After some uming and arrrring, and a cracking effort from the grounds team Compton Park was fit for play on a day where the weather had been as Caribbean as the visiting side. Storms in the morning, high humidity and now baking sun. Finally the coin went up, it came down, no call was made by the Carrib Captain, (it landed heads) so again the coin went up from the visiting umpire, again the Carrib Captain became sidetracked and again it landed with no call being made (again it landed heads), by now I was convinced it was a double headed coin so for a third time it was tossed, finally this time the call was made……it was head! But thankfully this time the coin came down tails, and the cooks would bowl first in the now shortened 40 overs a side match.
Cooks came out of the traps a little slower and quieter than normal, and Carrib United pushed runs around with relative ease, when Ashby removed the very dangerous looking opener Habib in his 30’s there was a ray of light for Cogenhoe, however this was quickly extinguished when Lester was hit out of the park several times leaving Carrib 110 for 1 at drinks after just 20 overs. Hugely on top Carrib must have been eyeing up 200 and cooks must have feared they could be chasing 250, however Mark Bird entered the attack, without his normal 8 overs of being told to get loose first!! With the aid of Ashby at the other end Bird and Ashby went in to Immodium Plus mode (dried up the runs!), this pressure and some fine fielding all round, including a stint from 12th Man Charlie Bryant, replacing Ash who left the field injured, struck down by oldmanitis (get well soon ash). The crucial moments coming from Browning (1 Stumping, 1 Catch), Harvey-Jones (1 Catch, 1 Overly Dramatic Catch) and a catch a piece from McLaughlin and Tompkins cooks once again showed their bouncebackability in the second 20 overs and contained Carrib to 186-7 off their 40 overs. E Mosic the stand out batsmen with 72.
The formidable opening partnership of Goddard and McLaughlin were greeted by the rare sight of spin opening the bowling attack from one end, but picking their shots well GG and McL notched up another excellent opening partnership of 64 before GG fell to the most devestating of all deliveries the full toss. On his way to 47 Dan became the highest run scorer EVER for Cogenhoe Cricket Club something that was lost on the whole crowd apart from perhaps Jason Roberts (the man he overtook) who cunningly added up Dan’s score declaring that he was on 47 and that he was batting well, only to see Dan inevitably get bowled the next ball! I’m sure both Cogenhoe teams will benefit from this pair battling it out in the coming weeks in the race to 9,000 runs. #RaceTo9k
Bird briefly looked assured at the crease before taking on the wrong man in the field and getting run out brilliantly from a direct hit. So out strode H Swallow to the crease, a costly drop off his first ball at short cover got him off the mark, and in a 68 run partnership with GT they flamboyantly upped the run rate and swung the momentum right into Cogenhoe’s favour. GT notched up another assured 50, and when Henry fell for 40 bowled whilst eyeing up the short leg side boundary the Cooks only needed a further 22, Browning quickly knocked off the needed runs with 8 balls to spare.
On a day where it could have all been so different, but for the effort from the grounds staff, the bizarre events at the toss, the post drinks turn around and a dropped catch here and there the cooks made the most of their good fortune and notched up back to back victories! Let’s keep it going guys, keep the intensity in the field and the calm heads with the bat and we’ll be a tough match for any team we encounter, this year or in the future. #COYC