Fulbourn defeated: Antipodean ringer to the rescue - welcome back Ross

In the absence of Captain George who was on a school trip (“stuck on a boat of the coast of Essex” we learned later) Rob lead the Coton team to the return engagement at Fulbourn. When they visited Coton earlier in the season the game was characterised by persistent drizzle and the need to have nominated ball dryers in the field. The weather was much better today. Ross stepped into the team for his first game of the season and Sam and Rob McCorquodale were back on duty replacing Pete and Adam.

Alastair had arrived on time, and Rads was telling all and sundry that he had been there since the early hours of the morning. This time it was Neil & Ross who made the late appearance after taking the scenic tour of East Cambridgeshire.

Last season I was very lucky at losing the toss but getting the opposition to do what we wanted. This season I continued with the tradition of losing the toss but this time the opposition were not so obliging and we were inserted to bat.

I can’t remember whether it was at this point that Neil started to build his excuses for the match (“I’m running on painkillers”) or if waited until it was his turn to bowl – whatever, it seemed to work.

We got off to the traditional Coton start with first Dave Simmons and then Gabriel being LBW. By the time Gabriel went, Mr Extras was doing a sterling job of keeping the scoreboard ticking over so Gabriel’s duck could well be the longest in Coton history. Ross entered the fray for his first bat of

the season and with the consistent Alastair put on 48 for the 3^rd wicket. Ross was looking in control with fine shots including a pull that left the ground, crossed the road and entered a nearby garden. Next time we looked a guard dog was sitting at the gate and this probably deterred people from aiming for the short boundary too often.

It was then something of a surprise when Ross fished at one outside the off stump and feathered a catch to the keeper. His 25 was to prove the top score. Alastair went soon after for 23 and we then lost wickets regularly to decline from 74-3 to 119 all out. A vintage Coton batting performance that we thought we had gotten away from in recent weeks. Sam, Rob M, Richard and Neil all made starts without going on to big scores (although to be fair in Neil’s case he was trying to shepherd the tail and was left high and dry by a succession of care bears).

Painkiller Neil opened the bowling with Rob (captain’s prerogative). The latter bowled rubbish for the 3^rd game in a row and quickly removed himself from the attack (also the captain’s prerogative) to avoid further humiliation. Meanwhile Neil, perhaps bowling within himself due to his pains, took the first three wickets to fall and Scotch – although not quite as niggardly as previous weeks took a 4^th leaving Fulbourn struggling at 45-4. The fielding in support of the bowling was very sharp with Dave Simmons and Rads taking good catches.

Neil was visibly flagging towards the end of his spell and made way for Ross to have his first bowl of the season. The latter reeled off 7 overs of accurate, skidding cutters. A fifth wicket went down on 60 which meant that Fulbourn were exactly half way to their target with half the wickets down. The game was in the balance. For the next few overs the initiative switched hands a few times. Firstly there was a catch by Gabriel off Scotch’s bowling. Not just a catch but a well executed running & tumbling catch in the deep. As the ball went up 10 Coton players collectively held their breath hoping that this would be the one – and so it was. I don’t think I have been in a team so celebratory over a single catch and the significance must have been lost on Fulbourn: 68-6, advantage Coton.

Fulbourn’s keeper then took charge with a series of lusty blows. The ball was often in the air but evading fielders and he led two sizable partnerships that moved the momentum back Fulbourn’s way. Ross broke both partnerships. The first was a catch behind by Alastair. It’s worth sidetracking for a moment here to reflect on Alastair’s appealing. With each successive appeal more of the apparel is flung to the ground in joy, gloves, inners, masks are scattered as he runs to congratulate the bowler. I am expecting that before the end of the season he will be stripping off completely for a key wicket. On this occasion with the ball safely pouched he want to do one of those throw it in the air moves and fumbled the ball. It was obviously securely caught before this but from the sidelines it looked like he might have dropped it. 87-7 and the match back in the balance.

We then get to the 27^th over. David had bowled 9 in a row. He was looking a bit shattered. What gave this away was the moment that he stopped the ball on the fine leg boundary before, in a very Robert Green like move, carefully kicking it over the line for 4. I’d asked Neil to warm up and the Fulbourn batsmen had obviously overheard this and in a frantic effort to avoid facing Neil three of them missed balls from Ross who rattled the timbers on each occasion. As Ross carefully moved his field 6” forward and 3” to the left before each ball 107-7 became 107 all out over the course of the over and we were home by 12 runs, Ross 5-24.

For once, we didn’t concede more extras than we obtained. The difference (11 in our favour) was only one less than the winning margin proving the value of tight bowling in these tight games.

We celebrated the win as if we had won a cup final. In reality the win was enough to lift us out of the relegation spots which are now occupied by Balsham (no wins yet this year) and Weston Colville. On Saturday we finally get a home game. A quirk of the fixtures is that 7 of our first 9 games are away, and then later in the season 6 out of 7 are at home. We welcome Wibrahams II to the Recreation Ground. The strip is looking in fine fettle. Hopefully the council will have harvested the pasture that surrounds it otherwise we will risk losing shorter players in the outfield. I am reading up on the umpiring procedure for lost balls now.

The Coton Twenty/20: Jokers all round!

If you can't think of a way to begin a piece, use a quotation." Well frankly that's poor advice and anyone who followed it would be mad. And mad just happens to be one word that springs to mind when thinking of the afternoon of Bank Holiday mayhem which was the inaugural Coton Twenty20 fund-raising extravaganza on May 31st 2010. Under mischievous clouds, 26 free-spirited individuals congregated for a festival of batting, bowling and burgers which was not only a massive hoot, thoroughly enjoyed by the players and the impressive crowd, which may even have outnumbered the active combatants, but also raised £500 for Coton Cricket Club's "Heavy Roller Fund".

Having organised the teams, conveniently known as Team 1 and Team 2, in honour of the order in which they batted, and spent an hour getting to know Al Breward's fiendishly complex (and hugely lucrative) rules, battle commenced with Team 1's opening pair of Gabriel Fox and Abid Abdulali, who carted the ball around the Coton Rec with gay abandon in an opening stand of 58 in six overs. At that point Team 2 seized the initiative thanks to the deadly bowling of Coton CC stalwarts Dave Scotcher and Ross Chandler, who ripped out the top order to leave Team 1 pegged back at 69-4 after 9 overs. A resurgence was led by young Ollie Bennett with two 4s and Jack "One Shot" Bowden, who embarrassedly confesses to having just a single cricket stroke in his armoury. Unfortunately for Team 2 it happens to be a six smashed over midwicket. Four of these later, Bowden was invited to retire, having passed the pre-determined run limit for the game. Team 1 eventually staggered to 142-9 in their 20 overs, with Fox and Bowden both retired-not out on 32, Abdulali 23 and ludicrously miserly bowling figures of 2-1-4-3 from Chandler.

Team 2 set off in pursuit of their target with the immediate and canny use by Dave Simmons of a joker to prevent himself being out. The jokers had been auctioned off at the beginning of the match, raising healthy funds for the club, and while Team 1 generally forgot to use theirs, Team 2 were not so careless. Simmons, immune from dismissal for the first 4 overs, proceeded to explore every known way to get out, simply laughing with disdain as catches were held, his stumps were splayed and so on. Once the four overs were done, he then proceeded to bat properly, smashing the ball to all corners before being retired. While this was going on, Team 1 had winkled out the other opener, but thereafter wickets were hard to come by. Skipper Billy Haynes crashed a couple of boundaries and Dave Scotcher followed up his fine bowling with some solid pummelling with the bat, taking Team 2 to 79-1 in the eighth, well on the way to their target. At this point Team 1 skipper Adam Wright and then Jack Bowden changed the course of the match with three quick wickets each. Suddenly, and despite a massive six from Ross Chandler, Team 2 were 100-6 and, even with 13 players a side, starting to run out of batsmen. Brief resistance was offered by Neil Sparnon, who bashed a couple of fours before bashing the ball straight back at the bowler, who stopped a certain six by catching it. It was not enough, and Team 2 could only make it to 139 in their 20 overs, Simmons retired-not out 34, Scotcher 20, Bowden ending with 3-9 and Wright 3-11.

Whether it was due to the scintillating cricket or the vast mountain of handcrafted burgers and hot dogs consumed fresh off the barbecue during the innings break, who can be certain, but there is no doubt that a fabulous time was had by all. Buoyed up by the day's overwhelming success, the club promises another such extravaganza at the end of the season and bookings are already being taken for coveted places both in the teams and around the boundary rope.

Let's hear it for the Other Big Guy

Dave takes Alastair to task for missing a stumping.












When we took over the book from Fen Ditton to score the 2nd innings of this encounter we found out that they had used descriptive terms to identify our bowlers.

They had:

• Beard
• Wristbands
• Young
• Swears a lot
• Other big guy

So: who’s who (p.s. one of these isn’t true)?

We got to field first again. As we gathered around the stumps we noted that they were a good two inches wider at the top than the bottom, something like the Duncan Fearnley logo. It would make them harder to hit but at least it would be impossible to get the ball between them. “Beard” and “Wristbands” opened the bowling. One Fen Ditton opener took a liking to “Wristbands’” offerings which were swinging back into his pads and summarily dispatched to the leg side boundary. This resulted in “Wristbands” quickly being given the hook by his own team after conceding 33 runs in 3 overs. If this was a horse race “Wristbands” would now either (a) be put down or (b) be put out to stud. He has told me that all being equal he would prefer the latter. This being cricket he was sent to patrol the long leg / third man boundary and retrieve the ball from the thorn bushes at regular intervals.

To take his place we turned to Adam (“Young”) who bowled an excellent spell of wrist spin extracting much turn from the wicket and mixing up the length and speed nicely. Is he another Shane Warne in the making? Maybe, but just hopefully you will stay away from the hair treatment advertising, Adam!

Fen Ditton reached 71-0 after 10 overs with a few alarms interspersed with crunching shots to the small boundary. There was then a helter skelter of quick wickets as first Adam removed the less aggressive opener and then George removed the other aided by a Dave Simmons catch. Only two more runs had been added when George produced a beautiful ball. Their #4 made a text book leave and was comprehensively bowled: 71-0 to 73-3 in a couple of overs. George removed two more and Neil chipped in with a wicket (it provided a diversion from swearing at the batsman, the umpire, the fielders and himself) and we had 5 down.

It was then that the “Other Big Guy” stepped in. In the last few games, Dave Scotcher’s bowling has been accurate, frugal, parsimonious, miserly, niggardly and stingy. Today he added penetrative. Over 8.3 overs he rearranged the Readers on 4 occasions and added a 5th wicket courtesy of an excellent running & diving catch from Adam. Fen Ditton were all out for 170 which was a lot less than they had threatened after the initial onslaught. This was Dave’s first 5-for for Coton and very well deserved it was.

Then we batted.

Gabriel and Dave Simmons opened but the former didn’t last the first over. A straight one kept low and scuttled along the pitch and unluckily trapped him in front. Unlucky in having an honest umpire that is: best not to remind Neil of some of the decisions that he didn’t get at this point.

Fen Ditton had figured out that there was a lot of movement to be had on this wicket and the hardest way for us to score would be off slow bowling. So we were presented with spin from the outset at one end and that would be the story of the rest of the match.

Dave and Alastair were accumulating quite nicely until Dave was undone by an excellent catch after he had made fine contact with an on drive. Richard joined Alastair to move things along until a fine piece of comedy running found them both at the same end (Alastair having run 2 to Richard’s 1). Perhaps Alastair was distracted by the contents of his pocket, not having had time to partake following Gabriel's quick dismissal.

Alastair decided to (figuratively) fall on his sword at this point and stepped out of the crease to accept the run out. At this point we then proceeded to dig ourselves a big hole. Richard played an elegant forward defensive but forgot to hit the ball, his back foot was outside the crease and he was dismissed by a fine stumping. Adam slapped one back to the bowler but George was by now dispatching the ball to all corners (can you have corners in an oval?). 33 off 29 balls and the recovery was on until he cracked a loose ball to point: a yard either side would have been another 4. 99-5 soon became 103-9 as Andy, Neil and Pete all departed in quick succession.

Other Big Guy was now joined by Wristbands (aka Original Big Guy) and for a few overs an unlikely win looked possible as the two old war horses gained in confidence. Another batting point was gained and Fen Ditton looked decidedly nervous as 35 were put on for the 10th wicket (the highest of the innings – so we are reversing the order next week). It would only take one mistake though and that came when Rob top edged a chest high full toss (why wasn’t it a no ball?) to fine leg to end the innings.

We ended up 32 runs short. Dave Scotcher takes the plaudits for his 5-for and 19 not out. Dave Simmons is getting a little nervous on his pre-season bet now. George had another good game with 3 wickets and 33 runs. Adam bowled well and Alastair had a good effort with the bat.

Next week it’s the return match at Fulbourn. With George missing in action, its time for Rob to see if he can emulate last season’s record of 4 wins out 5 whilst deputizing as captain. Don’t hold your breath.

A Proper Game of Cricket - Romsey at Trinity Old Field, 29/May/2010

As I cycled away from Trinity Old Field and into the sunset I reflected on the day. We had played a game of cricket on a beautiful spring day, on a great pitch in lovely surroundings. The opposition had been friendly the banter humorous and the game competitive without any nastiness. We lost, but that somehow seemed almost immaterial given everything else.

And a proper game of cricket it was: both teams batted for the full allotment of 40 overs and that is something that happens very rarely in our league (at least for games involving Coton).

Despite conjecture in the dressing room that we would be better off batting first so we didn't have to field in the hottest part of the day we won the toss and put Romsey in. Neil was still enjoying his US trip whilst Billy and Adam were off paintballing. Had they reconnoitred the pitch and decided that bowling was going to be a tough job? They were to be proved right. The two Dave S’s returned to the team with Rob McC and Jack dropping out.

Rob & George opened the bowling again. George bowled beautifully without taking a wicket and it was hard to understand just how he didn’t manage to do that. Rob bowled some good balls mixed in with some bad ones. At that pace and on as true a wicket as Trinity they were dealt with accordingly. We got to the first bowling changes without a wicket being down & Romsey making steady progress.

Dave Scotcher and Dave Simmons were the replacements. Scotch bowled a very tight spell and removed the first of the Romsey openers with 63 on the board thus breaking his 0 runs and 0 wickets for the season drought (he also got some runs later). “Other Dave” (for Dr Who fans, not "Other Dave" from “Silence in the Library” so I guess this is "Other Other Dave") was punished as much as Rob had been and was replaced by Richard. Richard leaked runs as the others had but removed the remaining opener and the #3. George and Rob returned to (in one case) put the pressure on and stem the runs and (in the other) donate over 50 runs in 4 overs to a now rampant Romsey. Two run outs earned us another bonus point.

The boundaries were short and you could have played snooker on the outfield but the sad fact is that George & Scotch conceded runs at about 2.8 per over whereas Rob, Richard and Dave Simmons went for over 8. Romsey amassed 222-6 in their 40 overs. As they left the field there were some mutterings about this not being enough (the previous week they had grabbed 273-1 on the same ground).

After tea, Gabriel and Will lead the charge in reply. Well, maybe not a charge, maybe more of a casual stroll along a canal bank stopping to chat to fishermen, lock keepers, bargees and other ramblers. Will departed for 9 and Alastair joined Gabriel. They proceeded to accumulate runs steadily against a variety of slow, very slow and very very slow bowling, Romsey having figured that taking any pace off the ball made scoring more difficult. They put on 84 for the 2nd wicket before Alastair was lured out of his ground and stumped. He stopped at the crease long enough to exchange pleasantries with his opposite number and compliment him on the stumping (they also had a long chat about face masks, but I am told that this is nothing to be concerned about).

Dave Simmons was also stumped before an exhausted Gabriel was run out 4 short of what would have been a well deserved 50. By this stage he was delirious & dehydrated from the heat and proceeded to wander around the ground looking for sand dunes and oases.

At 112-4 the base had been laid for a late innings thrash: could we make it? For a few overs it looked on. George smashed an enormous 6 and raced to 30 off 15 balls. Sam kept him company in a quickfire partnership before being run out for 10 trying a suicidal 2nd run. He fell victim to the old ploy of the fake wounded fielder. Up to that point he had trundled the ball in underarm but now with a whiff of run out in the air (and a shout of "he hasn't got an arm" in his ear) he managed to ping the ball in overarm: fast and straight. He didn’t even have the decency to feign a bad shoulder afterwards.

George went next ball, and with him our best hope of making the score. Andy and Pete both made double figures and Rob managed to find the only fielder within 50 yards with a top edge before Andy and Dave Scotcher saw out the 40 overs. We came up 36 short with 9 wickets down but there was general agreement that last season it may well have been 100 short with 20 overs remaining.

Putting the finishing touches to the report almost 2 weeks later we now know that all the matches were called off during our blank week leaving us in the relegation zone have won 1 and lost 3. This week we play Fen Ditton over whom we did the double last year. Let’s see what happens this time.

Victory on the Piece: George leads the way

The first two games of the season had seen two defeats. Going into our 3rd game, several team members were unavailable: holidays, cup finals, hangovers and visiting relatives were taking their toll. Three players were making their league debuts for Coton and we just managed to piece together an XI: well done George! It was with some trepidation that I caught the train and walked over to Parker’s Piece for the game against NCI IVths last Saturday.

I also reflected on the fact that I had never completed a cricket match on this historic ground: all previous attempts had been rained off. At least the weather was looking better this week.

There was a last minute panic as Alastair was nowhere to be seen and calls to his house and mobile yielded no results. Had he really said he was playing? Hadn’t he said he was going to The States? Had he got the score book? Andy was resigning himself to going behind the stumps and was starting to pad up. It’s hard to say whether Andy or the bowels were more relieved to spot Alastair and his dog team racing past Reality Checkpoint.

Meanwhile, Gabriel continued to search for the score book…

NCI batted first. George repeated the previous week’s fast/slow opening bowler tactic (with so many missing bowlers this was perhaps more of a necessity than an actual choice). It soon paid dividends: in his first over George induced an edge that was confidently taken by Alastair behind the stumps. Rob then had two confident LBW appeals turned down before taking a simple caught and bowled and George rearranged the remaining opener’s stumps.

Rob tried a tactic that had worked for him successfully in a mid-week match a couple of years ago. Getting very close to the stumps he delivered a straight yorker whilst kicking over the stumps at the bowler’s end. The opposition captain was trapped LBW but whether this was because of the diversionary tactic or just an unplayable ball we will never know. This put NCI at 10-4 and thoughts turned to an early finish.

George continued to work through the batting order whilst Rob was economical without taking another wicket. The number 5 was castled and another caught & bowled reduced the opposition to 23-6.

We were now reaching decision time. We were on top but the two opening bowlers were reaching the end of their spells (and one of them was doing his grumpy old man impersonation, limping around the outfield looking for sympathy).

Rob “Warnie” McCorqudale stepped up for his 1st spell for Coton and promptly took the 7th wicket (32-7). He went on to take the 8th, aided by a smart stumping by Alastair from a leg side wide. Richard bowled a spell from the other end that alternated some wide balls, some very wide balls and several unplayable deliveries that might have caused others to tear their hair out. By the time the 8th wicket went down the score had doubled and NCI were making a fight of the game. Their #9 comfortably outscored the rest of his colleagues: he got more than 50% of the runs that came off the bat.

Rob McC was tiring, Richard was being frustrated by repeated near misses, and debutant Jack (Rob, Dave, Jonny, whatever) delivered a couple of unsuccessful overs. It was time for King George again. In his 2nd over back (and 10th overall) he bowled their #9 one run short of what would have been a deserved 50. One run and three balls later he repeated the treatment sending leg stump flying to end the innings. NCI had gone for 114: George 6-23, Rob K 2-20, Rob McC 2-26.

While we waited for a fine tea to be ferried from The Cricketers Gabriel (“I’m the only player from the village”) entered the scores into his Excel spreadsheet (in lieu of a scorebook).

We set about the chase. The target of 115 was about the same as we had made in the two previous league games combined so looked quite challenging. Gabriel opened with Will Frost, the 3rd of our debutants. Will soon went, bowled by Hefferland for a duck which brought Alastair to the crease. Alastair was soon into his stride and contributed 23 of a 25 partnership by the time Gabriel unerringly picked out a fielder to make it 26-2. Perhaps it’s was eagerness to get back to his automated scoring system. Richard became the third person to be caught and bowled and at 30-3 things were looking sticky. It soon became clear that NCI’s change bowlers were not going to cause the problems that their openers had. Perhaps a lack of maidens was the problem.

Alastair was compiling runs steadily and a sudden burst of scorning from Jack-Rob-Dave-Jonny (“I’m a tennis player really”) started to swing things around. Two sixes into Park Terrace contributed to his 21 from just 11 balls and we were half way to our target. Two quick wickets turned this into “half way to our target with half the team gone”.

It was time for the skipper. He had lifted the curse on his new bat by demolishing the pavilion roof at Fitzwilliam 10 days previously. Today he took an instant liking to NCI’s bowlers. Two attempts to kill the same toddler about 50 yards beyond the deep mid wicket boundary had the liability lawyers readying their briefs. The ball was now speeding to the boundary with some regularity. The remaining runs were rattled off and we reached our target with 17 overs to spare: Alastair 41 not out, George 35 not out off just 17 balls.

This was a comprehensive win in front of the massed tourists and students on Parker’s Piece. Some excellent bowling & keen fielding was followed by a mix of elegant stroke play and vicious hitting. I am sure the great man – after whom the pavilion is named – would have approved.

Gabriel was left wandering the streets of Cambridge checking rubbish bins and assailing random bystanders to inquire whether they had seen a score book. Meanwhile the rest of the team retired to The Cricketers to (a) pretend that they lived up to the name; (b) enjoy some jugs of beer; (c) wind up the absentees about the chances of them getting back into the team.

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.

King George Ascends - Waterbeach 01/May/2010

On a pleasant spring day that managed to confound the forecasters, King George assumed the leadership of the Coton CC. What he thought of the performance of his new subjecs is not on record. His predecessor – King Richard – had abdicated during the winter but was still present to lend his experience, not to mention the luxurious beard that had developed during the close season. Rumour has it there are white-spotted bluethroats nesting there.

However, “6C” (try saying that quickly), aka Coton Cricket Club Coach Chris Cooke was not to be seen. Having been forced into retirement through injury he has taken on the challenge of coaching the team to new levels of performance over the winter months. How would they respond? Could Dave Scotcher learn to play a straight bat? Could Rob Kaye bowl an inswinger? Could Gabriel Fox catch a cricket ball? Could Neil Sparnon appeal any louder? Chris will need to wait a little longer to find out in person.

Apart from Chris the team that took the field at Waterbeach had a familiar look to it with the usual stale warts stalwarts joined by the youth movement of Billy & Adam (having got notes from their respective parents).

The day got off to its usual start with panicked messages from the M11 (henceforward to be known as the Andrew East Memorial Parkway). “Has anyone got the book from Ross” was followed by “traffic bad, will be there at 2”. So, we already knew we would be one short at 1:30 and more bad news was to come: Alastair was car-less and no one had spotted his plea for a lift! He got on his bike and arrived during the 4th over having been towed to Waterbeach by one heroic little doggie (thanks, Shadow).

King George won the toss and inserted Waterbeach while the rest of the team reminisced with familiar faces from previous encounters. We took the field with 9 men, Andy still being on the M11 and poor Shadow having stopped to take on water in Fen Ditton. Neil donned the gloves which meant that King George and Billy opened the bowling. Unlike Dave and Rob, Neil is still quick enough that he can’t deliver the ball AND make it behind the stumps for the edge. It all started promisingly. Billy got the first wicket of the season and Adam took a catch to remove the other opener. [Note to Adam: it looks better if you dive before the catch instead of safely pouching it and then doing the salmon leap.]

Alastair arrived and after a brief fight took the gloves off Neil. Overall this was definitely a good move. Dave replaced Billy and Neil took over from King George and Waterbeach were soon 4 down for not too many courtesy of a thin edge off Neil to the Alastair and a clean bowled from King George. Mr East arrived and we realised how quiet it had been without his enthusiastic encouragement in the field. Totally unrelated to Andy’s arrival it was at this point that the game swung to Waterbeach. In spite of some fairly tight bowling from Messrs Wright, Scotcher and Kaye the 5th wicket pair of Waterbeach were able to accumulate steadily alternating periods of defence with punishment of the few bad balls. It was during this period where a limping Dave Scotcher pulled off a remarkable stop in the field. Remarkable in that the ball got to him slowly that he was able to dive in instalments to stop it (he may still be diving for all we know).

King George took decisive action, bringing back Neil, Billy and finally own royal personage to the attack. Despite Gabriel’s one man juggling show it worked. The 5th wicket stand of 75 was broken and the final 6 Waterbeach wickets removed for 47 runs. A fine catch at square leg by HRH off Billy, some rapid bowling and stump rattling by Neil and final coup de grace by The King wrapped things up. There were 4 wickets for Neil, 3 economical ones for George and 3 by Billy. Waterbeach were 165 all out, so full bowling points for us. Had one or two of the catches stuck, it could well have been less than 100.

Perhaps I should stop there. I have covered all the good bits. When I say that Mr Extras top scored for us you can tell it was a traditional Coton batting performance. 3 down for 7 after 3 overs: it didn’t get any better. The top order was undone by flight and speed variations from opening bowler Shimron Thomas and pacier stuff from Hawkes. Collectively the top 5 contributed 7 runs.

The tail wagged a bit. Adam top scored with 9, and Rads made optimal use of the outside edge to get us what might turn out to be a vital bonus point. In the end it was an unlucky, fluky, deflection off a drive from Billy that ended the innings with Scotch run out backing up. And that was that: 57 all out. 5 bonus points were gained which put us above Romsey Town & Balsham (who both got 4) and Fen Ditton (who didn’t play).

So, for the benefit of Mr Cooke: the lower order for once outscored the top of the order so perhaps some of us have taken on board the techniques he has extolling over the winter and early spring.