With our luck seemingly fading at the toss, our opposition made the decision to bat first, a decision we were hoping to make them regret.
With Tom Henly returning to the side the familiar opening partnership with Ollie Gooding resumed as they looked to make early inroads into Bitton's top order. Bowling well in tandem, and building up great pressure lead to Tom picking up 2 crucial wickets of arguably Bitton's best 2 batsmen. Backed up by a fantastic fielding performance, the guys supported their bowlers superbly with 8 wickets in total being caught. Whether in the slips or on the boundary every time the ball was in the air we never looked like dropping it! Sam Athay resumed his good season with the ball, picking up yet another 3 wicket haul coming on first change-making great use of the swinging and seaming ball. The ever-reliable spinning duo of Sam Bowery and George Wood picked up 3 victims between with some very economical bowling. With a pitch made for spin, they deserved more wickets however still showcasing some fine restrictive bowling. With the innings drawing to a conclusion, Nick Lawrence picked up 2 wickets of his own including a very sharp caught, and bowled to keep his wicket tally ticking over for the season. After bowling Bitton out a total of 123, we knew a solid batting display would ensure we'd secure the win.
This week's opening partnership saw both left-handers Adam Carlin and Sam Athay take to the field to start the run chase. With Bitton's opening bowlers looking dangerous on a troublesome pitch, Adam looked to have mastered it after 2 early boundaries saw him off to a strong start. Unfortunately, it was short-lived as he lost his off stump to a good ball a couple of deliveries later. This brought young 14-year-old Will Hurle to the middle. After Will made his debut in the previous week's abandoned game, this was his first opportunity to display his talent with the bat. After a nervous start, he settled into his innings and his confidence only grew and grew. It was fantastic to watch, and supported by the crowd he received a thoroughly deserved applause as he had to leave the field after a sharp stumping from Bitton's keeper. Finishing with 23 runs, it's given us an exciting glance at the talent our junior section contains. The same could be said for Sam who after a difficult start, stuck around and reaped the rewards for doing so. A very mature performance saw him finish on 50 not out, showcasing his flare by finishing with a fine 6 down the ground into A&E!
What a fantastic, very polished all-round team performance shown this Saturday. Our fielding displays have already been one of the highlights of our season and yet they still only get better and better! It is a testament to the squad continuing to put in the hard work during the week and it coming to fruition on a Saturday. With the season poised for a thrilling finish, we look ahead to the game against Almondsbury excited and full of confidence.