Charlton Down Cricket Club
Broadstone 2nds versus CDCC
Sunday 31st August 2008
Charlton Down go down in the Rain but still go up
With everyone expecting the game to be called off due to poor weather reports the team were a little surprised to be making the journey to Delph Woods for the final match of the season against Broadstone 2nds. With this being the only team CDCC had lost to this season, calculations were being made as to how many points were required to guarantee promotion.
On arrival at the ground, the sky looked grey, the wicket looked green and soft (at best) and all 20 batsmen didn’t seem confident. SId the Skip lost the toss (again) and was inserted. Zarak Afzal (Attempting to avoid his 3rd duck of the season and have his head shaved) opened with Andy Cossens. From the first moment the bowlers had the edge. Cossens, Bradshaw, Gollidge all fell for single figures before Afzal fell for 4 avoiding the season’s forfeit. With Skip looking edgy at the crease Butterworth joined and decided after 3 balls that he was never likely to get in so started to batter as only Jon can. The balls were smashed, the trees were struck and then the balls were lost. Sid fell for 11 just after Butterworth got his 50, Jon eventually going for 68 after a good catch in the deep.
Will Silk looked in good touch for his 11 n/o but around him more wickets fell, Coates-Dale, Joy, Boltwood and Wormgoor all going for single figures with only Rudo really hanging around with Silk for any time. With the wicket acting unpredictably and a few showers Butterworth had given the away side a chance. A total of 146 all out on that wicket gave the home side a tough target to aim at.
Tea eaten and out went the visitors knowing that 10 wickets would mean definite promotion. Afzal struggled a little with a wet ball (tired from opening the batting no doubt) and Coates Dale was keeping it a little tighter at the other end but the 2 Broadstone openers, a father son combination, seemed not to struggle as much as most of the CDCC batsman with the father taking the Butterworth approach with equal success. Silk and Butterworth took over the bowling duties and Silk laid a trap for the big hitter but with a wet ball was dropped off of his 3rd ball. Butterworth eventually made the breakthrough after a very tidy running catch in the deep by Sid. However with Broadstone well over half way to the total the game seemed to slipping away form Charlton Down. Cossens took his turn bowling taking 2 nice wickets, a stumping and LBW but all was to no avail as Broadstone saw off the total for the loss of just 3 wickets. Charlton Down had seemed to have the worse of the conditions but their bogey team had struck again.
Good news though was soon to reach the team; a phone call was made across Dorset and the result was that Swanage had also lost so Charlton Down in their 1st league season had won automatic promotion.
I would like to thank all who have played this year. We played 12 matches this year, winning 10 and losing 2.
34 Players graced the field which is great that so many people managed to get involved this year. So hope to see you all at the end of season do on October 18th.
There are also 3 more friendlies this year if you still want to play cricket.
Roll on next year and hopefully promotion to Div 4