A Weekend of Firsts for the 3rd XI

We lost our first toss and got put into bat by Blyth. Darren Ridout & Tom Paintain opened the batting, with Darren falling first before Tom fell to a good ball after hanging around well. Darren Spooner played a blinder, scoring a superb 92 to catapult our score. Michael Edwards supported well by playing some lovely shots and looking solid for his 21. When Mike Cox came in, we still had 6 overs to bat and hoped for 150, but it wasn't to be and we ended with a respectable 136 all out.

We had a chance and a total to bowl at. Mike gave us a team talk, where it was made clear all our juniors would get a bowl.

We fielded well and aside from a few unfortunate bobbles. Blyth’s left & right hand openers didn’t allow our bowlers to settle and it took a while for the break through wicket to come. Matt Hampshire (4 overs, 0-14) bowled some good swing deliveries and Samodh Nadkarni (4 overs, 0-14) also bowled well with flight and guile.
When the wicket came it was one of our debutants, Nathan Morley, with his maiden senior wicket. Darren Spooner plucked the ball one-handed, when everyone thought it had gone over his head! Rafay Rehan then joined the party with his first senior wicket too, claiming their opener who was batting well. A reward for a tidy spell of bowling, 5 overs 1-20. Nathan then got a second, finishing with figures of 4 overs 2-19. Michael Edwards (5 overs, 0-5) then came into the bowling unit, really reducing the Blyth run rate and applying pressure with each delivery. Despite finishing wicketless, Michael bowled a truly amazing spell that set us up for the result. Jasper Spooner (4 overs, 0-21) was also luckless, but again bowled well. Another debutee Noah Marriott then had his turn at taking his first senior wicket, and it was the important wicket of their top scorer. Noah kept his cool, bowling at the end and earning figures of 4 overs, 1-21. Up stepped Tom (8 overs, 2-25), who set us up to bowl the last over with 7 runs required by the opposition.

The final over…
First ball, dot - great start!
Second ball, one run - no drama.
Third ball, another one - but still 5 required off 3.
Fourth ball, one run again.
Fifth ball, dot - four to win off the last ball!
The final ball goes straight and a flying Mike Cox fields to stop the boundary.

Our first win and a tense one, taking it to the last ball of the game! Everyone came together as a team and played really well, with everyone chipping in. Well done to all!

Special mentions to the crowd for their support, Imogen for scoring and the grounds team for a beautiful pitch and wicket.