Defeat at Lakenheath

Lakenheath 228 For 5


L Flack 74 Not Out, D Flack 28.


Dave Armstrong 3 for 26.


Hartest and Coldham Hall CC   114  All Out


B Atkinson 36, M Atkinson 22, Z Kulasi 19,


E Garard 4-42


A lovely sunny day saw Hartest and Coldham Hall second game of the season ended in defeat, with a few regulars out the Captain brought in Ziaf Kulasi and welcome return from last year Jim Armitage who we wish a continued recovery of his wife after her near fatal accident.


The Captain lost the toss and Lakenheath asked to bat first and some good opening bowling kept the scoring down from Richard Carter and Charlie Long.


D Flack was however making some progress with a few boundaries with some still early season rustiness but when that old war horse Dave Armstrong came onto bowl his attractive bowling saw Flack top edge a catch to Ziaf  Kulasi for 28.


Very soon after Charlie Long bowled out the other opener and the scoring slowed up and Lakenheath tried to settle down again but that man Dave Armstrong almost had a duplicate dismissal with same ball and catcher to dismiss Bond for 16.


His final wicket was Fletcher another catch in the same place but by debutant Richard Pearson this time.


Tassell and L Flack started and recovery and with the ball older and the outfield pretty quick for the time of the year began to score more in earnest, Richard Nunn also making a rare appearance bowled well and bowled out Tassell for 22.


E Garard and L Flack had some luck the old slippery hands syndrome came back and those drops were going to cause problems in the long run, Flack was finding the boundary and played well getting the run rate up, the fielding was better for the early season however 34 extras of wide balls and byes did not help.


Ziaf Kulasi bowled well and Jim Armitage did well in the field and the ball got attracted to him for a spell, but with the overs up the score had reached 228 for 5 quite a formidable score.


After tea Richard Pearson and Charlie Long opened the bowling and on the fifth ball Charlie was bowled, this brought in the Captain and after Pearson saw out his first over with Hartest and Coldham [ he did play once last year at Long Melford but the game was abandon half way through] the Captain was dropped by the Wicket Keeper while on zero.


Lakenheath were regretful and Captain Ben Atkinson got a ten ball 36 before being caught at square leg by an elder statesman who clung on for a very good catch, wickets began to tumble from Pearson bowled by Garard for 9, Jim Armitage stayed around for a while but rustiness caught up and he was bowled.


Ziaf Kulasi showed some real class shots and could handle a bat but with scoreboard pressure plus seeing his team mates disappear got a very creditable 19 before being caught, well played to him and hopefully we will see more of him as the season progresses.




Vice Captain Richard Carter clipped a few runs with Dave Armstrong supporting but he also failed to leave a mark in the score book as Carter was out 81 for 7 became 8 soon after with Richard Nunn out for 4.


Mark Atkinson was fortunate to see some spin bowling hit a six and few boundaries but his partner Jake Rutter hit a sweet half volley off his legs for four, the partnership yielded 30 runs and got a batting point but one big swing to many saw M Atkinson depart with 22.


Nick Rutter joined his son Jake for a few balls before his also was bowled for 1 and Jake not out 7, however the score of 114 was only half the target required, welcome to Division Two.


Still next week a home fixture against Acton and hopefully a few players back plus the guys who stepped in and performed well considering the circumstances with little to no practice or pre season.


Thank you to Peter Richards who came over to support the team as he is currently injured, so nice to see him and add his moral support from the side of the pitch.


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