Scorecard

Cookham Dean Cricket Club Friendly 1st XI v Binfield on Sun 06 Sep 2020 at 1pm
Match was Tied

Match report Cookham Dean Sunday XI rebounded from their humiliating defeat at Phoenix a week ago with a thrilling and highly controversial draw against Binfield, with Cage Fighter, turned TUI rep, Mike Maroudas rolling back the years with a Man of the Match display.

Under fire captain, Isaac Richardson, won the toss on a good-looking track, and decided to bat first, but was quickly made to regret that decision as his brother Jake Richardson (6) and youngster Yeshua Bhatti (0) fell quickly to reduce Cookham to 19 for 2 early on. Batting at 4, Rob Mettler briefly looked to be rekindling some sort of form before being dismissed for 20. Opener, Jonny Gay tidily anchored the innings with a well-constructed 55, but when he, debutant Steve Hunter (14) and captain Richardson (3) fell in quick succession Cookham looked to be limping to a meagre total.

Enter returning hero Maroudas, with a bludgeoning 63 not out, with 2 sixes and 6 fours, ably assisted by James Taylor, splatting his way to 15. This left Cookham with a defendable final total of 183 for 6 off their allocated 40 overs.

The Binfield response got off to a slow start, not least due to a bizarre incident where the ball managed to get lodged behind the advertising board at the far end of the ground, causing a lengthy delay, with many bemused looking Cookham fielders doing little to resolve the situation. On the resumption of play, Finlan struck to reduce Binfield to 21 for 1, with Lemon also bowling a tidy opening spell from the other end. With the pressure slowly beginning to rise, following further tight bowling from Noel-Baker and Taylor, Binfield opener Browning and number 3 batter, Withana, started to up the scoring rate. The partnership looked to be getting away from Cookham, as Taylor and Noel Baker began to go for a few runs latter in their spells. Hunter could do little to stem the scoring rate and Binfield advanced onto 136 for 1 with 13 overs remaining.

Captain Isaac Richardson decided this was the optimum moment to introduce his rarely used medium pace bowling. Much to everyone’s surprise he removed the two set batsman in the space of 4 balls to give Cookham a glimmer of hope. The scoring rate began to slow as Maroudas entered the fray from the other end. Richardson picked up a third wicket but by the time he reached his 4th over his lack of fitness was clearly beginning to catch up with him, as several of his team mates remarked that a defibrillator might soon be needed.

Clearly feeling the effects of his exertion, Richardson looked to have dropped the match after allowing a chance to catch Binfield captain and long-time stalwart, Paul Edgington, to slip through his fingers. With the game entering the final 4 overs, Binfield needed around 5 an over to secure the victory, but strike bowler Toby Lemon returned to pick up a wicket and keep the pressure on. Maroudas kept up his accurate medium bowling at the other end and picked up two crucial wickets, including Edgington, as the game headed towards a tense conclusion. Maroudas was left to defend 8 of the last over, which the became 3 off the final ball. This is when the controversy began. Maroudas fired the final delivery marginally down the leg side, which was missed by the striking batsman, despite legside wides not being enforced throughout the match the Binfield umpire stretched out his arms and signalled a wide, much to the discontent of the Cookham side. With the equation now reduced to 2 off 1, Binfield were able to scramble a single off the last bowl, to leave the match tied.

Cookham were left disappointed by what they felt was an unfair conclusion but on the balance of play a tie felt a fair result, with the match generally played in a good spirit with a friendly opposition. This ‘Sky Sports Classic’ of a match will clearly live long in the memory and will no doubt be replayed during rain delays in matches in 10 years time.

Cookham Dean Cricket Club Friendly 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3w 1b 1lb 
for 6 wickets
5
183		        
Jonathan Gay b Jones 55 6
Jake Richardson b Wade 6 1
Yeshua Bhatti lbw Wade 0
Rob Mettler ct Atkins b Venkatraman 20 4 1
Steve Hunter st Atkins b Jones 14 2 1
Mike Maroudas Not Out  63 6 2
Isaac Richardson b Henly 3
James Taylor Not Out  15 1
Freddie Noel-Baker  
Toby Lemon  
Frazer Finlan   1

Binfield Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A Venkatraman8.0130130.003.75
M Wade8.0140220.005.00
T Harvey3.011700.005.67
H Jones8.0134217.004.25
Hesketh6.003400.005.67
P Henly5.0124124.004.80

Binfield Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 3w 9b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
18
183 (40.0 overs)		     
R Devarakonta lbw Finlan 14
J Browning ct Mettler b Richardson 63
S Withana ct Hunter b Richardson 46
S Atkins ct Finlan b Richardson 11
T Harvey b Maroudas 5
P Henly b Lemon 14
P Edgington b Maroudas 9
T Hesketh Not Out  2
H Jones Not Out  2
   
   

Cookham Dean Cricket Club Friendly 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Toby Lemon8.0028128.003.50
Frazer Finlan8.0023123.002.88
James Taylor8.003400.004.25
Freddie Noel-Baker5.003500.007.00
Steve Hunter2.002200.0011.00
Isaac Richardson4.001334.333.25
Mike Maroudas5.0022211.004.40