Scorecard

Broomfield Cricket Club 2nd XI v Sandon Sports II on Sat 30 May 2009 at 1.30pm
Broomfield Cricket Club Won by 84 runs

Match report With the sun beating down, albeit with a cooling breeze, and with the shortest possible boundary as we were on the far end strip (used for the first time since recovering from the Terling mudfest last year), the toss was all important. Sandon won it and decided to field. Even with last week's shambles fresh in the memory and the teamsheet lacking a few batsmen, Broomfield were delighted to be batting!

The first ball of the innings set the tone for the next 3 1/4 hours: a gentle full toss on leg stump was clinically clipped away for four into the bushes nearby which took the Sandon fielders some time to reclaim the ball. Having beaten last week's opening partnership in one ball, they complimented each other with differing styles that the opposition found difficult to stifle - O'Riordan pouncing on anything short and outside off with scalpel-like cutting precision, Thorn displaying his bullish Bopara cover drives and Ponting pulls, all the while defending the good balls, batting sensibly with quick running to put pressure on the fielders and disrupt any rhythm the bowlers may have chugged into.

As the bowling became more ragged, O'Riordan chased a very wide delivery and toed it to the keeper ending an excellent opening stand of 104 in 14 overs. Wary of losing the impetus but also the threat of a collapse, Holmes played the perfect number three role, solid in defence and a bully in attack, peppering the square leg fence and booming straight drives. Thorn reached his century with the last ball before drinks, but instead of sticking around for a mammoth score carelessly skied a long hop next over, 178-2 after 24 overs.

Youngster Fisher looked to keep up the running urgency but when he was out Newman tried a different approach, the windmill getting some quick runs but also missing a straight ball. Eglin got a thin edge to a wafted drive and although maximum batting points had been accrued, seven overs still remained to get as big as score as possible to bat Sandon out of the match.

Owens and Asopa used their long handles to smite a few, Baker played a couple of nice shots to keep the momentum going and after getting the score to within touching distance of 300, Holmes reached his well deserved ton, then deposited the ball in the adjoining football field. He was out in the final over, Copeman then out last ball of the innings, setting Sandon a round 7 an over.

As Copeman and Fisher would need to leave by 7pm for football awards, Broomfield attempted a quick tea to get re-started by 5pm but the batsmen took their time, understandable after retrieving the ball from bushes and fields for 3 1/4hrs. Copeman started economically, with the risky strategy of Gupta bowling with the short leg side boundary to tempt the batsmen into ugly hoiks failing - the ugly hoiks found the fence rather than fielders' hands. Fisher also suffered, and with a couple of sharp drops behind the stumps off Copeman, golden arm Asopa got the breakthrough with the opener trying one swish too many.

Baker's extra pace and bounce troubled the batsmen and with the required rate rapidly rising shots were attempted to balls that should not be slogged, and with Copeman's second spell before his early departure trapping an LBW, the top four were out with only 117 on the board, 200 needed at around 10 an over. Knowing that victory was almost impossible, Sandon set about trying to obtain batting points only, this freedom allowing some meaty blows off Baker and Gupta was top edged into the field a couple of times.

With Broomfield down to nine, a few gaps emerged for the final ten overs and the lower order batsmen had some fun with reverse sweeps and aerial shots but chances kept coming, Gupta's safe hands in spite of the sun, Holmes moving backwards and holding on, and Asopa's tight line and deceptive pace knocking out the middle stump. With about 90 needed off the last over, Broomfield tried to get all the bowling points and attacked, Gupta's drift accounting for another batsman but Owens behind the stumps remembered Woodger's 13 stitches from last week and made sure he would not get hit with the deflection with a swift evasion.

Sandon's last man survived the final two balls but one dropped point should't matter if we continue to bat like we did, and keep focussed and energetic in the field despite the tiring late finish in the sun just before 8pm.

Broomfield Cricket Club 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
314		        
Chris Thorn ct ? b Wallis 110 1 1
Chris ORiordan ct G Collins b Rolfe 27
David Holmes b Rolfe 107 1
Scott Fisher b Hardie 4
Lloyd Newman b Rolfe 14
Aaron Eglin ct G Collins b Gibbins 0
Steven Owens ct ? Rolfe 8
Anand Asopa Run out  4 1
Tris Baker Not Out  8
Gary Copeman b Rolfe 3
Kushal Gupta   1

Sandon Sports II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Rolfe12.0075515.006.25
Bird12.017100.005.92
Gibbins7.0064164.009.14
Wallis7.0047147.006.71
Hardie5.0036136.007.20
Beagent2.001300.006.50

Sandon Sports II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
230 (0.0 overs)		     
Wallis ct Thorn b Baker 27
Fletcher b Asopa 56
Gibbins b Baker 16
Nicholl lbw Copeman 9
A Beagent ct Gupta b Asopa 43
Bird ct Holmes b Gupta 19
S Collins b Asopa 0
B Beagent run out (Thorn & Asopa) 8
Rolfe Not Out  21
Hardie b Gupta 2
G Collins Not Out  0

Broomfield Cricket Club 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gary Copeman11.0135135.003.18
Kushal Gupta10.0067233.506.70
Scott Fisher5.002800.005.60
Anand Asopa11.0142314.003.82
Tris Baker8.0150225.006.25