Eltham CC

Match Report

Match report Eltham CC Vs Old Colfeians CC

Thursday preceding the Saturday arrived along with news headlines that were to flash on Eltham CC website till the time of the toss, fair to say speculation (whether we would have a game) was rife and uncertainty was bordering such proportions that had never been witnessed before, some had indeed given up hope. Now I know some of you may like to argue that colleagues at Eltham CC have always had to cope with such situations and are pretty accustomed to dealing with last minute cancellation shenanigans, NO, this one was an epic episode that needs a special mention. If you don't trust your reporter here is a sample of headlines from those couple of days 'FIXTURE CONFIRMED AS 2.00PM AT HALL PLACE', 'END OF CIVILIZATION, NO TEAS', 'THEY'VE CANCELLED!', 'FOOTSCRAY BECOMES AGENDA ITEM FOR AGM', 'GAME ON AGAINST OLD COLFEIANS', 'WE DON'T HAVE THE PITCH', 'WE HAVE THE PITCH', 'WONDERFUL WEATHER, NO NO NO' Just in case the gears in your head are starting to spin, let me chirp some assurance, we did actually have a game and it was against old Colfenians CC and that it was a good game albeit a low scoring one.

Old Colfeians CC batted first, Ricky and Tanveer were tasked to put Old Colfeians to sword first up. It was not long before Ricky struck the first blow by trapping Martin in front of wickets. Soon it was Tanveer's turn to promptly hit the stumps and number three Armstrong was on his way for a solitary run. Old Colfeians crumbled further as Tanveer disturbed the furniture behind Gage who had hit a couple of meaty blows. On the other end Ricky was again sighted trapping the batsmen in front of the wickets. This time it was Renshaw who scored a patient 17. Ricky and Tanveer finished their spells with two wickets apiece and left Elham CC completely in charge. At this point Old Colfeian batsmen were well and truly on the back foot and some men in the field had started to wonder if this game was going the same path as most games against our original opponents ffor the day Footscray CC do.

Next bowlers for Eltham were Matt Rosenthal and David Jones. David didn't waste much time before completing his well deserved 200 wickets in his long and illustrious association with the club. Next man to go was Hodgson also bowled by Mr Jones. David currently holds a top twenty spot in the Eltham CC history of wicket takers since 1946. Not much fight back was being expected from Old Colfenians as they were losing wickets regularly but what followed was a complete contrast and despite the inclement weather moving in batsmen started to assert their authority, particularly Gratton was being very aggressive and he played some delightful strokes around the ground showing liking for pace provided by Matt Rosenthal. Matt completed his 8 over spell with tidy figures.

Derek and Skipper Swain took over from Matt and David. Derek was at his usual best as he has been all season. It was only a matter of time before Derek took 3 for 13 from his four overs. Derek ended danger man Gratton's resistance, admittedly not before he had scored 59 valuable runs. Skipper Swain also chipped in with a wicket from his two overs and Old Colfeians CC innings ended with 174 all out.

Eltham CC opened the Innings with Jon Fisher and Asjad. Jon was his usual assured self while Asjad found the pitch a little tricky and started hitting out at everything he could get his bat on hoping he can play a few shots before the bowlers/pitch get him. Asjad chased a ball well outside off and only managed to give the point fielder an easy chance. In came Matt Bulpitt for a brief stay before getting caught off the same bowler that Asjad got out to. Next it was Skipper Swain, who combined very impressively with Jon Fisher to raise best partnership of the match in addition to their own wonderful individual contributions of 40 plus. Both of them knew they would have to scrap long and hard to hunt down the target in the face of decent bowling on a pitch that was regularly springing surprises in the form of balls lifting from a good length as opposed to those keeping very low and they were indeed always in control cutting out the aggressive strokes. Pete Swain was adjudged lbw at 44. Derek followed Pete and played a handy knock of 15 before he was bowled by Gage.

Despite losing Derek and Pete in quick succession, Eltham CC were on course for a win. This was not going to be the case without a hiccup or two though as Old Colfeian bowlers started to bowl with a lot of discipline and not only made scoring runs difficult but also managed to pick-up wickets of Matt Rosenthal and David Jones with either batsman failing to bother the scorer. Next in was the scorer himself. Andy seemed to be in no mood to hang around in the miserable weather for too long and kept up the chase with invaluable 9 not out and John Fisher carried the bat on a bowlers friendly wicket with 41 not out. The pitch was asking questions of batsmen all the time. It was a classic John Fisher innings, special as he not only called on his powers of concentration to counter everything that bowlers could throw at him but also he successfully conquered the 22 yards that not many batsmen on both side were able to.

Eltham CC took 38 overs to chase the target. Target of 175 proved challenging for Eltham on a day when Jon Fisher and Peter Swain had put brilliant batting on display and if it was not for those two the result of the match could have been distinctly different.

Asjad Mir