Match Reports: 27 & 28 June 2009
EXNING I v ABBERTON 1
Back on home ground after their disappointing trip to Ipswich & East Suffolk 7 days earlier, Exning resumed their winning ways with a 44 run Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Cricket Championship Division 1 victory over Abberton, but not after one or two stumbles along the way as the Park side did their best to throw away a sound start with three figures on the board for the loss of only two wickets, then when the Essex visitors batted, their skipper, Sean Callandine gave a one-man batting display which briefly threatened the Exning target.
Exning soon lost their 1st wicket in the opening over of the match but Richard Ford (19) and Tim Catley repaired the early damage with a stand of 41 which was then followed by a 3rd wicket worth 49 between Catley and Craig Estlea (23), taking the score to 101. Gary Saville whipped out the middle order taking 3 for 20 in 6 overs before Tim Zaman threw himself into a marathon spell of 16 overs in the strength sapping conditions. Catley became his first wicket having scored a patient 62 in an effort to hold the innings together and although Zaman finished with 3 for 46, supported at the close of the innings by Dave Stumbles with 2 for 28, the Exning tail wagged sufficiently to see the 200 up on the board. Mark Geeves (21) and Daniel Baigent (23) were the leaders of the ‘wagging’ while Andrew Longfield bludgeoned a 6 in the final over to take the score to 209 with 3 balls of the 50 overs to spare.
Abberton’s batting line up had already been dealt an unkind blow when opener, Rob Savill injured a finger in the pre-match warm-up and then did further damage to it while in the field. Unfortunately, the stand-in opener gave little support to Abberton’s skipper, Sean Callandine, as Baigent whipped out the first two wickets with only 11 on the board and when Keith Hammond was caught & bowled from change bowler, Kent Tomsett’s first ball, the score stood at 36 for 3.
Callandine continued to battle away to keep his ship afloat but assistance was very sporadic as Baigent returned to the fray to reduce the score to 93 for 5 before Martin Gilray held steady for his side to reach 142, until he became Christopher Lomas’s first success followed by two more wickets which caused a slump as the innings subsided from 161 for 6 to 165 all out in the space of 14 balls. Baigent wound up with 5 for 34 from 15 overs while Lomas claimed the final wicket to finish with 4 for 45; the final wicket being that of Callandine who had just completed a quite deserved 100 before offering a catch in the deep still attempting the chase for the runs in the final 5 overs.
This coming Saturday sees the start of the 2nd half of the League campaign as the opening fixtures are reversed and Copdock & Old Ipswichians are the visitors to the Park; the match commencing at 1pm. With Sudbury slumping, surprisingly, to an 8 wicket defeat at the hands of Elmstead Grasshoppers last weekend, Exning find themselves 2nd in the Division 1 table after slipping the previous weekend, and can be satisfied with their performances since promotion from Division 2, especially if they are able to gain recompense for the opening day defeat on Saturday.
MILDENHALL 1 v EXNING 1
The local West Suffolk rivals did battle last Sunday in the Quarter Final of the Greene King IPA Suffolk Cup, Exning winning the toss and choosing to bat first on Mildenhall’s Wamil Way ground. With Oli Fowlston unavailable for this fixture, Kent Tomsett was sent in to partner Richard Ford as the opening pairing with the somewhat unorthodox methods of Tomsett proving a perfect foil to Ford as a solid opening stand of 49 was built before the latter gave Mildenhall their first success. Tomsett was unlucky to be run out, backing up, as Tim Catley played a firm straight drive which just flicked the fingers of bowler, Lucky Phangabantu, before crashing into the stumps.
Catley and Craig Estlea saw the Park side into three figures by the halfway stage, but as usual, the introduction of slow bowling proved to be their nemesis as Steve Lankester wheeled through his 10 overs for just 29 runs with only Estlea keeping the board ticking over. Although Lankester only claimed one wicket, he was instrumental in keeping the run rate down to 4 an over during which time the array of Mildenhall bowlers claimed the wickets of the Exning middle order – the Catley brothers and Christopher Lomas.
Upon the resumption of the pace bowling, Estlea found a willing ally in Mark Geeves who provided 26 runs in a 6th wicket stand of 80, while Estlea marched on towards three figures. Franny Bester then bowled an incisive 48th over as he dismissed both batsmen just as they were building up for the final onslaught; Estlea for a well crafted 90 including 10 fours and one six, and then in his final over, he claimed Daniel Baigent’s wicket to finish with 3 for 42 as Exning hit the buffers on 224 for 4, probably 25 runs short of a ‘par’ score, with the remaining wickets being shared one apiece by the five other bowlers to go with Tomsett’s run out.
Mildenhall’s reply was soon on the back foot as Baigent grabbed Alan White’s wicket in the 1st over and Exning were cock-a-hoop when Tim Catley clung on to a flashing chance offered by the dangerous Franny Bester from Geeves bowling to leave the score at 31 for 2 in the 11th over. During this, the Park side were employing Mike Pursell’s slow ‘enigma variations’ which went unpunished by the home batsmen as he wheeled through his 10 over spell for just 35 runs with the bonus of the wicket of Richard Cross to take the score to 57 for 3.
Slow was replaced by slow when Lomas entered the attack to take 2 for 38 with a clatter of wickets as Mildenhall tumbled from 95 for 3 to 98 for 6 in the space of 2 overs including a stunning run out dismissal of Ben Shepperson by Tim Catley. The host’s chances of victory took a further dive when another slow bowler, Estlea, saw the dismissal of James Holmes, but Steve Lankester then played the Captain’s innings to perfection as he paced the run chase from 131 for 7 to the winning target with 3 balls to spare. He found a willing ally in Lucky Phangabantu (29) who gave the strike to his captain at every opportunity, and although it could be said that two sizeable showers left the fielding side with the difficulties of a dampish ball, Lancaster showed not one grain of panic as he finished on an unbeaten 79 to claim the Greene King IPA Man of the Match award for his all-round contribution of the bowling, the batting and the astute captaincy – a worthy winner of 24 cans of IPA!
And so victory by 3 wickets takes Mildenhall into a home semi-final clash against Bury St Edmunds on Sunday 2 August, while Exning will play host to Haverhill in the Plate semi-final on the same day.
ST MARGARET’S I v EXNING II
After losing to Sudbury II’s by just 12 runs the previous week, the Exning 2nd string travelled to Ransomes Sports Ground in Ipswich on Saturday with a determination to prove that the team could get runs – and the runs came with a vengeance! Having no hesitation in batting first upon winning the toss, Exning posted up 40 inside 8 overs before Simon Allen (21) fell to the bowling of Alan Shufflebotham. This only served to increase the onslaught to the St Margaret’s bowlers as Julian Barker (77) and David Monk powered to a 2nd wicket stand of 144 in just 23 overs with the mayhem continuing as Nigel Lomas added a quick fire 21 before the 3rd wicket fell at 252. Monk was finally dismissed by fatigue as much as anything else, for 109, leaving Peter Woods (32 not out) to see the score up to 301 for the loss of only 4 wickets.
The sizeable target for the hosts, soon took on monstrous proportions as Ian Starling (2 for 41) and Woods induced a collapse to 50 for 4 before Lawrence Wilmington (29) and Matthew Parker (27) proved capable foot soldiers to Roger White who fought back at the bowling in the most appropriate fashion. He clattered 16 fours in a score of 74 before he was dismissed at 166 for 6 as Woods was reintroduced to the attack to claim his best bowling figures of an injury hit season so far. 6 for 64 was just reward for his first workout in over 4 weeks and with the support of Starling, together with Mike Pursell (2 for 42) he saw the demolition of St Margaret’s for 220 to leave the Park side with victory by 81 runs.
The ‘return fixtures’ for the 2nd half of the Division 3 season commence this Saturday as the Exning 2nd XI travel the short distance to local rivals Worlington, who will be keen on gaining revenge for an unlikely opening day defeat at the Park. The match commences at 1pm.
EXNING SUNDAY XI
The Sunday XI were inactive last weekend with the day being set aside for the 2nd Round of the Greene King IPA Suffolk Cup but this coming Sunday they take up the challenge again of achieving a victory in Division 1 of the Hunts County Bats Suffolk Cricket League, when Walsham le Willows are the visitors to the Park in a match commencing at 2pm. This is a change from the Fixture |Card with the games being swapped around to accommodate a Village Fete which is being held on the Walsham cricket field this weekend.
GIBSON CUP
An extremely entertaining and well-attended Gibson Cup semi final was played out between Weston Colville and Fordham at Exning Park last Thursday evening, with Fordham running out eventual winners by 5 wickets at the end of a high scoring affair. Batting first, Weston Colville put the Fordham bowlers to the sword as they amassed 169 for 3 with the great majority feeling that this would be a difficult score to chase as the light fell. The contrary was the case as, at first, Fordham scored well below the required run rate, but as the ball became rather more difficult for the fielders to pick up, rather than the batsmen, so the runs began to flow with ones being turned into twos. A fair sprinkling of fours and sixes saw the total move inexorably towards the winning post, and although Fordham did lose 5 wickets, the victory target was reached with 10 balls to spare.
The Final will now take place tonight (Thursday 2 July) between Fordham and Worlington, commencing at 6.15pm at Exning Park.
Posted on June 30th, 2009 by webmaster
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