Fixture: Old Woking CC Vs Pyestock CC

Date: 14 June 2009

Venue: Queen Elizabeth Way

 

 

To celebrate five years since one of Pyestock CC's greatest comeback performances, this well remembered match will become the second to be featured on this page.

 

On 14th June 2009, Neil Butler's side travelled to Old Woking CC to face one of their regular, longest standing and often toughest opponents. Pyestock came into the game on the back of two convincing victories over Farncombe Wanderers CC (74 runs) and Dogmersfield CC (101 runs) and welcomed back Del Smith, Frank Bates, Paul Heath and Norrie Short on a warm and sunny day

 

Old Woking included Captain Chris McKendry who always proves formidable opposition, and it was he who opened the batting with Andy Dalton in this 40 over contest, as Neil Butler and Chris Heath got to work.

 

The first few overs provided little in the terms of entertainment as the battle between bat and ball remained in its infancy, with neither side willing to give too much away, but this was to change in the 6th over as Dalton lofted Heath for 2 sixes in 3 balls to shift the score to 30 without loss. In the next over however, Butler broke the deadlock as McKendry departed for 5 after edging through to Smith behind the stumps.

 

Dev Grobbler joined Dalton at the crease, and continued the good work as the visiting bowlers toiled on a flat dry track and replacement bowlers Dan Heath and Norrie Short also struggled as the home side began to take the upper hand.

 

By the time the drinks break came at 20 overs, Pyestock were beginning to struggle, and with the score already at 100 for 1, changes needed to be made. Captain Butler reacted by changing wicket-keeper Smith with Paul Heath, and introduced him to the attack in a double-change that also saw Chris Heath introduced. This bold move paid immediate dividends, as Heath bowled Grobbler with the third ball after the return to action and then repeated the trick in his next over as the dangerous Dalton also found his timbers disturbed.

 

Suddenly, Pyestock were back in the match at 117 for 3 with two new batsmen at the crease, spirits were raised, however Heath had now bowled his allotted overs, and could not return, which wasn't in the plan initially. In a bold bid to keep the pressure on, Butler then reintroduced himself to link up with Smith and between the pair of pace bowlers, made Old Woking earn every run.

 

In the 23rd over, a good catch from Chris McGovern gave Smith a deserved wicket, as, at the other end, Butler eventually finished with figures of 8-2-28-1 in an impressive effort. After a change of ends for Smith, Mark Padwick was chosen to help shut the innings down.

 

Old Woking had other ideas however and launched an all-out assault during the final 10 overs as Pyestock began to rue using their front line bowlers earlier in the innings. Jason Orris and Duncan Lomax punished absolutely everything that the visiting side could throw at them. Lomax in particular proving his batting credentials with a 25 ball half century that included 2 fours and 4 huge sixes.

 

By the time 40 overs were up, Old Woking had scored a mammoth 246 for 4, with 96 runs coming from the final 9 overs.  Pyestock's disappointment at tea was obvious after seemingly conceding any chance of a result.

 

After a tea interval, where many worried and frustrated glanced were exchanged given Pyestock's inability to keep the runs down in the final stages, Jon Ford and Chris Heath opened proceedings against the experienced Old Woking attack. The innings started well, as Coombers first ball of the innings was confidently dispatched by Ford, and when batting hero Lomax followed this up with a first over than consisted of 3 no balls, it transpired to not be the cauldron of aggression either batsmen was expecting.

 

The innings settled down, however and both Ford and Heath batted sensibly to extinguish any threat of the home side's openers and at the 10 over mark, with the score a passive 34 without loss, McKendry introduced himself and Andy Dalton to the attack. This seemed to suit Heath, who was now finding the boundary with more regularity as Ford resorted to a more supportive role, and the run rate began to increase, a mixture of off drives and leg glances bringing up the majority of the runs as the innings gained momentum.

 

In the 17th over, with the score on 67, McKendry, who had been the more expensive of the change bowlers, picked up his side's first wicket of the afternoon, as Ford went back to a length delivery and was bowled.

 

This brought Dan Heath to the crease, who immediately went on the offensive, and dispatched his second ball to the boundary. His next scoring shot, launched the ball in to the river over the despairing glances of bowler and fielders alike as Old Woking now had a new threat to contend with.

 

Despite this new wave of attacking threat, at the drinks break, such was the cautious and defensive nature of the visiting batsmen, previous to this, home captain McKendry felt it necessary to remind both batsmen as well as captain Butler himself that the limited over nature of the fixture meant that a draw was not possible, and Pyestock were required to chase the target no matter what. However this message was intended to be received could be debated, but the result was clear, and a rejuvenated and fired up Pyestock restarted with a venom that had been missing earlier in the innings and indeed the match.

 

McKendry's remaining 3 overs were thumped for 26 runs as both Heath's passed 50 in confident fashion, Chris for the first time, whilst Dalton, who had started with two maidens, was now being treated to the same disdain as his 8 overs finished wicketless whilst conceding 50 runs. In a bid to halt the aggressive batting style, Coomber was re-introduced from the pavilion end, but by now confidence between the brothers was sky high and several straight drives chashed into the fence as the visitors passed 150 in 27th over and it was game on!

 

Beckwith became his side's fifth bowler of the afternoon and bettered Lomax's earlier effort with 4 no balls in his first over, but it was he who eventually ousted one of the free flowing batsmen, as Chris Heath flicked loosely at a leg side delivery only for a simple chance to be held by Bradley.

 

A career-best performance had come to an end for the 24 year old, only opening for the second time, his 69 set the firmest of platforms for new batsman Neil Butler to attack the final 8 overs and 3 balls with victory 71 runs away. At the other end however Dan Heath was really in the groove and punished absolutely everything that was not in danger of taking his wicket, as the runs ticked down, the home sides nerves began to come to the surface with wides and no balls become an ever more regular occurrence. 

 

The score passed 200 in the 33rd over as the chase was seemingly being won by Butler and Heath, as the Old Woking bowlers struggled for any kind of control, as the 34th over was smashed for 10 runs, the 35th, 9 and the 36th, 11, suddenly Pyestock were just 15 from victory with all the momentum swinging their way. Dev Grobbler had been introduced to the attack for a different approach, however his 21 runs conceded from 2 overs proving no match for Butler, who was dealing almost exclusively in boundaries, and Heath who was closing in on the most bludgeoning of centuries.

 

The 38th over, also bowled by Grobbler brought up the moment Heath had been waiting for as a crunching boundary, his nineteenth including 3 towering sixes brought him adulation for the 3-figures he had achieved for the first time. A single 2 balls later allowed Butler to finish the match with yet another boundary, as Pyestock had completed an astonishing, record breaking run chase. Finished 250 for 2 in 37.5 overs left Old Woking shell-shocked and in a fixture where they had recently held the upper hand, it was a crushing smash and grab raid on their venue. 

 

On a day where bat had obviously come out on top against ball with 496 runs being scored for 6 wickets it was a fantastic spectacle for the neutral, and a case could definitely be argued for a draw being a fair result, but as we all were reminded, there are no draw's in limited overs cricket!

 

The scorecard of the memorable day is below.

 

Innings Of: Old Woking CC
	Batsmen			Balls	4/6	How Out		Bowler		Total
1	A.Dalton			75	10/4	Bowled		C.Heath		73
2	C.McKendry*			15	1/0	Ct.D.Smith		N.Butler		5
3	D.Grobbler+			35	1/1	Bowled		C.Heath		21
4	J.Orriss			47	7/0	NOT OUT		~		52
5	J.Mullins			26	1/0	Ct.C.McGovern		D.Smith		8
6	D.Lomax			32	4/5	NOT OUT		~		65
7	V.Russo
8	G.Bradley
9	M.Coomber
10	S.Beckwith
11	S.Berry
	* = C + = Wk			B	LB	W	NB
	EXTRA'S			15	1	5	1			22
						TOTAL		4	Wkts	246
Fall	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Score	34	100	117	146	~	~	~	~	~	~
Bat	2	3	1	5	~	~	~	~	~	~
	Bowler			Overs		Maidens		Runs		Wickets
1	N.Butler			8		2		28		1
2	C.Heath			8		0		44		2
3	D.Heath			6		1		25		0
4	N.Short			5		0		34		0
5	D.Smith			8		1		35		1
6	M.Padwick			5		0		64		0
						Extra's		16
						Total		246

Innings Of: Pyestock CC
	Batsmen			Balls	4/6	How Out		Bowler		Total
1	J.Ford				2/0	Bowled		C.McKendry		17
2	C.Heath				13/0	Ct:G.Bradley		S.Beckwith		69
3	D.Heath				16/3	NOT OUT		~		102
4	N.Butler*				7/0	NOT OUT		~		31
5	D.Smith+
6	C.Butler
7	C.McGovern
8	P.Heath
9	M.Padwick
10	F.Bates
11	N.Short
	* = C + = Wk			B	LB	W	NB
	EXTRA'S			4	1	12	14			31
						TOTAL		2	Wkts	250
Fall	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Score	61	175	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Bat	1	2	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
	Bowler			Overs		Maidens		Runs		Wickets
1	M.Coomber			8		1		24		0
2	D.Lomax			6		0		38		0
3	C.McKendry			8		0		63		1
4	A.Dalton			8		2		50		0
5	S.Beckwith			4		0		40		1
6	D.Grobbler			2.5		0		30		0
						Extra's		5
						Total		250

Pyestock CC won by 8 wickets

Man of the match: C.Heath.D.Heath (Joint)