For the final pre-season friendly the 3s set the tone for the new selection policy at the club, as the skipper was promoted straight to the 1s, giving Owen the chance to show his credentials as stand-in skipper for the day. First task to win the toss & Owen comes up trumps (or Heads) & choses to bat, having viewed the top quality batting track specially prepared for the day by Sam.
Owen goes for a blend of, early season form, youth (Ben) & old age (John) to face the youthful Hornchurch attack. Before too long the openers are enjoying the day, racing along at 9 per over, Ben displaying a variety of strokeplay & John slogging anything loose to the boundary. The running was excellent - dots became 1s, 1s became 2s, 2s became 3s & there was even a 4, all run! Runs dried up for an over or two, as Hornchurch changed the bowling, but then both batsmen reached their 50s in consecutive balls. This was closely followed by both batsmen getting out in consecutive balls!!
Ryan came in, on a hat-trick, didn't realise the bowler was bowling & hit it for four. He continued to score quickly, in a decent partnership with Harry, but then, like the openers, they both fell in the same over, to the Hornchurch bowler who confused them with a couple of straight deliveries.
This brought Sam & Owen together & they tried to match the earlier run-rate by blasting boundaries. The skipper decided boundaries was the best policy, by turning 3s into 2s, 2s into 1s & 1s into dots. A swift 50 partnership kept the momentum with Gt.Totham, until Sam thought he'd amble a single bye & not bother looking where the ball was, failing to realise that the keeper had thrown the ball , only to see the ball trickle past him & run him out! Jacob replaced Sam & the runs kept coming. Jacob showed common sense by playing straight & not making Owen run too much. A great effort by all saw a superb total of 285-5 at tea.
My tea was nice, but it's hard to comment on cricket teas when we can't have them.
Gt.Totham took to the field with James & Jess opening the bowling. There were a few boundaries, but generally both bowled really well, beating the bat & forcing the batsmen to defend regularly. Hornshurch were behind the run rate &, barring a miracle, unlikely to catch up. James bowled 6 overs for 28, importantly taking the wicket of the hard-hitting opener, bowling him off an inside edge. Jess was wicketless, but bowled her 5 overs with great control.
The skipper then opted for spin at both ends, or at least from Tom's end. Gt.Totham were getting through the overs at a brisk pace, with runs hard to come by, apart form the occasional full toss. These overs kept the pressure on Hornchurch, who fell further behind the run rate. The fielding from everyone was good, with Harry standing out, preventing singles & backing up throws & everyone was encouraging each other (just like being in the 1s).
Owen changed the bowling again, Sam at one end, with his slow, straight bowling not letting the batsmen have any free hits, preventing the opener from reaching his century. Ben, at the other end, did his best to prove that his category in the Fantasy Team, an all-rounder, was an error. After one particularly interesting over, Owen told Ben to take his sweater & asked John to bowl. John's first over matched Ben's last, with the Hornchurch captain blasting away. John's next over saw Tim drop a sitter & Jacob take a good catch on the boundary, sparing John's figures. Jess returned to finish off the innings, but undeservedly wicketless.
An excellent day all round, with all 11 players contributing in some way, to an emphatic victory, by 79 runs. The season looks promising for the 3s, until next week when Stuart will call up some of the team.
