Friendly Match vs Little Baddow CC, 6th July 2008, Little Baddow

Match Drawn
by Doug Precey

Not many of those who set out from north-east London for the annual jaunt to the picturesque cricket setting at Little Baddow held out too much expectation of a full game of cricket being possible, on what looked like being a wet and windy summer's day. But tales of a good tea and a pavilion with both a bar and a TV to catch the day's Wimbledon final and Silverstone Grand Prix promised to make the trip worthwhile regardless. As it was, however, as the late evening light finally faded, the curtain fell on a well-fought match with more than 500 runs racked up on what remained throughout, despite some fairly persistent drizzle, a lightning-quick outfield.

The toss saw LFCC taking to the field first, and both openers, Simon (bowling directly into the steady drizzle) and Ryan, caused Baddow difficulties with good spells. An early chance at point from Simon's bowling was shelled and Baddow's apparently 16-year-old opener was given an early life, but there was no reason to believe at that stage that chances would not continue to arise. What was also clear, however, was that good shots would get full value and be rewarded with boundaries, and it seemed that any straying in line and/or length from the Fields' bowlers went fully punished.

Fields' (and Ryan's) breakthrough finally came when Baddow's clearly-not-16-year-old opener was caught at deep extra cover by Doug with the score around 70. The first wicket in the bag, Fields looked to carve inroads into the Baddow line-up. Utterly implausibly, however, this would prove to be the only LFCC wicket of the afternoon, as Grant, Doug, Richard and Colin all joined Steve and Ryan in the bowling attack with no success.

A couple of further sharp chances went down, good balls continued to beat the bat, and some inventive field positions were tried out (three silly mid-offs lurked threateningly for a prolonged period) but no more wickets fell. Baddow's young opener finished with an admirable 156 not out, and their number three, Marshall, racked up 79 not out.

Despite the difficult conditions, and a total that rose steadily through the afternoon to eventually read 297 for 1, it has to be said that Fields stuck to their task admirably, both with the ball and in the field. As they tucked into the hearty tea, LFCC were left to wonder exactly how only one wicket had been taken, but were also aware that the pitch and outfield would continue to offer plenty for any batsman in good touch.

Luckily, LFCC had such a man in their team, and Alec was joined in opening up the Fields' reply by Dave Wheeler. Soon, however, Dave was back in the hutch, joined shortly afterwards by Vince, left to wonder exactly why the undoubtedly rich and talented Rafael Nadal couldn't find underwear that actually fit. Skipper Jason strode out, with the air of a man in very well-fitting pants, to join Alec, who, true to his recent rich vein of form, had been striking the ball sweetly and providing the solid, yet free-scoring, anchor to the Fields' run-chase. Once Jason was caught for a well-crafted 36, Alec was given further able support first by Richard (23) and then Troy, as LFCC continued to home in on Baddow's target.

When Alec was finally trapped lbw for an excellent 85, Troy continued to keep Fields in touch with the 10-an-over run-rate. But his dismissal for 32, and a few tight overs effectively put paid to Fields' hopes of winning. It was left to Ryan and Simon to see out the remaining overs and successfully save a draw, thus preventing Baddow from savouring Hamilton-esque home glory; Fields finishing 238 for 8.

As on centre court, a couple of rain delays had failed to put paid to an entertaining day's sport - although perhaps a draw might've been a fair result in the tennis as well.

Here's the scorecard:

Little Baddow Batting

Batsman	Scoring	How Out	Bowler	Total
D. Bucknell		not	out	156
M. Crompton		caught Doug	Ryan	31
P. Marshall		not	out	79
			Extras	??
Total: 297 for 1

London Fields Bowling

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average
Simon L	9	1	50	0	-
Ryan	8	0	61	1	61
Grant	9	0	83	0	-
Doug	4	0	30	0	-
Richard	5	0	55	0	-
Colin	1	0	10	0	-

London Fields Batting

Batsman	Scoring	How Out	Bowler	Total
Alec		lbw	Harris	85
Dave M		bowled	Malcolm	1
Vince		caught	Sharman	2
Jason		caught	S. Bucknell	36
Richard		caught	L. King	23
Troy		caught	D. Bucknell	32
Colin		caught	S. Bucknell	8
Doug		caught	Harris	3
Ryan		not	out	15
Simon L		not	out	0
Grant		did	not	bat
			Extras	??
Total: 238 for 8