Winning Draw for 1st XI as Roehampton hold out

Effingham 1st XI .v. Roehampton 1^st XI

Sat.3^rd June 2017 – Fuller’s Brewery Surrey County League – 1st Division

Put in to bat by the visitors, Roehampton were rewarded with a wicket in the first over, but Effingham responded with an important 2^nd wicket partnership of 38 between Jake White, back in his opening role, and Ed Cooper.  When Jake White departed, with only 45 on the board, Nick Procter’s arrival at the crease required some urgently needed concentration. Both batsmen carefully negotiated the next few overs and things were looking much more comfortable after the 14^th over which produced 16 runs – four boundaries in five balls for Nick Procter, who went on to score an extremely valuable 39 in a partnership of 70 with Ed Cooper. Mark Collin coming in at number six provided some anticipation of another big partnership and after putting on 84 between them, Ed Cooper, who batted very sensibly throughout, was caught at cover with 88 to his name, including 13 boundaries.

199-5 after 37 overs provided an opportunity for Effingham to push the score on and Mark Collin took full advantage, repeating the run of four boundaries in five balls, which helped him on the way to a very well earned 64. Charlie Forbes (30 not out), kept the momentum going with Mark Collin and they put together a partnership of 69 for the 7^th wicket. A scoring rate of over 9 runs an over for the last 8 overs enabled Effingham to finish on 279-7.

Roehampton’s innings got off to a brisk start with an opening stand of 55 in the first eleven overs. Although up with the clock at this stage, some tighter bowling slowed things down, but even at 147-3 after 32 overs, the visitors had sight of the target. Opener Vincent had stayed throughout and scored an important 78, before being dismissed following a stunning catch by Charlie Forbes, inches from the boundary rope. Effingham’s pace attack started to pick up much needed wickets and after a further dozen overs, 5 wickets had been claimed with the score on 185-8. With a couple of overs left and the score on 192-9, all eyes were on 20 points, but the visitors kept their last wicket intact – a frustrating winning draw for Effingham, whose main wicket takers were Nick Procter, Charlie Forbes and Chris Fewson with two each.

Ray Pritchard