Match Report - Earls Colne & Bures vs. Shalford 21/08/05

PDQ North Essex Cricket League - Division 2

Earls Colne & Bures  246 for 8 (45 overs)

(Tom Konopka 57, Steve Thornton 44, Adrian Wigan 53)

Shalford  220 for 4 (45 overs)

Earls Colne & Bures won by 26 runs

A fine victory for E C & B at Shalford. Hay was made as the sun shone with all the E C & B top order getting runs. Relishing his role as a top-order batsman, TK made the most of his chance with a cultured 57, the only point of alarm on his part being a heave over mid wicket which landed worryingly close to his beloved Beamer. Steve Thornton made appropriate use of some wayward off-side bowling until the extra-cover sweeper was posted, whereupon he began to work the ball away into the vacant mid-wicket area. Good cricket! Wiggy then contributed a cultured albeit slightly rusty 53, including a couple of lovely on-drives and with a useful addition of 22 from Himesh Patel and 20 from James Lee, E C & B invited Shalford to chase 246 after tea to win.

Opening the bowling after the resumption, Joe Smith and Mr. Slow represented the sublime and ridiculous respectively but with first blood to the latter in the 12th over and with the departure of the Shalford skipper run out, E C & B took control. There followed a concerted effort on the part of the Shalford middle order to approach the target, but it proved a bridge too far and they fell 26 runs short.

An excellent result for us, but one which will need to be repeated a number of times before the end of the season if relegation is to be avoided.

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Team - James Lee, Martin Stonley, Tom (TK) Konopka, Himesh Patel, James Bocking, John "Wolfie" Gibson, Christopher Chambers, Steve Thornton, Adrian Wigan, Joe Smith, Colin Bocking.

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