Collingham win champions title
by Paul Barker, 22nd September 2002

An inspired performance by South Notts. League champions, Collingham gave them a surprising 33 run win over their Bassetlaw League counterparts at Huthwaite Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield on Saturday. In a match that featured eleven players being dismissed by the clean-bowled route, Cutthorpe looked so dominant at one stage that all that seemed necessary was for them to walk up and receive the winners shield.

However as the saying goes ‘nothing is over till the fat lady sings’ and once again this proved to be too right and in a major reversal of form, the Cutthorpe innings suddenly turned into a procession as Collingham assumed the upper hand.

Batting first Collingham were quickly in trouble as Joe Edge was caught by wicket-keeper Tim Barlow with only 19 on the board and worse was to follow when at 31 two more wickets fell to have them in real trouble.

First to go was Ben Hazeldine who was brilliantly stumped by Tim Barlow and he was followed by Richard Biggin who was bowled by Andy Pierrepont without any further addition to the score. The pitch appeared to be playing low and slow and batting certainly was not the easiest task that had ever been set and David Goodson was next to go when he was bowled by Karl Fields with the score on 62.

Worse was to follow as Fields struck again to bowl O’Connor and with half the side out and only 70 runs on the board, Cutthorpe were most certainly in the driving seat. However the cultured stroke play of David Pipes was beginning to take effect and he and David Dakin staged a mini-revival until the latter became the first of Asadullah Butt’s three victims at 109.

Butt quickly struck again to dismiss Tim Jack who failed to trouble the scorers but Pipes was now playing some fine shots all around the wicket and he reached a magnificent 50 before his next partner Michael Horton was bowled by Butt with the score on 139.

At 147 Pipes brilliant innings was ended as he chased a widish delivery from Karl Fields and was caught at the wicket by Tim Barlow for a brilliant 66 runs. This innings proved to be crucial as nobody else in either side looked remotely like emulating it and certainly without it Collingham would have struggled to reach 100 runs.

Fields snapped up his fourth wicket when last man John Wakeham was easily caught by Matthew Cluer at cover as the innings closed on 150. Certainly the efforts of Pipes made a huge difference to the score with the next highest total being a paltry 13 by Dave Goodson.

The impressive Asadullah Butt bagged 3 for 22 in his nine over stint, whilst Karl Fields claimed 4 for 42 in 7.3. Andy Knowles (2 for 40) and Andrew Pierrepont (1 for 20) both bowled steadily as did Nigel Kingham who only went for 20 runs from his nine overs.

Cutthorpe began their innings at break-neck speed with Andy Thompson blasting the ball around in imperious fashion with some glorious shots before a momentary lapse of concentration saw him bowled by Mick Coote for 21 with the score at 38. Coote had began his spell with three leg side wides, but the moment he managed to get things straight he struck with a ball that kept extremely low.

Still the innings moved along at an excellent pace and Matthew Cluer and Nigel Kingham took full toll of some quite ordinary bowling as the score raced along to 72 before the whole scenario changed. A double bowling change saw two slow bowlers introduced to the attack and from that moment Collingham came back into the match with a vengeance.

First to go was Cluer who had made an excellent 29 when he spooned a simple chance to David Dakin off the bowling of Michael Horton and at 88 Andy Pierrepont became the first of five victims for Dave Goodson when he was clean bowled.

All of a sudden Goodson managed to do something that no other bowler had managed all day and that was to extract bounce out of the pitch, and the Cutthorpe batting quickly took on an air of uncomfortability as wickets began to fall at regular intervals. Tim Barlow was bowled by Goodson at 97 and at 102 the match was virtually lost for them as Horton trapped Asadullah Butt l.b.w. with a delivery that kept dreadfully low and Goodson repeated the dose at the other end by nailing Kingham in front for 21.

This almost rendered the match over as two runs later the seventh wicket fell when Karl Fields was caught and bowled by Horton and Goodson struck for the fourth time at 108 to bowl Andy Knowles. Still Goodson was not finished and he bowled Pye one run later and Cutthorpe were well and truly down and out when Coote returned to pin John Combe in front at 117 and the match and the trophy was Collingham’s.

Cutthorpe must have wondered what had hit them as they collapsed from 72 for 1 to 117 all out, but certainly the bowling of Michael Horton (3 for 19) and David Goodson (5 for 31) totally wrecked them, whilst Mick Coote (2 for 25) took the other two wickets. Collingham were good value for their victory and received the victory shield from Richard Martin (President and Hon. Secretary of the Bassetlaw League) and Keith Sheppard (Vice Chairman of the South Nottinghamshire League).

The trophies and the bat for Man of the Match which was won by David Goodson for his 5 for 31 were sponsored by Alan Croome of Mapperley Sports and Mr. Martin paid tribute to him for his generosity and his sterling work for League cricket.

The umpires Mr. Stewart Hague and Mr. Alf Moffitt were presented with their trophies as were the scorers for both sides.

Scorecard – Champion of Champions Trophy

Collingham

Extras 23
Total 150

A Pierrepont 9-0-20-1; A. Knowles 8-0-40-2; K. Fields 7.3-0-42-4; N. Kingham 9-1-20-0; A. Butt 9-1-22-3

Cutthorpe

Extras 20
Total 117

J. O’Connor 6-1-13-0; D. Pipes 6-0-29-0; M. Coote 5.2- 1-25-2; M. Horton 9-3-19-3; D. Goodson 9-1-31-5

Collingham beat Cutthorpe by 33 runs