Author: ECCC

Earls Colne lost today in their home game versus Wormingfrod, by 58 runs.  Full report follows.

After heavy afternoon rain on Friday our ten man side were happy to get any cricket at all.  Braintree had covered their pitch but it was still extremely soft, with a squidgy and sodden outfield.  Having lost the toss, Braintree chose to bat and soon our ten man team was making quick inroads into the Braintree top order.  Smith picked up three wickets in as many overs and Braintree were teetering at 30-3.  But ex Halstead opener Merrell had other ideas, and after a cautious start spanked a fine century, aided and abetted by youngster Grayson who also scord 67. A score of 250 looked likely, but Smith returned to account for Merrell and two other tail-enders to take 6-72, and limit Braintree to 226-9.  Brooker and Mason contributed with one wicket each, with a run out on the last ball of the innings accounting for the ninth wicket.

After tea the wicket had dried a little and batting conditions looked easier.  Willsher and Brooker took the score past 30 in the 9th over and were progressing serenely when Willsher changed his mind mid-shot and was bowled off his pads.  Brooker followed shortly afterwards, caught for 22.  When Mason and Hayns also departed, Colne looked to be in trouble at 55-4.  But a great little partnership of 67 between Higgins (27), and 13 year-old Toby Phillips (24) took us to within 100 of the Braintree total with 14 overs to go.  Could an upset be on the cards?  Smith joined Oakley and the pair added 21 before Smith was unluckily run out on a poor call.   Oakers was left to marshal the tail, and added a further 11 runs in partnership with Ashley Philips.  157-8, with the last pair at the wicket and hopes were draining away.  Adam Page strode to the crease and batted in the only way he knows how (just tonk the damned thing!), and the score progressed quickly with Oakers joining in the fun with a straight six off Merrell.  With 5 overs to go the score stood on 188, and an upset still seemed a remote possibility.  Ten runs later the luck ran out, with the score on 198, Page was clean bowled for 19 with Earls Colne all out for 198 with 19 balls still left to be bowled. Oakley 40 n.o.

How might it have been with eleven?

Braintree 20 points. Earls Colne 8 points  Full scorecard here

Timeline 0947 – heavy overnight rain has left the outfield sodden, with no chance of play.

A great day out for the casuals XI with several new faces.  James Monk and Ollie Kearin returning to the club, Jack Holgate in his first game, and Mark Harris in his second, brought a refreshing look to the Earls Colne line up.  Mersea won the toss and elected to bat in a 40 overs a side competition.

Earls Colne used 8 bowlers, with great all round performances for all, including Steve Willsher who took a wicket in his first ball for more than ten years!  Neville ‘Noddy’ Goodwin scored a good fifty, and the Mersea side finally closed their innings on 167 runs.

After an excellent tea provided by absent skipper Tony Hayns (his car had broken down but Oakers had selected 12 players owing to a miscalculation so we were ok!), Earls Colne started with the early dismissal of Mark Harris, chasing a wide one and being caught behind for just one run.  But Ben Mason, our new batting colossus strode to the wicket, knowing exactly how to score and repeated his performance of the previous week with 58 and out lbw.  Ollie Kearin contributed a handsome 36, Jack Holgate a useful 10 (before being bowled by an eight year old leg spinner with the slowest ball ever bowled).  100 runs were required in the last 20 overs, and with two overs to go, 11 were still needed.  Adam Page got out of bed to stroke a magniificent 4 before being clean bowled.  A tantalising finish beckoned, with 5 required from the last over. Dave Brooker came to the crease.  Taylor Nicholson took a single putting Dave on strike, who struck the next ball to the boundary, and victory with two balls to spare.  A great day out, and a wonderful, morale-raising victory.  Well done to all who played.

Sadly, and for the second time this season we have had to concede a match as we were unable to field a full side.  All members and friends of the club are asked to find any cricket players at all, that may wish to play.  The club has been docked 10 points as a result.  If we concede a third game, league rules require our expulsion, and the end of Saturday league cricket at Earls Colne.  The situation is grave and we urgently need ACTIVE recruitment by everyone, including you, dear reader.

Later correction and adition – these are the league rules, word for word………..

• First occasion, £50 if Home club concedes, £75 if Away club concedes, 20 points awarded to non-offending club.
• Second occasion, same as above plus 10 points deduction from offending club
• Third occasion, same financial penalties plus 20 points deduction from offending club
• Fourth occasion, same penalties as on first occasion plus offending team will not be accepted for entry into Two Counties for the following season.

Brief report.  Fuller report to follow.

Another win for Earls Colne by 5 wickets at Tendring.  Tendring batted first.  113 all out.  Smith 3-9, Mason 3-24.

Earls Colne 114-5 (Dunn 56)

Another win!!!!  scoresheet here

On a very windy day, Long Melford won the toss and asked us to bat.  Once again the top order failed to fire, and with the score on 15 for 3 things did not look too good.  But Dave Brooker, ably assisted first by Will Bradshaw, than later by Will Dunn, took the score to 95 – 4 at the drinks break, off 22 overs.  But after this wickets fell quickly, Dave Brooker going for a very useful 52, and the tail collpased, with unfortunate debutante Ashley Philips out for a golden duck, LBW, and Colin Bocking run out backing up..  Earls Colne all out 122.

After a tea break that DID NOT INCLUDE egg sandwiches (should we report this to the league?), Melford quickly stumbled themselves, with beautiful tight bowling from Ben Mason accounting for all three.  Marks and Henbury then came together at 15-3 and took the score to 72-3 before both fell in quick succession.  The bamboozling bowling of Colin Bocking (aka Mr Slow) with three wickets, and a coouple from Oakers helped to bring the score back to 92-8, and an unlikely victory seemed within reach, but the score ticked painfully towards 123 and no further wickets were taken.  Great fielding from all, including Ashley, helped to keep the game tight right until the end.

Earls Colne 122 – 10, Long Melford 123-8.  Long Melford 20 points.  Earls Colne 5 points

Full scoresheet here

 A gallant 53 from Steve Willsher helped Earls Colne to a total of 98 runs on a slow outfield.  Copdock replied with 99 -5, so it’s the end of the cup run for another year.

A Tough Loss For Colne Away at Coggeshall Our Colts team travelled the huge distance to the Earls Colne Airfield for an away fixture against Coggeshall U13. With the coaches and umpire mistaking a glimpse of sun for warm weather the game was played in very cold and windy conditions on a wicket that looked more at home in the Caribbean.  We knew that this was going to be a tough fixture against a side who have years of match practice experience ahead of us, but undaunted captain Alex Morrison elected to field first. Colne took to the field with a debut for Callum Tracey as wicketkeeper and Luke Mayes,William Hedger and Matthew Wooldridge all starting for the first time. The captain led by example and started off with a wicket with his third ball bowling MILLER for 0. Matthew Halls was equally tight from the other end and after Coggeshall soon found themselves 20 for 2 off the first 5 overs when Alex again bowled MITCHELL for 0. With a good effort in the field just to stay warm the fielders were kept busy as WISHART 47 and DOUBLEDAY 43 pushed Coggeshall up to a healthy total. The change bowling of Luke MAYES and Matthew WOOLDRIDGE  did well to restrict the scoring, Matthew in particular as a year 5 bowling to 12 year olds did very well. Taylor Nicholson and Jordan Steed then came on, with Taylor picking up the wickets of WISHART and McCABE 6 with some nice straight deliveries. Overall a good effort in the field against strong batting, a special mention to Callum Tracey for his excellent debut as wicketkeeper. Bowling figures: A Morrison 4 overs 2 wickets for 9 runs M Halls 4 overs 0 wickets for 19 runs M Wooldridge 4 overs 0 wickets for 23 runs L Mayes 2 overs 0 wickets for 20 runs T Nicholson 4 overs 2 wickets for 27 runs J Steed 2 overs 0 wickets for 20 runs.

After a quick tea which would have been helped by having a nice log fire to warm up the now freezing coaching staff, we then took our turn to bat.

Much had been made before the game of the two opening bowlers for Coggeshall Docherty and McCabe. On a wicket offering low bounce and in poor light they exploited the Colne top order ruthlessly. With the first 5 batsmen all departing for 0 we looked on for our first run. In fairness to the top 5 batsmen the bowling was very good above anything they would have experienced before but hopefully all will have learnt the value of playing forward and straight rather than across the line and back. Callum Tracey then got the biggest cheer off the day when he scored a nice single down to third man. Showing others how to get forward he occupied the crease nicely supported by Will Hedger who did likewise before being surprised by a delivery onto his foot. Morgan then joined Callum but departed instantly after trying to pull to leg a straight ball. The captain who was unsure if he would have batted, now came out and began to frustrate the Coggeshall attack with his pronounced leaves outside off stump and stout defence. He then began to open up with a boundary and looked to hit the bowling through the leg side with a variety of shots. Luke Mayes supported Alex with some nice soft hand defence shots and with a bit more luck would have connected with some shots before departing towards the end. Matthew Wooldridge now joined Alex for the last wicket and played sensibly before Alex tried to force some more runs and was bowled for a top score of 7.

We must all remember that this is still very early days for us and lessons will be learnt along the way. We now need to reflect on where we can improve and as the season progresses  we will  be stronger for this experience.  A good team effort which again had encouragement throughout the game by all. Earls Colne all out for 19 runs Coggeshall 121 for 4