Hello Sports Fans and welcome to the round up of the weekends cricket action from your not so roving reporter.
Round-up
A blustery day at Hunts Hill saw both grounds in action as visitors Bashley Rydal made the journey up from the New Forest for a spot of pre-league season fun and games in the fringes of Storm Hannah.
Tennyson Prowse’s 1st XI continued their winning start to the season with a 15 run victory on the main ground, where high winds saw one of the new sightscreens toppled early in proceedings – fortunately without damage.
Batting first, the 1s posted a defendable 242 for 8 with the skipper once again showing his class, leading the way with a highly cultured 73.
There were useful contributions too from Freddy Austin (30), Sairaj Raghavan (24), Callum Green (20) and a late blitz of 24 not out from CJ.
In their turn Bashley bounced back from the loss of both openers with just 3 on the board to build a steady reply but at 66 for 4 the Normans looked in charge. However, a spirited middle order took the tally to 205 for 6 to offer the visitors a sniff of victory until the last 4 wickets fell for 22 runs to deliver the spoils to the good guys. Dan Miles and Sairaj Raghavan took 3 wickets apiece and Grimmers continued his welcome return to 1st team cricket with 2 for 24.
Up on a windswept top ground Bashley were very much in the ascendancy from the beginning, thumping along at 7 an over from pretty much the start and posting a formidable 338 for 9 from their 50 overs, with a 5th wicket pairing of Ryan Taylor (106) and James Turner (72) inflicting the bulk of the damage, Taylor thriving after being bowled by a Matt Cook no-ball early in his innings. It was Jonny Hodgson who finally removed both of them thanks to smart stumpings by Richard Burton with Arya Kedekar also picking up 2 wickets.
An imposing total was always going to take some chasing and pinch hitter Leo Robinson ensured the home team were at least briefly up with the run rate but his all too brief cameo ended and after that the required run rate continued to creep up. Hemers made 22 and Arya 21, before Burts in typically busy form marshalled the tail sufficiently for him to complete his run a ball half century before the innings ended at 140 leaving Bashley 2s victors by an impressive 198 runs
So honours even between the two clubs, but a chance for all the Normandy players to get involved with bat and ball and a very decent pre-season fixture.
Availability for Saturday
Next Saturday we have three teams to send out, with a triple header against Guildford in the offing so all those considering playing league cricket the following week are recommended to try to get a further bit of match practice ahead of the serious stuff. As ever, please indicate availability via MyClubhouse. Certainly, we are likely to need more than the 15 names currently marked as available.
Subscriptions are due
A reminder too that time is running out to take advantage of the discounted subscription rate which will cease to be available after midnight on Tuesday.
Steve Cook Memorial Game
The annual Steve Cook Memorial Game is scheduled for Bank Holiday Monday with the 4th XI due to take on Martin Sampson’s team of parents from the colts section in what is traditionally a highly competitive cauldron of excitement. Those not involved in the on-field antics are recommended to come down to watch.
Fantasy League
And finally Esther, the countdown is on for the start of the Fantasy League which gets under way on 11 May. Three managers have taken the plunge and entered their teams early but there is still plenty of time to refine your own selections ahead of the start of the competition. Details can be found under the “social” tab of the NCC play-cricket website.
Have a good time, til next time.