3rd XI v Marlow CC

As often happens when a team drops out late in the week (this time it was Bushey 3rds who let us down) a quickly cobbled together replacement is always at the vagaries of the interpretation of what consists of a 3rd XI ! Marlow are a 1st Division Club in the Thames Valley Premier League, so it was no surprise that their two 2nd team openers happily trucked into the Ricky 3rds and 4ths bowling. Lines (50) and Foy (43) had already put the game out of sight before Tony Macdonald Barker induced lines to chop the ball to mid-on. Even after taking a handful of wickets in the middle overs, with Tony taking 3-27 and Adeel 2-17, Peacock smashed a quickfire 36 to help Marlow post a very respectable 173 / 9 against the 9 bowlers that skipper Ken Brown tried.

And things were to get worse, as the opening bowlers tore through the Ricky batting line up, reducing them to 7/4 after 4 overs. Unfortunately the procession continued with only Neil Burdett, approaching his 60th birthday, playing with a straight bat and defending well for 15. Indeed Burdett ended up unbeaten as 9 Ricky batsmen were bowled and one was LBW in a complete capitulation. As these warm up games are for exactly that - a chance to spend a little time in the middle and to improve techniques after 3 months of indoor practice - it was disappointing that so few batsmen were able to dig in and post a score, especially with wides ending up the 2nd highest scorer on 5.

Lets hope for stronger availability for the weeks to come as 2 successive scores under 50 isn't perfect preparation for the League season. I am sure someone is going to step up and make a name for themselves.