Village stroll to 8 wicket victory

London Colney were the visitors to Burtonhole Lane on Saturday. To the general dismay of his team mates the visiting skipper won the toss and decided to bat first on a wet but drying wicket.

A familiar pattern ensued. Despite the top four or five batsmen all looking reasonable at the crease, they were unable to find any way to break the shackles imposed by David Overton, Saahil Mehra's and Majid Asif's opening spells. It was soon apparent that Saahil's stable conditions were not entirely to his liking today, as he bowled poorly to the left handers but well to the right handed batsmen. Unable to change his line and with a swinging ball moving down the hill, the opposition score was moved along, more through byes and wides than through any batsmen scoring runs. Indeed none of the London Colney batsmen managed to score more than the 17 byes conceded throughout the innings. Little of the blame could be contributed to the man with the gloves but nevertheless Steve Pullen was congratulated on his first 'top score' for a while. Incredibly, Overton and Asif went at exactly 1 run per over for their 20 overs combined.

The run pressure inevitably brought wickets sooner rather than later and at 45-6 the visitors were in deep trouble. A couple of the older hands steadied the ship for a while and showed what could be done with a little application. Andy Potter had a short and unproductive spell and George Downes also went wicketless despite bowling well. However, the tail was eventually blown away by Marcus Cara, who returned impressive figures of 3 for 4 in 3.2 overs.

It is worth noting how well the catches are sticking this season, particularly in the slip cordon. The bowlers are getting their reward for finding edges with three or four slip catches taken each game so far. The catching seems to be one of the major differences between the Village and the oppositions to date. Felix took a stunner close in at silly mid off this week to 'see off' a dismayed London Colney opening bat.

With the Village chasing less than a hundred yet again, it was difficult to see too many problems for the batsmen. In fact the biggest concern so far this season, has been the limited opportunities for the middle and lower order to get some time at the crease. This could prove to be a problem if the Village line up ever come under any pressure as the season progresses.

Felix Charles (33) and Daniel Potter (10) began in typically bright and attacking fashion. The runs were flowing at better than a run a ball when Danny surprisingly gave a simple chance from a mis-timed shot. The pitch was definitely stopping at one end more than the other and this seemed to undo Felix a few overs later when he too presented a straightforward chance to the point fielder when going well.

Phil Smith came to the crease at 1 down and after a slightly shaky start, mixed astute defence with some good attacking shots to end unbeaten on 36. Smudger was joined by Hinal Gajjar (11) who seemed determined not to give his wicket away and the pair finished the match off in style for the 2nd week in succession. 94 for 2 in 19.3 overs represented a very comfortable 8 wicket win.

The Village 1s lie joint second with only Baldock IIs having scored more points, courtesy of their absence of any rained off games.