Firsts lose in high scoring game

On a beautiful sunny day at the Brake with the sun shining brightly and one of the best tracks at home this season, skipper Edd Willmot won the toss and chose to bowl. A nice breeze blowing across the pitch seemed to be a good sign for the bowlers but the track looked good and hard and the outfield looked like it would be rapid. After faffing about with the boundary rope which hadn't been put out for us, we were ready to start, our morale boosted by our comfortable win last week.

Ramzan and Thwaites opened the bowling, the latter putting the ball in some really good areas and troubling the batsmen early on. Sharman, playing his first game of the season, played many ugly swipes across the line dragging full balls outside off stump to cow corner and a few straight off Ramzan who was already not bowling at his best. Thwaites repeatedly beat the bat and was unlucky not have taken any wickets by the end of his first spell. Tippet replaced Ramzan and started off well with the the outside edges of the batsmen under threat as he managed to gain some swing and bowled outside off stump. Blackford replaced Thwaites and began bowling his usual deceptive style of bowling, tempting the batsmen and making them shuffle uneasily in the crease. Sharman brought up his 50 and thankfully got out a few balls later, bringing in dorchester's highest scorer of the innings, Redhead to the crease. A disappointing and poor fielding display meant that Readhead managed to score 130 by being dropped 5 times, the first of these 5 before he was in double figures. A couple of drops in the slips, at mid on and generally everywhere inside the 30 yard circle meant that he and Graney could bat freely with no fear of being caught. They had set the platform to go hard at all the bowlers and boost their run rate when captain Edd brought himself on to bowl, but the batsmen were seeing the ball like a football now and dispatched many balls to the boundary. As if things weren't already going badly, Gary Woods injured his wrist while stopping a ball that shot up from the edge of the square from going for 4 and he was struggling to move his hand. A good catch in the deep by Sahil Kalyan brought an end to the innings of Graney on 61. After a few sixes in the last over, the innings ended with Richard Walker stumping Pugh off the bowling of Tippet. Dorchester had mustered a daunting 304 - 6 in their 45 overs but our batsmen were not too worried after seeing how good the conditions were for batting. We headed in looking forward to a good tea to brighten our moods after the fielding display.

After having an abysmal tea with a few sandwiches, some potato salad, fruit and not a single cake in sight, Willmot sorted out the batting order. Despite Gary having potentially broken his wrist, Jim Blackford still managed to cling on to his favourite number 11 spot! Walker and Kalyan headed out with the wind having reduced and the scorching sun shining. Unfortunately Walker departed early hitting one straight up in the air, for 1. After seeing a few of Razwan's swashbuckling shots on the other pitch for the 3rds, Craig Woods walked in to play the innings of the day. He played a range of majestic shots all around the wicket, with the runs flowing nicely. Kalyan at the other end also played a great knock, with anything they both hit past the inner ring racing to the rope. The pair brought up their 100 run partnership before drinks, the final total was in sight. A little while after drinks Kalyan was given out by a poor LBW decision which looked to be heading down the leg side. He walked off with 62 runs to his name, unlucky not to be able to carry on. Edd Willmot came to the crease at 4 but went soon after for 11 when an incredible one handed catch was taken in the deep (showing us how it is done). Rodway then came and went for 2 after being stumped. The run rate was getting higher and higher so Michael Tippet was promoted to number 6 to score some quick runs and ruduce the required rate. He went early though and only scored 3. This brought 1st team debutant Jonathan Boyce to the crease who scored 7 before being bowled. With the required run rate so high now, quick runs had to be taken which was the downfall of Gary woods and Ramzan, both being run out on runs that weren't there to take. Unfazed by the wickets tumbling around him, Craig still tried his best to win the game, playing a few lofted shots over the infield towards the boundary. Thwaites went for 0 and then Blackford edged one behind leaving Craig Woods without any partners at the other end on 119 not out and our final score 222 all out in the 41st over. It was a shame that we didn't bowl and field well meaning that Craig's Fantastic century was in a losing cause.

Hopefully we can pull it back next week at home to Brill.