Date: 5th June, 2021
Venue: Bushy Park
A high-scoring and good-natured encounter just saw us hang on by 25 runs and beat Brentham in a close game at Bushy Park.
Nigel Owen and Will Hayes opened the batting and did the job I’d asked of them - to establish the innings and get us off to a good start - by putting on 133 before Nigel was out for 51. Will continued to anchor the innings, though, and almost carried his bat in another knock of 135 off 128 balls with 14 x 4s and 4 x 6s. Amelie Munday contributed a useful 26 as we posted 247. I won’t mention the fact that, in return for allowing him to open the batting, Nigel gave me out LBW off my hip! OK, I will…. 😀
Will Hayes’ Wagon Wheel
Will Hayes - scoring zones
Their run chase was helped somewhat by what was going on on the other ground - Johnny Marsden had sustained an injury whilst batting and couldn’t field, so Smithy asked if he could nick one of our fielders. Of course, I let him, so we lost Shirsh for the first 10 overs before we swapped him back over for Nigel so he could bowl after drinks. Further on-field injuries then meant that at one point during their chase, we were fielding with 9 men (well, 8 chaps and a lass). It didn’t matter in the end, though, as some timely bowling changes, some astute field placements and helped by the surprise appearance of David Keightley as a sub fielder helped us wrap their tail before they really got within sight of the target.
This game really shouldn’t have been this close, but I don’t think we were ever in real danger of losing it once we’d set them 248 to win from 45, despite the extenuating circumstances we had to deal with. 10 more points, though!
Author: Matt O’Toole