Penn Street vs Ardleigh

Ardleigh Green 266-5 (M. Casson 108*, P. Hurworth 52; C. Fletcher 2-45, G. Henry 2-68) beat Penn Street 73-8 (C. Fletcher 35; S. Gawler 3-17) by 194 runs

Penn Street kicked off the new season with a heavy defeat to Ardleigh Green CC by 192 runs on a fresh and slightly blustery, but sunny April afternoon. Things began badly as captain, Chris Fletcher, lost the toss and Penn Street were sent out to the field. As Paul Goodchild and Chris Fletcher opened the bowling, it was clear that match preparation was lacking. Ardleigh Green’s young opening pair appeared at ease at the crease, although they were aided by a low, slow pitch that offered little to the Penn Street bowling attack. Fletcher claimed the first wicket as the ball was flicked at a catchable height to square leg, where Steve Smith held a comfortable catch. The new batsman arrived at the crease and immediately set to work destroying the Penn Street attack, and finished with an unbeaten 108*. Goody then removed the other young opener with a nippy ball that made a mess of the stumps.

Ross McSorley finally rocked up 10 overs in, further building his reputation of being late!! He had to wait half an hour before he could come onto bowl, allowing Grant Henry to take the ball. He showed promising signs for the rest of the season, with some absolutely magic balls and good pace. However, he was expensive and somewhat fed the strong partnership that was building between the Ardleigh Green 3 and 4. He ended with figures of 2-68 from 8 overs. The rest of the bowling attack struggled as utter destruction continued, with McSorley going for nearly 9 an over from his 4 overs, and James Sempill going for 45 off 3 overs. The Ardleigh Green Batting line up were making the Penn Street boundaries look minuscule.

Steve Smith had also bowled 1.1 overs before a horrific injury to Aussie Tony Smart who was fielding at deep extra cover brought an abrupt end to the innings. He hit a submerged metal pole buried beneath the turf, badly gashing his knee. He was taken to Stoke Mandeville A & E unit where he received emergency surgery to attempt to repair the damage. Credit must be given in particular to Chris Fletcher and Jay Hazeldine who were on hand with their first aid skills to make Tony comfortable while he waited for an ambulance. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the field soon! Ardleigh Green then declared, to the relief of a poor fielding side, who looked utterly dreadful at times and good at others. Jay Hazeldine had a “good” game behind the stumps.

The rearranged batting line up saw James Sempill moved to the top of the order with Chris Fletcher. Sempill’s favourite shot was the extravagant leave and was therefore unsurprisingly out for a duck. Fletch looked impressive for his 35 and was the shining light in an otherwise ‘head in hands’ batting performance. The batting line-up all struggled to make double figures bar Fletch and the newly appointed chairman Rob Sutherland, who made 16. However a rare batting mention has to be made to Goody who scored a cracking 2 through the covers with a proper drive before making the fielder stretch for the ball at very deep point. These runs took him to 148 club runs while he is just shy of 300 wickets.

There were some positives to take from the otherwise disappointing game for Penn Street. Let’s hope the rest of the season sees better fortunes!

Man of the Match: C. Fletcher