HAYES v 3rd XI

Last week’s 3’s report was easy, this week is so much harder to pen. Having lost the toss the opposition once again put us in to bat, and having got to 80 for 1 at drinks with seemingly no worries other than the Skip going for 22, a total in excess of 200 was once again looking promising, especially as Darren & Ben looked in no trouble until Darren (18) miscued a long hop to mid-on and then Ben was napping as the bowler delivered the ball and turned it back into his stumps just as Ben’s alarm clock had woken him, a shame as he looked back to near his best with an otherwise faultless 44. This started the downfall of the innings as Archie Langley (0), Joe Hally (0), Ryan Frisby (3) and H Monk (2) all went cheaply, with only Ryan a bit unlucky being caught at deep, deep, deep mid-wicket. Neil Alsemgeest held the innings together and continued his great start to the season with a useful 37 not out, and with Jamie Tibbs’s (3 no) quick running between the wickets got the Heath up to a little below par, but more than capable defending score of 150 at tea. But the bowlers never really got into their stride quick enough and fed the batsman their favoured deliveries to dispatch, resulting in not having enough fielders to stem the flow of boundaries. At the drinks break the game was still redeemable, but 27 runs from the following 3 overs took the game away from the Heath. Nick Parnham was the pick of the bowlers with his 4 for 35 from 10, and almost did enough to grasp victory from the jaws, but the last assemblage of wickets came a little too late to stop Hayes winning with 3 wickets and 6 plus overs to spare. A disappointing result against a team we should have beaten if we had produced anywhere close to the performance of last week. Also we can’t use a missed stumping by their umpire and a half chance of a caught and bowled as any excuse, we have to put that hopefully one off dip behind us and onto the return fixture against the Darts next week, although I’ve just heard we will suffer from a few absentees. Man of the Match was Ben Moore for his 44, just pipping Neil.