It was a pleasant evening on Friday night, but we spoiled it by playing cricket - or something akin to it. It started well enough, with Rhodri getting a wicket in each of his first two overs. Rich also claimed one at the other end, and it was 3 for 20. That was as good as it got. The fielding was poor, the bowling unimpressive, and the batting merciless. Nigel bowled one over for 15, Jez two overs for 26, Schafer 3 overs for 27 and Rich 4 overs for 31. To be fair, the batsmen were quite handy and our bowlers tried hard - too hard at times, perhaps. I can't recall any dropped catches, but plenty of runs were given away in the field. Only having 10 fielders didn't help. Ed picked up the 4th wicket with the last ball of the innings. They made 159.
Even though they didn't start with their best bowlers, it always looked like we would struggle to get near the target. Schafer getting out in the first over put us on the back foot right from the off. Rhodri supported Quentin, who batted intelligently and patiently. Rich attacked as always, which was not to the oppo's liking. Ed and I edged the total towards three figures, which we only managed to reach from the final delivery. A reasonable batting performance, but our understrength side were clearly outclassed on the day.
AO