Headlines

Heinemann batted first and made 126-3 from 20 overs
FHCC replied with a spirited 116 all out in the last over
Heinemann beat FHCC by 10 runs

Match Report
On a breezy July evening FHCC welcomed new opposition Heinemann Publishing to the Ewelme Field of Dreams keen to register their second victory of the season after two promising performances against Moreton and Peter Brett that ended in defeat. Heinemanns were a couple short so the toss was 'negotiated' by stand in skipper Kilcoyne and FHCC took the now traditional option of fielding first. Heinemann opened with Clarke (17) & Pringle (34 ret.) whilst FHCC, in a tactical change, started with the duo of Poulding and Dyson.

Poulding (3-0-17-0) bowling for the first time this year took a few balls to find his line, testing debutant wicketkeeper Hines down the the legside. At the other end Dyson (3-0-15-0) was bowling with variation, tempting the batsmen outside off and tempting the umpire down leg. Both bowlers settled into a rhythm and with some decent work behind the stumps FHCC restricted the oppo to 33 from the first 6 overs without loss. A change of bowling brought the breakthrough FHCC needed as Steven (3-0-29-1) snapped up opener Clarke for 17 with the old 'wide ball-straight ball' combo - Hines taking a good catch behind from a thick edge. This brought Heinemann no. 3 Srivastava (5) to the crease who looked dangerous cracking a four from his first ball.

With cloud cover building and a few spots of rain in the air, Kilcoyne (3-0-12-1) replaced Dyson at the car park end and found a bit of out swing tempting the batsmen to drive through the offside. This proved too tempting for Srivastava who threw the bat at one outside off and the ball flew to backward point where McDonald took an assured catch. Two balls later and new batsmen Copeman played the same shot, this time a much more difficult chance which McDonald did well to get to but couldn't quite cling on.

Steven and Kilcoyne kept it tight for a couple more overs and, at the half way point of the innings, at 65-2 it was pretty much honours even. The hobbling Jagadish (4-0-21-1) replaced Steven at the Grundon tip end and, after a full bunger which was despatched to the legside boundary, quickly found his mark and troubled the Heinnemann middle order batsmen. Sproson, hamstrings taught and ready to ping at anytime, was kept busy in the slips with Jag finding the edge on a couple of occasions. Poulding took the gloves from Hines and continued the tidy work behind the stumps.

Opener Pringle reached 25 plus a few more and retired, as did Copeman as Heinnemann started to accumulate. As the clouds passed and the sun appeared, Kilcoyne quickly removed himself from the attack and brought on jack of all trades Hines (4-0-31-0). Some decent bowling from FHCC was met with decent batting from Heinemann which was met with decent fielding from FHCC. The last few overs saw a pretty even contest. Hines spilled a steepling caught and bowled chance and Entwistle, fielding in the deep and into the sun, took evasive action to avoid being perfectly positioned for a catch. A few run out opportunities came and went; Dyson losing his cool and shying at the stumps when second class post would have sufficed and retired FHCC bowling tyro Ellis fielding like a 80 year old and then having a tantrum like an 8 year old.

After 20 overs Heinemann finished on 126-3, Jag picking up a deserved wicket in his last over with a clever slower ball to remove Shuter (4). As Ellis and Sproson padded up the feeling was that this was an about par score and both sides fancied their chances of a victory.
Nine man Heinemann requested a few extra fielders and FHCC obliged with Steven and Jag kindly stepping up. By this time the FAPL hooligans Puntorno, Catalano and Williams had turned up and, having refused to field, provided some boisterous 'support' from the sidelines.

Sproson (1) and Ellis (2) kicked off the innings with some decent running to initially wayward bowling from Copeman (4-1-14-3) picking up a few byes. The FHCC innings was on its way but hit a speed bump as Ellis was bowled by Adil Rashid Srivastava (4-1-12-1) for 2. The Heinemann opening attack were bowling well and it wasn't long before Sproson followed in similar fashion. Burberry (3) and Entwistle (5) looked to consolidate with Darren in particular looking to score on both sides of the wicket. Sadly a few crisp clips of the leg were followed by an uppish cut to point where he was well caught by McGahey. McDonald (0) came and went without troubling the scorers and suddenly FHCC were 12-4 after 6 overs (déjà vu?).

Kilcoyne (34) joined the immovable object Entwistle who saw off a tricky over for a maiden from Srivastava who had switched to off spin and was extracting some prodigious turn (note to Chris, more rolling required please). Kilcoyne saw off the last over of the impressive Copeman with a couple of legside boundaries which brought about a double bowling change from Heinemann. Noakes (4-0-39-0) at the Grundon end bowled with enough flight that RAF Benson must have picked it up on radar and sent out a helicopter to investigate. Shannon (4-0-31-3) at the other end was a bit flatter and straighter and picked up the wicket of Entwistle caught and bowled with his first delivery.

Poulding (13) and Kilcoyne upped the scoring rate for a couple of overs, Poulding in particular picking out the weak links in the Heinemann field (AKA the FHCC stand ins). Kilcoyne's retirement brought in Dyson (12) to the crease and the score continued to tick over as FHCC recovered to 54-5 from 11 overs - just about in the running. Runs were coming for FHCC until Poulding tempted by a 'flighted' delivery from Shannon came down the wicket, played a cover drive, pull, on drive and square cut in his mind, learnt a foreign language, read War and Peace, tied his shoelaces and then missed the ball and was promptly stumped.
FHCC having got back into contention were now wobbling and it was up to Hines (27*) and Dyson to steady the ship, and steady they did, scoring sensibly to progress the score to 74 from 14 overs - 52 needed from 6 @ 8.6.

Dyson took this as a cue to attack coming down the wicket to Shannon and spanking two consecutive fours back over the bowlers head. Dyson then decided that this method was working so well that he did the complete opposite, stepped back into his crease and was bowled for 12. Jagadish (8) and Hines kept the score ticking over with several ones and twos and somewhat nonchalant running between the wickets but couldn't find the gaps as the run rate required gradually crept up. With 3 overs left Hines retired on 25 and Heinemann, who claimed to be struggling for bowlers, suddenly found a wicket to wicket medium pacer. Jag tried to unleash but was snaffled at mid-wicket. The returning Kilcoyne joined Steven (1) at the crease with 22 needed from 2.2 overs. Two byes from a wide and a desperate diving run from Steven reduced the deficit to 19 from the last two overs.

A four to square leg and two to long on brought FHCC to within 13 of that elusive victory. Sadly that was as close as they got as Kilcoyne holed out to long on and despite a miraculous run out let off in the final over, Steven was bowled with 11 still needed off the last 4 balls.

Heinnemann deserved their victory in a very enjoyable match. Despite the defeat FHCC played very well in patches and gave hope that the final game of the season next week will result in victory.

Champagne Moments

Dyson dancing down the pitch for two consecutive fours as FHCC accelerated to defeat
Entwistle, fielding for the oppo, unnecessarily stopping the ball with little Lewis and his two friends much to the hilarity of the gathering crowd

DotD - Lewis for attempting to put off the opposition batsman by perfectly timing a Homer Simpson-esque belch from backward point

MoM - wicket keeper-batsmen-bowler and dog bringer Hines for an all-round solid performance. Apart from the dog.

FHCC

Match Preview

Match details

Match date

Start time