The Club Cricket Conference Yearbook 2020

Baber Choudhary (Old Brentwoods CC) who batted outstandingly to wrest control back for their side and then began to dominate an attack that was increasingly worn down as the batsmen gained the belief that the day could yet be theirs. Arachchige (87) and Choudhury (72 no) saw the Conference home in the 47th over to complete a hugely proficient win where all elements of the game came together and skills were executed to a high standard by a good team. Essex 2 provided Conference’s next opponents the following week, as CCC travelled to Billericay CC for the annual three day game against the County. Essex has always honoured the Conference by putting out very strong squads against us and it proved no different again. With eight of their side playing in either the championship winning team or the one day/T20 side during the season, Essex batted first on a pretty flat deck but with a hint of swing to help the bowlers early on. A steady start by Rishi Patel and Varun Chopra was undone as they fell to Nathan Smith and David Burton. Ravi Bopara was dismissed for 14 shortly after by debutant Arafat Bhuiyan (Bickley Park CC), leaving Essex 77-3. This became 77-4 as Smith immediately secured his second wicket and then 10 runs later he claimed his third of the day, highlighting a good degree of stamina and skill in a lengthy spell. Smith’s withdrawal from the attack signalled a change in fortunes however as two of Essex’s outstanding young pros combined to counter attack in thrilling style. Keeper/batsman Michael Pepper and bowling allrounder Arron Nijjar both completed fine centuries to ensure Day 1 ended with Essex in control. The declaration came early on Day 2 as the Conference took the ninth wicket, Essex settling on 329-9 after 104 overs. It was a very decent bowling performance from the Conference, led again by Smith (3-73) and swing bowler Bhuiyan (5-59). The CCC got off to the worst possible start when Vineeth Manjunath (Richmond CC) was caught for a lengthy 0 off 23 deliveries. Hamza Ahmed (North Mimms CC) and skipper Ben Compton (Richmond CC) took the score to 34 before Ahmed fell for 23. Wickets fell at regular intervals throughout the innings with batsmen getting starts but not managing to convert, with the notable exception of Smith, Otago’s allrounder, who batted beautifully for 67 in holding the reply together. He found fine support from Darren Ironside coming in low down at number 9, who supplied a half century as the Conference were bowled out for 205. Arron Nijjar proved his all-round capabilities with three wickets as all Essex bowlers got on the scores sheet. Essex’s 2nd innings was all about batting forcefully to provide time to bowl the Conference out on the last day. Their class was amply illustrated by a second wicket partnership between Chopra and Pepper of 214 against a toiling CCC attack shorn of Bhuiyan who had left the ground injured after the first innings. David Burton put in a fine effort however, bowling 20 of the 52 overs delivered (1-64). Chasing 360 for victory, that thought was never realistic. The Essex management clearly wanted to see how their bowling attack lived up to expectations in seeing their team to an anticipated victory on the final day. The ball swung prodigiously for a while and wickets fell early on against a seam attack that all had First Class or List A experience. Ahmad Elach (Stanmore CC) and Compton provided a stabilising influence in the middle order and batted serenely for 43 and 39 respectively, supported further by Smith with 37. With time bleeding away, Nijjar slipped in with a couple of late wickets but the Conference were steered to a credible draw by Munday and Burton as Essex did everything they could to win the game. - 23 -