Rob Bastin on his return from a Kendo tournament in Geneva picked up again his excellent form by 1st equalling the catches in a match record with 4 behind from edges induced from Atkin (2), Webley & Hollman to keep Strongroom on the back foot & then opening the batting a scoring a match winning 74 not out to see the hosts emphatically home with over 9 overs to spare & thereby wresting back the honour in what was a highly satisfactory match for Captain Jon Webley.

Jon’s disgruntlement could be traced back to the equivalent game last season when the visitors’ slow over rate & delaying meant Pacific had little chance of scoring the required runs so this win was a sweet one.

A delayed start again saw the same fear arise that 2006 could be rerun especially as the 2 openers Woodhouse & Charles were laying into the opening bowlers with 50 coming up in 6 overs. Rob Allum, who was bowling a little too full in his 1st meaning full spell for 2 months & Chris Atkin who came back well after an expensive 1st over both struck back & high quality fielding & excellent back up bowling made it hard for even the long batting line up to accelerate until the last 5 or 6overs.

The early loss of Matt Holliday caught superbly at gully by Emet & the unlucky Steve Lay LBW despite an inside edge to leave Pacific at 12-2 left Strongroom feeling that they were well in the game but Bastin continued to counter attack ruthlessly pulling David Gower for 18 in one over forcing him out of the attack. Jon Webley (49) too looked in fine form again & it was a surprise & disappointment when he holed out to long on but not before he & Rob had made a match winning partnership of 85.

The only drop in the game came when Bastin on 30 top edged to Gower on the 3rd man boundary. It could have been crucial but after Webley was out, Bastin was joined by the other Rob – Allum, himself in delightful batting form & Pacific’s supremacy was maintained.

XI:-Chris Atkin, Rob Bastin, James Gleadow, Matt Holliday, Peter Hollman, Steve Lay, Lahri Mohamed, Shayne Rees, James Smith, Jon Webley* & Rob Allum 12th Ben Haley & Frank Baglivi

Strongroom CC v Pacific

Strongroom CC innings  R  M  B  4  6 Woodhouse   c Bastin b Allum   37  0  23  7  0   Charles   c Bastin b    9  0  26  0  0   Claro   c Hollman b    0  0  0  0  0   J Gower   c Bastin b Webley   6  0  0  0  0   D Gower   c Bastin b Hollman   21  0  0  0  0   Rebbick   not out    64  0  0  0  0   Proctor   b Webley   11  0  0  0  0   George   not out    3  0  0  0  0   Emad   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   Boote   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0    Extras (b 8, lb 4, w 1, nb 0) 13      TOTAL (40.0 Overs) 163-6

Fall of wickets:  1-53 [Woodhouse] , 2-53 [Charles] , 3-60 [Claro] , 4-64 [J Gower] , 5-100 [D Gower] , 6-131 [Proctor]

Bowling  O  M  R  W       8  2  20  2    Rob Allum   8  2  35  1    James Gleadow   8  2  21  0    Jon Webley   8  0  28  2    Peter Hollman   8  1  47  1

Pacific innings  R  M  B  4  6 Rob Bastin   not out    72  0  76  11  0   Matt Holliday   c Emad b Proctor   0  0  2  0  0   Steve Lay   lbw b Proctor   0  0  1  0  0   Jon Webley   c & b Boote   49  0  54  9  0   Lahri Mohamed   c & b J Gower   5  0  18  0  0   Rob Allum   not out    35  0  28  3  1     did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   Peter Hollman   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   James Gleadow   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   Luke Hollman   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   Shayne Rees   absent    0  0  0  0  0    Extras (b 2, lb 0, w 0, nb 1) 3      TOTAL (30.5 Overs) 164-4

Fall of wickets:  1-10 [Holliday] , 2-10 [Lay] , 3-95 [Webley] , 4-103 [Mohamed]

Bowling  O  M  R  W    Woodhouse   8  0  51  0    Proctor   6  2  12  2    D Gower   2  0  22  0    J Gower   7  1  31  1    Boote   5  0  28  1    George   2  0  14  0    Rebbick   0.5  0  5  0