Fine summer weather welcomed Gumley to fortress Compton for the return fixture between the two sides. Gumley’s skipper guessed right and chose to bowl, this decision was soon to be vindicated. The first over set the scene for the rest of the game with the Cooks losing two batsmen in the first six balls leaving the hosts on a sorry 0-2. The skipper joined opener Jack and a recovery of sorts was staged but after 30 runs had been added, the procession of Cogenhoe batsman was re-started, with Jack being Read’s third victim. The skipper soon followed (caught again) and although Bird the younger was mixing defence with outrageous attacking shots, no one was able to stick around too long. The writing was on the wall when Mark was seventh out for a defiant 32. At 80-9 a batting bonus point seemed out of the question but a useful partnership between ten and jack mainly made up of 3 boundaries from the wily Sid, enabled the Cooks to limp their way to 101.
This was in some ways an inept batting display from the Cooks, although the opposition bowlers made full use of any movement extracted from the dry wicket, most of the batsman capitulated a little too easily.
With the game now well advanced tea was re-scheduled which gave the visitors an hours batting. From the start Gumley’s early order struggled against the customary accuracy of the Cooks opening bowlers and with more catches being taken and a little more luck in general Gumley may have lost more than three wickets before the tea interval. Just before tea Cogenhoe’s slim hopes of an unlikely victory took a dive when Bird the elder was not able to continue his spell due to creaking bones (only joking Tony) and was replaced by his son Mark.
After tea early wickets were imperative, unfortunately the two experienced batsman at the crease were taking no chances, willing to wait for the bad ball and patiently defend the rest. Eventually the breakthrough came from young Tom Robinson removing the remaining Gumley opening caught behind by the skipper. Gumley appear to have strength in depth and the next two batsman made light work of the remaining target to gain a rather comfortable 6 wicket victory.
This was a disappointing defeat by the Cooks whose level of performance fell some way short, against a 10 man team who although lacking in number still had enough proven performers, that would have given an in-form Cooks a severe test. On a positive note this was the first defeat in five games and next Saturdays game at Heyford gives the players a great opportunity to show that this performance was a one-off blip in an encouraging first half of the season, given the step up to Division Ten.