For the first game of 2020 the skipper managed to lose the toss, but still bat first. Usual openers, usual outcome. Both Nick & Joshua retired fairly quickly (despite Nick trying to play out a maiden over), bringing Pooky & Drew to the crease. Pooky blasted a quick 25 then retired. Drew blasted a 6 first ball then moved into England Test Match mode, creating a carefully crafted 25 over a long time. Drew was run out at least once, but somehow the first, second & third umpires thought that he was in when halfway down the pitch. John didn't bother the scorers too much & Cheesey had a quick swipe, both stumped, allowing Nick & Joshua to return to ensure we scored a very respectable 175 from 12 overs.
Cheesey & John bowled the first 4 overs, both having one good over & one not so good over. Beaulieu Park were behind the run rate at this point, 2 wickets down. One man departed after a sharp run out by Pooky. This compensated for the 3 other run out opportunities that he blew! The second was a catch behind by Nick from John's gentle teaser (Ray had missed a glove to Nick the previous over, signalling a wide). Pooky, Drew & Joshua bowled the next 6 overs, a mixture of good, bad & ugly would just about sum it up. Pooky bowled one batsman & bowled well. Drew had 2 overs of contrasting quality & Joshua had one over that was, hmmm, expensive. However, with about 60 runs still needed Cheesey came on for the penultimate over, bowling out a batsman to bring back those who had retired. So, the final over, 2 wickets in hand, 50something required. Could the skipper manage to ensure we won? First ball, big swipe edge up in the air, Nick moved swiftly to the ball & watched it bounce out of the gloves. Second ball, down the wicket, big swipe, Nick removes the bails. A couple of balls later, a skier (in the sports hall!) to Joshua, giving the skipper 3 wickets. For all 3 dismissals the batsmen looked perplexed at how they managed to get out.
A look at the table shows us 6 from 6, on maximum points. A look at the statistics shows 5 players in the top 10s for batting, bowling, fielding & wicket-keeping . With 2 more league matches to go later in the season, next game is a cup match on 2nd February.
