First Away Victory against Tuddenham

Tuddenham June 1st Away

H&CHCC 139 All Out
B Atkinson 27 I Copping 27 Roberts 23
Campbell 4 for 18

Tuddenham All Out 106
Smith 16 Deblin 16 Not Out
Hodge 5 for 29

On a cloudy grey day Captain Roberts won the toss and decided to bat first and similar to last year fixture it was a case of falling wickets and a scramble to get a score on the board but this season there was no sign of a flash flood to save us.

Hodge and the ever improving Hannan opened the batting in tricky conditions with an old nemesis [Campbell] bowler to suitable conditions and slope causing runs hard to come by.

Hodge was the first to go bowled with the total on 17 soon to be followed by Vice Captain Bryant who had some lucky escapes before he got himself run out for 4.

Richards went in with B Atkinson after Hannan got a low ball and bowled by Campbell and tried to see out Campbell but B Atkinson was seeing the ball well and oozing confidence scoring freely and a partnership of 25 before with 3 balls to go [Campbell spell] Richards was bowled and by the end of the over had claimed M Atkinson the current leading average batsmen for his first duck of the season.

This eventually brought Campbell spell over and Captain Roberts then came out to bat with B Atkinson and a very typical quick 28 run partnership ensued with Roberts striking two sixes and B Atkinson still free scoring.
With the total on 86 Roberts was bowled by the spin of McKinney although it was a full toss and with 6 wickets down things looked gloomy with a first start to the season Ian “Titch” Copping went out and was dropped early which was costly for Tuddenham although B Atkinson who’s confidence was high went after one to many and was caught for a very creditable 27.

Marlow came and went with 8 wickets down 102 in only 27 overs gone defeat was looking likely but in came first game of the season with little experience Michael Durell who was very nervous kept in and with the opening bowler back on and throwing everything at him he stuck around and great credit to him as Titch Copping was hitting the ball well and slowly edged a very unlikely partnership culminating to a huge six over deep mid on.

With overs actually beginning to run out which seemed so unlikely earlier the pair of Durell and Copping had the biggest partnership of 32 before Copping was caught and even our stone wall number eleven Walton clipped a four before he was caught and bowled but leaving H&CHCC with a chance and a competitive score of 139 all out.

After tea Tuddenham got off to a brisk start with quite a few extras in the game for both sides before Walton bowled McKinney for 7and then Hodge stepped up to the plate with another wicket of the Tuddenham Skipper with the total on 34 for two in only 7 overs it looked a tough ask but one thing over the past couple of seasons has been the determination of the fielding and never so emphasized by Jordan Marlow outstanding stops with dives and anything to stop the ball which rubs off on the rest of the team to match that effort and support the bowler with two run outs a full diving catch off his own Bowling wickets tumbled very quickly and H&CHCC could smell there first away win of the season.

Titch Copping was also asked to bowl by the inventive Captain Roberts belief in his players sometime more that they have themselves came on to bowl a five over spell getting the wicket of probably there best batsman Cross who came down the wicket and then kept going back to the changing room.

With Tuddenham tottering on defeat at 80 for 9 the inevitable looked on but a last wicket stand took the home team to 106 before finally Walton got his second wicket of the game in his second spell with a very good catch by Hannan to end the Tuddenham innings and H&CHCC recorded there first away win of the season by 33 runs that did look very unlikely at one stage but the resilience and never say die inner strength and a great sense of fun to enjoy what we do saw the team through to an important victory.