And here we are. The season finale, away to Southend Woodham Ferrers, a side who have just won 6 on the bounce, with destiny in our own hands.
Needless to say Nob lost the toss (16 out of 18) and we were inserted on a deck the same colour as the outfield. Following last weeks unbeaten ton, Liam once again opened the batting and found his groove straight away, front food drives and back foot punches were the order of the day, and he even kindly let John face a ball at the end on the 4th over. The partnership built until the 11th over when John departed for 7, meaning the evergreen Snail joined Liam. Together they faced the next 27 overs, amassing a partnership of 161, in which time Liam reached a second successive ton and Snail his first fifty of the season. I won’t say they ran well as Liam was content with hitting boundaries unless it was the sixth ball of the over, but it was good viewing nonetheless. Snail departed after successfully increasing the rate in the last 15 overs, meaning Foxy entered the fray. I’m sure SWF were overjoyed to see the guy who got a ton against them earlier in the season when we were 212/2. Foxy made Liam run, a lot, 4 two’s in a row infact and after after both men hit multiple boundaries we finished on 290/5, Liam with a classy 151.
Tea’s were decent. I ate far too much and felt really sick so this so this has maybe clouded my judgement. It’s a 7 from me.
Jack Bowen’s girlfriend was on holiday so she kindly let him play cricket this weekend and he found his groove straight away. Bowling three of the top four SWF batsmen with quality deliveries in his spell of 10-2-28-3, he ripped the hosts open and allowed George Davis to take the next 4 wickets in 4 overs for just 3 runs. He finished with season best figures of 8-1-23-4 and left Matt McDonald to clean up the tail with 3-25 off 9. Between the 7th and 8th wickets there were 20 overs, which given the situation we were in was very frustrating but it’s hard to be critical of a 154 run victory to guide us to safety.
Division 4 cricket again for the 2’s next year, in my opinion exactly where we belong. We finished the season with 7 wins from 10 after 1 win from 8 at the beginning, reasons for this include availability and form, which are bi-products of 2nd team cricket. Youngsters coming through and performing, most notably George Davis and Ben Ridge, gives us encouragement, and hopefully more are to follow. See you next season!
Star Man - Liam Jones
