Eltham CC

Match Report

Match report Eltham CC Vs Belhus CC

It was bitterly cold, the wind was blowing a gale and rain was in the air - must be time for the new cricket season to begin then!

Eltham ventured into the wilds of Essex to start the new season at Belhus - a fixture which had been cancelled the previous season due to torrential rain - and took to the field with only 9 players with the tenth arriving some time after the game had commenced. Was the lure of nearby Lakeside tempting some players away?

The first couple of overs were tight with not many runs given away. Ricky and Pad quickly worked their away through the upper order, reducing Belhus to 14-4 thanks to a couple of sharp catches Matt Bulpitt and the skipper and two deliveries that sent the stumps cartwheeling.

Matt was doing his best to keep everyone motivated by sliding footballesque around the pitch chasing the ball - either that or he was trying to disguise the grass stains that were still on his whites from last season.

Ricky and Pad were soon replaced by Christian and Ash`ton` Martin, the later who, after a steady start, soon got his engine into gear picking up two wickets in quick succession. Will also chipped in with a wicket to reduce the hosts to 70 odd for 7.

Pad and Ricky then came back on to remove the dangerman Morris and Hall, the former thanks to a sharp catch from Colin, before Colin wrapped up the match taking the last wicket after an early tea had been taken following the emergence of arctic conditions and heavy rain which threatened to prevent the match from reaching a conclusion.

109 runs to win

Will and Colin opened the batting and after Colin fell early on after misreading a straight delivery, Will and Matt were soon dispatching the ball to all areas of the ground.

With Eltham cruising on 63-1 the Belhus skipper made a bowling change that was to turn the match on it's head. He brought on a spinner who with his first delivery had Bulpitt caught at mid on and, over the course of the next eight overs, engineered an Eltham batting collapse of monumental proportions. Eight wickets were lost for a total of eleven runs, with wickets tumbling quicker than a jenga tower at a blind mans convention. Eltham were all out for 74.

So a defeat by 34 runs - not the best way to start the season. Bouncebackability they said - lets hope this shows itself in the upcoming match against the Pilots this weekend.