1s Stretch Lead at the Top

After some bouts of hilarity preparing a wicket to proceed with the game…. Turner continues his run of losing the toss and we were unsurprisingly inserted. Tight overs from their skipper seemed to lull the in-form Dazzle into a rushed shot and the first wicket was down. Mr Pollock strutted to the crease with a look of purpose but was strutting back just as quick shortly afterwards. Max strolled out and looked very comfortable, pulling and cutting the ball from the middle of the bat before edging to second slip and perished to a very tidy catch. The ever reliable Mr Jacobson peacocked to the middle and both him and the defiant Mr Chatfield found the conditions challenging at first but then began to find their touch. Sadly Chatters played round a pie for a well battled 31 which bought Mozza out. Both formed a good partnership before stu fell the same way to chatters for an impressive 42. Enter Captain Marvel!!!...... after an edgy start myself and Mozza formed a formidable partnership of singles, quick (ish) 2’s and boundaries. The slower bowlers both suited our style before Andy was caught on the boundary for a valuable 40. Turner remained defiant and cameos from Parker and Chuck Negus assisted turner to un unbeaten 77. The decision was made to come in on 45 to give us the same amount of overs to defend 224 and take the required 10 wickets.

A great start from the Hastains with some early wickets to settle us down in the field. Adam was particularly unlucky to not have more success in his first spell of 10 overs. Dazza was replaced with Mr Parker (The Marrakech express) who injected some fiery pace to the attack with Adam peppering away at the other end. With an array of close and attacking fielders we were winning the battle as runs became irrelevant and at this stage had them 5 wickets down. Their defiant 14 year old – who batted sensibly and quite classily it has to be said soon fell to golden arm A Pollock who had him caught at cover by Max with a miss-aimed long hop!! The overs were ticking down and there began to be signs of concerned but the belief was maintained again by the baldy go to man who forced their booming danger man to play on bringing us to having them 7 down. The thinking hats were on and the belief was strong. The return of Adam picked up another vital breakthrough although there was talk of a bump ball (says wicket in the book my friend). Parkers reintroduction at the top end saw a stunning fast paced yorker rattle middle stump to pick up the 9th and remove the wall that seemed he bat for 14 years if we let him. Chatters had a cameo and bowled well but could not pick up the grand finale. We began to think this was not going to happen for us when Charlie couldn’t hang on to a quick short leg chance then balls later a straight drive ricocheted from Max’s palms…. However, a well-directed short ball from Adam saw the batsman take evasive action and popping up to Mr Negus for the simplest of catches with 2 balls remaining. What a game!!!!

A great performance all round. The pitch was challenging but we all dug deep with the bat to set a competitive score and the belief and effort in the field remained through out!! Congratulations all on a well-deserved 27 points!!

League table – http://www.nutfieldcc.co.uk/teams/111838/league-table?table=division-16300