Full Fixture Information

Result Descriptiom

Lost by one run

Man of the Match

Matt Stickland / bowling their opener and taking us within a run of victory

Champagne Moment

Matt?s six when the pressure was on

Teddy Bear Moment

Rupert Smith (for his onfield performance rather than his offfield performance ? more of which later

Full Match Report

MOTM ? Matt Stickland / bowling their opener and taking us within a run of victory

Champagne Moment ? Matt?s six when the pressure was on

Teddy Bear ? Rupert Smith (for his on-field performance rather than his off-field performance ? more of which later)

Another Sunday in May, another scorcher, another outfield that only needed a gentle push for the boundary to be found.

CYPOS are a strong oppo. We?d played them last year and hung on 9-down for a draw with Mooro?s uncharacteristic 11 not out from about 20 overs.

As with last year, I lost the toss and we were asked to have a bowl. Rupert H and Aaron Rees opened up ? it was hard work ? their opener looked a proper cricketer and latched onto anything a touch wide to cut and drive through the offside and although we picked up a wicket in the first over (LBW Rupert) soon the scoreboard was ticking along.

Rupert picked up two more wickets in his spell ? with their number three superbly caught by James Atkinson in the slips as he tried to work a ball through mid-wicket and got a leading edge and some fine juggling by Ollie on the point boundary that could have done with a TV replay to confirm whether it had or had not bounced at any point. However, out it was and Rupert finished a fine spell of 10-3-26-3 at drinks.

At the other end Aaron bowled well for no reward (5-0-29-0) and then James (6-1-24-0)

Meanwhile their opener had reached a chanceless 50 which apart from one enormous six had been a textbook class in hitting the ball along the ground and hard, so it was somewhat of a surprise when he attempted to pull Matt Stickland?s first ball into the beaver enclosure and was bowled leg stump for 54. A timely breakthrough.

Nick Sole then came on to replace James and immediately found success with a series of slow back of a length balls (I?m not going to call them long-hops) which brought him three wickets ? two caught by Josh H on the square leg boundary and one by Oli on the mid-wicket boundary. 5-1-17-3 - great reward for him.

Sticko finished his spell with 7-0-27-1 and Josh H was brought on with the score on 142-7 and 15 minutes to tea and promptly went WWdotW to finish with the unlikely figures of 0.4-0-0-3 with some nice catching from James and Lakh and one of their batsman clean bowled.

142 all out. I?d have settled for that when we lost the toss. A very good performance in the field all round ? no drops, no loose bowling, some fine keeping from our stand-in Tim Clay and some good ground fielding.

Tea, as usual was excellent, perhaps a little too much pork ? but Tim Clay had remembered who we were playing, and his freshly barBQ?d chicken was delicious. Even if it was served out of a dog bowl.

Off we set ? 142 isn?t a big score, not with that outfield, however, no one was taking anything for granted. Ollie and Rupert Smith opened. Their opener was as fast as anything I?ve seen for a while at the Meon; and pretty soon there were balls whistling past the nose and in one case rising off a good length to whistle over the keeper?s head for four byes.

Oli was off the mark in the first over and then unfortunately Rupert Smith was bowled first ball to a cracker that was much too fast for him and jagged off the seam to smash into middle stump. 1-1. James Atkinson and Ollie Atkinson at the crease.

There then followed a wonderful passage of play, attacking batting and great bowling from their openers, a passage of play that the Atkinsons came through unscathed and intact but the focus and intensity was dialled up to 10 and it was great to watch from the boundary.

Vadera came on in the 10th over and promptly had Ollie caught off a leading edge at mid-on for 20 (44-2) James was out in his next over for 23 caught behind driving and Lakh followed in the over after that bowled for 2, 65-4 on the board. Still another 80 needed and Andrew and Tim Clay at the crease. It was a mixture of survival and focus then required, Tim attacked but was LBW for 11 bowled Vadera and then Josh came in, hit a four and was disappointingly caught and bowled Vadera ? 85-6 ? Nick Sole came in to join his captain and hung around for a bit before one lunge too many had him LBW for 0 with the score on 96.

Matt Stickland joined the captain and with only 40 odd to win, CYPOS might have had their nose in front, but no one was leaving early on the boundary. Andrew was out LBW for 17 to give Vadera his 6th wicket 102-8.

Matt Stickland isn?t usually counted on for his runs, but he has a fine eye, and had won champagne moment only two weeks ago with his crunch through cover at Lynchmere, so he needs to back himself a bit more ? but slowly and then quickly the score began to mount with two fours in the 25th over and then a four and a six in the 27th over suddenly the score was 133-8 with just ten needed for victory. Rupert crunched one four through cover off Vadera, which only served to bring their spicy opener back on.

134-8 after 28, became 137-9 after Rupert was bowled in the 29th. This brought a slightly green-looking Aaron to the crease to face their opening bowler. He was majestic in his forward defence and with one ball somehow evading the keeper and going through back-stop?s legs for four it was suddenly 141-9 at the end of the 30th with two needed.

It was too much for the spectators, it was what the edge of the seat was invented for, the hush in the close was breathless, in came Chandresegarah to bowl, back went Matt, up went the ball, catch was the cry, and shortish extra cover made no mistake. EMCC had lost by one run.

What a match. What heroics from Sticko ? top scoring with 26, and how great to share that with 20 odd people on the boundary living and breathing every ball, boundary and defence.

Well done team it was such a great game, should we have won, yes. Will every one of the 8 batsman who came in before Matt wonder if they might not have scored one more run? Who knows.

But what a game to part of.

The rest of the night was then marred by a horrific accident to one of the opposition?s wives who lost her footing and somehow ended up with a nasty fracture to her ankle. Dr R Smith might have been out first ball, might have trundled up from Frogmore as we started fielding and might even have been seen wearing a green cap at some point in the field ? but he was a brilliantly reassuring presence at the end of the game.

Assessing the patient, directing the support crew and waiting for the ambulance and paramedics to come. A very sad end to the night and we all wish Lynn a speedy recovery.