The Cooks for the first time this season were invited to bat first, on a glorious early summer’s day at the picturesque Harlestone playfields. Cogenhoe’s open batmen soon took advantage of the short boundary and any loose delivery invariable ended up with a thud, against the wall that marked the boundary. For the first time this term messrs Coleman & Golby achieved a fifty run opening stand, on this occasion in less than ten over’s . This partnership was then soon broken by first change Faruz who bowled Golby for 31. Ashley Davis took little time to find his feet and with Colman content to provide a supporting role, the Cogenhoe number three soon racked up a half-century. The pair had added 99 runs when Colman was trapped LBW by Prabin for an important knock that had given the Cooks a solid foundation. Davis then followed without a run being added to the total, caught for an admirable 72. Although the Harlestone bowlers were sticking to their task, there was to be no respite from the two new batsmen, Harris and especially Knight who in his customary attacking style racked up the boundaries. The skipper took one risk too many and was caught leaving Harris to take on the attacking mantle. Harris added 22 runs with Tom Robinson, when Robinson was dismissed Tom Smyth entered the fray in dramatic fashion to face the 2nd ball of the 41st over. Smyth smashed his first ball for four and then one more four and two sixes in the same over to yield a remarkable total of 22 runs. In fact the last 5 over’s went for 48 runs with the Harlstone bowlers having no answer to Smyth’s ultra aggressive batting. The innings ended with Smyth unbeaten, 2 short of a fifty and Harris not out for a stylish 39. Cogenhoe’s total of 284 was testimony to the great consistency of the Cogenhoe batsman who used the favourable batting conditions to build a formidable total.
A sumptuous tea followed, maybe this was a Harlestone’s ploy to ensure the Cooks bowlers over indulged before taking to the field. Opening bowlers Tom Smyth and Tony Bird then showed they were hungry for wickets with both Harlestone bowlers soon back in the pavilion. More wickets soon followed to leave Harlestone teetering on the edge at 41 for 6. The new batsman then staged a fight back against the continuing bowlers, with Prabin chancing his arm to great effect and Faruz using a more measured approach. These two batsmen had added 70 runs in a most entertaining fashion when Prabin (34) was trapped LBW by Bird and then Smyth gained his revenge for damaged figures, by forcing Faruz to flash the ball to a diving Golby, who held on spectacularly. The end of the Harlestone innings was completed with two more champagne moment catches. Smyth ended his spell with five wickets in his 13 over spell and was replaced by Davis who gained the last two wickets in his 4 ball spell courtesy of these well judged catches from Robinson and Coleman
This was an excellent team performance by the Cooks, with many performances of merit. Everyone played their part and the positive batting throughout ensured that Harlestone were under pressure from the start, facing such a large target.