CCC v’s Colston Bassett
On a blustery, overcast afternoon, another battle of the cricketing greats took place on Sheldon Field, Cropwell Butler.
Cropwell Cricket club proudly played hosts to Colston Bassett.
Playing on a new pitch that had a tinge of green on it, nobody could of foreseen the epic encounter that would be served up by these two teams.
Cropwell captain N. King won the toss and decided to bat. A decision he must have been ecstatic with as F. Dulwich and R. Lee piled on the runs. Lee pushing for singles whilst Dulwich with some lusty blows put the Colston attack to the sword. The opening partnership surpassed 50 at a run rate of just above four an over. There were a few alarm bells ringing for the batsmen however from the pitch, several balls burst through the surface and a few spat up rapping the batsmen on the gloves. With the total on 63, Lee reached a little to far for a leg side full toss, hitting the bottom of his bat and the ball flew to the fielder at square leg who held onto a low catch. The opening partnership had been broken. M. Campbell had been promoted up the order to try and get him some time in the middle, his miserable slump in form continued though without him scoring. Speaking of miserable slumps……….. Captain King was to arrive at the crease next.
Sometimes sport has a habit of making a fool of you, today a young man in the Colston ranks will go home and think to himself ‘what the bloody hell happened out there today?’
Only a youngster with years of cricket ahead of him, he took a fantastic low catch to dismiss the opener, then with King struggling to get the ball off the square he loops a dolly 10 yards into the waiting hands of the youngster, who for reasons known only to himself spills it.
Speculation by a small section of the crowd is there were some dodgy dealings going on behind the pavilion before play started.
The drop spurred King on and he grew in confidence. What followed was a fantastic display of how to steal the strike off the last ball of the over by King. Dulwich who went on to score 88, didn’t face a ball for three and a half overs as King started to find some form. A partnership of 74 helped move Cropwell into a commanding position. Once King was out the ball was starting to keep low. Some very straight bowling and some slogs across the line saw Cropwell wickets tumble thick and fast, with not too many more runs being added.
Cropwell finished on 163 for 9
Needing four runs an over to win Colston Bassett started their innings in slow fashion. Cropwell kept the field tight. Some great Bowling by the openers S. Barlow and M. Healing meant after 12 overs Colston had scored only 16 runs and had lost two wickets.
King leading from the front with a great catch at the wicket was marshalling his troops to great effect. Making sure the right man was in the right fielding position.
The pitch had seemed to settle down by the time T. Collier came on to bowl. Pitching the ball up, the ball started to swing. The movement in the air was to prove too much for the Colston middle order. Wickets were falling at regular intervals and by the time 80 runs were on the board Colston had lost five wickets. The wickets being shared by the seamers. F. Dulwich was asked to keep one end tight and make sure no boundary’s were scored. His tactic to achieve this was to ball down the leg side to a loaded field. In theory a fantastic plan, in practice the umpires arms were aching from all the wide balls he had to signal.
The ball was tossed to R. Lee to bowl the 30th over, a rank long hop was dispatched to the boundary, another short ball was cut away for two. King now wondering if he had done the right thing, was encouraging Lee to bowl a little fuller. Three dot balls was followed by a no ball. Lee a spinner: for reasons nobody understands bowls the occasional no ball, much to the frustration of his captain. Sighing and then barking some encouragement King starts to contemplate whom he is going to replace Lee with. Lee then bowls one of them over pitched, wide of the off stump balls that batsmen love, a big swing of the bat, an inside edge onto the leg stump and Cropwell need only four wickets to win.
The Landlord and Lee then ripped through the tail end taking the last four wickets for 13 runs and ensuring Colston were all out for 99.
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