Defeat at Home to Cavendish but great spirit and fun had by the home team.

Hartest and Coldham Hall CC  157 For 9

M Roberts 50, R Carter 32, G Walton 20.

Cavendish CC  158 For 3.

B Reece 95,

   New stand in Captain Jack Armstrong did a good job in an impossible season and lost the toss to Cavendish where the Mighty Hartest and Coldham Hall were asked to bat.

   On a green wicket superbly done by players plus the Mr fantastic Peter Richards out injured through a hand injury acquired when playing had the indomitable Mark Roberts plus Niall "safe hands" Hannan open the innings for Hartest and Coldham.

   Some accurate early bowling saw a quick departure of Hannan with Richard Carter joining Mr Roberts and the pair of them forged a decent partnership where Carter held firm and Roberts hit the ball about although dropped behind by the keeper while still in single digits.

The pair stayed together until the 17th over when Roberts had just plundered another boundary for 4 and received a generous applause when next ball struck a fierce shot but was caught by a diving Cavendish fielder removing him for fifty and the total on 67 for 2.

   Dave Armstrong came in and was dropped second ball but steadied himself to get in and hopefully move the score on but Richard Carter did just that from playing one end steady and the drinks break over the fast bowler used up then struck 6 fours in his very good 32 before missing a looping full toss but the score was on 102 for three but the stand in Captain was not in for long after being caught.

   The runs were harder to come by plus the overs were beginning to run out and with efforts from a few players to get the score to a high as possible one wickets fell a mix up between Walton and Dave Armstrong saw Armstrong ran out for 16 however Walton took on the bowlers and go a very gamely 20 before also being run out.

   Nick Rutter came in on a hat trick ball but survived it and saw the end of the innings at 157 for 9 its been a while since the team had got through the allotted overs especially against second place Cavendish.

   After a lovely tea along with all the home teas this summer [thank you to all those involved its a big effort to do them and all so good my words cannot do them justice but thank you] Cavendish took to the field.

   It was very apparent to anybody playing cricket for a while that Mr B Reece was a quality player who plays for Sudbury First team and he was a  player you could watch all day such as his quality in shots and we did watch him most of the day as he dispatched most of the bowling deep into Pete Richards [thank goodness cut field] numerous times even once we lost it and with virtually all the team looking the Dogs were called for who quickly found the ball at one stage with thought the ball had enough of being smacked so much it didn't want to come back!

   One exception of the bowlers excelled and was lauded by said Reece as a top bowler one who needed to be respected and that was Jack Armstrong who again was consistent plus unfortunate not to get Reece when the score was on 12 but another one missed nobody drops them on purpose but at 77 the first wicket fell the other guy  Reed was bowled by Jack for 14 such the dominance of Reece which continued and the game was going Cavendish's way fast.

   Dave Armstrong finally got Reece when he skied a high one for new wicket keeper Josh Borley to take a difficult catch to remove Reece for 95 but the damage was already done.

   Richard Carter took a wicket in his first over but this was a mere consolation as the end drew near the Red Arrows flew over circling the ground as Cavendish passed the required runs for the loss of three wickets and continue their drive to Division One good luck to them on that one.

   Great day never the less with a lot of fun and good laughs along the way with Cavendish being a very good sports plus respectful of the plight of Hartest and Coldham, they all on mass returned to the Hartest Crown which may become the local after the Shimpling Bush announced after September it would not open on Sunday evenings!

   With the next game in two weeks the bank holiday weekend is free for visits to the garden centres and then Jack takes the team to another team in the same boat as Hartest and Coldham put up in the wrong league who have struggled this season so I am hoping when I return from holiday to do a write up on the game plus Haverhill the last game of the season if a team can be sorted with so many players already unavailable.

   The website shall return but is taking a break due to fixtures and holidays forthcoming but please check back for the end of season dinner which looks like if could be a Saturday in October plus it is likely to be at the Shimpling Bush who have sponsored ourselves plus open early a lot this season when the games have finished early plus the free chips they also provide us and the opposition of the day.

   Thanks for supporting the website and hopefully it has been of some interest while you browse through the wonderful web, thanks to Ron and Margaret who most weeks turn up and support the team which the team are always pleased to see turn up and enjoy the few ups and quite a few downs this season but........ next season things will be different............onward and upwards!!!

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