1st XI vs Oakfield Parkonians CC, Essex, 1st XI

Not without its dramas, the 1's continue to set the pace in Division 2 with a sixth victory in eight games, this time with a win over third place Oakfield Parkonians at The Shen.

With an amber weather warning in place, it was set fair to be a scorcher of a day. The players of both sides knew that it could be a long day in the field if the side batting first could set an imposing target. What they hadn't prepared for was the roller breaking down on the square! Bill & Richard Hindley used all their expert knowledge to try and get the machine working, to no avail. After an engineer was called in, it was eventually towed and pushed off the field, much to everyone's relief that the game didn't have to be cancelled or moved onto the park pitch. It was decided by the umpires that four overs had been lost, so the match was reduced to 91 overs with the side batting first to receive a maximum of 48 overs.

A late toss saw Dave Hickey decide to field, confident in the knowledge that his bowlers would put Old Parks to the sword. This was justified in the second over as Sam Bear bowled an almost unplayable ball that presented a simple catch to wicketkeeper Will Howard. On a pitch that looked great to bat on, the visitors started to settle, scoring at four an over. One shot too many saw the second wicket fall with the score on 36, as Charlie Haddon took a catch at deep mid-off to give Sam his second wicket.

After 10 overs, a double change in the bowling saw Caleb Seleka and Jack Plom come on to test the batsmen. Still keeping the run rate consistent, it wasn't until the 17th over that the third wicket fell, when the batsman played a cover drive off Caleb straight to Jack. Their score had doubled at this point, but there didn't seem to be any urgency in their batting. Two overs later Caleb got his second victim, and at the end of the 20th, Jack took a wicket to reduce Old Parks to 77-5.

Caleb took his third wicket in the 29th over, out-thinking the batsman by sending down a quicker delivery and getting him bowled. When he took his fourth wicket from the opposite end, murmurs were starting that he might finally take his first five-wicket haul for the club. Alas, this was not to be and another week of jug-avoidance was attained by Mr. Seleka.

Charlie took his only wicket as their top scoring batsman chased one down the leg-side, and a smart take by Will gave him his third catch of the innings. Those two wickets fell with the score on 142 and a below par total saw the ninth wicket put up some defiance with a 25-run partnership; but Sam came back for a third spell and took the last two wickets in two balls, both clean bowled as a lacklustre score of 167 meant that we had an extra five overs to win the game.

Tom Ballington started aggressively, hitting three fours in the first four overs. This was to be his downfall as a mistimed shot at the start of the fifth over saw him caught at mid-off with the score on 24. There then followed a 66-run partnership between Tom Arnold and Ryan Plom. They started to accelerate from the eighth over to take the game away from Old Parks, helped by some below average bowling. Tom A went the same way as Tom B had done earlier, scoring 38.

Having dis-heartened the bowlers, it was now the turn of Ryan and Caleb to put them the bowlers to the sword with a 50-run partnership in just six overs. During this time, Ryan had reached his second consecutive 50 and was looking totally untroubled. His brother Jack came and went, and it was left to Ryan and Tom Austin to guide us home with a whopping 21 overs to spare. Ryan had scored 72, which included seven 4's and four 6's.

We now have a 10-point lead over Harold Wood and a 35-point lead over third-placed Woodford Wells. Next week sees us reach the halfway point of the season and in the top two. We travel down the road to Bentley in a confident mood.