Match Report

Saturday 13 June 2009, at Cavendish Sports Ground, Field End Road, Eastcote - Won by 124 runs (Ref. 200908)

In a hastily arranged fixture due to the withdrawal of their opposition, both sides appeared happy to be playing on a sunny afternoon at Cavendish. After winning the toss and choosing to bat it was a day of records for 10-man Wealdstone Corinthians, who won this friendly match played in a good spirit with more than an hour to spare. The visitors applied early pressure particularly through their skipper Wrighton, but both Raj Meswani and John Wakeling were dropped and went on to feature in fluent 50 partnerships with Andy Naylor, who anchored the innings for nearly two hours. Wakeling eased himself towards a record fourth consecutive 50 and hit 38 from the last 23 balls he received, mainly with leg side boundaries. Incredibly Andy Clark outdid him with a classic cameo of 43 from a similar number of deliveries. Mindful of the result in the previous match Steve Brown declared after only 37 overs, with Corinthians one run past their highest ever score in a home match. Crouch End began well, reaching 31-0 after 6 overs, and kept pace with the required run rate throughout. Unfortunately for them Corinthians held their catches and they lost wickets regularly to the Clarks and Browns. The huge score on the board allowed the use of part-time leg spin to overcome the lack of a regular spinner, with Chris Brown taking a career best 4-52 that included a 12-ball spell of 4 wickets for 3 runs. For the champagne moment of the day take your pick between the one-handed catch from a leaping Ian Windsor at mid wicket, and the "Gatting ball" from Chris Brown to dismiss opener Youdale for 14. The fielding side were as surprised as the batsman!

Corinthians 246-4 dec (37 overs), J Wakeling 70* (62 balls), A Naylor 56 (92 balls), A Clark 43 (23 balls), Raj Meswani 35 (43 balls)

You could tell which of the openers had been more influenced by the recent glut of 20/20. Corinthians reached 31-0 after their "powerplay" 6 overs, with Raj Meswani stroking a mere 15 from 13 deliveries in his normal style whilst Andy Naylor swung at everything and raced to 2 from 26 deliveries. Raj drove 11-year-old Connor Tunnicliffe powerfully for three fours, whilst Andy was content to clip him for a single to fine leg to get off the mark, making him the first Corithian to reach 9,000 career runs. It was hard to put bat to ball at the other end, as Wrighton interspersed good yorkers and outswingers with no balls, wides and 4 byes from the only ball of the day that kept low. Young left-armer George had Raj dropped before he sliced him to gully to end a season's best 1st wicket partnership of 84. Early on John Wakeling was not content with being dropped at cover, taking a risky second to create a run out chance. Drinks were taken at 103-1 from 20 overs, with Naylor on 37 after hitting three boundaries off Bointon and one off Brown. Wakeling resumed by playing out a rare maiden, whilst Naylor advanced towards the bowler and 50 with a sumptuous off drive for 4. He reached the milestone with a single off Edis, who saw his last three deliveries disappear over mid wicket for 4,4 and 6, accompanied by a commentary from John the batsman. Naylor holed out off young Connor at mid on and Chris Brown hit two fours in a brief stay before George bowled him, making it 170-3 in the 31st over. The blitz that followed was akin to an unsung hero like Nicklas Bendtner coming on as a sub and scoring a late hat trick against an already demoralised Man Utd shorn of its star player. (The two Gooners at the crease should like that analogy!) Andy Clark's innings comprised 42..4.4..4.4..4.2416.4, before being held at extra cover off Brown. The six over long on was particularly juicy. Wakeling had reached his record-breaking 50 from 49 deliveries with another big six over square leg off young Tunnicliffe, having struck two in his previous over. It was also the first time a Corinthian had ever scored three 50s in a season at Cavendish, and John has up to 8 games there to add to his tally. Wrighton returned for what became the last over, and it went for 11 runs. The 3 from a Windsor cover drive took the score past the previous Cavendish record of 245, though the other batsman wanted to run a fourth to make sure. Not much chance of that, John.

Crouch End 122 (26.2 overs), C Brown 4-52, S Brown 2-5, A Clark 2-24, C Clark 2-36, Wrighton 27, Bhanu 24*

Although a fielder short Corinthians had ten reasonable bowlers to choose from, with off spin from the keeper even a reserve option on a pitch which turned but was otherwise excellent for batting. Crouch End made a positive start against Chris Clark and Chris Brown, who each conceded 15 from 3 overs before engineering a collapse that saw 6 wickets fall for 19 runs. Clark trapped Bointon LBW for 18, going back to a ball that nipped in, and in the next over left-hander George slammed a return catch that Brown did well to hold. In his next over, with the score on a respectable 48-2, Brown produced a leg break of Warnesque quality that pitched outside leg stump and clipped the top of middle. The batsman could not believe it was the ball that had removed the bails. Worse followed for the visitors as Mimmack played on with a bottom edge in Chris Brown's next over, and Stuart Bell was caught behind first ball to more all round disbelief. The hat trick ball was good enough to make the new batsman play a solid defensive shot. Steve Brown gave his namesake 5 more overs to turn his career best into a "Michelle", and revealed it was a good couple of decades since a Corinthian named Brown had taken 4 wickets at the Pavilion End. Meanwhile Chris Clark had made it 50-6 by bowling the visiting Brown for a duck with another ball that came back. Having misfielded one off his brother, Andy Clark now gave his sibling the chance to return the favour, but not before he had taken a wicket with his first ball from the "Clark" end. Another perfect leg break clipped the top of off stump to dismiss Connor Tunnicliffe, who could have twice been run out before he had faced. The young left-hander Edis hit a couple of good fours before going to a superb leg side catch by Ian "salmon" Windsor, giving Andy Clark his second victim. Wrighton drove powerfully and hit five fours, mostly in the general direction of extra cover, prompting a double bowling change. Bhanu continued to show a good technique and played out a maiden from Akshay Samarth, whilst Wrighton overtook him as top scorer with a four off Steve Brown. From the last ball of the over he succumbed to a slightly slower ball that came in to hit the base of off stump, and last man Tunnicliffe senior went the same way soon afterwards. A generally youthful Crouch End side were by no means disgraced. Their ground fielding was good, they have promising young bowlers who will improve with experience, and they just happened to catch Corinthians' bowlers on a good day.