Earls Colne C.C vs. Lexden
2/7/13
After last week’s win against Wormingford we visited lexden in good spirits, in the knowledge that our cricket was improving all the time, Lexden although in Div 4 are a good side and we knew that it would be a challenge to overcome them, in the 1st round of the Plate competition.
Daryl won the toss and decided to bat on what looked a good surface. We started well, getting to 28 for no loss, before Chintesh was out with one that got up a little bit and he could only fend to short leg. Jon Brewer in at 3 was dismissed by the accurate swing bowling of Larkin, we lost wickets at very regular intervals after that, Simon Holme scored 14 before being bowled, Toby Phillips at 5 was bowled, Joe Smith and Chris Wilkinson were given out LBW to perhaps questionable decisions (but the umpire has to give what he sees and that is the joy of the game!) at 56 for 5, and then 81 for 8. Henry Holme who turned up late (en route from Oxford!), went in at 10, with some very intelligent batting with Archie Wilkinson they put on 60 for the 9th Wicket, Henry ended up with 34 Not Out and Archie 27 Not Out, it was a very well paced partnership and gave us a score that we could at least have a go at defending.
We ended up on 141 for 8 after 40 overs, so we took tea, which contained pork skewers, thick cut Cheese Sarnies and Cheesy Tortilla Chips. We took to the field knowing that we would have to bowl and field very, very well to give ourselves a chance.
Joe Smith and Ben Mason opened the bowling and kept things very tight in the first 10, Ben managed to dismiss the number 2 Morrison, but the number 1 Jones and number 3 Manhire guided lexden to 68 for 1 off of 20 and they seemed to be coasting to a very comfortable victory.
However as we know cricket is a funny old game, Jones who had been dropped by Chris at Slip and who was imposing himself more and more on our attack, clipped a ball up in the air from Jon Brewer and Joe Smith managed to run and somehow dive and take the catch with the ball barely centimetres off the ground. Not to stop things there, Henry Holme took a great diving catch to dismiss Manhire and then took an even better one handed catch, to dismiss the number 4 Shearman after he had originally gone in the wrong direction.
Although we had taken a few wickets, Lexden still only required 3-4 an over and still had batting to come. After Chintesh and Jon had finished their excellent spells, we turned to Toby Phillips. Toby bowled some superb deliveries, dismissing Lexden’s skipper Seller, smartly caught behind by Daryl and then bowled an absolute beauty to dismiss Berger. We were now on top, but Lexden continued to fight with Morgan and Hayward who took Lexden to within 15 of their target, before Smith returned and dismissed Morgan and Ben Mason ran out Hayward with a direct hit.
With three overs to go they required 18 and we needed one wicket, with one over to go they required 6 and we still needed one wicket, all of the 4 frontline bowlers had bowled out, so we turned to Toby (what pressure to put on a 14 year Old’s shoulders skip!!!). Toby did not disappoint, with the last ball Lexden needed 2 to win, or 1 to take it to a bowl out, Toby held his nerve and bowled a full delivery which the Lexden number 10 Larkin missed and Archie managed to run Highfield out, we won by 1 run!!!….
A great performance by a young side! we had 6 players under the age of 21, and the performances from some of our colt’s were very encouraging, especially the bowling of Toby and the batting of Taylor Nicholson who did not look out of place and was not overawed by the pressure out their…a great sign for the future.
We are next back in action on 16th June at Home to North Springfield Wanderers.