Blind Cricket Ashes 26th August 2004

A remarkable game ended in controversy when a consultation between Umpires, Managers and Captains lead to a decision at 5.34 p.m. that England had won the fourth match of the series on penalty runs because Australia failed to complete their overs in the allotted time.

The match commenced with the best weather of the series. Australia won the toss and elected to bat and had the upper hand throughout practically the entire match.

Brett Wilson followed on from his good form of yesterdays match with a fine 66 before he was caught by Matthew Dean. Robust contributions from Matthew Horsey and Peter Robinson maintained an impressive run rate despite losing wickets. Man of the Match, Nejat Haydardedeoglu continued his fine form with another display of stylish batting amassing 82 and sharing in a 8th wicket partnership of 86 with Ray Moxly.

The English bowlers bowled a good line and with some tight fielding featuring 13 year old Sam Murray and 14 year old Luke Sugg behind the stumps prevented the Aussies from exerting their dominance. Andy Dalby-Welsh took 1 for 52 from his 8 overs in his first match of the series and he was ably assisted by Adam Benjamin, Heindrich Swanepoel and David Townley.

The Australian total of 303 seemed beyond the Englishmen as they quickly fell behind the required run rate. Tim Guttridge was unusually subdued with 36 from 56 balls in the face of some excellent bowling from Robinson (2 for 37) and Moxly (1 for 27). However the other Australian bowlers leaked runs at an alarming rate and as well as another gritty contribution from Adam Benjamin we saw the emergence of Luke Sugg on to the world stage with an aggressive 47, featuring stylish drives and sweeps. Sugg shared stands of 49 and 73 with Swanepoel and Townley respectively and managed to set the stage for an unbeaten stand of 65 between Townley and Miles Northwood taking the score to 279 off 37 overs.

At this point the Australians had failed to complete 3 B1 overs in their allotted time and were duly penalised 30 runs giving England the victory in the fourth match of the series.

We would like to thank Horsham CC for their hospitality and assistance in providing a first class pitch for the teams to compete on and the use of the Electronic scoreboard.

The Ashes series has now been levelled at 2 - 2 and the deciding match will take place on Saturday 28th August at Bradfield College.

	England v Australia Blind Cricket Ashes Series 26th August 2004 at Horsham
	A remarkable game ended in controversy when a consultation between Umpires, Managers and Captains lead to a decision at 5.34 p.m. that England had won the fourth match of the series on penalty runs because Australia failed to complete their overs in the allotted time. The match commenced with the best weather of the series. Australia won the toss and elected to bat and had the upper hand throughout practically the entire match. Brett Wilson followed on from his good form of yesterdays match with a fine 66 before he was caught by Matthew Dean. Robust contributions from Matthew Horsey and Peter Robinson maintained an impressive run rate despite losing wickets. Man of the Match, Nejat Haydardedeoglu continued his fine form with another display of stylish batting amassing 82 and sharing in a 8th wicket partnership of 86 with Ray Moxly. The English bowlers bowled a good line and with some tight fielding featuring 13 year old Sam Murray and 14 year old Luke Sugg behind the stumps prevented the Aussies from exerting their dominance. Andy Dalby-Welsh took 1 for 52 from his 8 overs in his first match of the series and he was ably assisted by Adam Benjamin, Heindrich Swanepoel and David Townley. The Australian total of 303 seemed beyond the Englishmen as they quickly fell behind the required run rate. Tim Guttridge was unusually subdued with 36 from 56 balls in the face of some excellent bowling from Robinson (2 for 37) and Moxly (1 for 27). However the other Australian bowlers leaked runs at an alarming rate and as well as another gritty contribution from Adam Benjamin we saw the emergence of Luke Sugg on to the world stage with an aggressive 47, featuring stylish drives and sweeps. Sugg shared stands of 49 and 73 with Swanepoel and Townley respectively and managed to set the stage for an unbeaten stand of 65 between Townley and Miles Northwood taking the score to 279 off 37 overs. At this point the Australians had failed to complete 3 B1 overs in their allotted time and were duly penalised 30 runs giving England the victory in the fourth match of the series. We would like to thank Horsham CC for their hospitality and assistance in providing a first class pitch for the teams to compete on and the use of the Electronic scoreboard. The Ashes series has now been levelled at 2 - 2 and the deciding match will take place on Saturday 28th August at Bradfield College.