The first teams season got underway with a visit from Wellingborough Indians II`s and a couple of familiar faces in the opposition line up namely messers Mukesh Patel and Anil Joshi who both turned out for the Cooks last season.
After winning the toss skipper Dan McLaughlin elected to field with the threat of rain and an unsettled forecast predicted it was the right decision. Scorer Julie Mason was ready armed with several coloured pens, two jumpers and a coat which was much needed as Compton Park was a chilly place to be but at least we had a game and what a game it turned out to be.
Alex Harvey-Jones and James Ashby opened the attack and kept a nice tight line as the Indian openers found scoring difficult on a decent Compton Park track. When they did decide to open their shoulders a couple of boundaries followed but it also signalled the start of a fall of wickets as James then Alex struck to leave the visitors on 26-2. Dan then brought on Tom Smyth and Jason Kruger and they responded with a wicket apiece also to leave the Indians on 44-4. A smart Gareth Tompkins catch off Tom took the total to 53-5 but any hopes the Cooks had of running through the tail were dashed by the experienced pairing of Girish Patel (33) and Ravi Shastri (37) who led a super recovery by putting on 56 for the sixth wicket before Alex finally clean bowled Patel. The introduction of Nick Lester into the attack also produced rewards for skipper Dan as the Cooks showed their ability in the field with Paul “Teffers” Browning stumping two victims and Tom running out Mukesh on his Compton Park return. The Indians were finally bowled out for 138 in the last over with Nick finishing with 3-28, Tom 2-17, Alex 2-39 with James 1-19 and Jason 1-20 . So going into tea hopes were high that a winning start to the season was on the cards.
Over at the Express Lifts tower in St James another member of the Cooks had high hopes of a different kind. As the first team were settling down to a well earned tea Matt Irons was perched some 400 plus foot above Northampton getting ready to abseil down the aforementioned tower. Now it seemed like a good idea at the time but when Matt agreed to do it his feet were firmly on the ground, now here he was on a scaffolding , the wind blowing a gale , dressed as Batman thinking oh dear. But a deep breathe and over the side Matt went and slowly but surely he edged his way down and in the process raised £265 for the British Red Cross.
Dont look down Matt
Back at Compton Park the Cooks top order were dropping quicker than Matt as Alpesh Patel produced a superb opening spell reducing the Cooks to 30-4. But James with a text book display of patience and guile along with the more direct approach from Jason pushed the score on. But after finding the football club with one huge six Jason fell with the score on 69. Another rush of wickets saw the Cooks stumble to 90-9 with 14 overs left and staring defeat in the face. But enter Nick to join Alex in the middle. Now Nick has form when it comes to grinding out a result just ask Weekley & Warkton and slowly but surely Alex and Nick kept a straight bat and played sensible cricket and one by one the overs ticked away. Nick was then left to face the final 6 balls and the first 5 he saw off with no trouble at all. The final ball was delivered and Nick got an edge , Compton Park held its collective breath as the ball went straight into the keepers gloves ………………….and then out again and somehow Cogenhoe had held on for a draw. Credit to Alex who finished on 20 and Nick 6 with Alpesh 4-34 and Anil 3-13 doing most of the damage for the Wellingborough Indians.
So a game both sides could have won ended with Wellingborough thinking what might have been and Cogenhoe knowing they are going to have to apply themselves a bit better in the batting department if they are to take advantage of their excellent work in the field.