Result: Hadleigh (84-6) lost to Rayleigh (109-7) by 25 runs
The second match of the season was a midweek re-arranged cup match away to Hadleigh. Thankfully, the weather was glorious and the pitch and outfield bouncier than Sunday’s affair at Rawreth. The Hadleigh skipper won the toss and inserted Rayleigh.
Rayleigh, with a changed batting line-up from Sunday got off to a poor start against some good opening bowling. Two early 4s from Matt belied what was to follow as Rayleigh sank to 12-4 off of 3 overs. That brought Conor to the crease and in conjunction with opener Max, they put on 60 runs for the 5th wicket to steady the ship. Max fell for 11, but Conor went on to make 35 not out, including a big 6 over square leg. Further quick runs and some expensive extras enabled Rayleigh to post a score of 109-7.
Rayleigh got off to the best possible start with Matt taking a wicket with the 1st ball of the Hadleigh innings. He did the same in his next over, but despite this, Hadleigh were ahead of the required run rate at the end of the opening spell. 4 tight overs from Conor costing just 8 runs began to bring the run rate under control. The tide firmly swung when Max (2-7) had their top scorer caught by Conor for 21 and excellent back up bowling from Calum (0-8), Henry (1-1), and Owen (1-5) saw Rayleigh comfortably home in the end by 25 runs.
A much better effort all round. There was a bigger total than Sunday with fewer dot balls and more boundaries with the bat, and all 10 outfield players contributed with the ball. There were no droppped catches and a good start behind the stumps from Harry. The 2nd round quickly follows – away to Pegasus & Corringham on Sunday, where hopefully, the boys can continue to improve.