Report by Dougie.

With 2 wins from 2 previous games to this match we entered this game on a high but knowing there was no room for complacency.  We arrived at the ground with two new additions to the squad from the previous week in Arsalan and Doc, which gave the side a good boost in power with batting and fielding.  I think Meady lost the toss and we where batting and to my surprise I was asked to open the batting with him and our main objective was to get to 10 overs and see where we where at that point.

Yateley opened the bowling with the experience of Rober and youth of Dodd which proved to back up what their spells where like with Rober bowling with excellent consistency but Dodd with a bit more pace but more wayward.   Meady started his innings very well putting all the bad balls away with pure style and myself holding up an end which proved to put us in a good position after 5 overs. With Dodd starting to tire he was replaced with the pick of bowlers for Yateley in Pienaar who bowled at an annoying pace and got the break through with Meady trying to play off his legs!  This followed with a quick succession of wickets in which Pienaar picked up all 4 of them and put us in bad predicament.  The partnership that re-built our innings was the one of Mickys and Michaels with Michael playing a good innings under pressure which really helped to get our innings back together.  After the wicket of Michael, Micky started to come into his own playing an array of cover drives and he reached his 50 with Ram by his side.  After Micky reached his 50 the runs started to flow on a difficult batting track and it was only halted with Pienaar striking again by dismissing Ram.  This was also a very important partnership for our innings as this allowed the lower order to come in and score us important runs at the death.  Our final score was 221 all out with Micky not out on 86 and was by far our best batsmen.

We opened the bowling with Doc and Naz, Doc bowled with natural consistency even with him reaching boiling point within 4 overs! But other than previous weeks we could not find an early breakthrough with both of their opening batsmen playing very sensibly.  Ram replaced Naz early on but we still struggled for the breakthrough that made it quite a frustrating start to the innings as we were not used to waiting for the breakthrough this season.  Even when we brought on Mr reliable in Rags we could not find a way of derailing their openers but after time Brian got the breakthrough with Meady taking a catch at mid-wicket to the tiring Muir.  This was a key wicket as this put some pressure onto their innings and we continued to take wickets with Brian taking another 2 to put us back in the game.  With the defiant Soames still playing with good composure we where up against it coming into the final overs and with 6 needed off the last over we called upon Doc to bowl like a hero and that he did.  With his first ball being a dot, second ball in most of our minds put the game to bed with Hill whipping the ball over square leg for four. BUT Doc cam into his own and the next ball he bowled Hill, then Naz brilliantly run out Pienaar so this left 2 runs needed to win off the last ball and Doc bowled the most decisive ball of the day which bowled the impressive Soames.  This was a fitting way to finish a match that was played at the highest aggression possible throughout the whole of the game and showed that we have the grit and determination that can win you matches on its own.   It also showed that we will need to play with full concentration and not to underestimate any team we come up against this season.

Dougiiiiiieeeeeeee/Whitey