League Match vs Grayshott, Sunday 10th June 2012

On a dank dreary, drizzly Sunday morning both sides pitched up at Grayshott for a league match unaware of the day to come that would see 77 extras donned by both sides in the field.

Elstead lost the toss and were put into bat, determined to reverse their recent losing streak. The 2 openers Max and Harry looked sprightly enough as they carved out a decent start, taking the score to 31 off 5 overs. A steady partnership, which saw 8 boundaries, took their scores to 27 and 26 respectively before retiring with the score on 66 after 10 overs. This bought Charlie O and Charlie W to the crease, Charlie O was hitting some booming shots, which were falling short of the boundary, but keeping the score ticking over with some hungry running, Charlie W, looked comfortable, finding the boundary on 4 occasions, as his partner exploded into action with 2 huge 6’s. Charlie O retired on 25, and shortly after Charlie W was run out on 21 in pursuit of runs in the 19th over, by which point the score had climbed to a massive 134 for 1 wicket. Captain Matt came in and was stumped, whilst swinging his bat in search of more runs for 3, which left Alex and debutant Thomas at the wicket for the final over. The pair added a further 6 runs to the score taking it up to 141 before Thomas was run out, scampering for a run, lost his footing on the greasy surface last ball of the innings. Grayswood gifted Elstead 34 extras which included 27 wides.

Under firm instruction to keep the fielding tight and the extras down, Elstead got off to a great start running out Ed for 1 run in Charlie W’s first over. It was not to be Max’s day with the ball however, following his great performance with the bat, he struggled with his run up donning a swathe of no-balls towards the upwards creeping score. The no1 & 3 batsmen worked the score up to 63 off 10 overs, only 3 behind Elstead’s par score, but then hit dodgy ground, the opener Harry being caught by Charlie O off Alex’s bowling, shortly followed by Ben being clean bowled by newly promoted Will from the Elstead U11’s. This took the score to 76 for 4 off 13 overs, now 8 behind Eltsead’s equivalent score. This bought Grayswoods Charlie to the wicket with Ed – Ed only lasting 2 balls before being bowled spectacularly by Thomas. Jamie joined Charlie for a tense finish, and although needing an unlikely 31 off the last over, plundered 13 off the first 3 balls which included 2 consecutive 6’s that threatened the pavilions glazing. 3 steady final balls from Charlie W shut Grayswood out and gained him another wicket with the last ball following a run out. Jamie finished on an unbeaten 33. Elstead had bowled an innings busting 43 extras in the process of winning the match!

Elstead 141 for 3 off 20 overs
Grayshott 125 for 5 off 20 overs
Elstead win