Scorecard

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI v Mortimer West End on Sat 03 Aug 2019 at 1:00 pm
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Lost by 3 wickets

Match report SPIRITED CROWS NARROWLY BEATEN BY IMPRESSIVE MORTIMER WEST END

With a number of regular batsmen missing, the Crows top-order was rejigged once again under stand-in skipper J. Cluett. This included a welcome return from injury for James Whitehurst, and from Spain for former BCL Young Player of the Year Joe Davies. The returning players would be called into action sooner rather than later, as the Crows were asked to bat by West End captain Kingston, after he won a crucial toss in bowler-friendly conditions.

As the Crows set their sites firmly on a par score of around 160, openers Colonel Ant Cluett and Nikunj got off to a steady start, battling through the new ball to 26-0 after 9 overs. Unfortunately the tale of the innings from that point proved to be a repetitive one, as all the recognised batsmen got in, got a start, and then got out. All of the top 8 fell for between 9 and 17, excepting a punchy 27 from Marv at number 5. Wickets fell due to a variety of tight bowling, a testing surface and some loose shots, but things were still finely poised after 38 overs with the score at 128-6, Mikey and Ravi at the crease. At this point West End skipper Kingston wrestled the contest very much into his team's control, producing an outstanding spell of bowling that included a phenomenal hat trick. Those last 7 overs could have seen the Crows creep up to the 160 they had targeted, however it was only 135 they were defending after Kingston's intervention, CCWCC bowled out with more than 4 overs unused.

It is only in hindsight that those last overs of the Crows innings were clearly decisive, as throughout the Mortimer innings the Crows kept giving themselves chances to pull off an unlikely victory. The bowling and fielding display was one of the strongest of the season, and in particular it was Chris Emes that gave his team a sniff of a chance. The youngster had been improving all season up to this point, but in this spell his bowling went to a different level and he showed his huge future potential. Charging down the hill with his usual good pace, Emes found a control that had occasionally eluded him earlier in the season, and some prodigious away movement that the West End batsmen had no answer for. Emes dismissed 3 of the top 4 batsmen in quick succession, and with plenty of support at the other end from Jaffa (9-3-20-2) and Godbole (6-3-11-1) the outcome had become a coin flip. Marv would then come on to turn up the pressure even more, bowling an excellent 5 overs and claiming the Crows' 7th scalp, rendering MWE 103-7. Knowing that 1 more wicket would see them right into the depths of the West End tail, the Crows endured several agonising near misses and in the end just couldn't quite make it happen. MWE were the better side on the day, and their number 7 Stamp deservedly hit the winning runs in the 43rd over, ending with 32 vital runs to his name.

After the game Captain Jeff Cluett refused to speak to the press, clearly distressed by the narrowness of the Crows defeat. Press duties fell to his brother Ant in his absence, who did not pull any punches in his assessment of his brother's captaincy: "I can't believe I was taken off after bowling just 4 overs. That's what lost us the game. There were 10 of us that did everything we could to win this game, but right from the toss onwards Jeff kept messing things up. I spent 3 years as captain of this great club, and watching that disgraceful captaincy performance makes me consider coming out of retirement. Still, looking forward to Sunday dinner at mum's tomorrow."

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 1w 2b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
7
135		        
Anthony Cluett ct Johnson 15
Nikunj Mehta ct Telford 13
James Whitehurst b Trott 17
Joe Davies lbw Telford 14
Marvin Vogel b Telford 27
Jeff Cluett ct Morris 9
Mike Brundish ct Kingston 15
Ravi Godbole b Kingston 16
James Sussex b Kingston 0
Chris Emes ct Kingston 0
Sinith Chandran Not Out  2

Mortimer West End Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A. Trott8.0130130.003.75
M. Morris9.0223123.002.56
A. Telford7.0130310.004.29
A. Johnson9.0314114.001.56
N. Kingston7.503348.254.21

Mortimer West End Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2w 9b  
for 7 wickets
11
137 (42.1 overs)		     
J. Searancke ct C. Emes 22
G. Williams ct J. Cluett 17
W. Bray ct C. Emes 1
A. Telford ct C. Emes 16
N. Kingston ct R. Godbole 0
S. Audsley ct J. Cluett 25
G. Stamp Not Out  32
A. Johnson lbw M. Vogel 2
J. Beale Not Out  11
A. Trott  
M.Morris  

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club League 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sinith Chandran6.021400.002.33
James Sussex4.001600.004.00
Jeff Cluett9.0320210.002.22
Chris Emes8.032939.673.63
Ravi Godbole6.0311111.001.83
Anthony Cluett4.112100.005.04
Marvin Vogel5.0117117.003.40