sound defence but ability to despatch the bad ball and keep the scoreboard ticking over seemed to relax Edgar, who is normally carrying the burden of our expectations. Against a very decent seam attack they put on 127 for the first wicket, keeping us in the hunt, until he was bowled for a very good 66 with 10 fours & a six, and at 147-2 Edgar departed, caught off a top edge for an excellent 57 with 8 fours and a 5! Inevitably, we had to regroup with Justin & Paul Risk together and they took the score to 185-2 (how many times in recent years have we seen that on the scoreboard) before we suddenly lost three wickets for 15 runs with Justin caught for 17, Paul caught for 22 and Nick F. run out for 13
as we tried to up the tempo. We promoted Simon de Fraine up the order to ‘put bat to ball’
and he did just that hitting a quick 14 with 2 fours before being bowled, Chris T. edged one behind to the keeper for 9, Chris Carr smacked one lovely boundary before missing a straight one and at 232-8 with 7 balls left requiring 16, Matt Stockbridge & Nigel decided a draw was a decent outcome!
A thoroughly enjoyable game, with some very good performances. We sincerely hope we get to see more of the ‘Hersham 5’ in the following season.
ConcordeWorcester Park CC 