Cookie was delighted to win the toss on a chilly but sunny day and sent in new opening partnership Taz and Harvey to take the shine off the new ball. This they achieved with aplomb, after an initial scare where Taz was dropped on the square leg boundary. Starting his season with a 6, Taz was soon in his stride before Harvey then moved up through the gears himself. 22 off the first 5 overs was a steady start, but 50 came up in 10 overs and 100 in 16. Hitting 12 boundaries in 18 overs, with 68 to his name, Harvey was first to go, clothing a ball up in the air. But Ricky had a great foundation to push to, so it was disappointing to see Raunak edge one to the keeper. A good ball. Ali Nawaz came in and saw Taz to 79, with 5 maximums, and he was out with the score on 168 and 18 overs still to go. This was more like a 20:20 now and Ali Nawaz (50) and Owen Blackwell (32) put on another 75 runs before being retired Not Out by Cookie. Tom Taylor on first team debut made a classy 17 and Rarham 23 before he too was retired. Ricky finished on a very good 307/4 in 40 overs.

Chipperfield didnt really get to grips with the reply and the Ricky bowling was seriously too good. Aamir got one opening bat to edge to Farhan, whilst Cookie brought back a ripper to bowl the #3 for a duck. May was dismayed to chip a drive up to Owen at long off, in front of a cheering group of spectators, off Raunak for 11and Chipps were in tatters at 37/3 off 13 overs.

Chappers and Callum then dug in for 17 overs, treating it like an extended net until Tom came in and got Chappers LBW for 31. It was then obvious why he was hanging around as the remaining batsmen made up a procession with Cookie and Tom picking up further wickets for 1,0 and 19. Callum remained steadfast to the end finishing on 76* in his 40 overs, whilst Taz took two wickets in the final over to finish with 2-1.

The youngsters and new players for Ricky looked good and were great support for Cookie and Taz as the experienced heads. And a win by 137 runs is a great start to the season