The eagerly awaited encounter between Corsham 2nds and local rivals, Lacock 1sts, whose team included several former Corsham players, surpassed all expectations on an overcast June afternoon at Station Road to close the Club's 2017 Cricket Week.
Miles Copland won the toss and batted first with Steve Copland and Adam Mitchell opening the innings against the pace of Jon Siggins and Luke Curtis. Mitchell got off to a quick start taking 11 off Curtis' first over and ten off his second. Not to be outdone, Copland took eight off Siggins' second over.
Corsham Captain, Ned Jones, introduced the left arm spin of 16 year old Luke Draper, but the change was very much to the liking of Mitchell who proceeded to plunder 20 off Draper's opening over and 16 off his second. Meanwhile, Copland kept up the early onslaught taking two boundaries off Siggins, and three more plus a six off Simon Crampton who came on to replace Siggins. Mitchell reached 50 in the 7th over and the pair brought up the century partnership in just 12 overs.
The opening onslaught continued with Copland reaching his half-century in the 17th over. Shortly after the 150 partnership was passed, but with the score on 169, the introduction of Will Collier saw the breakthrough as Copland was bowled for 69. His innings contained 8 x 4s and 3 x 6s. Two balls later, Collier trapped Mark Wiltshire in front, to be replaced by Miles Copland.
Mitchell continued his onslaught on the Corsham bowling, racing to a 64 ball ton in the 24th over. It needed something special to bring his innings to an end and that came in the 34th over when Matt Unwin's speedy and accurate return to Mike Myatt saw Mitchell's attempt at a second run fall short to terminate his innings after 73 balls and 118 runs (15 x 4s; 6 x 6s).
Chay Forrester was the next to go, chipping Will Collier to midwicket where Luke Curtis clung onto the catch at the third attempt. Lacock keeper, Phil Steans, joined his captain and the pair took the score to 233 in the 34th over before Copland was bowled by Luke Curtis for 28. Dean Wallington replaced Copland and the assault continued with a further 40 runs being added before Wallington was spectacularly caught at extra cover by Will Collier off the hostile bowling of Luke Curtis.
Steans picked off a number of boundaries and John Wiltshire smashed 18 off the final over from Jon Siggins to take the score to an impressive 307 for 7.
After Tom Abbott took 9 off the opening over, the Corsham innings got off to a slow start with Matt Unwin taking 18 balls to get off the mark against the spin bowling of Steve Copland and the medium paced seamers of Dean Wallington. The fifty partnership came up in the 12th over, while the century partnership came up in the 21st. Despite his slow start, it was Unwin who reached the half-century first, which came up in the 19th over. Abbott reached the same target in the 25th over.
With Unwin enjoying the lion's share of the strike, he reached three figures in the 28th over with an innings punctuated with boundaries every bit as good as those hit by Mitchell earlier. However, having scored 118, Unwin holed out to Miles Copland on the long-on boundary with 113 runs still required and with just 13 overs to go.
Enter Andy Davies, Corsham's batsman in form, who set about the task with a flurry of big hits to bring up a personal half-century in just 19 balls. In his second spell, Corsham old boy, Leigh Rogers, penetrated Davis' defence with his score at 55. Luke Curtis joined Abbott with 47 required in the 39 balls remaining. With Abbott adding boundaries off both John and Mark Wiltshire, Curtis smashed a towering six off Rogers before being expertly caught behind by Phil Steans two balls later. With 29 now required and 33 balls remaining, Simon Crampton came to the middle driving his first ball for four, but fell three balls later to a tame catch to Dean Wallington at square leg off Mark Wiltshire.
Enter Will Collier who hit two handsome drives to the boundary to the encouragement of the spectators on the patio. Abbott joined the fun with successive boundaries off Mark Wiltshire to take the score to 306 and his own tally to 96. With two overs to go, Miles Copland turned to Dean Wallington, but with the momentum with the home side, he bowled two wides to give Corsham victory with ten balls to spare. Abbott's innings contained 8 x 4s and 2 x 6s, facing 93 balls. Collier ended on 11 not out to give Corsham victory by six wickets after a remarkable day's cricket.
Hearty thanks must be given to the Corsham ground staff who prepared excellent pitches for the 2017 Cricket Week.