Fairview 112 for 6 off 20 Overs
Rayleigh 108 all out off 19.2 Overs
Fairview won by 4 runs.
Team: Christian H (Capt), Luke K, Gideon H, George B, Nick B, Nathan H, Lloyd S, Conor S, Dan H, Tom G and Matt C.
Our first League outing of the season was a local derby at Rawreth Lane against Fairview. Asked to field first having lost the toss we opened the bowling with Luke, who struggled for rhythm early on and Nathan, who worked up good pace and accuracy. A wicket apiece brought the better batsmen to the crease and although the run rate never got away from us (the first boundary not coming until the 10th over!) we never made any significant inroads into the opposition batting. This coupled with a healthy rash of wides (9) and no balls (3) saw Fairview to a total of 112–6 in their 20 overs. On the whole the fielding was sound, with the highlight being yet another excellent trademark catch from Dan H.
Special mention to stand-in wicketkeeper George who was given a fairly torrid time by some of the bowlers unable to adjust their line to left and right handers — something to work on in training!
And so to the batting effort which was a real stop/start affair. We were always up with or ahead of the required 5.6 runs per over but lost wickets on a regular basis to a succession of poor shots and bad running. No one batsmen dominated but many chipped-in (Nathan 16, Luke 16, George 12 and Gideon 12) such that with 4 or 5 overs to go we were the bookmakers favourites needing barely 5 runs an over and having wickets in hand. But self destruction followed and we entered the final over needing 5 runs with only two wickets in hand. 1st ball … run out … 2nd ball … run out … game over !!
And the moral of the story? Beware the team wearing trainers, particularly black trainers!