I will resist the temptation to start this report with ‘another game Earls Colne could have won’ but in all honesty… Well you know where I am going with this one……
Losing the toss and being asked to field, EC were already in trouble on a massive ground with just 9 players for the first 15 overs. OAKLEY and MASON bowled well and were backed up by some excellent fielding, not for the first time this year. The left / right hand opening partnership of SOUTHWALL and BARNES put on 46 before OAKLEY bowled the former for 32. It was OAKLEY again who picked up wicket number 2 when MORRIS edged a wide one which was well taken by WILLSHER. PARISH then bowled the other opener for 32 and at this stage Maldon were 72-3. GRICE replaced OAKLEY and took a couple of wickets, one held by PARISH at slip and another clean bowled (off a rank long-hop). PARISH continued to bowl accurately and efficiently and was rewarded when GRICE took an excellent diving catch at mid-on. OAKLEY returned and picked up a couple of wickets, first bowling the dangerous MACMILLAN for 20 then PATEL for 8. PARISH then mopped up the tail with FOSTER being caught behind and a sharp catch off his own bowling to dismiss the home team for a below par 119. Earls Colne’ fielding today can only be described as awesome. MASON, O’BRIEN, BONNET, HARRINGTON, TURNER and DUNN were exceptional and all contributed in keeping Maldon to a modest total on what was an excellent batting wicket. Bowling figures: OAKLEY 13-3-35-4, MASON 11-0-41-0, PARISH 13.1-2-21-4, GRICE 4-0-18-2.
With a few of our top order absent, this was never going to be an easy chase for EC. The opening bowlers PATEMAN and FOSTER were bang on the money and did not concede a run in the first 4 overs. GRICE edged a swinging delivery to slip without scoring and DUNN followed soon after for 7. Wickets then fell began to tumble. HARRINGTON was out LBW (3), BONNETT hit a couple of boundaries but was then bowled (12) and OAKLEY was well held by a diving second slip (3). O’BRIEN made 6 and WILLSHER was rapidly running out of partners. When PARISH came to the wicket the score was 60-6 and sadly for EC WILLSHER became FOSTER’ 5th wicket when he was bowled for 26. TURNER became his 6th victim a few balls later. MASON came to the crease and supported PARISH and between them they added 27 runs and saw off the two opening bowlers who both bowled out. With the score on 94 with 8 overs left, an EC victory was becoming a possibility. However, SOUTHWALL spun one which MASON edged and he was caught behind for 2. KERSHAW was the EC number 11 and to be fair had only turned up to watch!! He survived his first ball but was then clean bowled by another SOUTHWALL delivery to leave PARISH on 28 not out and EC 26 runs short on 94 all out.
We have often been on the other side of low score victories and today we have to accept it just wasn’t our day. FOSTER and PATEMAN were very difficult to get away bowling very few bad deliveries in their combined 32 over spell (they gave us 3 overs). They took 8 wickets between them and Colne were probably just one or two batsman short on the day.
The team spirit was good today and we can take plenty of positives from our performance. The sun was shining, the ground was excellent, the opposition friendly and a thoroughly enjoyable game despite the result…
Full scorecard from the Sportstatz service can be found here
Fair to say that the bowling of Maldon was exceptional, with every Earls Colne wicket falling to good bowling rather than poor shot selection. All were bowled or caught in the slips, the the exception of Delboy plumb LBW. Ball swinging hugely.