Scorecard

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI v Chelmsford Titans on Sat 01 Jun 2024 at 13.00
Purleigh CC Won by six wickets

Match report PURLEIGH REMAIN AFLOAT AFTER A TITANIC STRUGGLE

A ten-man Purleigh team took on Chelmsford Titans at Purleigh Playing Field, and the captain and his depleted crew managed to dig in for a hard-fought victory.

Winning the toss, the Titans batted first, but only Venkat Linga produced a strong performance worthy of a Greek Titan, scoring 125 not out with seven big sixes, while his teammates fared less well, only two others reaching double figures. Purleigh took early control with a wicket for Freegard in the second over. Wary of a collapse, Chelmsford batted cautiously, scoring 14 off 10 overs, 76 for 2 at 20 and 106 for 5 after 30 overs. Purleigh could have mopped up for not many more runs, but three let-offs for Linga allowed him to bat to the end, with 59 coming from the last 8 overs to take the Titans to 202 for 8 after 45 overs. That was still a creditable performance for the Purleigh ten, with special mention to occasional bowler Jordan Oliver who stepped up for the team and bowled 9 overs of leg spin, taking 3 for 42, and also Callum Annette, without whose fielding efforts Purleigh would have faced a bigger total.

To give the skipper's back some respite, Steve Rynn and Josh Taylor began the Purleigh reply, and duly produced a season's best opening partnership so far, 65 in 16.3 overs before Rynn was caught at slip. Taylor fell for 53 at 85, having done much of the hard work. Melvin John and Jordan Oliver were both out by the time Purleigh had scored 106 with nearly half the overs left, so there was no need to look to the lifeboats just yet and no icebergs on the horizon. Mark Rynn did the necessary and dropped anchor for a while, moving the score along with Freegard at a sedate rate of knots, aware that care was needed with the lighter than usual batting line-up, causing poor Jai to earn the 'Pad-rash Patel' label as he waited in vain for a bat. The pair used their experience to pace the chase perfectly, collecting runs while Chelmsford re-arranged their fielders and bowlers to no avail. Mark Rynn hit a rare and timely six to relieve the pressure when the run rate had crept upwards and off the pitch nerves had started to jangle slightly. Purleigh proved unsinkable, when 7 an over were needed from the last six, Freegard (71 not out) and Rynn (28 not out) guided the side into the harbour with seven balls to spare.

Chelmsford Titans Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 9w 5b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
24
202 (45.0 overs)		     
S. Vijayendran b  Freegard 1
N. Nirmal b  J. Oliver 23
V. Linga Not Out  125
N. Thanigasalam ct  S. Rynn b. J. Oliver 0
V. Ramanathan lbw  John 1
R. Wadhwani b  Patel 3
S Patil ct  and bowled J. Oliver 9
T. Godara b  Yasin 2
A. Thalla ct  Taylor b. Freegard 13
K. Sampath Not Out  1
Sajeesh H  

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jai Patel9.0037137.004.11
Christian Freegard9.0241220.504.56
Melvin John9.0229129.003.22
Shahid Yasin9.0145145.005.00
Jordan Oliver9.0042221.004.67

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 16w 7b  
for 4 wickets
30
204		        
Steve Rynn ct  Patil b. V. Ramanathan 6 1
Josh Taylor b  Patil 53 9 1
Melvin John b  Patil 15 2
Christian Freegard Not Out  71 5 2
Jordan Oliver ct  Godara b. Patil 1
Mark Rynn Not Out  28 1 1
Jai Patel  
Shahid Yasin  
Ed Oliver  
Callum Annette  
Mason Barber  

Chelmsford Titans Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R. Wadhwani9.012500.002.78
T. Godara9.023300.003.67
V. Ramanathan9.0244144.004.89
N. Nirmal2.001600.008.00
S. Patil9.002600.002.89
S Vijayendran2.002100.0010.50
Sajeesh H3.002700.009.00
A. Thalla0.50500.006.00