Match Reports

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     

Saturday’s side slipped from 101-3 to 132 all out, with 40 from Smith and 31 from Cranfield the main contributions.  Melton St Audry made easy work of the total and completed a 6 wicket victory, scoring 133 – 4.  Earls Colne lost by 6 wickets. Opponents 20 points, Earls Colne 4 points.

Sunday was a happier story. Earls Colne posted 222 for 7 with half centruies for Unwin (52) and Durkin (63 no).  Stebbing struggled in reply with just 162-9, 110 of which were scored by Meakin, not out.  Earls Colne won by 60 runs.

Despite our best efforts of fielding 22 players for this Jubilee celebration of cricket, the weather has had the last word, and today’s festivities are cancelled.

It is hoped to arrange a midweek T20 game in a couple of weeks’ time and this will be announced to one and all, as well as being posted on the website

First time against Nacton ( I think) for the club, on a dry and breezy day with total cloud cover for the better part of the day.  We arrived with 11 players (hooray), including recently returned George Cranfield from Uni.  We lost the toss and Nacton elected to bat (we would have bowled anyway).  Quick inroads were made by openers Mason and Oakley, with the home team stumbling to 44 for 3 after 10 overs. But an 89 run partnership from Glading and Brunt made a possible total of well over 200 look inevitable. At just the right moment Toby Philips struck with two important wickets, both identically out caught at cover by Oakley (first catches in 20 years apparently), and Nacton stumbled again with three tail end wickets falling to Mason.  We could not manage to take the last wicket and Nacton finished on 176 for 9, an eminently gettable target.

After tea the top order struggled and some highly accurate bowling by Nacton skipper Brunt ( 7 overs, 3 wickets, only a single wide), ably backed up by Fincham saw a top order collapse to 11 for 4.  A patient recovery, and a partnership of 50 from Brooker (17) and Cranfield (36) came to a quick end with two wickets falling in 3 balls leaving Colne strugling once again on 61-6.  Lee Parish made a brisk 16 before spanking the ball down the throat of mid-off, leaving Colne on 92 -9.  Ben Mason and Oakers connected to a few, bringing a batting point, but Ben Mason replicated Lee’s earlier shot and we were all out for 113 with 7 overs still to be bowled.

Batting practise needed (nets are on Thursdays ☺)

Nacton 20 points, Earls Colne 5 points

Next Saturday we take on Melton St Audrey’s, at home.  The Sunday side take on Stebbing, also at home.

It’s nice to see some good weather at long last which has meant we can play more cricket without the need for bouyancy aids!

The Wednesday night training sessions are going really well and its so nice to see so many new faces each week. Keep telling people you know who may be interested we will always gladly welcome new players!

With the Jubilee celebrations fast approaching some of you may know already about our planned Club event on the 3rd of June at the Recreation Ground. I would like to take the opportunity firstly to invite you all along for a barbecue( available from 15:00)  drink and a fun day out with some cricket thrown in for good measure.

What we would like to do is to get the whole of the Colts section involved with some Kwik cricket (11:30 – 12:30)  and an inter-colts game (16:00-17:30). There will also be a 20/20 senior friendly game against Twinstead between 13:00 – 15:00. 

We anticipate that the day will be a fun day out for the whole family to enjoy, with food and drink in plentiful supply and a chance to relax watching some cricket.

We wish to continue building a stronger club that is there for the whole community to benefit from and hope you will come along with friends and family to enjoy the day.

 I will be at training on Wednesday to answer any questions you may have or take food and drink orders for the day!!

Many thanks 

Harry Callaghan