Ed and Shoulders
with bat and ball
Matt Stockbridge got the response off to a good
start
We
started well, with David Broers, guesting from Cuddington, having their
opener taken smartly at first slip by Edgar in his second over. Next over
Mick R. produced his champagne moment of the season so far with a low
diving catch off Matt H. to dismiss the other opener and our tails were
up! Matt and David bowled tidy opening spells before giving way to Ed
and Toby. Following his 'Moody Trophy' winning effort on this ground last
season Ed took a wicket second ball (left hander again)! and Toby then
removed their experienced No.4 who played on to one that cramped him for
room. At 65-4 we felt in control although we knew our hosts had plenty
in hand with their normal opener at No.9 and the club top run scorer no.10.
Ed bowled another great spell, taking two further wickets courtesy of
good catches by David Broers and Matt Stockbridge, making it 109-6 with
about 45mins to tea. Unfortunately, the Singleton tail wagged for the
second year running with yours truly and Ed in his last over taking a
bit of stick, before Matt H. returned to take 2 more wickets at the end.
At tea Singleton were 184-8, about 30 runs more than I wanted to chase.
Bowling figures were: Matt H. 9-3-19-3, David Broers 6-1-25-1, Edgar F.
13-5-44-3, Toby C. 8-1-33-1, Matt Stockbridge 2-0-11-0, and myself 5-0-24-0.
In the absence of Rob S., and Jerry W., Matt Stockbridge opened with Edgar
and did a very good job against very tight bowling scoring 28 before an
unfortunate mix up saw him run out. Ed struggled to score with the ball
not coming onto the bat and astonishingly took 15 overs to get off the
mark, although he looked in no trouble. In the absence of Alex, Rob S.,
Ashley, Jerry and Nick W. he was clearly suffering 'Paula Radcliffe Syndrome'
with the pressure of expectancy on his shoulders, which intensified when
Mike Pearmain who looked in 'good nick' went for 16, quickly followed
by Doug M. for a duck. We got well behind the clock as Singleton kept
it very tight, and with 10 overs to go needed about 9 an over. Supported
by Jerry S., then Mick, Ed then showed us what a good player he is, doubling
his score in the last few overs with some controlled hitting. We finished
on 151-7 with Ed unbeaten on 60.