Hornsey Cricket Club

Hornsey CC vs North London CC
Shepherds Cot Development League

Hornsey won the toss and elected to bat.
Hornsey 228-7 off 40 overs
North London 132 all out

A very comprehensive win for the Development XI on a warm Sunday at Hornsey continued a good start to the campaign. A good toss to win, Jack obliged and elected to bat with the thinking to bat NLCC out the game with scoreboard pressure likely to be the telling factor. Rob and Liam Baker opened the batting where Rob’s calm approach would complement Liam’s very aggressive style. Unfortunately the early loss of Rob looked to have put a dent in our innings early. However, in his senior role, Keith Michael batted at three to clock in his maiden ever 50. A slow but measured approach to his innings indicated a new found maturity to Keith’s game which underpinned a good total of 226-6 off our 40 overs. Liam Baker soon found his stride and added 57 to his 70 against Crouch End CC three weeks ago. Jack added 39 later in the innings and with Keith ensured a good total was reached. An encouraging contribution with the bat from Rob Macqueen was good to see.

Having reached a good total, the fact that we had a team consisting mainly of bowlers was a great position to be in at the half way stage. NLCC eventually were all out for 132 as we fielded and bowled exceptionally well which built pressure throughout their innings. A first over dismissal of the NLCC senior batsmen set the tone for the rest of the innings as Oscar wood maintained his manner of deceiving many a batsmen with his large in duckers. From then on it was always an uphill struggle and Oscar finished with 3-22 off 7. 2-16 off 4 for Nii, and a wicket a piece for jack, Patrick Houghton, Rob Macqueen, Rob and Jack Stevens ensured a good day for the Hornsey Development XI. Particular mention to Patrick Houghton who bowled in great areas that were hard to score from throughout. He finished his first spell with a fine delivery that nipped away and was ended in the capable hands of Rob at Gully.

A very encouraging performance puts us in a very strong position.

Development League

Hornsey v Calthorpe

Hornsey 234 off 38.1 Overs (Jack Goldberg 34, Al Thomas 50 (retired), Liam  Baker 75)
 
Calthorpe 140 (Richard Footman 3-12, Jack Stevens 3-8, Rob Devenney 2-24, Keith Michael 2-16)

By Graham Allen

A strong start to the development league season with a comprehensive win over locals Calthorpe. Some big hitting from Liam Baker who cleared the fence a number of times followed by Al Thomas who signed off with a big straight six. Jack Goldberg had laid the foundation with 34 in the first 10 overs.
 
The bowling was dominated by Richard Footman coming down the hill and generating pace, and Jack Stevens who once again picked up crucial wickets in his spell of leg spin.

Keith and Rob also took good wickets and Rob has established himself as a gully fielder of merit much to his and everyone's delight.
 
A good opening performance with everyone getting some action.
 

Club XI 151 all out in 31.3 overs

Octopus 78 all out in 27 overs

Won by 73 runs

A Club XI mixing youth and experience beat Octopus (our tenants at St Aloysius on most Sundays) at Tivoli Road on Sunday. On a blistering hot day against a variable attack, we somehow managed to get bowled out in just over 30 overs having scored at 5 an over.

Jaz Cable scored 45 and Extras an impressive 36. The tail wagged from 108-7 thanks to Fawden (10, and dismissed for the first time this season), Tom Stevens (14), Oscar Wood and Jack Stevens. 

Octopus’ early batting actually looked quite competent against Fawden and Devenney opening up, a tricky start for opening batsmen expecting some seam up, and somehow they found themselves at 22-5 before a few lusty blows made the score a tiny bit more respectable.

Two wickets for Liam Baker and Nii Ollennu, and one each for Fawds, Rob D, Jack Stevens, Freddie Mills and Oscar Wood. 

Well done Ash Ollennu who umpired the whole match in 30 degree heat and appeared to have a great time out there. We’ll have him playing and bowling by the end of the season.

Hornsey v North Middlesex – T20 Cup – Tuesday 21st June 2011
North Middlesex won the toss and elected to bat
North Middlesex 165-6 (20 overs; Bhasker Patel 3-28)
Hornsey 164-4 (20 overs; Garfield Struthers 63)
Hornsey lost by one run
 
The worst possible losing margin. In a one run defeat, there are any number of incidents you can pick up on as decisive – with a loss that narrow, any single delivery could have made the difference – but dropping their star batsman twice was particularly costly. Evan Flowers is the leading run scorer in the whole of the MCCL division two, and managed a swashbuckling century against us in the league, so we couldn’t have chosen a more valuable wicket to drop on seven (a very presentable chance) and 21 (a tougher opportunity, but by no means an impossible one). Both drops came off Oli Yew, and although he eventually got his man thanks to Rob Devenney’s catch at deep mid-on, Flowers had already managed a brutal display of 51 off 25 deliveries. Worse yet, no one else in the North Middlesex batting line up had looked similarly capable of taking the game away from us in such a fashion. Both their top order batsmen looked rusty, especially with Marty shaping the ball away and Bhasker coming up with his usual box of tricks at the start of the innings. Bhasker bowled their captain for 14, Oli similarly castled the other opener for 10 and once Flowers departed at 90-3 we were able to bring the game back under relative control. North Middlesex did put on an important 55 for the fourth wicket, but we limited their batsmen to mostly singles and they failed to reach the big finale they’d hoped for – a catch for Nii-Amaa Ollennu off Rob Devenney removed their number four for 32, while Bhasker’s final over picked up two late wickets to leave him with 3-28 from his four wickets.

At just over eight runs an over on a slightly slow wicket our chase was challenging but not unfeasible. We kept putting on strong partnerships only to lose a wicket just as we appeared to be entering the box seat, and to their credit both Flowers and the North Middlesex off spinner bowled very tightly – they each went for less than 20 runs off their respective four over allocations. Phil Holbrook and Garfield Struthers managed 41 for the opening wicket, before Phil tried one forcing shot too many off the veteran off spinner; then Garfield and Marty piled on 65 runs in just 25 minutes. Garfield came into bloom after a rusty start, striking three consecutive boundaries off their change seamer before playing the shot of the day – a delightful reverse sweep for four off their junior off spinner. However, Garfield was out driving over the top for 63 to leave us 106-1, and ten runs later Marty – having blasted the younger off spinner for two huge boundaries in three balls – lost his stumps playing one shot too many. Still, the new fourth wicket pairing of Sam Hickingbotham and Chetan Patel started brightly enough, and with 25 runs needed off the final three overs with six wickets in hand we appeared well poised for victory. Yet their veteran spinner had held himself back for one last testing over, which we only scored four off; worse was to follow as we missed out against the young seamer who Garfield had earlier pounced upon, managing just five from the penultimate over. An eventful final over took the wicket of Chet for 14 (man of the match Flowers’ second catch) but we managed to take 14 runs from it, including a straight driven six into next week by Sam from the final delivery. Just too little, just too late.
At least the defeat came in an entertaining game in an ultimately secondary competition, but it did cap four unfortunate days for the club on the field. We need to overcome those fractional differences during the coming weeks and months.

Hornsey v South Woodford – National KO Cup – Sunday 19th June
South Woodford won the toss and elected to field
Hornsey 157 all out (44.3 overs; Jack Goldberg 60)
South Woodford 160-5 (32.3 overs)
South Woodford won by five wickets
 
A second consecutive cup trip to South Woodford, with a mirror result and performance. Frankly we didn’t manage to put a total on the board that we could expect to defend, and although we managed five wickets our inexperienced attack also gave South Woodford enough loose deliveries to ensure a particularly early exit – we’d barely managed 30 overs by the time they stormed past us.

As with last year, South Woodford impressed not through moments of individual brilliance or tactical innovation but though a constant intensity that clutched hold of the game from the very first over (a maiden) and never relented. Indeed, they opened with a left arm spinner who reeled off three maidens on the trot en route to figures of 9-4-12-0, working our top order over into playing a surplus of forward defensives. At the other end their young seamer bowled sharply enough to pick off James Bull (8), Jaz Cable (1) and Sam Hickingbotham (3) as they tried to relieve the pressure that the spinner had built up. However, our middle order of Garfield Struthers, captain Marty Tucker and in particular Jack Goldberg batted with greater assurance, and once South Woodford’s relatively innocuous change seamers came into play it looked as though we could resuscitate our innings. Garfield looked in handy touch before he chopped on for 29, but Jack Goldberg was striking the ball to all corners with strength and determination whilst matching up smartly with Marty for quick singles and twos. Sensing that the game might be starting to catch up with them, South Woodford put a pair of slow bowling brothers on to lure us into danger, and the plot worked better than they could have hoped for. Marty (21) went to square leg, ending a 68 stand for the fifth wicket, and although Alastair Thomas managed a gigantic six onto the sightscreen he was soon bowled for 7. We lost our crucial wicket two overs later, as Jack picked out deep midwicket to depart for what had been an excellent 60 – and within ten runs we’d lost our remaining three wickets, to complete a dismal slump from 127-4 to 157 all out. It was the same score that the firsts had put on the previous day, but whereas that total had been squeezed out on a dicey wicket we had no such excuses against South Woodford – batting had looked simple enough for those who’d reached double figures, but only Garfield, Marty and Jack had managed that feat.

Joel and Marty opened our bowling tightly, and we landed the early breakthrough we desired when Joel cleaned up one of their openers to leave them 12-1. However, their other opening batsman played a well organised game – leaving and defending assiduously whilst swatting anything loose or short to the boundary – and proved an unforgiving opponent for 14 year old Oscar Wood. Nii-Amaa Ollennu captured him LBW for 41, although what could have been a seismic wicket had less of an impact thanks to a liquorice all sorts performance with the ball from Nii; a couple of jaffers, but a few too many long hops and short balls left him with 1-32 off just three overs.

Yet South Woodford briefly conspired to make the game interesting – just before the drinks interval they suffered a bizarre run out, attempting a third run off a no ball, then within an over of resuming play Jack bowled their number three with a perfectly pitched off break to leave them 86-4 off 24 overs. Another glimmer of hope, but an inordinate number of balls down legside meant that our hopes were doused within a matter of overs, as the South Woodford lower middle order made light work of what could have been a hard scrapping scenario. With four of our six bowlers in their teens it was always going to be a difficult task to knock over South Woodford away, and the most we can hope for from the game is that our younger players learned from a difficult match against resourceful opposition. Third time lucky next year …
 

T20 Cup

Enfield v Hornsey -2^nd June 2011

Hornsey 185-5 (20 overs; Jack Goldberg 79)

Enfield 122-8 (20 overs; Adrian Fawden 3-26)

Hornsey won by 63 runs

Jack Goldberg starred with bat and ball as Hornsey sauntered to victory at Enfield with an impressive and enjoyable display. After winning the toss our new look opening partnership of Garfield Struthers and Joel Gregory clattered a 71 stand in the space of half an hour, the ball vanishing to all corners and whispers of a 200 total arising just before Garfield (28) fell leg before to a missed reverse sweep off one of their off spinners. A couple of balls later Joel (37) was caught trying to clear the leg side boundary and we briefly faltered against an offbreak pairing well suited to wicket providing sharp turn. With Marty Tucker (LBW 9) and Sam Hickingbotham (bowled, 3) falling in quick succession it looked as though we’d been reeled back in, only for Jack to strike a regal 79. The coaching sessions at Bedford have evidently proven instructive, as Jack batted with vigour and confidence against an Enfield attack which contained eight different bowlers, none of whom were able to get a hand on him. At the other end Phil Holbrook (17*) failed to attain much of the strike, although his quick running can’t be underestimated, frequently helping Jack to pick up cheap runs against an ageing Enfield fielding side. In the final over they tried to convert one extra run too many and Jack was run out for 79, but he returned to rapturous reception befitting of a decisive innings containing nine fours and two sixes.

On a track taking spin Enfield suffered for only having two spinners, and it wasn’t coincidence that the only time they had any control over us came when they put their slow bowlers on. By contrast we had the attack to exploit the conditions, and Marty made the bold decision to open the bowling with Adrian Fawden’s offbreaks. With the field up for the first six overs Enfield’s wicketkeeper-batsman managed a volley of thunderous boundaries, but Adrian’s four over spell delivered three top order wickets – a caught and bowled off their captain Patrick Blair, and a couple of bowleds including an superb first baler for their experience number four. Warming to the slow bowling theme, Marty then introduced Jack and Rob Devenney to the attack, and the junior spin pairing pulled the match inexorably in our favour with tight bowling pressurising Enfield into dot balls and mistakes – we managed a run out off Rob’s bowling, and two wickets from Jack thanks first to a boundary side catch from Nii then to a skier which Marty pocketed at mid-on. The rest of the innings rather fizzled out, with even their wicketkeeper becalmed – easily their standout player, he carried his bat for 80 runs, but Enfield’s chase had long run out of legs and we managed a late double fanfare with wickets for Kenny (bowling their nine through the gate) and Marty (courtesy of a catch at deep mid-on from Phil Holbrook). Good Thursday evening fun, and we’re scheduled to face North Middlesex in the next round.

Club Cricket Conference Cup – Second Round

Hornsey at South Hampstead

South Hampstead 228 all out (42.5 overs; Rob Devenney 4-43)

Hornsey 175 all out (43.2 overs; James Fleming 38)

South Hampstead won by 53 runs

A commendable effort with the ball went unrewarded as our batting line-up failed to take advantage of an easy wicket, sizable outfield and largely unthreatening attack. This isn’t intended as an offering of sour grapes over South Hampstead’s victory – they performed better than we did on the day, and there’s no argument over a 53 run victory. Nevertheless, a good batting performance should have been enough to see us into the next round after we dismissed them for a par score.

Captain Marty Tucker took an early wicket, bowling one of the opening batsmen for 4, but South Hampstead counter attacked well, with their own leader driving Marty back over his head for a particularly brutal six. They added 55 speedy runs for the second wicket, but Oli had their remaning opener leg before and Nii Ollennu bowled the captain a few ball later to leave them 71-3.

This introduced their number five to the game, and although he didn’t look entirely convincing to begin with he had the composure and the diligence to make the most of some early fortune to score a crucial unbeaten 60. He added 40 for the fourth wicket, before his partner was caught at deep mid-on trying to dispatch Kenny Tuitt’s offbreaks out of the ground, and found even more support for the sixth wicket as their number seven unveiled a couple of bottom handed drives to swashbuckler to 39 before being caught by Oli off Rob Devenney.

Rob had a further three successes to celebrate, as his increased control and improved stock ball continues to pay dividends, and when Oli Yew (3-36) cleaned up the last couple of wickets – the last coming through an athletic catch from Kenny - we reached the interval break feeling quietly confident, especially if we were able to make a strong start.

Instead we collapsed to the theme of batsmen failing to capitalise on decent starts. Graham Allen (7) was bowled by a delivery which cut back from their danger man, a swing bowler who appeared to lack support from his cohorts. It was vital that we saw him off, but a misjudged leave from Jaz (18) followed by a slip catch off James Bull (24) meant he took 3-17 from his first seven overs, placing the onus on Marty and Alastair Thomas to dig us out of bother. Marty (20) played in characteristically aggressive fashion, walloping a couple of impressive sixes only to perish immediately afterwards, clipping a leg side full toss up to mid-on.

When Alastair (13) picked out gully we were 104-5 and in need of a big innings from one of our younger batsmen, a requirement that James Fleming appeared capable of fulfilling – he continued his previous day’s form with a barrage of elegant boundaries, and looked like he might snatch the game back. However, a rusty Blake Bowden (6) was bowled before he ever found his tempo, and with the climbing run rate requiring a couple of risks we lost our seventh wicket when Nii was run out for 1 by an excellent direct hit from square leg. J

ames tried to rally but when he departed to a skier for 36 our fate was sealed. Kenny added an neat unbeaten 20 over the final couple of partnerships, reminding teammates and spectators (Alvin Kallicharran numbered among the latter) that runs were readily available for those prepared to bed themselves in on the wicket. With six batsmen reaching double figures we had enough starts to win the game, but we could never hope or deserve to win the game with a top score of 36. We’re down to one last cup competition this summer, and we’ll need a strong unit to travel to Woodford Wells in a few weeks time.

Middlesex Cup - Richmond v Hornsey

Hornsey all out 123 (40 overs; Anthony Murphy 32, Garfield Struthers 30)

Richmond 124-3 (22.1 overs)

Richmond won by 7 wickets

An inexperienced Hornsey side suffered a bruising encounter at Richmond, where we made a bad start and never recovered. Put in after losing the toss, Jaz Cable (LBW 0), and James Bull (3, a juggling catch at square leg) fell in the first two overs to leave us 8-2.

Needing our middle order to bale us out, the loss of Sam Hickingbotham (12, caught at short extra cover) in the tenth over saw our hopes recede further. Anthony Murphy and Garfield Struthers both made bright starts, and 16 runs from their left arm spinners first over suggested we may have a route back in to the game, but Anthony was bowled around his legs on 32 by their naggingly accurate change seamer.

The spinner found his range soon after and landed the wickets of Marty Tucker (LBW, 4) and Andy Myhill (caught in the deep, 1) to leave us increasingly dependent on Garfield, who looked in as good touch as he’s been all season. In those circumstances it was near inevitable that he’d be run out for 30 over a confused call for a single, and we swiftly plummeted to 123 all out.

We took a wicket with the very first ball of their response, Mary’s leg before appeal upheld, to spark fevered imaginations of a Headingley-esque win. Oli Yew reeled off four consecutive maidens, the last of which included a catch from Jaz to put Richmond 33-2 from 10 overs, offering us further hope if we could follow up that success.

It wasn’t to be: Richmond’s third wicket stand frog marched us out of the cup with some pounding shots, piling on 82 muscular runs in 40 minutes. An athletic gully catch from Andy gave Anthony a late wicket, but Richmond had long disappeared over the horizon. It’s a scenic ground with a well stocked bar, but we didn’t have the performance to match the setting.

 

Hornsey XI v Old Camdenians

Club XI 175-9 declared in 47 overs

Old Camdenians 117 all out in 43.4 overs (max 46)

Hornsey won by 58 runs

We did well to get 175 on a painfully slow pitch. Timing the ball proved impossible and we didn't help ourselves with some poor shots. Johnny Bruce 36, Tom Stevens 34, Michael Croton 28 and Graham Allen 20 got the runs.

In reply, OCs lacked attacking intent and were 52-0 after 22 overs and the game was meandering to a bore draw.  However we winkler them out. 15 year old leg spinner Jack Stevens 7-1-28-4 did the damage, Fawds 9-5-12-3, Graham Allen 4.5-1-19-2 and Tom Stevens 2-0-19-1 were the wicket takers.

Curious incident when one their batsmen was given out LBW to Fawds by their own umpire. He wasn't happy. We decided to recall him, so the umpire stormed off and the batter then started to have a go at Fawds, who promptly withdrew his offer of a recall, and told him in no uncertain terms to get off the pitch. All highly amusing.

National Knock Out Cup

Ickenham v Hornsey

Hornsey 246-9 (45 overs; Sam Hickingbotham 71, Jaz Cable 50)

Ickenham 235 all out (42.4 overs; Rob Devenney 4-47)

Hornsey won by 11 runs

 By Johnny Marr

If the previous day’s games hadn’t been eventful enough, Sunday’s cup trip to Ickenham trumped the lot for a close finish. Having put on what I considered a handsome total against an apparently weakened home outfit, we gave defeat the kind of flirtation Ed Waite would have been proud of, only for Rob Devenney’s leg breaks to pull us through. Even though we weren’t at full strength I felt we were the better team on paper, but Ickenham almost made up the gaps because they played to the conditions – a placid wicket and a postage stamp of a ground – far better than we did. Not that we can complain – we’ve made use of a similar advantage when we play cup games at home, and we got the win in any case.

Our opening partnership of Jaz Cable and Alex Scrini get off to a slow start, with Ickenham repeating the World Cup trend of opening their bowling with an off spinner, who had Screens caught behind for 5 trying to cut. Sam Hickingbotham joined Jaz for what would prove a critical second wicket partnership, and although we began cautiously Jaz made the most of some early luck to pierce the infield with a confident set of strokes, as well as some pleasingly alert running. Ickenham brought on a pair of young change bowlers and Sam started to motor through the gears with a couple of sixes in quick succession. He and Jaz put on 90 in the space of an hour, and we looked set fair for a mammoth total until our hosts reeled us back in by turning to their more experienced bowlers.

Jaz reached his half century and was promptly bowled through the gate, and they put on another off spinner who restricted to us to singles off his bowling – when Kirit Makwana tried to take him on he fell for 10 to long on. Sam compensated by piling into their seamers, zooming to 71 and apparently on course for a century when he played behind, leaving us 168-4 off 36 overs.

Yet again Marty gave us the power finish our total required, blasting 29 including a couple of sixes. Ed Waite went one better on the six hitting front as he thrashed his way to 27, and James Fleming chipped in with 21. Given the size of the ground it was disappointing not to have exceeded at least 250, although Ickenham had bowled creditably.

We knew that Ickenham would come at us hard, and that we’d have to expect a couple of big hits against our bowling, but that their attacking approach would be their downfall. So it proved in the first nine overs – Marty picked up wickets thanks to catches square of the wicket from James Fleming and Oli Yew, while their big hitting opener smash and grabbed 25 before hooking Joel to Rob at short leg. 56-3 from 9 overs, and the poor economy rates were more than offset by the early scalps. But Ickenham’s middle order laid into us with as much aggression and far greater sustained success than their top order had. Their pair of brothers obtained 85 runs for the fourth wicket in just 35 minutes, sticking to a policy of waiting for the bad deliveries – of which there were far too many – and walloping them hard. Once they’d reached 130-3 off 18 overs we were desperate for a breakthrough, and realising that the pace attack wasn’t firing Marty brought on Rob Devenney, who weaved his magic with his fourth ball, capturing their number 5 for 22 with a pitched up straightener.

However, the number six struck a couple of maximums on arrival, and in tandem with their increasingly dangerous number four flayed us around the ground for another rapid half century stand. Only Rob was exerting any control over their innings, and he drew the crucial wicket in the 29^th over – the number four had lived by the sword for 76 muscular runs, but he miscued Rob for a steepler that Sam clung on to on the square leg boundary. With that wicket the momentum shifted our way, and when Rob bowled the number 6 for 36 in his next over Ickenham were struggling on 191-6 from 31 overs. Their number seven attacked forcefully, but ran out his partner with a poor piece of running, which the more optimistic among us thought would be the coup de grace, not least when another Rob Devenney leg before left them on 209-8. Rob finished his 9 overs with 47-4, the rewards of increased control, grip and determination - surely his best performance in a Hornsey shirt. Indeed, it was a mark of how well Rob had bowled that Ickenham threatened a revival once he’d bowled out.

The number seven piled on 27 as he attempted to make up for his part in the run up, and their number ten defended well against Marty and Oli, both of whom bowled out in our hunt for the final two wickets. Instead Nii-Amaa took the ninth wicket, edged to Sam at slip by the number ten, and with just eleven runs to defend Kirit’s left arm spin had their number eleven plumb in front. Sighs of relief echoed out in our dressing room, as we rejoiced and reflected on another performance where our fighting spirit saw us through a tight scenario.

 

Hornsey 178 all out (40.4 overs; Martin Tucker 54)

Woodford Wells 125 all out (30.5 overs: Blake Bowden 5-38; Oliver Yew 3-28)

Hornsey won by 53 runs

 By Johnny Marr

In contrast to the previous day’s routine victory over Bessborough, Sunday saw Hornsey land a Blake Bowden inspired comeback from 29-5 to beat Woodford Wells of the Essex Premier League. Marty Tucker performed his usual trick of winning the toss and inserting us, but we made a horror show of a start – Woodford Wells bowled well, finding decent movement and good lines, but we created the rod for our own backs with a series of errant shots.

 James Bull (4) and Sam Hickingbotham (8) were caught behind in the first three overs, whilst the extravagantly named Xetegauncar bowled Jaz Cable (0) and Kirit Makwana (10) from the Alexandra Palace end, with both our batsmen playing shots they’d rather forget. With Alex Burrows (1) receiving the slowest leg before verdict Crouch End’s seen for years, an early exit from the CCC Cup loomed, only for Phil Holbrook and Marty Tucker to rescue us with a sixth wicket partnership of 93.

Both of them had to curb their instinctive games, and Marty’s innings was the polar opposite of the stand-and-deliver punishment he’d meted out to Bessborough the previous day. He took fifteen balls to get off the mark, and although he took Xetegauncar out of the attack with three consecutive fours he and Phil settled down to play watchful innings against a nagging Woodford Wells change attack. Their seamers demanded a cautious approach on another slow and dry Tivoli Road wicket, but once they brought on their left arm spinner we seized on him as a weak link and attacked with relish, taking twelve runs apiece off both of his opening two overs.

Unfortunately, no sooner had we built up momentum then Phil (26) edged one of the seamers behind and Marty (54) gifted the flaky spinner his wicket by picking out mid-on. Joel Gregory (17) and Blake (14) were charged with another rebuilding effort for the eight wicket, and compiled a quick 31 stand, the highlight of which came with the rare sighting of a seven for Joel (three runs and an overthrow). But we weren’t able to sustain our resistance and disappointingly failed to bat out our allocated 45 overs, instead fizzling out for 178 with 26 balls left unfaced. Without 38 extras it would have been even more modest.

Surely we needed at least one early scalp if we wanted to pinch the game? In fact Woodford Wells rocketed away, one of their openers swatting 17 runs off Joel’s second over, but once the future bridegroom secured revenge with a fuller pitched LBW we discovered that our opponents were light on batsmen.

Their number three made a torturous 5 from 24 balls before clipping Oli Yew to Marty at slip, after which their middle order succumbed to Blake. Our latest naturalised Australian bowled an ideal length and pace to leave the batsmen in two minds – he trapped their number four in front for a duck, and was fortunate to see a full toss slapped to Marty at midwicket, before taking his third wicket after the number six slapped him to Nii Ollennu at mid-off. 59-1 had deteriorated into 79-5, and a leg before decision for Oli further compounded the Essex side’s misery.

Blake soon had his five wicket haul, with consecutive catches from Jaz at slip and Sam Hickingbotham (who looks increasingly smooth in the gloves – he conceded no byes on a difficult track and had a couple of convincing stumping appeals turned down). The hat trick ball went for four but it couldn’t sour a match winning performance of 5-38 from Blake.

Oli, who’s been in excellent form of late, bowled similarly well in support and took our ninth wicket thanks to a mid-off catch from Joel. Although a shell shocked Woodford Wells hung around for a final wicket 23 partnership, their surviving opener was left to carry his bat for 42 as Nii came on to clean bowl their tail ender in the thirty first innings.

A dramatic Bank Holiday weekend, not to mention a highly encouraging set of performances to begin the season.