OLD PARKONIANS v Gidea Park & Romford CC U16 on Sun 15 Jun 2008 at 1pm
Gidea Park & Romford CC Lost by 1 wicket
This was quite the most controversial game of cricket I have seen, for some 6 hours a most wonderful game, featuring a massive performance from young Chris McKie, on a delightful June afternoon, ruined by what must be one of the most awful and unbelieveable umpiring interventions you are ever likely to see. Lets talk cricket for a moment, after all thats what its all about. GP&R - after a month without a game, batted first, with Elliot Skinner and Tom Stephen going off like trains to add 25 in no time, until the pair of them perished in quick succession. Adam McKie came and went, but Andrew Jones and Chris McKie steadied the ship, with the former scoring 25, including the first 6 of the season. After Andy went, Lloyd Renvoize and Chris were hemmed in by some tight spin bowling from Old P's and from overs 20-25 GPR were only able to add half a dozen runs. Lloyd departed trying to push the score along and David Brett joined Chris and ran well between the sticks to move the score on. Chris reached a great half century, his first for the U16's, and with David, finishing on 23 not out, steering the tail along, GPR finished on 177 for 8. It was just about enough to defend on the dry oufield, but always looked reachable. Old P's started slowly with some good accurate bowling from Lloyd and David keeping things quiet. But then Old P's stepped it up a little and moved ominously to 120 for 2. With 13 overs left to get 56 runs, things looked difficult for GP&R , but enter again Chris McKie who ripped through the heart of the old P's batting with 4 wickets in 5 overs for just 19 runs. Credit also must go to Jakk Carver who also bowled a tidy spell, and also to Adam McKie , who whilst Old P's were serenely moving along kept one end tied up really well. As the bowlers started to make inroads into the panicking Old P's batsmen we found ourselves with 8 balls to go and Old P's needing just 4 to win, and GP & R needing just one wicket !! It was riveting stuff. It was at this point that the Old P's umpire chose his moment to ruin everybody's afternoon (except his) and rip up the book on sprtsmanship and fair play. Adam McKie bowled a full toss to the last batsmen, at some speed it ripped out his middle stump, hitting it 2/3 of the way up. Great joy from the GP&R players and supporters followed, we'd won. It was at this point that we noticed the Old Parks umpire (standing at Square Leg I might add), had decided to rule the delivery a no ball, for going above waist height as it passed the batsmen, which was clearly, to all those watching, not the case. Its an interesting point, and one that I'd wished I'd known at the time, that the square leg umpire, cannot (according to the ECB rules) call a no-ball for that reason. Despite the protestations of many, the game continued with the reprieved batsmen knocking off the runs with 3 balls to spare. The Old Parks boys roared onto the pitch screaming with delight, the GP&R players wandered off wondering why on earth they bother. It was a cold and gloomy way to end such a great game, ruined by one biased and uncalled for act. The GP&R boys played superbly, a marvellous individual performance from Chris McKie, solid bowling from Adam and Jack, good knocks from Andy and David, a great recovery when all seemed down and lost, a testament to the continuing spirit of this great bunch of lads. Lets not at least forget that bit of it.
Gidea Park & Romford CC U16 Batting
177 for 7
OLD PARKONIANS Bowling
OLD PARKONIANS Batting
178 for 9
Gidea Park & Romford CC U16 Bowling