Midweek 20/20 cricket

From Joe Smith

Below are the following teams sent through to apply for the piri piri 20/20 league 2012… 

There are some good sides their but also sides we have beaten and whom are in our division. 

We have until 12th December to submit an application….looking at these teams and the opportunity of some midweek cricket and increased income for the club. I think that we should change our decision and enter this competition… 

Bures are also very much interested in taking part perhaps we could call ourselves Earls Colne and Bures for this?  I really think we should look again at this 

Thanks 

Joe

Teams are

Elmstead GCC
Ardleigh CC
Wivenhoe Town CC
Springfield CC
Colchester & EE CC
Coggeshall CC
Great Bentley CC
Copford CC
Kelvedon CC
Wormingford CC
Frinton CC
Sudbury CC

End of Season Ground Clearance

By Oliver Callaghan

A couple of weeks ago a huge amount of work was put into clearing the foliage that dominated the far side of the pitch. In the dense mass of leaves, stems and the occasional log, we found at least 3 toads a goal post and a derelict recreation sign that said, ‘Private Property No Dogs’!!!

The morning party consisting of Messers Smith Snr and Junior Callaghan Snr and Junior and Ben Mason all got stuck in, at least it gave Joe the chance to work off some frustrataion at the recent relegation news courtsey of the league.

 

Before

The afternoon shift saw Dave Brooker coming in for the Smith party and Ben returning after the qucikest Sunday dinner ever. Enthusiasm was maintained and the ground at last started to look a lot better. This brought welcome comments from local residents who even contributed to our net fund after seeing our efforts and being told about our new net plan.

After

 

 

Without a digger to finish the job off tools were downed and a sense of satisfaction was clearly apparent. Many thanks to those that helped it wont be long before the benches, new storage area and hot tub will be in place for next season!!  

New team for 2012

Great news for 2012

 

The club is pleased to announce that for next season 2012, we intend to run a new team which will play friendlies only.  We will call the team Earls Colne Occasionals/Casuals and it will be led by Tony Hayns, who has kindly agreed to take on this role. 

 

This will be a great opportunity for anyone who wants to play friendly cricket, including former legends and “has-beens” and youngsters/colts looking for a chance to play.  Details of fixtures will be announced in due course.

 

Les Abbie, Chairman

Sunday side restructured / relegated

In a puzzling move following the league restructure, Earls Colne find themselves in the new Piri piri league Division 4, despite finishing in the top half of division 3.  The league moves in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform……… and skipper Joe Smith is hopping mad about it!

Rain again!

Any chance of promotion to Division 2 of the Piri Piri League was snuffed out today as our game fell victim to an almighty downpour at Earls Colne…
 
After losing the toss we were put into the field (no surprise there then), on a wicket which was slow and offered very little help to the pace bowlers.  Eight Ash Green proceeded to serenley to 133 for 0 off 33 overs, a couple of dropped chances, some decent batting and a flatter than usual EC fielding and bowling performance were factors contributing to this, Chambers getting 90 and Polley 52…we did make some progress into reducing them to 163 for 4 off 40 overs…..Will Devitt and Russ Dawes with two wickets apiece….
 
With 40 overs completed the heavens opened, not even the cover could have prevented puddles forming on the square and just after tea which was taken early we decided to call the game off as their was little chance of completing the game, with poor drying conditions and a definite squelch on the outfield..

rain rain rain

Friday’s rain put paid to Saturday’s fixture against Boxted, whose pitch was still under water on Saturday morning.  Match cancelled.

Dramatic tie

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…

Auction postponed – a message from the chairman

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

The winning run continues on Sundays

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

Denied by rain

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