Score: Rayleigh (64-3) bt Rankins (60-9) by 7 wickets
Finally some cricket at last! Rayleigh were playing catch-up in midweek, re-scheduled game against Rankins. On a beautiful summers evening, Rankins won the toss and decided to bat. Josh and Matt opened as usual and both bowled well with Josh picking up 2 wickets. This included a fine take by Joe behind the stumps – one of 3 in the match. Conor and Mihir then came on and kept the scoring down, with Conor picking up 2 wickets and 2 maidens in his 3 over spell and Mihir bowling his dangerous namesake and effecting a run out as well. Every other outfield player got a bowl, with wickets for Harry, Henry and Craig as Rayleigh restricted Rankins to 60-9 from their 20 overs.
In reply, Max and Joe put on 45 for the opening wicket through some sensible batting and excellent running as they chased the winning target of 61. There then followed a little wobble as first Max went for 13, quickly followed by Craig and Joe for a top score of 18. It was left to Matt and Conor to see the team home with just over 2 overs to spare.
So, another excellent win. Every outfield player got a bowl and there were seasons best bowling performances from Conor, Calum, Craig and Henry. Joe took 3 excellent catches behind the timbers and then put Rayleigh in sight of the winning line with Max, who went past 100 runs for the season in the process. Hopefully the weather will relent, and enable us to squeeze in the final 2 outstanding games and possibly qualify for the end of season play-offs.