This week the seconds took the short trip to Overstone Park to take on a young fourth team who were sitting in second spot of the Division 12 table.
Returning skipper Mark won the toss and asked the home side to bat in conditions ideal for a game of cricket. The game began with a wicket in Tony Bird’s first over, then fellow opening bowler James Bushell emulated Tony in his second over, which gave the Cooks the upper hand. The only sizeable partnership (37 runs) then followed for Overstone but when this was broken by a straight full toss from first change Sid, leaving Overstone’s only senior batsmen Mr Grayson at the crease. The rest of the hosts innings saw a flurry of shots, a crash of wickets and some Cogenhoe relief when the chief run scorer departed for 47. Sid took five wickets and Mark two to ensure that the Cooks were chasing a modest 99 runs, given the shortish boundaries.
An early tea followed, with the homemade Victoria sponge especially meriting a mention in dispatches. The Cooks lost opener Russ Coleman in the 6th over but Adam Longley and Quennell junior steadied the ship until Adam departed caught off the young Overstone spinner. The Cooks then stuttered to their target mainly due to the promising bowling from the home youngster. A further three Cogenhoe wickets fell reaching the target, though young Alex Bushell joined the fray with a patient 12no and victory was never in doubt.
Cogenhoe’s performance in the field went a long way to gaining this win, the bowlers did what was expected of them and with backing of no dropped catches by the fielders including one each for the Bushell Brothers and an excellent run out by Jon Smith, the set target was manageable. A larger target may have been a problem, but on this occasion the batsmen did not have to be on top of their game and a somewhat comfortable victory was achieved.