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Chesterfords entertained Matching Green
on Saturday on a dry hard wicket that was superbly prepared
and would offer a little for both the bowling and batting
side. Chesterfords welcomed back their Captain James
Lipscombe after shoulder surgery in February counted him out
of the first month of the season. Chesterfords lost the toss
and were put into bat.
Paul Phillips and David Lightning
started confidently with Phillips looking the stronger as he
smashed two perfectly executed cover drives to the boundary
in only the 3rd over. Matching Greens opening
pair of Scantlebury and Bass struggled early on with their
line and their run ups helping Chesterfords to add a total
of 39 extras to their total score. With Phillips looking in
commanding form and Lightning looking comfortable
Chesterfords raced to 64 off of 10 overs. Lightning ( 15 )
was the first Chesterford wicket to fall after he was bowled
a superb delivery from Bass which swung in and moved away
off the pitch to just clip the top of off stump. James
Pullen joined Phillips at the crease and continued his
strong early season form with a quick fire 24 before he was
unlucky to be caught by the keeper off his gloves as he
attempted to sweep the ball.
Paul Phillips was joined by James
Lipscombe at the crease and both batsmen started to set
about their task with aggression and determination. Phillips
was scoring freely and some of his cover drives were
technically brilliant as he set the ball racing to the
boundary with consummate ease. Phillips fell in the 26th
over for 64 when he mistimed a shot that was easily caught
in the deep. Lipscombe looked ring rusty and out of practice
in his first few overs and was probably lucky not to be out
as he played and missed at a few balls outside the off
stump. When he did eventually find his form from last season
he looked to dominate Matching Greens bowling attack. He did
this by a mixture of patience and aggression. Perring joined
Lipscombe at the crease and they both started to accelerate
the run rate dramatically. Perring was bowled by Hartnell
for a valuable 17 and Lipscombe carried on demolishing the
Matching Green bowling attack. The score moved onto a
massive 278 off of 45 overs with Lipscombe finishing on 95
Not Out.
The pitch was holding up well and was
becoming easier to bat on as time went on. Chesterfords new
that they needed to field well and bowl well to stop the
Matching Green batsmen from taking advantage of the
favourable batting conditions. With such a big score posted
by Chesterfords the pressure was really on Matching Green as
all Chesterfords had to do was protect the total they had
worked so hard for.
Some early wayward bowling from
Chesterfords gave Matching Greens opening pair a steady
start as they looked to build a strong platform from which
they could launch a later onslaught. James Pullen bowled
well and soon got into his groove as he created pressure on
the batsmen to score. Muggleton lofted a catch to Adam Miles
off of Pullen’s bowling with Bowerman soon following with
David Perring picking up his wicket. Hartnell came to the
crease and looked in fine form with the bat as Chesterfords
bowling started to falter. Too many 4 balls off of the last
ball of the over meant that the pressure was not building on
the Matching Green batsmen as they looked to up the run rate
and chase down Chesterfords total. Some more indifferent
bowling and sensible shot selection took Hartnell to a quick
fire 50 ably assisted by Figg (45) who was also becoming a
thorn in Chesterford side. Lipsombe dropped a regulation
catch in the deep that would have seen Hartnell trudging
back to the pavilion leaving him wondering if he had just
seen the match slip through his fingers. When Chesterfords
need a wicket they turn to there ginger prince Adam Miles.
Adam bowled Hartnell a beauty that nipped away just outside
off stump as he drove at it, just catching his edge with
Greg Watson snappling an easy chance behind the stumps.
Chesterfords finished off the rest of the Matching Green
batting line up quickly thanks to an incredible display of
control and spin by David Lightning 2 for 33 who
consistently bamboozled the opposition. With Adam Miles
finishing with 4 wickets for 50 runs off of 10 overs
Chesterfords won the game by 59 runs and move to third in
Division 2 of the1017 League.
Scorecard Photographs |
