A great win on Saturday

Great atmosphere and team spirit from the younger and also more senior members of the team enabled us to cruise to a win. I'd like to thank George for skippering in the field and encouraging the team to victory.

We batted first on a wicket almost as tired and sleepy as Oldbury on Severn itself. The game only produced 4 wickets in all which reflected that. Ben Church opened with Angus Finney. Ben looked eager and elegant as usual but his eyes widened when he saw the friendly bowling and he played a shot that looped to mid-on. A few more years under the belt and a bigger bat would have had that shot clearing the boundary rope.

Angus batted positively, playing some great shots and gave us a solid base. He made 32 then retired, leaving the field unbowed, like a great old cavalry charger who had galloped around the battlefield all day like a young stallion, half his years but then trotted off the fray having given his all.

George Wood, at number 3 retired on 55. He didn't put a foot wrong and shook the fences on a number of occasions, thumping two straight sixes in his last two balls.

Dave Hirst played well, scoring 11 runs and was unlucky to be bowled out. Said Burvill scored 17 not out and played some solid shots mixed with some aggressive flourishes. Enter Charlie Gooding who scored 52 out and played a sublime innings comprising mainly of sixes and fours. There looked absolutely no way that he was going to get bowled out.

So having scored 205 we felt our position was unassailable.

The opening batsmen looked strong and we were very pleased to see Charlie Gooding catch him LBW with a lovely off break.
Their other opener carried his bat with 33 but never looked like taking on the total we had amassed. With 12 overs to go they needed 13 an over and to make things safe George came on for two overs, taking a wicket with his second.

Sam Costello was excellent and swung the ball well; he was unlucky not to take a wicket. As was Rory Vallis who looks a promising prospect. The two spinners Alex Donovan and Eoin Godfrey were parsimonious as usual and on a dead wicket showed how spinners can be an effective defensive tool to a captain.

All the bowlers bowled well. Pick out for me, standing, as I must these days, at slip - the ageing cricketer's final posting - was Eoin who had their excellent opener shaking his head in confusion as the ball scuttled about to leg and off with no clue given at all from the bowler's action.

Fielding was generally solid. A good win, by a strong team.