Shoreham 195 for 8
Halstead 150 all out
- Shoreham won by 45 runs

On a hot and humid August Sunday Shoreham looked to get early runs, getting to ten overs with only the loss of Alex Haysler (5). Good contributions were made by Paul Styles (21), new kolpak wicketkeeper Dhana (20) and other debutee James Martin (17) to leave the home side 69 for 4 after 24 overs. Steve met Jamie Bromfield at the crease. After 31 overs, Shoreham were 140 for 4, with Steve (65) and Jamie (32) putting the other batsmen at ease and allowing cameos from George (12) and a comical partnership between Danny Setterfield (6*) and Russell Brooks (5*), with the two of them almost knocking each other over in the middle of the crease, and included Danny hitting a sumptuous cover drive to end the proceedings. The shot of the innings goes to Danny, but for a premeditated defence off a juicy full toss. The elated team were soon tucking into a juicy tea supplied by the Rivett clan, before heading back out in search of those crucial 10 wickets.

Things started well for the home side, with some electric fielding coupled with thunderous pace bowling from openers Steve and Jamie (8-3-18-0) left the opposition miles behind the run rate, and with Steve picking up the first wicket. Dan Setterfield (5-2-6-2) and Alex Haysler (3-0-20-2) then began to bowl in tandem, reducing Halstead to 55 for 6 with some good bowling from Jack Rivett (3-1-6-1). However, the opposition put together a defiant partnership to get Halstead to 120 for 6 (you don’t want another over do you George?) before the breakthrough was achieved by new recruit James Martin (4-0-39-1) with some tight bowling from Captain Pat (2-0-2-0), before Steve (6.1-2-11-4) came back on to clean up the tail. This left the highly successful Sunday side with another momentous victory to add to the collection before heading to the pub to talk about World Economics – ask Pat.

- Alex Haysler

Posted on Friday, 21st August, 2009 in Friendly Match Reports.