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Scorecard

Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club SUNDAY XI v Chelmsford Super Kings on Sat 18 Jul 2020 at 1.00pm
Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club Won by 2 wkts

Match report Following on from a thumping victory over Tillingham CC Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club finally returned to Pheasant Park to host Chelmsford Super Kings in the first home fixture of the Covid-19 ravaged season. As a gesture of goodwill an agreement between the sides had already been pre-arranged with WMCC offering CSK the opportunity to bat first to which the away team gladly accepted.

However, before the match could begin players and spectators gathered to pay tribute to the life of Jim Melhuish, who had sadly passed away after a long battle with illness. Jim was a long-standing supporter of WMCC, through his daughter Grace, who bravely took to the field that day to honour his memory. To those who were blessed to have known Jim had their lives enriched by his sharp wit, incomparable positivity and genuine decency. The Chairman, Ian Ball, offered some heartfelt words on behalf of the club before a minute passed by in silence with everyone’s thoughts with Jim and the Melhuish family during this difficult time.

With the new ball in hand T. Pateman ran in from the Forest end and soon claimed his first victim as S. Sankararaman hit a miss-timed lofted cover driver to G. Verlander who was waiting a short distance away. From the road end the master, S. Collis, stepped up to provide his reliable tight bowling which proved difficult for the unsettled batsman. This support frustrated G. Chandrasekaran who scooped one straight up to I. Ball at second slip. T. Pateman went onto secure his third wicket of the day when new man J. Harshal tried to go aerial only to be picked out by a good catch by J. Payne at deep cover.

With the openers now off a new barrage of bowling attack came in the form of the young G. Melhuish and the seasoned veteran T. Payne. Wickets fell in quick succession for CSK with the next three batsmen picking out the safe hands of Woodham fielders scattered across Pheasant Park. If it had not been for T. Payne, who trapped S. Elumalai LBW, and M. Clarke, who bowled R. Rajagopalan with an in-swinging yorker, ten catches may have been had that day which surely would have been a WMCC record. Perhaps G. Melhuish’s weekly fielding drills were paying off after all. G. Verlander, realising the tail-enders were now at the crease, finally entered the attack and removed T. Martin with a low catch off his bowling to end the CSK innings. 112 to win.

As everyone sat quietly with their socially distanced homemade tea happy memories came to mind of Sheena’s Bacon & Brie sandwiches, Debbie’s cakes and Toby’s Caribbean rice. Here's hoping we return to normality soon.

The opening pair of I. Ball and A. Beames set off in steady pursuit of the target seeing off the new ball with ease. However, when both found themselves bowled by delivers that kept low the inevitable Woodham collapse loomed over the batsmen in waiting. The middle-order also appeared to struggle with the slow, low deck of home as J. Mickley was removed on 12 when he chipped one up and was caught. J. Payne and M. Clarke came and went like London buses as they failed failed to trouble the score and left the field with noughts to their names.

T. Payne was joined by the skipper G. Verlander as the pair looked to steady the sinking ship. The two played some solid shots and ran well between the wickets, to both their surprise, as the total soon looked in sight. But when T. Payne lofted one skyward the partnership came to a close and T. Pateman trudged to the crease to finish the innings off. However, nothing at WMCC is ever without its drama, and with just two runs to win an excited G. Verlander skipped down the track with a boundary in his sights only to watch the ball swing past his bat and straight into the hands of the wicket-keeper who waited to flick the bails upward. 2 runs to win still required.

Yet, hope still lived on, and Woodham hearts were rest assured as they watched G. Melhuish stride out onto the wicket reminiscent of those Friday nights of old. G. Melhuish took her guard, counted the fielders, took a breath and with focused eyes watched the bowler run up. The ball was let loose and swung in the air towards the pads but before they could reach them the might of the bat met it as the batswoman clipped it through mid-wicket to run the desired two and secure the win for Woodham. The Queen had returned.

WMCC were victorious. Though as the players left the field to greet each other in thanks the importance of the result faded. After so much time had been lost we had returned to our spiritual home and shared our love of the game with a dignified, fair and courteous team that had arrived as our opponent but departed as our friends. The club would like to extend their sincere gratitude to Chelmsford Super Kings, who very much lived up to their title, as we wish them all the very best with the remainder of their season. We look forward to when our paths may cross again.

Chelmsford Super Kings Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5w 6b  
for 10 wickets
11
112 (33.0 overs)		     
Sarvo Sankararaman ct  G Verlander b T Pateman 0 7 0
Gopinath Chandrasekaran ct  I Ball b T Pateman 13 31 2 41.94
Karthik Natarajan ct  O Glasson b G Melhuish 14 25 3 56.00
Raja Mohammed Kaja Kamal ct  A Beames b G Melhuish 24 38 5 63.16
Ray Sundaram ct  J Payne b G Melhuish 12 10 2 120.0
Harshal J ct  J Payne b T Pateman 9 11 2 81.82
Srini Elumalai lbw  T Payne 7 26 26.92
Ganapathy Muthumalai ct  A Beames b T Payne 8 16 1 50.0
Ramesh Rajagopalan b  M Clark 7 6 116.67
Teddi Martin ct  G Verlander b G Verlander 0 5 0
Pankaj Nakhat Not Out  7 13 53.85

Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club SUNDAY XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Toby Pateman7.022839.334.00
Steve Collis8.023600.004.50
Grace Melhuish8.002638.673.25
Tom Payne6.011527.502.50
Matt Clark5.002538.335.00
George Verlander6.011929.503.17

Woodham Mortimer Cricket Club SUNDAY XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 2w 8b  
for 7 wickets
13
114		        
Ian Ball b  R Rajagopalan 9 46 2 19.57 1
Angus Beames b  H J 24 45 5 53.33 2
Matt Clark lbw  R Rajagopalan 0 3 0 1
James Mickley ct  N Bhatia b H J 12 21 1 57.14
Jared Payne b  R Rajagopalan 0 1 0 2
Tom Payne Not Out  18 44 2 40.91
Ollie Glasson ct  S Elumalai b N Bhatia 10 5 2 200 1
Grace Melhuish Not Out  14 10 1 140.0
George Verlander st  R Mohammed Kaja KamalS Sankararaman 26 31 4 83.87 2
Toby Pateman Not Out  14 6 3 233.33
Steve Collis b  Unsure 6 4 1 150.0

Chelmsford Super Kings Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Pankaj Nakhat3.001300.004.33
Teddi Martin8.002000.002.50
Ramesh Rajagopalan8.06832.671.00
Harshal J8.011829.002.25
Ganapathy Muthumalai6.002100.003.50
Sarvo Sankararaman2.0012112.006.00
Naveen Bhatia1.0014114.0014.00