Griffins' last-wicket pair deny OEA a win on debut
IN AN ideal world Luke Bichard would have avoided batting on Saturday.
As it turned out he ended up hitting the winning boundary in a Weekend Championship thriller at the College Field.
The Griffins seamer had injured a finger while fielding and was pencilled in at No. 11 for his side’s reply against OEA as they made their debut in the competition, only to find himself coming in as last man with 11 still required.
Importantly, he and Adam Wakeford saw off Matt Stokes’ final over before knocking off the winning runs in a tense finale.
Stokes had managed to drag his side, made up of himself and Island teammate Ben Ferbrache alongside Elizabeth College youngsters, back into contention with two wickets in consecutive overs but he was unable to eke out either of the final pair as Griffins kept their nerve to chase down a competitive 195 to win.
After winning the toss and inserting the opposition with play having been delayed by half-an-hour by overnight rain, Griffins were made to wait until the 15th over before they made the breakthrough, both through some watchful batting but also a couple of missed opportunities.
Wakeford was the unlucky bowler who deserved much greater reward for his fine opening spell from the pavilion end, but Tom Nightingale shelled a regulation catch at gully early on and later Nathan Le Tissier was unable to grasp a one-handed effort to his right in the covers.
Charlie Birch was the batsman on both occasions and he made the most of those lifelines by going on to top score for his side, claiming the milestone of OEA’s first half-century in the process.
It was an innings that included a couple of eye-catching drives for four in the eight boundaries he struck during his 103-ball stay at the crease.
He shared in a promising opening stand with Stokes, who looked like he was enjoying the anchor role until he chased a full ball slanting across him from Jordon Martel and was caught behind by stand-in wicketkeeper Luke Le Tissier. The batsman felt that the noise was his bat hitting the ground, but Griffins were convinced of a nick and so was the umpire.
However, that loss did not effect the home side unduly and captain Morgan Clayton joined Birch in taking the score up to 95 before the opener’s fine contribution came to an end when a good length ball from Dane Mullen caught Birch in two-minds whether to come forward or go back and he ended up dragging onto his stumps.
With the aim of reaching 200 and anything more than that being a bonus, OEA were still well placed and their other Island player Ferbrache was soon timing the ball sweetly after coming in at number four and the rate steadily increased as the innings moved into its final 20 overs.
Ferbrache was given one reprieve when nearly chipping a return catch to Luke Le Tissier and that would cost a couple of dozen runs.
Had Ferbrache hung around even longer, OEA would have surely burst through that 200 barrier, but when he looked to up the ante, Le Tissier got his man for 34, well caught out at deep square-leg by Martel in the 44th over.
Two balls later, Clayton followed Ferbrache back to the hutch for 36 as Le Tissier added a second, this time pouched at deep backward square by Wakeford.
In the pursuit of quick runs in the final five overs,wickets tumbled too with the safe hands of Martel giving Le Tissier a third wicket and, after a run out, Mullen picked up a couple in the final over with the first miscued into the covers and the second thanks to a yorker.
After Nathan Le Tissier got a beauty from Ben Johnson early in the reply, Stokes took three wickets and spinner Max Johnson struck with his first ball to remove Tom Kirk as Griffins were reduced to 71 for five before Luke Le Tissier and Martel steadied the ship with a crucial sixth-wicket stand of 69.
Le Tissier made a critical half-century while Martel fell two short of that landmark, but neither was able to see the job through and that meant several jitters for Griffins in the closing stages until Bichard and Wakeford saw them home.
The game at the KGV was all over while the first innings at the College Field was still in progress with Cobo having been skittled out for 88 with Jonny Bailey taking four wickets and Ben Wentzel three before Wanderers Irregulars knocked off the runs for the loss of six wickets.
Scorecards in Monday's Guernsey Press.
