Match Report

Saturday 30 May 2009, at Cavendish Sports Ground, Field End Road, Eastcote - Drawn (Ref. 200907)

Despite a fine five-wicket haul from skipper Steve Brown, his first for five years, the lack of both a declaration and a specialist spinner may have hampered Corinthians' chances of a third consecutive home win against Old Eastcotians. After winning the toss the home side made a good start thanks to a rapid knock from Raj Meswani, followed by a third fifty in a row from John Wakeling. It was 113-5 when he was dismissed in the 33rd over, so there was more work to be done to set a reasonable target, and it was Chris Brosnan who took Corinthians there with a career best 32 including five powerfully struck boundaries. Had they declared on 170-8 when he was out Corinthians would have had five extra overs to bowl at Old Eastcotians, who must be given credit for going well past the 42 and 27 all out made on their previous two visits to Cavendish. The balls that kept low in the first innings largely disappeared in the second, and even the experienced Phil Cundy bowling leg spin, or his normal style to six slips, could not prise out the lower order. Earlier Pat Howley had taken three wickets for the visitors with his occasional leg spin, and Mike Woods was hard to get away, suggesting a regular spinner may have held the key for Corinthians. Roll on the end of exam season!

Corinthians 181 (46.1 overs), J Wakeling 50 (68 balls), Raj Meswani 42 (38 balls), C Brosnan 32 (35 balls)

On a pleasant day Corinthians' new regular openers again topped their best start of the season, this time with 38 from 9 overs. It was almost entirely down to the 20/20 style of Raj Meswani, who hit the only three boundaries in Daryl Christie's 12-over spell and at one point slammed 5 fours in 7 balls off Dean Reddick, mainly through the leg side. The stand ended when Reddick trapped Naylor LBW with one of several balls that had kept low. John Wakeling brought up the 50 in the 12th over with consecutive fours off Reddick, though he lost Meswani in the next over when he missed a straight ball from Christie. Woods replaced Reddick at the Pavilion End, and whilst Wakeling was watchful Ken Cordery could not get off the mark before being trapped LBW by Christie, who also had Steve Stratford caught behind for a rare duck to make it 72-4. The biggest partnership of the innings followed, as Wakeling flourished and Akshay Samarth consolidated. The pair added 41, with Wakeling scoring all his last five boundaries off the spinner Shyam who had replaced Christie. The last one brought up his 50 from 67 balls, but he played an ambitious shot next ball and was bowled. In contrast to Yuvraj Singh, but no less effective, Chris Brosnan played his best innings yet and hit five fours with very little backlift. He was severe on Pat Howley, who took over when Woods finished a wicketless spell of 9 overs for 7 runs. Having helped add 32 in 5 overs Samarth was bowled by one that turned from Howley, who also had Dharmik Shah held at mid on and finally bowled Brosnan. Although Phil Cundy then hit two fours off Howley and visiting skipper Glen Reddick bowled both Chris Clark and Steve Brown, with hindsight they may all have preferred an earlier tea and Old Eastcotians to have had more of a carrot.

Old Eastcotians 110-7 (39 overs), S Brown 5-20, A Samarth 1-25, C Clark 1-30, Woods 26*

On paper the visitors had a stronger batting line-up than usual, but it turned out to be one of those innings where the bowling side starts too well for their own good. Taking the run chase element out of the equation in the latter stages, on what appeared to be a more benign pitch, reduced the chances of Corinthians forcing the victory. The Old Eastcotians top order lacked Daryl Christie, who would only bat if essential after pulling a muscle when bowling. Steve Brown started with a maiden to Rod Stone and then took on Pat Howley. He immediately bowled a short ball that Howley hooked but didn't get hold of, and Steve Stratford at square leg did. After a stand of 19 Brown made a double breakthrough, bowling Stone round his legs and trapping Lane LBW to make it 23-3. Akshay Samarth supported well at the other end, and after having Craig Neal put down at slip by Cundy diving to his right soon bowled the No. 4. Without addition Gammons, who had scored 8, was yorked by a slower ball from Brown and it was 36-5. The Reddick brothers played some shots before Glen was bowled by Chris Clark, and although top scorer Mike Woods joined Dean Reddick in the biggest stand of the match they couldn't keep pace with the rate required to win. Phil Cundy was perhaps kept out of the attack too long for a bowler closing in on 700 career wickets, though he is at his best when the batsmen are under pressure to score off him. Prior to installing six slips he did twice find the edge, that eluded the sole slip Ken Cordery. Steve Brown returned for a late 3-overs burst and took the final wicket to fall by bowling Dean Reddick for 19. It completed a deserved 5-wicket haul, surprisingly only his third since 1997.