On a glorious day at the Green, Matching won the toss and needing 9 points for the title decided to bowl on what looked a decent track with a tinge of green on it.
Matching opened up with Charlie Bass and Jonny Taylor. It was not long before Taylor removed the Nazeing opener Oliver for 0 caught superbly at point by his brother Matty. Bass and Taylor bowled tightly until Bass twisted an ankle and had to be replaced mid over by Matty Taylor. The two Taylors bowled in tandom .
Blair was batting well until a field of 3 men on the drive was set and he popped one straight into the hands of Bass off J Taylor for a well made 21. Jonny Taylor bowled right through and ended with good figures of 2-34.
Paul Dawson replaced Jonny Taylor and Mackie was batting nicely for Nazeing. Then a game changer …..Mackie pushed the ball to point and called a run. The always dangerous Dan Reese reacted a bit slowly as Jed Scanlon raced to the ball and unleashed a perfect throw to knock out the only stump he could see taking Reese (for 8) with it .
Jamie Stevens came to the crease and he and Mackie started to rebuild before Dawson had Mackie well caught behind by the super sharp Harry Lees. Mackie made a good 33. From then on only Stevens could come to terms with the bowling and he batted aggressively but maturely before eventually being caught on the boundary by Bass off Simon Hartnell for a brave 58.
Dawson and Hartnell polished off the tail with Dawson 3-55 and Hartnell 3-12 , Nazeing were all out in the 40th over for 170.
Matching opened up with Graeme Bowerman and Jed Scanlon. Bowerman smashed a 6 and then was unlucky to be caught down the leg side for 6. This brought Harry Lees to the crease … often number 11 but with massive improvements to his batting this year, his chance had come. And how well did he take it?! The youngsters flourished in spite of some tidy bowling by Nazeing, in fact they shared an unbroken partnership of 156 to bring home the match and the title in the 33rd over.
Scanlon made a brilliant 63no full of stylish shots throughout, whilst at the other end Lees made a fearless 79no. Jamie Stevens took 1-19 for Nazeing .
So after a long hard season of numerous injuries, Matching had finally got the job done and won the Division 1 title - a great effort. A few beers and burgers were sunk at the beautiful pavilion before a few more at The Chequers pub on the green.