Hutton v Gidea Park & Romford CC Sunday 3rd X1 on Sun 21 Apr 2002 at 2pm
Gidea Park & Romford CC Lost by two wickets
Park posted 127 runs on a difficult wicket with an extremely slow outfield (Hutton need to purchase a triple mower!!!). Park played this game with 8 colts and 3 senior players (all of whom didn't do too much in order to give the youngsters an opportunity to shine). Good patientand mature batting contributions were made by Chris Collier and Chris Swainland. Andrew D'cruz batted very correctly for well over an hour for his 8 runs (I am not sure Bob meant this slow when he told Andrew to take his time!!), however a job needed to be done and Andrew held one end down while Keir Smith hit a splendid 34 not out which included a massive six. Kier not normally known for his batting produced a performance when the team were in real trouble and looks set to lose the No 11 tag for sometime. Well done Keir!!
127 Runs were never going to be enough but we felt we had a chance due to the slow pitch and outfield. Hutton got of to a bit of a flier and to be fair rode their luck a bit against the debutant fast bowlers Moonie and Toogood who were both unlucky not to get wickets. Captain Bob Coombe then turned to spin and Andrew D'cruz chipped in with two quick wickets that were stumped by Chris Swainland. "Spin Twin" Gary Coombe also picked up a quick wicket and Hutton began to look a bit twitchy. Opening bowler Michael Mooney returned and bowled with real aggression and well deserved the three late wickets he got. Keir Smith was brought on to bowl and also got two wickets (one following some great glovework from "3 stumpings" Swainland). In the end due to the efforts of Keir Smith and Michael Mooney Hutton were forced to sweat for their victory.
Thanks to Bob Coombe for leading the team at short notice and for all the colts for the effort they put in. No Thanks to Chris Swainland for nicking my stumpings!!!
Gidea Park & Romford CC Sunday 3rd X1 Batting
127 for 8
Hutton Bowling
Hutton Batting
128 for 8
Gidea Park & Romford CC Sunday 3rd X1 Bowling