Chorleywood pip Ricky in close game

It was a bit early in the season to be playing a league game with none of the boys having had much practice, but it was also nice to be out on a cricket pitch again.

Hamza and Guyan opened the batting and we were 15-0 before Guyan scopped one up in the air to a good catch by Sunny. Avi then came in and with some good shots took us to 35/1 before both he (10) and Hamza (13) were dismissed with the score on 35. By the halfway stage we had reached 48/4 and we were looking on course for a score of 80+. After Clayton was bowled, Wilf and Aman batted sensibly with Aman hitting a lovely shot for 4 off his toes first ball. But then disaster struck in the 14th to 16rg over with Ricky losing 4 wickets for the loss of 0 runs. Some rather over confident shot making with some attempted big hits was our downfall. As Coach Taz said - play straight boys! 61/4 became 61/8 but we still have 5 overs to go. Sadly, despite a lovely 4 through midwicket by Stanley, Ricky subsided further to 67 all out.

At least 10-20 more runs were out there as we didnt finish the last 3 overs. Experience tells us that even extras will happen, if you just defend every ball. More work to be done on defensive I think.

However, on the positive side we knew that our bowling and fielding was our strongest card and so it proved with both Avi and Aman getting wickets with their first overs. Chorleywood were 2-3 after 2 overs and Ricky were in the box seat. Will was in next for Chorleywood and he was their best batter. Stan got a wicket with his first ball and then in the next over Clayton bowled 2 more, including Will for 14. The 'wood' were 29/5 in the 7th over and the game was there for Ricky to win. However, Kial and Charlie did exactly what Taz had recommended earlier and played very straight and kept out anything on the stumps. The Ricky bowlers tried our best and didnt give many runs away but the score continued to creep up. 41/5 at the halfway stage and with such a low score to defend extras were hurting us. The drizzle had started by noiw and luckily we were using a pink ball as visibility was declining. In total we bowled 14 wides. Half this number and we would have had a chance, but as it was, Chorleywood didnt lose another wicket as they won in the 19th over. Well done to them.

Special mention to Guyan for keeping wicket for the first time. And Daniel Atkins who played his first hardball game last night. I thought Avi bowled very quickly and will prove a handful in other games. A little tweak or two with the fielding positions, and some better defensive play by all batsmen and we will have better luck next time.