3's very impressive in comprehensive win

The 3's were up against Northwood Town 3's on the AstroTurf strip at Northwood Town's ground.

The skipper called correctly and decided to have a bat.

James Thompson (87*) and Piers Jenkins (23) opened the batting and were watchful as the opening bowlers for the opposition were tight with their lines and lengths and the Village pair didn't want to give away their wickets with a weaker batting line up behind them. Piers struggled early on but the skipper was able to rotate the strike and eventually find the boundary on a few occasions to keep the scoreboard ticking over. The pair would put on yet another 50 partnership for the opening wicket before Piers was bowled in the 18th over with the score on 61. Mohamed Salahudeen (0) was the next man in and unfortunately only lasted 3 balls as he was caught in the next over to bring George Leggett (0) to the crease. He and the skipper would put on 15 together before George was given out LBW in the 22nd over to bring Alam Khan (2) in but he would only last a few overs as he was caught in the 24th over with the score 85-4. The next man in was Zak Demetriades (7) who stayed with the skipper for 6 overs as the pair put on 33 for the 5th wicket. The skipper would bring his 50 up in this period before Zak was stumped attempting to come down the track to the young spinner, 118-5 off of 30 overs. Tommy Smith (19*) joined the skipper at the crease and immediately the pair decided to up the run rate by running hard and picking up the singles on offer. The skipper would find the boundaries with Tommy rotating the strike well. The pair would put on 63 runs for the 6th wicket as the innings closed on 181-5 off of 40 overs.

Alam Khan (1-16) & Andrew Godfrey (4-6) opened the bowling and were both very tight as the ball was moving in the air due to the overhead conditions. The opening batsman for Northwood Town would get to the 10th over before the 1st wicket fell as Godders bowled the opener for 11. Alam would get in on the act as the next over saw the other opener nick behind for a simple catch for the skipper behind the stumps, 22-2 off 11 overs. The 3rd wicket would fall when Godders bowled the number 3 in his 7th over, before his final over would see 2 more wickets. The first courtesy of a decent catch at point by Dave Knight and then the very next ball he bowled the number 6 batsman for the opposition to leave them 23-5 off of 16 overs. George Leggett (1-5) & Tommy Smith (2-11) replaced the 2 opening bowlers and continued to keep the pressure on with some tight bowling. Tommy got his first wicket in his first over as he bowled the number 4 with an inswinging delivery. The next wicket to fall saw a comical run out as the number 8 batsman lofted a shot over cover and thinking it would go to the boundary was watching the ball and running backwards as Godders firstly threw to the bowlers end before Alam threw it to the skipper at the other end to run the batsman out, 33-7 off of 22 overs. George would then bowl the number 7 in his last over before Tommy would follow suit in his last over as he bowled the number 10. Dave Knight (0-4) & Mohamed Salahudeen (1-2) replaced the 2 youngsters and it was Mo who took the final wicket thanks to a catch from Zak at gully as Northwood Town were all out for 45 in the 30th over.

An excellent performance, firstly with the bat as the skipper lead by example and anchored the innings with 2 useful partnerships at the beginning & end of the innings thanks to Piers & Tommy. In the bowling department, Godders was the star with 4 wickets for just 6 runs in his 8 overs and was an inch away from claiming another 5 wicket haul with the penultimate delivery of his spell. Tommy also bowled well to pick up 2 wickets as the Village eased to a very comfortable victory. The Village would move up to 6th in the table with this win and surely ease any relegation fears.