Sunday XI Came Second in a Tight & Tense Match

Skipper, Hayden Cox, won the toss and elected to bat first. James Davies (20) and Adam Parsons (11) opened and got us off to a nice start before both were bowled. Evan Bownes went in at three and was given out LBW to a ball that pitched outside leg stump, which was disappointing for him. This brought Simon Bingham and Darren Spooner to the crease, who batted brilliantly together at a time when we needed to rebuild. The 80 run partnership was broken when Darren fell for a very well made 39, which left him with 206 runs for the weekend! Simon was next to fall for 52 - an excellent innings and it was very nice to see Bingo back playing after a few weeks out due to injury. Unfortunately, there were no more major scores as we collapsed to 149 all out from 34.1 overs.

Notts & Arnold’s lineup included some top quality players who usually compete in the Notts Premier League, so we knew our bowling and fielding had to be perfect to stand a chance. Tom Paintain (5 overs, 0-24) opened the bowling attack with Henry Patterson (9.4 overs, 2-73). Tom bowled really nicely against good batters and Henry took two key wickets. Hayden Cox (9 overs, 5-25) and Darren Spooner (7 overs, 1-31) also bowled very well and at 96-5 we thought we were on top and had a good chance. However, a partnership of 48 runs turned it around for Notts & Arnold as they cruised to 144. Then, Hayden bowled a magical over claiming 3 wickets to flip the game again! At 144-8, there was a chance again! Unfortunately, without losing another wicket, Notts and Arnold knocked it off after 30.4 overs. Despite the tough to take loss, our effort and attitude in the field was superb. Special mention to James who kept extremely well again, taking two sharp catches that dismissed two of their top players.

Next weekend, the Sunday XI are at home again… this time to Mansfield Victorious where they’ll look to bounce back to winning ways.