Fletching v Chairman’s XI
On Sunday 26th August Fletching played the Chairman’s XI comprising eleven young and enthusiastic Old Cumnorians. After a delicious lunch at the home of our President John Randle, Patrick Wigan, the captain, won the toss and decided to bat. The early batsmen were tied down by some tidy bowling by the Fletching openers, Rob Atkin and Grant Horscroft with Grant taking 2 for 9 in 6 overs. The rate then accelerated with fluent strokeplay from Chris Atkinson (30) and Ollie Clayton (41) and aggresive hitting by Jimmy Norfolk (22) and Edward Johnstone (32). The tail wagged and the visitors ended up with 220 for 9 off their 40 overs. The Fletching wicket takers were Andrew Grant with 3, Grant Horscroft and Matt Lucas with 2 each and Ali Horscroft and David Pullan with 1 a piece. There was also a tidy spell from Greg Pickard.
After losing an early wicket Fletching advanced steadily with useful contributions from Ali Horscroft (27), Matt Lucas (15) and Greg Pickard (12). A victory for Fletching, however, never seemed a possibility until Grant Horscroft, partnered mainly by Andy Horscroft and Ken Newman, entertained us all with a wonderful exhibition of controlled hitting. He ended up with 86 not out and Fletching with 185, 30 short of the target. If there had been a Man of the Match award Grant would have won it.
The visitors really enjoyed their day and are looking forward to 2008.