NZ Over 70's v England Over 70's Silver Fern series Match 3 Report
The match was played at the High Wycombe Cricket Club on another dry, barren, and sloping field. Normal service resumed when it came time to call the coin toss and England , as expected, decided to bat first.
Carrying on from his man of the match 53 not out in our match against the England Invitational team at Hagley Hall, Dave Tee opened the batting for England this time and bashed his way to 105 not out then retiring. His other opening partner Simon Battersby put on another display of his effortless batting only to be undone by an excellent stumping by Tony Penny off Stan Wooliscroft’s bowling.
Chris Evans came in and knocked out 52 before also retiring. The only other wicket to fall to our bowlers was their Captain John Evans who edged a ball from Bevin Guthrie to Tony. That was our last piece of bowling joy as England continued to blast even the good deliveries all over the park.
England acceleration was masterly and deliberate. In their first 15 overs they posted 76 runs, second 15 overs 110 runs, and last 15 overs 146 runs. So for a tired and weary flu ridden NZ fielding team there was a lot of time spent picking the ball up from bushes surrounding the field.
A starting run rate of 7.3 runs per over was kept up with for the first 3 overs then the wobbles started as the England opening bowlers Hayes and Staple put the squeeze on our openers. They prised Tony Penny out in the 8th over caught behind and then Paul Facoory unluckily played a full blooded pull shot directly to the only fielder inside the circle on the leg side.
The Otago stalwarts Hamish Cochran and Bevin Guthrie then put on our best partnership of 48 off 8 overs until Bevin was out to another good outfield catch that sent him back on his weary way to the pavilion. The run rate kept increasing all the time and by the time we got halfway through our innings our required run rate was already over 10 an over.
When Hamish’s brilliant run of scoring for the series came to an end for 30, his lowest score of the tour, he had accumulated 495 runs over 7 innings Including 1 not out with an average of 82.5. Paul Facoory also had an outstanding batting tour scoring 444 runs over 8 innings also with 1 not out at an average 63.4.
The middle order and tail didn’t wag for too long and we were eventually all out for 183 in the 36th over. Terry O’Laughlin top scored with a hard fought 35 and the flying Frank Walsh, having his first bat on tour, wound up and blasted 3 balls to the fence in the first 5 balls of his 6 ball innings and topping the strike rate on tour at 200.
Many of our dismissals seemed like tired shots that we would not normally play. Englands bowling was good but we made it look a little better than it was.
So the first Silver Fern series went to the English 3 nil. The first 2 matches were closer than this last one and were just 1 or 2 partnerships away from being competitive with the world champions.
Englands player of the day was David Tee for his unbeaten century. Our player of the match went to Hamish Cochran for the way he had confounded England with his power hitting that they were at times powerless to stop. The overriding image for those who got to watch all 7 of his innings was opposing captains placing 5 fielders on the boundary between long off and deep square leg then still having to watch the ball disappear between them.
It was a brilliant tour with success against all the county teams, England B, and the Wales international team. The step up to playing the full England team was level we couldn’t quite get to but we were at times competitive and even dominant in patches. For anyone lucky enough to play in the next Silver Fern series it will be a real challenge and maybe in NZ conditions a closer contest.
Chris East
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