Author: Patrick Kerry

Kevedon III’s came to town on Saturday 16th June, and once again confidence was slightly low with the home team having learnt late on that the two players who had scored 90% of our runs and bowled 26 of our overs the previous week would be unavailable.  But as we found out there are others ready to step up !

Kelvedon batted first and made good progress, reaching just under 100 at the drinks break.  A new bowling hero in the guise of an older player was found in Colin Holdgate who eventually took 4 wickets, and a smart one-handed catch from Jon Dawes also made up the highlight of the fielding performance.  Some weary bowling at the end however meant Colne would have to beat 228.

Dan Shynn & Sam Holdgate were sent in early so that they could get in, get out, then go to work; that worked out fine; Sam not holding back…6,4,out !  Torquil & Cap’n Jack also got some good runs before both were caught on a pitch which was still providing some bounce.

This bought together the ‘old men’ of the team, Pat & Colin. Approx 1 hour later and a 135 run partnership took the duo over the line, with Pat especially grateful to some friendly legside bowling that enabled him to score 16 out of 19 boundaries using his favourite heave, eventually reaching 113 n.o.

A great game to get our confidence back and good to see we have strength in depth at this level.

Off to Harwich & Dovercourt (windy but sunny) on Saturday 9th June, with as strong a batting line-up as we will likely muster all season. Cap’n Jack won the toss and Daryl pickled up the 1st wicket early on.  H&D then provided some solid technical batting – big thanks to their other opener for walking after being caught behind off Russ’ bowling – but fortunately were nearly all prone to making some rash cross-bat hoiks.  Only one of their team reaching 50, whilst Daryl picked up 4 wickets and good to see Harry P back in the wickets.

After a sumptuous tea (which they were urging us to take home with us, so much was left) Torquil & Daryl set about chasing down 178.  Always good to see the opposition chirpiness in the field decline as the batsmen pick off the bad balls and this was no exception as the two reached 70 with effortless ease.  Daryl went on to make a 50, ably supported by Chintesh in his swashbuckling style including a lost-ball six.  However, once both these two were out to good catches, the inevitable happened and no-one else was able to pick up the runs required.  Cue the batting collapse and we limped up to 150 all out

Cricket is sometimes a statistician’s dream sport, and our batting numbers would provide some interesting content.  From our five completed matches so far this year, we’ve depended on batsmen 1-4 to score 95% of our runs; it’s asking too much, and satisfying though it is that we’ve been able to bowl the opposition out several times, we know where the challenge lies !

Kelvedon at home next week !

Saturday 26th May rolled around and the local derby against fellow new entrants to the league, Chappel & Wakes Colne.  A late withdrawal of our lethal quickie, Gus Peters, had us more than a little worried about what damage to morale the all-conquering opponents might do to us.

Our fears were rapidly dispelled however thanks to (a) the skipper losing the toss (b) the early morning rain effect on the pitch & (c) the monotonous line & length of Mo, Daryl, & Russ.  When the last wicket went down in just the 35th over, our opponents had only made 76, and we were more than a little surprised, but it was credit to the whole team that great fielding performance had helped no end.  Russ Dawes starred with 4 wickets & 3 catches…which just about cancels out those 2 consecutive boundaries which went through his legs the previous week !  Special mention must also go to Cap’n Jack for being hauled off for bowling 2 beamers….but since he also picked up 2 rapid wickets, we’ll forgive.

Our next concern of the powerful C&WC bowling attack also came to nothing, as Daryl & Pat were able to pick off the runs in just 14 overs, nearly all in boundaries.  Game over by 4.30pm !

Our thoughts also go to the C&WC players, friends and family of their club member Nigel Swain, whose recent passing was respectfully marked by our opponents wearing black armbands.

Royal Wedding, FA Cup Final, Beer & Prosecco Festival at the club, glorious weather…everything was pointing towards a great day for our 1st home league game for 3 years on 19th May.  Putting out our strongest side yet out against Eight Ash Green filled us with confidence that we should take an easy win…but we chose to do it the hard way !

EAG batted first and made slow progress (45-2 after 20 overs) but then cut loose with some of our more wayward bowling.  Mo starred with the ball with 4 wickets, and we were set the target of 176 to win.

Torquil & Daryl started well but after they both departed, Chintesh & Pat then put on 90 to take us to 145-2.  Victory beckoned with 10 overs to go, so a collapse was needed to give the watching crowds a little concern, and a collapse is what they got !  Well done to Jon for smashing the winning boundary after we’d lost 4 wickets for 0 runs and seemed on the cusp of throwing it all away.

Despite travelling over to West Mersea with a full-strength team, the weather once more denied several of us our first cricket of the season.  With respect to the oppo (they did give us an early tea after all) their pitch would have given 30 rugby players cause for concern, so us delicate cricket players chose to go watch the IPL instead.

Unfortunate that for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, we travelled all the way not to even get changed, but here’s hoping that we’ve now seen our share of matches called off for the 1st half of the season.  Next week (19th May) 1st home league match for 3 years !  & a Beer Festival !!

Where do I start with this game! After the Long Melford no show and Witham washout we arrived at Maldon for our first game back in the league.  A team of 9 cricketers and a enthusiastic first timer waited in the shade to watch the skipper win the toss and choose to bowl on a very green wicket. Harry Porcher and Mo Wahid opened the bowling and kept it tight with both taking early wickets. Mo finishing with 3-23!  After a minor incident, which I have now realised is why you stop the ball with your hands and not your head!, Maldon scored 171-7 and we went into the tea break optimistic.

It rained all day Thursday, it rained all day Friday, it rained most of Saturday morning…but we were assured that Witham’s 2^nd pitch would be like Eden Gardens in a drought.

So despite dropping two star names from the team (Darren discovering that one week is not enough to recover from an eye operation !) and gambling that 10 players would be enough, we watched the drizzle for a while then jointly agreed with the oppo that any form of game was going to ruin the square.

Many thanks to the former players* who returned for a one-off (Tony & Ketan) and to all for making a fruitless trip. Better luck next week at Maldon !

* all properly registered with the league, no shenanigans here