A delightful late summers day heralded the visit of the Cooks to the Wellingborough School main pitch for this Division 10 clash against OW’s second string. The hosts won the toss and chose to bat in conditions that were to be challenging for the bowlers, given it was one of the hottest days of 2015. From the start little fortune was evident for the Cooks opening bowlers, the batsmen were forced into many false shots but with costly dropped catches, only two wickets fell, both to Chris Mason. This theme continued after the first drinks break, with both batsmen happily chancing their arm with a great degree of success, the run rate started to soar. When the third wicket partnership was broken, 83 runs had been added in just over 10 overs, the Cooks had allowed the departing batsman, four catching chances before one was accepted, off the seconds debutante Marcus Chalkley. The standard of the Cooks performance as a whole was beginning to look very below par and they continued to toil in the heat, eventually putting a partial break on the run rate in gaining a further 5 wickets. The score of 264 for 8 was the highest conceded this season, which set a very challenging target.
The Cooks reply started slowly and with two wickets going down with the score on 19, a partnership was required to steady the ship. Dave Patrick joined Liam Knight, the pair combined well to stage a recovery of sorts until Dave was dismissed, soon after Liam was clean bowled for an aggressive 58 and when brother Ryan was also bowled next ball, the writing was on the wall for the Cooks, given that 175 runs were still required. With the bowlers sensing an early finish the last five wickets yielded only 25 runs to give the opposition a comprehensive victory.
This was a disappointing defeat for the Cooks considering they had won 4 out of their last 5 games. Fielding and individual decision making need to be improved upon, if the prize for the season is to be realised, in the final two games of the season.