Chelmsford 5th XI 212/5 dec
Orsett & Thurrock 4th XI 175/9
Match drawn
OAT travelled to Chelmer Park last Saturday to play out an entertaining draw against Chelmsford. Chelmer Park is similar to our former ground of Blackshots, it is a council maintained wide open field with multiple wickets. It does however have a few subtle differences.
First of all the outfield has been cut to less than waist high, in fact it was so well cut that nobody believed Swiss Groves when a ball bounced over him for a boundary during the Chelmsford innings!
Skipper Owen miraculously won his first toss of the season and put the hosts in to bat, ironically to avoid the draw! I think it’s fair to say though that his bowling options were a bit light, so light in fact that regular opening bowler Bill Pepe West was partnered by regular third change all rounder Michael Parker! With the summer sun baking the already glass like pitch and outfield, this was going to be a good day for batting and so it proved with Chelmsford opener Jordan Campion helping himself to 66 runs.
His opening partner had a more eventful innings though. Ed Cole was facing Bill West when he appeared to help the ball to OAT keeper Oakley with the back of his bat. This produced an enthusiastic appeal as ever from the fielding side but the umpire remained motionless like an army guard in London being subjected to countless selfies with the tourists.
Finally the umpire awoke from his slumber with the immortal phrase "what did it hit batsman?". Suffice to say the turkey batsman didn’t vote for Christmas and for a brief few minutes the OAT team had the bit between their teeth. The next over Cole’s "luck" run out as the evergreen, sorry grey, Parker had him caught behind by Iain Oakley and after a few verbals Cole could retire to the changing room to see if he really could look himself in the mirror!
Chelmsford skipper Barry Claytden produced a nice cameo of 28 runs before he was out by Stephen Brooks bowling and Mark O’Neill’s catching. Talking of catching, Brooks should have had a wicket earlier but Dean Henry made the mistake of trying to catch it at waist height while clearly forgetting how far his stomach sticks out earning the ball didn’t even reach his hands before touching down on the pristine turf!
Henry did redeem himself though by removing former Glamorgan player Glyn Evans LBW for a first ball duck. The other wickets fell to young spinner Tom Redman and older (quite a bit older) spinner Stuart Warren as the host put on 212 before declaring.
Chelmsford knew that OAT are more than capable of chasing this target down, even though only 40 overs were left in the day, but they had a trick up their sleeve, pizza! They had clearly done their homework on the rotund outfit and left a delicious plate of the Italian style delicacy on our table during the interval!
OAT opened with Dean Spud Henry and Daniel Swiss Groves in reply and Groves unfortunately went without scoring, he has been in the top 10 league scorers all year but a holiday last week had obviously left him out of fitness and form! Henry scored a decent 28 before he was out to Bailey. Next out was Elliot McCartney who managed to wing himself 10 runs before being bowled by Cornell. Oakley was left with no chance by a superb seaming delivery from Bailey and the visitors needed a partnership to get back into the game.
Mark O’Neill returned to form with an excellent half century of 53 and he wrestled the game back into the balance before one shot too many see him caught out on the on side. At the other end, Stuart Warren had seen this all before, in fact at his age he has seen a lot of things all before, and he was quietly building a good score of his own while the wickets tumbled at the other end.
Skipper Owen (0) and Stephen Brooks (4) come and went before the best number 9 in the league ambled out to the middle. A win was still possible but Michael Parker had to make sure that Warren had enough of the strike to help OAT to the target. Warren was hitting some big sixes while Parker needs to get down the gym as he could only manage fours! With the game finely poised, Parker was undone by a slower ball by Cornell and was through his shot early and the leading edge looped invitingly for Evans to catch him out for 18. There were now just a few overs remaining and Chelmsford needed 2 wickets to win while OAT were now batting for survival and the draw.
Warren carried on hitting boundaries and looked to have secured the draw until drama in the last over when one big shot too far was excellently caught in the deep by Jordan Campion and the hosts had two balls at number 11 Bill West for the match.
We needn’t have worried though as West showed his usual stubborn resistance and with himself and number 10 Tom Redman still at the crease, OAT had proven that even on an off day they can dig in and salvage a draw when needed. Post match, after Chelmsford captain Barry had got the beers in, thoughts turned to a massive game against fellow borough side Horndon on the Hill, who OAT realistically need to beat to have a chance of the league title and the sole pro option place.
