Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Over 50/60/70 Cricket
Two Counties Over 50s v Chippenham Park CC
Thursday 6th May 2021 at Kelvedon & Feering CC – 35 overs per side.
Chippenham Park 161-8 (Harry Grant 74 Jon Van de Peer 30 Ben Moyle 3-36)
Two Counties Over 50s 164-3 (Phil Tompkins 93no Richard Polley 39 rtd)
Two Counties won by 7 wickets
Leaden skies and steady rain forced a late start to the match. Local knowledge is a wonderful thing as the match officials were told that the rain would blow over by 3.00pm and that play could commence shortly after. In the event, the rain ceased even earlier and play commenced at 2.28. Captain Patel won the toss and elected to be in the field. Despite the visitors‘ captain being an exceedingly young senior, the opening bowlers managed to keep a tight rein on the run rate. Chris Hills was at his miserly best conceding just 14 runs from his opening 7 over spell. With the TC X1 keeping the run rate below 3 an over, the best predictions were for a very swift home win. From 53-2 in the 19th, the match suddenly came alight. J VdP joined his captain and immediately upped the tempo. Their 10 over partnership added 63 runs from just 58 deliveries. Grant was stumped by Paget in the next over having accumulated a very useful 74. Moyle benefited from the scramble to add quick runs over in the last few overs bagging 3 wickets in his 5 over spell.
The Seniors had a strong batting line up and were still strong favourites although their target was around 20/25 runs more than had been expected. With a changed batting order, captain Patel opened up with the in-form Tompkins. There was mirth from the side lines as Patel could barely hit the ball of the square but having got his eye in with his first boundary, he was promptly bowled the next ball. 8 overs gone and 27-1 on the board. Whilst Tompkins and Polley began to accumulate the runs at a healthy rate, the rate was still just a tad below what was required. Polley decided to confuse the scorers as having dotted the last ball of the 26th over, he suddenly tucked his bat under his arm and walked off the pitch. The moral of the story is that hitting boundaries saves running! Can Lord Nelson claim “retired out” as a victim? 51 runs required off 9 overs is the ideal scenario for Meakin to bash a rapid match winning knock except that after one splendid lofted drive he sliced young Grant to gulley. Tompkins and Henderson upped the run rate and knocked off the required 43 runs from 36 deliveries. Tompkins finished on 93 not out with the “50” coming off 65 deliveries faced. What might interest the Statos is the fact that for 32 overs there were no extras then the unfortunate no 6 bowler put down two wide deliveries in the 33rd and final over. A comprehensive 7 wicket win for The Two Counties Seniors in an enjoyable game played in the right spirit by both sides.