Headley 246-5 dec (Noble 55, M.Pickering 52) beat Cold Harbour 186 all out (Jordan 131)

The normal scramble for players early season went on to mid morning Sunday but eventually the reluctant stand-in captain persuaded 3 of his Under 15’s side to turn up and play. The youths understood the captains’ predicament and issued a series of demands before final acceptance. Mitch Pickering insisted on opening the batting, Angus Noble insisted being played as a batsman despite his normal position of 10 at Wellington College U15B team and Ollie Metcalfe insisted on bowling with the wind at his back of his afro. Each to a boy also refused any administrative duties, insisted we bat first and to have first choice of the Gracelands supplied tea.

So Coldharbour arrived happy to note that Josh Pickering, centurion in the last two years of this fixture, was not available. They were also aware of their batting and bowling strengths and had no hesitation in inviting Headley to bat first on winning the toss. With the demands of the youths to meet stand-in captain Andrew Pickering chose to open the batting himself with his youngest son Mitch on the basis that for once he may actually listen to his father as his batting mentor. Headley got off to a decent start with father treating the opening bowlers with due deference whilst son simply picked up the bad balls and despatched them with little effort to either just backward of square or to just over the pavilion. After just 15 overs or so another Pickering century was posted against Coldharbour, albeit this time on a father and youngest son basis. Father decided it was time to accelerate and soon paid the price with his wicket for 42 runs. Philip Chapman, having won the right to the pivotal number 3 slot with his early season for was having a slash at the time so Angus Noble joined Pickering junior and guided him to his second Sunday half century before the latter typically lost patience and threw his wicket away for an excellent 52 runs.

Chapman joined Noble at the crease and as the bowling deteriorated the pair filled their boots until Chapman’s patience with the confection being offered got to him and he departed with a disappointing 25 runs, his ungainly attempt to clear the oak tree was not one he will look back on with any pleasure. Gareth Noble joined his namesake at the wicket and tucked in and helped himself to a glorious six over the longest boundary. Unfortunately the Noble family, visiting from Memphis (or was it Milton Keynes?) missed the glory of this shot but didn’t miss his return to the pavilion. Angus Noble progressed to a very well taken career best score of 55. The team were particularly impressed with the leg side style of the technique and the robust hits over the deep midwicket boundary. Grant Waller helped himself to a typically robust 39 off 10 balls to allow Headley to declare 15 minutes early with 246 runs on the board for just 5 wickets.

So to tea. Elvis surprised all with the quality of the fayre and the absence of hamburgers. It was noted by several the return of the BLT and the appearance of Hannah Montana cakes caused some discussion but not in front of the 15 year olds. Elvis’s return to tea duty is much anticipated!

Coldharbour’s response was measured with the utmost respect being paid to the deadly opening duo of Alan Clarke and Alex Stone. The pair took a brace of wickets each to see Coldharbour at a disappointing 50 for 4. One of the wickets of Clarke was a stunning caught and bowled. The replacement batsman had entered the arena and took his guard by the time Clarkey landed grasping the ball! Headley were now sensing an emphatic victory and adding to the bar takings.  Chapman was so convinced of victory that he posted himself to the deep, where he spent much of his time either sitting on park benches or examining the barbeque, which must surely be set for an extravaganza at some point in the summer.

What Headley didn’t account for was the Coldharbour batsman Dan Jordan who having seen his partners come and go had already commenced his onslaught with bad balls, of which there were plenty, being clinically despatched to all parts of the National Trust Headley woods. With the number of partners decreasing, due to another fine display of swing bowling by Grant Waller, Jordan simply upped the aggression and marched to a stunning and brutal hundred managing, with the assistance of a doughty last wicket stand, to reach 131 runs. Just as the vast crowd were logging on to betfair to check out the odds for an unlikely Coldharbour win, Jordan hit the ball high in the air, only to hole out to Alan Clarke somewhere near the caravan. Coldharbour finished 60 runs short of Headley’s total with Grant Waller returning another 5 wicket haul.

The win, achieved without several star names, marks a third on the spin for the Sunday’s but stand in skipper Andy Pickering hinted at sterner tests to come: “We’ve got some tough fixtures coming up” mused the left arm seamer “but what has been pleasing in these early games, is the number of players who have shown they can come in and do a job for us. We will need all our resources during a challenging season”.

Pickering was quick to play tribute to his bowlers, who had reduced Colharbour to 100-9 before a late fightback- “It was good to see our opening bowlers come to the party as they have been slightly subdued in recent weeks. Clarke was accurate as ever, Stone found an excellent length (and indeed the pitch) for the first time this season, and if Chapman had been able to bowl out their No.11 we would have been in the bar by 5, but you can’t have everything I guess”.

On 5 wicket hero Waller Pickering added. “the man’s a phenomenom, he was bending it round corners first up and came back when we needed him at the close.”

On speculation that Waller may be unsettled after interest from Brockham Green, Pickering added “I’m not surprised they’re sniffing around, Grant’s a quality performer as he showed today, but to the best of my knowledge he’s happy here and we look forward to him playing a full role this season”.

After the game, the President commented on the winning start to the season “it really is great watching the youngsters do so well, I was most impressed by the way Mitch worked to turn easy 2’s into dot balls”

Waller followed this by saying "I was please the boys dropped so many catches off the other bowlers to allow me to get 5 today, the missed run out towards the end was a real team effort"