3rd XI - Close encounters of the THIRDS kind

We arrived to a sunny,dry Grange Park to find the wicket looking superb following the hard work from Mark and his helpers this week. The pitch was the best we've seen this season so far and both skippers knew that they would bat first if they won the toss. Unfortunately I lost the toss and we were put in the field in the heat of the afternoon.

At the start of the Irchester innings wickets were hard to come by with not a lot in the pitch to encourage the seamers. The opening pair of Kev and Dylan struggling to make a breakthrough and any loose deliveries being 4 runs on a lightning outfield.

Dave Morgan continued where the others left off bowling the occasional very good ball but with no luck. The first wicket finally falling at 63 with a change of pace , well bowled by Ian Street. Ian picked up the next two wickets also and now Irchester were 127 for 3. Ian's super spell of 9-1-39-3 getting us a foothold in the game. The next two wickets were both bowled by Paul Wolstenholme with consecutive deliveries 160-4 , 160-5. When Paul got his 3rd wicket at 172 we were into the tail. Good bowling from Nik Patel picked up two more wickets and Irchester finished their innings on 212 for 8 off 45 overs. Another thing to note was the performance of Ted Flynn who kept very well in his first game for the 3's. Alan Cotter (71 yrs old ) finishing unbeaten on 94 having batted through the innings, a superb knock with only tiredness stopping him reaching his 100.

We knew that if we could bat in a similar fashion the runs would come and we'd have a chance of chasing the score. A solid start was what was needed so when Paul fell sixth ball for 0 ( beaten by another Jaffa) and Mark was bowled for 1 we soon found ourselves 8 for 2 in the 3rd over, it wasn't really what we had in mind. However Mike McDonnell and Graham Harris then got the innings back on track with a partnership of 58 before Graham was out with the score at 66 for 3. Nik fell 1 run later bringing Dave Morgan to the crease. An excellent partnership of 100 between Mike and Dave put us on course to winning the game until Mike was caught behind for a magnificent 76 (167 for 5). Dave and Ian kept the momentum going until Ian was out with the score on 183 for 6. This unfortunately became 183 for 8 with Kev and Dylan not troubling the scorers . When Dave was finally caught behind for a gallant 48 it was left to Ted Flynn not out 6 and Elliott Cantrell to try and win the game but we came up 8 runs short finishing 204 all out in 44.3 overs.

A thrilling end to a close and competitive game . Irchester won by 8 runs (29 points) Horton 8 points.

The defeat leaves us just 7 points behind 7th placed Raunds with 4 games still to play. Next week we travel away to Long Buckby who sit below us in the table in a crucial relegation encounter.

Recent performances give us encouragement that we can pick up the points we need to get us out of trouble.

Kev Taylor 3rd team Captain.