EHGB II 195 all out
Thurrock III 60/3
Match abandoned due to rain.
Match report by Thurrock CC
Mother Nature "rained" supreme at Blackshots on Saturday in this Mid Essex League encounter, but due to the rain spreading across the whole county, a draw was enough to send Thurrock III to the top of Division 9 by the slender margin of 1 point over perennial rivals Goresbrook who missed out on valuable bonus points in their fixture away at Eastwood. Thurrock got their bonus points by managing to bowl East Hanningfield & Great Burstead out with the very last ball of the innings.
Thurrock skipper Tyrone Owen invited the visitors to bat in drizzly conditions after miraculously winning a toss. To their credit EHGB set about the task in positive fashion and scored at just under 5 runs per over for the entire innings. Openers Hamilton and Linahan put on 70 for the first wicket and see off the opening pair of Packer and Feeney with few scares. Looking to take wickets, Captain Owen introduced the golden arm of Callum Brady while duly trapped Hamilton for 35 in front of his stumps. This still didn’t disrupt their progress as Patel come in at number 3 and the second wicket yielded another 50 runs.
The "Janitor" Michael Parker was then called into the attack for an earlier than usual shift and managed a trio of wickets, all bowled, to drag Thurrock back into the contest and finish with figures of 3/17. While this was happening at the other end, Paboletti had quietly accumulated himself 31 runs before skipper Owen noticed something in his technique. He bought himself on for the first time in over a year and his spin induced a top edge that Andrew Packer pouched at cover and the batsman was on his way.
As is always the case this season, young spinner Tom Redman took his customary wickets. The first was castling Smith for 16 and the second was a mistimed drive that Parker hung onto at mid off. Just as swingman Andrew Packer was looking at his first wicketless match of 2015, he come back on for the last over of the innings and played the Janitor role in mopping up the tail. He removed the bails of Gant before having Fowler caught at square leg by the young paceman Alfie Feeney to give himself respectable looking figure of 2/29. Due to EHGB only having 10 players they finished their innings on 195 all out despite 9 wickets falling and that gave Thurrock the extra bonus points to leapfrog Goresbrook.
Despite being bowled out, EHGB had set a daunting target on what unfortunately looked like a poorly prepared strip. Think of the greens at Chambers Bay US Open and then ride a motorbike across them! A light shower during the interval also freshened up the pitch a bit for the Thurrock innings.
With more ominous clouds gathering in the distance that were accompanied by the odd rumble of thunder, the opening pair of Danny Groves and Jack Day were looking to survive and see off the new ball as well as lay a platform for the big hitters lower down in the Thurrock order. They managed 16 and 8 respectively before Groves was adjudged LBW and Day was caught out. Plain was in at number 3 but was caught out playing one big shot too many.
With rain falling steadily, Iain Oakley and Dean Wright were looking to up the scoring rate and were on 24 not out and 4 not out before the rain become a lot heavier and it was decided to bring the players off the field. After a period drying off in the pavilion, the captains agreed that a restart was unlikely by the cut off time and they shook hands on a draw.
Thurrock were left on 60/3 but had a lot of batting to come in what could have been an exciting finale. They now travel away to second placed Goresbrook next week in a match that could have huge ramifications in who lifts the title this season.
