Scorecard

Sawbridgeworth IV v Hertingfordbury CC 2nd XI on Sat 12 Jun 2010 at 12:30
Hertingfordbury CC Won By 3 wickets

Match report THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY by King Louis.
The country held its breath for one of the most eagerly anticipated sporting clashes for years. England were playing in the world cup too but first things first.
The open, windswept fields of Leventhorpe school sitting under the Stansted flightpath, with a building site on the boundary was hardly an fitting backdrop for the welcome return of our President as umpire. I asked Peter if he'd been building to umpiring here for all of his cricketing career. He remained strangely silent.

The track and outfield however were in good nick and Alex, having called correctly backed himself, Harley and Dwyer to chase a total. He just needed to strategically position our very slow moving field, and hope we'd bowl tightly.
Pearcey found some early movement and bagged 2 quick wickets before the veteran opener Levey and Parrish steadied the innings. Once the varnish was off the ball, chances were like hens' teeth and any loose balls were beginning to be punished, especially by Levey.

I replaced James in the 12th over and Spong followed Kevin in the 23rd. By his own admission, Dom's opening spell was a stinker and the run rate shot up. Alex brought himself on far earlier than he'd hoped and a little more control was established, but it was still one way traffic. I had a fortunate lbw to remove Parish, which brought in the classy youngster Waring who kept up their by now healthy run rate. Levey was running like a man half his age. Spongle's second spell was a little better and productive. We were denied a blatant runout towards the end but this had little effect on the total as Sawbo, with wickets in hand failed to push home the advantage in the final half dozen overs, so 201 was a satisfactory target.

After a great tea in both quality and quantity (samosas and onion bhajis!) Tumble got out quickly so that he could concentrate on arranging his evening out and play with his new i-phone ap that made a noise like a south African football horn. (I'm sure "i-phone ap" will soon be a euphemism for "f*** all use to anyone"). Lee Wood moved up the order to get away early and obliged with a quick 6. His kids weren't complaining having been forced to spectate for 4 hours.
Simon then took control, and when Alex joined him our prospects looked much brighter, until a great throw from the boundary ran Alex out. Brad & Dom went in quick succession but Ranner provided great support for Simon, taking on the quick bowlers with great enthusiasm. The Harley back had by now given out so Dom took the running duties. Sam deserved to be there at the end but holed out with 8 required off the last 2 overs, allowing me to take all the glory and hit the winning run (but still failing to eclipse Simon's imperious unbeaten 94).

Sawbo were gutted and we had a lesson in keeping your hopes up in the field even when nothing's going your way. If we hadn't kept the lid on their last few overs we may not have reached the total.

Quote of the afternoon came from Lee's daughter, who having witnessed Brad Smith's juggling masterclass asked him if he was some sort of clown. The poor bloke didn't have an answer.

Sawbridgeworth IV Batting
201 for 6
Player name Runs
Levey Bowled  Spong 90
Edwards Bowled  Pearcey 1
Poulter Lbw  Pearcey 1
Parish Lbw  Stone 47
Waring Caught  c Ranner b Preston 28
Winder Caught  Spong 11
Pask Not Out  3
Burson Not Out  0
   
   
   

Hertingfordbury CC 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Kevin Ives11.042100.001.91
James Pearcey6.0127213.504.50
Robert Stone12.0239139.003.25
Dominic Spong8.0150225.006.25
Alex Preston10.0154154.005.40

Hertingfordbury CC 2nd XI Batting
202 for 7
Player Name RunsCatchesStumpingsRun outs
Derek Rogers Bowled  Lane 8
Ross Dwyer Caught  Lane 0
Lee Wood Lbw  Lane 6
Simon Harley Not Out  94
Alex Preston Run out  37 1
Brad Smith Run out  0
Dominic Spong Caught  Waring 0
Sam Ranner Caught  Parish 35 1
Robert Stone Not Out  1
James Pearcey  
Kevin Ives  

Sawbridgeworth IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Lane12.1052317.334.27
Dale8.012900.003.63
Wair5.002200.004.40
Burson6.013000.005.00
Pask5.001200.002.40
Waring4.0031131.007.75
Parish3.0017117.005.67
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