Another roasting, cloudless 40 degs day & little shade available. Matt Callender, captain of the day, was high in motivation & the experience he lacked was made up by 10 vocal vice captains. Often. And not always timely.
Maybe it was the heat or the fear that this might be a first defeat but it was a win that would not have been recorded without the lower order counter attacking of James Smith & the generosity of the home town skipper who employed 9 players to bowl including the 12 year old keeper. Either way the batting on a new track akin to Wray Crescent 1996 was more than a little disappointing. And a total of 138 seemed too few.
When the bowling sprayed, the captain (& some others) really started to get edgy. Luckily there was always a corker ball or a run out when needed. Indeed, the opener Hicks, might have felt relieved to see his spliced hook off Haill drop towards square leg but it was nevertheless held by the 7 year old sub fielder. A moment to savour for the youngster.
Despite quality resistance & the ability to put away the next bad ball by the Captain Raynor, he could not find a partner to stay with him & when Birch was caught energetically by Emmins off Holliday, the 5 an over ask was academic.
XI from Peter Hollman, James Smith, Oli Haill, Matt Holiday, Kurt Rademaker, Shayne Rees, Rob Bastin, Steve Emmins, Matt Callender, Matt Patel, James Gleadow & Adrian Duthie.
