Scorecard

Billericay v Chelmer Veterans Cricket Club The Midweek Veterans on Thu 21 Apr 2016 at 13:30
Chelmer Veterans Cricket Club Lost 66 runs

Match report A chill wind greeted the first game of the new season at Blunts Wall Road, Billericay, where skipper Dave Griffiths won the toss and elected to field. This was a positive move on Griff’s part, anticipating a successful run-chase, though several players welcomed the decision on the basis that it would only get colder as the afternoon progressed and we would have the benefit of the pavilion after tea.

The encounter would yield 342 runs, a very healthy aggregate for an April fixture. Unfortunately, over 200 of these were scored by Billericay, and of the 12 wickets to fall, nine were ours. It would be good to say that the tenth wicket eluded capture as we stubbornly fought to the last man, but that would be a slight exaggeration as John Woodrow had unfortunately taken himself off for medical attention to a very painful hand injury.

With Billericay’s Stan Foley and Colin Cork opening the batting, it seemed that we would be in for a long afternoon in the field. Both openers looked to be setting themselves for a long stint at the crease, and for the first hour nudged along at only two runs per over.

Jeff Gregory, who undoubtedly has the right approach to winter with his frequent forays to sunnier climes, bowled magnificently for scant reward. His 11 overs for 35 runs included an opening spell of three successive maidens, without a run scored until his 23rd delivery. At the other end, Alan Porter was equally containing, conceding only 13 runs from his opening spell of 6 overs.

John Woodrow continued the pattern with a parsimonious 8 overs for 24. He was unlucky to spill a sharp caught and bowled chance that eventually led to his early departure from the ground, the ball having caused a very nasty-looking cut to John’s hand.

At the other hand, Paul Brown’s 6 overs yielded only 12 runs, but as the clouds gathered over this part of Essex, so the Billericay innings began to brighten. Anand Patil broke the opening partnership with his fourth delivery, which brought Martin Southwell to the crease to face his sometime teammates. Martin loves to clobber anything short, and he duly placed his shots through the square boundary on both sides of the wicket.

When Dave Griffiths removed Colin Cork, it meant that Billericay would have two batsmen with aggressive intent. Cotton, who at 6’4” and youthful demeanour has the levers to produce the goods, gave us a Chris Gayle-like display of big hitting. One six travelled so far onto the other cricket pitch that there was time for a drinks break while the ball was recovered.

It proved a thankless task bowling to either of these two, and when Paul Brown claimed the wicket of Cotton for his quickfire 39, leaving Southwell undefeated on 84, it came as a merciful relief when the captain called hostilities to a halt at 204 for 3 from 48 overs – “a very sporting declaration” (as he reminded Griff more than once en route to tea).

Chelmer’s response was nothing if not positive. Anand Patil clobbered the ball far and wide, which certainly saved him the trouble of running. At 41 for 1 from 8 overs we were beginning to contemplate a famous victory. A couple of wickets fell but Anand and Phil Pond took the score from 42 for 4 to 137 for 5, a magnificent effort in cold and increasingly dark conditions. The partnership was worth 95 before Phil was triggered LBW with remarkable speed by the umpire, though Phil thought it a fair cop.

At 137 for 5 and with lots of time we were still in good shape but sadly this proved to be a false dawn, and as the red mist descended in this week of Shakespeare celebrations, our innings shuffled off this mortal coil with little sound but lots of fury. A hat-trick of LBW’s and couple of golden ducks (including Ted’s first since he became a victim to WG Grace at Fenner’s in 1888) saw our last five wickets go for one run, with Anand being last out for a superb 82, possibly exhausted by the effort of having to jog for all of his last 12 runs!

We go into the next game with some very positive performances to reflect on, and in the fervent hope that it won’t be as cold in Hertfordshire as it was last year.

Billericay Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 3 wickets
0
204 (48.0 overs)		     
A Foley ct  and Bowled Patil 23
Cork ct  Woodrow b. Griffiths 42
Southwell Not Out  84
Cotton b  Brown 39
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Chelmer Veterans Cricket Club The Midweek Veterans Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jeff Gregory11.043800.003.45
Alan Porter8.004500.005.63
John Woodrow9.012400.002.67
Paul Brown8.0220120.002.50
Anand Patil4.0114114.003.50
David Griffiths5.0027127.005.40
Charlie Lacey3.001800.006.00

Chelmer Veterans Cricket Club The Midweek Veterans Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 4w 3b 6lb 
for 9 wickets
16
138		        
Colin Blore b  Rickard 1
Charlie Lacey b  Morgan 9
Anand Patil b  Rickard 82
David Griffiths ct  Southwell b Morgan 0
Brian Robinson b  Cotton 1
Phil Pond lbw  Rickard 28
Ted Woodgate lbw  Rickard 0
Paul Brown lbw  Southwell 1
Alan Porter ct  Cotton b Southwell 0
Jeff Gregory Not Out  0
John Woodrow  

Billericay Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Rickard0.00000.000.00
Morgan0.00000.000.00
Cotton0.00000.000.00
Southwell0.00000.000.00
Muldoon0.00000.000.00