Match Report

Saturday 20 June 2009, at Albert Road Sports Ground, Bounds Green - Won by 90 runs (Ref. 200909)

With home grounds in short supply Wealdstone Corinthians snapped up the chance to fill the gap in their fixtures with a visit to Albert Road Recreation Ground, that was unfamiliar territory for both sides. Previously unused as a venue by the home side, it was a pleasant enough public park with tennis courts at one end and Alexandra Palace in the distance at the other. However, the brown, dusty pitch didn't look too promising. As it was warm and the pitch was not going to improve, Steve Brown opted to bat first and for the second successive Saturday Corinthians rapidly knocked up over 200 and bowled out their opponents with time to spare. Things went from bad to worse for the home side, as two of their 11 never arrived and two more were late, so they started with seven players and two borrowed fielders. They then reverted to seven for much of the match when Charlie the keeper was struck in the face and was taken to Casualty by his skipper. For Corinthians Wakeel Shah hit the club's 7th fastest fifty ever, and Phil Cundy took the key wicket of Navaz and dismissed a well-known batsman to complete the tremendous achievement of 700 career wickets.

Corinthians 203-8 dec (30 overs), W Shah 55 (33 balls), A Naylor 38 (52 balls), P Cundy 23* (24 balls), Raj Meswani 21 (23 balls), C Hogg 4-34

A rare, if not unprecedented feat, saw both openers get off the mark first ball with a four in the first over, bowled by skipper Henry Freestone, that went for 18. Ross Baldwin, up the slope, fared little better with sharp away turn from the right handers, due to the short off side boundary. Naylor put him away for two fours with his favourite cover drive and after 3 overs it was 41-0. Had the 50 partnership come in the next four balls it would have been the quickest in the club's history, but it actually took 5 overs. Having reached 21 Raj Meswani slammed the ball at Baldwin, who did well to hold the return catch. John Wakeling played out 3 deliveries for a wicket maiden. A double bowling change initially improved Alexandra Park's fortunes, though Navaz went for 4 from a leg side full toss to Naylor and Wakeling put Baldwin away for 4 to get off the mark. Medium-pacer Hogg replaced Freestone and immediately injured his keeper in the face diving to his right to smother an awkward bounce. After a stoppage, change of gloveman and help of two fielders from the visitors, Hogg cut his pace and bowled Wakeling for 8 to end his run of 50s. Navaz held Naylor to the second, and last, maiden of the innings before Chris Brown hit 10 in an over off Hogg. He was then bowled for 15 by Hogg, who hit the stumps twice in his 4th over to remove Naylor for 38 and Stratford second ball. Corinthians had slumped from 77-1 to 111-5. A winning position was restored by Wakeel Shah and Phil Cundy, who hit two beautiful fours and otherwise either found the fielder or deliberately found gaps for singles to rotate the strike. At one point Wakeel hit 5 fours in 10 balls off the previously economical Navaz, and twice lofted Clarke for 6 over the short boundary at mid wicket. His 50 came from 27 deliveries, though the stand of 67 ended after 8 overs when he was well caught by substitute Wakeling at mid wicket. Dharmik Shah hit one boundary before being caught off Clarke at long on, and Chris Clark was caught and bowled by Campbell for 0. Due to the various disruptions the over rate had been slow, so Steve Brown declared after only 30 overs, when the 200 mark had been reached.

Alexandra Park 113 (27.2 overs), P Cundy 4-36, S Brown 2-20, C Clark 1-11, D Shah 1-12, Navaz 45, Stratford 13

Alexandra Park had what turned out to be 41 overs at their disposal. They were up with the required rate with 54 off the regular opening bowlers, who shared 11 overs, but lost two wickets to Steve Brown. Firstly in the 7th over he trapped Clarke LBW shuffling across rather than forward, then Thornton caught behind by Naylor in his last over. Phil Cundy began with a maiden from the Palace end, whilst Chris Clark came down the slope and went for 8 in his first, though only conceded 3 runs in 4 subsequent overs. After taking 2,2,4 off him the main scorer Navaz drilled a slower ball back to Cundy, who held a sharp chance. He bowled Hogg in his next over to make it 78-4, and though Campbell hoisted him over long on for 6 the home side's undoing was that they never built a partnership lasting more than 4 overs once the openers had been parted. Before giving way to Dharmik Shah, Clark removed Shen with a good low catch from Wakeling at short mid wicket, to make it 90-5 at the start of the last hour. To assist the depleted home side, who had been rejoined by their skipper but not their keeper, Steve Stratford batted at 7 for them. He scored his first run of the day with a single off Cundy, only to see the bowler deceive Campbell and claim his 699th wicket. Stratford then cut Shah for 4, only to see Baldwin yorked later in the over. He had not looked comfortable against the paceman. The substitute batsman brought up the 100 with two fours off Cundy and Dharmik's next over passed without incident. Then came the long-anticipated milestone, a single to Freestone off Phil Cundy brought the veteran bowler face to face with Steve Stratford and he hit the stumps next ball to end the match and reach the magnificent 700. It is a fitting testimony to his accuracy that he holds the records for the most dismissals Bowled (364) and LBW (72). The others wickets were Caught (225) and Stumped (38), with a solitary Hit Wicket in 1997.