Old Parkonians vs Gidea Park & Romford (League Cup)

The 1st XI crashed out of the League Cup again at the 1st round stage on Sunday against their Premier League opponents, despite a good effort in the field against a weakened Gidea Park & Romford.

On a lovely day again for cricket, Prem won the toss and put Gidea in. Openers Whatling and captain Collard made a steady if not spectacular start putting on 50+ for the first wicket. Collard was to be the top scorer with 35, though took over 80 balls to achieve this, showing the good bowling in the middle part of the innings and that it wasn't easy to play shots on the wicket. At around the half-way point Gidea looked set for a score of around 230, but Prem brought himself on and with some excellent tight off-spinners, reduced them from 114-2 to 150-7. New boy Rashid Khan also chipped in with two wickets and the 'Lege' as ever (Imran) bowled very well with figures of 9-1-18-1. Jarv and Jabbot took 1 a piece, an excellent run-out from another new recruit, opener Rich Swiles and a stumping and a couple of catches from Andre, meant Gidea totaled just 172-9 from their 45 overs, though it could have been a lot better, hadn't it been for the conceding of no fewer than 33 wides, with the new rule of 1 for a wide plus any other runs ran being used well. Still, the target was a very gettable one at just 3 an over required and Parks were slight favourites at this stage.

A good start was needed then by Rich Swiles and Robin Glassberg, but Rich was out early and Rob soon after. Instead, it was left to Kris Bostock to hold the innings together as regular wickets tumbled around him. He hit an excellent 42 with powerful blows, as well as well placed shots. When Andre was with him and the score around 50-2 at about 15 overs, Parks looked good, but Andre, Amer Patel and Rashid all got themselves out and when Prem went so did Parks last real hope. Kris stayed until 8 down and with Imran getting another first-baller and Jar giving Collard a simple return catch, Parks had been dismissed 58 short of a classic victory.

The main problem was losing wickets at crucial times and not using up the overs and also the fact that extras was 2nd top scorer, with Andre the only other man apart from Kris to make double-figures. Also, when the last wicket fell there was still 73 allotted balls left and with only 58 needed, if wickets were in hand surely a simple task. Disappointment though in the end I'm afraid, though a great learning curve for a side who's won 2 out of 2 in Divison 3 and heart can be taken from making our Premier opponents sweat somewhat. Missing two key players in Jonesy and Hughesy might have made the difference, but still a decent effort in a match we should have won.

Good day for spectators and as Cat said here earlier thanks to Gidea for their support, especially in the bar!

Result: Gidea Park & Romford (172 - 9 from 45 Overs) beat Old Parkonians (115-10 from 32.5 Overs) by 57 Runs.
Highlight: Prem Mannar 9-1-28-3, Kris Bostock 42.
Team: R. Swiles, R. Glassberg, K. Bostock, A. Barnard (wkt), A. Patel, R. Khan, P. Mannar (capt), P. Robbins, J. Abbott, I. Khan, M. Jarvis.