Cudham Wyse 1st XI
2nd July 2022
This game had everything: last minute drama, gritty displays, an Ollie Crees dropped catch and the return of the prodigal son Harry Potter (aka MJ).
We travelled to Cudham knowing they were in good form at 2nd in the league, and having lost the toss were surprisingly put into bat on what seemed like a good deck on a relatively sunny day. Evidently Cudham knew something we didn’t, and whilst some fluent strokeplay from Crees was cut short by a very questionable LBW, the rest of the top four struggled to get going and we found ourselves 40-4. Myself and the Hogwarts’ golden boy had to dig in and build a partnership which started to pick up until yours truly slashed a cut to gully on 28 and was caught by one of the few fielders that seemed willing to stop a ball, and took a fine one handed catch.
Nonetheless MJ along with some good late cuts from Dunmall and well-supported by Plunkett managed to push the score up to a semi respectable 152.
Then MJ reminded us why Muddy and myself wept rivers of tears when he announced he was moving to Madrid, by bowling a brilliant and lethal spell of bowling in his first game in a year (first terrible over aside), taking a very accomplished 4 for kept us in the game. But alas the luck or rhythm wasn’t with Dunmall in his opening spell and the swashbuckling Cudham batters reached drinks 98-4 and in total control.
However twists were still to come, as Happy, freshly recruited (editor’s note: stolen?) from the 2s, and Dunmall switching ends, picked up wickets with increasing frequency, as such an easy chase turned into an England-esque collapse (pre-BallBall of course) and suddenly we were in with a sniff. Dunmall bowled ferociously and despite constant coaching attempts from their in-batsman, he then proceeded to feather one behind wafting at a wide one and we needed 2 wickets to win! Never have I seen someone so disappointed to be out, head in hands, bat over his head, followed by the long walk off by the bat dragging behind him.
24 runs needed, 2 wickets left, when their number 9 suddenly decided to channel his inner Liam Livingstone and hit happy for 2 clean sixes over long on, and then another, when Dunmall held the door to get their no 10 edged behind via Ed Wesson’s gloves into my hands, the crowd went wild. 1 wicket needed, 6 to win, and despite Happy’s best efforts the ball ended up sailing over long on (again…) to leave Cudham the victors by the barest of margins.
Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/4994848
Speldhurst Cricket Club 