Potten Town Edge out OE's in thriller

Saturday 24th June saw OE's longest away trip of the season as the boys packed up their kit and headed off up the A1, crossing the border into Bedfordshire in the process, for their game against Potton Town.

Losing the toss OE's were unsurprisingly sent out into the field, with Potton Town's skipper keen to have first go on what looked to be a good batting deck. This proved to be a shrewd decision as Potton flew out the blocks - with OE's struggling to find much rhythm or consistency in the early overs. This combined with a lightning fast outfield saw the Potten openers soon shaking hands on their 50 partnership. The breakthrough eventually came thanks to the probing line and length of first-change, Dom Goring, who found the outside edge of Williams' bat. Sean Stevens however carried on and was looking in particularly good touch as he brought up a 50 of his own at a run-a-ball. Things were looking ominous for OE's as a huge chase looked likely with Potton sat 110-1; 31 overs of their allocation still remaining.

A fightback was needed - and that's exactly what was delivered. It was initiated by Nav Akhtar as he had Stevens lbw for 55 before a fantastic 20 over period dragged OE's back into contention. Matt Holland (3-17) proceeded to remove Potton's 3, 4 and 5 and there were further wickets also for Ahktar (3-62) and Ahmed (1-48) as 110-1 off 22 became 181-7 off 49. A run rate of 5 an over in the first 22 had be restricted to just over 2 and a half for the subsequent 27 and from looking like they'd be chasing 270+; OE's has an opportunity to keep Potton to under 200. There was to be another twist however as some brutal hitting from Potton's number 8 James Howlett, including 3 huge sixes, allowed the plundering of 43 off the final 4 overs and propelled Potten up to 224-9.

This left OE's reasonably happy considering Potton's explosion out the blocks in the first 20 overs, and whilst it may have felt like an opportunity missed from Potton's perspective with a big score on the cards at one point - the late assault by Howlett had somewhat shifted the momentum back in their favour.

Matt Heavey and Sean Price began the response from OE's with a couple of early boundaries settling the nerves. However, a destructive spell from Potten's openers and in particular OE's earlier tormentor, Howlett, saw 3 wickets fall without reply as Price, Scutt and Heavey all went in quick succession and 19-0 became 19-3 in the space of 10 balls. Lissowski put up some resistance but he soon also fell, leaving OE's staring down the barrel at 4-43. Once again counter a counter attack was required, with Gomes and Akhtar responding in their typically positive style. 100 runs were scored in 15 overs as the two in-form batsman put OE's back in control of the game at 147-4 - 78 runs needed off the last 13 overs at a nice round 6-an-over. At this point though a familiar foe raised its head - and one which OE's will surely need to work on if they want to regularly make large scores with the bat - as they yet again lost wickets in a cluster with 3 wickets falling in the space of 10 balls once more; including both Akhtar and Gomes alongside Goring. 147-4 had become 158-7 and momentum had shifted once again, although with only 55 runs needed for victory and a deep batting line up - not all hope had been lost.

All-rounders Busby and Holland mounted a final fightback with every run tiptoeing the side closer and closer to the finish line. They soon edged past 200 with the game balanced on a knife edge and if anything, OE's marginally ahead. It therefore seemed only fitting that that man Howlett - a thorn in OE's side for much of the day - would have the final say. First he returned to dismiss Holland with the final ball of his 15 overs in the game - ending a superb 46 run partnership. He then took a catch off Hall to remove Busby and leave OE's 206-9 still needing 19 runs for victory from 18 balls. A couple of 2's into the leg side from Ahmed gave a glimmer of hope before Franzinni was bowled by Hall in the penultimate over to hammer the final nail in OE's coffin - 10 runs short of the target.

A superb game of cricket played in great spirit but ultimately leaving OE's on the wrong side of a game they would have hoped to win to widen the gap on the chasing pack of teams below. The result will have taught the lads that performing in patches - however well - would not be enough at this level and that we'll need to maintain a level of consistency throughout if we are to compete for the rest of the season.

The result was not all doom and gloom however as 19 points were picked up, we remain 2nd in the league and the following week would see a clash with fellow promotion hopefuls St Margaretsbury - relegated last year from Division 2A.