London Saints CC v Old Chelmsfordians CC Old Haberdashers Ground, Borehamwood;  July 27, 2026 VICTORY

Posted on August 9, 2026 by John Smith

35-over match Old Chelmsfordians 124-9 (Collis 2-2, Sykes 3-26) LSCC 127-5 (Cowley 48, Cohen 25, Sykes 20 no)

We arrived at the ground for our first home game of the season still completely winless after four games (plus two called off), and quickly found that the groundsman hadn’t bothered to clearly mark out either of the two available wickets. Not that it mattered – thanks to the hot weather, whichever one we chose was going to be hard, dry, and grassless. One of the opposition was even heard to comment that he had seen ploughed fields flatter than the wicket. The irony is that the earlier away fixture in Chelmsford has been the only game cancelled this season due to rain (that wet stuff that sometimes falls from the sky, in case anyone has forgotten).

Buoyed by the absence of Harry, who has tormented their bowlers over the last couple of seasons (one of their players nervously asked if he was coming before the start), the OCs won the toss and decided to bat.

We had a strong bowling lineup and Nanton and Oliver made a good start. Having added a couple of extra steps – now up to five – to his runup this season to dial up the bowling velocity (accuracy is another matter, but improving), Flatliner delivered an opening maiden and then struck in his second over, bowling one of the opening Cookwell brothers for 3. Not to be outdone, Mr. Gobby responded with a wicket of his own next over, having the other Cookwell caught behind by Dickie for 8. When Nanton bowled their number 4 bat, O. Owens (not to be confused with number 3, M. Owens, who was watching from the non-striker’s end), things were looking pretty hopeful. The OCs were 21-3 after just five overs, and 34-3 at the end of the opening bowlers’ eight-over spell.

But anyone who follows the LSCC, or at least reads these match reports, knows that games often turn on the batting performance of just one or sometimes two batters (our own Harry, for example). And so it seemed a familiar story when Owens and Waring, at 4 and 5 respectively, started dispatching the ball to the boundary in a partnership of 59.

Then the skipper decided on a change of tactics. Inspired, he would say, as Sykes immediately struck with his very first ball, bowling Owens for an excellent 40 that included six fours and a six. At the other end, Dover started with a wicket maiden, having Owens’s replacement caught for 2. Sykes then removed the incoming batter, caught and bowled for 1, before claiming the scalp of Waring, who had soldiered on for 39. Another bowling change saw Ben Collis take two wickets for just two runs in seven balls, with Pearcey going for 3 off his single over. With the OCs’ innings collapsing so rapidly by that point, Ben’s bowling somewhat flew under the radar, but it was excellent nonetheless.

The Old Chelmsfordians were all out for 124-9 as they lacked a number 11. The reason was duly recorded in the opposition scorebook: “J. Crook unable to play due to ankle injury sustained whilst standing in outfield the previous day.”

If only we did the same! Entries like “Player concussed by ball he should have caught but was looking the other way” would make for great reading when our scorebooks are pored over by future historians.

Now, the initial message from the skipper a few days before the game was that we would have to bring our own teas, as our regular tea lady was unavailable (sincere sympathies and condolences to Pauline on the recent passing of her husband). But up stepped Judas, offering to cater for everyone for a mere 30 pieces of silver. Naturally, the London Saints would not be the team we are if poor Johnny didn’t receive some stick before the food even appeared. That’s what friends are for!

It turned out to be an impressive spread, enough to make our resident Teas Committee chairman, Paul Pearce, jealous. Which was a good thing, since Pearcey had agreed to cater the following week and would no doubt seek to outdo his fierce rival for the “top spinner” title this season. Alas, this Sunday’s game has been called off, so Carol’s teas win the day for now, despite the glaring absence of actual tea! The spread even brought out the spectators: Tony aka Clive Dunn making a first appearance this season and helping with umpiring duties; a surprise visit from Wath and Christine; Maddie, who has become a regular whenever Oscar plays; and Johnny’s mum, aka Oliver/Gobby’s grandmother, aka Tony/Clive Dunn’s co-parent-in-law. Polyonymy – which I am reliably informed by an English teacher is the formal term for having multiple names or titles – clearly runs in the family.

Back to the cricket.

It appears a backroom deal was struck around the tea-making that allowed Mr. Griffiths to drop from opening to number 7 (duck-avoidance???), so it was Max who strode out to the middle with Jonesy to get the Saints’ innings started. A slow start against some good bowling saw Andy out LBW for 10 in the 8th over (30-1), but Max was starting to get his eye in. With Guy Cowley at the other end, the score quickly accelerated. Max went for 25 and Ben only added 1 to the score before being bowled (52-3), but Guy was regularly finding the boundary, hitting 6 fours and 3 sixes before being bowled by Waring for 48.

At the other end, Oscar looked determined to break the so-called “Maddie curse”. Real or imagined, it often seemed guaranteed that whenever Oscar’s loyal partner was in attendance, he would fail with bat and ball. But not today! Sykes made it to 20 not out, with several boundaries of his own. There was still time for a new entry – Calais – into the duck trophy race, and a cameo from Mr. Tea, who finished not out on 11.

A comfortable victory in the end – 127-5 off 22 overs – and most importantly, our first win of the season, with several players (Dickie, Nanton, Pearce, and Oliver or Thomas) not even needing to bat. But the real post-match hero might just have been Calais, who popped his car boot to reveal a well-stocked cooler, serving up pints for the princely sum of £1. With a solid win and cheap car-park lager finally under our belts, hopefully we can take this newfound home advantage straight into our next fixture against King George’s CC.

Player of the Match

Oscar Sykes. His first-ball wicket broke the key partnership that was threatening to take the game away from us, and he followed that by also bowling their other threatening batter in a season-best haul of 3-26. Oscar also partnered well with Guy, batting to 20 not out, and would have probably scored many more had we not reached our target so early. The curse is broken!

Terence Collis Champagne Moment (Serious)

Guy Cowley. A thundering batting performance that fell agonisingly short of a half-century. Just pipped to the player of the match award by Oscar.

Champagne Moment (Cock-up Award)

LSCC match reporters are usually spoilt for choice when it comes to which cock-up should receive this award, but the bar was genuinely quite low this time (because the winning entry has become a regular occurrence). During the Old Chelmsfordians’ innings, the ball came off the bat heading in the general direction of DT at mid-on. A few steps to his right and the skipper would have prevented a run or, at the very least, kept it to a single. Inexplicably, he ran to his left, with his teammates shouting that he was going the wrong way. The batter comfortably completed his second run before the ball was finally retrieved.

Scorecards

Old Chelmsfordians CC

Batter	Dismissal	Bowler	Runs
E Cookwell	ct Cushion	O Griffiths	8
J Cookwell	bowled	Nanton	3
O Owens	bowled	Nanton	4
M Owens	bowled	Sykes	40
J Waring	bowled	Sykes	39
D Robertson	caught	Calais	2
M Clifford	ct & bowled	Sykes	1
A Roscoe	bowled	Collis	5
I Scarse	ct & bowled	Collis	4
S McLean	not out		1
Extras			17
TOTAL			124-9

Bowling

• Nanton: 4-1-19-2
• O Griffiths: 4-0-15-1
• Cowen: 4-0-31-0
• Cowley: 4-0-14-0
• Sykes: 4-1-26-3
• Calais: 4-1-9-1
• Collis: 1.1-0-2-2
• Pearce: 1-0-3-0

London Saints

Batter	Dismissal	Bowler	Runs
Jones	LBW	Clifford	10
Cohen	caught	Waring	25
Cowley	bowled	Waring	48
Collis	bowled	Owens	1
Sykes	not out		20
Calais	caught	Owens	0
J Griffiths	not out		11
Extras			12
TOTAL			127-5

Did not bat: Cushion, Nanton, Pearce, Thomas/O Griffiths