Comfortable victory for the 3's

The Village 3's were looking to bounce back from a disappointing result the week before against Ware 2's in Widford. A nice ground in lovely settings with the sun shining on a warm day.

The Village skipper lost the toss and was put into bat.

James Thompson (19) and Joe Sheridan (28) started the innings for the Village and were patient on a slow and sticky pitch. Both batsman being able to rotate the strike and score boundaries to see off the opening bowlers of Ware. James was first to go with the score on 47 as he was bowled with one that did not bounce. Dan Penny (24) joined Joe at the crease and he took over where James had left off. Joe was next man out being bowled which brought James Samarasinghe (0) to the crease but unfortunately he was caught behind to leave the Village 67-3. Graham Leggett (20) joined Dan at the crease and there were signs of a big partnership building as boundaries were coming easier to find with Graham hitting the bowlers to all parts. Graham was then out caught to bring in Ashish Kanswal (44*) who after a nervy start looked good even though he said he hadn't played for 2 years. Dan was next out caught and bowled which brought in another debutant to the crease in Dharmang Vora (17). Both Ashish and Dharmang were able to keep the score ticking over with Ashish being able to find the boundary on numerous occasions. Dharmang was then caught to bring in George Leggett (1) who didn't last to long also being caught. Luke Sutcliffe (0) was next in but he was trapped LBW to bring in Priyan Perera (1*) who along with Ashish managed to get the Village to 176-8 off their 47 overs.

George Leggett (3-21) and Chalky Cara (2-29) started the bowling for the Village with George's first ball finding the edge of the bat but falling short of the slips. George picked up the first wicket with Ware's captain nicking one behind to the Village skipper to take a regulation catch. George then had another shortly after trapping the number 3 batsman LBW. Chalky was bowling nicely and was rewarded with a superb catch from Joe Sheridan rolling back the years to take a diving catch. Chalky then had another bowling Ware's number 5. Dan Penny (5-28) then took over from George and started nicely restricting the batsman to keep the scoring rate down. Dan claimed four of his wickets bowled with 2 being the crucial wickets of the number 2 and number 7 batsman who had started to put a partnership together, with his other being another simply chance to James Thompson behind the stumps. Luke Sutcliffe (0-15) and Joe Sheridan (0-14) also bowled keeping the oppo at bay before George came back on to bowl and pick up the last wicket with another excellent catch this time courtesy of James Samarasinghe.

Excellent display all round with everyone chipping in with the bat and the bowlers keeping the pressure on the Ware lineup. Special mentions to Ashish Kanswal for an impressive knock on debut, Dan Penny with his second 5-wicket haul of the season and George Leggett who got the ball rolling with the first 2 wickets.