Heavy Home Defeat V Brockley

Brockley CC      287 for 3


J McGann 101 Not Out, S Byford 70, S Goddard 64.


Hartest and Coldham Hall CC      143 All Out


B Atkinson 27, R Carter 19, R Melville-Ross 18




Brockley won the toss and batted first on a green track which has had plenty of water on it in the past few weeks.


The Webmaster dropped out and Ben Pilo-Beech plus Rupert Melville-Ross came steaming in with a severe amount of pace and a couple of early good calls for LBW but neither were given and that is probably where the home teams best chance had gone.


Similarly to last week when Hartest and Coldham Hall plundered runs but the shoe on the other foot, with the opening batsman scoring a hundred not out plus contributions from Byford 70 plus Goddard 64 the score mounted up.


I noticed from my observation point a very flat performance and probably due to a lot of ball chasing around the Richards Oval.
The three wickets that fell came from Dave Armstrong, Steve "the ghost" Ryder getting his first wicket back after a very long time suffering from a knee injury, plus young Oliver Melville-Ross with his spin and a stumping from the skipper.


Tea was done by Judith Atkinson with a small bit of help, but this needs to be addressed, we have 9 home fixtures now down to seven, we need to have them booked up please, and breaking them into half is okay but TWO Halves make a whole one, well it did when I went to School, the tea rota is on website for the games well in advance, and they do take time, hard work to sort but sort they are required so please sort a date out.


I would like to thank Rosie Roberts who helped me out today with preparing and clearing up along with Nicko plus others which means doing the teas is a team effort and everyone helps, you're not alone.


After the lovely tea sadly it was back to the game, that was the feeling I got plus the score of near 300 didn't possibly inspire a run chase of near biblical proportions.


Richard Carter has been in good form and continued to score 19 from opening with Steve Ryder, but Steve lost a bit of concentration to be bowled for 5.


Rupert Melville-Ross came in and looked assured plus striking the ball well on the deck looked set for a decent innings, he was joined by the Skipper and they put on the highest partnership while they were together.


The Skipper holed out to Meekings whose ten over spell earned him 4 wickets for 30 runs a super return from his perspective.


Ben Pilo-Beech took a bit of time to settle in but he did get some valuable time in the middle, looked assured and classy but chasing a mammoth total plus Rupert Melville-Ross caught deep on the boundary his partners were disappearing fast.


Dickie Pearson hit a big six in his quick fire sixteen, Peter Richards also hit a big six plus a sprint for a second single but then shot out by the umpires finger for 8.


Oliver Melville-Ross a youngster came in and played well, no doubt taking a few tips from his Dad, took on the role to guide the team past 125 for a consolation batting point with the help of Dave Armstrong who had earlier waved goodbye to Jack so no doubt a little sad after last week's game.


Eventually Nick Rutter was out leaving Oliver on 11 and the teams final score of 143, quite away short but better than sometimes in the past when the team could easily been out for 70.


Tough day at the office but Division Two is not walk in the park or easy picnic plus credit goes to the ground staff these last few weeks have been difficult, the famous ditch has water in it still, unusual for this time of year, gives an indication of the hard work put in to get the game on so well done boys.


Tuesday night is welding night, or helping out at the pitch to get the nets up and running with a view to hold batting practise at the Richards Oval on a Wednesday night. Quite a few of the team have expressed their wish to have some batting and bowling practise so if you can help Tuesday to be successful to get the net up and running, the net practise will be on Wednesday weather permitting.


Next week we move onto Cavendish away, a ground where a few funny incidents or scores have happened in the past so could be a lively game in prospect, hopefully a game to bounce back to winning ways.


Webmaster.