Eydon CC v Napton CC

This was a new fixture for the present Napton CC set-up.
Eydon is situated in very pleasant Northamptonshire countryside.
There was a warm welcome from a group of Sunday cricketers with very much the same approach to village cricket as Napton.

It was an oppressively hot and sunny day. Winning the toss would be important.
Unfortunately, the home team called correctly and put Napton into the field for those mid-afternoon hours of full-on sun.
One concession to the weather was a reduction in overs from 40 down to 35.

The track was hard and the out-field extremely fast and undulating.
JP and Sam opened the attack for Napton.
They both took a wicket in their first session. JPs via a catch by George and Sam clean-bowled his man.
23-2 after 8 overs.

Captain Mike gave the ball to James for what turned out to be quite a remarkable 4 over session.
Wicket-Maiden, Maiden, Wicket-Maiden & Wicket with just 4 off the over.
At this stage his figures were 3-4 off 4 overs.
One of his on-target balls was such a rip-snorter that it sent one of the bails higher than one would think possible. It spun in the air, taking on the properties of a drone as it hung there.
During this wicket-fest, Sam had taken a great catch to give George a wicket.
61-6 after 16 overs.

Tom executed an unbelievable diving C&B that put Eydon on 107-7.
This brought together two fine batsmen who made a partnership of 101 runs before a catch by JP gave Sam another wicket on the last ball of the innings.
208-8 after 35 overs
Wicket takers:
James Pelter 6 overs 3 maidens 3-21
Sam Sensecall 5 overs 1 maiden 2-12
Tom Hancock 4 overs 1-33
John P Eadon 7 overs 1-33
George Pelter 3 overs 1-39

With 6-an-over required, Olly and JP opened for Napton.
When the openers had gone with 37 runs on the board, James and Tom took on the mantle.
After a couple of boundaries, Tom received a bouncer that, after contact with something, went to the ‘keeper.
Following a half-hearted appeal, that would have been difficult for the umpire to resolve, Tom walked. He had felt it nick the shoulder of his bat.

George joined brother James at the wicket.
This pair added 61 runs to the score before George was caught. A valuable partnership.
122-4 after 21 overs.
Mike was caught out of his ground before he got settled in.
James went on for his first half-century for the club but was caught before he could build on it further. A lovely innings.
After that Napton didn’t make a great deal of inroads into the required total. They were all out in 30.1 overs. 59 runs short.
150-10
James Pelter 55 runs 9 boundaries
Olly O’Brien 20 runs 3 boundaries
George Pelter 20 runs 1 boundary
25 extras

A disappointing result, but Napton perhaps suffered from the initial session in the field during the hottest part of the day.
12th man Arthur was given a few sessions of fielding during the afternoon to relieve others. He was always onto any ball that came his way, and they were returned with accuracy.
At the end of Napton’s innings he padded up and Eydon gave him a few overs which was in the fine spirit of how the game had been played all afternoon.
Arthur also stood in for one of Eydon’s fielders when he had to leave the field to rescue a lady who was trapped in the toilet.
But that’s another story !!!