It was a fresh looking Shoreham that took to the field and the usual rigorous warm-ups had the opposition quaking in their boots. Pat was so stunned to win the toss that he forgot to delegate the job of lowering the sightscreen and so he had to do it himself.

The bowling was opened by the Shoreham pace attack of Steve and Jamie Bromfield who each bowled very economically and Steve’s blistering pace proved too much for Mason who snicked one into Richard’s waiting gloves. Jamie struck in the next over to dismiss MacDonald for a duck with a well placed yorker. Steve was replaced by new recruit Will Smith who we poached from last week’s opponents Knockers. He immediately riled the men in bat with some brilliant pace and was well assisted by Nigel at the Car Park End. After each taking a well deserved wicket, they were replaced by Dan Setterfield and Howard Atkinson who joined Will as a debutant. Danny got his fifth wicket in five games and Howard bamboozled the batsmen with some crafty off-breaks which were rewarded with a wicket. Sam and George gave us a total to chase before Steve returned to bowled an excellent final over which included 2 wickets to clear up the tail end.

A special mention should go to the fielding of Shoreham which was reminiscent of Jonty in places and Monty in others. George seemed to have holes in his hands but Jamie made up for this with some excellent stops and two superb catches one of which included a full length dive at square leg including a celebration in mid-air. Dan took a solid catch at mid wicket as did Howard on the boundary. Nigel took advantage of a mix-up to claim a wonderful run out while the batsmen had a polite conversation over who was to blame and Patrick took two catches which included a wonder catch at short leg to bring up the ten wickets.

After a successful Setterfield tea, Styles and Jeffrey wandered to the crease and opened up steadily against very tight bowling. The opening partnership of 63 was broken when Nigel fell on 25 and was followed by Nash (13) and Sam (12) whilst Paul (45) steadily built up the runs. The wicket of Sam brought Jamie Bromfield to the middle and he began steadily with a single before hitting 8 consecutive fours. After this quick flurry, the win seemed imminent as Steve (31no) came to join Jamie in the festivities. Unfortunately, Jamie did fall after a well earned 39 which left Smith to finish the innings with 1no. To add to the glory, England had also managed to hold on for an unlikely draw in Cardiff!

- George

Posted on Monday, 20th July, 2009 in Friendly Match Reports.