Coldharbour v London Saints – Coldharbour CC, Dorking, 23-06-24
London Saints 174-8 (Guy Cowley 29, P.Rogers 28, Calais 25, Nanton 25no, J.Griffiths 24.
Coldharbour 175-8 (Thomas 4-14, Pearce 2-38, P.Rogers 1-27, Calais 1-33.
Catches for Mike, Guy, Dave N and Dr Ben (not Surrey Ben, that guy couldn’t catch a cold).
On a lovely day at Coldharbour, but thankfully not too hot, the Coldharbour skip put us in; he had obviously not heard we had won our first 3 games batting first. On a lively pitch, combined with some good bowling, we soon lost Mike and Dickie. Debutant Guy then joined Johnny G, and both combined with some quick singles and some nice shots through the offside, to steady the ship. After they departed, (Ed – Guy became the latest victim of Dickie’s trigger finger making Johnny G’s finger look slow – match reporter Andy is too polite to mention this so Ed can -) – ) ) – Phil and Dover formed another partnership. Dover combined an innings of exquisite leaves with some Wathanesque hoiks, to take us past 100.
Dover pulled something in his back, on one of his more extravagant efforts, which apparently affected his bowling later on. Pearcey’s arrival at the crease was met with Dickie shouting out, ” Who’s that donkey?”, which apparently referred to a horse that had just ridden past. With some very useful late hitting from Flatliner, we posted a very challenging 174-8.
After another fantastic Coldharbour tea it was our turn to bowl. I’m afraid the opening overs weren’t great, apparently Flatliner’s radar was affected by nearby Gatwick airport. Phil did get an lbw in his 2nd over and then Guy took a good catch to give Dover a wicket, but they were 107-2 after 12 overs, after some big hitting, and we were looking at a pretty comprehensive defeat.
However, all change, after the Skipper introduced the London Saints’ spin twins, that’s Pearcey and DT, if you didn’t know. Almost immediately DT bowled one of their well set batsman, and the David N took an absolutely stonking catch at deep square, to leave them 149-4 after off 15. DT then clean bowled 2 in an over, Ben took a great catch at long off to give Paul another, and when Mike snaffled one close in off the Skipper, they had now collapsed to 168-8, needing another 7. However, one of their guys had earlier pulled his hamstring, effectively leaving them 9 down. Unfortunately, the last pair batted very sensibly to take them over the line. It was a very exciting end to a game that had looked done and dusted only a few overs ago. Special thanks to Coldharbour for letting us play at their superb venue again, and for a superb tea that Lana and Jonnie seemed to especially appreciate.
Champagne Moment – Has to be David N’s brilliant catch on the boundary, to a ball that was literally hit like a tracer bullet. He jumped up, took it 2 handed, and then managed to hold on, whilst somersaulting backwards towards the boundary. It can be a bit feast or famine with Dave in the field, but it was definitely steak’ n ‘chips with a nice glass of red today. (like it – Ed)
Man of the Match – Special praise to Guy Cowley on his debut, top scoring with 29 and a very good catch, hopefully we can twist his arm to play again. However, it has to be the Skipper, 4 wickets for very little, when everybody else was struggling, and almost set up the unlikeliest of wins. He also asked me to point out that he allowed Pearcey to bowl down the hill. I must admit I’ve never noticed much of a slope at Coldharbour before, but extra kudos to the Skipper for getting 4 wickets, despite bowling up the side of Mount Everest.
London Saints
McIntyre b Tong 1
Cushion ct ? b Marshall 1
J.Griffiths b Geoffrey 24
Cowley lbw Geoffrey 29
P.Rogers ct ? b Wiley 28
Calais b Hopper 25
B.Collis ct ? b Hopper 7
Nanton not out (again) 25
Pearce ct ? b Marshall 7
Thomas not out 1
Extras 24
Total 174 – 8
Coldharbour
Karnemot ct Cowley b Calais 48
Marshall lbw P.Rogers 6
Ashford b Thomas 34
Jeffrie ct Nanton b Pearce 52
James b Thomas 0
Kong ct B.Collis b Pearce 7
Emblem b Thomas 4
Wylie ct McIntyre b Thomas 1
Hughes not out 1
Hopper not out 10
Extras 12
Total 175 – 8
P.Rogers 4 – 0 – 27 – 1
Nanton 3 – 0 – 27 – 0
Calais 3 – 0 – 33 – 1
O.Griffiths 3 – 0 – 29 – 0
Thomas 4.1 – 3 – 14 – 4
Pearce 4 – 0 – 38 – 2
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