Hartest and Coldham Hall CC 211 For 6
B Atkinson 64, D Armstrong 42, R Carter 42.
Cavendish CC 183 All Out
Rutter 6 for 52. M Roberts 2-36.
Leicester were 5000 to 1 and similarly so were Hartest and Coldham Hall CC going into the game against Cavendish with 9 men plus one new man turning up from leaving off work.
The average age of the Hartest and Coldham team was worked out to be 44.5 years of age, so the odds were slim but I guess if sport was predictable then nobody would play.
The skipper although losing the toss managed to get Cavendish to put Hartest and Coldham into bat with Richard Carter leading from the front with regular opener Mark Roberts.
First ball was a no ball with Carter getting a single off it, then another rank ball was there to be hit by Roberts who found cover point taking the catch off the first legitimate ball of the innings and so it looked a bleak start for Hartest and Coldham.
This brought in Captain Ben Atkinson who set about in a calmer demeanor but still a high strike rate, fours and sixes with the superb Richard Carter just feeding him the strike not taking unnecessary risks.
The scoreboard was moving at a reasonable pace and both the boys looked in good touch with a lively opening bowling spell from Harper plus Barry showing some variety.
The ball travelling was dropping the field back deeper as the Captain passed his fifty in style with a six but shortly afterwards with the score on 81 the skipper hit a tracer bullet of a shot to the only many on the deep square leg boundary to be caught very well indeed to great cheers from the home team getting the key man for Hartest and Coldham out for 64.
Normally the collapse would have taken place, but a serene calmness came over Richard Carter and the new incoming batsman Dave Armstrong, defending the bowling very well if a bit shaky at the start for David but he felt his way in and although the run rate dropped the importance of playing yourself in seemed to pay big dividends.
Cavendish probably were not at their strongest but Hartest and Coldham were also much similar, Richard Carter played steady as did David Armstrong, waiting for that bad ball then took advantage of it, it was lovely to watch, the game was in fact quite exciting that every ball was a challenge.
The pair batted from the 13th over together until the 31st putting on 73 runs between them, with Richard Carter also being involved with the first big partnership of 79 with the skipper, a magnificent effort from Richard who had been trying to move the score on and was bowled out for a wonderful plus important crease staying 42.
When big partnerships break it is not unusual for the partner to often follow and that was exactly what happened as Dave Armstrong whose big contribution to the team score and partnership who looked so accomplished in his innings just fell 8 runs short of that maiden 50 he so wants to get but he like Richard was bowled for the same score of 42 great runs.
The score of 153 for 4 was about 100 runs more than we thought we would end up with but the story does not end there just yet, the call for players during the week was made and Jordan Marlow managed to get a new player to leave his shift and come over to help the team out to fulfil the fixture.
The new man is called Jason Claydon who had not played cricket for four years but his enthusiasm to get out led Jordan who was scheduled to go in next when Dave departed to let Jason go into the fray.
Oddly Jordan soon joined him and perhaps they bonded well as both players quickly seeing the overs run out struck some lovely shots not always getting the boundaries they deserved as Cavendish were fielding well but runs were flowing.
There was a slightly unsavoury incident but it didn't mar the game greatly with a no ball catch clearly correct decision but did incense a passionate response by the bowler removing the bails as he came into bowl plus appealing, however great credit to the Cavendish Captain he called the player involved back and the incident was soon forgotten.
Back to the action and the new man Jason was bowled for a creditable 16 and yet another top performance was happening with Jordan Marlow playing with freedom and some tremendous shots in getting to his best ever cricket score of 22 not out, excellent performance, with Mark Atkinson getting a quick 14 not out to get the total over the two hundred mark for those valuable batting points.
Cavendish tea was lovely and well deserved by the team who knew the game was far from over, the Cavendish team had some good batsmen in their ranks, plus ten men was not going to be easy.
Poor old Richard Carter who had been in for 30 overs plus to his credit along with Peter Richards had umpired a long stint, possibly a bit unexpected long stint but not to go without a mention ended up [Richard] taking the first over, ten in fact along with his new best mate Dave Armstrong, those two were inseparable today.
Sadly the book was not filled in so this was done from memory but the first 14 overs had not gone that fast but both bowlers bowled well using the overhead cloudy conditions to swing the ball but keeping it straight, but Dave took the first wicket with the opener playing on.
Tolchard and Blackbath [not sure that is correct] looked very good and comfortable but in his last over Richard Carter made the break through to remove Blackbath [not sure correct].
Twenty overs I recall the score was about 81 for 2, but the runs were coming a bit quicker, then the skipper brought on Nick Rutter, the spin king, the ..... whatever great names you can think of as he spun the ball with great looping ability, the Cavendish boys slowly but surely struck the ball upwards, and Richard Carter took a superb catch, equally matched buy a Mark Roberts catch running [not a mistake] to take another great catch as the wickets were falling.
Mark Roberts whose earlier dismissal for not many felt he had contributed when he took that catch but his presence in the field was like the other 9 players impressive, the fielding could have easily been the difference of those winning runs at the end of the game.
Jordan Marlow also took a great catch running in from deep and clinging onto it as Rutter claimed another, with Mark Roberts bowling as the fourth bowler, somewhat a bit erratic in places but always keeping the batsmen on their toes plus as he got into his stride took two valuable wickets, forcing one to hit his own stumps the other caught.
Nick Rutter recorded his best bowling figures ever of 6 for 52 off 8 overs as the last man was caught by Jordan Marlow to end the game and a very unexpected win indeed, however all that being said the team fielded exceptionally, everyone contributed to the team effort from Peter Richards diving about in his fielding to new man Jason who pulled a hamstring early with some great fielding plus a good arm as they say.
We had the pleasure of seeing our loyal supporters Ron as Margaret come and watch with both of them in good health, nice to see them, plus Rosie Roberts plus two came up to watch an exciting performance plus the unexpected victory, unlike last week where it was a bit flat this week the boys all did the club proud, whether many can walk tomorrow is another question but today was a good day.
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