After last week's trip to the wonderful ground at Thydon Bois (covers, rope boundary, changing rooms with showers, bar, car park, etc, etc), only spoilt by persistent rain, we actually had the first game of the season proper, at Braxted v old enemies Hornchurch.
Clarkie starts his captaincy by losing the toss & Hornchurch decide to field first, despite being late & short of players due to roadworks.
Nick & Dicko open up & the wicket looks soft & pudding-like. The bowlers struggle to find any bounce, pace or anything on the wicket, as it's so soft. But, the batsmen cannot manage to hit the ball anywhere, as the outfield is damp. Following the usual 3s tradition, Nick departs with the score on 0. In comes Tickle, looking like he means business & soon finds the boundary, it can be done. But, that 4 apart, it's hard to score. Dicko starts to hit the ball harder, but still scoring is slow. Tickle gets unlucky when he tickled the ball onto his pads, then along the floor & it barely touched the wickets, but the bails came off. John joins Dicko, 13-2, almost 10 overs gone. Seeing off the opening bowlers, both batsmen took a liking to the Hornchurch spinners & the runs began to flow, or at least trickle. John & Dicko recreated some of their finest partnership memories, by hitting the ball hard & by running a few risky singles (both batsmen a few years older than last time this happened). We got to drinks & were around 80. Dicko accelerated & reached his 50, only to get out next ball, trying to hit over the field. Jamie joined John & the bowling improved & the runs were harder to come by, again. Jamie did the classic error of missing the straight delivery & Billy came out to bat. The score moved on a little & nearing the end of the innings John reached 50, but only managed a few more before being caught out. DQ tried to speed things up, but was run out by a long way going for a second. Sam came out & slogged away, as you should do at the end of the innings with wickets in hand. Billy hit the last ball into the tree & we finished on 172-6, a difficult target to reach.
Nick provided teas & his wife's brownies were very popular.
James & DQ opened the bowling. The Hornchurch opener was the top run scorer in the division last season & likes to drive the ball hard, so DQ gave him a couple of throw downs to ease himself back into form. James was more accurate & then DQ found his rhythm too. As for us, Hornchurch found scoring hard, apart from a couple of poor deliveries that were smacked hard to the boundary. James & Tickle combined to take the first wicket, but the opener looked in good nick, although we were restricting boundaries. Then, in his final over, DQ hit him on the pads, prompting a big appeal, but Not Out was the decision. Next ball, DQ hits him on the back foot, dead in front, the decision goes our way & the danger man is out. In comes number 4, all padded up, loking forward to a long innings & glory. DQ turns him inside out & the ball clips the top of off stump. In comes number 5, who earlier, bowled well, so he knows his cricket & won't be phased by a hat-trick ball. DQ comes in, bowls on the pudding-like surface & the batsman waits for the ball, which looses all pace, causing him to lob the ball gently to Nick, for an easy catch. Hat-trick for DQ, the team celebrates wildly.
Although, the game wasn't over at this point with 24 overs to go, Hornchurch were up against it, having lost 4 wickets for 0 runs in the space of a couple of overs. The Hornchurch skipper batted sensibly, but the pitch was hard to score on & the run rate kept going up. Wickets for Max & John followed, with catches by Jamie & DQ. A great piece of fielding by debutant WicketKeeper Ted, getting a run out, was reward for his first day with the 3s.
In the end Hornchurch fell 32 runs short & everyone contributed.
A great first game under Clarkie's leadership & a promising start to the season.
