Away Defeat at Brettenham.

Hartest and Coldham Hall CC  135 All Out

Mark Roberts 58, B Atkinson 21,

J Swift 7 - 33

Brettenham Park CC 137 - 3

B Barker Not Out 73

Steve "Ghost" Ryder 10-5-13-2


   Hartest and Coldham had a very much experimental side out, [missing a lot of regulars] and nonetheless Captain Mark Roberts won the toss and decided to bat in the very picturesque back drop of Old Buckingham School at Brettenham.

   Captain Roberts opened with Richard Carter who fairly early on played on which brought vice Captain Benjamin Atkinson to the crease and Roberts was on fire but with responsibility knowing that the two key batsmen of Armstrong and Hodge were unavailable this week.

   Scoring at quite a brisk rate until Ben Atkinson top edged one to be caught and balled for 21 and the score on a healthy 66 for 2.

   The infamous collapse began with wickets tumbling quite regular mostly to J Swift who was really tossing them up and very sedate but effective giving him career best figures eventually 7 -33.

   Only Shaun Faires who was playing his first game back after holiday with injuries put up some stern resistance scoring 16 while Captain Roberts passed his fifty deservedly but was slightly starved of the strike but fell deep at cow corner for 58.

   The tail was more than exposed and within the 35th over it was all over as last man Nick Rutter was bowled of course by that man Swift, making a final total of 135 all out.

   Tea was very good from Brettenham and in the sunshine it was a super day for cricket, the feeling was that the score was quite a few short of what was required.

   Steve "the ghost" Ryder opened and with football behind him he bowled his best spell in his ten overs claiming a couple of wickets supported by Nick Rutter the teams spinner who opened the other end and in his first over had two players dropped but did take a wicket later but on a small ground every mistake was punished.

   Brettenham Captain B Barker with G Brinkley saw Brettenham home as they nurtured the bowling calmly knowing they had time plus wickets in hand, both Captain and vice Captain entered the fray with the ball but the pitch got easier to play the longer the game went on and eventually it became a matter of time before Brettenham secured the victory.

   Hartest and Coldham did put up a brave fight, Roberts did well to get a base up on the score board, the bowlers did there best as did the fielding, and the luck of the ball flying towards or near to being caught continued as of most of the season so far, it will be a tough learning curve this season but hopefully not far away from that elusive first victory.

   Two points to mention which have happened through this week with ex Captain William Bryant and his wife Georgie having a new arrival called Benjamin, another one for the academy, congratulation's to you both from the club.

   Finally a fixture for July the 14th has been arranged with a friendly to our good friends Exning which was rained off earlier in the season, so  a note in the diary plus the website has now been amended.

   Next week - Stowmarket at home so come down to the Richards Oval to support the team plus have a jolly good afternoon in the fresh air - see you next week!!!

The Webmaster