Five-wicket Peatfield sets up remarkable Cobo win
AS THE old adage goes, you will not know what a good score is until both teams have batted.
When Will Peatfield starting tearing through the Wanderers-Irregulars top order as they set out on their run chase on Saturday at the KGV, Cobo quickly realised that their seemingly meagre 92 could very well be enough.
So it proved as they won by 13 runs by the time lunch in a Weekend Championship game would normally be taken.
With a very youthful line-up, WIs needed their senior batters in the top four to break the back of their reply, but it was not to be as Peatfield got to work immediately, removing Lucas Barker caught behind in the first over.
The Island paceman then skittled both Charlie Clapham and Tom Nightingale for single-figure scores and Cobo were suddenly buoyant, having reduced the opposition to 29 for 3.
Amazingly, they had become favourites in the space of half-a-dozen overs.
Peatfield continued his outstanding spell from the de Beauvoir end for eight productive overs, adding the scalps of Blake Carre and Casper Le Ray before he took a rest.
Then the spinners got to work.
Tim Ravenscroft picked up wickets in consecutive balls as WIs fell to 56 for 7, then Max Ellis’ quicker ball dismissed Harry Bisson before Dan Brown came on to finish things off.
A misjudgement from Tony Merrien saw him bowled and then a terrific catch from Jamie Nussbaumer at slip completed the victory that had looked so unlikely after Cobo’s innings.
Although they lost the early wicket of Louis Steyn, there was little sign of what was to come as Zak Damarell and Ollie Newey patiently guided Cobo to 48 for 1 knowing that there was bound to be the odd play-and-miss due to rustiness this early in the season.
But once the wickets started tumbling, there was no stopping them as the sky blues lost their last nine for just 44 runs.
Damarell’s dismissal sparked the dramatic momentum shift in WIs’ favour as he cut one straight into the hands of point to give Jake Roussel a second wicket.
Ravenscroft joined Newey and looked to be typically positive from the outset, but he did not last long as Haisam Azeem induced an edge from around the wicket and wicketkeeper Barker took a fine one-handed catch low down to his right.
The introduction of Harry Johnson and Tony Merrien into the attack proved too much for the rest of the Cobo batters to cope with as the young seamers claimed the last seven wickets between them at a combined cost of less than five runs apiece.
Johnson got good bounce and carry from a decent length and with similar deliveries he removed both Wills – Stewart and Peatfield – before Merrien joined the party as top-scorer Newey was drawn into a big drive that he edged through to Barker, who pulled off another sharp one-handed grab moving to his right.
That was the first of three wickets to fall with the score on 87.
Just three balls later Nussbaumer was adjudged LBW for a duck and then Johnson struck from the other end as Louis Day got a thick edge to first slip where Tom Nightingale initially parried the ball before clasping it at the second attempt.
Brown played one of the shots of the innings to get himself off the mark with a boundary driven straight back past Merrien, but he chipped the next delivery up into the covers where Clapham took a simple chance.
The innings was brought to a close when Max Ellis tried to go big, but he missed and Johnson removed his off stump.
