After the humiliation last week, the 3s were (a bit) stronger & at home. What could go wrong? We were uplifted by Ricky, Max's dad making his first appearance of the season.
Max won the toss & decided to bat, with Tickle & John opening up. The 3s tradition of gifting a wicket early on continued, as Tickle was bowled. Billy came in &, with John, slowly tried to manage the accuracy of the opening bowlers. But, before too long, John was out, LBW, replaced by Ricky. Billy soon followed & the game was following the usual pattern. But, Ricky & Joshua started to make some progress & the bowlers were not on top for a period of time. Ricky, not having played for a while, made it look easy - defend the good delivery & punish the bad ball. Joshua was then out, the ball deflecting off his pads onto the stumps. Ricky was bowled not long after & the long tail crumbled quickly.
Teas were good, courtesy of Hayden. Max had persuaded him to play, to help us out as we were short, & also to do teas!! Good captaincy from Max.
As soon as it became evident that the game was Rayleigh's, the bowling was shared out amongst most players & in about 20 overs it was all over.
For the second week, we were battered & hoping for better next week.
