As the season reaches the half way point there is still much to play for with the first team looking to find some consistency to get themselves out of a relegation fight whilst the seconds have silverware in their sights.
Away at Wicken on June 22 nd the Cooks found themselves chasing a target of 237 to win, a disappointing total after some fine bowling early on but in the end some heavy hitting saw Wicken take the game away from the firsts, with Jason Kruger with 3-45 the pick of the Cooks attack. The reply got off to a very decent start thanks to James Ashby 16 and 44 from Dan McLaughlin, but once they departed the rest soon followed as no one else reached double figures and the innings ended on 102 and a heavy defeat. So what you really need after that is a visit from Oundle II`s, and the following week that`s what we got. Jason was again on form with the ball with 3-40 taking his tally to 24 for the season, ably supported by Nick Lester with 3-37 as Oundle were bowled out in the final over for 193 a total that could have been a lot less had the Cooks had a better day in the field.Again the Batsmen failed with the top 4 not scoring twenty runs between them. Henry Swallow with 32 gave a brief glimmer of hope but at 84-7 another defeat seemed likely. But then Jason was joined at the crease by Matt Irons and while Matt was circumspect and correct Jason was power and aggression hitting the ball all over the park. Thought`s of a fantastic victory were dashed as Jason fell for a superb 66 with the score on 153 and so those two golden nuggets Matt and Nick saw out the last few overs for a losing draw.
The seconds regained their top of the table status on June 22 nd following a fairly easy victory over local rivals Mears Ashby II`s at Compton Park. Batting first the visitors never really got going as Syd Mason 2-20, Tony Bird 2-30 which included his 200 th league wicket for the Cooks put the brakes on the scoring whilst chipping away at the batsmen and when Gareth Goddard was introduced to the attack the innings came to an abrupt end as he took 3-3 and Mears Ashby were dismissed for just 88. Adam Lee-Brown with 33 not out and 20 from Russ Coleman ensured a comfortable victory and 30 points were achieved without to many dramas. A trip up the road to Overstone followed and again Ryan won the toss and elected to field. The Overstone top order proved to be a different proposition as for once Syd and Tony did not have it all their own way, although Syd still managed very creditable figures of 3-34. But this week it was the change bowlers of James Goodwin and Mark Bird who did the damage with James taking 2-29 including a quite superb one handed slip catch from Tony, while Mark finished off the Overstone resistance with 2 in two balls to finish with 4-27 and meaning the first ball of his next spell is a hat trick ball.
As the players sat down to a quite superb tea, complete with homemade Victoria Sandwich and Chocolate Cake and compliments to the lovely Overstone tea ladies, thoughts soon turned to the task ahead. What was required was a steady start and a sensible approach and in Russ Coleman and Matt Golby that is exactly what we got. The pair put on 60 for the first wicket before Matt 30 ran himself out going for a tight single although credit to the Overstone fielder Ryan Arnold whose direct hit did not help Matt`s cause. Russ continued even getting out the guns to straight drive a lovely six, but the thought of having to buy a jug proved to much and he was eventually out for 45. But Dave Patrick had settled into the job and batted with great purpose and was rewarded with a lovely knock of 30 not out as Cogenhoe reached their target for the loss of just 2 wickets. The win keeps the seconds at the top of the table and was a real team performance. The success this season has been built on a very decent bowling attack with Tony, Syd and Mark all in the top 10 wicket takers in the division and with the 2 Matt`s Golby and Morrissey also in the top 5 batters in the division things really do look good for the rest of the season.