A loss at last!
Last
year we pulled off a most unlikely win against this side with only 8 men
and from the moment I shook hands with Terry, the opposing captain, it
was apparent that this was still an open wound. No surprise then that
on winning the toss, he put us in.
What was a surprise was that even with what looked like a good batting
line up, we found ourselves struggling against one of the best attacks
we have faced for some seasons. Rob Symondson, last years centurion, hit
one with his terminally cracked bat to mid off and Jerry Stockbridge followed
soon after. Edgar played one or two good shots but similarly was soon
back in the pavilion. Ashley (35) & I (25) then effected a partial
recovery from about 30/3 taking the score against some accurate and hostile
bowling into the 70's before we both perished in identical fashion edging
to slip within three balls. Our tail attempted to wag but was only partially
successful and we subsided to 109 all out, surely our lowest total for
a couple of years.
Nevertheless, we were optimistic of making them work for the runs and
when the opener almost deliberately edged one to Jerry Stockbridge at
2nd slip off the 2nd ball from Matt Hallam, we looked in good shape. Ian
followed this with a quick wicket at the other end and in spite of bowling
tightly, runs were coming to quickly on a fast outfield so the Skipper
and Vice Skipper came on. Runs then, without the pace off the bat, were
much harder to score and we looked well on top as I took 2 more wickets
assisted by two sharp catches from Rob Symondson and Jerry ' flypaper'
Stockbridge. Edgar bowled another around his legs. At 60 - 5 they were
rocking.
However, in spite of some lofty shots from the opener, we had failed to
remove him and they took the total past ours with 10 overs to spare although
not without alarms.
It was disappointing to lose this game as we had not really given a good
account of ourselves but it was nevertheless an enjoyable and hard fought
game in which everyone played some part.
This report has been compiled without the scorebook so I apologise for
the lack of accurate figures to accompany the text.