Scorecard

Epping Cricket Club Saturday Third XI v Benfleet on Sat 21 Jul 2007 at 1pm
Match was Drawn

Match report The 3rd XI tried to stem the flow of bad results against Benfleet on Saturday. They came away with a moral boosting draw after a good team display. On a damp Coopersale track with heavy cloud cover and the threat of rain at any moment the Epping lads were put in to the field by the Benfleet skipper.

Jaques and Sanger opened the bowling as usual for Epping. Jaques seemed to have found his line and was bowling with good pace, something that had been missed in recent games, and Sanger was keeping things tight hitting a good line and length with every ball. Jaques was the first to strike bowling the Benfleet opener for 9, beating him for pace. after this point there was a very quiet period with Jackson and Wills playing sensibly but unable to cut loose and score freely thanks to the combination of threatening bowling from Jaques and the miserly bowling of Sanger. After a short rain break of about 20 minutes Fleming was brought in to the attack and immediately had Jackson caught behind and then immediately bowled Willis y just clipping his off bail. Fleming was bowling his best spell of the season and looking to have the Benfleet batsmen in trouble with every ball. Wright and Joshi dug deep and managed to stem the wickets and try and rebuild the Benfleet innings. Webb replaced Sanger with his version of the doosra, flipper, googley and his new delivery the ‘apple’ (pie that is) he picked up 3 wickets. Ned Piller was also thrown the ball but was unable to find the same line and length that had brought him his wickets the week before. Benfleet declared when Wright was stumped off Webb for 49. Benfleet had set Epping a testing 189 to win with Fleming and Webb picking up 3 wickets a piece.

Epping’s started well but it was always going to be a tough test for our batsmen as time was always against us. We had 36 overs to get the runs. Edward-Smith and Offord opened the batting for the 3rd XI and immediately looked solid and were scoring freely when the bed ball came along. Benfleet had the benefit of 2 second XI bowlers but they could still not get a wicket. Edward smith was playing some classy drives and Offord was smiting the ball well also. Hitchcock was bowling very well and keeping it very tight but was never penetrative. Lewis on the other hand had useful pace and beat the bat often but was unable to keep control of his line and length. Epping knew that if wickets fell their batting line up could crumble so the openers dug deep until Offord succumbed and was bowled for 21. Jaques was sent in with the specific orders to play his natural aggressive game and see what runs Epping could achieve. Jaques stroked the ball to the boundary with ease and showed his power with some massive blows as well. Unfortunately he was well caught on the boundary going for another big shot. Jaques had scored a quick fire 23 and had made it possible for Epping to gain some batting points. Captain Piller then came to the crease but unfortunately his stay was not too long, being caught for 2. Epping were comfortable with not loosing the match and sent Fleming in next and once again told him to go for his shots and push the score along. Benfleet finally decided to try and buy some wickets, something they should have done much sooner, and Edward-Smith, knowing he was close to his deserved 50, came dancing down to the looping pies of Jackson and was stumped easily. Edward-Smith had batted wonderfully for his 49 and had ensured Epping’s horrid run of defeats had been stopped. Sanger joined Fleming and saw out the last few deliveries. Epping finished on 138 for 4 and never looked like loosing the match, and with the 10 overs that was the difference between what the 2 teams faced Epping could have won the game easily.

Benfleet never seemed to want to go for the win and maybe would regret not mixing the bowling up a bit. Hitchcock bowled very well bowling virtually all the overs from one end and finishing with figures of 17 overs, 8 maidens, 24 runs but never looked like getting a wicket. Epping were happy to come away undefeated although a victory could have been on the cards. Edward Smith was the star with the bat and showed what Epping had been missing and Fleming and Jaques owled with good pace and control.

Epping Cricket Club Saturday Third XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 4 wickets
0
138		        
Colin Offord Bowled  21
Mike Edwards-Smith Bowled  49
Aaron Jaques Caught  23
Ed Piller Caught  2
Steve Fleming Not Out  8
John Sanger Not Out  1
Rod Green  
Ned Piller  
Martin Stuckey   3 1
Mick Webb  
A.N. Other  

Benfleet Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Benfleet Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
188 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Epping Cricket Club Saturday Third XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Aaron Jaques12.0525212.502.08
John Sanger17.0266166.003.88
Steve Fleming9.012939.673.22
Mick Webb6.1132310.675.19
Ned Piller3.002300.007.67