Fletching Cricket Club

This riveting contest ended with a scrambled Rye single off the last ball, leaving the scores tied but the result as a draw.

Rye had earlier won the toss and invited Fletching to bat. Dan Saunders 20 and Mark Horscroft 19 got Fletching off to a slow but steady start.  It was Martin Blincow with 3-43 and Mark Cook 1-31 who made the intial inroads as Fletching reached 97-4 off 30 overs. Fletching then responded through Grant Horscroft 70 and Matt Lucas 28 who shared a hard hitting partnership of 70 runs. The introduction of Gary Willis 2-50 and Felix Nelson 2-39 removed both of them and chipped away at the Fletching lower order. Fletching however managed a respectable 192-8.

Rye began cautiously after losing Fran Briley early on, but then began to accelerate as James Hamilton 46 and Mark Cook 65 shared a 78 run partnership but both fell in similar circumstances…Mark Horscroft swooping to claim two great catches on the boundary.

With Rye needing 100 runs for victory off 15 overs, Fletching’s Dan Saunders took centre stage,  removing the middle order with 5-34. The game came down to requiring 12 off the last two overs with 3 wickets in hand. Off the penultimate over squeezed out 8 runs. 4 off the last over, but Sam Newman dismissed Gary Osborn 19 and then dismissed Nelson. With two for victory off two balls Rye ran a leg bye but a dead ball was called, no run. A single was scrambled off the last ball, leaving the scores tied but the result as a draw.

Rye 1st XI v Fletching 1st XI -Saturday 2 May 2008

Toss won by Rye who decided to bat

Recently promoted Rye made a very positive start to their innings on a good lookling pitch. Whilst Hamilton lacked the timing to hit the ball passed the infeld, his partner Cook was very positive from the outset crashing the ball to the boundary every time it was in his reach. Hamlton fell for 22, new signing Saunders doing the damage. Menezes joined Cook and the enjoyed a partrnership of 91 before Cook was bowled by Robbie Savage look-a-like, Tom Crook for 90.

Briley joined Menezes and immediately, runs flowed from his bat as the fletching fielders were spread far and wide. Crook then bowled Menezes for 27. The home side finished with a commendable 184 for 3 wickets.

Top bowlers for fletching were Crook 2- 34 and Saunders 1 – 24.

In return, Fletching showed an attacking response by asking Glen Potter to be a pinch hitter. This lasted 3 balls as he was bowled by one that “kept low” . Greenwich joined Saunders and they both seemed to be in control. Both took the opportunity to score boundaries but were equally watchful of an all spin attack. Having put on 39 as a partnership, Greenwich then was bowled for 23. Captain Terry Lucas joined Saunders who was playing a very mature innings for someone so young. He was particularly savage with ball on the leg side.

Lucas batted well again for his 27. Randle failed to worry the scorers with his 2 and Crook hit a couple of big hits in his 16. However with the score on 115 for 5 there was a sense that the game had gone especially as the new batsman Meacher took 15 balls or so to get off of the mark. At this time Fletching required 70 from 14 overs, a tall order.

However both batsmen got their head down and the runs started to come, firstly with a few scampered singles and then boundaries as the home side began to feel the pressure. Saunders went past his half century and Meacher began to get his eye in. With 6 overs to go Fletching needed 40 to win. However that was not needed as Meacher was able to plunder the Rye attack for 5 fours to in 2 overs to win the game by 5 wickets.

Saunders finished on 71 not out Meacher 33 not out.

Best bowlers were Nelson 2 – 41

Fletching won by 5 wickets
Top bowlers for fletching were Crook 2- 34 and Saunders 1 – 24.

In return, Fletching showed an attacking response by asking Glen Potter to be a pinch hitter. This lasted 3 balls as he was bowled by one that “kept low” . Greenwich joined Saunders and they both seemed to be in control. Both took the opportunity to score boundaries but were equally watchful of an all spin attack. Having put on 39 as a partnership, Greenwich then was bowled for 23. Captain Terry Lucas joined Saunders who was playing a very mature innings for someone so young. He was particularly savage with ball on the leg side.

Lucas batted well again for his 27. Randle failed to worry the scorers with his 2 and Crook hit a couple of big hits in his 16. However with the score on 115 for 5 there was a sense that the game had gone especially as the new batsman Meacher took 15 balls or so to get off of the mark. At this time Fletching required 70 from 14 overs, a tall order.

However both batsmen got their head down and the runs started to come, firstly with a few scampered singles and then boundaries as the home side began to feel the pressure. Saunders went past his half century and Meacher began to get his eye in. With 6 overs to go Fletching needed 40 to win. However that was not needed as Meacher was able to plunder the Rye attack for 5 fours to in 2 overs to win the game by 5 wickets.

Saunders finished on 71 not out Meacher 33 not out.

Best bowlers were Nelson 2 – 41

Fletching won by 5 wickets