Scorecard

West Mersea v Eight Ash Green Cricket Club 1st XI on Sun 13 Sep 2009 at 13:00
Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Won by 2 wickets

Match report In a week-end where shortage of availability was a problem, a fairly strong team was somehow persuaded to play away at West Mersea. Being my first cricketing experience at this location, it was difficult to work out which was least desirable; The ground itself, the weather, or the overpowering smell drifting across the ground. There was little time to ponder this, as Danny (filling in for Keith, who was late) won the toss and chose to field.

The wicket turned out to be considerably better than the outfield as both opening bowlers struggled early on. Keith Hammond made the break through, but not before he got hoisted over his head for an absolutely huge six! Despite this, the home team still looked set for a big total. It was Jack Smith who pegged Mersea back, taking three wickets in quick succession. Just when Josh Lennard-Jones was about to come on to clean up the tail, the captain seemed to fear for the well-being of the opposition and bought on James Warner instead. To be fair to James, he did a decent job and ended up with five wickets. The highlights of this devastating spell being a wicket with his first ball (Woody taking a smart reaction catch at the second attempt) , and two wickets in two balls later on in the innings. Woody took the other wicket, having bowled tidily from one end. West Mersea ended up 234 all out, giving the Green 4 extra overs. It was a good score given the conditions, but surely no match for the mighty Green top order?

(Tea was good, very enjoyable – 8/10)

Needing 235 to win, the Green reversed their batting order and sent Keith Hammond in to open. I can only assume this was to lure the opposition into a false sense of security, as he pulled his fifth ball to point (!) without troubling the scorers. Ali Woodcock and James Warner put the Green back on track, both scoring 20 odd. And despite a quick fire cameo from Luke Keeble, the Green were soon reeling on 90-7. Enter Nathan Taylor. It didn’t take long to play himself in, before the ball began disappearing to all parts! Ably supported by Josh, who actually played a half-decent innings, they put on about 70 for the 8th wicket. When Josh got out, Nathan kept going and soon reached 50. Jack Smith was at the other end now, and got off the mark with a six over the sight screen. By this stage run-rate was not an issue, but the Green only had two wickets to play with. This did not affect Nathan and Jack, who continued to play fluently and steered Eight Ash Green to a very impressive victory with 4 overs to spare.

Overall it was a very good win for the Green, considering the uncompromising position we were in. Nathan stole man of the match with his match winning 69 not out, but James’ brilliant bowling performance was just as important. He got to keep the match ball though, so it evens out…

West Mersea Batting
234 for 10
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Eight Ash Green Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nipuna Ukwatte 7.004800.006.86
Keith-Henry Hammond8.0052152.006.50
Jack Smith9.0144314.674.89
Alastair Woodcock9.0038138.004.22
James Warner7.304058.005.33

Eight Ash Green Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
236 for 8
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Keith-Henry Hammond Caught  BRUCE B A.YOUNG 0 1
James Warner Lbw  BRUCE 25
Alastair Woodcock Bowled  CONWAY 19 1
Paul Marston Bowled  A.YOUNG 3
Danny Guy Lbw  A.YOUNG 10 1
Luke Keeble Bowled  BRUCE 19
Nipuna Ukwatte Caught  A.RUTTER B A.YOUNG 7
Nathan Taylor Not Out  69
Joshua Lennard-Jones Bowled  BRUCE 31
Jack Smith Not Out  33
A.N. Other  

West Mersea Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
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