Charlton Down Cricket Club
Charlton Down versus Boscombe
Sunday 17th May 09
Boscombe Blown away (almost literally)
After a poor showing the previous week at Puddletown Charlton Down were keen to get back on track against Boscombe. The match looked doubtful due to dodgy weather forecasts and the fact it seemed to be raining all over Dorset but not over the Herrison Oval. After convincing the away team skipper that there was going to be a match they made the journey and quickly lost the toss. Sid went against his normal instinct and chose to field first.
As the CD team made it on to the field it very quickly became apparent just how windy it was. Some couldn’t even hear the skip shouting if stood upwind of him and lets be honest he’s pretty loud. Anyway Homewood and Pretty kicked off the bowling duties and kept things very tight indeed, however, it wasn’t until the 11th over that Mark made the first breakthrough with the score on 24. Then the wickets started to tumble from both ends. Mark finished with 9-2-32-3 and JP defied all the odds and took wickets with outstanding figures of 8-4-6-2. Jesus and Rudo took on the duties and again kept things very tight. Chris(6-1-14-0) was unlucky not to take a wicket but was still very frugal. Rich Burdett bowled a great small spell of 3-0-8-0. Both he and Jesus had kept one end up whilst at the other end the Flying Dutchman was letting rip. Wormgoor showed good line and length (most balls) and was causing all sorts of trouble. With some smart catching to boot ; one from skip and two from Rudo himself Wormgoor finished with a career best 8.3-2-16-4. It was a bit of a shame the visitors only had 10 players denying Wormgoor a chance for his first ever 5 for. With the innings closed at 79 all out the CD bowlers had done a fantastic job.
After a short but tasty tea it was Bradshaw and Coates-Dale tasked with the job of bringing home maximum batting points. After a gentle start something odd started to happen. Bradshaw started scoring , quickly. CCD feeling confused by what was happening at the other end hooked one straight to mid wicket for 6 . Doyle (2) too quickly felt intimidated by the Bradshaw onslaught and cut a wide one and was out to a great catch at point. Sid headed out short of runs for the season and Bradshaw’s quick 20 came to and end driving straight to mid off. Sid and Mark Fenwick were 40 runs from victory and looked to see out the innings but employing the Dunford Baseball swipe to great effect fell with the home team needing just 2 more on 23. This gave Kev Joy ( a late replacement) the chance at gaining the glory runs. However, Kev had other ideas getting caught 1st ball.. Mark ended up hitting the Final run with Jesus not having faced a ball at the other end.
So after a great bowling performance the CD batsman made hard work of getting the total but never felt under pressure and enjoyed getting back to winning ways. The team has aweek off from the league but should enjoy a friendly against Martinstown next Sunday. Lets hope the sun comes out.