4th XI Record Great Win Against Bamville

Well, is that because I watched him bowl the last two batsmen middle pin I wonder or, because as a stand-in keeper, I kept Hugh's powder dry so he could score a match winning 77!? Whatever the reason, on a melting hot day we prevailed against a team that didn't give a single LBW plumb or caught behind decision, which may explain why they started the day 3rd place in the league!

Having won the toss, they batted first but lost wickets regularly, we opened with Pete's seam-up which were on point and Stu's little tweakers. Some magic fielding resulted in catches for Benji and Page with Nigel snaffling two on the run. Jack bowled a really tidy spell along with Del who took 3 valuable wickets which made batting look difficult, they kept hacking and getting out cheaply. Hugh chipped in with a couple of wickets, whilst making the poor keeper look pretty average with fast sliders going for byes! We bowled them out a couple of overs short of the heat reduced 36 and they set us a total of 180 to chase.

Springy and Pagey opened the batting and were separated by a ball that took Steve's middle pin after jagging back a long way, bringing Hugh to the crease in the second over. Shortly after, a leading edge brought Amos to join in a big partnership for the 3rd wicket that developed nicely with regular boundaries, lovely to watch! Pete perished for 35 well struck runs, bringing Aalhad into the game after turning up not able to bowl, so was given a chance at 5 and kept up the scoring with a solid innings of 14. A brief 2 ball spell at the wicket for the 'keeper is best forgotten, so I can concentrate on Del, who made a late call to help us with numbers when we were short and didn't disappoint, smacking boundaries!

While Stu Mac was happy at this stage, often remarking about winning the game, thier opening bowlers came back on and wickets began to fall and we were left with less than 20 runs to get off 4 overs. First Hugh went for a well paced inings of 77, Benji for 0 and then Del for 41 that left Jack facing the last ball of the 35th over, the skipper at the non-striker's end and offering him advice (block it) with the team feeling anxious watching from the boundary. Nigel was 'padding up'. No need, Jack calmly won the game in one boundary shot!

Our team victory was completed with 2 wickets in hand and an over to spare! The cold beers back at the club tasted especially good!

Written by Andre Rideout