This is the Dawning of the Age of the 2nd XI

This report was passed to me in a lay by on the Barton Road between the St Catherine's Cricket Ground and Coton earlier this week.  Any resemblance to persons living, dead or reanimated is intentional.  This report is rated "MA" which mean that 7 of the 11 team members can't read it.

Saturday May 2nd 2015 witnessed the culmination of years of hard work at Coton CC.  In that time, we have seen success in the junior teams along with improved playing and practice facilities.  May 2nd was the day for several of those fledgling players to leave the nest and take the next step.  It was the debut of the Coton 2nd XI: the first time (in living memory, maybe the 1st time ever) that two XIs had been fielded on the same day.  That we had 22 players on a Bank Holiday weekend serves testament to the hard work and persuasive organisation of Ross Chandler and the team of coaches and parents.

The 2nd XI comprised 3 grizzled veterans, 7 teenagers and Adam Wright taking a day off from his trainings for the 2020 World's Strongest Man competition.  Cambridge Granta 4th was a similar mix of experience and youth: this made it a great introduction for our tyros.  

We batted first.  Oliver Bradbury and Cameron Black opened against a couple of bowlers of similar vintage.  Oliver was out of the blocks faster while Cameron rotated the strike.  Runs ticked over.  There was a team of willing volunteers on the scorebook to record the accumulation.  Granta tried a series of young bowlers to try and make a breakthrough.  Oliver passed 50, and the partnership had reached 99 before it was broken.

Perhaps the most pleasing (and unique) aspect of the innings was that the batsmen were following the coach's instructions.  Ross had set a target of 5 per over and it was being maintained (it has to be said that it was an immaculate college pitch with good, true bounce).  Can you imagine giving some of the senior players this type of instruction and have the follow it?  At the half way stage, during drinks he set a new target of 7 per over for the rest of the innings.  And it was achieved.

The breakthrough led to a mini-collapse.  The 2nds had obviously learned from the 1st XI in this aspect of the game.  Cameron (for a solid 30), Patrick Butterfield and Adam were all out in quick succession.  Normal service was resumed in the shape of another big partnership, this time between John Hartwright and Dominic Fox (both debutants for Coton, albeit of different vintages).  Dominic struggled at first.  In one over, he twice played and missed (missed being the key word, despite the impassioned appeals) and then edged one between keeper and slip.  He then unfurled a class cover drive and was up and running.  John - in the meanwhile - dealt with the teenage bowlers with some belligerence.  200 came up with just 4 wickets down.  John departed for exactly 50, and Dominic made 40-odd with growing confidence.  This was followed by some late innings hitting by Ross and brief cameos from Ed Wheeler and Rob Kaye.  Ross had tried the Matt Chandler tactic of deciding how many wickets he wanted to lose and then having Rob be waiting to come in.  He didn't quite get the calculations right.

We finished on 249-7.   Half centuries from Oliver and John, with good contributions from Dominic, Cameron and Ross: a good mix of old and new.

When we bowled, the Granta innings started in a similar vein to ours.  Good batting by a couple of their juniors against steady bowling from Tom Jarvis and Ed Wheeler.  The main difference was the scoring rate, which steadily but surely built up. 

The bowling was backed up by some fine fielding, with Oliver  and, particularly Patrick, leading the way.  This was complimented by solid wicket keeping by Cameron (the reporter couldn't remember any byes getting through).  Patrick was throwing himself around, stopping boundaries and turning 2s into 1s.  He need to learn that a sliding stop followed by flipping the ball up to a colleague only works if there is a colleague nearby.  If the supporting fielder happens to be Rob or John they are unlikely to be within 20 yards when the ball is fielded.

The highlight of Oliver's day must have been when Ross called out "nice fielding, Adam" after one good interception.  I don't know which of the Bradbury brothers should be more offended by this mistaken identity.  Ross later tried to convince us that he thought it was Adam Wright who had fielded it -- surely the eyesight isn't that bad?

When it came, Patrick took part in the breakthrough, taking a smart catch off Adam Wright who had now taken over from Tom.  Toby Johnson was bowling at the other end.  Still the required run rate crept up, passing 7, tending towards 8 an over.  A smart piece of fielding by Dominic followed by an accurate return to Cameron accounted for another wicket.  Dominic got a chance to bowl, and like the bowlers that had preceded him settled into an accurate line and length.  In contrast, Rob's first over was a little wayward, but he found his rhythm and consistently beat the bat or found the edge.  He would tear his hair out, if he had any.  

The run rate climbed some more.  Oliver replaced Rob, and Ross having judged that enough of the good batsmen were out brought himself on.  After a couple of sighters, Oliver found good pace and good line.  He was hoicked to long off by the opposition captain and responded by ripping out the off stump with the next ball.  Ross earned a couple of wickets with plumb LBW and a rearrangement of the stumps.

Another runout - this time a Patrick+Cameron combination - added to the pressure.

With the run rate now in double figures, more bowling changes followed.  Patrick got a bowl, and Ed came back into the attack.  With 70+ needed off the last over, John desperately tried to get the skipper's attention by practicing his bowling action.  Ross wasn't fooled however, you can never be too careful.  Patrick ended the innings with a wicket on the last ball of the 40th over.  

Granta finished on 182-9, 67 runs short of their target.  A great all round team performance with bat and ball and in the field meant that Coton 2nd had won their debut league game and like the 1st XI sit atop the table after one week.