This was a match that was always under threat from the weather, but thankfully the showers largely passed us by. Nonetheless when Coen won the toss under a dark grey cloudy sky, he opted to bat first, believing batting second might be a tricky assignment.

Lochy and Danny therefore walked out to bat for Elstead, and set about the task well. They got through the opening overs un-scathed, and were scoring at a decent rate, but Danny was bowled for 10 looking for an expansive drive off a ball that it woudl have been wiser to defend, and a change of Chiddingfold bowlers proved harder for Lochy and Tom to get away. Still the scoreboard ticked over but Lochy soon got a beauty and also had to depart for 10. Charlie came in to support Danny but by now the scoring rate was slowing, the introduction of a tricky leg-spinner causing some concern. It was a tough period where runs were hard to come by, and the leg-spinner managed to extract both Charlie and Coen cheaply.

That brought Stan to the crease though, and he cut a composed figure who immediately started to get the scoreboard moving. Singles were now being taken regularly, punctuated by the odd boundary, and the scoreboard ticked along nicely. Tom retired on 17* after facing 30 balls, and Oli came in to support Stan. Oli's running between the wickets was particularly strong and the pair scored at a good rate until Stan was retired on a tidy 19* off 20 balls. That left Benji to join Oli for the final over of the innings and the pair were able to carry Elstead to 127, which felt like a par score on this pitch.

Chiddingfold's reply started very slowly. Benji and Matty opened the bowling for Elstead, and Benji was superb with figures of 0 for 3 including a maiden. Jake and Danny were up next and the pressure eventually told when Jake bowled one of the openers. That brought the Chiddingfold number 3 to the crease, and he lived a charmed life early on, surviving close calls from Jake, Danny and then Stan. Stan did manage to prise out Elstead's second wicket with a great ball that must have caught very tip of the off bail. Batter and spectators were flumoxed as to what had happend, but the bail was off and the batsman had to go.

But that was as good as it got for Elstead. The Chiddingfold number 3 was now 'in' and a flurry of 4s and 6s followed before he retired out on an excellent 35* from just 22 balls. It was a match-defining innings, and Chiddingfold were now in control. Although Elstead managed a further run-out wicket which was well executed, our bowling was not as accurate as we are used to and the Chiddingfold batters were able to score at almost a run a ball to win the match with 11 balls to spare.

This was a close match played in a great spirit, but if we are honest it was probably another game this season that we should have won. We are getting better every week, but we certainly need to be sharper in the field - we dropped or missed 4 or 5 catches today and the lack of long barriers probably cost us ~20 runs. We probably need some of our more comfortable batters to now start punishing the loose deliveries more frequently, while remembering not to try to slog straight ones! Its building nicely, and I'm sure that next win is just around the corner!

Players of the match as chosen by Chiddingfold:
Batter = Stan
Bowler = Jake