Recap

BURES CC v Chappel & Wakes Colne CC (away)

On a blustery but warmish day, the Mighty Bures set out to play only their second away match of the season. This was the return fixture of a match which Bures won comfortably at home, but there was some concern that CWCCC may put out a much stronger side against, what turned out to be, a weakened Bures side, due to one player inexplicitly missing on the day.

Having duly lost the toss, Bures were put in the field, and proceeded to bowl tidily with Matt F and Narns M keeping things tight. It wasn’t long before Narns struck, bowling both openers, and after their opening stint, CWCCC were 30 for 2. Captain Carl then turned to Richard K and David A, who maintained the pressure, with Richard taking 3 wickets, and at the halfway stage CWCCC had been reduced to 65 for 5.

Then came the masterstroke, with Captain Carl calling on birthday boy Mark B, who, having had a sitter dropped off his first ball, provided an interesting mix of wides, long hops, full tosses and, most importantly, 2 cracking yorkers, removing the 2 most dangerous players. (The first six, all cleaned bowled). The Chairman bowled tidily from the other end, taking the 8 th wicket, and it was left to Matt F to bowl the 9 th man out in his second stint. However, we were unable to take the last wicket, due to their no 11, who claimed to have not been out for 3 years but has probably not yet reached 50 runs in that time. So, a final total of 146 for 9 was set in our 35 overs, a total we felt we should achieve.

Possibly the oldest opening pair for Bures for some time, Eddie M and Mark B, were sent out to set the tone, but sadly Eddie was unable to defend against some tidy straight bowling and was soon back in the pavilion. Mark made a couple of good hits, but he too was soon back drinking Rosé, and Bures were 15 for 2 after 4 overs. Captain Carl was the next to come and go with a little cameo of 9, so we
were then in need of a good partnership. This duly came in the form of Narns (51 n.o. retired) and David A (45), who together quickly took us to 109 before David got a good ball and was bowled, shortly followed by Matt, leaving Bures at 109 for 5. Overs were not an issue, but as ever, wickets were. Tom W got his highest score for Bures to move things on a bit to 132 for 6. When Narns retired, it was down to Tim B and Richard K to score the last 15 runs, which they diligently did, much to the pleasure of the Chairman, who was not required to vacate his seat.

A good competitive game, with a great result for the Mighty Bures. Wins now once more ahead of losses, and the beer in the Bells tasted all the sweeter for it.