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Scorecard

Rayleigh 4th v Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club SECOND XI on Sat 28 Jul 2018 at 1.00pm
Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club Won by 69 runs

Match report After struggling from a lack of availability across the whole club the last 2 weeks the Woodham 2's travelled to Rayleigh this week with a much stronger team. Skipper Brown had a little sympathy with the home skipper when he found out that the hosts were also struggling for availability with 6 of his regulars making the jump from the 4's to the 2's this week. Brown lost his first toss of the season, calling Heads as usual and seeing a tail land, expecting to be facing a long afternoon in the sun he was relieved when the home captain chose to field first making the toss irrelevant as the away team were batting first which was the plan anyway.

Brown opened the batting with Fannon who has been in good form this season and looked in good touch early on as 2 boundaries were taken in the first over. With the bowlers struggling with their line and lengths due to the blustery conditions the openers had pushed the score onto 17 after two overs. The scoring rate continued to at a good pace with both batsmen looking settled until first change bowler Walsh induced a leading edge from Brown and the ball ballooned to the wicket keeper, the skipper departing for 18. This brought Costin to the crease who was searching for a good score after struggling with the bat this year. It was clear from the outset that Costin had decided that attacking was his best option as his first 9 scoring shots were all 4. Fannon at the other end continued to punish the weakened Rayleigh bowlers and he brought up his first 50 of the season before drinks. Costin, who was looking destructive was unfortunate to miss out on some runs at this stage as he pulled a short and wide bull into the leg side, the ball was unfortunately for Costin well stopped at square leg, even more unfortunate was that the ball was actually stopped by the Woodham resident clown K. MItchell who decided instead of side stepping out of the way he would try to tumble backwards and the ball careened into his chest. 3 runs lost. Shortly after this incident Fannon was caught behind trying to pull the impressive Walsh for 72, this was very unlucky on the batsmen's part as he looked odds on to score a maiden league 100 but an ankle twist had hampered him for the last few overs. This wicket brought about the traditional Woodham mini collapse as firstly Clarke (3) then Goode (4) departed in quick succession. During this period of uncertainty Costin also passed 50 for the first time this season. Mickley was the next man up and he managed to bring some calm to proceedings. looking solid in defence and scoring both sides of the wicket. Costin was trying to increase the run rate and was unfortunate a second time as he aimed a straight drive directly at his batting partner who couldn't get out of the way and wore one on the arm. Costin missing out on 4 runs to make that 7 in total. At this stage Costin clearly looked tired from his exertions and it was no surprise when he found Holyoak at mid wicket who made no mistake with the catch and Costin departed for 67. This meant that the middle-lower order power houses of Preston, Mitchell and Older were going to get in the game, each of them contribution to the total Preston 16 from 12, Mitchell 26 from 22 and Older 22 from 24 ensuring the first innings ended on a competitive 263.

After a short discussion between the skipper and opening bowling pair Preston and Older the skipper pulled rank and Older was chosen to bowl into the strong wind, this was a popular decision with Preston but not so much with Older. However, Older did not let that get him down as he battled the wind for 10 overs on the trot and recorded figures of 10-4-17-1. An excellent spell from the opener which took the game away from the hosts and turned the focus of the skipper to trying to take the remaining 9 wickets needed to claim full points. Rayleigh's top 4 batsmen were putting up stout resistance although didn't seem to be willing to chase the score down as the score at 20 overs when an earlier than usual drinks break was taken was only 49-1. K. Mitchell was brought into the attack to replace Older and give the instruction to toss the ball up and try to induce some big shots. This plan meant that Mitchell was unfortunate to concede 54 runs from his 10 overs but did have the desired effect as the veteran spinner picked up 4 wickets including Verlinder and Walker who batted for a combined 127 balls for 58 runs. Mitchell was unlucky that he missed out on a 5 for in this match as a bizarre lapse in judgment from the usually reliable Older meant that a catching opportunity at deep mid-on went for 6. I know you are probably all thinking that catches on the boundary are often misjudged and end up going for 6 but this was no ordinary misjudgement. instead of taking the 2 or 3 steps forward to take a chest high catch Older decided to take 2 steps back, this put him the wrong side of the boundary. Older seemed as surprised as everyone else around the ground to find the ball bouncing in front of him and across the line for 6. Anyway, moving on from the oddest thing I had seen on the field of cricket since a hot air balloon stopped play to fly between the stumps and land on the outfield during a t20 game. Woodham were still searching for wickets at this stage so the captain turned to his less used bowlers. Firstly, after one of the most impressive fielding displays I have seen in a while N. Great (Goode) was given the opportunity to add to his 1 wicket against Galleywood. Goode took this opportunity by inducing the edge of Wright, the batsman who had earlier benefited from the Older brain fade. This wicket earned Goode a 3rd over which was a little painful to watch, instead of gaining confidence from his wicket he appeared to get the yipes. The over consisted of 6 wides, 9 runs off the bat, 1 leg bye and to round things off another wicket. After seeing this over the skipper became concerned that bad light may stop play so he brought on J. Love. Love was unlucky to go for 10 in his first over as chances were created but not taken however he got his reward in his second over as he picked up his 3rd wicket of the season and ended on respectable figures of 3 overs 1-19. Preston was given a last blast for 2 overs with 2 wickets remaining and he managed to pick one of them up, this brought the number 11 to the crease who at 13 appeared confident of seeing off the last few overs, Clark was given an opportunity in the 43rd over but couldn't pick up the wicket, neither could Preston in the 44th, the last over went Mickley, an unlikely choice some might say but he managed to sneak one pass the charging Trewich to close the innings with a stumping and full points for Woodham. Well that would have been the case had Costin not juggled the chance and eventually dropped the ball allowing Trewich to regain his ground and ensuring Mickley remains without a league wicket. In fairness to the normally reliable keeper it was a surprise the ball made it to him in the first place.

After a match full of bizarre instances Woodham ran out winners by 69 wickets, missing out on the final wicket but managing a morale boosting 25 points. Hopefully with availability issues behind us we can push on now and try to ensure a higher finish than last years 4th place.

Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club SECOND XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 6w 10b  
for 8 wickets
19
263		        
Damian Fannon ct Trewick, bwld Walsh 72 64 14 112.50 2
Andrew Brown ct Trewick, bwld Walsh 18 29 3 62.07
Nigel Costin ct Holyoak, bwld Wright 67 57 12 117.54 2
Jon Clarke ct Trewick, bwld Holyoak 3 8 37.50
Nick Goode ct Walker, bwld Walsh 4 8 50.0
James Mickley b Walker 16 33 2 48.48
Jack Preston ct Holyoak, bwld Walker 16 12 2 133.33
Keith Mitchell run out Holyoak/Wright 26 22 2 118.18 1
Sam Older Not Out  22 24 3 91.67
Steve Collis  
Josh Love  

Rayleigh 4th Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Levett10.025200.005.20
Harmsworth4.002600.006.50
Walsh10.0147315.674.70
Holyoak10.0067167.006.70
Wright8.0044144.005.50
Walker3.001829.006.00

Rayleigh 4th Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 16w 2lb 
for 9 wickets
20
194 (45.0 overs)		     
D. Baldwin b S. Older 8
Verlinder b K. Mitchell 27
B. Walker ct N. Costin, bwld K. Mitchell 31
M. Walker ct D. Fannon, bwld J. Love 28
Wright ct N. Costin, bwld N. Goode 18
A. Baldwin ct D. Fannon, bwld N. Goode 4
Holyoak lbw K. Mitchell 9
Walsh b K. Mitchell 15
Levitt ct K. Mitchell, bwld J. Preston 3
Trewich Not Out  26
Harmsworth Not Out  4

Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club SECOND XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jack Preston7.0123123.003.29
Sam Older10.0417117.001.70
Steve Collis10.023100.003.10
Keith Mitchell10.0054413.505.40
Nick Goode3.0029214.509.67
Josh Love3.0019119.006.33
Jon Clarke1.00500.005.00
James Mickley1.001600.0016.00