Match	Felixstowe				v	Haverhill
Date:	3-Jun-06
Result	Haverhill won by 32 runs
Innings Of	Haverhill							Innings Of	Felixstowe
Moran					b.E.Parker	75		Rusby					b.Sullivan	18
M.Wilkins					b.M.Parker	6		Bennett					b.Woodley	9
Dellar	c &				b.I Connell	25		A.Connell	c.Poole				b.Sullivan	30
Winter					b.D.Connell	52		I.Connell					b.Dellar	4
Godwin	Run Out					37		Heathcoat	c. &				b.Dellar	28
Poole	Not Out					7		Colling					b.Turner	25
Sullivan					b.D.Connell	0		Jeffery	c.Moran				b.Poole	9
Wallis					b.M.Parker	1		Hillman	c.Sullivan				b.M.Wilkins	5
Woodley	Not Out					2		M.Parker					b.Sullivan	38
Turner								E.Parker	Not Out					4
Hoque								D.Connell					b.Sullivan	0
					Extras	17							Extras	13
					Total	222							Total	183
				For 7 wkts								for all out
Bowling	O	M	R	W				Bowling	O	M	R	W
E Parker	7	1	37	1				Sullivan	13	2	29	4
M Parker	21	1	77	2				Woodley	6	1	29	1
Coleman	2	0	18	0				Dellar	10	2	37	2
I Connell	10	1	57	1				M.Wilkins	5	0	24	1
D Connell	5	1	20	2				Turner	6	0	30	1
								Poole	4	1	22	1

The wicket looked hard and had very little green however with closer inspection was crusty and had a soft under belly. It wasn’t going to give any major advantage to bowler or batsmen.

Haverhill lost the toss and was asked to bat.

Undermanned in the batting, Bill Moran (75) filled in for the missing Simon Youngs with blazing aerial shots to all corners of the ground. All though his stokes at times were somewhat unorthodox they proved very effective pushing Haverhill onto a very good start against a swinging new ball. He was supported very well by a solid, stylish performance by Adam Dellar (25), who’s ability to chip in the air over the infield with great timing and power was a highlight of the innings, a partnership between Adam and Bill of 92 set the team up for a good score as long as the middle order performed.

Neil Winter (52) once again dropped down the batting order to provide greater support to the middle order once again proved a surprise to the opposition when he started to find rhythm and began systematically taking apart the opposition bowling, anything wayward was quickly despatched.

Dave Godwin (37) played a mature innings squeezing singles and placing the opposition under great pressure before a lapse in concentration or poor communication with the non-striker forced a run-out with a direct hit from the Felixstowe keeper.

Haverhill 7 for 222

Felixstowe’s opening batting pair looked solid from the first ball. It took Joe Woodley (6-1-29) to make the first breakthrough and open up the top order of the Felixstowe batting line up. A sharp catch at point to D Poole removed the new batsmen and an in swinging Yorker by Rob Sullivan (12.5-4-29) took the wicket of the remaining opener. At 3 for 66 it was evident Felixstowe had their work ahead of them.

Adam Dellar (10-2-37) contributed well with a caught and bowled, Martin Wilkins (5-1-24) as usual applied pressure through good line and length, and Dan Poole although a prodigious swinger of the new ball still managed to swing the 80 over ball to claim a wicket along with Paul Turner who once again showed signs of promise but the occasional loose ball cost him.

Two last over wickets from Rob Sullivan in successive balls brought the Felixstowe innings to a very quick close.

Haverhill won by 32 runs

Personal comments:

This week saw the side greatly undermanned in batting due to player availability. It applied greater pressure to our other batsmen who exceeded my expectations in terms of the professional manner at which they approached the task before them and the way they built genuine solid partnerships. One situation stood out. A batsmen was annoyed with his own performance when dismissed. He seemed to focus inwardly, which is natural however when he recognized his contribution to a 92 run partnership he seemed to acknowledge his achievements impact to the teams success. Although not ecstatic he seemed more content with his achievement. A star team will always out shine a team of stars.

Although cricket is a team sport comprising 11 players, it should also be seen as a team of partnerships in both batting and bowling. Batting partnerships are easy to quantify in that two batsmen are at the wicket at the same time and the outcome in terms of runs is the recognized partnership. In bowling the relationship between the two bowlers bowling at any one time is a little greyer. A bowler bowling well at one end will not have the success without the support, or the applied pressure from his counterpart at the other. The wicket ball isn’t always the ball that took the wicket. Although that sounds strange it could have been the ball or even the over before from the bowler at the other end that provoked the batsmen into a poor shot.

The most obvious example of this is the bouncer and Yorker approach applied by most fast bowlers. The bouncer unsettles the batsmen, if its on line and fast, and the Yorker exposes the momentarily lapse in foot movement (at top class it only needs to be a split second) and the stumps are shattered. At international level Anthony Giles can bowl very tightly without taking a wicket and Mr Flintoff takes the glory from the other with a well pitched up out-swinger.

Look closer at the bowler at the other end; you may just be surprised what he contributes.

I was worried about Felixstowe this weekend. Now Felixstowe and the rest of the league need to worry about us. We are on top of the league and we will do our best to stay there. We have three top order batsmen, all of them in form, for the next home game against Wivenhoe, Sat 10^th June starting at 2:00.

Come down and see your town’s team.

Find a business or organisation by using our A-Z listing below ...