3 September 2023 Stragglers of Asia vs Northchurch CC at Northchurch
Result: Lost by 5 wickets
Match Report:
On a very hot and sunny September Sunday, the Stragglers took part in a timed game against Northchurch Cricket Club. This is usually a tightly contested fixture and there is great association between the two clubs with a number of members and guests hailing from NCC.The toss was won (mutually agreed) and the Stragglers were to bat first.James Melhorn and Matt Suckling opened up and the pair had to be watchful early on in the face of some impressive line and length from the Northchurch bowlers. However, shots were rewarded and the opening partnership had reached forty before Melhorn was bowled with one that looked like it kept low and may have taken an inside edge onto the stumps.Alex Asher joined Matt in the middle and despite Suckling falling shortly after the score was still ticking along nicely.Asher and Faris Haider (fresh from 47 runs and a fiver against NCC the day before) continued to be vigilant and played shots when the bad ball came their way, Asher, in particular finding the boundary with some powerful blows.With the score taken past one hundred, Asher was adjudged LBW for 35 and a small collapse ensued. Haider (19) was caught behind and Matt Cox (guest, who is very keen for more games) bowled for 1. This left the Stragglers 130-5 in the 35th over.Enter Tony Hooper and Charles Fidler. With the need to up the run rate a little both players were to combine in an unbeaten partnership worth 119 runs with both players going past 50 (56* for Hooper and 52* for Fidler). It was significant for Fidler as that was his maiden half-century for the club. With the score at 249-5 and 49 overs completed the Stragglers declared.Tom Vila and Fidler opened with ball in hand and despite both getting the batsman to play and miss a number of times they found it hard to stop the flow of runs. Some big hitting and good fortune allowed Northchurch to 63 in just 9 overs. Something needed to change.Fortunes did begin to come back into Straggs favour as a change in the bowling to get Harry Chapman and Rob Pollock-Hill (the Spin Twins) into proceedings brought about the first wicket. Chapman claiming the first of his 4 wickets with one opener adjudged LBW.73-1 sadly became 103-2 as Northchurch continued to be aggressive with the bat. However, Chapman was able to pick up his second seeing a batsman stumped. Chapman would then pick up his third with Fidler taking a good catch coming in from long-on.The fall of the third wicket saw the Northchurch captain enter the fray and he was dropped second ball. It was a tough chance that Suckling did well to get to but sadly parried it over the rope for six runs. This allowed a partnership to get going with both Northchurch batsman going past 50s of their own. Seemingly with the game going the way of Northchurch, the Spin Twins struck! Firstly, Pollock-Hill got his deserved reward, having the threatening number 3 stumped as he was looking to kick on and Chapman claiming his fourth as the Northchurch batsman left one that turned back and hit the top of middle!Northchurch were now themselves 5 down and about 15 overs left of play. On this occasion Northchurch were successful in chasing the 250 target and had 10 overs spare.It was a great game of cricket and thanks to all that contributed!
So this is what summer looks like!
Innings of Stragglers of Asia CC
| No. | Batsman
|
How out | Bowler | |
| 1 | J Melhorn | Bowled | S Jeffrey | 16 |
| 2 | M Suckling | Bowled | O Johnson | 18 |
| 3 | A Asher (wkt) | LBW | O Johnson | 35 |
| 4 | F Haider (c) | Ct S Jeffrey | O Johnson | 21 |
| 5 | M Cox (g) | Bowled | J Hopkins | 1 |
| 6 | T Hooper | Not out | 56 | |
| 7 | C Fidler | Not out | 52 | |
| 8 | T Vila | Did not bat | ||
| 9 | H Chapman | Did not bat | ||
| 10 | R Pollock-Hill | Did not bat | ||
| 11 | ||||
| Extras | 50 | |||
| TOTAL | For 5 wkts | 249 |
FOW 1-40; 2-58; 3-101; 4-116; 5-130
Bowling
| Bowler
|
Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| J Hopkins | 8 | 2 | 21 | 1 |
| A Hardyman | 10 | 0 | 67 | 0 |
| S Jeffrey | 3 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| O Johnson | 13 | 3 | 47 | 3 |
| M Hobley | 7 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| R Huetting | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| J Smart | 5 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| D Nutkins | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
Innings of Northchurch CC
| No | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs
|
| 1 | J Randall | LBW | H Chapman | 23 |
| 2 | D Nutkins | St Asher | H Chapman | 59 |
| 3 | M Hobley | St Asher | Pollock-Hill | 73 |
| 4 | S Batesman | Ct Fidler | H Chapman | 14 |
| 5 | J Smart | Not out | 52 | |
| 6 | A Hardyman | Bowled | H Chapman | 0 |
| 7 | O Johnson | Not out | 7 | |
| 8 | J Hopkins | Did not bat | ||
| 9 | S Jeffrey | Did not bat | ||
| 10 | R Huetting | Did not bat | ||
| 11 | ||||
| Extras | 21 | |||
| TOTAL | For 5 wickets | 251 |
FoW
Bowling
| Bowler
|
Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| T Vila | 7 | 0 | 51 | 0 |
| C Fidler | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| H Chapman | 12 | 0 | 57 | 4 |
| R Pollock-Hill | 11 | 1 | 58 | 1 |
| T Hooper | 4 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| F Haider | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
Umpire: