The Eastons Tour match against High Beech Cricket Club was a tense affair and the sudden change in weather conditions brought about a nerve-wracking finale to an excellent game.
Eastons fielded first and utilised the pace of their bowling attack to apply early pressure to the High Beech batsmen. This kept the run rate low for the entire innings, with High Beech finishing on 83 ao. Mimmack, Corns and Harris all bowled longish spells and returned parsimonious figures. However, the highlights of the Eastons fielding innings were certainly all from the fielders. As compensation for a dismal display of catching the previous week, Eastons fielded like men possessed. Some chances were still dropped, particularly around the slips, but enough catches were taken to support the bowlers. Tiffen took a routine catch in the covers to begin with, Stewart held onto to a difficult spinning top edge at backward point, but the best was Harris taking a low, quick diving catch to his left at Gully. Corns and Dawson also combined well for a sharp runout, and Scholes kept the extras column low with a tidy display behind the stumps.
The heavy downpour that occurred before Eastons batted accounted for a flurry of early wickets at the start of the Eastons batting innings. The old, green pitch became low and choppy, and the Eastons top and middle order failed to adjust to the changed conditions. Dawson managed a creditable 9, but it wasn’t until Harris and Tiffen reached the wicket that the innings was able to stabilise. They put on 41 before Tiffen was out attempting a sweep, but Harris continued with his most responsible innings for the club in recent matches, finishing with 39. The Corns (Snr and Jnr) finished of what remained of the target. Both of them batted calmly and patiently in spite of the increasing run rate and pressure. Eventually, Corns Snr scored the winning runs with a hook to the boundary, with 2 overs and 1 wicket spare.
HBCC 84 ao
Mimmack 5-3
Corns 23-2
Harris 13-1
Dawson 4-1
Eastons CC 85-9
Harris 39
Tiffen 12
Dawson 9
Eastons win by 1 wicket
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