Young Players Shine Again for 2nd XI

Our 2nd XI arrived at Greenlands Park to play against Anston CC's 3rd XI. The wicket we were to play on looked like a bowlers paradise, so when we lost the toss of course we were put in to bat first.

Our aim was to reach a score of three figures because the team thought this would be competitive with the conditions taken into account.
Matt Lyon (21) and Steve Sleight (3) opened our line-up and built a quick partnership from 4 overs before both were dismissed. Now at 27-2, we needed to stabilise and rebuild. Callum Edwards and Evan Bownes did just that by forming an outstanding partnership of 83, complementing each other's games very well with some cracking shots and excellent running between the wickets. Callum holed out for 39 and Evan was stumped on 49 - two fantastic performances!
Towards the end, we lost a few wickets in an attempt to get as many runs on the board as possible. Tim Beer (8) and Dave Freeman (4) hit a couple of boundaries, and we closed on 160-7 from the full 40 overs. The pre-match objective of a three-figure score had been exceeded, and the team's confidence was high.

Now it was over to our bowlers to defend the total. We got off to a terrific start, opening with Dan Fotheringham and loanee Alex 'AJ' Jervis.
AJ trapped their opener LBW, had the other opener caught by Darren Edwards, and then claimed their number four thanks to a good catch from Callum Edwards in the covers - he finished his 8 over spell with excellent figures of 3-4! From the other end, Dan (1-18) bowled his 7 overs straight through, managing to bowl their number three.
Tim Beer (4 overs, 2-12) and Callum Edwards (5 overs, 1-6) came on at first change, bowling to great areas and were both rewarded for doing so. Darren Edwards contributed with a run out to leave Anston CC 8 wickets down. David Freeman (3 overs, 2-21) picked up the final 2 wickets, one of which was brilliantly caught in the deep by Dan. Anston CC finished on 71 all out from 29 overs.

With these 20 points, our 2nd XI gets to the dizzy heights of 3rd in the league! The skipper says, "let’s keep going, having fun and see what happens."

Next weekend, the 2nd XI will play at home against Wadworth CC's 1st XI. Best of luck...