County Trophy - Ware CC v Abbot's Langley

The county trophy is the biggest cup competition of our year, a chance for the junior clubs (those not competing in the HCPL or Herts Div 1) to play in a showpiece event against the best of the rest with a final at Shenley or Radlett. We were up against the strongest (on paper) team in the competition, Abbott's Langley from division 2. We'd been scratching around all week for a team and managed to get a few first teamers in. It wasn't ideal that a few senior players were playing elsewhere on the day, but we were where we were and as a unit were determined to compete. Nick Vanner was nursing a serious hangover and Macca and Salter the ill effects of a heavy bowling session (and a ton for macca) the day before at West Herts. If all went well we thought, we'd have just about enough firepower absentees or not!

All started well, we won the toss and decided to bat. The pitch was typical of Widford in the last couple of years - very flat and great for bully boy batters. Well, NV as we were soon to find out is a stroke player, a murderer of fast bowling and hangover or not a very determined chap indeed! We opened up with Vanner and Lucas, with Tony determined not to get out cheap. In the face of their regular 1st XI opening attack, he was resolute for 21 minutes working hard to get the big gun on strike at the other end. While Nick was finding his range they were building a steady partnership and when he fell there was 14 on the board. In next was Macca, fresh from his destructive display in watford the previous day, taking wickets and getting his first league ton. He was hoping to carry on from where he left off but unfortunately made just 12 in a partnership of 37 between the two essex boys, getting stumped in a somewhat.... unusual fashion! So, not all going to plan, but while Nick was still there we had a chance. Nick was getting himself in and was joined by Ryan Jessey at 4. In the 40 minutes they were together, Ryan farmed off most of the strike and played intelligently building a very useful partnership of 45 with Ryan accumulating 18. It was just what we needed, a bit of calm and Nick was building himself a very tidy score! U13 star in the making Rob Lankester came in at 5 and they added another 18 between them. Ellaway was in next and the pair added another 20 before being bowled. The only partnership of any note was that between Nick and Ryan and it was clear that 250-260 would be a par score on this pitch. Gayan came and went and in came skipper for the day Salter at 8. In their 34 minute stand they added 51 for the 7th wicket and we were back in the game. When Salter fell on 30, chammers came in, went walkies, got stumped and this brought another U17 in Nathan Adam. Nick was really going for everything by this stage and reached his 100. Nick and Nathan added a useful 23 and when he fell, U16 Jon Perrett saw out the last few balls as we finished 223 for 9. A few runs light, with Vanner carrying his bat on 112. I should mention at this point that Abbott's young side put on an exceptional fielding display, and saved at least 40 runs by sheer hard work. They were fast across the ground, had two great sweepers with gun arms and they worked together in relay. If their fielding was slacker and at a par standard, the required total would have been reached and it would probably have been plain sailing, depleted team or not. One thing in our favour was that we had one of (if not the best) opening seam attacks in our half of the Hertfordshire League. Flat pitch or not, we had pace, experience and guile on our side. We were also facing a very young side, low on confidence from the league campaign and there was a chance that we could use that to our advantage. Abbott's openers obviously had plenty of experience and understood the required pace of the game. If I'm honest, they seemed pretty comfortable with the early pace offered from Salts and Macca although Salts had Smith dropped behind first ball. Importantly, runs were not on the board and they had only accumulated 10 from the first 4 overs, the first boundary on a rapid outfield not coming until the 5th over. Macca got some tap in the 6th with two boundaries and 14 runs coming from it and Abbott's were settling in. In the 8th came the breakthrough, Jase roughed up their experienced captain with a tried and tested approach before ripping his middle stump out of the ground with a seriously rapid effort ball. They had put on 37 for the first wicket and it was clear we needed to gain some momentum. Up step Chammers! With the last ball of his first over he removed the more aggressive opener Inglis and they were 41-2. Two new men were at the crease in Ghoghe and 15 year old Metcalfe and they took the bowling on, making a fantastic 73 for the 3rd wicket before Salter took the wicket of Ghoghe. The quicks were using all of their experience to try and unsettle the young man Metcalfe, but he was determined and resolute. He was joined by another youngster in Jack Read and they put on another 51 for the 4th wicket and taking control of the game. When Metcalfe was caught off the bowling of Ryan Jessey he had made 87 from just 81 balls and had proved the cornerstone of their innings. The job wasn't done yet but a good 5th wicket stand took the game away from us. Abbott's knocked off the runs in the 47th over 6 down. It was a solid performance from a talented young team that worked hard for each other. They built strong partnerships and in the field they were a joy to watch. We can say that we would have walked this game with all of our big guns out, we could say we'd have won it easily with the 3 that were playing elsewhere, but that's history now. Abbott's were worthy winners on the day, and I really enjoyed watching them play together. I hope they go on to win the competition because on their spirit alone they certainly deserve to. They will meet their local rivals King's Langley in the next round too! We can always learn lessons in defeat and I think this game will live long in the memory for all the right reasons.

JL