Copdock & Old Ipswichian Cricket Club

Scorecard

Copdock & Old Ipswichian Cricket Club 2nd XI v Great Bromley on Sat 20 Apr 2013 at 1pm
Copdock & Old Ipswichian Cricket Club Won by 3 runs

Match report A Tale of Two Martins as Copdock start the season with a win !

After all the snow and cold weather it was a minor miracle, and testament to the hard work of the Clubs groundstaff (Soggy and Paul M), that the Copdock Oval was in such superb condition for the first match of 2013. The sun was shining and the day set fair for a full game of cricket.

The club has enjoyed an excellent pre - season – good attendance at indoor nets with loads of enthusiasm so everyone was well motivated for the season opener, against newly promoted Great Bromley. The only pre match blot was the fiasco with the boundary rope ! Despite the efforts of a brains trust which included London 2012 Olympic organiser, Adam Baker, a solution could not be found and part of the boundary was left ‘ropeless’.

After a warm up involving most of the team (Allerton was excused as he apparently had some ‘grave’ business to attend to) the new Captain started where Gaukey left off last year and lost the toss. Not surprisingly the Crusaders were invited to bat on a greenish wicket. Copdock welcomed a number of new faces for the game – debutants, Nick Bigg, Ollie Williams and Tom Bigg as well as some ‘returnees’ – Martin ‘Dutch’ Holland and Jamie (the) Green (man).

The openers, ‘Soggy’ Taylor and Holland, faced an interesting early challenge with an opening bowling combination of seam at one end and spin at the other. Dutch has returned to the club after an absence of several years and Soggy has also had a couple of years away from regularly playing so it was great to see that, although the bowling was tight and the run rate slow in the early exchanges, both looked solid. After getting used to the pitch and vagaries of Nasr, the Bromley spinner, Dutch and Soggy provided an object lesson in building a partnership and a foundation for a healthy innings total. They were eventually parted on 122 when Soggy was adjudged LBW for 32. This brought Jamie (the) Green (Man) to the crease. Jamie is another who has returned to the fold after a year out. He has performed well with bat and ball at nets and big things are expected from him this year. Unfortunately this wasn’t his day with the bat as he was bowled by a ‘goodun’ before he got going.

Who better to come to the crease after a mini collapse than Copdock’s own Seb Coe, Ted Baker. It took no time for Ted to get going and with Dutch also now finding the boundary regularly, the scoring rate accelerated towards the 200 mark. Dutch went on to complete a fantastic century. He is clearly a class act but it is even more outstanding that he was able to bat so brilliantly after such a long time out of the game - and on a difficult early season pitch. Dutch was the last wicket to fall as Copdock posted a commanding 225/3, Olympic legend Baker contributing a quickfire 42*.

Tea was taken with the side confident of completing the job, even with a couple of bowlers missing. Dutch, keen to be fully involved in the match for the whole 90 overs, donned the gloves.

The start of the Great Bromley innings went to plan for Copdock as both openers were dismissed for single figures and after 10 overs the opposition were on 20/2. Jamie Green, in particular bowled an excellent opening spell and with a bit more luck would have added to his single wicket.

Last season, Great Bromley dominated their division and it soon became clear that they were still confident of chasing the Copdock total down - they would not be going down without a fight. A third wicket partnership steadied the ship and at drinks, although Brom were behind the run rate, they were only two wickets down. Drinks worked for the Dock as Banham snared Nasr, caught by Allerton lurking in the shadows at share leg. That, however, was the only joy for the home team for some time as a fourth and fifth wicket partnership threatened to win the match for Brom. Experienced spin duo, Banham and Gauke worked hard but were unable to stem the flow of runs and were not helped by a couple of dropped catches. Broms Perrin and Holyman were now playing with confidence and looked set to take Bromley onto victory as they required under 30 runs from the last five overs.

With one last throw of the dice, Taylor was brought into the attack, and he instantly found a good line and length, to bowl Holyman and break the partnership. A change of ends also worked for Banham, who dismissed Perrin in the next over. With work still to be done, on a wicket that had become easier to bat on as the day progressed, the bowlers kept their nerve to take two further wickets, restrict the scoring and ensure a close but welcome win.

So, a pulsating victory which could so easily have ended in defeat. Although the batting went really well there is room for improvement by the bowling unit. Apart from the odd lapse we fielded well as a team – debutants Ollie Williams and the Bigg brothers excelled and, although they were unable to show their bowling or batting skills, their efforts contributed significantly to the win.

The plaudits go to the two Martins with Dutch just edging Soggy for my MOM.

Great effort guys, let’s see if we can repeat it next week at Hadleigh.

Graham U

Copdock & Old Ipswichian Cricket Club 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 14w 11b 15lb 
for 3 wickets
42
225		        
Martin Taylor lbw Perrin 32
Martin Holland ct Unknown b Nasir 106 1 2
Jamie Green b Perrin 2
Adam Baker Not Out  42 1
Kevin Banham Not Out  1
Steve Gauke  
Tom Bigg  
Toby Allerton   1
Graham Underwood  
Nick Bigg  
Olly Williams  

Great Bromley Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
P Hibbins8.022000.002.50
F Nazir15.0265165.004.33
L Holyman7.002800.004.00
L Perrin12.0059229.504.92
N Holyman3.002700.009.00

Great Bromley Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
12w 2b  
for 8 wickets
14
222 (45.0 overs)		     
R Lawson ct Holland b Underwood 2
P Allam lbw Green 1
F Nazir ct Baker b Banham 38
L Perrin st Holland b Banham 96
M Pirie st Holland b Banham 19
L Holyman b Taylor 36
N Holyman ct Allerton b Taylor 6
P Hibbins b Taylor 8
S Day Not Out  1
C Day Not Out  1
AN Other  

Copdock & Old Ipswichian Cricket Club 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jamie Green7.0123123.003.29
Graham Underwood8.0319119.002.37
Kevin Banham15.0185328.335.67
Steve Gauke12.007800.006.50
Martin Taylor3.001535.005.00