Author: ECCC

A late night report from the skipper on todays game, we will keep this a very short but brief report….
 
A TIE in the END…but to be honest if felt more like a loss (it could have been much, much worse at one point)…but it means the end of our promotion campaign for this season (barring a series of freak results) , based on a host of cancelled games this weekend…
 
Fielding first we dismissed West Bergholt for 103…only Jeeva and Mcdonald with 24 and 15 respectivley helped bergholt to that score, we fielded and bowled well to restrict them, Joe Smith 10-4-18-2, Patrick Mckenna 8.4-2-19-2, Ben Mason 6-0-21-0, Chris Chambers 10-2-23-1, John ‘Wolfie’ Gibson 3-1-8-2, Jordan Bonnet 1-0-3-1 + two run outs.
 
In Reply EC started brightly, Smith on his current run of bad form was dismissed for 7 but Will Dunn, Harry Callaghan and Lewis Chambers did well to take us to 73 for 2, within 30 of the target, however the damp wicket, poor batting, poor shot selection, poor running and a superb spell by the Begholt bowler Mcclewin (4-15 off 7) and pretty much poor all round play put us in a position which we could not fathom earlier in the game.
 
We were suddenly 95 for 9, 9 shy of the total and staring at anothe defeat, chasing a small total…, however Patrick and Ben Mason sensibly saw us to 103 before Patrick was bowled by another yorker from mcclewin to leave us tied….
 
EC 13 points…West Bergholt 13 points…

As you may have heard already, unfortunately we’ve had to postpone the auction/party scheduled for next Saturday 3rd September due to a double booking of the band.  When this came to light, it was too late to find a replacement and so we decided it is best to reschedule.  We’re looking at alternative dates but are not yet in a position to come up with a firm date.  For those of you who have bought tickets, please hang on to them as they will be valid for the replacement event.  Obviously, if you would like your money back now or if, when the new event date is announced, you find that you can’t make it, you can get a full refund of the £5. 

Please pass this message on to friends/family etc who have already bought tickets. 

Many apologies for this as I know many of you were looking forward to next week and to those of you who have donated auction promises, if it’s OK with you we’d like to hang on to them because we fully intend to run the auction as soon as possible.  And we’d like to encourage everybody to continue giving promises for the auction because our need for funds is just as strong as ever.

Please watch this space for further announcements.

Thanks & regards,

Les Abbie

A fourth consecutive league win for Earls Colne Sunday XI as we won by three wickets away at Great Horksley….
 
Winning the toss (and fielding once again)..Earls Colne made a good start with Joe Smith and James Durkin reducing Horksley to 34 for 4 off of 11 overs, some great catches taken by David Holme, Himesh Patel and Archie Wilkinson meant we were on top in the early stages, however danger man Number 6 Niall Fitzgerald strode to the crease and smote poor old Smith for 28 off one over (Is this an Earls Colne record?, Oakers please find out). However with a couple of bowling changes with the introduction of Ben Mason and Chris Chambers, meant that Fitzgerald could only inflict damage for a limited period, being caught by David Holme on the deep mid on Boundary for 32. Colne made heavy weather of dismissing the Horksley lower order, ‘nodding off’ for at least 10 overs which allowed number 7 Mula to accumulate 43 not out, Smith, Durkin and Chambers took another one apiece of the bottom order to dismiss Horksley for 165 in the 37th over…about 40 more than they should have got. Bowling figures Joe Smith 10-3-49-3 (including 28 in over!), James Durkin 9-1-31-3,  Ben Mason 5-3-14-1, Chris Chambers 8.2-1-41-2, Archie Wilkinson 4-0-24-1..
 
It had been a while since we had to chase a decent score, after the recent low chases vs Kirby, Gosfield etc…things did not look good first up when Smith (on a barren run) was dismissed for 7, Harry was continuing his great form, latching onto anything short. Himesh played some nice shots before he was dismissed Stumped (how else?) for 18. And we were in a bit of bother 39 for 2, however what was to happen next was quite remarkable. David Holme having not played since April came to the crease, at his mercurical best. However a new Holme seems to have returned from America, one with focus and concentraion!, he smote Graeson Laitt who had dismissed Himesh first ball for 2,4,6,4 and 6 in his first five deliveries…Holme meant business and continued to smite most of the deliveries that came his way (i think he had one dot ball in his whole innings)…eventually he was dismissed for 47 but it had put us into a great positon taking us to 107 for 3 in the space of 8 overs. Harry was dismissed soon after for 32. Good work by Chris Wilkinson and the freshly ‘fired’ from Greece George Cranfield who put together a partnership off 44 (Cranfield 22, Chris 17). to lead us to 152 for 4. Game won we thought, however as Colne always seem to do, we make lives very difficult for ourselves, George having a rush of blood to the head, charging down the wicket like a bull in a china shop and getting caught, Chris was bowled, Archie Wilkinson was also bowled. Meaning we were quickly 158 for 7, however Chris Chambers and James Durkin saw us over the line (wise heads).
 
A win by three wickets…
 
EARLS COLNE 20 POINTS… GREAT HORKSLEY 6 POINTS

Needing a victory to sustain our ‘survival programme’ we had reached a magnificent 103 for 8, with in form skipper Dave Brooker approaching fifty when steady rain interrupted proceedings.  And it continued to rain during early tea and the game was abandoned shortly afterwards.  Shortly afterwards blue sky appeared, as if to mock the decision to abandon, but hindsight is a marvellous thing.  7 points ( 6 + 1 batting point).  Probably we need to finish the season with three consecutive wins in order to avoid relegation

A FANTASTIC win for the Earls Colne Sunday XI today against second placed Gosfield…
 
After losing the toss and being put into the field…EC kept Gosfield to a very low scoring rate…with the new bowling salvo of Smith, Mason, Moon and Wilkinson keeping Gosfield down to 46 for 1 off 22 overs…with Smith removing ex Kent 2nd XI opener Bloomfield for 5. This pressure increased and the tight bowling of Moon (his first game for over a year) and Wilkinson with a rare oppurtunity to bowl a long spell producing wickets… Wilkinson removed Dicker for 16, Smith for 42 and J Subrahmani for 3 to end with figures of 10-1-13-3 (Including 90% of these deliveries being down the leg side). Dave ended with 10-0-39-0 a good effort!. Gosfield never really got going after this point, we fell asleep for a little while in the field to gift them 10-20 runs when we switched off. Dan Grice encouraged into sending a few seamers down returned with 2 wickets. Smith then came back on at the end to do his usual job of mopping up the tail finishing with 9.4-2-27-4. We dismissed Gosfield for 140. All bowlers played a part Ben Mason 8-4-19-1, Dan Grice 3-0-17-2 and Adam Page 3-0-19-0, a great effort and all the bowlers put in a good shift.
 
After an impressive gourmet-like tea we set about the task at hand…
 
Now as many know in the team I get very nervous when it comes to chasing any small total, Kirby 2011 being evidence in proof of this..However today, today was a change from the norm. Harry Callaghan and his new opening partner Dan Grice put on 98 for the first wicket and effectivley did 90% of the job for us. Dan was eventually caught on 30 off another full toss!. Henry Holme came and went for 1 (he was convinced it was a bumped ball). New man Dave Moon came into the crease at number 4 and proceeded to impress greatly by hitting some lusty blows through square, cover and straight in his 30 not out. Harry Callaghan once again with his 5th 50 of the season was integral to our victory (great effort behind the sticks as well!). In the end Harry was out for 58 and it was left to Paul ‘Del Boy’ Harrington and Dave to tick the runs off to lead us to a great Victory!…
 
EC 143 for 3…
 
EC 20 Points. Gosfield 3 points..

EC needed to build on last week’s victory but this was always going to be a difficult game against an excellent Frinton side that are well on their way to securing the league title.

Winning the toss, the hosts elected to bat and when EVERSON crashed a cover drive as hard as anything you are likely to see, things were looking fairly grim. However OAKLEY got one to cut in and bowled the dangerous opener for just 4. However, shortly after being hit for a 6 by the other opener STOCKDALE, OAKLEY pulled a hamstring and could not bowl any more than his 4.2 over’s. STOCKDALE batted brilliantly and put on 115 for the second wicket with WILLIAMS, SMITH suffering the most… WILLIAMS was caught well by BROOKER off MASON and the same bowler cleaned up BUTCHER for 4. STOCKDALE was dropped on 55, I shall afford the fielder anonymity (for now) as it was an uncharacteristic mistake but the young opener raced to 96 before MASON had him caught and bowled. An excellent stumping by LEE off SMITH was the only other highlight really although PARISH (2) and SMITH (1) did pick up a few late wickets. Batsman 5, 6 and 7 scored 34, 32 and 21 to maintain the early impetus and EC were set a daunting 268 for victory.                                                                                                                           OAKLEY 4.2-0-16-1, SMITH 15-0-99-2, PARISH 13.4-1-71-2, MASON 8-0-51-3, BROOKER 4-0-26-0 (Including an impressive 7)

After what was undoubtedly the best tea of the year, EC started their innings with the new pairing of SMITH and BROOKER. Chasing a big total, the FRINTON opening bowlers BAKER and STOCKDALE (the younger) bowled very tightly and getting the ball off the square looked virtually impossible. SMITH continued his consistent form and was bowled for just 3 runs. PRESTNEY came to the crease looking to expiate his earlier sin and batted very well putting on 80 with BROOKER for the second wicket. However, when he was caught for 28 it was left to BROOKER to crash the bowling all-round the park in another excellent innings. PARISH (9) and BRADSHAW (11) hung around for a decent period but neither could really push the score on against the pacey COLES and spin of STOCKDALE. However BROOKER hit boundary after boundary and raced passed 50 despite the visible disintegration of numerous body parts. BALLS came in at number 6 and hit a patchy 14 but by now it was all about BROOKER who had made it to the 90’s and looked odds on for his first century for EC. Frinton kept giving BROOKER a single and he cautiously edged his way to 96 but the thunderous torpedoes which had previously rained down like confetti had suddenly become drier than a Nuns ****. Disaster struck on 98 as he gloved one attempting a sweep and was caught behind on 98. This was very unfortunate for BROOKER and the EC team who shared the disappointment but a superb innings all the same. BONNET joined BALLS for the last couple of overs and EC reached an extremely respectable 197-5 in reply.

Sadly defeat by 70 runs but a good team performance against a very good side.

A great win today for the Saturday side.  After being put in to bat we had struggled to 78 for 7, but runs from Oakers (22) Durkin (37) and Balls (61 not out) lifted the total to an improbable 208-9.

Joey Oakley made her first tea which was enjoyed by all.  Great egg sandwiches Joey!

Economical bowling from Durkin and Oakley put Bury on the backfoot and after 20 over were already needing more than 7 an over.  Durkin (2 wickets) was replaced by Smith bowling with pace and accuracy.  Wickets tumbled, skipper Dave Brooker and Ben Mason all came to the party, bowling well and taking wickets.  Durkin came back on to polish off the tale, and a victory by 52 runs.

See the full scorecard here

20 points, and the chance to avoid relegation if the winning form continues

A sixth win of the season for Earls Colne Sunday XI as we defeated Abberton by five wickets…
 
After being put into the field on a baking hot day, EC made good early inroads into the Abberton lineup, a farcical run out between the two openers accounted for Badger Ball and the other opener Cowland cleaned up by Smith..after 14 overs Abberton were 36 for 2.  Chris Chambers and Ben Mason as the first change bowlers continued the good work started by Patrick and Joe and ensured that at the 25 over point Abberton were 66 for 4, after numbers 3 and 4 Rudlin and Lingard had looked to accelerate the scoring, we managed to dismiss Lingard, but number 3 Rudlin was proving difficult to dislodge (a close run-out oppurtunity did not go our way.  However Durkers as second change (that’s how much bowling we had today!) managed to take a very good caught and bowled to dismiss him, from then on we managed to keep Abberton in Check and only  their number 7 and 8 Fosker and Digby scored over double figures. They were eventually dismissed for 117. Good performances by all the bowlers today, Joe Smith 9.4-3-21-3, Patrick Mckenna 7-2-23-0, Ben Mason 4-1-11-1, Chris Chambers 10-3-23-2, James Durkin 5-0-22-1, Russ Dawes 4-1-16-1. Some superb fielding by the likes of Lee Parish, Himesh Patel and the rest of the team to boot contributed to the two run-out’s and saved a good deal of runs in the outfield, Harry also had a very good day behind the timbers with only one bye conceded and a very well taken catch off Joe’s bowling.
 
In Reply, Earls Colne made a bit of a flap of chasing down 117, Joe Smith continued a recent run of poor batting form with a quacker (I think someone might have to remind me which way to hold a bat at the moment!). Harry was dismissed for 22 to an uncharacteristic aerial shot to Mid On. George Unwin played some blistering drives before he was bowled by a delivery which didnt get up. Himesh was as plumb a LBW as you could ever wish to see (not according to him, but he’s been out so often sweeping that everyone on the boundary was 100% certain that he was out!) and in no time we found ourselves in some difficulty at 49 for 4, and then at 71 for 5 as Russ Dawes was dismissed by a good Woodrow delivery. Enter Lee Parish at Number 6 he had worked very hard with Russ ticking the scoring along with some very sharp running (with a poorly hamstring aswell!) with a few well placed four’s. Chris Chambers joined him and with his help Colne did not lose another wicket in getting the remaining 47 runs needed. Lee played a very intelligent and sensible knock that got us over the line with 42 not out and Chris at the other end with 14 not out.
 
A win by 5 wickets
 
Earls Colne 20 Points. Abberton 3 Points

We have been announcing the team selection by Email, but there have been instances where players may not have received the email and the team has been short a player.  It happpened again this weekend at Maldon.  So we’ll also be putting the team selection up on the website on WEDNESDAY of each week.  Please can we ask all players, if in any doubt, to look at the ‘this week’s teams’ tab of the website for all future games?  Thanks!

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’ 5^th wicket when he was bowled for 26. TURNER became his 6^th 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