Cavaliers Cricket Club, Colchester, Essex, England

On another beautiful September day we comfortably beat a depleted Kirby side to close the season in style. Danny Skinner bowled a very useful opening spell to take care of the top order and Tim did his usual job of mopping up in the middle order. With only 80 runs on the board and seven wickets down we had the chance to introduce Jack Kneeshaw for his first overs of the season and he surprised everyone, not least himself, by taking two wickets without conceding a run! What was even more amazing was Asanka making two catches.

Needing just 88 for victory we were able to ensure that Asanka had a good chance in what could be his final game for the club before returning to Sri Lanka. Although Vinnie started well he was cleaned up by a useful delivery bringing Asanka to the crease. He got a bit of luck when bowled off a no-ball but played some fine attacking shots to end up 43 not out and see us to victory.

The early end to the game gave us a chance to find a pub showing the cricket Twenty20 semi-final and ensure hang overs all around on Sunday morning.

We had long been looking forward to the crunch match with Little Baddow, although the game was no longer a definite title decider after Baddow lost to Tiptree and Abberton. The weather was fine and the pitch looked beautiful, for batting at least, but we had decided to field first making the toss academic as Baddow wanted to bat. The early bowling from Darren and Jon R was controlled as usual and tight fielding kept up some pressure, which told as both openers fell cheaply.

However this brought danger man Andy Harris to the wicket who started to fight back with Tutlebee. A few too many full deliveries helped Baddow on their way but Tommie's dismissal of Tutlebee started the rot as wickets fell at regular intervals there after. Harris carried on punishing anything full or wide but there was little support and we were delighted to restrict the total to 201 all out.

Our reply started steadily as usual but Robinson was troubling Jack and bowled him off his pads in the 9th over bringing Ray to the wicket. Simon (63) took advantage of a wayward over claiming 16 runs moving the score up to 81 in the 19th over but shortly afterwards spooned up a leading edge to young leg-spinner Franklin. Ray (63*) and Darren (39*) carried on the good work putting away the bad ball to claim the victory by the deceptively comfortable margin of 8 wickets.

It was probably a good toss to lose on Saturday as Bergholt asked us to bat on a lively, green wicket and a lush outfield, but scoring got more difficult as the ball aged and we were able to post a competitive score thanks to an unbeaten century from Simon (117*). Although batting wasn’t all that easy when the ball was in the right areas, Bergholt dished up too many four-balls to allow us to set a target of 174. The Bergholt reply was severely limited by some excellent bowling from Tommie and wicket taking deliveries from Stuart. Five wickets fell within the opening 20 overs and the game was effectively over. Twenty points towards safety.

On Sunday we won the toss and elected to field but the slight green tinge to the wicket was misleading as High Easter comfortably posted an opening stand of 150. All the Cavaliers bowlers struggled until the breakthrough came from Robbie but wickets fell regularly thereafter as Easter ended up on 262-6; Robbie and Jack Smith sharing the wickets.

Our reply started slowly but soon gathered pace as Danny (121) and Jack (82) put the bowling to the sword for 30 overs putting on a club record opening stand of 215 runs. However the loss of both openers in quick succession put a brake on the scoring and the tension mounted until Simon and Robbie came together to secure the victory.

Ardleigh’s victory over Oddies gives them a mathematical chance of avoiding relegation if they can defeat Little Clacton on the last weekend. High Easter are also in danger unless they can string together some wins from their games in hand.

The Saturday fixture against Great Braxted & Tiptree was a tense, low scoring affair on a very green wicket. The toss went our way and as usual we elected to field first being unsure of a good total in the conditions. Jon Rawlings and Darren made life very tricky for the Braxted top order reducing them to 33-4 by the 15th over. However this brought M. Lamb to the wicket who seemed oblivious to the situation as he struck Darren for a six and continued the counter attack as Robbie and Asanka replaced the opening bowlers. At drinks there was agreement that we'd need to get lucky or we'd be facing a big score. Thankfully Asanka managed to induce a shot that went higher than it went far and Simon took the catch.

Two overs later Asanka turned the match around with four wickets in four consecutive balls to leave Braxted on 108-9, and soon after all out for 119 in 31 overs.

In the reply Philips made the Cavaliers openers work hard to protect their wicket while Hale at the other end was using the bounce to his advantage. Vinnie and then Simon fell to Philips but Ray anchored 30 run partnerships with both Paul Broster and Paul Mills to inch us towards victory. With more than 50 overs to get the runs there was never any pressure on the scoring rate and Ray was undefeated at the end on 53.

With that victory in hand we had promotion in the bag but were looking for a victory over Bocking the following day to go into the Little Baddow game at the top of the table. Rain was causing devastation to the fixtures all over Essex but was only coming to the Rugby Club in short showers so despite losing an hour during the Bocking innings a full 90 overs were bowled. Bocking got most of the their runs before the rain interuption making the most of the conditions, with S. Cooper top scoring with 71. Our bowlers did an excellent job in the conditions, especially Tony and Ken, to restrict Bocking to 180-8.

Our reply was hampered by the sticky wicket and the late arrival of Jack K and we never mastered the Bocking attack until Robbie and Jon Walton threw caution to the wind to add 54 for the eighth wicket. As things turned out this gave us all important bonus points.

Little Baddow's game at Tendring was rained off and under the "Average Points" system (I believe) we will still have an tiny advantage going into the title clash on the 8th September.

Horkesley won the toss and unsurprisingly asked us to bat first even though the wicket looked in good condition after a dry spell. Although the bounce in first couple of overs excited the Horkesley bowlers Simon and Jack soon got on top and took the score into the 80's in just 16 overs. Jack was riding his luck as a series of simple catches were put down, but also played some exquisite drives through the covers and over the bowler's head.

With both openers falling in quick succession Horkesley built some pressure on the middle order and we never quite got back on top although Phil W batted very sensibly to add 25 valuable runs at the end. The pick of the Horkesley bowlers was Laitt who kept a tight line, moving the ball off the seam to keep the batsmen honest.

After tea, father and son openers Jayasuriya started well but Tommie and Ray built up some pressure leading to Jnr being run out by Jack S. Jayasuriya Snr needlessly slogged across the line to be bowled by Tommie shortly after. The next wicket probably turned the game as the visitors skipper was run out by a diving stop and direct hit by Steve P. As usual Niall Fitzgerald struck some clean hit boundaries before Jon cleaned him up from one that kept low before a crazy run out exposed the tail. Tony and Robbie took full advance to take the last 5 wickets in just 4 overs.

This was a good win over a team pushing for promotion and this time games elsewhere went according to form moving us out of the relegation places. With Bardfield and Boxted still to play we will need results against Bergholt or High Easter to guarentee fourth division cricket next season.

Electing to field first on a scorching hot day wasn't a popular decision with the Cavaliers but captain Phil got it right as tight bowling set up the chance of victory. Stuart opened the bowling and completed his first 10 over innings of the year having bowled better than 1-35 would suggest. At the other end Steve Ranson bowled 8 good overs before losing his action in the final two to end with figures of 0-52. Ever reliable Tim and Tony took over the attack building pressure at both ends to take 3 wickets each as the Oddies innings faltered to 216-7.

Although the Second XI hadn't chased down such a big score this season the wicket was playing very well and Oddies didn't seem to have enough runs to be confident of victory. After Clouter's left arm deliveries took 4 wickets to reduce us to 33-4 from 14 overs any chance of a victory seemed to have disappeared as Phil W joined Simon at the crease.

Building gradually the partnership produced a total of 155 runs, setting a club record, before Phil was run out by a direct hit from cover for 46. Simon went on to complete his hundred but missed a straight one to leave Steve R and Jack Smith to finish things off, which they did with Jack hitting a sweet drive over mid-off for four in the final over.

We have rarely beaten the Oddies over the years so this was a particularly enjoyable victory. Unfortunately results elsewhere went against us with West Bergholt and St Osyth also winning to draw High Easter in a five way relegation battle.

On Saturday the Second XI travelled to fellow strugglers Ardleigh. On paper we had a reasonably strong side out but Ardleigh had also drawn on their First team and their “ringers” played better than ours. Having won the toss and elected to bat the last thing skipper Phil wanted to see was Vinnie and Simon back in the hut within 10 overs. The rest of the batsmen all chipped in with Paul Mills top score with 21 and Phil W unbeaten at the end as we limped to 125 all out. In reply Ardleigh’s openers went on the rampage until Tony and Phil E pegged them back supported by a fine catch from Jack S.

On Sunday the First XI arrived at Earls Colne to find a very wet wicket and hopes of fielding first. However it was not to be as I called wrongly at the toss. After a needless run out, Jack K and Danny built an excellent 96 run partnership and a platform for some late hitting from Darren, Stuart, Tim and Robbie taking us to 202-7.

In reply Earls started confidently but Tim and Darren built the pressure, which eventually led to wickets falling. The critical wicket came courtesy of a reaction catch from Tim, saving himself from a painful blow in the goolies. Thereafter Robbie bowled fast and straight to roll over the middle order and Asanka cleaned up the tail taking the final wicket to deny me a rare appearance with the ball

Once again the fielding was worthy of a mention as the commitment from everyone supported the bowlers admirably.

With 10 wins under our belt we must now be assured promotion but we need to maitain the momentum going into the big game against Baddow.

The First XI fixture on Saturday was against promotion rivals Chappel & Wakes Colne and we were far from full strength with only Stuart, Asanka, Tommie, Tim and myself from the regulars. Having won the toss the course of the game was probably set in the second over as Stuart took two wickets. Two overs later the game was nearly handed back thanks to some dropped catches but tight bowling all around restricted Chappel to an under par 156-8.

In reply Phil W and Stuart were the star men in a partnership of 87 runs for the third wicket. A flurry of wickets meant that the end was a very tense affair but Tristan and Tony were able to hit the winning runs in the 43rd over.

On Sunday the Seconds faced mid-table High Easter with a stronger than usual line up. Darren, Tim, Ray and myself helped make up the numbers as regulars were unavailable. Again we fielded first and restricted the scoring by taking regular wickets. Darren and Tony both took three cheap wickets as Easter ended up on just 119.

In reply Paul B was the main man with an unbeaten 60 as we cruised home with 10 overs to spare.

The Firsts were taken as close as any side this year by a tenacious Tendring who had the game for the taking but lost wickets in the middle order to fall just 26 runs short of the Cavaliers total. Having lost the toss on a real old fashioned green top we were worried to be 19-2 after just six overs, but Danny was batting well and Simon joined him to put on a 87 run partnership. Paul Broster, back from his travels and playing his first game, and Asanka chipped in the help the total along on a slow, tricky wicket.

In reply Tendring started well with all of the top five getting starts, but the fact that none of them went on to make fifty was probably the deciding factor. Tim was the pick of the bowlers but more than anything the fielding won us this game. Stuart, Tim and Asanka all took fantastic catches as crucial times and despite only having 10 men in the field we covered the spaces.

The Second team came up against another strong second team from one of the bigger clubs and were chasing leather for much of the Boxted innings. With none of our batsmen reaching 20 we were blown away again for another hefty loss.

The weekend kicked off with a visit to St Osyth for the Second XI. Having chosen to field things started well with Tim and Phil Everitt limiting the scoring opportunities for the openers and Jack then claimed two wickets in an over to have the home side struggling at 59-3 after 19 overs. At that stage we were hoping to be chasing a score of around 180 but the young middle order played very well to take the total to 245.

In reply we started a little too slowly and although our second wicket didn't fall until the 20th over we were already behind the rate and the middle order was unable to accelerate enough to go for the win. With maximum bonus points the next target everyone chipped in to get us to 183-8.

A damp and moss covered wicket didn't look too promising so I was pleased to win the toss and insert Eight Ash. A freak warm up accident left JJ with a nasty thick lip and a winded Tommie even paler than usual. Both had their eyes fixed on a ball hit up by Darren and ran smack into each other with a sickening crunch. As a result Tommie's bowling lacked the usual zip but Darren was making the batsmen struggle. Once the EAG skipper was run out by a direct hit from Darren the rest of the order was blown away with Tim ending with 5-16. In reply Danny (45*) and Jack (37) got us most of the way home and Ray helped finish the job for a 9 wicket win.

Over on the other pitch the Seconds were finding life hard against Little Clacton. Only Asanka really bowled well conceding just 18 from his 10 overs but his catching again proved expensive as their opener went on to make a ton. With a tough target of 234 the batsmen fell apart making only 44 against the tight line of Catling who gave up just 3 runs in his 10 overs!

After very heavy rain in the 24 hours before the game we were keen to win the toss and field first, but the coin came down heads and we were batting. With Vinnie unavailable and Jack suffering from a freak gym accident Danny Skinner was promoted to open with myself. The crowd were on the edge of their seats as we crawled to just 10 runs of the first 11 overs but with wickets in hand progress was made against the change bowlers. Everyone chipped in but the crux of the innings was a fine 93 from Danny and 34 from Stuart giving us a very respectable total of 201-5.

In reply Earls lost wickets at the top of the order as Tim and Jon Rawlings took three each and thereafter the result was never in doubt. Robbie and Stuart also got among the wickets as we polished off the tail for a total of 61.

The Second XI had a very tough fixture against league leading Little Bardfield Village (LBV) on the adjoining pitch. Although wickets fell regularly most of the LBV batsmen contributed to the score of 234 all out, with Jack Smith being the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets for 53. In reply none of the Cavaliers managed to convert a start into a big score and the tail was blown away to leave us on 97.

The Second XI enjoyed a solid victory over Ardleigh seconds, thanks mainly to 71 runs from skipper Phil Wolski and some support from Simon G (44) and Stuart J (34*). The total of 198 most definitely looked a tall order when 3 wickets fell in the first 3 overs to leave Ardleigh on 1-3 but their skipper came good with an unbeated 87. The games was also notable for Sam's first wicket for the club and Jack S also bowled a good spell and took a wicket. In the end the victory was a comfortable 66 runs.

On Sunday the club took on 1st Division St Osyth in the cup. Having won the toss and insert the home team we bowled and fielded extremely well to limit the score to 166. Without a quick fire 62 from the South African skipper the score would have looked very poor indeed. All the bowlers kept an accurate line and made it hard for the batsmen to score runs.

In reply the top order failed with Jack, Simon, and Ray falling in quick succession. Darren and Asanka rebuilt the innings before Asanka fell for 28 with Cav's still in with a shout. The tail gave their best, in particular Tommie (10) but once Darren fell on 68 the game was lost.

The game proved that we could compete at a higher level if we can get promotion this year and we need to return to some league form with a tricky fixture away to Bocking.

After a cancellation and a rained off game the second XI finally got some cricket although not without some drama. Due to an administrative mix up everyone believed that the game was at home when in fact it was discovered to be at Clacton just 10 minutes before the scheduled start!

After a dash over to the Recreation ground Little Clacton's usual batting strength was evident as they made 250-6 with Lloyd the main tormentor of the bowlers. In reply we could only make 53 but everyone was simply happy to be playing

In the first team fixture back at the Rugby Club we made 241-8 thanks to a robust 76 from Vinnie, a sparkling 50 from Asanka and a dashing flurry of off side drives from Jon Rawlings (26 being as many runs as he made all last year!). The GB&T reply was interrupted by Tommie and then Jon when he switched ends, with Ray bowling ten tight overs to set up Asanka for three quick wickets at the end. With only 9 men on the field at times it was a close call but we ran out winners by a clear 40 runs in the end.

The first home game of the season saw the usual chaos off the field but normal service was resumed on the field. I lost the toss and Kirby elected to bat, which suited me. Credit to the new grounds-man however as the pitch looked to be well prepared. Tom collected two early wickets and Ray kept things quiet from the other end. All the bowlers were economical but wickets were rare until Stuart took three quick wickets in the final overs leaving Kirby on 162-8

In reply Jack and I put on our third 50 opening partnership of the season but both fell to Lawes, leaving it to Ray with another unbeaten 50 and Danny Skinner to take us to safety. So far so good this season unless you happen to bat at number 5!

It was a gorgeous day at Eight Ash Green but despite the heat there was no hesitation to ask EAG to bat when Stuart won the toss. Jon Rawlings struck twice in a typically testing opening spell before EAG consolidated with a 80 run third wicket partnership. However the run rate was always under control and Darren came back to take three wickets at the end to prevent any acceleration in the scoring.

In reply Jack and Ray both continued their rich form stretching back to the Kirby game at the end of last season. Ray is now unbeaten in three games with 138 runs to his name, while Jack averages 110 over those games.

I was very happy to win the toss and ask Tendring to bat first as it was not clear what a good score would be on a dry wicket. After a steady start Tendring were reduced to 58-6 by a combination of Tom, Ray and Darren but the fight back came from Watkinson and Gunary. Tim made the critical break through thanks to a fine one handed catch from Darren and there was little resistance in the tail.

In reply Cavaliers started at a brisk pace, thanks to a little luck, with Simon and Jack finding the boundary until Simon fell for 33. Ray joined Jack who passed 50 and then promptly gave his wicket away. Ray and Asanka then saw us home safely for an 8 wicket win.

Unfortunately with only 14 players available the Second team game had to be cancelled. Player recruitment to replace Andrew, Trevor, Ash and Lee is much needed.