5th Team keeps up record!

We arrived at the picturesque ground in drizzle. It persisted through the afternoon resulting in half a dozen dashes onto the square with plastic sheeting. The match was reduced to 70 overs. The outfield was long and only shots clearing the inner ring made it to the boundary. Dyrham & Hinton won the toss and elected to bat on a mostly dry, yellow wicket. David Peel opened from the top end and Zulkarnain Butt from the pavilion end. The latter bowled a great line and length giving just 10 runs from 7 overs. David’s first spell was tight but his second spell produced three wickets to clean up the innings, including a catch from Dave Peacock that ended his short run of spills. In the middle, Merlin Goldman’s good line with some spin produced three wickets with clean catches including a skier to Richard Harris at long-on. Dan West made good ground to gather one scooped to leg. Newcomer Richard Harris, regretting leaving behind the Spanish sunshine, bowled 5 overs for 16. Chris Giles spell in the middle produced 3 wickets for 29 runs with some excellent yorkers. George Harris and Freddie Edwards completed the bowling. Dyrham and Hinton finished on 151 from 35 overs.

Dave Peacock opened with returning specialist opener Pete Skirrow. The two put on an excellent opening partnership, reaching 48 off the first 10 overs. This included two cleanly hit 6s from Peter Skirrow. However, both went within a few overs triggering a regular loss of wickets. No further player looked truly comfortable against some quick bowling and uneven bounce. Daniel West and Richard Harris both went stepping to the leg side to make room and being bowled. Chris Giles arrived full of confidence but was delivered a sucker punch being drawn into playing an early drive to deep mid-on that was caught by their opening bowler on the line. Freddie Edwards made 3 and Nick Chapman had a golden duck to their left-arm spinner. George Harris and Merlin Goldman stuck around for half a dozen overs but struggled to find any rhythm. Merlin Goldman was bowled trying to hit out to their medium pacer. George Harris and David Peel were bowled by the spinner. Zulkarnain Butt was not out not facing a ball. The 5ths finished on 72 well short of their target after a promising start.