Penn Street vs Hyde Heath CC

Penn Street CC 277-5 (P. Hewlett 121, C. Russell 109; J. Stevens 4-76)

beat

Hyde Heath 118ao (V. Goundar 4-41, D. Jones 3-18)

by 159 runs

by Matt Hewlett

On a cold May day, with a scheduled start time of 1pm Penn Street Cricket Club gathered like a bunch of penguins on an iceberg awaiting the arrival of the opposition. Matthew Hewlett was the day's captain with Dave Jones being the elected vice-captain. The first conversation of the day was based on who could wear the most jumpers and whether the opposition would be ok with us wearing non-white ones. In the lead-up to the match it has been a busy week managing dropouts of the side; thankfully Harry Lewis, Greg Frost and Jeremy Knox were able to get involved at the last minute to ensure Penn Street could field a side.

The toss was won by Penn Street, with the decision to have a bat first, on the basis that the captain didn’t want to take his warm layers off. Chris Russell and Philip Hewlett were sent in to open up. The first few overs of the innings seemed to be some sort of competition between Chris and Philip to see who could be scratchier at getting off the mark. But by the fifth over both batters looked settled and ready to go. It was an absolute pleasure watching both of these players bat, as they were aggressive, sensible and positive at all times, with the view to keep the scoreboard going. Each player bypassed the 50 milestone in a quick time.

Chris Russell ended up on 109 before he tried to work a straight ball into the leg side. Having missed the ball the inevitable death rattle behind him left him trudging off having been dismissed for the first time this season. By this point, he had faced 99 overs across three games for Penn Street without being out, an amazing feat and a real testament to the ability and character Chris has. The partnership between Chris and Philip ended on 234 runs. 

Philip Hewlett amassed 121 runs before he plinked a full-of-length ball to mid-on. This concluded proceedings for Philip and he was able to walk off to an overwhelming round of cheers and claps from the supporters on the sidelines. This is Philip's high score, although he did give the opposition some chances to catch him out, he made the most of the occasion and batted with real maturity and finesse. A truly sensational innings to watch.

Leaving roughly seven overs of the innings left, it gave the following batters licence to hit out. Ady White came to the crease and immediately got off the mark. He was able to share the moment with Philip when he got his first-ever 100. Unfortunately, shortly after sharing this moment, Ady decided to kick one off the middle stump and then had to walk off having been dismissed LBW for one. This brought Greg to the crease, who had a look at one ball and then decided the next one must go, so swung hard, leaving this ball catapulting into the air. After appearing to bounce off a satellite it eventually returned to earth, the fielder beneath it juggled the ball, went to ground and after his exorcism managed to cup the ball safely between the crook of his neck and chest.

Kiri Velautham came to the crease and hit some decent shots. Amassing ten runs in no time before playing around a straight ball and hearing that familiar death rattle. This left debutant Harry Lewis and Rocco Jupp to end Penn Street’s innings. Rocco played positively, with potentially the shot of the day coming off the last ball of the innings whereby he advanced down the wicket and crunched a beautiful off drive for four. Penn Street had set the opposition 278 runs to win the match. For the second week in a row, a 250+ score had been set by the Penn Street batters, a great feat to be proud of.

Matthew Hewlett and Vishal Goundar opened the bowling, with Matt coming from the Wood End and Vish coming from the Pub. Matt started proceedings, bowling a tight over moving the ball away from the bat. Vish didn’t need long to get into his stride, dismissing the batter with his first ball crashing halfway up into the middle stump. This event repeated two balls later, starting off with a double wicket maiden. Matt followed up with a wicket in his second over, leaving the opposition 8-3. Matt and Vish have always made a good bowling match-up, with one in-swinging and the other out-swinging. Vish’s next over started with a wicket, caught at gully with a sharp catch from Jeremy Knox. The opposition were now reeling at 17-4.

Hyde Heath’s no. 6 came to the crease and immediately started hitting out, with Vish’s next over going for 18 runs. Vish had a point to prove, and did so after a short battle by bowling a sharp bouncer which found the top edge of a pull shot. Matt ran in from deep fine leg to take a diving catch to remove the batter. Hyde Heath was now 68-5.

Jeremy Knox replaced Matt and Dave Jones replaced Vish to continue proceedings. Both bowled incredibly well. Dave Jones removed the other batter ,who had been resistant to the opening attack from Matt and Vish, by taking a simple caught and bowled. Dave’s next victims fell to being bowled and a sharp catch at point by Chris Russell. After these wickets fell, Jeremy picked up a wicket, an outside edge flew straight to Vish at first slip, who without realising it, held onto it.

A few special mentions during this spell of bowling, Kiri decided to stop a ball with his foot, the ball then travelled up his body like a rat up a drainpipe before connecting with his face, leaving him with a swelling ankle and a free lip job that any Kardashian would be jealous of. Rocco Jupp had soldiered on with a leg injury and Matt decided to give him the option of sitting out the rest of the innings as he looked in a lot of discomfort. After offering this respite to Rocco, Matt turned around to see a few concerned teammates, who explained that Kiri shouldn’t carry on as his ankle was getting painful. Matt went from having 11 on the field to potentially nine within seconds. To his credit, Kiri battled on and stayed on the field. Hyde Heath was now staggering at 101-9.

Ady White and Greg Frost were next into the attack. Both bowlers started really well, floating some treats for the batters, who having played three shots before the ball arrived had to quickly readjust before actually playing the ball. Ady eventually picked up the final wicket when the batter holed out to a sharp catch to Jeremy at mid-on, concluding the day's proceedings. Dismissing Hyde Heath for 118 meant that Penn Street won by 159 runs.

A massive thank you to Tilly Cossins who scored the match and to David Lander and Richard Spooner who umpired the entire match. Efforts such as these are so greatly appreciated.

PSCC: Chris Russell, ⁠Philip Hewlett, ⁠Ady White, ⁠Greg Frost, ⁠Kiri Velautham, Rocco Jupp, Harry Lewis (+), ⁠Jeremy Knox, ⁠Dave Jones (VC), ⁠Vishal Goundar, ⁠Matthew Hewlett (C). Umpires: David Lander & Richard Spooner. Scorer: Tilly Cossins.