On a fine summers evening, the Cogenhoe midweek team traveled to the sunny climes of Walgrave to play Old Cricket Club. Once we’d negotiated the locked gate, skipper Adam won the toss (tails never fails) and invited the opposition to have a bat.
The Cooks opened up the bowling with young James Bushell and the even younger (looking) Adam Lee-Brown, fresh from his date with a razor! Their openers began quickly and Old had reached 29 from the first 4 overs, with Lee-Brown taking the wicket of batsmen uno. Alfie Wreford was the next bowler into the fray but with the batsmen well set, he struggled to find his line and length, although he did see off the second opener, albeit with a retirement, on 26. With the two openers gone, the run rate was beginning to slow down. This was due in part to Alfie starting to find his rhythm, the returning Frankie Perkins bowling in well, and some excellent fielding. With Alfie finishing his spell, Captain Trotty replaced him with George Thompson, who was making his senior debut, and brought on Russ Coleman at the other end. It was an inspired bowling change (even if I do say so myself), with Russ taking 2 scalps in the same over and in his second over, George took his first senior wicket, with an excellent catch by Adam ‘Gillette’ Lee-Brown at mid-wicket, sparking utter scenes amongst the Cogenhoe fielders! George finished with figures of 1-26 from 3 overs, a fine effort, against some established adult players, with Russ finishing with 2 wickets for 8 from 2 overs. The captain then brought himself on, which put paid to any thoughts that Old had of accelerating the scoring towards the end of their innings, with Longley going for only 5 run from 3 overs, and with Lee-Brown (4-21-1) and James Bushell (4-19-0), returning to finish the innings off, Old finishing on a very get-able 114. It was a really good turn around by Cogenhoe, after a quick start by the opposition, on a difficult pitch to bowl on, and a very undulating, to say the least, outfield.
Russ and Nick were sent in to open for The Cooks, however, they didn’t get off to the start that Cogenhoe needed, both out of 3 runs. Alfie Wreford was in at number 3, and despite some excellent attacking shots, he only managed to find the fielders, and he departed for 1. However, this ensured a great moment, as George, batting at number 5, joined his dad , Gary, at the crease. With jokes being made on the side-line about family feuds if a run-out ensued, it was no laughing matter when this came to pass. With Gary attempting a quick single, he was promptly sent back by George, and ending up being a couple of yards short of his crease. George, who was showing some excellent resilience, against some particularly sharp bowling, was joined by James Bushell. James then proceeded to hit Old’s captain for 10 runs from 2 balls, but was out a couple of balls later. Dan McLaughlin now joined George, and with a quick fire 22, It seemed like the game was coming back into Cogenhoe’s favour. However, with the bowlers intelligently keeping Thompson on strike, the run-rate was ever increasing and hopes were slipping. George’s resistance finally came to an end, having scored an excellent 7 runs, eventually being bowled by the returning opener. George faced 38 balls. With 40 needed from the last 2 overs, Perkins, Lee-Brown and wicket keeper Ben Garratt, did their best to try and reduce the deficit, but Cogenhoe ended up 22 runs short.
On another day, this would have been a comfortable Cogenhoe win, however, the key part of the midweek side is for the youngsters to gain some valuable experience playing against adults, and so this was a great game in that sense. Alfie, James and George, all showing some excellent cricketing skills in all 3 facets of the game, which will hopefully benefit Cogenhoe Cricket Club going forward.
A big thank you to all the players who made themselves available. It really is very much appreciated that you spend your Tuesday evenings playing cricket and helping our youngsters develop further (plus gaining a few bonus Fantasy Cricket points).
The next midweek game is on Tuesday 13th June against Squirrels.