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Day 1: Monday 5th July 2010
Nazeing Common 161-5 defeated West Chiltington & Thakeham 158-8 by 5 wickets
Tour kicked off with the traditional post-Five Bells visit to West Chiltington.& Thakeham, which naturally began with the younger members of the Nazeing side getting lost on their walk to the ground from the pub, whilst the experienced likes of Sturdy M and Aldridge made it in half the time.
After taking his side through a 60 minute warm up walk of the countryside, skipper Lee Walker invited the home side to bat first, and they failed to get away with opening duo Tony Wright (1-9) and Michael Aldridge (1-17) keeping things characteristically tight.
With the two openers sharing a combined age of well over 100, the first change duo of Mark Waters and Mike Plume are just over 40 between them, and this showed with some longer spells of bowling, although both were unrewarded with 0-27 and 0-25 respectively in their allocations.
Three Dan Reese inspired run outs ruined the middle order, with Chilts Skipper Mick Armstrong the middle order salvation with 41, but he was caught on the boundary by Plume off Mike Blair (1-27), with captain Walker (2-45) finishing off with a tidy late spell as the home side made 158-8 from their 40 overs.
Father and Son Mark & Todd Sturdy opened the batting for Nazeing and put on 55 for the first wicket in 12 overs. Didn't they do well !
Saturday 1s captain Sturdy fell for a nicely made 20, followed soon thereafter by keeping hero Dan Reese, who sadly mustered just the 4.
Todd Sturdy became the tour’s first half centurion, racking up 51 from 57 deliveries, including 10 fours.
His removal led to a match winning knock from veteran Ron Morley, who calmly collaborated 35 from 51 deliveries, including 7 boundaries, the 64 year old offered able assistance from Mike Blair, who notched 22.
Mark Waters was promoted up the order simply because he had a bow tie on, and mustered 0* before Morley triumphantly struck the winning boundary with 6 overs to spare!
OCN Contract Services Man Of The Match: Todd Sturdy (despite dropping a dolly!) Price: 2x used OCN T shirts (inscribed with name R.Light)
Day 2: Tuesday 6th July 2010
East Preston 250-4 defeated Nazeing Common 249-9 by 1 run
And so the coach moved on to East Preston on Tuesday, with the majority of the touring party opting for the Sea View pub and hotel, for bar billiards, long food waits and a frustrating increase of salad in the basket meals.
Controversial captain of the day Sarah Waters chose to bowl first and opted for an amended approach of short spells for all bowlers.
East Preston entered into the spirit of the day, so all credit must go to D.Rebbetts who notched a magnificent and classy 112* from 74 balls, carrying his bat in a knock that included 14 fours and 1 six.
Leader of the line was Aki Achillea, who seemed to up his game with the Sky camera’s in town, producing a lightning quick 5 over spell of 2-44, which on another day could have been 5-20 had catches not have been put down.
Supporting him were fine spells from Kadwill (0-24), Edwards (0-21), McDonnell (0-14), Crowley (0-39) and Wills (0-24), whilst “Serious” bowlers Barker (1-13), Quinn (0-12), Waters M (1-24) and Waters S (0-23) mustered just 2 wickets between them.
So then, Nazeing left to chase 251 for victory on a fine sunny afternoon before a World Cup Semi Final.
Again the opening duo put on a half century, with Eddie Taylor (38) and Aidan Crowley (30) doing the job, with Crowley just happening to take most of the afternoon to do his. Sadly this reviewer fell asleep and missed Aidy’s dismissal must have been a jaffer!
Andy Kadwill stuck 4 quick boundaries in a trademark patient 20 from 14 balls, whilst Jamie Wills found form and some beautiful strokes with an exciting 37 from 19 balls before being adjudged LBW by grumpire (yes grumpire) Veteran Ron Morley.
The innings mainstay was Saturday 2s skipper Graham McDonnell, who smashed 11 fours and 1 six in his finest Nazeing innings for sometime, looking at ease at the crease, or at least as at ease as a man held together with masking tape whilst batting can be.
McDonnell’s thrilling 65 from 48 balls kept Nazeing in the contest and with a quick fire 19 from Peter Barker, Nazeing’s last pair of Paul Quinn and Sarah Waters needed 8 from the final over.
Quinn played a Lara like shot of the century to notch a much needed boundary much to the delight of the on looking supporters, who were sadly going to be disappointed as Nazeing reached 249-9, a 1 run defeat.
Siobhan Davies Dance Company Man Of The Match :Graham McDonnell – a fine half century Prize: A months supply of factor 50 sunscreen
Day 3: Wednesday 7th July 2010
Steyning Rebels 164-4 defeated Nazeing Common 163 by 6 wickets
Wednesday began with the annual NCCC golf tournament at Brooklands, with both Danes P and Sian Waters providing surprise packages in the tournament, although it was eventually won by P.Barker(Eng) with 33 shots, with the runner up being G.McDonnell(Eng) with 35.
And so on to the picturesque forest setting of Steyning Rebels CC, where some members of the Nazeing Barmy Army were so unhappy with the selection of Michael Blair as Captain that they understandably left the ground.
Steyning chose to bowl first, with Blair vindicating the decision of those angry supporters by opening with traditional stroke playing number 8,9 or 10 Mike Plume with Aki Achillea.
Blair was proved to be a visionary and inspired captain however as the pair calmly amassed an opening partnership of 77 in the opening 12 overs, with Achillea’s straight hitting and Plume’s cover driving seeing 8 fours and 4 sixes between them.
Achillea became the tour’s third half centurion, notching a crowd pleasing 61* from 54 deliveries, with 5 fours and 4 sixes.
Plume departed for 24, before fellow rising star Daniel Reese made a pleasant 19 from 22 balls. Veteran Ron Morley, thankfully wearing more clothes this time round after his naked dismissal protest last year, was bowled having made 13.
Nazeing collapsed from 109-1 to 163 all out, with skipper Blair making 19, although rather selfishly running out popular batsman Peter Danes in the process, Danes becoming the first man to record a duck on the tour.
Tom Burns made a splendid 1, before Sarah Waters played the worst shot in the history of cricket to lose all 3 of her stumps and her self respect for 1.
Credit to the plucky Essex County drinks carrier however, who stepped in last minute following some personnel issues and even wore the Reverend Peter Henry George Danes’ shirt for the occasion. Given the circumstances that 1 may have been worth 100*!
Paul Quinn’s amazing spell of 3-32 rounded off a fine maiden tour for the youngster, bowling nicely in tandem with all rounder Thomas Burns (0-30).
The fans chants of ‘Captain Embyro’ may have been justified as Blair gave himself 6 overs, whilst Sarah Waters (0-52), Peter Danes (0-27) and veteran Ron Morley (0-4) provided other spin options, but it wasn't to be as the Rebels got home with more than 11 overs to spare.
Abbey Move Ltd Man Of The Match: : Aki Achillea – stylish 61* Prize: Hitchhikers Guide To Sussex book, signed by K.Murphy
Day 4: Thursday 8th July 2010
Nazeing Common 203-6 drew with Brighton & Hove Crescent 172-9
The final game of the 2010 tour was a trip to the unique setting of Brighton & Hove Crescent.
Captain of the day was Veteran Ron Morley, up against brother in law in the battle for family pride.
Nazeing were invited to bat first and lost opener Lee Walker early on for just 4.
This brought together the quick scoring partnership of Rossy Edwards and the evergreen Aidan Crowley, who has fond memories of this arena having scored his 20,000th run here last time out.
Crowley fell for a well made 32 from 44 balls, but Edwards carried on, batting for 113 minutes and 73 balls for a brilliant 61, the remaining tourists on their feet in applause.
Hoddesdon guest star Todd Sturdy made a breezy 37 and Dan Reese 8 before the exciting duo of Veteran Ron Morley and Peter Danes took good advantage of the final few overs, smashing a brilliant partnership of 6 from 5 overs before Morley was removed for 26.
A late Eddie Taylor reverse sweep for 6 sent the fans home happy however as Nazeing reached 203-6.
Brighton & Hove captain Morris was the mainstay of his teams reply, with 71, but with Morley opting to use just 4 bowlers, there perhaps wasn't enough variety to pick up all 10 wickets.
Peter Barker did well with 3-27 with support from Sarah Waters (2-33), before 14 overs of big turning spin from paceman Ed Taylor (2-45) prevented Hove from really pushing on.
Pick of the attack was Thomas Burns with 2-65, but it wasn't to be for the tourists, who finished the 2010 NCCC Tour with a respectable draw!
3D Specialist Joinery Man Of The Match: Ross Edwards – Stunning Prize: Left handed screwdriver
TOUR STATS
Runs:
T.Sturdy 88 V.R. Morley 74 A.Achillea 71 G.McDonnell 66
Averages:
A.Achillea 71.00 E.Taylor 45.00 T.Sturdy 44.00 V.R.Morley 37.00
Most Fours:
17 – T.Sturdy 12- V.R Morley 11 – A.Crowley / G.MccDonnell 9 – R.Edwards
Most Sixes:
5 – A.Achillea 2 – E.Taylor 1 - P.Barker, T.Sturdy, G.McDonnell, M.Blair
Most Balls Faced:
117 – VR Morley 99 – A.Crowley 88 – T.Sturdy 85 – R.Edwards
Best Strike Rate:
142.85 – A.Kadwill 140.00 – E.Taylor 118.75 – P.Barker 117.85 – G.McDonnell
Least Exciting Strike Rate
12.00 – S.Waters 13.79 – P.Danes 16.60 – T.Burns 28.50 – L.Walker
Wickets:
P.Barker 4 P.Quinn 3 A.Achillea, S.Waters, L.Walker, E.Taylor and T.Burns 2
Wicket Ave:
T.Wright 9.00 P.Baker 10.00 P.Quinn 14.67 M.Aldridge 17.00
Best Econony Rates:
T.Wright 1.90 P.Barker 2.85 M.Plume 3.12 E.Taylor 3.21
Most Overs Bowled:
22 – S.Waters 14 – P.Barker/E.Taylor 13 – M.Blair
Least Economical:
24.00 – VR Morley 14.00 – G.McDonnell 13.00 – A.Crowley 9.00 – P.Danes
Catches:
D.Reese - 5 M.Plume - 2 T.Sturdy, A.Crowley, R.Edwards, E.Taylor – 1
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