Scorecard

Bardwell v Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Two Counties 1st XI (Saturday) on Sat 03 Aug 2024 at 1pm
Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Lost 33 Runs

Match report Having had the opportunity to write two match reports detailing winning causes against Wivenhoe and Brockley, I find myself in the frustrating position of having to relive a disappointing defeat. However, cricket doesn’t always play out the way you hope it will, and our away trip to Bardwell was a prime example of this.

The day began with a long, cross-county trek to the far reaches of Suffolk. Road resurfacing and closures caused issues for most of our travelling pack, but with 80% of the team in the visitors dressing room, Vice-Captain Rob Lewis put us through our paces in the warm-up. Captain Joe Young made his way to the middle to meet his opposite number, only to be informed that their Vice-Captain would be tossing the coin, as usual Skipper Foreman was still at work. Joe managed to end his losing streak, finally calling correctly, and putting the league leaders in to bat first, on a track which looked like it could cause some problems. With a couple of minutes to go, and a full quota of Eight Ash Green players in the huddle, we were ready to get going.

Amila Peiris and Calum McDonald were charged with use of the new ball, and quickly highlighted the untrustworthy nature of the pitch. Both bowlers troubled the batters early on, with Amila getting the ball to regularly rear off a length to the extent where Joe had to run to his car during an over, grab his keeping pads, put them under his whites and camp at short leg whilst the new ball was still causing problems. Whilst the first 10 overs didn’t lead to any wicket-taking chances, with the score at 29/0, we were not too unhappy with our opening efforts. Jonathan Purser and Alastair Hammond took over from the two openers, looking to build on our decent start and to make the breakthrough that we were hoping for. Both bowlers were getting the ball to move in the air, but that elusive opening wicket was proving hard to find, as Perkins and Wakeman continued to keep the bad balls out, before pouncing on anything loose offered up to them. Ali’s fourth and final over saw us finally end the resolve of Bardwell opener, Perkins. Blondie pushed one across the right hander, who couldn’t help but try to flash it through the covers. The ball did just enough to catch the edge, with Rob taking a very smart diving catch low and to his right. The rest of the 18th over was interesting, a front foot no ball was followed by two dot balls, as we looked to put pressure on the new man. There were then consecutive waist-high no balls, with one clearing the batters head by such a height it could not be deemed dangerous enough to warrant a warning! A wide (which Blondie argued with the umpire had cut the blue line and therefore should not have been called), meant that after charging in 7 times already there had been just 3 legal deliveries, picking up one wicket at a cost of four runs. The next ball was back on the money, just short of a length and drawing a false shot from Bardwell’s Allum, who chipped the ball to a waiting JP at mid-off. Ali got out of the over without conceding another run, meaning that the over saw two wickets fall for 4 runs. As we always say in cricket, there are no pictures in the scorebook or on the scorecard, but I hope I have been able to inspire your imagination enough for you to see how those 10 balls played out. Bardwell reached the drinks break without further loss, and with the score set at 81/2, it all felt relatively even.

“One for drinks” is often the cry as a fielding side return from the refreshment break, and the first ball of the 23rd over saw that materialise, as Steve Nunn managed to get one past the defences of the remaining Bardwell opener, Wakeman, who had positioned himself well to attack having scored 43 from 79 balls. Left arm off spinner Henry Warner came into the attack, immediately putting the ball in challenging areas and limiting the scoring of the home side. Steve continued to plug away, picking up another 2 wickets, the dangerous D Wrenn to an impressive catch by Amila in the deep (an infinitely harder chance than the one he spilled the week before), and then J Wrenn, who had injured his hamstring and was content with just swinging for the fences, again caught by Amila after launching one skywards. Steve’s figures of 3/40 from his 9 overs acting as further proof that he only needs half a right hand to do the required job with the ball! Joe was then convinced by VC Rob to bring himself on, still having nightmares of the 4 over spell from the week before. A tidy start saw a wicket fall in his second over, two balls after being hit for the only boundary of his six over spell. Henry was brought off after his seventh over, having just been taken for 9 runs as the Bardwell batters looked to up the rate. This skyrocketed his economy from 1.83 after bowling 6 overs for 11 runs, to 2.86 to finish with 0/20 from seven. All joking aside, Henry’s economical spell built pressure that allowed other bowlers to cash in, emphasising the message we have been trying to put across all season that bowling partnerships are vital if we want to restrict teams whilst we are in the field. Joe managed to add another one to the wicket column, a low full toss hit in the air and being gratefully accepted by JP at deep midwicket.

This left Bardwell at 149/7, with 39 balls remaining. The hosts only hit two boundaries in this time, a maximum and a four in consecutive balls off of the returning Calum, however, their intensity whilst running between the wickets put pressure on our fielders, forcing mistakes, and ensuring they reached that magical 200 by the time the last ball had been bowled. A decent bowling effort by our boys, but a couple of mistakes in the field meant that we were chasing a few more runs than we should have been on a pitch which offered encouragement for the bowlers against batters who were not yet set.

An impromptu tea, courtesy of Bardwell’s VP Day, was warmly received, and our opening pair of Steve and Deepak Rajpal (who had arrived at Bardwell carrying an injury) walked out to the middle to and faced up to Kelly and Panting. Deepak’s injury meant that there was a lack of strike rotation between the openers, and the new ball, as it had in our bowling innings, caused issues on the Bardwell wicket. Steve, struggling to grip his bat with his hand injury, was the first to go, mistiming his shot and ending up with his one working hand on the bat, caught for 5. Deepak looked to make up for his lack of mobility, swinging at anything in his area, before also being caught off of the bowling of Panting. Now, having unwittingly undersold his bowling effort against Wivenhoe, a very economical 1/22 from 8 overs which was vital in our ability to restrict them to a much more chaseable total (again, very sorry, Stu!) Stuart Hammond picked up where he left off with the bat at Rectory Road. With the pitch causing problems, Stuart found himself negotiating deliveries which pitched in the same area but would either rise up and hit him in the midriff, or shoot through around his ankles. However, Stuart looked in imperious form, determined to get the better of the Bardwell bowlers, keeping out anything relatively troubling, and dispatching any ball which erred in line or length. At the other end, Amila’s knock began shakily, being dropped a couple of times before he was able to get into the flow. Runs started to come easier to the pair, and at 110/2 from 27.2 overs, with the equation reading 91 from 106, it looked as though these two set batters would continue on their merry way to get us ever closer to the target we had been set.

However, the whole complexion of the run chase changed the next ball. Amila drove the ball straight to mid-off, with a big call of “NO”. The mid-off fielder fumbled the ball, and Amila set off, calling Stuart through for a quick single. I mentioned earlier on that sometimes an old adage can bear fruit, and this once again was the case. “Never run on a misfield”… and this was why. The mid-off fielder, who had only spilled the ball a couple of yards away from his initial position, picked the ball up and attempted to run Amila out at the non-striker’s end. The ball missed the stumps, and Amila made his ground. However, the ball continued down the strip at pace, overtaking Stuart and culminating in an accidental direct hit. Having thrown at, and missed, the stumps the fielder was aiming at, he still managed to run Stuart out at the striker’s end. The early calls of a barbecue were, arguably, a touch harsh. Maybe it was more of a light roasting. Whilst it was a dangerous single to try and steal following a minor misfield, I think it would be fair to say that there was a fair amount of bad luck in the way Stuart’s innings ended. Joe came and went without troubling the scorers, having gloved a ball which had risen more sharply than he had anticipated into the waiting wicket keeping gloves of his opposite number. To continue the right hand/left hand combination that had worked up until this point, JP joined Amila in the middle, however, also departed for nought after chopping on to his own stumps (JP has been hard done by here, with Play Cricket freezing during the live, ball by ball, scoring, meaning his duck is showing as a first baller, which it wasn’t!).

Blondie, in at 7, got to work getting Amila on strike, who was now seeing the ball well, and scoring with relative ease. As they settled into their partnership, it once again looked like this could be match defining. However, Bardwell finally got their man, with Amila looking to up the rate and put us into a winning position. Having just scored a couple of boundaries in the previous over, Amila looked to capitalise on another short ball, timing a pull shot sweetly, but straight at square leg. The ball hit the fielder, popped up, and allowed him enough time to take the catch. With his departure from the scene, and Alex also on his way back a couple of minutes later having been just run out, hopes of a statement-making victory had faded. The Bardwell bowlers tied Rob down before he was caught trying to hit out, Ali edged behind and was caught by the sprawling Foreman, and Calum became Panting’s fourth victim to bring this contest to an end, the Green losing by 33 runs.

This was a tough result to take, having shown for 75% of this match that we really are more than good enough to be at the top end of the table. Rather than being beaten by Bardwell, we had lost that game ourselves, having put ourselves in a position to win. However, as is always the way with cricket, the main thing is that we learn from our mistakes, and how to avoid making them next time around. There were positives to take from our trip to North-Suffolk, and hopefully this acts as a springboard for a successful end to the season.

Bardwell Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 7w 6b 4lb 
for 7 wickets
20
200 (45.0 overs)		     
Rick Wakeman b  S Nunn 43 79 5 54.43
George Perkins ct  R Lewis b A Hammond 21 43 2 48.84
Freddie Allum ct  J Purser b A Hammond 0 6 0
Josh Kelly ct  J Purser b J Young 28 54 3 51.85
Daniel Wrenn ct  A Peiris b S Nunn 7 10 1 70.0
Jack Wrenn ct  A Peiris b S Nunn 19 24 1 1 79.17
Martin Sully b  J Young 9 14 1 64.29
Michael Lumley Not Out  43 30 2 1 143.33
Cameron Foreman Not Out  10 13 76.92
Neil Hillier  
Jake Panting  

Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Two Counties 1st XI (Saturday) Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Amila Peiris5.021200.002.40
Calum McDonald8.014400.005.50
Jonathan Purser6.002700.004.50
Alastair Hammond4.011628.004.00
Steve Nunn9.0140313.334.44
Henry Warner7.012000.002.86
Joe Young6.0031215.505.17

Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Two Counties 1st XI (Saturday) Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 5w 1b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
11
167		        
Steve Nunn ct  R Wakeman b J Panting 5 28 17.86
Deepak Rajpal ct  G Perkins b J Panting 19 21 3 90.48
Stuart Hammond run out  (N Hillier) 49 74 6 66.22
Amila Peiris ct  J Wrenn b D Wrenn 64 68 7 94.12 2
Joe Young ct  C Foreman b M Sully 0 6 0
Jonathan Purser b  G Perkins 0 1 0 1
Alastair Hammond ct  Unsure b J Panting 10 20 50.0
Alex Hammond run out  (J Wrenn) 2
Rob Lewis ct  M Sully b J Kelly 1 1
Calum McDonald ct  N Hillier b J Panting 4
Henry Warner Not Out  2

Bardwell Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Josh Kelly8.0030130.003.75
Jake Panting8.102646.503.18
Daniel Wrenn9.0137137.004.11
Martin Sully9.0026126.002.89
George Perkins7.0041141.005.86
Rick Wakeman2.00300.001.50