Back on the smaller spaces of Spicer Oval, we won the toss and decided to bowl so that we knew what we had to chase down this week. With the score at 2 for 22 after ten overs, it looked as though we had made the right decision, with Will Vickers doing the damage, bowling tightly and picking up the two openers.
Unfortunately, from that point onward things went a bit pear-shaped, and they started to get on top of us with some clever batting. We didn’t help our cause, dropping a number of tough, but catchable chances, and they made us pay for it. Kinga and Colby chimed in with a wicket each, but their batsmen who had sensibly played themselves in slugged us to all parts of the ground, and we ended up needing to pass 268 to win.
We started off in a much more positive light this week, and initially it looked like we were at least going to be able to give the total a good shake. Once again a Colby 30 provided us with a solid start at the top of the order, and at the 25 over mark, we were the same number of wickets down, and just 15 runs behind. Although Will Vickers and Kinga both proceeded to score quick-fire 40’s, the remaining batsmen came in with a very high run rate required, and they perished in an attempt to up the ante. We finished off at 9 for 178, a marked improvement on the previous week’s performance.
Overall, this was another disappointing loss, but once again, there were some positives to come out of the game. All we have to do is put the bowling performance from the MCC game together with the batting performance from Saturday, and we should start to become much more competitive.
Peter Weymouth
3rd XI Captain