Penn Street vs Widmer End St Margarets CC

Penn Street CC 282-3 (C. Russell 119*, C. Edwards 86*, V. Goundar 55)

beat

Widmer End CC 201-7 (R Wilson 69)

by 81 runs

Report by Archer White

On Sunday 27^th April Penn Street faced Widmer End CC. Matthew Hewlett won the toss and decided to bat, putting in Phil Hewlett and Chris Russell to open the batting. The start was slow but steady with both batters looking comfortable, putting the bad ball away and defending the good ones. Phil also enjoyed some good fortune, being dropped twice. Unfortunately, his luck ended when bowled for a total of 16 runs.

Vishal Goundar then came in at three and the scoring started to speed up. Like a flash Vish was celebrating his 50 off just 26 balls. This included a lot of sixes to cow corner, where they only count as four due to the rule set in place by Widmer End. Chrissy Russ was still going steady at the other end with a good partnership starting to occur. However, six balls later Vish was bowled a full toss where his eyes lit up, head flew up and bat swung, unfortunately he was too quick, and the ball went into middle stump. This was the end of a very good innings and partnership. Vish ended on 55 off just 32 balls, putting Penn Street in a very good position for a high score.

In come Chris Edwards at number 4. With a few dot balls he started to get his eye in with a 4 and a 6 within facing eight balls. The next 50 came up quickly after this with Chrissy Russ hitting his 50 off a steady 59 balls and looking to get his first century of the season for Penn Street. This partnership carried on with sixes coming from every angle for Chris Edwards, yet again loving cow corner where they only counted as a 4. As the innings hit 30 overs Chris Edwards started to go for it, hitting his 50 of 44 balls. This did not stop here as he would then only have one dot ball for the rest of the innings with 2 sixes and four fours off 16 balls completing his innings with an 86* not out. The best shot came when the bowler at the Tennis Court end said he would love it if Chris could hit a ball with the middle of the bat, only for the next ball to goe over the hedge and into the far field.

In the meantime, Chris Russell was knocking the ball away, with boundaries coming on every bad ball and good ones going for singles to swap the strike over. His half-century soon turned into a century with a 39 ball second fifty. He never looked like getting out and as soon as he got his century he took his helmet off and kissed the Penn Street badge. Carrying on his unbelievable work Chrissy Russ ended with 119* not out and going from ball one till the last ball was bowled. This partnership of 165 unbeaten set Widmer End CC 282 to win and put Penn Street in a very good position to win the match. A special mention for Rob Sutherland, who spent over 20 overs with his pads on and yet didn’t face a ball.

The opening bowling pair were Nick Loftus and Caitlin Macken. Caitlin got the first wicket to fall with a heavy heave tried by the batter and the ball crashing into middle stump. Nick Loftus at the end started, with two maiden overs building the pressure before he took his first wicket in his third over with a thick edge being taken by Vish who had the gloves on for the day. This opening bowling partnership carried on for 10 overs with both bowlers keeping the batters in check and putting Widmer End under a lot of pressure.

The second partnership of bowlers was Archer White and Matty Hewlett. Matt bowled the first over of the partnership at the uphill end and kept the pressure on with a one run over. However, this was not reciprocated by Archer at the other end who bowled wide after wide to start. It turned out that this was apparently part of the master plan. After bowling four dross balls he decided to bowl a straight one which started outside leg and crashed the top of middle and off. This was a surprise to everyone, especially as before that ball he had told his captain that he had “no [expletive] clue what he was doing”.

Things then got confusing - apologies to Caro, who was trying to keep up with the changes which were happening on the pitch due to Archer’s first over. Ajith Pillai came on for one over at the uphill end. This was a very tidy over which went for three runs and set up the captain’s master plan. Matty and Archer then switched ends. Matty as captain bravely took one for the team and bowled his other seven overs down the hill, only going for 19 runs with one wicket. However, during these overs there were three drops in the field, by Phil, Ajith and Chris Edwards. These were all off the remaining opening batter, who was having a hard time facing Matt and yet ended up getting his 50 during this time. The best drop was Phil Hewlett’s, as he then threw his hat and punched the floor three times afterwards. Matt then went over gave his brother a hug and all was forgiven. However, when stood on the boundary Archer heard the opposition asking if they were in a relationship due to the reactions of both players.

During this, Archer was giving Caro more of a headache with very erratic bowling and realised that trying to fit his figures into the small boxes was becoming a challenge for her. He therefore decided to add a wicket maiden in the middle of this bowling spell, trapping the batter in front of his stumps with the ball hitting halfway up his back pad. This was given eventually by the umpire, who was tired due to the number of wides and byes he had to give in the previous overs.

After drinks Richard O’Hagan came on for Archer and started very strongly by going for only five runs in his first two overs while Matt was still piling on the pressure at the other end. Richard then got the big wicket of their best batter with a teasing ball luring Rory Wilson out of his crease and Vish taking the bails off with a bit of a juggle and padding the ball into the stumps. Matt at the other end finally got his well-deserved wicket, taking the top of off stump and the ball still flying to the boundary.

Ajith then replaced Matt and started as he finished in his first over with consistent bowling, leading to two edges in two balls – unfortunately Vish had changed his gloves for cymbals and both were shelled to the floor. Fortunately, Ajith finally got his wicket with a plum LBW which could not be turned down.

Unfortunately for Caro, Archer came back on and decided to bowl outside off for a right hander, however, it seems like he didn’t realise it was a left hander in bat. Nick also came on at the other end and carried on his tight bowling with end figures of 1-22 off 8 overs. Caitlin then came on for Archer and finished well with their captain swinging at everything. She ended with figures of 1-57 of 7 overs and was unlucky not to get another wicket with Richard O’Hagan dropping a sitter. Ajith then came on for another one over stint due to a miscalculation of overs and confusion on the pitch. This ended the innings and meant Widmer End CC finished on 201-7, with Penn Street winning by 81 runs.

PSCC: Chris Russell, Philip Hewlett, Vishal Goundar (wk, allegedly), Chris Edwards, Rob Sutherland, Ajith Pillai, Archer White, Matthew Hewlett (captain), Nick Loftus, Richard O’Hagan, Caitlin Macken. Scorer: Caro O’Hagan