Worksop CC won the toss, putting us into bat on a damp, difficult track against a decent bowling attack. We got to 30-1, but slipped to a precarious 40-4. Tim Foulds (28) steadied the ship nicely, until he & Ben Tomlinson fell within 3 balls of each other. We were up against it again at 88-6, but cometh the hour, cometh the man... James Davies batted brilliantly, scoring a vital 39 off 68 balls. Well done Jimmy! Skipper, Mark Dean (19*), managed to keep him company, as we closed on what we felt was a competitive 136-7 off of our full 40 overs.

If we were to have any chance of winning, we knew we needed to get Tim Smith out; his last 3 innings were 151, 70 and 96! So, we had a think tank and decided Mark Dean should open the bowling against him, and guess what? Tim Smith (0), LBW M.Dean! What a great start for us!
We kept chipping away and one of the highlights was to see young Zak Berridge (2-19) bowl a fantastic spell, including two beauties to get him his maiden 1st team wickets - the first of many, well done, Zak!
Simon Dean, Ben Tomlinson and Ben Perkins all had some good moments with the ball, but it was Tim Foulds’ spin that kept us in the game, as we reduced Worksop to 90-6. We picked up a couple more, one of which was courtesy of an amazing caught and bowled from Tim, but Worksop were edging closer thanks to a really good 75 from Chris Taylor that proved to be decisive. Eventually, Ben Perkins ran him out with some sharp fielding. On another day, with a little more luck, we could’ve got over the line but it wasn’t to be as Worksop finished on 137-8. Tim Foulds finished with 3-29 and Mark Dean with 2-28.

1st XI Skipper, Mark Dean, was really proud of the whole team today, young and old, for setting a competitive total in testing conditions, giving it their best effort with the ball and their sprit in the field. They definitely earned their 8 bonus points.

Next weekend, the 1st XI take on Blidworth Colliery Welfare CC away.