Doom in the Gloom - Coton get wet, lose to Fulbourn

Damn it was wet.

After much confusion (and dithering) we welcomed Fulbourn Institute II to a damp and gloomy Recreation Ground. Despite the wet conditions the pitch was looking very good from all the hard work put in over the winter and spring. For the regulars (and occasional) pitch crew: well done and thank you. For those who didn’t take part, you know where to find the rota!

Fulbourn took the field in persistent drizzle. Anticipating how wet the ball would become, and how difficult it would be to hold in the 2nd innings, we had agreed before the match to use a new ball for each innings.

Dave Simmons and Gabriel Fox opened the batting again. Alastair was down for number three but as he hadn’t arrived by the time we started, Richard stood ready. It soon became apparent that the wet outfield was going to prevent a high scoring match(*). After a brief settling in against accurate bowling the first wicket went down when Gabriel attempted to run a bye down to fine leg. 19 times out of 20 this would have been a safe run but this time a fine throw and direct hit left Gabriel stranded. Dave was joined by Richard as Alastair was still parking the dogs and locating his pads.

Dave played some fine shots but was frustrated by the slow outfield bringing the ball to a stop short of the boundary. On a dry day he could well have doubled his score. Richard never looked settled and was soon back in the dry of the pavilion for 2. I should point out that despite the wet conditions there was no hint that our batsmen were getting out on purpose to be back in the dry (and slightly warmer) indoors. Alastair was now ready and looking good before he was given out to a marginal LBW decision.

In midweek George had christened his new bat with some towering sixes against The Remnants at Fitzwilliam, including a demolition of the pavilion roof (see the pictures on
http://astro.ic.ac.uk/~mortlock/remnants/). In this match he continued his poor run of form in the league, being undone by one that jagged back sharply and failing to disturb the scorers (as the cliché goes).

Debutant Sam Grace then joined Dave, the latter looking totally untroubled as he moved his score forward. Sam played some fine shots and looking a useful recruit before becoming the first of 4 victims for Mr Whitehead. The second of these was Dave who decided that he could still be waiting for a decent partner at the end of the season, and departed for 35 with the score now 68-6. Adam made some useful runs and the innings ended as it did the week before with Billy not out, Dave out for 0 and Rob slapping one straight at mid wicket who managed to catch it whilst taking evasive action.

80 all out: we all thought that this wasn’t quite enough and that another 20 may have made the game very interesting.

We adjourned for some fine teas courtesy of Janet Scotcher whilst the rain got harder. Towards the end of tea it eased off, and by the time we fielded it had stopped completely. By the end of the innings there were even some rays of sunlight.

George and Rob opened the bowling for a contrast in styles: one elegant, quick and athletic, the other rotund, slow and arthritic. This didn’t prevent George falling over on his first delivery. Billy was positioned at mid off with a towel to keep the ball as dry as possible and the tactic worked very well. Rob made the breakthrough in the 4th over as the opening bat aimed for the footpath and was undone by one that swung away. In his next over Rob removed the number three, trapped in front and the following over George despatched the remaining opener who was also pinned leg before.

17-3 and game on: could we keep up the pressure. Slowly but surely Fulbourn turned it around. Scotch was his usual accurate self, only 8 scoring shots came of his 36 deliveries (unfortunately one was a six). Adam bowled some excellent spin, Richard varied some very, very wide ones with some unplayable balls but we couldn’t make the breakthrough. Billy was the one bowler to really suffer through the wet conditions and his single over was quite expensive.

The 4th wicket pair had taken the score to within 14 of victory when Adam bowled another fine turner and Scotch swooped at slip to scoop up the catch. A few balls later Richard enticed Rees to hit one straight at George and it was 5 down for 72.

It was to prove too little, too late and Fulbourn were able to limp home with 10 overs to spare.

So, we had two defeats to start the season. The batting looked more solid but we didn’t make quite enough and weren’t able to push home the advantage when we had them reeling at the start of their innings. The pitch played very well and the hard work we had put in over the winter held up well. So next it’s on to Parker’s Piece and the scrutiny of tourists and the Cambridge public. How would we fare?

(*) As if our matches were ever high scoring.