Eccleshall won the toss and elected to bowl in cool, damp conditions at the Roy Thomson Memorial Ground.
After a short shower delayed the start of play by just a mere 7 minutes, the contest was reduced to 44 overs a side. This should not have been the case, given that there is a 30-minute grace period where overs are not lost. This was just the start of some strange umpiring that would occur throughout the day’s play.
Moddershall had made a fast start before opener Sam Kelsall was adjudged LBW to Matthew Wright with the score on 14. The ball appeared to be sliding past the leg stump, and Kelsall was not impressed by the decision. Joe Hawkins was trapped LBW to the same bowler two overs later as Moddershall were reduced to 22/2 in the 4th over.
Muaaz Ahmed then had what can only be described as a moment of madness when he attempted to hit spinner Murvin Abinash for six over the long-on boundary, only to find the safe hands of Myles Coughlan who took an easy catch on the boundary edge, Ahmed’s shot was made even worse considering Moddershall had already lost two early wickets, and he was hitting to the longer side of the ground. His dismissal left Moddershall in early trouble at 22/3
Arjun Annamalai then made a counterattacking 14 as he tried to wrestle back the momentum for his side before he was bowled by Oliver Palmer, who got the ball to nip back and hit the off stump, leaving Moddershall in further trouble at 42/4. The impressive Wright then produced an absolute jaffer to dismiss the unfortunate Sam Atkinson, who could do nothing as the ball nipped away from him and hit the top of middle stump. Moddershall were now 50/5, and the ball was seaming all over the place, and batting was extremely difficult, especially against Wright from the pavilion end.
Captain Callum Hawkins and Aizaz Ahmed then attempted to rebuild the Moddershall innings. Wright’s impressive spell from the pavilion end yielded figures of 7-1-33-3 as he made the most of the helpful conditions.
Hawkins patient innings ended when he got a ball that kept low, and trapped him LBW off the bowling of Muhammed Khan. Hawkins was very unlucky; he’d shown great grit to tough it out in the difficult conditions, where scoring was incredibly hard. His defence was solid against the moving ball, and his judgement even better. Ahmed was then put down on the mid-wicket boundary in the same over as Moddershall limped to 87/6 after 18 overs.
Khan bowled Walley two overs later as Moddershall continued to struggle, and drinks were taken with the score at 96/7. Ahmed was trying to hold the innings together for his side, but he was riding his luck and playing his shots; he would be the key if Moddershall were going to get to a competitive total.
The innings was wrapped up quickly after the drinks break as the lower order couldn’t support the set Ahmed. Darlington was smartly stumped by Chris Plant off the bowling of Eranga Dissanagge, and three balls later, Sandaruwan was trapped LBW to the same bowler, leaving Moddershall 99/9. Khan concluded the innings in the next over when he bowled Ahmed for 33 after he had an ugly swipe at one and lost his off stump.
Wright was the pick of the Eccleshall bowlers, finishing with figures of 3/33. Khan knocked over the lower order to finish with 3/13, and Dissanagge claimed 2/9 as they made the most of the helpful bowling conditions. Moddershall will have to bowl well to get themselves back into the game after the tea break.
Ben Rogerson and Chris Plant started well; they took the score to 16/0 off 5.3 overs when play was stopped for rain for the first time. Plant survived a close LBW shout in the 3rd over off the bowling of Atkinson as Moddershall searched for early wickets.
40 minutes were lost to rain, and Eccleshall’s target was adjusted to 99 from 40 overs. The introduction of Kelsall into the Moddershall attack after the rain break brought the wicket of Rogerson when he was adjudged LBW to Kelsall’s first ball. From my position, the ball appeared to be missing the leg stump. Two more balls were then bowled before another strange incident occurred. The rain began to fall again, and the umpires decided to stop play, only for it to stop raining before the players actually left the field of play. 5 minutes of nothing, then nothing happened with 22 players standing around waiting for the umpires to decide what their next move was going to be. The covers came on, only to be pushed off again when the umpires decided that it was fit to resume play. One over was lost in these farcical circumstances, and a lack of competency was shown by umpires Bogie and Oakley.
When play did eventually resume after the debacle, Atkinson took a fine slip catch to dismiss Rhys Owens off the bowling of Sandaruwan to leave Eccleshall 23/2. The stoppages for rain had definitely benefited Moddershall. Kelsall went past Coughlan’s outside edge to round off the 11th over as the Moddershall bowlers began to get into the game.
After a sustained spell of pressure from Sandaruwan and Kelsall, Coughlan attempted a reverse sweep and could only drag the ball onto his stumps to give Sandaruwan his second wicket and leave Eccleshall 33/3 in the 16th over.
Ill discipline then began to creep into the Moddershall bowling attack after Sandaruwan and Kelsall had conceded 12 runs from 7 overs after the second rain break. Off-spinner Joe Hawkins struggled with the wet ball and conceded 14 from 2 overs as the Eccleshall batters began to score more freely. Callum Hawkins then missed a difficult stumping chance, stood up the stumps to the seamer Joe Walley when Eccleshall were 58/3 with the rain falling more heavily and the light deteriorating. Garlick bowled a sharp bouncer to Abinash that rushed the Sri Lankan as he attempted a pull shot, which flew off his gloves and just over the keeper Hawkins’ head and went away to the boundary for 4, leaving the score 65/3 after 22.3 overs. That was to be the final act before another lengthy stop for rain.
A further 46 minutes were lost, meaning that Eccleshall’s score was further reduced to 71 with 6 possible overs remaining. Abinash struck Sandaruwan for 4 over cow corner shortly after play restarted to give Eccleshall victory by 7 wickets. He shared an unbroken stand of 39 with Plant, who batted superbly in the difficult conditions. Plant finished 29* as he anchored the chase. He had to restart his innings twice after the rain breaks and did not play any false shots during his stay at the crease.
It was a well-deserved victory for Eccleshall, who set the game up with some excellent bowling in helpful conditions in the first innings. Moddershall’s bowlers were unable to make the early inroads that they desperately needed after the tea break.
A final word must be had about the standard of umpiring in this game. It was poor at the very best. Several poor LBW decisions were made across both innings. Leg side wides were hit and miss throughout the day, too; sometimes they were given, other times they weren’t. Then there was the ridiculous passage of play when it wasn’t raining, but cricket wasn’t being played. We must remember that this is Premier League cricket, not village green stuff. The best cricket in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire deserves the best umpires, not the two men who turned up to umpire this match.
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