Great Day at Exning

Exning 197 for 5

Simon Allen 52, Ben Readman 39, Josh King 11,

D Armstrong 2-46, Josh Borley 10-3-32-1, Rutter 1-9,


Hartest and Coldham Hall CC 121 All Out

M Atkinson 25, S Faires 21, B Atkinson 0.


   Hartest and Coldham visited our good friends at Exning CC where the early season game lost to rain was re-arranged in glorious sunshine in a beautiful setting of Exning Park.

   With injuries and players resting the Hartest and Coldham side were slightly lacking any batting depth so it was arranged that the home side would bat first.

   Jack Armstrong opened with some good fast bowling against seasoned campaigner Andy Longfield backed up with young R Middleton a youngster who looked a promising young man for the future who given the friendly status of the game had a chance at the top of the order.

   Gus Walton having a tough time bowling was removed from the attack after 3 overs where David Armstrong joined son Jack for a double Armstrong attack leading to Dave trapping young Middleton LBW for 11 and the score on 29.

   Captain Ben Atkinson was giving his side a chance in a few areas of fielding and bowling throughout the game, one area where we have as a team struggled has been catching but Josh Borley took a running over the shoulder catch to remove Longfield for 12 off the bowling of Jack Armstrong., 30-2.

   Josh Borley then entered the fray with his bowling the only bowler to complete his ten overs and did very well, he has been up at the nets a good few evenings and wants to improve both batting and bowling with some very tight spin bowling and variations kept the batsmen guessing.

   Ben Readman who came in at an elevated number three played well with young, very young Josh King, lacking a bit of strength currently but was very watchful, played straight, and difficult to get out as he occupied the crease for some time as Ben Readman scored some good boundary shots.

   Crafty old Nick Rutter came on tossed up a few and young Josh King was drawn out of his crease to be stumped by Ben Atkinson for 11 runs but definitely one for the future for Exning.

   Simon Allen the Exning Captain played very calm, assured, playing some good cricket shots as Exning felt they needed to up the runs rate with overs ticking by plus one area of the Hartest and Coldham team which has improved is the ground fielding, young Jay Davenport saved numerous runs deep in the field, very quick around the pitch with a good arm on him, however it was Niall "safe hands" Hannan deep in cow corner took the catch which dismissed Readman for 39.

   The last ten overs saw a few runs off the bat which Simon Lawson with son Seb Lawson scoring a few runs at the death Dave Armstrong came back to bowl Exning skipper Allen for 52, both Lawson's were not out after forty overs but the 84 partnership from Allen and Simon Lawson realistically had taken the game away from Hartest and Coldham Hall ending on 197 for 5.

   Judith Atkinson had done the tea but as she was in a It's a Knockout competition she had organised it some Mark Atkinson with help from Ben Readman all was in place and went well, her team came 4th out of 15 all for good causes well done her on all fronts, Mark Atkinson would like to point out he did the washing up, hero!

   What may not been seen in these notes are the good natured fun which was being had by all including a little bet between Shaun Faires and Jay Davenport to who would score most runs, so skipper Ben Atkinson let them open together.

   Jay sadly lost the bet being caught for two off the bowling of another youngster  J Turner, Shaun however was the lynch pin as Niall Hannan got a four, then out next ball, in comes Ben Atkinson who has a foot in both camps the key batsman in the Hartest and Coldham team looking to show what he can do, which was to play on to his stumps recording his first duck of the season, how these things seem to happen in Cricket sometimes, I recall a hatrick ball going down, but hey who remembers these things!!

   With even younger Seb Lawson bowling the attack with young lads was good, okay the batting confidence was a bit low with little experience but the bowling was spot on as more wickets began to tumble as Dave Armstrong got 16, 54 for 4 soon became 64 for 5, 70 for 7 in 12 overs but Mark Atkinson came in for some sympathy they took off the two main strike bowlers and brought on guys over the age of 14 I'm guessing even the wicket keeper Josh King was not missing much behind the stumps, 3rd generation with his Dad Philip King doing all the scoring today, [Thank you].

   Well Gus Walton came out with M Atkinson batted a bit slower picked a few shots got to drinks, and six o'clock before Mark Atkinson was bowled by a full toss which should have joined the cows in the field but he missed it, this left Gus to have a hit with Nick Rutter ably supporting.

   Gus was finally caught by Ben Readman for 17 and a final total of 121 but overall a good game where a few guys got a chance to shine in bowling, batting, with a bit of fun without the league points to worry about, that is until next week when Brockley come to the Richards Oval [ I nearly forgot to mention that Peter Richards bowled his first two overs in well over a season after injury and looked good, welcome back Peter].

   The net practise is on again for Wednesday evening and there are signs that this has improved some performances, confidence, and enjoyment of the game, so hopefully building a side for next season where we might be back in the Division we should have been all the time at this stage in the development of the team.

Ted Crouch a former player who sadly passed away last year, his surviving relatives have been in touch with the website and very kindly offered either a trophy - money as he so enjoyed his time playing Cricket, I have passed the information to the Chairman who will be in contact with the family but it does go to show how much playing Cricket can mean to turn out and play with your friends and enjoy it that makes so many good memories, so always enjoy, make some memories, I am sure Ted could have told a few great stories of his and others exploits in his time playing.

The Webmaster