3's back to winning ways

The 3's were away at Boxmoor 3's who had beaten us on the opening day of the season.

The skipper won the toss and asked Boxmoor to bat.

Andrew Godfrey (0-28) and George Leggett (1-22) got the bowling started for the Village on a cloudy day hoping for some early assistance from the conditions but the Boxmoor openers started positively and got off to a bit of a flyer as anything that beat the field invariably found the boundary as both bowlers were finding it hard to get into an early rhythm. After 10 overs Boxmoor were on 40-0 so the skipper turned to Chalky Cara (2-35) and Dan Penny (3-28) to see if they get some wickets and reduce the run rate. Dan obliged within a couple of overs when he trapped the number 1 batsman LBW who had looked to accelerate the score and then got the other opener out bowling him to leave the score 82-2 off 19 overs. Chalky was next to strike thanks to a simple catch by the skipper before he to got his 2nd wicket courtesy of another good catch, this time by Piers Jenkins. The very next over Dan got the 3rd of his wickets as he bowled the number 6 batsman to leave Boxmoor 97-5 off 25 overs, an excellent come back from the Village thanks in part to some good bowling and fielding. The number 4 batsman for Boxmoor was sticking around and was starting to hit out before Tommy Smith (4-5) came on to replace Chalky and struck in his 1st over, bowling the number 4 bat. His next over brought another wicket courtesy of another fine catch from Dave Knight at square leg. George Leggett came back on to replace Dan and his 1st over back produced a wicket as he bowled the number 8 batsman. Tommy got the 3rd of his wickets bowling the youngster for Boxmoor and within the space of a couple of overs Boxmoor had gone from 126-5 to 127-9. It was left to Tommy in the final over of the innings to pick up the last wicket as he bowled the number 11 with 2 balls of remaining as Boxmoor were all out for 141.

James Thompson (13) and Piers Jenkins (58*) opened the innings for the Village knowing that a good partnership would put them in good stead for the chase. Both players were careful but when the opportunity arose the bad ball was dispatched to the boundary. The score had reached 32-0 off 11 overs before the skipper was 1st man out attempting to smash the bowler for a boundary but only managing to loop one up to cover for a simple catch. Rachit Chawla (1) was next in and did not last long as he was caught in the same position. Farzan Dulker Nain (19) was next in and played a typical Farzan innings as he started to smash the bowlers to the boundary with the last 3 balls of the 17 over went 4, 6, 4. The bowler got his revenge 2 overs later as Farzan was trapped LBW with the Village on 58-3 off of 19 overs. Dave Knight (11) was next in to join Piers and stayed with him as the runs began to flow steadily. Both were able to find the boundary and rotate the strike to keep up with the run rate required. Dave had hit a couple of boundaries before he was next to fall as he was bowled with the Village 94-4 off 28 overs. Dan Penny (21*) was next in and he and Piers continued the scoring as they needed 48 from 60 balls which was well within reach thanks to the fast outfield. Dan started steady while Piers continued his impressive batting with the odd chance afforded to the oppo but once Dan got the pace of the pitch and the bowlers the boundaries began to flow and the pressure put back on the bowling side. Piers brought up a deserved 50 thanks to a boundary and the 34th & 35th overs provided 18 runs to put the Village in control and it was Dan who hit the winning run in the penultimate over.

An excellent victory even though Boxmoor got off to a good start. Chalky and Dan bowled well in the middle overs to pick up 5 wickets between them with Tommy grabbing 4 to himself at the end. The batting finally came together after last weeks shambles and Piers' 58 not out was the catalyst for the win as others were able to bat round him and the Village batted their overs to seal a good win. Man of the match was tough to call with both Piers and Tommy contributing but I will have to give it to Tommy with an unbelievable set of bowling figures of 4.4 overs, 2 maidens, 5 runs for 4 wickets which proved to be the turning point as it may have been difficult to chase a further 20-30 runs.