Richards the Hero in Last Ball thriller at Cornard

HCCC 159 all out

Richards 76, Hodge 37, M Atkinson 13.

Great Cornard 156 for 5

Hodge 3 for 17



Great Cornard Away 29th July 2007

Last ball excitement at Cornard and the Richards family should be very proud of the man of the moment and the match Peter Richards Legend!

Richards would also agree that as much as he was the hero he was supported by eleven other players as support for a very inexperienced team with late call up for Nathan Gibbon for the sick Bill Hannan and also Jake Rutter who substituted his Dad Nick who was suffering in a lot of pain with toothache.

After gloating of winning the toss all season Captain Roberts lost it and HCCC were put into bat on a slow drying wicket with quite a grassy outfield with Richards and ever dependable Hodge and got HCCC of to a wonderful start with boundaries and runs with a bit of luck along the way scoring at a fast rate with a notable six from Hodge which went a long way and into a thicket where it was not found.

With 99 on the board and Richards past 50 Hodge succumbed to a slightly unusual dismissal by being caught behind by the wicket keeper who duly whipped the bails off and appealed to square leg umpire and given out before the other umpire got his finger up. He was definitely out!

Typical HCCC a collapse was just around the corner with Bryant, Captain Roberts, B Atkinson going all cheaply to bring the score to 118 for 4 after 22 overs, P Richards was anchoring the innings when M Atkinson joined him in a slow 9 over partnership of 20 when the gallant stand of Richards came to and end with a ball of his legs deflected onto his stumps for a great 76.

N Hannan joined M Atkinson for a small partnership of 9 before the former was out for 13 and with a creche going into bat after Hannan was out for 9 the last wickets fell with only N Rutter 3 and Nathan Gibbon scoring his first ever run to be 1 not out.

The final total of 159 all out in 38.4 overs seemed a good score but a little light but with so many youngsters playing it was on the board.

Perhaps the weakness of the young inexperienced players on one hand was against them but on the other fielding was so sharp and runs were given away at a premium with some fine diving stops backing up and some tight fielding which led to the first wicket to fall for Great Cornard with a run out by N Hannan and some smart work from B Atkinson.

The bowlers of Hannan, Walton again impressive, Hodge, and that man again Richards kept the runs down that at no time did Cornard get in front of the run rate although they did have wickets in hand they to perhaps had a few bunnies left as the game just got tighter the squeeze to push ahead for runs left a few risky shots and nerves jangling. Hills for Cornard got to 58 before Hodge bowled him after being dropped by M Atkinson the ball before.



Cooper was in for a long time and got 38 with Barlow getting 29, the crux came when Captain Roberts made a big decision to bowl himself with 4 overs to go with Cornard hitting out and one end tied down by Richards and the fielders onto everything Roberts left Cornard needing 13 to win off the last over with who else Richards to bowl it and when a rare miss field gave a four of the first ball leaving 9 of five with wickets in hand the pressure was on with a 2 and a couple of dot balls left Cornard needing 4 to win off the last ball to which they only got a single off it and gave HCCC there first away win of the season in a tight good sporting game of cricket and with Richards the hero without doubt a great team effort to secure a surprise victory as on paper this looked a difficult fixture, well done to all the players and the team work and belief to gain this valuable victory.

Markie the Webmaster