The team spirit was good as we took the field to defend our lowly total, and we soon realised that patience and tight bowling were the order of the day. Blythin and Samuel opened the attack and Blythin struck with an LBW in his third over. After 10 overs a slow bowling tactic was employed to great effect with Pete Hopkinson frustrating the opposition taking 3 for 15 off 12, ably supported by Tony Sunnucks 1 for 33 off 12.

The seamers returned to finish the job with Matt Blythin taking Peter Hill’s cash!! 9.5 overs 6 for 29, again well supported by Arun Samuel 0 for 23 off 9. Sharp catches by Taplin, Sunnucks T, and top work behind the stumps by Langridge (4 victims) sealed Cobham’s fate bowled out for 102, 38 short off 42.5 overs……………………….Great home win!!

Willesbourough Away 7th June 2008 - Team as follows:

HUNTER
MATTISON
SUNNUCKS P
SUNNUCKS T
TAPLIN
WITHERS-GREEN
LANGRIDGE
BREWER
SAMUEL
BRANDRETH
NAV

Sheldwich 2nd XI v's Marden – Lost by 15 runs

Marden missed a golden opportunity to secure their third successive victory having inserted the home side and bowled them out on the last ball of the innings for 191. The skipper had a touch of the “deli bellies” so this gave an opportunity for Alex Newport to come into the side and he performed admirably in the field and with the bat.

The “witches” were inserted on a damp slow wicket with overcast conditions ideal for swing bowling. The young home batsman had other ideas and started at a fair pace until Ben Tomkinson and Dai Thomas found their length and pegged them back with Ben eventually finishing the game with 4 wickets for 50 from 9 over’s and Dai unlucky not to have picked up more than 1 wicket for 35 off his 10.

Nicks’ short spell was expensive (but probably cheaper than his late night out in London the night before!!) and it needed John Jones and Peter Lampard with 5 wickets and 75 runs conceded between them to put on the brakes. Nevertheless the home side accumulated steadily with Nigel snapping up 4 catches behind the stumps.

In reply Sheldwich bowled well at the opening left handers Chris and Nick and their enthusiasm in the field saved what ultimately would become vital runs. Nick was out to another good catch this time in the covers and then Rupert left a late in swinger which shaved his off stump. Chris looked in good nick particularly through the off side but for the third match running he couldn’t quite make it into the 30’s and was bowled for 28.

This brought Harry to the wicket to join Nigel in what was potentially a match winning stand of 60 with Harry (28) playing the anchor role to perfection even after he received a direct hit from the boundary which split his eye. This pair had the match in their grasp with Nigel cantering to 53 before chipping to deep long on, almost certainly the turning point in the match. The rest of the batters all got a start but the Witches held their nerve and their catches and continued to bowl straight at a tail which wagged but not quite enough. Everybody agreed the champagne moment was Simons straight drive off their young quick bowler…vintage stuff! Right until the end the run rate hovered between 4 and 5 runs per over but the powerful hitters were in the hutch and the game was up.

Nevertheless a good all round effort especially to pick up 10 wickets for the second week running and as ever Sheldwich are a decent bunch of lads and it’s cracking place to play cricket. Next week the second team entertain West Farleigh at home 1:30pm start. The side will be:

Thomas R
Bardsley
Karim
Murray
Andrews
Thomas G
Fraser
Sloan
RDH
Thomas D
Lampard

Only ring or email me if you cannot play.

Midweek - Bank of England V’s Marden Wed 28th May – Match Drawn
On a dank dismal afternoon with heavy drizzle at times both sides managed to play competitive cricket with the visitors having the best of the draw. Unfortunately rain had seeped under the covers on the main pitch so a standby outside wicket was used which was at least dry although the boundaries were short.

John Furminger and Nick Freeborn made a solid start until Nick was out LBW. Chris Watts and Richard Hunter kept the momentum going but also ended up back in the hutch LWB and bowled. Rupert and John put together a useful stand until John was eventually LBW for 35. Rupert carried on reaching his 50 in partnership with Chris Senior and Adam Fraser who both hit some classy shots. Harry was with Rupert when he reached a well deserved 100. Batting was not easy in the drizzle but once he had played himself in Rupert took the “aerial route” with all but 9 of his runs in boundaries!!

The target for the home side was 235 and they got off to a poor start with Harry and Peter Lampard picking up 3 wickets in the first 5 over’s. However the number 3 batsman took anchor and was only out close to the end for 65 with the main fireworks coming from the number 5 bat also called Harry who scored 49 runs in short order including 6 6’s!! His innings ended with a good leg stump Yorker from Adam Fraser and although the game could still have gone either way with 10 over’s to go. Chris Senior and Tony Sunnucks put the brakes on and at 195 for 9 the Bank were well short of their target with only one wicket remaining.

Lunch was not up to its usual standard with a deficit of port and new potatoes but nevertheless a good time was had by all and we look forward to the return fixture at Marden on Monday 16th June.

Good luck to everybody this weekend.