A tight game but the Village bandwagon rolls on

Off the back off last week's victory against Preston we were looking to secure another 30 points at Bushey. Ridiculously I managed to win another toss so elected to bat first again.

Bushey started the game with 9 men as their opening bowler had gone to pick up the other player! Matin and I opened up again, but with the outfield making scoring slow again we were only 13-0 off 6 overs. Matin perished in the next over guiding one into the hands of wide slip.

This brought Naz to the crease and he and I kept the scoreboard ticking regularly with the odd big shot to keep the fielders out enabling us to pick up straightforward singles. A partnership of 55 gave us a good platform and was the highest partnership of the match.

However the village being the village, Naz and I departed two balls from each other, Naz picking out long off to perfection and I closed the face too early on a leg side flick to give a leading edge to mid wicket.

Ali was then unluckily out sweeping a ball outside of his legs onto the stumps via an inside edge. Chris O'Brien hung around but was bowled for 1 with Shahme joining Yasir at the crease. The two of them ran well (well Shahme forced Yasir to run well!) and added a valuable 33 runs to the total.

At 117-5 the prospect of 150 was not unlikely, however as is typical at the village 117-5 became 123-9 with Shahme, Liam, Chalky and then Yasir all departing within 19 balls of each other. Shaun was next in but had developed heatstroke and was unable to bat or field, meaning the remainder of the game was to be played with 10 men.

The Bushey team looked after Shaun while we were fielding so a mention should go to them for their help.

Similarly to last week on an outfield that was slow, I decided to use Yasir and Shahme with the old ball. Yasir found some grip and turn, but with Shahme struggling to find his length and going for 11 off the first over, Chris O'Brien was brought on. Chris managed to find the outside edge almost straight away putting pressure on Bushey early. The other opener soon followed driving loosely at Yasir and skying a catch to the waiting Ali Ilyas in the covers.

The number 3 and number 4 looked to dominate the bowling but were finding Yasir difficult to get away but took more of a liking to the condiment king. Yasir induced an edge which was taken behind the wicket to leave Bushey 40-3. Yasir was bowling well so there was no reason to take him off, so he shared the new ball with Liam.

It was obvious that the Bushey number 4 was a proper player with his footwork excellent and even his defensive shots finding the middle of the bat. He took a liking to anything on the legside and dispatched Liam through backward square a couple of times. The Bushey captain was also at the crease and was considerably easier to bowl at as he was doing the sensible thing and looking to get his eye in, however a full toss from Liam resulted in him driving the ball in the air where Yasir took a superb tumbling catch at mid-on.

The door was now firmly ajar for us to take advantage, but with the Bushey number 4 at the crease they were always in the game. Wickets regularly fell at the other end with Naz bowling a brilliant spell (3-16) passing the outside edge on a number of occasions before finally inducing a feather to give me my third catch of the innings.

The Bushey number 9 was their keeper and clearly should have been batting higher than 9 as he and the number 4 started knocking off the remaining 34 runs required. Yas having bowled a great spell in the heat (4-31) took a rest to be replaced by his brother who is capable of being unplayable on his day but I wasn't sure if we'd be getting that Ali or 'beamer' Ali.

It was obvious from his first ball that we were getting the former as Ali got a bit more bounce than the no. 4 was expecting, only to fly exactly where first slip would have been, between Chalky and myself!

Despite having this as a warning, the Bushey no.4 (who had passed 50 at this point with the team total on 90!) continued to try to attack Ali which resulted in him being comprehensively bowled. Naz then picked up the Bushey 'keeper who somewhat bizarrely seemed to be more interested in arguing whether I should be appealing for LBW's than his batting and was bowled.

The game was in the balance with Bushey 113-9. Naz and Ali in their next two overs only managed to bowl one straight ball between them and with 6 scored off Ali's over Bushey were one hit away from victory.

However the first ball of Naz's next over drew the number 10 into a drive which was comfortably taken in the covers by Ali Ilyas to give us a 4 run victory!

The result moves us into second place, and 94 points clear of fifth meaning we are almost guaranteed to be promoted (assuming Oxford get relegated from HCPL division 1).

With availability looking dubious for next week it is important we at least fulfil our remaining fixtures for the season to ensure we remain in the promotion picture.