1's win again

Village arrived on Saturday looking to maintain their recent good form and retain their place at the top of the league rankings. Having won the toss, skipper Danny Potter elected to bat and surprised a few teammates with a totally revamped batting order.
Pete Jaffe and Devraj Ray opened up the Village innings and lasted 6 overs before Jaffe was bowled by a good delivery, with the side on just 15. Ray kept the runs ticking along while he remained at the crease, with some decent strokes before he was tragically run out on 20 because Maj Asif was determined not to put in more than 23% effort on his first run. Asif himself fell not long after for just 5 runs, with rumours abounding that he was too distressed at what he had done to Ray.
The rest of the innings comprised of a few starts but no-one really staking a claim with a solid score. Extras top scored in the end, with 34, and Marcus Cara adding 23 from 4th spot. By the midway point through the match, Village were all out for 156.
Buoyed be recent performances, the side took to the field full of confidence that they could bring home another 30 points and stay in top spot. They only had to wait until the 3rd over for the first breakthrough, with Marcus Cara claiming the first scalp.
With the opponents at 33 for 3 in the 14th over Village felt in complete control, before the only resistance of the day came in the form of a 40-odd run partnership for the 4th wicket. Thankfully a smart bowling change to bring Asif on for Shash Seem brought the breakthrough Village needed via an absolutely world-class one handed catch from keeper James Thompson, diving full-stretch to his right in a Superman-esque feat of sporting prowess. Asif continued his solid bowling form this season with a magnificent spell of 10 overs, 3 maidens, 5 wickets for 24 runs, leaving at least one teammate utterly astonished that such a talented cricketer could be so poor at running a two. Some chunky bloke also took 2 regulation catches that, compared to Thompson's flying one hander spent no time at all in the memory.
With Cara (aka chunky bloke) ending on 3 wickets and Shash Seem picking up one for himself, Village had the oppos all out for 128 in the 44th over – cementing another 30 points and keeping top spot for another week.
Did someone say title-winning form?

By Devraj Ray