A game actually played in a village with a difficult win. One of the first away games in a village for some time saw tradition upheld as Benson made a late arrival, though he claimed to be not hung over. The next challenge was actually finding the ground as bumby's description: 'oh its easy, down a lane by a pub' was found to be woefully inadequate. Martin satisfied his interest in young girls by stopping to ask for 'directions'. The girls showed good common sense by suggesting to him the quickest route to the village duck pond. In a guest appearance as captain Sam showed his tactical acumen by winning the toss and putting the oppo into bat on the greenest wicket seen since NZ were dismissed for 26 against England in 1955. Bumby and Stanton made quick inroads with a fiery opening spell which saw them take 3/33 and 3/28. Observers from square leg claim that Bumby almost managed to use the 'edge of the wicket weed' to bowl a bouncer. Runs flowed quickly however as the oppo made use of the only ground we'll play on this year with a shorter boundary then Manny Road. A double change saw Matt and Martin into the fray and a slowing of the runrate. Another three wickets fells as we continued to display an unnatural ability to hang onto catches with only one reflex chance put down. With just the tail to tidy up McNally bowled a 14 run over of custard while George bowled two stunning overs of leg spin described by McNally as like watching chess. Our run chase started well with McNally almost making up for his bowling by scoring a quickfire 10. Avinash looked good but didn't last, while Stanton decided that Prashant simply looked out. We were lucky the oppo didn't appeal over George's slow appearance at the wicket, but it was worth the wait as he compiled a very patient 45. Sam's slowest ever 18 runs added support before he snicked an even slower one, and Martin came on to carry on his form last year of batting for the not out. After George was runout Framo's day was ruined by a golden duck and Seani was bowled for 4. Matt showed everyone how it was done by getting the 7 runs needed to win in double quick time. Seani made sure a number of these moments were captured by his fine photography, however Matt's camera was determined by Framo and McNally to actually be a miniature pie warmer. A good tough opening win for Manny Road by 3 wickets with 9 overs remaining.
SD