Any fixture held over an August Bank Holiday weekend is always going to challenge a small club like Cogenhoe, to find 22 players let alone two competitive teams. The Cooks welcomed Adam Lee-Brown back to the fold with Ashley Davis and our Chairmen also making rare appearances rare for the seconds.
Skipper Ryan won the toss and chose to bowl in pleasant but breezy conditions. The bowlers Tony, Tom and Sid all bowled economically on a flat wicket that held little terrors for the batsmen. The Rushden opening partnership were rather lucky at times surviving dropped catches and strong claims for dismissal, and at the drinks break the score totalled a modest 66 runs off 23 overs. Soon after the break the Rushden openers were parted, a deserved wicket for Sid caught behind the timbers by Ryan. Another wicket soon followed in Frankie Perkin’s second over leaving the Rushden innings at a crossroads. The remaining Rushden opener who was now nearing his fifty was joined by a batsmen co-incidently of the same name as an adjacent village, who soon made his attacking intentions known. The pair ensured that the innings was accelerating towards a reasonable total and when the resilient opener was dismissed by the persevering Sid, the batsmen led by Rushden’s number 5 continued to pressurise the home bowlers who to their credit did not capitulate. So much so that Frankie’s four wickets gained at just over 4 runs an over was a pleasing performance considering the onslaught from the batsmen. The innings ended leaving the Cooks to chase a target of 185, with a little more luck this could have been considerably reduced.
After tea the Cooks made a good start to the run chase with both openers looking reasonably comfortable against the visitors attack. This all changed when Adam and then Jack (unfortunately run out) were both dismissed, handing momentum back to the experienced Rushden bowlers. A steady procession of Cooks batsmen followed with only Ashley managing to build any innings of note. The run chase concluded in the 38th over leaving the Cooks well short of the target.
The Cooks should not be too down hearted regarding this defeat, considering that the club had been hit hard by the inevitable player unavailability, given the time of year. Promotion is still not quite out of the question but results would need to go the seconds way on the final Saturday of the season for this to occur.