The indoor team played in the cup with the prospect of a semi-final at stake. But, with only 5 plsyers it was going to be a challenge. Drew, who had said "I will never bowl again" showed his true character & agreed to bowl for the good of the club.
John lost the toss & we were put in to bat first. Nick & Drew looked good. Nick hogged the strike & allowed Drew the odd delivery, one of which went for 6. We were doing well, with a high run rate & running between the wickets was good. But, Nick got a bit carried away &, hitting the ball gently to a fielder, called Drew to sacrifice his wicket, which he did. Pooky came in, it was the 3rd over & was to be an innings of test match proportions. Pooky showed every defensive shot in the book, followed by a clear & firm "wait". Nick continued with good running & guiding the ball to the walls, until he was bowled. Josh came in & the run rate went up, as the ball flew to the back wall regularly. The big problem was that he'd have to retire & bring in John, at whoch point tha run rate would drop dramatically. That was what happened, but John didn't last long & Josh returned. Pooky & Josh saw through to the end with some good hitting, to reach 124, a competitive total if you have 4 bowlers & 6 fielders!!
Tactical genius took over at the start of the South Weald innings. Drew opened the bowling & the openers spotted the tactic & went big to start with. Pooky bowled the second over & they kept on going. Josh came on & deceived everyone with the slow, looped grenade, resulting in the wicket of the laughing batsman. The 2 South Weald batsmen were clearly good players & toyed with the bowling, especially John, finding the boundary often. But, both retired & the 2 young boys were at the crease. Tactics came out again, bring Drew back on to bowl & let's keep the batsmen in. 2 balls later, both lads are out (one of which was a superb catch by Pooky), Drew is on a hat-trick & the 2 returning batsmen are back at the crease.
Drew's hat-trick ball doesn't bring the outcome we wanted &, despite our best efforts, we lose with 2 overs to go.
Well done to the 5 players, but ultimately, we were second best.
In a few weeks time we have our final game of the season v Wickford, followed by relegation to Division 1, where we will be better equipped to be competitive.
