Good start to the season with credible draw

On a damp wicket that had just as much grass as the outfield, losing the toss was not part of the plan. After unsurprisingly being inserted, Andy Potter was bowled by a ball that he deemed unplayable but everyone else thought was a standard delivery that had a bit of movement. At 1-1 with our supposedly best batsman back in the hutch, Dan Penny started a counter attack that shifted the momentum quickly.

In Matin he found a good foil to his stroke play until Matin was given out LBW despite having claimed to have it. When celebrating the wicket one of Baldock's fielders admitted that Matin had hit it and very sportingly, the Baldock skipper withdrew the appeal. Immediately after depositing one of the bowlers for a six, Dan then tried to repeat the shot but found the fielder, departing for a well made 48. Pete decided he would give catching practice early and despite being dropped off a swirler, edged behind soon after.

Matin then top edged to gully and at 97-4 we weren't looking too healthy with not a lot to come. Ali Sayed and the skipper then picked up well run singles with Ali putting away the bad balls as well. After they had put on 41 and with only 7 overs to go, Ali lobbed a simple catch to cover. In Suleman, Lawrence did not find such a willing runner between the wickets, so he decided to get himself out before he ended up on a GBH charge.

Dan Butcher and Liam hit some lusty blows in the closing overs taking us to 179-8 and maximum batting points.

After tea Dan Penny opened up with Liam and found the edge of the bat to get the first 3rd team wicket of the season. A solid 2nd wicket partnership took Baldock to 70-1 before Andy Potter also found the edge to give Lawrence his second catch behind the stumps.

This was soon followed by an LBW to the same bowler and with 15 overs to go we needed another 7 wickets. Suleman did his best impression of an idiot (I'm not sure it was an impression on second thoughts) choosing to walk away from a straightforward catch which landed exactly where he was standing, using the excuse that the sun was in his eyes and he didn't own a cap. (And breathe Lawrence, and breathe)

Regular bowling changes did not give the opposition a chance to settle and with Ali Sayed picking up two wickets and Andy one, we only needed 4 wickets with 6 overs to go. The batsmen chose to take on the keeper for a quick single and lost before Liam picked up an LBW.

This brought out two experienced heads from the Baldock side who fairly comfortably blocked out the remaining overs, ending the game in a draw.

All in all a satisfying result on a difficult wicket and outfield.