Even the rain can't stop the Sunday team....

We arrived at the picturesque Geddington ground hoping that the weather would hold for us on a breezy afternoon. Skipper Alan won the toss and with the sun out, decided to bat first and see if we could set a challenging total. Openers Adam and Dan started off against some accurate new ball bowling with both opening bowlers generating swing and bowling tightly. When Dan was bowled in the second over and then Adam also bowled in the 3rd, we were 4-2 and up against it with a keen bowling attack backed up by good fielding. Alan and Dylan decided on a careful approach and took time to settle in to try and steady the ship. With very few loose deliveries to go at from the openers it was slow going but gradually runs came and we raised the 50 in the 16th over with Alan batting in support of Dylan who was picking up the tempo. The partnership carried on as we continued to pick off runs where we could and with the score on 87, Alan chipped a ball to midwicket when trying to move the score along and was out for 29. However, a platform had been provided and with 15 overs left and plenty of wickets, we were hopeful of pushing on and setting a decent total. Dylan soon reached an excellent half century - his first one too and fifth 50 for a Sunday batsman this year, but this meant he needed to retire and so we had two new batsmen at the crease that made pushing on as we would have liked a bit harder. Unfortunately wickets fell regularly to well thought out slow bowling and we struggled to make the most of our wickets in hand. We finished the innings on 135 with contributions from most players but without anyone being able to score much needed boundaries we felt we may have been 15-20 runs short of a competitive total. The heavens literally opened as we closed our innings and so we took tea with the sky looking very dark and lots of rain falling and no-one sure if or when we would get out to bowl.

After a lengthy delay and a couple of false starts, we did get out to play again with covers used and the wind drying out the outfield reasonably well. Under instruction to bowl nice and full to try and make the most of the humid conditions, our opening bowlers of Lewis Orton and Tom Hilton bowled beautifully, generating good pace and some swing to trouble both batsmen. Lewis bowled opener McDade for 4 in his second over and with a couple of dropped catches off the unlucky Tom, we could have been in an even better position than 17-1 off 7 overs. Tom then got a wicket in his 4th over which was a wicket maiden, well caught by Mitchell. At the end of both their spells, we had Geddington 26-2 off 12 overs and felt good about our chances of pushing for the win. Mitchell and Dylan came on next with Dylan bowling a tight line to restrict the scoring whilst Mitchell worked on tempting the batsmen out with some flight and turn. Mitchell took an excellent caught and bowled off the experienced Mark Pearson after he'd been hit for a couple of boundaries and then proceeded to take a wicket in each of his next two overs, including a stumping by keeper Pitt after luring a dangerous looking batsman out of his crease. This meant at the halfway point we had them at 46-5 and felt well in control. John Jesu came on to bowl his spin and took a wicket in hist first over, well caught at deep midwicket by Dylan. One opposition batsman was looking dangerous and swung a couple of 4s away through the leg side and we realised we needed to give him the single and protect the boundary to ensure he didn't take the game away from us. Mitchell ended with 3 wickets, and there were two apiece for Vignesh and Tom, with his last wicket being well held by Hilton Senior!

The game looked over when Dylan bowled the last batsman for a golden duck only for the skipper to call them back, hoping beyond all hope there wasn't a repeat of the Saints game when the reprieved batsman went on to win the game. No such drama this time as Dylan bowled them again a few deliveries later and we ended up winning by 33 runs. All the bowlers bowled to our plans and kept it tight and chipped away with regular wickets for everyone and wicket maidens for four of them!

Whilst low scoring, it was a very satisfying win against a decent Geddington side and a great team effort. Many thanks to Pete Orton for scoring and Rob Boffin for umpiring from both ends for both innings.

Next week we go again, away at Barby.

Alan Pitt