Coopersale CC

It was that time of the year where we make our way to Epping for our seasonal grudge match. Due to the weather during the week, it must have been difficult for Epping's ground staff to prepare the wicket as it was difficult to tell the difference between the wicket and the square.
Anyway, I lost the toss and we were put into bat. I opened with Graham and we got off to a fairly solid start,we put on 63 before I was bowled for 40.Matt was next in. And out. Caught superbly.We then lost wickets at regular intervals. Mark S,Mark H,Jason,Tony and Alan all going fairly cheaply and when Graham was out for 38 we were struggling on 121 for 8. However , both Fraser and Gus got us up to a respectable 168.

We started our feilding with both Tony and Alan opening the bowling. Both bowled really well, with Alan taking both the openers wickets. But the game really changed when I took Tony off and replaced him with Graham. Graham removed their numbers 3,4,5 and 6 in fairly quick succession Which meant I could bring Tony back after my few overs. I also swapped Graham for Matt and that was it, job done. Matt took 1 wicket in his 2 overs and Tony finished off the rest of the tail brilliantly.
It was a good win. With some good fielding by us and top bowling performances from both Graham, Alan and Tony. If there was a negative, it was our middle order batting and the lack of backing up when we should have been pushing for runs. But a win is a win. And it is always good to get it against Epping.
Cock- hat went to Gus for hitting his stumps when batting ( and for volunteering for it to!! )

After losing the toss Coopersale took the field and after the first hour had chigwell 39-3 with tony taking 2 wickets and graham the other . However their number 4 scored an unbeaten 101 steering chigwell to a competitive 215-8 which included 2 wickets for jason the second being a brilliant caught and bowled.
Chasing 216 some indisiplined shots by the top order left coopersale at 25-5 when jason joined graham at the crease and after a lucky non lbw desision they managed to put on 102 when jason having on the previous ball on 44 hit the ball almost into the trees but the initial desision of 6 was corrected to a 4 then was unluckily out caught for 48.
john then joined graham and added 44 before being caught and after frazer was out graham was caught for 99 . therefore the last pair had 16 balls to survive to get a draw . Having survived to the last over Alan had six balls to defend!!! to achive a honourable draw. After getting through 5 balls trying to get a boundary off each the last ball of the game was delivered and again Alan went for a extravagant stroke only for the sound of shattered stumps to signal defeat for coopersale by 30 runs . Well it was probably the most obvious cock hat moment awarded to alan
well hopefully we can look forward to next week with some improved batting performances leading to a competitive game.

After losing the toss and fielding first on a warm afternoon Coopersale put one of there most diciplined bowling performances only conceding 2 six's of the final 2 balls of the innings and because of the lack of lost balls in the forest we bowled 45 overs for a total of 215-6 . Only their no 3 who was the only batsmen interested in quick singles before retiring with cramp for 53 and the captain who scored an unbeaten 74 were able to score fairly quickly. Good performance from Tony with 2 early wickets in a 10 over spell and John for his 3 wickets at the end of the inning. Also Grahams figures bowling at both ends of the innings were 10 overs for 15 runs.

So the target of 216 off approx 36 overs was going to be dificult with their opening bowlers being quick and accurate although no one could have predicted the events of the next 45 minutes. For the first 6 overs Big Dave and myself managed to get to 4 before Dave got a low ball and was bowled and distrously Graham got a simular ball and was bowled 2 balls later. Worse was to follow in the next over when i was bowled by their captain which turned out to be the first of 4 wickets in 4 balls with tony ,jason and alan being the victims. From 8-6 we struggled to 33 all out with only when jack ( a 11 year old from the opposition playing for us ) bat did the opposition put on their lesser bowlers and stectched the game into the final 20 overs

So looking for positivies was hard but at least we passed the previous low score of 31 .

So hopefully sunday was a blip and we will bounce back to a positive performance next week

On a boiling hot day we played against Debden/Alderton who we have not beaten for some years.

Phil lost the toss so we had to field first in the heat but we struggled on through. They got off to a slow start and Tony picked up an early wicket. After this, we chased leather and looked in the forest for balls. It seamed as though they were scoring really fast but they were pretty much scoring in boundaries or not at all and therefore were only scoring at around 6 per over. Craig came on for a turn and cleaned up the 2 dangermen one bowled and another brilliantly caught by Micky Taylor and some excellent late bowling from Peter, Graham, Tony and Mike E.S meant they totalled only 228. Sounds a lot but it was a good wicket and lightning outfield so "game on" as Bumble would say.

We got off to a reasonable and solid start before Big Dave played on and then Graham and Micky batted exceptionally well to put on well over a hundred pertnership. Micky eventually had a tired waft at a wide one and nicked it to the keeper for 72 and Phil departed soon after. Were Coopersale have a wobble? - NO! Peter Macdermott defied his tender years by playing classical shots all around the wicket and he and Graham looked to be coasting the team to victory. With about 20 needed Graham was for 71 bowled by the combination of a good yorker and a loss of concentration but Peter and the in-form Tony brought home the win with 3 overs to spare! Fittingly, Peter hit the winning runs to complete an excellent all-round performance.

Great team effort and Phil won the Cock-Hat for some truly appalling fielding. 2 steps to his left would have given him a true dolly of a catch, instead, he decided to leave it for Mike E.S to try and make about 20 yards to pocket the same ball, really Phil!!

Neil Is Captain again this year. But we have 3 vice captains! Phil and Tony continue but Jason is now the 3rd!

We had a bit of a struggle getting a side out for last Sunday but we did manage to get 11 on the field (for a while at least)

Anson St George arrived looking keen and confident which was a bit of a worry as our rag-tag bunch pitched up near the start time of 1.00. Our leader was clearly under the weather as he agreed to an overs game despite the apparent and obvious mis-match thus giving us no option of stodging the draw! I don't know who one the toss but we were in the field and did not start too badly although we could not get any early wickets. After Tony and my initial spells the scoring rate began to climb, Alan bowled well and picked up one of the openers but was clearly tiring by the end of his spell and got a bit of clobber, Neil managed 4 overs without spewing but then had to go off leaving Tony in charge and us with onlt 10 men, it is alleged that he turned down the offer of a sub-fielder from the opposition but he denies this vehemently, although he was ill and probably did not know what he was saying. John Walsh cleaned up the no 3 who attemtpted an outrageous switch hit and got bowled - and thus received the Cock-Hat which he wore with pridfe all evening. After that it all went a bit wonky, the weight of the captaincy was clearly playing on Tony's mind as he dropped the no 4 on about 12, this proved a little costly as he then went on to score 90 off about 36 balls, depsite Jason taking a wicket first ball (brilliantly caught in the deep) they scored 248 off 35 overs.

Chasing this was never likely to be easy and despite John playing some handsome shots for his 13 early on, we never looked like getting anywhere near, El Pres was out for a duck and ALan for 12 (during which he n early killed our Presidents wife!). I scored a pedestrian 42, Tony 46 and Matt (on debut) a very steady 39 not out as we made 178 for 6.

Some positives but a bit of a stuffing really. Hopefully we will finish the season with a win this weekend!

Graham won the cock hat this week for ducking out of the way of an easy catch. But the funniest thing seen happened at tea. Poor little Tamsin was asked to walk up and down Alans back to loosen him up. Looked a strange sort of 'Fettish ' thing to me but who am I to judge? Must have worked though as Alan bowled really well after tea.

Danny W was the second p[layer to recieve the coverted 'Cock----eral' hat this week. Although Danny batted very well for his 69 and took a ball in the mouth, it was decided that he should be awarded the hat for his daft running out of Alan, who had just been hit in the head and was virtually on his knees, when Danny called him through for a quick single.

There you go Alan. REVENGE!!!

Coopersale CC have unveiled their new punishment for the player who makes the the biggest or silliest cock -up during a match.
The award will be made at the end of each game and the 'winner' will have to wear it either during the next match or after the match in the bar.

The 'Skipper', Neil is seen wearing it just to prove how daft it looks ( and probably in advance of the forthcoming match against Capricorn!!).

This weekend, our long suffering opening bowler scored his highest score for Coopersale. 59 NOT OUT!!

This also helped us to win the match as we were chasing a very competetive 235 to win.

Graet Job Tony. About bloody time!!!!