First Home Defeat against Bardwell CC

Hartest and Coldham Hall CC  180 All Out


Hodge 62, Melville-Ross 54, Roberts 22.


Nurse 4-19.


Bardwell CC  182 for 4


F Allum 61, Nurse 51, Lumley Not Out 50.






Grey skies greeted Sunday for most of the day and with a wash out on the Saturday firstly our thanks go to Peter Richards who managed to get the pitch sorted out to get a game on, so thank you to him.


With the Skipper driving back from Newcastle and schedule to be late the vice Captain Richard Carter took the toss with the intention to bowl first however he lost and Bardwell decided to insert Hartest and Coldham to test the early wet conditions.


Hodge and Ryder opened the batting and Craig Nurse a very good player was soon getting extra bounce out of the pitch and gave Hodge and Ryder a tough opening few overs.


Nurse did get an early break through bowling Ryder for two which brought Mark Roberts into bat and he also was left uncomfortable especially when he got one in the nether regions.


Although Nurse was bowling fast and well it was the other opening bowler Firth who was unlucky for him as Hodge was dropped three times then and less surprising Roberts was also dropped which was fortunate as they began to see of the new ball plus get a few runs on the board.


With 47 on the board atypical Roberts shot found the man who held onto the catch which brought in Captain Ben Atkinson who tired from a few reasons looked composed but a young 16 year old Allum was bowling very well and although the captain smashed a couple of boundaries he was well beaten by a ball moving off the pitch but didn't get the edge however the next ball bowled him for 10 possibly undone by the ball before.


Charlie Long came to the crease and with Hodge who was still steadfast in his innings and much more assured kept the momentum going, in fact 34 runs later before a mistimed shot from Long gave him his name back to the pavilion or now named "Pete's Pav".


Rupert Melville-Ross entered the fray and batting very well the previous week continued this rich vein of form smashing a few sixes and with Hodge joining in the scoreboard was increasing to a decent score on a difficult pitch but was drying out making batting easier.


Hodge got his fifty and Rupert was catching him up but at 160 Hodge succumbed to a catch and left the arena for 62.


Richard Pearson did not last long, he some how top edged a ball high up but it gave the young 13 year old wicket keeper plenty of time to step back a few paces to take the catch.


Vice Captain Richard Carter and Rupert took some quick intelligent singles and Rupert got to his fifty with a boundary but his demise was shortly after a catch behind for 54 runs and the score on 174.


Shaun Faires playing with a hip injury battled bravely but the Bardwell tails were up and the end was nigh, Carter was bowled by the returning opening bowler Nurse, and Rutter gloved one to the keeper to end the innings on 179.


A Lovely tea was done by Anna and David Hodge, which does bring me on to a point we are very sadly lacking in the tea department, please can we have some more volunteers to do or share this very important part of the Cricket, Charlie if not working is going to do the next home game but we do need to fill the remaining home games as soon as possible, thank you.


After tea Bardwell started there chase and even with the early wicket falling to Rupert Melville-Ross the young Allum and Nurse [two man team today] settled in and did not look overly troubled throughout there entire innings, a difficult wind from the road end saw a few bowlers try and could not get to grips as the score book will clearly show, the best was David Hodge who took a wicket and kept the score down but went for 58.


It was a game where Bardwell seemed in control for most of the match and only with two bits of sharp fielding one from Mark Atkinson and the other a direct hit from Hodge saw two run outs but Lumley came in and looked un troubled and got his fifty off the last ball of the game to wrap up the points for Bardwell in the 36th over.


It was great to see Ron and Margret who picked up an award from the local Hospice earlier in the day, five years service a very worth while cause and to see Ron on the mend, keep it up Ron.


Last week report was based on few facts and the book being wrong, I found out the Captain was behind the stumps for the entire game and Nick Rutter was 7 not out although nothing in the book, I will amend the records I do and enter a note in the score book re Nick.


The other two things about last week was in keeping with this week and Rupert did a very good run out and one funny one was Mark Roberts on his knees sliding in for a catch shouting something but actually nowhere near where the ball landed and it went dribbling over for four runs, we need to put the record straight.


Next week we travel to Haverhill and it will be a tough game, the catchment area for such a town of that size should prove a competitive match up for the Hartest and Coldham Hall boys, lets hope for an improvement for the weather.


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