This week the 2’s were on the road, albeit just 10mins away at Tongham facing Frimley Phoenix 2nd XI. They were our opponents in the season opener, and it represented our only loss so the scene was set for revenge!

Four wins on the bounce, could Elstead make it five and put themselves firmly in the promotion hunt? We had a strong side minus Lewis Sheppard who had been called away for the Love Island special. Despite some early drops of rain, it looked like a good afternoon of weather ahead. The wicket was very green, hard in places but patchy and likely not an easy track to bat on. That said, we had back-to-back 200+ batting performances so confidence with the willow was high.

The skip had been on a run of winning the toss, not this time and Frimley elected to put us into bat. Step up our experienced opening pair – Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi (AKA Wayno and Tils – I will let you decide which is which!). Frimley’s opening pair looked solid, one quick, one slower but both laying it down in good areas. Wayno got one of those ones where you are in two minds about the shot and drilled it straight back to the bowler who, on the second attempt, took a fairly fortuitous catch. The wise one departed on a golden, unheard of in this galaxy….

At 1-1, young Skywalker (AKA Archie Bisley) found himself coming in earlier than he would ever have imagined. A few words in the centre – Tils passing on 460yrs of experience and wisdom to his protégé, they knew they had to stabilise the ship and build a total. They certainly did that, both dug in through a period of accurate and tricky bowling and an opposition that were sharp and focused in the field. Archie proved what a quality batsmen he is with a mature and wise head on his shoulders. He kept good discipline and picked off the bad balls. At the other end, Tils did exactly the same and Elstead started to build a solid foundation.

As the innings went on, Frimley lost some of their voice in the field and Tils and Archie started to punish the bad balls in ruthless fashion. Shot of the day, a scoop for SIX by the young Jedi (Bisley) over fine leg! A superb partnership of 176 between the two of them ended with Tils (a fine 74) holing out in a selfless way knowing the skip was pushing for 200 on the scoreboard. A short cameo from Chopper (who had patiently sat in his pads for 2hrs) concluded our innings and a posted score of 190. A fine not out from Bisley (92) saw him so close to that 100 but, nonetheless, a brilliant innings and great performance for the team.

A short break, some appreciation of the Nepalese party going on in the clubhouse and we were back out there looking to make light work of this, wrap things up so we could get back to the Pav for beers and burgers – well, that was the plan.

The bowling was opened by Jasmin and Bobby Dazzler. A sound start saw Dazza take their opener helped by a sharp catch from Chopper at Gully – one of two he made in the game proving those are “safe hands”. At 4-1, Elstead looked like they might wrap this up swiftly and make light work of it, that didn’t prove to be the case…..

Frimley showed the alliance is strong and there is a reason they have occupied the top end of the table for the season to date. That said, Elstead showed some uncharacteristic traits in the field – a couple of dropped catches behind the stumps, some sloppy fielding that led to boundaries and 17 no balls and 13 wides (versus Frimley’s 1 no ball and 2 wides) let them back into a game that should have been comfortably closed out. The NB count felt harsh but still added to an extras total we will not want repeated in games to come.

Despite all of that, Frimley were 90-6 and it felt like victory was still a relative forgone conclusion. A 6th wicket partnership saw that total catapult to 156 and there were worried faces on and off the field in the Elstead camp. Two bits of brilliance in the field saw the pendulum swing back in Elstead’s favour – first, a brilliant catch on the boundary by a young Han solo (looks certainly coming from his father..) who held a big smash from the danger man for Frimley who was on 57 and threatening to lead them to an unlikely victory. That was followed by an equally bit of smart fielding from Skywalker (Bisley) who, with a brilliant throw from c30yds, hit a single stump and ran out their no.9 pouring more anguish on the Frimley effort.

From the youngsters to the experienced heads… following his great day with the bat, Tils proved just how to tie up a bowling end, build pressure and kill the run rate. He ended up with figures of 3-23 off 9 overs and some key wickets – it would have been a MOM performance had it not been for Bisley’s performance with the bat and the timely run out. He was supported by another major performance from Wayno who despite bowling just 11 deliveries, returned figures of 3-5 off 1.5 overs. A stellar effort from those two.

A win is a win. This one wasn’t as easy as it should have been given our batting performance. A great show of resistance from Frimley but a valuable 28 points for the 2’s moving us up to 3rd in the league just behind Haslemere and Farnham. Up next Shalford and Haslemere (home and away) – three wins could see us top the table but the level of opposition is getting harder and harder.

The 2’s keep marching on, may the Force be with you! (and not a Jabba the Hut reference throughout…)