Match report

After last weeks rained off fixture it was nice for the 4th team to feel the sun on their backs as they headed for Brigstock just south of Corby for their latest NCL Division 12 game. The prospect of moving to the Leicestershire league for next season certainly hasn’t reduced the desire of the team to perform well this year and we were looking to consolidate our second place behind Rushden against one of the division’s relegation candidates. Brigstock is a picturesque ground set in a pretty Northamptonshire village but one thing that doesn’t spoil the view are any covers and as a result the pitch for the day was little more than rolled mud. Against a home side who amassed at total of 42 last week it was clear that this was a day on which to field first, so obviously we lost the toss.
Holidays had resulted in skipper Mike Wilkins having one of those weeks when the search for a team resulted in some unlikely selections and so it was that ‘Fido’ Matthews found himself striding out to open the innings with ‘Hon Sec’ Bleebs playing his second league game of the season. Any thoughts of a 200+ total pretty much vanished when the first ball plopped onto a length and made a small crater before bounding to about the height of an ants reproductive equipment. The risk on such wickets is always to play your shot too soon and sure enough in the third over Fido departed having chipped to Mid On off the leading edge. Enter John Pounds who immediately looked a class act and mixed watchful defence with a couple of strong drives down the ground. Both opening bowlers used the helpful conditions well and after ten overs KCC had amassed 22-1. It took a change of bowling to bring further success as Bleebs lobbed a catch to point off, you’ve guessed it – the leading edge for an innings of 2 which the batsman would describe as watchful but Ed Bale would describe as ‘tedious’. The secretary had barely taken his seat before Sam Pole joined him for a much quicker but two runs less productive days work. Imran Mir briefly looked good before he lobbed up yet another leading edge catch to leave the visitors in trouble at 42-4.
Enter skipper Wilkins promoted by popular demand from eight to six to herald the only decent partnership of the entire match. The hot sun was starting to dry the wicket and more importantly JP now had his eye in and for the next ten overs the ball disappeared to all parts as both batsmen tucked into the home bowling. In the end it took a catch at deep square leg to see off JP for an excellent score of 69 and leave us at 111-5. Sadly after John’s Rolls Royce innings the rest of our batsman now gave an impression of an aging Skoda as Rob Ellwood made a duck, Ed Bale a first baller (well at least it wasn’t tedious), Mayur got eleven (yet another leading edge) and Mike finally departed for a belligerent 42 to leave us at 148-9 with 10 overs of the innings still to go. Could Chris Carson and Eliott Lodge hold out? well Chris did his part looking solid in defence but ‘The eater’ was defeated by the first ball of the following over to leave the home team with seven additional overs to add to their innings and allow young Jack O’Grady to lead his side off the field with figures of 6-23.
We regarded the score as a decent effort on that track and were confident that a good performance in the field would see us home. Sadly we then proceeded to spend the first six overs of the Brigstock reply bowling like England at Headingley. The situation was made worse by the fact that the home umpire (I use that phrase for a reason) now decided to play a full part in the proceedings. Having not given a single wide in our innings, despite some very errant leg side deliveries from O’Grady he now suddenly transformed into a man looking as if he was trying to fly unassisted. At a rough assessment at least 40% of the 29 wides we eventually conceded could be described as controversial.
Despite our generosity the feeling didn’t leave the side at this was a game for the taking, Bristocks confidence was obviously paper thin and only one of their opening bats, James Steward looked as if he had any positive intent. Virtually our first straight deliver cleaned up his opening partner and the game then settled into an attrition pattern, we would mix some wayward deliveries with those that consistently beat the bat and the Brigstock batsmen would concentrate on defence and little more. Mayur followed by his opening wicket by taking an excellent catch at mid on off Rob Ellwood’s bowling to dismiss Steward for 42 and leave Brigstock at 77-3 and next ball his replacement Polak edged straight into Fido’s gloves only for the umpire to give an inexplicable ‘not out’ decision. The crawl continued with extras almost the only method of scoring but with overs in hand it looked as if Brigstock might yet make it. With the score 107-3 Mike brought himself back into the attack and immediately had his opposing skipper caught behind for an innings of 17 scored at a pace to make Bleebs look like ‘Freddie’ Flintoff. Forty two runs required, six wickets in hand and 20 overs to bat would normally be a walk in the park for any side but Brigstock were now batting with all the self belief of manic depressives and Mike wiped out three more victims in as many overs whilst Mayur claimed his second victim when Polak decided to walk for a catch, mind you it was at mid on. With Mike having completed his 13 overs and the final two wickets needing just 14 runs for victory the need was for straight bowling…..step forward Chris Carson. Having suffered in his first spell from some ugly and effective ‘hoicks’ through midwicket it needed some guts to come back into the attack at this stage but Chris was the man for the job, amazing everyone by actually getting an LBW verdict and then inducing the edge for JP to snaffle at slip to seal the win with 8.2 overs still to bowl. The opposition had put us in on a gluepot, had every advantage in the game including 7 additional overs and a gift of 42 extras and yet we had stuck together as a team, remained positive and still beaten them…..take a bow Mike Wilkins, Ben Matthew, John Bleby, Sam Pole, Imran Mir, John Pounds, Rob Ellwood, Ed Bale, Mayur Chauhan, Eliot Lodge & Chris Carson