1st XI Match Report - 25/6/22

1st XI Captain, Ben Hawker, tells the story of our victory on Saturday.

Burghill made the long journey to Hackmans Gate on Saturday to complete the first half of the season's fixtures. With a little rain in the air, the skipper was delighted when the coin landed in his favour for only the third time this season and had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat first.

The opening bowling combination of Ben’s (Spells & Hawker) once again kept things tight, with the Burghill batters struggling to get the ball away. On countless occasions the ball beat the bat or found the inside edge before Hawker was rewarded as Geoff Day took a catch at mid off.

Overseas twirler Akshay was introduced into the attack and almost immediately thought he’d picked up the league’s leading run scorer for a poultry score. However, the Burghill players on umpiring duty at the time clearly didn’t hear the loud edge behind, nor the fact the batsman was a couple of yards outside the crease when Parker whipped the bails off.

At drinks, Burghill were well set on 101-1. That all changed following the resumption as Akshay picked up 2 wickets in an over thanks to two fantastic slip catches from Robbie Lee. Youngster Cameron Harvey then removed the remaining opening batter for a well compiled 37, leaving Burghill reeling slightly.

Rob Lee’s introduction into the bowling attack bore fruit immediately as he picked up a wicket with his first ball. Wickets began to tumble from both ends as Lee and Akshay tore apart the lower order of the Burghill line up, aided by some poor shot selection from the batters.

When Lee bowled the Burghill number 10 for a duck, the innings finished on 149 all out, a quite remarkable turnaround from 101-2, Lee ending with figures of 4-8 and Akshay 4-45, both narrowly missing out on 5 fers.

Openers Day and Price set about chasing the total down after the tea interval and a combination of some friendly bowling and good stroke making saw the openers take the score to 79 before Day was caught behind off the spinner. Charlie Stanley and Price batted nicely together, with the latter recording another half century before he misjudged the length of the ball from the spinner and was stumped.

Pardoe, Hawker and Parker all departed cheaply as the Ton’s made hard work of chasing the total after being in such a good position. However, Spells and Ranasinghe ensured that Belbroughton would record the victory that their performance deserved, Ranasinghe smashing the ball to the fence before practically sprinting from the field in an attempt to get to a house party as promptly as possible.

BT&W CC – 149 All Out (42.5 Overs)

Belbroughton CC – 152/6 (44 Overs)

MVP – R Price (90 Points)