Scorecard

Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Two Counties 1st XI (Saturday) v Brockley on Sat 27 Jul 2024 at 12:00
Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Won by 1 Wicket

Match report On the back of an impressive win the week before in the Wivenhoe sun, the first Xi hosted Brockley to all but round off an action-packed cricket week, in a fixture that delivered everything the baying Race Night crowd could have hoped for.

Following a successful President vs Chairman’s Day on the Friday, Captain Joe Young and Vice-Captain Daryl Sleeman arrived perhaps not at their freshest (an understatement if ever there were one). As the first team arrived in dribs and drabs, our usual meticulous warm up had been replaced by Ollie Stovell having a net and repeatedly hitting the ball into the trees before Deepak put his pads on and proceeded to swipe across the line in an attempt to break the stumps which had been driven into the ground 3 strips over. It is fair to say that without our usual Ringmaster, Rob Lewis, we have a habit of taking our foot off the warm-up pedal. However, as each player arrived, with them came an item for tea, which we were putting on to reciprocate Brockley’s generous offering from earlier in the year, and excitement to get proceedings underway began to rise, even if this was just to get us closer to enjoying the refreshments.

The Green found themselves put into field after the Skipper lost yet another toss (a quick side note – the introduction of match day fines has been mentioned in recent conversations, and whilst my wallet may not agree, a fine for losing the toss should absolutely be introduced!), an outcome which would have materialised either way, with the Green preferring to back themselves in a chase when possible. With the sun shining, two drinks breaks agreed, and the teams finally ready, Amila Peiris sauntered up the hill to get the prelude to Race Night underway.

True to form, Amila probed at a testing line and length, with his first four overs going for no runs whatsoever. Calum McDonald opened with Amila, but his opening spell was just a touch too short and wide against the left-handed Fisher to cause any early problems. Jonathan Purser replaced Calum and picked up the opening breakthrough in his second over, with Division 4’s second highest run scorer in the 2023 season, Fisher, chipping the ball to Calum at Mid-Off. Steven Nunn came on at the bottom end, hopeful that he could banish the Wivenhoe demons of the previous week. Whilst his first 3 overs did yield 5 boundaries, he was already more economical than his last spell, and a couple of flashes across the line from Brockley opener Boreham and a mistimed leg-side flick off McCaffrey’s pads almost leading to an identical dismissal from the year before, it felt as though Steve was close to a wicket. This wicket materialised in the 19th over, with Steve running the working fingers on his bowling hand (pain-killered up to the eyeballs following the hand injury sustained the week before) down the side of the ball, trapping the dangerous McCaffrey plum in front with a wily cutter, giving the umpire no choice but to raise the finger. Steve’s final 3.2 overs after the wicket went for 8 runs, ending with figures of 1/43 from his 9 overs, which could have been even better had Amila managed to cling on to a relatively straightforward catch at Midwicket, something that left the entire team in disbelief.

At the other end, Henry Warner replaced Jonathan Purser and began to bring the run rate down, before Joe came on after Steve to attempt to do the opposite. Not on purpose, of course, but Joe’s 4 overs for 32 runs could have, and arguably should have, been even more expensive. The Captain’s exploits during the President vs Chairman’s match (cricketing and bar-supporting) had taken their toll, and he quickly turned to Calum McDonald wrestle back some momentum heading towards the back end of the innings. Henry sent Boreham back to the pavilion after chopping onto his own stumps, but the busy Dovaston and Bibby kept the run rate ticking over. Amila came back on from the top end, complaining of a thigh strain, and came close to a breakthrough. Rushing the Brockley batter, the ball looped in the air to Deepak at short-midwicket, only for the ball to somehow end up going through Deepak’s hands as the batting pair scampered through for a stolen single. The entirety of Fordham Heath seemed to stand still for a moment, with players and spectators alike unsure how that catch hadn’t been taken. Brockley were able to use that moment to their advantage in the closing overs, going at just under 10’s for the final three overs, with Calum picking up our fourth and final wicket of the afternoon, bowling Dovaston who had attempted to lap Calum three times in a row before Calum heeded the umpires advice and went dead-eye at the stumps.

Brockley finished their innings at 222/4, a score which felt chaseable, but four straightforward drops meant the were probably 40 runs ahead of where they should have been.

Fresh off the back of an impressive spread at tea, with the highlight being Daryl’s one hundred homemade coronation chicken sandwiches, the Green set about chasing down Brockley’s total. Steve and Daryl strode to the crease and started well. With the score at 40/0 from 7.3 overs, after Daryl hit Brockley’s left-arm off-spinner, Fenner, into the trees for an impressive maximum we were ahead of the rate, and our openers looked set to continue to make inroads into the target. Unfortunately, Daryl wasn’t particularly happy with the size of his six just two balls before, and wanted to make up for this shortcoming. With the ball above his eyeline, Daryl attempted to hit Fenner onto Heath Road, but found himself trudging back to the pavilion having heard the death rattle behind him. Joe came into the middle desperate to make up for his struggles with the ball, however, McCaffrey’s skiddy off-spin negated Joe’s run scoring, get out of jail shot, and a missed slog sweep off of Fenner saw him retreat into his shell and begin to get bogged down. Luckily, Steve continued on his merry way, scoring 44 runs in their 56-run partnership before Joe’s miserable afternoon finally came to an end as he chipped one up to midwicket. At this stage, The Green found themselves at 96/2, requiring a further 127 runs from 113 balls, an entirely gettable equation.

Amila joined Steve at the crease, before the opener feathered behind to Brockley’s Keeper for a vital 71, breaking the back of the chase and setting it up for the powerful middle order to take advantage of the platform laid before them. Steve’s impressive batting season continued with this knock, with the opener once again showing everyone in attendance why he should be regarded as one of the best batters in the league, equally adept at getting the ball to the boundary as he is soaking up pressure and getting into battles with highly skilled bowlers. Amila and Ollie went about their usual business of bullying the bowlers, with Amila hitting 20 off an over before prodding one back to the bowler to depart the scene. Ollie looked back to his imperious best, strutting up and down the wicket with his chest puffed out, comfortable in the knowledge that if he remained in the middle, he would win this game for us. Whilst a loose Alex Hammond drive saw him come and go, and Deepak comically ran himself out trying to scamper through for a single that was never there, Ollie continued to crash the ball to all parts. Just as he looked set to put the game out of the reach of the Brockley bowlers, he was undone by a great bit of glovework, nicking behind for 39, but leaving the green at 186/7 at the end of the 39th over. Hansana came and went, falling victim to T Fenner in a dismissal almost identical to Amila’s, leaving JP and Calum 34 from 28. JP punished a length ball for 6, before the pair set about ticking over at close to a run a ball, with the idea being that they will capitalise on anything loose the second it arose. Sticking to the game plan, JP launched the ball high into sky towards the deep square leg boundary. What followed was a moment of brilliance, the deep square leg fielder taking a few steps in, a few steps back, before leaping backwards and throwing an arm out in the hopes of taking a wonder catch. The fielder emerged with the ball firmly in the middle of his palm, sparking jubilant celebrations from the Brockley fielders. JP walked slowly towards the pavilion, both frustrated as he thought he had done enough to send that ball miles over the line and to get the chase down to less than a run a ball, and also a little concerned that the fielder may have taken too many steps backwards in his attempt to take the miracle catch. With no one close enough to see otherwise, the word of the fielder has to be taken, and this brilliant piece of work meant Brockley could have been excused for thinking it was now their game to lose.

The final act of this pulsating days cricket centred around our new ball bowler, Calum, and the youngest member of our team, left-arm offspinner Henry Warner. JP departed with the home side requiring 21 runs from 16 balls. The jeopardy here was not the required rate, but the single wicket we had remaining. One false move and Brockley would be celebrating their 7th successive victory over The Green. Henry was immediately busy at the crease, turning 1’s into 2’s and putting pressure on the opposition fielders. As the penultimate over came to an end, the situation was clear, 11 from 6. With Dovaston taking all the pace off the ball, the pair struggled to find their timing, taking 7 runs off the first 5 balls, leaving us needing 4 runs to tie, or 5 runs to win, from the final ball. I had the pleasure of being at point for the final ball (umpiring on the wrong side due to the low evening sun obscuring the batting crease from the leg side vantage point). Peeking through my fingers as Dovaston lobbed up yet another grenade, Calum took three steps down the track before having the clarity of mind to wait, set himself, and launch a waist high full toss towards a vacant cow corner. Noise from the boundary edge rose as the ball sailed in the direction of the rope, and thoughts of a tie soon turned to the celebration of a win, as the ball stayed in the air long enough to cover the full distance and then some. You may have seen the video of this moment in the Eight Ash Green group chat, captured by Matt Parker, and I think having this “see it to believe it moment” recorded makes it even better.

So, The Green emerged victorious at the end of a well-spirited, highly competitive days cricket. A team performance which characterises the togetherness and never-say-die attitude that we have displayed so far this season. The Brockley Team staying for a few beers after and ordering fish and chips was greatly appreciated, and the home team were able to enjoy Race Night that little bit more than we thought we may just before the 540th and final legal delivery of the day was sent down.

Brockley Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 9w 2b 3lb 
for 4 wickets
15
222 (45.0 overs)
     
Daniel Boreham b  H Warner 48 77 10 62.34
Stuart Fisher ct  C McDonald b J Purser 24 29 4 82.76
Alex McCaffrey lbw  S Nunn 22 30 2 1 73.33
Rob Dovaston b  C McDonald 56 71 6 1 78.87
Alex Bibby Not Out  33 52 3 63.46
Steve Fenner Not Out  24 12 1 2 200
Tom Fenner  
Henry Whiley  
Stephen Welford  
Jack Newdick  
Graham Moodie  

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

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Amila Peiris7.041600.002.29
Calum McDonald9.0151151.005.67
Jonathan Purser7.0038138.005.43
Steve Nunn9.0043143.004.78
Henry Warner9.0137137.004.11
Joe Young4.003200.008.00

Eight Ash Green Cricket Club Two Counties 1st XI (Saturday) Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
7w 1lb 
for 9 wickets
8
224
        
Steve Nunn ct  A Bibby b H Whiley 71 101 9 70.30
Daryl Sleeman b  S Fenner 22 20 3 1 110.0
Joe Young ct  S Fisher b T Fenner 10 45 22.22
Amila Peiris ct  T Fenner b T Fenner 28 21 2 2 133.33
Ollie Stovell ct  A Bibby b T Fenner 39 30 5 1 130.0
Alex Hammond ct  T Fenner b H Whiley 3 7 42.86
Deepak Rajpal run out  (R Dovaston) 5 6 83.33
Jonathan Purser ct  T Fenner b R Dovaston 13 15 1 86.67
Hansana Gunasekera ct  T Fenner b T Fenner 0 4 0
Calum McDonald Not Out  16 10 1 160.0 1
Henry Warner Not Out  9 11 81.82

Brockley Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Henry Whiley9.0052226.005.78
Jack Newdick4.004000.0010.00
Alex McCaffrey9.031900.002.11
Steve Fenner9.0035135.003.89
Tom Fenner9.0047411.755.22
Stuart Fisher3.001200.004.00
Rob Dovaston2.0018118.009.00