Coggeshall win the Essex Championship

Coggeshall have succeeded Witham as the Essex Indoor Cricket Champions after defeating, first Upminster, and then Hockley in the Final at the Indoor School in Chelmsford on Saturday.

The first Semi-Final saw Hockley comfortably defeat Stanford-Le-Hope by around 70 runs. Then Coggeshall took the field to meet Upminster. Coggeshall batted first but the first two overs saw them score on 13, but then the tempo raised and they moved to a final score of 135-2. Ollie Blackwell, 36 not out, and Dave Denny, 29 not out, being their top scorers, but Upminster may now be regretting giving away no fewer than 35 extras. Will Blackwell helped the raising of the tempo with a rapid 19. Upminster's innings began with a scoring rate better than Coggeshall's and at 81-1 in the eighth over Upminster were on course to win, but then Chris Woodward struck to instigate their demise to 105 all out. He ended with 3-12, though no bowler got credit for Upminster's top scorer, McNally, being dismissed for 37. He was given out "obstructing the field".

So it was then time to meet Hockley in the Final for the honour of representing Essex against the Suffolk winners in a few weeks time. Coggeshall again batted first but this time both opening bats did not retire as with the score on 53, Dave Denny was caught for 18. Sam Blackwell almost made it home but he was run out on 24, but the others all played their part as Coggeshall closed with 154-2 on the board. Ollie Blackwell, 26 not out, Jim Rees, 25 not out, Will Blackwell, 24 not out, and Chris Woodward, 13 not out, and good old extras again playing a role with 24. Hockley lost an early wicket to a tremendous caught and bowled by Dave Denny, and gradually fell further and further behind the asking rate. Corrs did reach 39 for them, but his dismissal, run out, signaled the end of their challenge, and the start of Coggeshall's reign as Essex Champions for the first time. Hockley had reached just 103.

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January 6th 2008

No shock Sunday

The opening three Preliminary Round ties in the BDICL Cup and the four Division Five matches at Notley failed to produce a single shock result, with the seven teams fancied to win all doing so. Though this did mean that Little Bardfield Village suffered their first defeat as members of the league when they went down by 35 runs to Kelvedon & Feering, a team two divisions higher up the league than themselves.

Kelvedon & Feering's infliction of Little Bardfield Village's first defeat as members of the league was based upon the innings and bowling performance of James Baker. He hit 39 as Kelvedon & Feering closed with 126-4 on the board. Ed Smith using his experience too to weigh in with a handy 26 not out. James Baker and Matt Bridger then opened Kelvedon's bowling and they managed to keep Little Bardfield's batsmen subdued, and by the six over point they were struggling on 37-2. Stuart Warner claimed two wickets as the Bardies slid further behind the asking rate, and in only a late assault by Tom Graham with 33 not out, took them to 91-5. Well beaten by a team two divisions and with a wealth more experience. Kelvedon & Feering now meet either the University of Essex or Bocking in the First Round. Those opponents will prove much tougher to overcome. Terling and Sampfords will meet in the Cup next season for sure. That may seem an extravagant claim as they draw will not be made for over three months, but they met for the third season on the bounce, so why not a fourth. Terling now lead 2-1 from these contests following their 34 run victory. It had not looked like it would be so one-sided as Terling started their final over with 100-5 on the board, but Alan Bailey then hit the final over for 30!! Four sixes, a two, and a three off a no-ball taking them to a final score of 130-5, with Bailey moving to 60 not out. Tristan Woolfenden adding a handy 23. The late surge demoralised Sampfords, who after the turn round, were never in the hunt. Paul Edwards did retire with 25 but a total on 96-3 was all they could manage, as Terling progress to meet Earls Colne in the First Round. Boreham completed an expected victory over Margaretting. Expected because not only do Boreham play one division higher, but are going well in that division while Margaretting are struggling, but also because this was Margaretting's ninth Cup tie, and they had lost all previous eight. Now that statistic is played nine, lost nine, as Boreham won by four wickets with five overs to spare. Margaretting scoring only 67 before they were dismissed. Tim Pulham then retired with 26 as Boreham won with consummate ease.

It was much the same in the Division Four matches at Notley, where the favourites won all four matches. Braintree Reserves getting the ball rolling with a 39 run victory over Coggeshall A Reserves. Lee Hoenderkamp, 28 not out, and Barry Stephens, 26 not out, instrumental in taking them to 114-2. Matt Street adding a burst of runs in the final over to take his score to 19 not out. Street then took 2-4 as Coggeshall A Reserves were dismissed for 75. Not once were they in the hunt after being kept down to 25-3 from the first five overs. Sampfords Reserves then recorded a club record seventh consecutive victory as they defeated Boreham Reserves by 19 runs. James Smith, 29 not out, and Ryan Webster, 25 not out, taking Sampfords Reserves to 108-3. Only 28 from Liam Watts then threatened to give Boreham Reserves a surprise win, but Simon Hughes accounted for him to claim a second wicket as Boreham Reserves were dismissed for 89. Three Fields kept themselves clear of the field by thumping Kelvedon & Feering III's by 43 runs. Not often I say this, but this was Kelvedon III's first defeat of the season at Notley, and it came after Christmas!! Alan Turner, 38, Dave Atterbury, 33 not out, and 29 not out from Nigel Chinnery saw Three Fields hit three half-centuries, 150-4. Peter Wilding was Kelvedon's top scorer with 31 not out, as he got them to one point with a total of 107-4. Rayne III's made light work of Halstead in a ten over match. Phil Wade hitting 31 as they were dismissed for 83. A unique match this as four bowlers equally divided all twelve wickets between them. Bradley Richardson and James Mickley each taking three for Halstead, but then James Garner and John Garner did likewise in less than six overs to dismiss Halstead for 38.

January 13th 2008

Braintree nearly upset the Youth as Coggeshall take their record

Braintree not only lost their cup-tie with Braintree Youth, but they also bade farewell to a record that had stood for nineteen years, the highest score in a cup-tie when they hit 207-2 against Felsted in January 1989 was broken by Coggeshall as they hit 211-3 against Braintree College to set up a classic First Round meeting with Braintree Youth. Coincidentally the last time Coggeshall met Braintree College it was in a First Round cup-tie ten years ago, and on that occasion Coggeshall hit their previous best total of 196-2, and Braintree College also hit 78 in reply, though then they were all out. Braintree gave themselves a good chance of causing an upset when they kept Braintree Youth down to 114-4, but they fell twelve runs short of causing an upset. One over towards the end of their innings of which only a no-ball was scored, ultimately proving costly. All five ties were won by Division One teams, Cressing crushing Great Totham by a massive 140 runs as they bowled them out for just 30 as they chased a target of 170-2. Chappel & Wakes Colne defeated Coggeshall A by 24 runs, and Bocking ended the University's interest by 34 runs. The full revised draw is now available on the Cup fixtures pages

The way the draw came out of the bag back in April allowed us the luxury of being able to pack a programme of Division Four matches into the action, this will be taking place at Notley. Rarely does it happen that one division is able to play a full set of matches on a Cup week, but it happened this season.

The Division Four matches at Notley began with Earls Colne scoring a respectable 90-3 against Helions Bumpstead Reserves with Steve Willsher, at last reaching double figures, and Will Clark both retiring, but it was not enough as Helions Bumpstead Reserves came back with 91-5 to win by one wicket. Little Bardfield Village kept their league unbeaten run going against Margaretting, and Witham Reserves and Bocking Reserves also collected anticipated victories to keep their promotion hopes going.