After last weeks disappointment at home to Rayne, the two’s travelled to Rainham looking to redeem themselves. The club is still plagued by availability issues but we were able to put out a good side and were confident we could compete in this game.
The opposition inserted us (3 from 24 now for anyone who cares) and we made a good start despite losing Phipps early on for 4. John and Drew looked in good touch, if not slightly unorthodox, frustrating the bowlers and working at well over five an over. John (48) unfortunately avoided a jug (again) and slapped one to mid-on, meaning Foxy joined Drew and continued the charge, dispatching wayward bowling and running far more than Drew could handle. This week we didn’t collapse from the start, which was encouraging. Instead we collapsed in the middle. Foxy (31) picked out mid on and Drew (71) used his last bit of energy trying to hoik the spinner to Canary Wharf and was bowled, leaving us 162/4 after 29. What happened next was a horror show. A total collapse to 183 all out from 39 overs. A mixture of poor shots and lack of concentration threw away the excellent platform that Drew, John and Foxy had worked so hard to give us, finishing on 183.
Tea was very good. So good that Foxy had a Dicko size portion. 8/10.
We came back out in the same position as last week, 180ish on the board with it all to do. DQ and George opened up and both bowled the best spells I have ever seen from them. George was economical and deserved more reward, DQ was aggressive. The visitors captain wrongly suggested that DQ should be removed from the attack after 6 overs due to his age, but in his 7th he mustered up two wickets, two excellent wickets, caught slip and bowled, to add to the two he collected earlier in his spell. Rainham were 44-4 and shocked, having been undone by two 15 year olds. Taking the pace off the ball the desired effect, Kendall bowling excellently for the fourth week in a row and claiming 3-23, leaving Rainham with a mountain to climb at 69/7. We were good in the field throughout, but had a poor 5 overs towards the end where balls were going through legs. McVicar, sporting some sexy new shades, wore a couple on the body and Phipps has remembered how to catch and snaffled 3 behind the stumps to give us some highlights in the field. Jimmy Hay grabbed himself a scalp before DQ returned to the attack to try and grab his first ever 5fer. It took him just two balls as another hostile delivery was fended off to Sam at square leg who took a good catch.
An excellent win set up by a very good innings from Drew, with help from John and Foxy, before the star of the show came to the party. Having had no luck with multiple dropped catches this year, DQ hasn’t let his head drop as he would have done last year, and kept running in to bowl with new found pace, control and hostility. Five excellent wickets is no less than he deserves and the manner of the wickets, caught behind the stumps and bowled, was doubly pleasing. The youngsters all made a good contributions, George bowled an excellent but unrewarded spell, Jimmy got a wicket and Ethan bowled well and took a good catch. But on this occasion, one lad outshone them all. Star Man - DQ.
