Just before the heatwave the 3s travelled to Chignal without their inspirational skipper, who had been elevated to the 1s again. John took over the captaincy & manages to fail the first task of the day, losing the toss & being forced to field.
The team selected saw the debut of Jamie, who claimed to know the Pearsons, but nobody held this against him, the father & son combination of the Clarke family, Jabob Slater starting for the 3s for the first time this season, overeas short-term signing of Colin & a number of regulars.
Max & Billy opened the bowling & Chignal set off at 7 per over until Max got a caught & bowled to dismiss the opener. The second wicket partnership did well, as the bowling changes took account of the heat, not just the score. Owen kept things tight at one end & Jamie remembered what to do with the ball, following a 20 year gap since he last played. He did bowl well for 3 overs, until the 20 year gap caught up with him & he stopped for a rest. Jacob Brock came onto bowl & did an excellent job removing both batsmen with an LBW & a stumping from the other Jacob.
The next partnership was a good one from Chignal, with boundaries coming & singles taken, as the 3s toiled in the sunshine. Cue the Clarke family's dominance of the game. Max broke the parnership, with help from Tickle's elastic arms taking a catch, an LBW & a bowled. John cleaned up the tailenders, with a chance of a hat-trick at one point. The last 5 wickets fell for 20 runs, a great effort from the whole team.
207 to beat.
Bring your own teas was the arrangements & mine was very nice.
Tickle & Nick opened & Tickle returned a few balls later, to be replaced by the senior Clarke. Nick hit a boundary before he was out & Colin was doing well until he was out LBW in his last game before the Cypriot national team call him up. The Chignal bowler was tossing tempting pies into the air & John joined Ricky, "don't fall into the trap" was the advice to John. John then fell into the trap & was back in the pavillion after one ball. Jacob Slater joined Ricky, who was already playing wonderfully with boundaries coming regularly. The century partnership swung the game our way, Jacob grew in confidence & Ricky delivered a masterclass in batting for Jacob to learn from. On 80 Ricky fell & Owen came out for a short while, until Jacob Brock replaced him.
The run rate was still 5 per over & with 4 overs left the game could go either way. But, the 2 Jacobs saw us home, with Jacob Slater hitting an unbeaten 50 & Jacob Brock hitting 2 succesive 4s to seal victory & move us up to 7th in the table, 50 points clear of the relegation zone.
Roll on next week when we face Rainham.
Men of the match - the Clarke family.
