Hartest and Coldham Hall CC 87 All Out
B Atkinson 23, M Westcott 17, P Richards 13.
F Stennett 4 -0-3-5.
Worlington Academy CC 88 for 9
M Wittish 51 Not Out.
D Armstrong 9-0-32-5.
Cricket returned at last for both teams today at the Richards Oval, first mention and credit goes to Peter Richards, Dave Armstrong and Nick Rutter plus the weather to get the pitch ready for today's opening game of the season, yesterday and the forecast looked certain to have yet another cancellation but hard work and good fortune we had a game, what a fun and exciting game was had down at the Oval.
Worlington won the toss and asked the home team to try out the pitch first with Richard Carter being the on pitch Captain opened the batting with Steve Ryder. [ Betsey made her first appearance with Zoe bringing her to the game and lovely little lady she is indeed]
The pitch played pretty well but with the alleged high altitude of the Oval as the highest in Suffolk plus the cloud cover with reasonable high temperature the ball swung a reasonable amount most of the innings.
Worlington got off to a steady and good start getting both openers out for 9 [Carter] and 1 [Ryder] bringing in the two top batsmen of Mark Roberts and Ben Atkinson.
Runs were becoming a premium and Roberts went for 3 but Ben Atkinson getting on but not as much as his normal ball striking with early season rust along with variable swing and bounce.
Atkinson was joined by one of two debutant's Jerry Garrard who looked class but fell early which then brought in the second debutant Martin Westcott who found it difficult with the first few balls but had not played for some considerable time but not only got to grips with but started striking the ball very well including the first six of the season.
Atkinson was out for 23 after already escaping one drop catch but was bowled which brought in Dave Armstrong who backed up Martin well but fell foul of Stennett who was having a purple patch in which he cleaned up the tail with only Peter Richards also hitting a six got 13 along with Martin Westcott 17 the team ended all out for 87 in the 28th over.
Tea was ample and superb provided by Mark and Judith Atkinson doing cakes with the very welcome return of Jim Marlow doing the savoury, all went down very well, thank you to all concerned.
After Tea, well, the fun began, there was plenty of banter and laughs along with some serious cricket, but the whole day was fun in the sun.
Ben Atkinson bowled indifferent but not all good balls get wickets sometimes bad ones do as well, with wide balls a plenty from both openers with Jerry Garrard bowling his first three balls for the club as wide balls did get the radar on and looked very menacing with Atkinson and Garrard picking up a wicket a piece, without many runs from the bat on the scoreboard.
Enter Dave Armstrong, conditions suited him to a tee and he used them to his advantage and wickets began to tumble, 22-3 to 34-6 in the 9th over, Dave bowled two and was supported ably with good ground work in the field but incredibly as well catching, Peter Richards took a running catch in the deep, the reliable Ben Atkinson also took one along with debutant Martin Westcott, the fun both sides were having even though the game was close and in the balance was superb.
M Wittish was the man of the match, he was the one batsman that conquered the conditions you'd assume but maybe he was lucky in some ways but other ways superb, he was dropped 3 times, three difficult chances where he got the rub of the green, had his wicket been taken then the game would have been the home teams victory, however with the tail being diminished by Dave Armstrong fifer plus a superb run out via Jerrry Garrard and Richard Carter nimbleness behind the stumps not only in the run out but all game diving about and keeping the game on a knifes edge along with a good fielding display throughout the team.
Ben Atkinson came back after Jerry Garrard ten over spell was up took another wicket at 75 for 9 with 73 year old B Cole hanging onto one end as M Wittish got Worlington over the winning line to take the victory by the smallest of margins of one wicket.
However the winner was cricket, defeat yes but a close very enjoyable game it did not feel like a defeat, the humour was immense and so many one liners even in adversity was taken in good spirit, both sides enjoyed the game and such good fun which carried onto the Swan who again we thank for providing some cheese and chips for both sets of players.
Next week we are at Thurston CC and the club Captain Ben Atkinson will be checking on availability during the week, please let him know so he can get a team together, the fun we had today was excellent and don't miss out, life is made of good memories, today those who played certainly had a few to take with them and will make them smile and that's what it is all about in the end.
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