Double header for us this weekend - league game Saturday and SC Challenge Cup match on Sunday.
League game was between top two from last season (my team were runners-up). We lost toss and were asked to bat on a cold & overcast day. Cue stuttering top order which had us about 60-7. A great partnership of just over 50 had us end on 118-8. About 20 runs short, we thought.
Our bowlers did a great job and regularly picked up wickets, eventually taking the last with the opposition all out on 103. Will be hard to see the league title going to a team outside of the two of us. Hopefully, we get the title this year but a long way to go.
Most of the (sore) bodies doubled up for the cup game on Sunday. A slight delay due to rain meant the scoring was going to be low on this ground - the outfield was attempted to be cut in the morning but the volume of rain put a stop to that. A par score is usually about 220.
We won the toss and asked opposition to bat - which could've been dangerous considering their opening bat scored 230 in the previous round. Luckily, we got him lbw for under 10. Although wickets were hard to come by, the run rate was low. A fine 49 by their captain the highlight of their innings. I never bowl, so for my captain to throw me the ball and ask me for a couple of overs was a shock. Eight overs on the bounce told me I was going to be in agony today (I am). We restricted them to 131-5 off their 40.
Our chase started slowly but we kept wickets in hand. At the half-way stage, we were about 50-1. A couple of wickets saw the run rate accelerate. A partnership between myself (19no) and our number three (62) of 44 in 7 overs turned the game in our favour. We got home with 6 balls to spare to progress to the quarter finals - and a 400 mile round trip to come to play the game!