There is a pattern. The inaugural fixture takes place. One side beats the other with ease. Then when the sides meet again, the losers bring in their match winners while the winners from the first game cannot help but enter the contest with the inevitable complacency. Pacific as every time occupies both roles & yesterday it was no exception as Noak Hill turned the tables on their guests with a comprehensive 104 win.

The Essex team who’s 1st XI are in Division 1 of the Essex Cricket League (their II s are in division 2) were making up for their 70 run 2008 defeat. Plater was the only player to feature in both matches & the 1st change seamer picked up 2 wickets, 2 more than in 08.

Back to 09, & from the 1st 10 overs, it was clear that on a seamers pitch, Pacific’s unusual lack of depth in this department on the day, would be telling as would the short pavilion bounday & the slope that fell towards it as the opening bowlers of Atkin & Webley failed to break through. It was Tempany who did with the score on 70 but only after Bellot took some persuading that the noise heard on the boundary emanated from his bat. Tempany then bowled Lock round his legs swinging the ball up the hill & some order was restored. But Bauley & the French brothers all contirbuted well as the spin bowlers despite claiming minimal success all came under attack at one point & the Captain’s yearning for control & drying up the runs was never fully satisfied.

245 was a big total & maybe even 50 runs or more above par. But at least the Middlesex side had a long strong batting order. Unfortunatley, the full vagaries of the bounce & the length to bowl out was no longer a secret & backed up by excellent ground fielding the away side’s chase fell away with the fall of each wicket. Darren Tempany actually survived 3 dropped catches & a fluffed stumping but his score of 27 remained the highest in the innings.

Clearly, Pacific fit between the strengths of the Is & II s of Noak Hill & some careful attention will have to be made to the 2010 fixture in the event of another invitation.

Chris Atkin* John Hill Lahri Mohamed Jon Webley Saif Shamsuddin Darren Tempany Pete Hollman Justin Roy Kieran Mullins Ali Pritchard XI'th Luke Hollman

Cheers, Chris

Noak Hill CC v Pacific

Noak Hill CC innings  R  M  B  4  6 P Bellot   c Prichard b Tempany   31  0  0  0  0   J OSullivan   c Hollman b Shamsuddin   47  0  0  0  0   D Lock   b Tempany   0  0  1  0  0   R Bauley   c Roy b Hollman   36  0  0  0  0   P French   c Hollman b Mullens   32  0  0  0  0   L French   not out    52  0  0  0  0   J Putney   b Hill   1  0  0  0  0   C Joseph   not out    1  0  0  0  0   T Evans   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   C Grote   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   J Plater   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0    Extras (b 15, lb 5, w 22, nb 5) 47      TOTAL (40.0 Overs) 245-6

Fall of wickets:  1-70 [Bellot] , 2-70 [Lock] , 3-139 [Bauley] , 4-147 [OSullivan] , 5-237 [P French] , 6-243 [Putney]

Bowling  O  M  R  W    Chris Atkin   6  3  22  0    Jon Webley   3  0  28  0    Darren Tempany   6  0  29  2    Saif Shamsuddin   8  0  60  1    Peter Hollman   6  0  30  1    Kieran Mullens   6  0  31  1    Luke Hollman   4  0  26  0    John Hill   1  0  6  1

Pacific innings  R  M  B  4  6 Alastair Prichard   c P French b Joseph   4  17  14  1  0   Lahri Mohamed   b Grote   10  40  31  1  0   Jon Webley   b Joseph   6  11  7  0  1   Justin Roy   b Grote   3  14  10  0  0   Darren Tempany   lbw b Plater   27  38  31  5  0   Chris Atkin   b Putney   19  60  31  1  1   Saif Shamsuddin   b Plater   4  8  9  1  0   Kieran Mullens   b Putney   1  4  5  0  0   John Hill   c Plater b Putney   0  1  1  0  0   Luke Hollman   b Evans   12  25  24  2  0   Peter Hollman   not out    1  18  7  0  0    Extras (b 23, lb 11, w 15, nb 6) 55      TOTAL (29.3 Overs) 142 all out

Fall of wickets:  1-16 [Prichard] , 2-26 [Webley] , 3-40 [Mohamed] , 4-46 [Roy] , 5-86 [Tempany] , 6-101 [Shamsuddin] , 7-108 [Mullens] , 8-108 [Hill] , 9-119 , 10-142 [Hollman]

Bowling  O  M  R  W    Joseph   6  2  13  2    Grote   6  1  17  2    Putney   6  1  24  2    Plater   6  1  23  2    Evans   2.3  0  15  1    Bellot   2  0  8  0