Ricky 2nds stiff Stevenage

With heavy rain forecast, Ricky skipper Paul Blackwell had no choice on winning the toss but to insert Stevenage, despite knowing that the best the pitch would play would be before the rain. And so it proved as the opening batsmen for Stevenage looked very decent in keeping Brett and Majid at bay. It wasn't until the 12th over that Brett induced a false shot from the Stevenage skipper who was caught smartly by Billy at gully. Number 3 followed soon afterwards to a clip off his toes that hit Bobby in the chest and then rolled into his waiting arms. Stevenage kept pushing good singles and the Ricky fielding wasn't at it's best. But then the wickets started to fall. In truth Stevenage were not strong and couldn't handle Bobby's inswinging Yorkers. These claimed 3 wickets. And so did Brett who plugged away manfully at the Nursery end. Jez Riddleston took a smart catch in the covers off Billy and then some stiff tail-end resistance was ended by the Golden Arms second ball Yorker. 122 wasn't a big score - in fact it was the 3rd time this season Stevenage have scored between 120 and 125, but the first half finished in light drizzle and Ricky had not been ruthless enough with the ball it was felt.

Paul dropped himself down the order with instructions to the opening pair of Maz and Benn to keep the score above 3 an over and get to 20 overs as soon as possible. Maz naturally ignored this and heard "try and emulate Yusuf Khan". 3 flashing boundaries in the first over was followed by a first ball duck for Benn-G. Ouch. However Waheed and Maz then proceeded to help themselves to some loose bowling, Maz taking another 3 boundaries off the 3rd over. He then perished going for a maximum, hitting a skyer, however Jez calmed things down and played a masterful innings with Waheed. Waheed got hit in the head but continued, only to fall a few balls later when he looked set for a nice 50. Jez also threw his wicket away with a lofted drive and when Raz was out it seemed like we were just trying to give them points. However Bobby crashed a number of boundaries to set up victory, which Kamran achieved with his one and only run. And 30 points were in the bag.

Despite 2 good wins now, Ricky stay surprisingly in 5th place, and now face a Frogmore team who have a predilection for trying to chase. Even at this stage of the season its a 60 pointer. It will certainly be a good game to win.