Underdogs Came Out on Top!

Our 1st XI hosted Retford CC on the Leaping Bar ground as underdogs; Retford are a strong side, boasting an overseas pro & players who've played Championship league cricket over their years, and they were on a six-match winning streak.

We won the toss and, on the hottest day of the year, rightfully elected to bat first. Despite a decent start from Simon Bingham (22) and Dave Beard (16), we soon found ourselves wobbling as we slumped to 40-4. Mike Cox (9) and James Davies rebuilt well, but the highlight of our innings was, for sure, the brilliant 60 run partnership between James and Ben Perkins. Both played superbly, showing the kind of batting qualities that all the young lads are starting to produce every week. James (58) reached his second-ever 1st XI half-century and Ben (26) gave great support - well done!
'All good things must come to an end' and both James & Ben fell in quick succession, leaving the scoreboard at 137-7. However, we were not ready to give up just yet as the juniors down the order played brilliantly in the final overs! Jasper Dennison (12*) added 22 on to the score with Zak Berridge (6) and a further 20 with Hayden (8*). Absolutely crucial runs, which saw us reach 170-8 off of all 40 of our overs.

Now, we turned to our young bowling attack (and one veteran!) - could they keep on top of the opposition's strong batting lineup?
In a terrific opening display, Ben Perkins again set the tone reeling off 5 overs for just 9 runs. Zak Berridge gave good support at the other end going at just 3-per-over as we started to build early scoreboard pressure. However, it was Simon Dean (8 overs, 2-36) that came on and got the breakthrough wicket immediately.
Then, Hayden Cox entered the attack and bowled a very special spell which was, without doubt, his best ever for the 1st XI. He bowled Pascal Broadley with the first ball he bowled at him and then proceeded to sweep through Retford CC's top order in a devastating spell of 7 overs 5-22! Two sharp nicks behind to Dave Beard and three clean bowled. Given the conditions and quality of opposition batsmen, skipper Mark Dean described Hayden's bowling as 'genuinely one of the best spells of bowling I’ve seen from a Clumber bowler!' Well done, Hayden!
Furthermore, we had two smart run-outs, one of which was a very neat deflection onto the stumps from Simon who once again played a big part in our bowling display. Jasper Dennison (4.4 overs, 1-13) came on and got the final wicket to cap an excellent day for him too. Retford CC finished on 120 all out from 33.4 overs.

What a brilliant performance from everyone, but especially the young lads. Congratulations in particular to James Davies for reaching his half-century and to Hayden Cox for his five-wicket haul.

The 1st XI makes it 3 wins out of 4, with big games against Everton CC & Blidworth Colliery Welfare CC coming up in the next couple of weeks.