The 1st XIs game against Aythorpe was the only surviving fixture on an extremely wet Saturday, and even then the match had a delayed start & was reduced to 30 overs a side. We were cautiously optimistic and felt that a shorter format gave us a better opportunity against one of the better and certainly most experienced sides in the league.
El Capitan Nob again won the toss and put Aythorpe into bat, George Baron got an early LBW decision in his favour but Aythorpe built strongly reaching 103/1 at drinks. Rob turned to Golden Arm for inspiration who served up a juicy full toss first ball that was dispatched for 6, before getting his own LBW decision two balls later.
Ollie Cheeseman then took two wickets in the very next over and what was a good start for Aythorpe had quickly turned back in our favour. Coop-Dog & Cheesey bowled in tandem for the rest of the innings owing to a bizarre rain ruling that bowlers could still bowl 10 overs despite the reduction in overs. None of the remaining Aythorpe batsmen would get passed 7 except for the dangerous Clarke who was left stranded after running out his final partner. Cheesy finishing with figures of 4/44 and Cooper 3/27, with two run-outs completing the Aythorpe collapse.
It was a tremendous effort in the field & with the ball from Totham, great to see improvement from two average performances with the ball & in the field last week. Bowling out a strong Aythorpe side for just 141 after they were 103/1 shows the fight we will need to stay up this year. We were switched on throughout the innings and built pressure with the ball when it looked like Aythorpe could be on for a big total.
BYO teas. Thorey made me some pesto pasta & delivered a Toffee Yum Yum from Lidl bakery. A better effort than last week, still some improvements to be made. 6/10.
Despite our efforts with the ball, we knew 141 was not a foregone conclusion. It need one of the top 3 to score 50, and for the rest of the line-up to bat around them. Batting the 30 overs was crucial & we would need to apply ourselves. Rob & Harry opened up against most likely the quickest bowler in the league. Harry was hit 2nd ball with a sharp bumper, before slapping him back over his head for four. Cooper tried to repeat the shot off the last ball in the over but it took the outside half of the bat & he was caught at gully. Cailean Kinsella was in at 3 having not held a bat for two years, but looked every bit at home in the side as he took his time to get his eye in while Rob scored relatively freely at the other end. The opener may have been quick, but he did give you a loose ball.
It was when Aythorpe introduced leg-spinner Milbank, that our run-rate came to an almost standstill. In partnership with Culleton, they offered nothing and we found some interesting ways to lose our wickets as we tried to manipulate the ball into scoring opportunities.
With 10 overs left and nearly 80 still to get, myself & Nob (33) came together and looked to up the rate, but in reality, we had already left ourselves too much to do in the last 10. We ticked past 100 as DQ hit a huge 6 into the field to leave us needing 36 from 3 overs, but with only 1 wicket remaining. Just three balls later DQ went to hit another and that was that. A loss by 31 runs with 2.3 overs remaining.
Promising signs in the bowling and fielding department. We know what we need to improve into our batting and we'll look to take those into our game next week, another away fixture, this time against Little Baddow. They've lost their first two as well, so this victory here will be important in the context of our season.
Star Man: Ollie Cheeseman for his return of 9 overs, 2 maidens, 4 wickets for 44 runs.
