On beautiful July day things begun exceptionally well for the 1st team; the skipper won the toss (only the 2nd of the season!) and having asked Tilford to bat, Joe Lincoln took a wicket with the second ball of the match. Things continued in a similar vain as Tilford were soon 20 for 3 and both the Lincoln boys had bowled beautifully!
Tilford’s number 3&4 then managed a stabilising partnership which took them to drinks at 30 overs will only 70 on the board.
By this time Bruce Forbes was into his bowling stint of 14 overs 1 for 33 which went a long way to limiting Tilford's final total. He was very ably supported by Charlie Bird and Paddy Murphy and Ollie Lincoln took 2 outstanding catches one on the boundary that looked as if it had to be a six only for Ollie to take it just inside the boundary. Max Holland came on at the death and bowled brilliantly taking 2 wickets and helping to keep Tilford's final score to 154. Certainly the first half of the game to Elstead!
Second half - not so much!
It began on an unfortunate note with Keith being triggered for lbw on only his fifth ball with nothing on the board, then Guy being castled on his first. 0 for 2 was the score but with Ollie and Max now at the crease it was felt this was still our match to win. The runs began to flow as the pace increased but an unfortunate miss-heard call sent Max back to the sheds with still only 17 runs total. Fortunately Bruce and Ollie managed to right the ship taking the score through 50 before Ollie(28) was bowled. Partnerships of Joe(10) and Bruce(28) and Chopper(18) helped the score to near the 100 but with John and CT having taken hand injuries in the field, it became clear this was now ours to lose and we weren't having that! So Paddy and Charlie effectively shut up shop to secure the draw.
Clearly we can bowl and field as well as any in this league but the batting requires a confidence boost, everyone can bat and bat well but we have to bring it to the game.