August 29th, 2010, filed in EXNING I v COGGESHALL I
With Sudbury calling off their Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Cricket Championship Division 1 match early on Saturday morning due to a waterlogged pitch, Coggeshall knew before arriving at the Park that the cancellation had handed the West Suffolk side the Division 1 Championship without playing and all that the Essex team had to play for at Exning was pride and hopefully, to hang on to the runners-up spot.
For half the match, Coggeshall played with their usual ebullient nature and soon had the Park side in trouble when Chris Carter grabbed two early wickets to leave the score on 7 for 2 after 3 overs. Unfortunately, David Atkinson was the victim of a chest high fast full toss being adjudged a good ball as he fended the ball up to square leg, while Liam Bryant’s season of discontent showed no signs of abating as he lobbed an easy chance back to the mid-off fielder.
Fortunately, Tim Catley adopted his best phlegmatic batting style to firstly calm the Exning nerves and then to provide staunch support to Craig Estlea (43) who chose the brave option of attacking his way back into the match. Coggeshall were not slow in introducing left arm slow bowler, Will Blackwell, to the attack and although Carter (3 for 45) gave Estlea plenty of leeway for run scoring, Blackwell was inducing Estlea into playing ill-judged sweeps to his slow bowling which eventually saw the end of him, lbw, after the 3rd wicket pair had added 60 runs.
From then on Colin Lesiak (4 for 57) and Blackwell (3 for 28) worked their way through the batting order with only Catley offering staunch resistance, although the lower middle order of Daniel Baigent and 16 year old Nicholas Lomas held one end up sufficiently for the score to go from 86 for 5 to 168 for 7, but when Catley’s sojourn was finally broken for a chanceless 81, the end soon came as the innings closed on 175 with one unused over being handed to the visitors as they began their innings.
Although Exning had nothing else to play for but mid-table mediocrity, it soon became apparent that their ‘dander’ was certainly up as Baigent bowled fast and aggressively from the Glanely Rest End while Mark Geeves gave the batsmen no respite from the Pavilion End as he wheeled off 11 overs, with 8 maidens, taking 1 for 11. Baigent’s highlight came when Coggeshall’s South African ‘import’ arrived at the crease at the fall of the 1st wicket and after his first two balls attracted vehement appeals for lbw, the third comprehensively knocked back his middle stump to leave the visitors on 10 for 2.
Baigent was relieved from his end by an equally searching spell of seam bowling from Jamie Grove (2 for 17), while David Atkinson kept the pressure on, stepping into Geeves shoes to take the score to 33 for 6 after 26 overs. There was little way back from this position for the Essex visitors, although Blackwell made sure that he enjoyed a good all-round game by scoring 57 inventive runs to take the score up to 107 before the return of Atkinson saw a summary end to the proceedings as the innings closed on 110 and victory to Exning by 65 runs.
The result puts the lingering mathematical threat of relegation out of the Park side’s minds and hopefully, the final two matches against Ipswich & East Suffolk and Woolpit, can be played in a relaxed manner with thoughts of obtaining as high a position as possible to take into the 2011 season.
EARLS COLNE v EXNING II
The Exning 2nd string travelled into Essex on Saturday to take on the team at the bottom of Division 4, with their own sights set on at least 3rd place, and the possible thought of Division 3 cricket next season if results go in their favour, not just in Division 4, but as high up as the East Anglian Premier League, where Halstead might stay up and Sudbury go up, and also to the Suffolk Premier Cricket League, where the winners could enter the Two Counties Championship to affect promotion and relegation.
With damp conditions prevailing in the days leading up to Saturday, and with the forecast of possible further showers, Peter Woods had no hesitation in fielding first on winning the toss and his bowlers backed him to the hilt. Keen fielding and safe catching hands supported the bowlers to the full as wickets fell regularly although skipper Dave Brooker (50) held up the complete destruction of the innings and with help from Dan Grice in a 4th wicket stand of 49, he managed to post up three figures on the scoreboard.
However, the opening attack of Sam Readman (2 for 27) and Ian Starling (1 for 8 in 8 overs), gave way to the change bowling of Ben Readman (2 for 38) and the eventual star of the show, Simon Lawson, who completely strangled the scoring as he claimed 5 for 21 in 13.4 overs to see the hosts dismissed for 113.
There was no ‘beating about the bush’ from the Exning skipper as he opened the batting and although Sam Readman was dismissed on 32, David Monk (31 not out) kept the score moving steadily along to 97 before Woods was dismissed for a well earned 54 including 8 fours and 1 six. The winning runs soon came at 114 for 3 to give the Park side a 7-wicket victory just as heavy rain moved over the Earls Colne ground.
EXNING SUNDAY XI
Following a blank Sunday, the Exning Sunday XI go into their final two matches of the season with all to play for, for both the Park side and their opponents; Bury St Edmunds away this coming Sunday, and Edwardstone at home on the final Sunday of the season. It would seem that Bury already have the Division 2 title in their hands but the two E’s, Edwardstone and Exning, are sparring for the runners up spot for the right to join them in Division 1 for 2011 season.
