Accidents, points deductions, concessions, surprise results - the day had it all

Sensational, what a day, I have no idea where to start the round-up of Sunday's action. I guess with the downside.

Sadly, Colchester & East Essex again conceded their scheduled Division One match, this time against Bocking. However, they also suffered a 15 point penalty as they were also due to officiate the last two Division One matches on the list at Notley Sports Centre. They were not the only team to suffer a deduction as the same fate and a similar deduction has been applied to Sampfords Reserves for fielding an ineligible player. Nick Hopkinson, who had played in Sampfords Reserves first two matches this season had also turned out in their two first team matches and was therefore exceeding qualifying limit for the reserve team. So already this season three teams have been deducted points and the season is only four Sunday's old.

As you will also probably be aware a bad road traffic accident at the roundabout close to McDonald's at the A120/B1018 junction in the early afternoon caused traffic chaos affecting many of the participating teams. Chappel & Wakes Colne, Elmstead Grasshoppers being amongst those slightly delayed, but the University of Essex team were unable to make it through to the Leisure Centre in time to play their intriguing contest with Kelvedon & Feering. I was aware of the accident and was able to keep the teams at the Leisure Centre aware of the delays. In the end the game was postponed, but in such circumstances, the league does allow for the game to be re-arranged, and subject to Leisure Centre availability this match will now take place on Sunday December 2nd at 5.00pm. The two teams then have matches at Notley earlier that afternoon, and it is is a day which we did not previously have any matches scheduled for the Leisure Centre. In this event the League will provide officials for the match.

Probably the most surprising result of the day also happened in Division One, where newly promoted Cressing moved up into second place in the table with their third win, a two wicket win over Braintree Youth. David Hale's 34 not out helped the Youth to close on 79-5, and then he had figures of 2-6 as Cressing struggled to 18-2 from six overs. Robert Cross scored 19 before he was run out, and it was finally left to Matt Blackwell, 23 not out, to take them across the winning line with 80-4 with three balls to spare. Witham also kept their unbeaten start to the season going but they had a very closely fought contest with Chappel & Wakes Colne, in what was their 400th match as members of the league, before finally prevailing by just seven runs. Richard Green again top scored for Witham with 34 not out, aided by 25 from Jake Wakelin and 20 from Paul Bellehewe, but the Patmore's, Brett and Bryan, gave Chappel a great start, but once they were separated Witham quickly took two wickets. In the end Witham held on, with Brett Patmore being run out for 31 while Bryan Patmore ended on 42 not out, but their score could not get beyond 115-5. Coggeshall made very light work of Rayne. Dave Denny taking 3-5 and Chris Woodward 2-7 as they were skittled for 31. Oliver Blackwell then hit 18 not out as Coggeshall breezed to maximum points with 32-0 in less than six overs.

As the Kelvedon & Feering - University of Essex match was postponed, the focus of attention in Division Two fell upon the other contest between unbeaten teams as Terling met Helions Bumpstead. Terling must have been pleased to have put a total of 144-4 on the board for the Bumpstead boys to chase down. Tristan Woolfenden with 31 not out, and Richard Spencer with 33 not out, being Terling's top scorer. However it turned out that this total was insufficient as Helions Bumpstead reached 145-1 thanks to a no-ball at the start of the final over. Andy Rose, ex-Great Bardfield player Ian Kerr, Paul Brazier, and Ryan Cook all making decent contributions to their five wicket win which now gives them an eleven point lead at the top of the table. Thanks to the postponement, Shalford are now in second place after defeating Coggeshall Reserves by four wickets. Jim Owen, 33 not out, and Carl Bragg, 26 not out, took a youthful Coggeshall team to 100-3. No Shalford player made it through to retirement but a balanced performance by all those that reached the middle saw them through to 101-2 with time to spare. Elmstead Grasshoppers got their first win under their belts in a much delayed match, thanks to that accident. They played a nine over match against Rayne Reserves. Dave Dawson top scoring with 24 not out as Rayne Reserves closed on 72-5. Nigel Dennis then top scored for Elmstead with the same score as they reached 75-2 with eleven balls to spare. An early look at the Division Two table shows that it could be a long winter for the two Reserve teams in the division who have just five points between them from four matches.

Bocking Reserves and Little Bardfield Village both made it three wins from three starts in the Division Four matches at the Leisure Centre. Bocking Reserves gaining the easier of the two victories as they overcame High Garrett by three wickets with almost four overs in hand. Sam Bass, Barry Edwards, and Geoff Butler scoring the bulk of their runs as they comfortably overtook High Garrett's 89. Little Bardfield Village defeated Margaretting by just eleven runs in a match dominated by four batsmen, with two of them reaching half-centuries. Will Slemmings hit 53, and Eddie Hitchcock, 36 not out, as Little Bardfield Village ended their innings on 138-5. Margaretting did not roll over and die though and they almost achieved an unlikely victory as Michael "Buck" Jones hit 71 and Tim Norman, 31, as they reached 127 before runs outs ended their fight back. Don't shout this too loud but Earls Colne have won twice before Christmas!!! A four wicket win over Helions Bumpstead Reserves lifting them into fourth place. Helions Bumpstead Reserves scored just 107-3, and Earls Colne chased this down with ten balls to spare. Witham Reserves were set a target of 122 to win by Shalford Reserves, for whom, Lee Godding, Nick Wright and Nigel Hainsworth dominated the scoring, but Joe Trigg, Joe Suett, and Jamie Rogers then did likewise for Witham Reserves and saw them through to a five wicket win with four balls to spare.

Three Fields expectedly maintained their 100% record in Division Five at Notley. Nigel Chinnery was dropped early on in their match against Halstead and went on to score 58 not out as the Fields closed on 133-4. Halstead were dismissed for 65 in reply, and remain the only team without a win in the division. Braintree Reserves moved into second place with a 61 run victory over Boreham Reserves. John East, 42 not out, and 40 not out from Geoff Eveling taking them to a total of 129-4. Warren Celiz then took 3-30 as Boreham Reserves were dismissed for 68. Kelvedon & Feering III are in third place following their 21 run victory over Rayne III. Josh King, 35, and Jeremy King, 32, taking Kelvedon III's to 95, and then Josh King took 2-12 as Rayne III's were dismissed for 74, with Phil Wade scoring 35. Finally a close one wicket win for Sampfords Reserves over Coggeshall Reserves. John Blackwell hit 44 as Coggeshall Reserves closed on 88-5. Sampfords Reserves were then grateful to Colin Caister's 41 not out as they reached 89-5, but the points deduction they incurred means they ended the day five points worse off than when they started it.

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November 4th 2007

15-0 15-0 15-0 and two records are broken

Fireworks illuminated the night skies around Braintree, and there were plenty of bangers and rockets in the matches played in the League on Sunday as well.

The games in Division One at the Leisure Centre may have turned into damp squibs as the league's top three teams turned in masterful performances and all won with a 15-0 points division. The clash of the two unbeaten teams, Witham and Cressing, saw Witham triumph by 58 runs to now lead the league by ten points. Leroy Facey lead Witham's run spree with 47 of their score of 166. Cody McDonald, 33, Richard Green, 32, and Jake Wakelin, 26, all enjoying their time at the crease. Cressing soon lost Matthew Hart for 1, and Robert Jagger, for 7, and were simply never in the contest after that. Robert Cross did reach 41 not out, but Cressing never looked like taking any points, and did not as they were contained to 108-5. Coggeshall defeated Bocking by a massive 100 runs, but even that did not turn out to be the day's biggest winning margin. No Dave Denny for Coggeshall, but the "Ginger God" was hardly missed as Jim Rees, 57, Ollie Blackwell, 44, and Sam Blackwell, 31, all not out, took Coggeshall to 154-3. Bocking got to just 54 in their reply as Jim Rees and Craig Lesiak claimed three wickets each. At one stage five wickets fell in the space of seventeen balls as they slumped from 30-0 to 37-5. Darrell May top scored for Bocking with 34. Braintree Youth were the third victorious team, defeating Chappel & Wakes Colne by 55 runs. Simon Jones, 52 not out, Andrew Sherry, 32 not out, and Steve Hale, 27 not out, mostly hit in sixes, took Braintree Youth to 161-3. Chappel were without Brett Patmore, and his experience was sorely missed as Chappel replied with 106-4, Mark Lant, 30, and James Felton, 28 not out, being their top scorers.

If Division One turned out to be somewhat one-sided and in line with the form book, then Division Two certainly did not, and even though they do not op the early table, Kelvedon & Feering are now the only unbeaten team in the League. That means that both Helions Bumpstead and the University of Essex were defeated in the round of matches played at Notley. The real shock being the University's defeat by a five man Rayne Reserves team. Paul Chin and Mark D'Cruz top scored for the University as they made a very decent score of 117-3, but then their bowling truly let them down. Thirty-three runs were given away in wides and no-balls as Rayne Reserves were almost able to cruise to a four wicket win with their score of 118-1. The runs that were scored by their batsmen being pretty evenly distributed. Helions Bumpstead lost their unbeaten record but not top spot in the table, as Shalford moved level on points with them thanks to a four wicket victory. Neil Winter dominated the batting for Bumpstead, hitting 52 not out, of their total of 104-5. Gavin Morris, 29 not out, and Dan Grice, 25 not out, aided by Lee Parish and Peter Sadler then guided Shalford carefully through to 106-2. Kelvedon & Feering and Elmstead Grasshoppers met in the division's top match and it also proved to be the closest as Kelvedon & Feering prevailed by just seven runs. Ed Smith hit 27 as Kelvedon were dismissed for 97. Elmstead Grasshoppers made a good start thanks to Fraser Eadie and Chris Lynch but Kelvedon fought back well and when Eadie returned an Elmstead victory looked likely. However, he was trapped leg before without addition to hit 26 which left Ahmad Khan on his own. Overs were in hand, and two remained when he took the score to 90, but then midway through the eleventh over he was caught by Stuart Warner for 21, and Kelvedon had won by that narrow margin. Coggeshall Reserves gained their first win of the season as they defeated Terling by 41 runs. Rob Lees, snatched away from Kelvedon & Feering, top scored with 27 not out, as Coggeshall Reserves closed on 115-3. Carl Bragg then bagged a brace of wickets as Terling subsided from 53-0 to 58-5 and eventually 74 all out. Chris Wager top scoring for them with 23. The result dropping Terling into bottom position in the Division Two table.

The first of the two records to be broken on Sunday happened at the Leisure Centre, where Kelvedon & Feering Reserves achieved a new record low score for the division at that centre. Previously it stood at 36, but now it is 35 as they were soon dismissed by Dunmow. Richard Cross and Nicholas Rooney each taking two wickets. Only Ashley Griffiths made it into double figures. Luke Swanston and Oliver Rooney were the only two batsmen Dunmow required as they breezed to 39-0 in less than six overs, and it also took them to the top of the table. Boreham lost that position but they did not lose their unbeaten record as they gained an astonishing victory over Great Totham in a very high scoring contest. Daniel Chalk had hit 55 not out as Great Totham reached 150-4. Paul Marks and Oliver Cheesman also retiring as Totham put themselves in a great position. However, Boreham were not phased by that total and got off to a great start and kept themselves ahead of the required rate all the way through their innings. The loss of wickets were the only down side to their reply, but Tim Pulham, 42 not out, and Glenn Hadgraft, 38 not out, hung in their, ran their socks off, and got Boreham to 151-4 off the last ball of the match, by scrambling a two. Full credit to both teams for an excellent contest. Braintree moved into third place after defeating Coggeshall A by 48 runs. Daniel Broyd retired twice as he battered 54 not out, and with Geoff Eveling adding 41, Braintree closed with 142-5, only really losing wickets in the final over as runs were attempted off every ball. Coggeshall A never looked like winning and they ended just stealing one point with their reply of 94-4. They are now the only team without a victory as Sampfords claimed their first in beating a five man Braintree College team by four wickets. Simon Brooks did hit 50 as the Collegians were dismissed for 110. Paul Edwards and Greg Banks were Sampfords main run scorers as they reached 111-2 with four balls to spare.

The second record to be broken came at Notley in Division Four, a centre that Helions Bumpstead Reserves must now be dreading ever returning to. On their previous visit to play Bocking Reserves they saw their bowling get plastered for 183 runs. Now Witham Reserves have hit 181-1 against them in their second appearance of the season. If there was any consolation for them, it came thanks to their reply of 69, which meant that this match became the highest aggregate scoring match for the division at Notley. Joe Trigg 50, Mike Headley, 36, Jamie Rogers, 30, and Joe Suett, 25, all not out, enjoyed the rampage. Rogers then took three wickets as Helions Bumpstead Reserves were soon dismissed. The win lifted Witham Reserves into second place. The top match in the division saw the clash between the two remaining unbeaten teams, Little Bardfield Village and Bocking Reserves, but it was the former that prevailed with a four wicket victory to take over on top and push Bocking Reserves down into third place. Dean Bass, 35 not out, and Rob May, 26 not out, lead the Bocking Reserves batting as they closed on 88-3, but Will Slemmings then scored 27 not out with assistance from Josh Tyrell and Tom Graham they reached 89-2 in ten overs. Much celebrating in Earls Colne as they won a third consecutive league match for the first time in seven years as they defeated Shalford Reserves by 34 runs. Himesh Patel and John Gibson guiding them to 109-5 before Colin Bocking took 3-22 and John Gibson 2-14 to dismiss Shalford Reserves for 75. A thriller too between Margaretting and High Garrett. Lee Austin, 31, and Michael Jones, 32, took Margaretting to 99, but they looked odds-on winners as High Garrett slumped to 11-3, but Mike Fish then hit 55 not out, and on his own from 82-5, got High Garrett through to 100-5 with four balls to spare.

November 11th 2007

University concession drops them to the foot of the table

Surely the cost of conceding a match is no better exemplified by the fate of University of Essex. A lack of transport was cited as the reason for them donating fifteen points to Helions Bumpstead, but then to make matters worse, the other results in the division conspired to dump them to the foot of the table as Rayne Reserves, Coggeshall Reserves and Terling all gained enough points to move ahead of them, and two of those teams actually lost their matches. So with Helions Bumpstead gaining all the points, the pressure was on Shalford and Kelvedon & Feering to match them to maintain tightness at the top. Instead both clubs faced stern challenges from opponents they may have thought would be easier to defeat. Kelvedon & Feering just hung to defeat Terling by the narrowest of all possible margins, one run. James Baker, 34 not out, Ed Smith, 30 not out, and Stuart Warner, 23, led the scoring as they closed with 126-3 on the board. Terling did not make the best of the start to their reply, and soon looked dead in the water, but Terling, and Peter Dawson in particular, are resilient and he gave all in their cause. The final two overs began with their score on 90, still needing 37 to win, and with just his wicket intact. Alex Parsons final over got hit for 22, which left Ed Smith the task of trying to get his wicket, or failing that, keeping Terling down to 13 runs or less. In a hectic finish though Peter Dawson could not get anything from the final delivery, ended on 61 not out, and with Terling on an agonising 125-5. Shalford's match against Rayne Reserves was reduced to 10 overs due to the previous match having over-run, but they looked inspired by the lack of time and went for it from the off. Eventually those ten overs saw them pound a total of 156-2. Dan Grice hitting 53 not out, with Russell Dawes, Lee Parish and Robin Metson all ending on 25 not out. To their credit Rayne Reserves did not roll over a die, instead they gave as good as they got, but the task proved just beyond them, though they did well to reach 136-5 and take four points. Alan Stevens 33, Paul Shephard, 30 not out, and John Norgrove, 28, leading their charge. The game that caused the reduction in the final match was that between Coggeshall Reserves and Elmstead Grasshoppers. George Blackwell hit an unbeaten 73, aided by 36 from Rob Lees and Coggeshall Reserves closed with 166-5. John Butcher, 35 not out, and Chris Lynch, 36, got them off to a good start, but three wickets in mid-innings set them back, and although Fraser Eadie revived hopes with 31 not out, four points from their total of 147-4 was all the could achieve.

Dunmow maintained their 100% record in Division Three, and without doubt they are the most improved team so far this season, with five wicket win over a short-handed Coggeshall A team, at Notley. Gareth Fisher hit 35 for Coggeshall A as they were dismissed for 73. Luke Swanston, 22 not out, and Chris Barker, 25 not out, then helped take Dunmow to 76-1 with seven balls to spare. Braintree moved up into second place by thumping the daylights out of Kelvedon & Feering Reserves. Braintree scoring 151-3 with only Daniel Broyd not reaching at least 15. Now I played in the opening games at Notley Sports Centre exactly 28 years earlier, but I had never scored a five by running twice before, but I have now. Rory Ainsley with 43 not out was Braintree's top scorer. Needless to say Kelvedon & Feering Reserves were going to be hard pushed to equal that score and after being reduced to 20-4 the contest was over. They did close on 78-5 though. Thus Braintree moved one point closer to Dunmow. Boreham saw their unbeaten start to the season ended by Braintree College. The Collegians scoring 116-4 with the runs spread evenly around. Boreham then slumped to 12-3 and effectively out of the contest. Ken Greenaway and Nick Wright did get them to 83 and a couple of points but not enough to keep them in the top two positions. Sampfords continued to recover from losing their first two matches by defeating Great Totham by four wickets, after dismissing Totham for 68. 3-10 for Greg Banks. Paul Edwards then retired with 27 as Sampfords reached 71-2 with time to spare.

Sadly not all the Division Five scoresheets make much sense but at least I do have most of the scores. Three Fields made it four wins from four matches by defeating Boreman, yes Boreman Reserves, by five wickets!!! Colin Panel, I think that's Pannell, scoring 31 at they were dismissed for 76. Of course, it was really Boreham Reserves. Ian Beatwell taking 3-27, and Alan Turner, 2-11. Dave Atterbury then retired with 26 as Three Fields won the match with ease with a reply of 79-1. They now lead Braintree Reserves by fourteen points, after Braintree Reserves picked up just eleven points from their 16 run victory over Halstead. John East hit 37, and Lee Hoenderkamp 24 as the five man Braintree Reserves team scored 108-5. Bradley Richardson then hit 30 for Halstead but their reply was terminated at 92. Coggeshall A Reserves moved into third place thanks to a 60 run victory over Rayne III's, and Sampfords Reserves went up two places thanks to defeating Kelvedon & Feering III's by four wickets.