Match Reports

Our budding correspondent Joe Smith sends this blow by blow account from the front…..

Earls Colne vs. Ardleigh 21/9/13

So it came to this, after last week’s defeat to Bergholt, a win was needed for us to finish 2nd, the loser would finish 3rd, possibly even 4th depending on other results. The stakes could not be higher.
Arriving at the ground, we were surprised to see a pitch with a shed load of worm casts, and the roller being deployed 20 minutes before the game, it certainly looked like a September wicket!
Everyone was on time; Daryl won the toss and decided to bat (after our frankly piss-poor attempt at chasing last week, who could blame him!).
We started really well, un-Colne like, Daryl was in usual free hitting mode, latching onto anything short of a length, Chintesh was more watchful, looking set to be there for the duration. The Ardleigh bowling was accurate but could not get through Colne’s early batsman. Daryl and Chintesh batted until the drinks break, putting 88 on the board, Daryl had passed 50, but was shortly out after the drinks break for 56, as he and Chintesh put on 90+ for the first wicket. Chintesh fell soon after for 46 trying to attack the new spin bowler Barrell, Colne had a bit of a mini collapse after that, Archie was out for 6, Will Dunn 0, Ollie Bond 10, George Cranfield 6, David Holme 4, all dismissed by Barrell who had been very accurate, we were suddenly 148 for 7, and struggling to meet a par total of 175. Cue Joss Wilkinson at 7 and Lee Parish at 9 who played very sensibly, mixing good running with some cultured shots, which realized a partnership of 50 for the 8th wicket. Lee ended up 31 not out, Joss 27 not out and at the end of 45 overs we ended up on 198 for 7. We felt this was a really competitive total.
After a fantastic spread, of cake, egg sarnies and donuts we took to the field knowing we had set a good total, but would need to be on our toes in the field and bowl well to restrict them on a small boundary.
Lee and Joe opening up managed to restrict Ardleigh to 28 for 1 off off the first 15, Lee removed the dangerous Kurt Lamont (who had scored 88 in the first fixture earlier in the season), thanks to a great bit of teamwork from Archie and John in the slip cordon (later found out that Jon fractured his finger diving for the catch!).
Bland and Lydon the number 1 and 3, however managed to see of the opening spells and started to increase the rate of the change bowlers, Bland reaching 50 after offering up a few chances to Colne, Ardleigh got to 100 for 1 and looked on course to chase down our total, the introduction of David Holme from the top end, however turned the course of the game. Dave may not be as accurate or consistent as some bowlers, but he has a knack of breaking partnerships and taking wickets. He dismissed Bland for 52, caught by Lee, Chandler was then run out for 1 and Lydon was dismissed caught by Chintesh off Dave, off a lovely long hop! We managed to reduce Ardleigh to 126-7, from a period between 15-25 overs where we nodded off; we had got back into it thanks to some great fielding and all round pressure from the bowlers. Ardleigh were eventually dismissed in the 42nd over for 160.

Colne win by 39 runs, and finish 2nd in Piri Piri Div3 and are runners up for 2013!

     P    W    L    V    BON    TOT    AVE    
N Springfield W    16    12    3    1    19    259    17.27    
Earls Colne          16    11    4    1    22    242    16.13    
Ardleigh               16    9    5    2    34    214    15.29    
Gt Horkesley        16    9    5    2    29    209    14.93    
West Bergholt      16    10    6    0    34    234    14.63    
Gt Totham           16    6    9    1    44    164    10.93    
Wormingford       16    5    9    2    39    139    9.93    
Harwich & Dvct     16    2    12    2    59    99    7.07    
Abberton            16    2    13    1    57    97    6.47   

Despite good weather, Earls Colne had to pull out of Sunday’#s fixture with only seven players available.  Last game of the season is this coming weekend, let’s find eleven men this time……..

Victory on Saturday against second positioned Ardleigh means that Earls Colne CC will be promoted to division 2 of the NECL Piri Piri league next season.  Well done to all involved.

A half century from Daryl Sleeman and 46 from Chintesh Patel saw Colne to a solid start.  After faltering in mid innings, Josh Wilkinson and Lee Paris shared a decent partnership of exactly 50 towards the end to ensure a healthy total was posted.  198 -7.

Ardleigh started strongly with a 90+ partnership for the second wicket, but finally succumbed for 160.  Three wickets for David Holme.   Earls Colne win by 38 runs.

Full scorecard here

After a run of ten consecutive victories, we succumbed to West Bergholt yesterday on a cool showery day.

Limited to 35 overs, WBCC were in early trouble at 50 – 5 but rallied and posted 184 – 7.  Our response was as bright as the weather, and we were all out for 104. 🙁 

4 points in defeat.

The last game of the season next saturday is an important ‘must win’ game to ensure promotion.

Two wins last weekend maintaining our push for promotion

Earls Colne 215 Gt Totham 89 – Earls Colne win by 126 runs!

Earls Colne 181 Wormingford 110 – Earls Colne won by 71 runs

Springfield won both their games so we remain in 2nd spot

Following on from Chintesh (100) and Smithy (5 for), Oakers becomes the third Colne player to be selected for his five wicket haul in the Plate final on Setpember 1st.  He wins two tickets to an Essex YB40 game.

See here

Earls Colne vs. Tendring Plate Final 1st September 2013

So this was it, Colne were playing in their first final in…. well it seemed like decades, we got to the ground at 11.30 am, had a little look around, surveyed the beer festival tent which we hopefully would be tucking into after the game.
Tendring turned up in their mini-bus and looked quite smart in their blazers, compared to Colne’s mish mash of different assorted clothing, Archie looked like he had just emerged from a hedge (no difference there).
Daryl went and tossed up with the Tendring captain, they looked a strong side and a youthful one at that, Daryl lost the toss and we were inserted on a track which looked a belter, apparently some scores of 280 had been successfully chased this year, so we hoped to make hay as the sun shone.

 Daryl and Harry opened up as per, but we were quickly in trouble against a hostile Tendring opening attack, Harry being struck on the helmet and Daryl being bowled for 8 shouldering arms to a straightish one. Harry and Chintesh were also dismissed cheaply, compared to recent form and we found ourselves on 30 for 3 after 10 overs. Will Dunn and Archie Wilkinson came to the crease, Will his usual attacking, unorthodox self and Archie happy to see the ball off in the early stages, and then upping the tempo later on. Both of them played excellent innings taking us from 30 for 3 to 103 for 4. In this time Will had passed 50 with 9 4’s, he was eventually dismissed for 53. Archie scored 29 with 4 4’s, both batted superbly and had got us into a position where we could post a competitive total. Pat Kerry at 6 biffed a few fours off the spinner before being given LBW after it hit him in the box! The impressive Will Spain bowled Nick for 10, so we were 152-7. The last few of Joe, Lee, Jon and Ben managed to all combine to get us to 187-9 off our 40 overs. We felt it was competitive and after being in a dire position at 30 for 3, we had turned it around.

  After a superb spread, which Oakers described as a ‘cakey tea’, we set about the task of bowling Tendring out, after a couple of ‘We are the Titan’s’ esque speeches from Callaghan and Parish, and to make sure we concentrated for the whole 40 overs, something we had struggled with all season.
Well, no one would have predicted it, but Tendring were 6 for 8 off 11 overs, Joe grabbed a couple, Oakers took three wickets and we also dismissed someone who handled the ball! (Don’t think many of us had seen that happen before), some superb catching by Archie Wilkinson, (he dropped one, but we will let him off that). To be honest there isn’t too much else to write about, apart from the fact we dismissed Tendring for 49 in 24.3 overs, Oakers took 5 for 18 off 8 overs, Joe 8-5-6-3, Ben 4-0-16-1 and Chintesh 4-1-7-0.
  

We won by 138 runs!!!!!!!…
 
Non-one could have predicted that, Tendring were a good side, but we excelled in the field and with our bowling, everyone should be immensely proud of themselves, everyone contributed and it is something we should enjoy. The club has not had a great deal to shout about in the past few years, this could be the start of the long road back.

After the game, presentation’s were made to us all, Will Dunn was presented with the Man of the Match award, for his 53, an innings that dug us out a hole and took the attack to Tendring.

COME ON COLNE!!!!

Full Scorecard Link http://www.sportstatz.com/ss/web.asp?club=1200&mode=100&match=16388

Joe Smith was selected for the leaguee’s imaginary team last weekend, due to his five wicket haul against Harwich.  he wines two tickets to see a game at the County Ground.  Well Done!!  see here

and here

Just like at the Oval, lashings of rain put paid to our chances of playing against North Springfield yesterday.  Match abandoned and we remain second in the table

Earls Colne vs. Great Horksley 18^th August

Colne made the trip over to Mile End sports ground to take on Great Horksley, who we had managed to defeat in the reverse fixture a month previously.

Daryl lost the toss and we were asked to bat, on a pitch that had a good deal of grass, but that was quite dry.

Daryl and Harry opened up for us and made decent progress against some very good bowling from Horksley, it seemed quite difficult to get the ball away, or play a shot with confidence, as the bounce was a little erratic. Daryl was dismissed trying to pull when the ball got a little big on him, apart from that after 13 overs we were 42 for 1 and Chintesh and Harry looked rather untroubled.

However, the change bowling continued to test Colne, Harry was bowled by a full toss, Chintesh was caught on the line at Cow Corner, Joss was caught at mid off (how else?). Will Dunn batted bravely with what looked like a half chewed off finger! Halfway through our innings we had fallen to 73 for 5, we thought 150 would be a decent total to set. At 98 for 8, 120 looked a more realistic target. However Angus Wardle at number 6 who had played with great application and number 10 Colin Bocking (who had upset the wife by playing two games this weekend!), showed great resilience in putting on 52 for the 9^th wicket in 13 overs (Angus 31 not out, Colin 17). Ben at Number 11 was caught behind with the Score on exactly 150, we gave Horksley 2 overs, but crucially we had managed to get ourselves to a total that we felt we could defend if we bowled well.

After a tea of egg sarnies, cake and sausage rolls, we set about the task in front of us, knowing that we would have to bowl and field pretty much out of our skins on one of the biggest pitches this season.

Horksley started pretty well and managed to nullify the Colne attack of Smith and Oakley after 17 overs, Horksley openers Jayasooria and Hassan had taken them to 62 for 0,  we needed to take a wicket quickly otherwise the game would be gone.  Cue Chintesh and Ben who bowled with great control, we put the squeeze on Horksley, Harry taking a smart catch off Ben and Chintesh tweaking a few at the bottom end reduced Horksley to 85 for 6, including the key wickets of Krishnan and Fitzgerald. Harry with a smart leg-side stumping and Joe Smith taking a catch at deep cow-corner to get some revenge on the man who had parked him two years ago at Bergholt.

However the game was not over yet Moula and Nanda, both of whom had batted well at Colne earlier in the season, were frustrating us and continuing the theme of most runs being scored through the slip/gully region. Joe managed to return and nip Moula out and a few overs later Nick dismissed Nanda with Joss Wilkinson holding his nerve and taking the catch at point. We finally dismissed Horksley for 128 in the 41^st over. A win by 22 runs.

Bowling Figures : Nick Oakley 10-2-32-1, Joe Smith 10-1-24-1, Chintesh Patel 10-1-28-4, Ben Mason 10-3-23-4, Colin Bocking 1-0-7-0.

Earls Colne 20 points, Great Horksley 7 points.

We now move up to 2^nd, and to a crucial top of the table clash vs North Springfield Wanderers next weekend.