A game in which the pitch and the conditions were the main talking point, overshadowed a very low scoring game today at Harwich..in which EC lost by 30 runs, after having done the hard work in the first 45 overs.
Winning the toss and deciding to bowl on a damp squib, EC quickly made in roads into the Harwich batting line up..Joe Smith snaring the top 4 and Nick Oakley with his metronomic accuracy complimenting him from the other end reduced Harwich to 20 for 4 from 16 overs. The change bowlers of Ben Mason and Lee Parish kept up the good work sharing the wickets between them as we bowled Harwich out for 72.
After a downpour at tea and watching Horses fall at fences and chucking riders off before the main event at the National, we set about our reply.
After the downpour conditions were made around 10 times more difficult than the very, very difficult conditions experienced in Harwich’s innings, balls kept low, held up, popped up and practically talked as we were quickly 9 for 3 and 21 for 6. No EC players were at fault for their dismissials, a pitch that gave serious help to an accurate bowling attack made 72 look about as easy as climing Everest!. Only Lee Parish with 14 looked relativley comfortable, sadly we were all out for 42. Best to put this one to bed, forget about it and accept that none of us were really at fault for our dismissals, but freak conditions and a typical april weather scene made for a very, very low scoring game.
EC 5 Points, Harwich 20 points..
Next week we take on Great Braxted and Tiptree in the Piri Piri Cup preliminary round.
Your friendly local club