Mark Radford and Rob Sullivan both bowled within themselves however they lost line and length and paid the price. Two difficult chances to slip didn’t help the cause and Dunmow got off to a very solid start before A Dellar (12-1-49-5) was introduced with a first ball wicket superbly caught at short wide mid-on by Mark Bradford. Once again the ability to take pace off of the ball proved too much for the opposition. Adams persistent line and length maintained pressure through the middle of the innings while being well supported by M Wilkins (10-0-44-1) and Simon Youngs (5-0-29-2) who took a sharp caught and bowled.

Dunmow 9 for 217

Haverhill also got off to a good start with Dave Godwin (10) and Neil Winter (126) providing the initial platform from which Haverhill would then use to launch our pursuit of a good total made by Dunmow.

Neil carved up the opposition bowling to each corner of the ground with some blistering cover drives and well timed glances off of leg stump, a great knock. Dave Godwin provided the backbone support for Neil,s 50 which brought Haverhill to 60-0 before Dave Godwin was dismissed shortly afterwards.

Simon Youngs (37) arrived at the crease and immediately stamped his name on the session with perfectly timed short armed wristy pulls through mid wicket. Simons departure after a 92 run partnership brought A Dellar to the crease who slowly worked himself in before starting to play his back foot cover drives through the infield. Neil Winters departure for 126 brought Martin Wilkins (4) to the crease and with this brought the maturity and stability required to bring the target within scoring range. A late run to Martin Wilkins brought Dan Poole who unfortunately chased a leg spinner that he played over and was stumped without troubling the scorers. The scene was set with at one stage Haverhill requiring 13 runs off of 12 balls. Adam Dellar released the pressure with a superb hit six straight down the ground off of the Dunmow skipper. Dan Wilkins scratched about for a few runs before he was left to bring Haverhill home with one run required off of one ball. The leg spinner had the chance to draw Dan forward, the field was in, heart’s where in mouths and for a moment it looked like Haverhill would stumble at the last hurdle. The leg spinner drifted a ball onto leg stump which Dan Wilkins superbly lifted over the infield and over the boundary. Next in batsmen skipper Rob Sullivan was glad to take the pads off.

Skipper Says:

Poor Sid Dellars ticker was racing like a goanna on hot sand. He said to me after the game that he couldn’t keep watching these games without it adversely affecting his health and the supporters that I spoke to afterwards agreed. A very tight game that came down to the last ball but good old glass fingers, swollen cheeked swashbuckling long john “Dan Wilkins” came to the rescue again.

For Dunmow, although they played well and us below PAR, to post 217 I can only question the decisions I made on the day and whether through my uncharacteristic defensive play I let Dunmow off of the hook when we where in the field. At times I found myself going defensive where we had the upper hand. We have the quality of bowling to trouble any batsmen in this league. And if there was a strong batsman who is carving us up, I would respect that and defend accordingly.

What I still haven’t got use to is the defensive nature of this grade of cricket. The Dunmow captain proceeded to defend from about the eighth over with five players on the boundary. It looked like defend, defend, defend. Perhaps something I missed in the subtleties of his approach.

I also find the ingrained defensive field that immediately emerges when teams get to the 35 over mark bewildering. If we are on top and we are into their tail (7,8,9,10) we go for the kill. Usually we don’t defend and we skittle the tail, pick up extra points and maybe even a few overs to boot.

We also had great feedback about our new sponsors the Australian Arms hotel that put on the best spread I have seen at any tea break. Thanks Roger and Sara, well done and thanks, much appreciated. Look forward to next weeks.

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