Defeat for the 3's

Next up for the 3's was a trip to play Hoddesdon 3's at Thundridge Cricket Club, an interesting venue that was tucked away but offered a tranquil setting.

The toss was lost (again) by the skipper and we were put in on a damp and slow wicket, although thankfully the rain stayed away.

Piers Jenkins (13) and George Downes (9) were watchful and steady in their progress with boundaries coming hard to come by. The score had reached 30 off 10 overs before Piers was the first to go caught. George didn't last to much longer as he was bowled in the very next over. Rangan Krishnaswamy (26) and Joe Sheridan (24) then started to up the scoring rate with both finding the boundary on numerous occasions. At 80-2 off 21 overs the Village were possibly looking at a total of 180-200 runs. Alas, Joe was then out caught just before the drinks break and the skipper James Thompson (1) joined Rangan at the crease, although was not out there for long as he nicked one to Hoddesdon's wicket keeper. Before he had even got in and out of the changing room Farzan Dulker Nain (0) had followed him after lasting 2 balls. Next out was Rangan who was trapped LBW and the Village had gone from seeming control to 88-6. Lawrence Bird (37*) and Dan Penny (7) then looked to rebuild the innings with Lawrence finding the balance between rotating the strike and finding the rope. They put on 20 before Dan was caught. Priyan Perera (2) then joined Lawrence and managed to stay with him until the 43rd over when he was also caught. Raja Duraisamy (6) came in with the instructions to hit out and managed to pick up a boundary before being given out LBW. That brought George Leggett (0) to the crease but he was subsequently bowled the next ball, leaving the Village 146 all out.

The Village attack started with George Leggett (0-30) and Dan Penny (0-12) who managed to keep the Hoddesdon batsman quiet but without picking up any wickets. Dan bowled particularly well at one end and seemed to have the wood over one of their batsman who could not get any runs out of him. Rangan Krishnaswamy (2-49) came on to provide a spin option and although picked up 2 wickets could not keep the same control as the opening pair. He was however unlucky not to pick up a few more and if chances had been taken it may have been a different game. He was joined by James Thompson (1-32) who found a nice rhythm and bowled nicely. George Downes (0-17) and Lawrence Bird (0-5) also bowled but the Hoddesdon batsman reached the target with overs to spare.

A good start with the bat had been undone by a middle order collapse with only Lawrence Bird proving any real resistance. In the bowling front Dan Penny was the star performer although on another day he may have picked up a few wickets. In the end dropped chances cost us in the field and we could not apply any real pressure on Hoddesdon.