League Match vs Hambledon Thursday 24th May 2012

Hambledon won the toss and elected to bat on a sunny Thursday evening. Will had immediate success with the ball, forcing opener Charlie to play onto his own stumps in the first over with the score on 8. The score ticked along to 32 until in the 4th over Sam rolled up to bowl an incredible six balls. First ball he clean bowled Hambledon’s Ben for 5, his next three balls were dot balls, and then on the fifth ball Ollie was caught and bowled by Sam. To finish off, he then bowled Hambledon’s Sam for a golden duck. A triple wicket maiden over! With Headley’s Will still in, the score nudged onto 35 , Will retiring, awaiting his return later on in the innings. This change saw Arthur come into bat, to be caught by Captain for the day, Rafa off Ben’s bowling for 1 run with score on 42. Midway through the innings Elstead’s Archie, chasing down a ball heading for the boundary fell awkwardly on his knee and aggravated an existing injury and had to sit out the remainder of the match. The next wicket didn’t fall until the score was on 72 in the 17th over, with 3 players retiring in the interim. Archie was caught by Sam off Peters bowling for 9 runs. Harry was then clean bowled by Peter, which saw Hambledon’s on-form Will come back in for another knock. He was caught by Ben, plucking a speedy ball out of the air off Mark’s bowling, 1 short of 25, with the score on 89. Felix and Matt returned to see out the innings, taking the final total to 100 for 8, Felix finishing second top scorer on 18. Elstead used 10 bowlers, Sam posting the best figures of 3 overs, 3 wickets for 9 runs, including his amazing 3 wicket maiden over. Elstead suffered 30 extras whilst in the field.

Elstead’s reply didn’t start well with Ben being bowled without a run on the board first over. The second wicket of Elliot fell in the 4th over with the score only on 8. Elstead’s batting knuckled down, seeing 7 retirements, with the third wicket not falling until the 18th over with the score on 56, when Kieran was caught for 1 run, quickly followed by 12th man stand-in Jack Stokes for a duck. Rafa and Will returned for a quick knock, ending on 11 and 6 respectively, which left Sam not out on 18 and Harry, not out on 2 to finish the innings on 67 for 5 off 20 overs. Solid batting, but lacking in firepower to take the score within Hambledon’s target. Tight fielding, gifting only 14 extras summarised this polished Hambledon performance.

Hambledon 100 for 8 off 20 overs
Elstead 67 for 5 off 20 overs
Hambledon win