Eltham CC

Match Report

Match report Eltham CC Vs East Sutton CC

The English summer looked as though it had well and truly arrived as Eltham travelled down into the leafy glades of South East England and a game against East Sutton CC in the picturesque Kent countryside. Now this was essentially a home game for Mr Wouldham, living as he does in Maidstone, just down the road. It will however be no surprise to any Eltham players to learn that Colin was indeed the last player to arrive at the ground for this game. (To be fair he did get lost again, having the directional sense of Stevie Wonder - Ed)

As the players took to the field the sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze in the air and the wicket looked like a batsman's paradise. The talk among Eltham's bowlers was however about the very short boundary opposite the pavilion that must have been the shortest anyone had ever seen. The skippers eyes had however lit up on viewing the short boundary following his batting heroics last weekend!

Pete had won the toss and chose to bowl, hoping that Eltham could chase down another total after the terrific run chase against Morgan CC down at FRC last weekend. It soon became clear however that the short boundary and lightning quick outfield were going to have a big bearing on this match. Despite some good early bowling the ball went flying to the boundary on several occasions as Eltham struggled to cope with the local conditions.

An early wicket for Page following a good catch by the Skipper after the opposition batsman had tried to hit over the top was however scant reward for some good early bowling which had kept the batsman guessing.

Splinters then replaced Page and soon found his line and length, opening with a maiden (A welcome change from his opening over against the JETS last week! - Ed). At the other end Tan was continuing his tight spell but the opposition opening batsman was beginning to find his feet and any ball even slightly short was being dispatched past the boundary ropes. Kashif, Wouldham, Webber and Seeds were all brought on to try and prevent Eltham haemorrhaging further runs, but the score board continued to rack up. In truth Eltham's bowling attack has not been firing on all cylinders this year and wickets are just not coming as regularly as they were last season. This was evident again as the bowling attack struggled again in the scorching early summer sun.

Kashif, who had fielded brilliantly throughout the game, then dragged the away side back into the contest. A quick single was taken by the opposition batsman and Kashif picked the ball up and threw down the stumps from fully 20 yards. It was a brilliant bit of fielding as he only had one stump to aim at and removed the opposition's century maker.

This seemed to spark the Eltham fielders back to life and several wickets fell in quick succession as both Fisher and Wouldham removed key middle order batsman and prevent the home side hitting out late on.

And so it came to the last over to be bowled and Pete looked round the field to see who wanted to take on the honour. Rather like a Charlton season ticket there were no takers. So Pete took on the responsibility of keeping Eltham's run chase manageable. As so often has been the case for the skipper this season the stumps were soon tumbling and Pete was celebrating his tenth wicket of the season.

Eltham were set 233 runs for victory.

The Eltham run chase started slowly with both Will and Pete F struggling to get the ball to the boundary. The home side clearly knew the right places to bowl and put their fielders, and as a result runs were not easy to come by. Both Will and Pete fell fairly early on, both lbw, and although Khasif had come in looking to dominate, he fell not long afterwards to a fantastic one handed catch by Bray. This brought Fisher senior to the crease to join Wouldham. What followed was a superb 112 run partnership that was full of excellent, well timed strokes that had the opposition fielders scurrying to all parts of the ground. Such was the ferocity of some of the hitting that the ball needed to be changed halfway through the allotted overs when it began to resemble an egg more than a cricket ball.

Colin fell agonisingly short of his century, succumbing on 93 to a very smart catch behind by the wicketkeeper. John Fisher also perished soon afterwards as a result of a smart stumping. The loss of both Colin and John brought Page and the skipper to the crease. The Eltham players were awaiting more aussie big hitting after last weeks master class but alas this was not to be as Pete soon fell, caught behind for 1.

The loss of wickets in quick succession changed the momentum of Eltham's run chase. Both Richard and Tan swung the bat in the last three overs, with Page hitting several 4s and one huge 6 straight down the ground, however Eltham simply ran out of overs and finished agonisingly 8 runs short of their victory target. The game was drawn, and all parties agreed that an entertaining game of cricket had been had by players and spectators alike.

And so to the local hostelry, the Queen's Head, where the Eltham team sat in the picturesque setting of picnic tables in a car park, discussing deep philosophical questions such as whether Maggie Thatcher bowled leg spin and how Edward Heath smoked his pipe. We were joined by the very friendly opposition and it was agreed that we hope to renew our acquaintance in future seasons if fixture lists allow.

It should also be noted that Derek was very nearly brought up on a sexual innuendo charge (Not for the first time in Eltham colours - Ed) in the pub when he said to the scantily clad and very young barmaid "I'll squeeze 'em for you if you like!" When questioned by his fellow players, Derek, who had supposedly been talking about the barmaid's lemon and limes and a slice for his drink, then further compounded the problem by saying to the barmaid "Just you wait until I start on my nuts!"

This was however a day when cricket was the real winner.

Your correspondent: Rich "Yet to take a wicket this season" Webber