Fletching 2nd XI beat Mayfield 1st XI
On an overcast day at the Wellbrook ground, Fletching mixed sensible and sublime batting with accurate bowling to record their first away win of the season, by 54 runs.
Firstly, the toss; Unbelievably, Ali lost it again! That is now seven consecutive losses in a row from the otherwise captain fantastic, at odds of 128-1! Strong rumours persist that Trevor Brown had backed this event and is living off the proceeds in Tallinn this week.
Anyway, we were asked to bat first. (Again!) It was difficult to gauge what a par score would be in a green-looking wicket that seamed about a fair bit. The boundries were quite short but the outfield resembled a jungle in places; stopping the ball dead on several occasions. The bowling was looking fairly tasty too. M. Cooke in particular bowled with real pace with a nice action. He then proved his fielding qualities with a flying catch at midwicket to remove Brownie with the score on 49.
With the platform set, the imperious Mark Horscroft strolled to the wicket…and then strolled back again, his wicket having been broken by an absolute jaffer from Mayfield’s Parker! He chose to umpire shortly afterwards, ostensibly to gain some time in the middle.
With the ball seaming about and swinging prodigiously, Fletching’s batsman struggled for runs throughout the innings. The exceptions to this were another swashbuckling innings (42) from the magnificent Andy Fitgerald and a very sensible and technically correct 54 from Andy Horscroft. Both would have been closer to three figures had the outfield been of a reasonable standard.
Fate then conspired against Mayfield for the first time as all-rounder P D’aguilar damaged his knee in the delivery stride and went down in a heap. He recovered from what looked like a fairly serious injury enough to be helped from the field and later to bravely bat at number 11. Best wishes for a speedy recovery from all at Fletching!
Mark “the oracle” Horscroft opined that 160 would be a defendable score, so when Michael Cass and Disco Junior took 9 runs from the last two balls of the innings to take Fletching to 172-9, hopes were suitably high during the tea break. Morale had fallen slightly some 10 overs later, with the score on 51-1 and Mayfield’s T Robertson looking in mighty impressive form. Capricious fate then favoured Fletching again when it rained for 9 minutes and juiced the pitch up nicely!
Rob Atkin was the main beneficiary of the slicker playing surface. His sustained spell of accurate bowling leading to 4 wickets (all bowled) and he topped this with a run out; a direct hit from fine leg.
Disco Junior and Ali chipped in with 2 wickets apiece as the Fletching attack began to impose itself. Prodigal Chris Hartup, who had hitherto been bowling on a good length outside off-stump, remembered the method of getting wickets in 2nd team cricket. His leg-stump full-toss was smashed straight to Michael Cass at square leg who gratefully held on for Fletching to win by 54 runs.