The Captain's Log #2 "Pacific won the toss and elected to bat. With Hampstead being a team that usually wins the tournament, and has a vast pool of players, it was important for Pacific to bat first and not be chasing: using the pressure of having ‘scores on the board’ that would help sneak some wickets through pressure.

Frankly, with Hampstead having their opening left-arm bowler being contracted to Middlesex CCC didn’t help Pacific make an electric start. The start was noble taking into account the relentless pace, line, and length from Middlesex CCC, sorry Hampstead. With Conrad Chandler smacking a couple of 6’s and a 4 on his way to 28 not out, and Purcell nurdling his way to 11, Pacific made a decent start and ultimately had wickets in hand with the last few overs left. Indeed the tail played for the team and tried in vain to get the ball off the square. Hampstead were simply an awesome bowling attack, and fielded like demons. With most sides where you get a 3, Hampstead’s quick pick-up and release made it only a 1, as suicide is not always the best option when noting the importance of batting your overs. Ultimately, they showed how to field and bowl.

Thankfully, they weren’t great under-pressure, and a sharp slap to Conrad Chandler at short mid-on thanks to some good bowling by John Baglivi enabled Pacific to get under their skins; especially with the miserly James Gleadow (2 overs for 13). R Sharma (very streaky and looked to have had 12 coffees before the game) and Kershon (tapping it through mid-wicket and cover much to the annoyance of Pacific), knocked off the runs with only 3 overs to go. To be fair to Pacific, they were in the game with 7 overs of the reply gone when really Hampstead should have buried them.

Both games were a massive improvement on the week before, as Pacific fielded much better (quick releases, taking catches, and no overthrows) and batted with maturity (going through their overs with wickets in hand and therefore able to throw the bat at the end). Quite simply Pacific played 2 teams that were much better."

VI:- Conrad Chandler*, Steve Lay, James Gleadow, Chris Akin, John Baglivi & Sammy Purcell.