Another season, and another game at Chigwell. For reasons unknown, to this writer at least, Chigwell vs PCC holds a special place in the minds of both teams and the friendliness of casual-timed cricket on a Sunday afternoon was left firmly on one side of the white picket fence at 12.30pm. PCC won the toss and sent Chigwell in to bat on what looked a worryingly green wicket. Tom G and Ali made a good start bowling some strong lines with some good pace. A couple of overs in and one of Chigwell’s openers took issue with a sight-screen – sorry, one of the three gigantic sight screens, but no worry – Ahmed and Faisal to the rescue and some comedic ‘to me, to you’ action took place. All this fussing brought the only fair outcome, and the batter nicked through to Mutz with the gloves the very next ball. Despite the green on the deck, the wicket wasn’t giving much away and Chigwell’s 1 and 3 settled into their work for the afternoon, putting up a good partnership before Ahmed took over and offered up (the longest) cow-corner boundary, which their opener duly obliged and set up a catch in the deep. With this opening, PCC returned after drinks with renewed intent, buoyed by Riz’s mid-drinks speech. Some solid bowling from Eppy and Faisal slowed the scoring down, with both taking a wicket each, before Riz and the returning Tom G getting a couple more. 45 overs in and Chigwell had scratched their way to 245-6, which with the wicket turning out to be flat and true looked very chaseable. Special mention to Chigwell’s number 3, who battled his way to 99 only to be declared on by his skipper. Apparently those batting points outweigh personal glory – what a team player. By this point England were 7 down and the pleasures of playing on a decent wicket, with a decent out-ground and an actual, real clubhouse really hit home when tea could be taken whilst watching a television. Wray Crescent this was not. However, the first ball we got to see, saw the end of Stokes and England’s chances. Thus, we all knew the nation’s mind would turn to Chigwell vs PCC and Tristan and Mutz went out to bat. Chigwell opened up well with some nagging lines outside off stump. The odd bad ball and flatness of wicket let both openers get into their stride and runs began to come more freely as the afternoon wore on. An early ‘nick’ from Mutz, which was accompanied by a chunk of the wicket and a shake of the head from Rahul, set the tone for the afternoon and Chigwell endeavoured to drop every opportunity presented to them (of which there were many). Capitalising on this both Mutz and Tristan brought up their 50’s and pushed on. Chigwell rung the changes and slowed things down a little with spinners at both ends – however, by this point the field was spread and both batters were able to keep pushing it around the park, so much so that one shot to deep-cover had their bowler chasing it down all the way to the very-long boundary. Strange scenes indeed. The opening partnership ended on 197 when Tristan missed a straight one whilst trying to work it into the off-side and departed for 109. Mutz soon followed on 78 and a couple of quick wickets momentarily caused a bit of worry for PCC. However, any worries were soon laid to rest as a fully clothed Mark finished off the chase supported by Jas who played the nicest shot of the day. All in all, it was a good afternoon of cricket, orchestrated by a tactical masterclass from Riz which gave PCC a possible 47 overs to chase down the runs – although only 40 were needed in the end. Fortunately, there were no Wigbert-Porters or Quinten Breckenridges in the clubhouse and PCC and Chigwell settled into a few cordial post-game beverages.

https://youtu.be/WXN60ukAYGA