Match Report, Brook House & Highbrook vs. Brighton and Hove Cresent, 7/8/11

On a fresh and breezy day that was more like mid-September than early August, Crescent overcame a lack of road signs and a wealth of cyclists to make our way to the picturesque ground near Ardingly.
Simon’s catch capped an outstanding all round fielding performance, which followed a stoical batting display on a wicket that made some of our batsmen ask if there was a helmet in the club kit bag.
Nick (14) and Terry (9) opened the innings and it was it quickly apparent that high bounce and a slow outfield were going to keep a lid on the scoring. Terry was out first and on walking back to the pavilion said he was going to keep wicket “as a penance”.

By the eleventh over our score was 27 for 1, so Joe’s outstanding contribution of 54, including 7 fours, truly brought our innings to life. Will (3) and Geoff (0) were unlucky to be out in quick succession. A solid, reserved knock from Tom (12) helped steady things before Jon chipped in with a solid 26. It was left to Dmitry (12*) and Matt (10*) to finish things off with some T20 style hitting.
On the boundary concern we might struggle to make a game of it turned to optimism as the score passed 100. The general consensus was 120 might be defendable, so to reach 150 for 7 was an excellent effort. But would it be enough?

Crescent opened the bowling with Matt at one end and Simon at the other. Matt bowled tirelessly, with his twelve over spell yielding 4 for 18. At the other end, Simon open with his leg spin and he was very unlucky not to get any wickets, ending with figures for 9-0-28-0.
The real breakthrough came when Brook House opener Stubbings finally lost patience and hooked Matt to behind square leg. He no doubt expected to see his shot go for four, but instead he was greeted by Simon leaping up and to his right to pluck the ball out of the air. You wouldn’t see a better catch at Edgbaston!
After this, Brook House stood no real chance of winning,Crescent kept piling on the pressure with sharp catches from Tom at cover and Richard at midwicket. Brook House were stopped from getting into any kind of rhythm, with practically every shot being stopped by our fielders.
Joe and Tom came on with a few overs left and in spite of their vicious bowling to an attacking field the Brook House tail survived, although they didn’t seem to enjoy the speed of some of what was served to them.

Maybe if we’d had a couple more overs then we would have finished them off. But it was a really enjoyable game played in great a spirit with fine individual and team performances.

Summary:
Crescent: 150/7 from 43 overs.
Joe Gatford 53, John Morris 26
A Grant: 11-1-39-4; Meaker: 8-0-34-1

Brook House & Highbrook: 72/7 from 38 overs.
M Stubbings 21, C Sear 11
Matt Lawson: 12-3-18-4; Joe Gatford: 5-2-5-2; J Morris: 5-2-11-1

Crescent XI: Nick Hollands, Terry Garoghan (wk), Joe Gatford, Will Grey, Geoff Stringer, Tom Burgess, Jon Morris (c), Dmitry Morgan, Matt Lawson, Richard Beglan, Simon Wood
Match Drawn.