A good solid win in a more competitive game

On a dreary and damp day, a pone call from the opposition skipper at 10am to tell me that it was hammering down at Reed and that there was a chance the game was going to be off was not what I wanted to hear. However an hour later he told me it had stopped and was already drying out.

For some reason the players in the third team live in a different time zone to the rest of the club. Despite being told in the text with directions to leave by 11.30 to ensure they were on time, come 12.45 we only had 7 players at the ground. Of course Ali Sayed was late and managed to miss the first two overs of the game, along with Naz who despite being at the ground at 12.50, still managed to miss the first over as he needed the toilet. I genuinely think being a primary school teacher is easier than skippering the third team at times. Now to the cricket:

Having won a useful toss and asked Reed to bat, we were confronted with something not many of the third team were used to: a pitch with bounce and carry! As a school track it had clearly been looked after and enabled you to be able to play off the back foot as well as the front foot. Unfortunately Dan Penny struggled for the first time this season to bowl the correct length and was guilty of dropping the ball too short on few occasions. Fortunately his opening partner managed to find a good length and coupled with some particularly strange shot selections managed to pick up the first four wickets, three of which were bowled. Naz replaced Dan Penny at one end and immediately found the right length keeping the ball full and giving nothing away. He soon got in on the action picking up three wickets and with Ajay picking up his fifth thanks to Joe Sheridan's second catch of the innings. This left the opposition 80-odd for 8.

We sensed that the innings could have been wrapped up quickly, but due to a combination of a strange decision to send their best batsman in at number 9 and some sloppy fielding from both Ali Sayed and myself we allowed them to score an additional 60 runs for the final two wickets, the last of which was potentially the most fortunate I have ever taken. Behind the boundary the Reed youngsters were messing about and hit a ball onto the field. Naz being the nice guy that he is ran to get their ball from the boundary to an orthodox backward square leg, which placed him perfectly when the number 9 hit the ball straight to him.

153 all out was going to be testing but with the pitch showing little signs of misbehaviour, there was little to indicate we would struggle.

Matin and Piers were looking solid until Matin tried to cut a ball a little to close to him and was bowled. Dan Butcher survived a straightforward caught and bowled chance to the same bowler and played some good shots. Reed's bowling was erratic at best with one bowler bowling a 10 ball over due to a case of the yips. Unfortunately Dan was the victim when he managed to let go of the ball at the right time and was plumb LBW.

At 50-2 we were still looking good with Piers playing a measured innings and Joe Sheridan being particularly brutal, the two of them taking the score to 120-2 before Piers skied a swirler that was well taken by one of the colts in the Reed side. Piers then returned to the middle to 'trigger' Joe, although only the bowler and Piers did seem to think that it was hitting!

A nervy few overs then ensued with Naz dancing past the ball getting himself stumped, Ali Sayed being dropped first ball and Dan Penny missing a straight one, leaving us 140-6. Fortunately Ali and Lawrence (not for the first time as captain) made sure the win was secured without further mishap.

A solid win and a good chase moves us up to third, with everyone contributing to the game.