Defeat at Lavenham in the Wind

MATCH SPONSOR IAN 1-2-1 PERSONAL TRAINING [Thanks Jeremy Rose,]


Lavenham 173 for 5

Boon 46, Bellward 34,

Hoadley 2 for 25,

H&CHCC 131 All Out

Hoadley 35, P Richards 26, Roberts 25


On a surprisingly blustery day with very variable bounce on a damp drying wicket Captain Bryant who won the toss decided to insert Lavenham for the first innings of the game.

With a tense atmosphere at the beginning soon was forgotten and the game of cricket commenced with Lavenham batsman, wicket keeper, fielders all trying to come to terms with the elements game on!

In the sixth over G Wiggens was caught by Matt Hoadley with a three attempts jugging away like Billy Smarts circus before he gratefully clung onto it for the first wicket at 23.

Runs were not easy variable bounce by your ankles one minute then over your head the next was proving difficult however Lavenham were chipping away and a low score was apparent could be difficult to get so H&CHCC were fielding and bowling very well to keep Lavenham tied down but wickets were hard to come by similar to last week but by no means to lack of effort.

Robinson was caught above his head in the slips by Roberts off the bowling of Hoadley for ten a very well taken catch.

Hynard came in and was in for a long time just keeping himself in to support Bellward who was the more aggressor of the pair until Jack Armstrong who's bowling has been getting better and better this season beat with pace to bowl him middle stump very satisfying for him as the previous over dropped him and another similar story of dropped catches around the pitch which of course did not help in the cause to keep Lavenham to a smaller total to chase on a variable pitch.

Boon was trying to up the run rate with young Madell who was in a long time to see off the bowling of Hoadley before being comprehensively bowled by Peter Richards without troubling the scorers.

Mark Theobald came out to bat and soon needed a runner as he picked up a knee injury with over running out he and Boon put on quite a few runs towards the end if the innings and when Boon was cleverly run out by Gus Walton for 46 the total had moved onto a very decent defend able score of 172 for 5.

Tom "Colonel Custer" Wood was ready to do battle with the local inhabitants but it was they who took his scalp early for two runs when not for the first time or the last the ball kept low leaving Roberts to plunder some early runs.

H&CHCC man of the match Matt Hoadley also had some close calls early on but his all round play of attacking the ball with Roberts was putting a good start on the board until Roberts was given LBW for a very good 25 and the score at 54 for 2 with plenty of overs left as the start of the runs chase was as usual a quick one.

In form Peter Richards was in next and his form continued with some lusty blows and with Hoadley doing similar all seemed good but Cricket has a way of evening things out and so it was when Peter Richards went for another big shot left his ground and was quickly stumped for 26 and the total on 94 for 3 which became quickly for 4 when after the great knock of the previous week Shaun Faiers was also given out LBW without troubling the scorers.

Captain Bryant was playing for him very sensibly and carefully when as the wheels were falling off and Matt Hoadley being slightly tied down went for a big shot high out to deep mid on and how people can redeem themselves as Madell who was in a very long time for nought stretched above his head going backwards and held onto the catch much to the delight of the Lavenham players as well as Madell who seemed more surprised he caught it but it was probably a defining moment in the game.

Only Captain Bryant could with the tail take the score to the total required and was slightly surprised when he became the third LBW of the innings and was out for 7 which brought in Mark Atkinson who must be wondering where his next run is coming from as last week first ball duck and out for LBW he became the fourth LBW first ball.

Jack Armstrong was soon to be the fifth LBW scoring three again low variable bounce being the undoing of him as with Dave Armstrong who had a low ball straight under his bat for six and this brought in last man Gus Walton with Niall Hannan who amongst the wickets falling had progressed onto seven but runs were very hard to come by the Lavenham tails were up and used to playing on this type of surface not many teams would come away with victories and with Walton being bowled for one the innings was over ending 131 all out.

Credit to Lavenham they played the conditions much better and defended it well and this victory must give them a good chance for promotion with Brettenham who are H&CHCC last home opponents next week at the Richards oval.

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