London Saints CC vs Old Chelmsfordians CC – Saturday 26th of July, Old Haberdashers’ (35 overs)
London Saints CC vs Old Chelmsfordians CC
Saturday 26th of July, Old Haberdashers’ (35 overs)
Old Chelmsfordians 181-6 (29 overs) Cushion 3-12
London Saints 182-5 (32 overs) Cohen 50 (retired not out)
It was back to Borehamwood for Saints to face Old Chelsmordians for the second time this season. Saints comfortably won the reverse fixture in Essex but the visitors brought a much younger line up this time (by at least a combined total of 100 years) with some father and son combos on the team sheet.
But LSCC have been on a good run of form and even Andy Jones was on time for this one leaving the tie evenly poised.
The Pavilion was out of bounds for a children’s football event apart from the changing rooms. Pauline walked straight into the Chelmsfordians changing room, with men of all ages in various states of undress, warning them to take their valuables with them. This unsettled the oppo from the off and gave us the edge as we took to the field.
Saints were put into field with the pitch looking relatively good by Old Hab’s standards and Oliver Griffiths was given the new ball against the father and son opening batter’s W and D Davies. Max Cohen bowled from the other end. Both bowled well. Oliver in particular with some good line and length. However, the breakthrough didn’t come with Davies Snr playing a sensible innings, admirably advising his son out on the strip.
A half chance fell agonisingly short at the feet of DT at extra cover. The skipper smelled blood and began to field in closer with Davies Snr advising Jnr he could now hit it past Dave. This turned out to be poor advice. John May was brought on and the young batter, following his dad’s orders, chipped away to Dave who took a sharp catch at knee height.
Fielding in general has been pretty tight in recent weeks. Soon after the fall of the first wicket, Andy, like a young John Burridge, made a miraculous diving stop at gully. Those in attendance who know Andy gasped at the athleticism and more surprisingly, the fact that he was able to continue afterwards.
With Jnr gone for 10, in came the next batter who was trapped lbw by DT cheaply for just a single run.
Davies Snr began playing some silky drives and soon retired 50 n.o.
Chelmsfordians’ next man at the crease was determined to up the run rate from approximately 6 an over after 10. Paul Pearce was brought into the attack and went for a few big boundaries before the slogger fell into Tiger’s trap being bowled clean for 44.
In came another of the young guns. A classy batter by the name of Le Roux. After settling in, he began to hit boundaries in all directions with an array of perfectly timed shots. Another who retired on 50.
The next youngster looked the most youthful of the lot. Ed Price had previously fumbled a few stops at mid-off but came in on the ones this time and ran the batter out on his first ball. It was a good shy at the stumps but maybe the wrong choice for the young lad to call the run so late.
Oscar Sykes has bowled well all season and was unlucky not to have more wickets on the day. He finally got his wicket before Dickie swapped gloves with Harry (who unsurprisingly is an excellent wicketkeeper) and came onto bowl.
Dickie really is the definition of an all-rounder. He takes wickets, can get runs and is a safe pair of hands – despite playing the entire season with a broken foot.
The last three wickets were his for a combined 6 runs with catches from Thomas, May and an LBW.
Jon May did an awful lot of running in the field, saving twos and fetching the ball out of the car park. All with a hangover from the night before.
Dave’s second catch was slightly easier than his first although still well taken, having to chase a ball that hat been top edged and was spinning away from him.
Umpire Tony commented: “It’s amazing how Dave manages to make the simplest of catches look difficult!”
John Griffiths was in full “Reverse Judas” mode and after a conversation with the oppo’s skipper when he said there would be no way we could match their score of 181, Chelmsfordians bizarrely declared with 6 overs left to play.
Teas were not existent as the pavilion was closed to us. Luckily Paul Pearce’s better half had baked a wonderful batch of scones (best this year by far) and two different varieties of sausage rolls.
London Saints innings
So it was Saints turn to bat. The plan was for Andy Jones to set anchor and keep things ticking over with the inform Max Cohen chosen to be his partner. Andy looked assured from the start, particularly when hitting square of wicket with some perfectly timed shots that reached boundary.
The pair took the singles on offer and even the occasional two.
Max played and missed at a few early but once he got bat on ball there was no stopping him. He attacked the Chelmsfordians bowling line up with some great drives on the front foot and waited for the bad balls to punish.
This excellent partnership really set the foundation of the innings. In fact, Saints had scored 106 before Andy was dismissed for 37 (well done Jonesy, a really classy innings).
The only concern was the creeping run rate.
Not to worry – cue Harry Rogers.
Our opening 3 batters ended up scoring 133 runs between them. Harry came in and did what Harry does with the pick of his shots going miles into the bushes.
So assured was Mr Rogers that he kept asking the scorers how many runs he was on to see if he could finish the game off before retiring on 50.
He ended up on 46.
The injured Dave Nanton was his first partner. Nanton has bravely made himself available for every game since hurting his leg at Road Runners but required Max as a runner. As usual, there was some confusion as to where the runner stands and who should stand at the non- striker’s end.
After departing for 6, John May came to the crease and also managed to make the same score, later admitting the hangover was really starting to kick in.
Oscar Sykes was in next with Dave having to explain to some of the younger players on the boundary what a “Hilda” was. Indeed, Oscar was on for his potentially third duck in a row and things were made worse when Maddie (who had been instructed to come after his innings) turned up to watch him bat.
Oscar managed to get off the mark before being dismissed, so thankfully he now has that monkey off his back and can concentrate on being the good batter we all know he is.
Price came in, flapped about a bit, and was dismissed for two.
Finally, “Mr Allrounder” Dickie managed to find the boundary before being 4 n.o
Shortly before this, Oliver asked Jon May if he thought Saints should declare. Jon pointed out that if you declare in a single innings game with less runs on the board – you lose the game!
Saints managed to finish the game off in 32 overs and before anyone realised, Chelmsfordians were driving home while some of the victors headed for the pub.
All in all a very professional run chase and another win.
MOTM– Max Cohen
A first LSCC fifty for Max and his first 50 ever! Hard to look past that. Well done Max. Hopefully the first of many big scores. He was 30 retired not out last week and has three red inkers to his name already this season.
Terrence Collis Excellence Champagne moments –
As above. Well done Max. Special mention to the first three batters who really dampened the enthusiasm of the oppo’s bowling attack.
Cock up champagne moment–
The day was relatively free of gaffes. This one must go to David Nanton though. Similar to those National Geographic programmes where lions stalk herds of antelope, picking off the stragglers for a meal – Dave had spotted one of the single mums from the football party next to us.
Sensing she was at least 6 glasses of wine deep, Dave circled. However, after sensible advice from JG and the fact that Nanton is a gentleman, the antelope got to live another day.
Chelmsfordians Batting 181-8 29 overs
W Davies Retired n.o 50
Z Davies ct Thomas Bowled May 10
Waring lbw Thomas 1
Burrell b Pearce 44
J Le Roux Retired n.o 50
O Owers run out Price 0
M Owers b Sykes. 5
Bidwell ct Thomas bowled Cushion 4
Rajeskar ct May bowled Cushion 2
Le Roux lbw Cushion 0 Extras 8
LSCC Bowling
Overs Mdns Runs Wickets
O Griffiths 5 1 16 0
M Cohen 4 1 25 0
J May 4 0 25 1
D Thomas 5 2 19 1
P Pearce 5 0 48 1
O Sykes 5 1 34 1
D Cushion 2 0 12 3
LSCC Batting 182-6 32 Overs
Jones Bowled Waring 37
Cohen 50 (retired n.o)
Rogers 46*
Nanton Bowled Waring 6
May Bowled Burrell 6
Sykes ct Le Roux b Burrell 2
Price 2 Bowled Burrell 2
Cushion 4*
Pearce DNB Extras 29
Thomas DNB
Griffiths DNB
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