Final Game of Season Ends in Defeat

Hartest and Coldham Hall CC  104 All Out

M Atkinson 20, P Richards 18, R Carter 17.

S Whymark 4-21 [Including a Hat Trick]

Edwardstone 106 For 1

S Chapman 75 Retired Hurt.

S Nichols 1-27

The last game of the season again proved difficult to get a team, only having 9 Saturday evening but a couple of Father and son teams came in to help, instead of the A it was the R father and son combo, Jake Richards and Peter, with David and Steve Ryder.

Also Michael Green making his debut with the last time he played Cricket was at School, so without the skipper, no Hodge, Roberts, Armstrong or Rutter, plus a few more it was safe to say that acting skipper Dickie Pearson preferred to field to make a game of it being vastly out gunned with the Edwardstone experience.

Dickie lost the toss and Edwardstone invited Hartest and Coldham Hall to bat which Carter and Simon Nichols did so and fended off the early new ball bowling.

Both openers were out relatively early, Carter for 17 and 27 for 2 became 27 for 5 including a hatrick from S Whymark after 14 overs, a rather tough and embarrassing position to be in when Mark Atkinson went in a bit earlier as people were not padded up with the fall of wickets, he faced a quadruple ball and survived.

He and Steve Ryder basically was a case of survival as the opening pair of bowlers went through their allotted ten overs each but both Atkinson and Steve Ryder survived the onslaught to drinks nudging in every sense of the word the score to 42 for 5.

Mark Webmaster Atkinson then rather boringly dug in and lost Ryder for 14, chasing a wide, then from 53 for 6 was joined by Peter the Legend Richards, who was kept calm and played with relative control for Peter, the pair took on the score to 91 when Peter was also out chasing a wide ball, stumped for 18.

Finally the Captain who in his new and possible permanent roll came in at 9 found it difficult to get the ball away but the overs were ticking by and Hartest and Coldham were trying to make a game of it instead of going home by four O'clock.

Captain Dickie finally smashed a massive six to open his account but like the old school game of six and out, he was caught a ball or so later for 6.

With the last over which was a result in itself to last the 40 overs and an attempt to get a few more runs, Mark Atkinson was caught deep towards the boundary with a one handed catch to the man of the moment [S Whymark] to remove Atkinson for 20 runs.

Jake Richards came in but did not face a ball as Anthony Brouder was caught and with two balls to spare the Hartest and Coldham Hall were all out for 104.

Edwardstone provided a lovely tea, and were very hospitable, a good team with a sense of humour and very similar team to ourselves, yes they were in a strong position and were appreciative of us turning up and giving them a game, possibly not the toughest game they have had but in very good spirit.

Simon Nichols opened the bowling with the Skipper Dickie and the star man who went down to Australia to improve his undoubtedly cricket prowess S Chapman, we can safely say he did improve, he annihilated the attack and raced to his 50 in double quick time.

Snicko got one of the openers, bowled Davey for 15, but it was one way traffic, the man was way to good for Hartest and Coldham Hall today, even if we had our star men out, no difference, the very sad thing was that on75 Chapman dislocated his knee which has hampered him before, he limped off with only three runs required, we hope that he can make a full recovery and go onto fulfil his cricket ambitions.

Peter Richards came on to bowl, he reckons that's why Chapman left the arena, in fear that the legend will do him up like a kipper but back to reality, anther Whymark, R this time hit the winning boundary to secure the victory.

This ends the season for Hartest and Coldham Hall CC, possibly one of the most difficult seasons in the club history, but a meeting will be scheduled probably in September to see if we can attract some more players and keep the cricket club going, I believe and hope it can but much more commitment and availability with some new blood who want to play, have fun, get involved to keep it going for next season and seasons to come, without doubt, this issue is not just a Hartest and Coldham issue, other teams also will have similar problems, but something must be done to turn the tide back to people wanting to play and carrying the mantel on for the next generation.

Thank you for reading and massive thank you for the support for the season from teas, pitches, playing some games to help out, and any I have forgotten to mention, thank you.

The current skipper will no doubt call for a meeting, if you can attend it will be an important one to try and make it, the future is in your hands, which was more than the ball was when we were trying to catch it!!!

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