COKENACH 1st XI v SAWSTON 2nd XI - May 7th 2011
Excitement & anticipation was building for the first Cambs jnr1 league fixture at Cokenach’s brand new ground! Sawston were the opponents, and two years ago when they won this league they did it without losing a game! Although the magnificent new pavilion was not quite ready, the players certainly were, and after winning the toss Cokenach elected to bowl first, the wicket was hard and bouncy and slightly green, and the Cokenach opening bowlers soon found the edges of the Sawston openers bats, unfortunately the chances didn't go to hand, and with a lightning fast outfield Sawston punished anything loose, with 31on the board Alex Thompson found another edge and Matt Stevens took the chance at 1st slip, with the breakthrough Cokenach turned up the pressure and with John Ford taking a great reflex catch at square leg to dismiss Sawstons talented no 3, the game was on!!
With Clarke taking his 2nd wkt Sawston found themselves 64 for 3 off 10 overs, The 2nd change bowlers of ford and keel took their chance and with his 1st ball James keel dismissed the other opener, and turned in great figures of 7 overs 2 wkts for 14 Cokenach’s only blemish was to drop M. Bradford who made a stubborn 33 but after a fantastic diving catch from Shar Stone, John Ford had taken 2 wkts in 2 balls, he missed his hat trick chance, but ended with great figures of 7 overs 3 wkts for 24 runs & Sawston had quickly collapsed from 100 for 4 to 104 for 8 Sawstons Gary Pearson (20 runs) marshalled the tail until spin twins Stevens and Stone took the last 2wkts to dismiss Sawston for 149.
In reply Cokenach had a terrible start with opener Peter Clarke finding a faint edge from Sawstons very fast opening bowler Botman, 1for 1, with skipper Phil Seale coming in to face the very quick bowling, he did a great job of leaving the ball and dealing with Sawstons main attack, when he played on to his stumps, Botman was tiring and with the entrance of James Keel Cokenach pushed on, with Cokenach’s other opener Matt Stevens quietly going about his business, Stevens and Keel (27) put on 61 before keel fell to a good ball from Pearson, Alex Thompson (25) came to the crease and struck the ball sweetly from the off, hitting the returning quick bowler Botman for 3 successive boundaries before falling to a great fast yorker, with much talk about who would hit the 1st 6 on the new ground Matt Stevens (53*) took the honour with a sweep shot over square leg, he also took the honour of the 1st 50 as he saw his side home in the 25th over with a glorious cover drive which both won the game and brought up his unbeaten 53*.
A great win for Cokenach 1's, which in a league with newcomers Buntingford and three other teams who have previously won this league in recent years, could prove a very valuable 20 points....
COKENACH 1st XI v WHITTLESFORD 1st XI - May 14th 2011
Cokenach 1sts visited Whittlesford for this CCA Jnr 1 match on Saturday, Cokenach skipper Phil Seale was in two minds at the toss as the pitch looked very good but overhead conditions were quite cloudy, but decided when winning the toss to bat and Cokenach's opening pair of Peter Clarke & Matthew Stevens set off at a good pace putting 30 runs on the board in just 5 overs, but Whittlesfords opening bowlers then found their line & length and great movement on a wicket of variable bounce to drag back the score and when losing Clarke (28) bowled to a great yorker from G. Newnham, Cokenach were pegged back to 61 for 1 off 20 overs.
Stevens and no 3. Phil Seale then took on the challenge of pushing the score along but with good straight bowling from Whittlesford this became difficult, Stevens (71) decided to try and cut loose and did hit some good boundarys and with great support from Seale (44) they put on a 93 partnership Until Stevens holed out to long on with a great catch from A Newbury. (Which would have gone for 6 if he hadn't caught it,lol) for a hard fought 71. With Seale falling shortly after scoring an excellent 44 there was 5 overs left to try and post a decent total, but with more good, straight bowling from Whittlesford, Cokenach lost 3 more quick wickets for only another 25 runs and ended up on a par score of 165 for 6.
Whittlesfords openers started well in reply and David Baker in particular put away any ball with any width on it, there was a glimmer of hope when James Keel took the other opener's wicket with a fine catch behind from Sam Curtis, but this just brought in no .3 Martin Towers to the crease, he set about Cokenach's bowling from the off, & with Clarke having to go off with a groin strain & could clearly no longer bowl, and last weeks hero John Ford hurting his leg, Cokenach's change bowlers struggled, & now there was no longer any assistence from the wicket which had flattened out considerably, so whilst the bowlers toiled the Whittlesfords pair continued to punish the loose ball & almost saw their side home with a 122 Run partnership, but Bowler Shar Stone managed to produce a top edge to dismiss Towers for a fluent 65 just before the end, David Baker however batted to the end, & scored a match winning 80*, Whittlesford went to the winning post in the 35th over, winning by 8 wickets....20 points to Whittlesford.
COKENACH 1st XI V ELMDON 1st XI - JUNE 4TH 2011
As Elmdon visited Cokenach on Saturday, little did anyone realise what a great game this would turn out to be. Elmdon won the toss and elected to insert the home side, and with Cokenach missing several players watching the test match at lords,John Ford rolled back the years by partnering Matthew Stevens as the opening pair. Although Ford (11) started well hitting 2 fours he fell early to a great ball from young Henry Lascells, this brought skipper Phil Seale to the crease and with Stevens they set about building a total. Elmdon bowled well but the pair punished anything loose and at 20 overs, Cokenach were 91 for 1.
Skipper Danny Gaine then bowled well and didn't give much to hit and had a big lbw shout against Stevens, but failed to pick up the wicket and Matt Stevens made his half century in the 28th over, Seale however fell short of his by calling a quick single to mid off and was run out with a great direct hit for a well made 49 and a partnership of 142 for the 2nd wicket.
Cokenach then lost 4 quick wickets for just 30 runs but Stevens had started a full on assault of the Elmdon bowlers, with his eye on the much talked about '1st century on Cokenach's new ground' and earning the prize of having his name 1st on the new 'Lords' style centurion board he hit a run of 9 consecutive boundary’s, & he found himself on 98 with four balls to go, facing the returning Lascells (10 overs 1 maiden 42 for 3) & despite the cries of 'no'! from his teammates in the pavilion he hit the ball to cover for a single, 99, leaving Rob Stone to get him back on strike, Stone pushed the ball back to the bowler who turned and shyed at the stumps and Stevens would have been out if he hit, but he missed and they scrambled through to leave two balls for his century, he stroked the ball to mid off to end on exactly 100 not out and his side posting a competitive 225 for 8.
Elmdon however wanted to spoil the party, and with the combination of a lightening quick outfield some wayward bowling and fielding, the openers Turner & Mellick smashed the ball to all areas of the ground, and after just 15 overs Elmdon had raced to 105 for 0 with Mellick going to his 50 in double quick time. A change of bowling was required and Shar Stone finally tempted D Turner to hit the ball down to long on where the catch was taken, the breakthrough at last, 114 for 1.
However this brought the left handed J Reeves in and with Mellick (78) they continued to smash anything wide and although no more action was required, an accident at the entrance of the ground caused the game to halt for 25 minutes while the emergency services arrived, and due to this Cokenach found themselves a man down, perhaps the break caused a concentration loss because leg spinner Stevens finally got a ball to beat the edge of Mellicks bat and with the reactions of a cat, keeper Sam Curtis whipped off the bails and with Mellicks foot on the line the umpire had no choice to give their star batsman out, this was a huge wicket as he had almost won the game by himself, then with Cokenach sensing a glimmer of a chance Stone struck again bowling Reeves for 30, Game on! Stevens & Curtis combined again with another stumping, next over, Stones turn, a caught & bowled wicket! Ending his spell with great figures of 10 overs 39 for 3.
With Stevens bowling skipper Danny Gaine around his legs with a big turning ball Elmdon had collapsed from 169 for 2 to 185 for 7 , and Stevens also had 3 wickets, Alex Thompson took over and although a slight resistance from the tail his straight bowling proved too much & he also ended up with 3 wickets to bowl Elmdon out In the last over for 214 just 12 runs short, Cokenach won the game that they looked to have thrown away, a great game played with superb spirit from both sides, with lots going on, including incident & accident!
