1st XI
This week’s game saw us renew rivalry with Wombourne after a number of years apart. Both sides confident of victory after positive results last week.
We lost the toss this week and were asked to bat in what looked like tricky conditions. Sho was removed early but – as is his way – checked his bat was still working on the way off with a tap on the wall! Niall was going strong against his former club and punishing any width but conditions proved tricky for Macca as he edged behind and departed for 3. Maz joined Niall and fresh from some midweek coaching with his idol looked in good touch – even managing a few (2s) – along the way. Niall departed LBW which brought Powlesy to the crease and he and Maz formed a valuable partnership in the middle. Maz, TC, Thomo and Jem all departed in quick succession and when Powlesy ran himself out on 49 we were in trouble on 144/8. Guesty and Haroon added 40 before Haroon ran himself out which brought Kash to the crease and we finished on 189.
Guesty and Haroon took the new ball and it took until the 9th over for a breakthrough when 2 fell in 3 balls, both bowled by the skipper. Kash struck in his first over and we were on top at 32/3. Wombourne then dug deep and the game ebbed and flowed throughout the innings. TC and Powlesy bowled excellently through the middle overs to restrict the scoring and pick up vital wickets. Guesty came back on and bowled Wombourne back into the game getting smashed to all parts. Fortunately Niall and Kash rescued the situation and brought the run rate up whilst picking the 2 important wickets. Sniffing some wickets Guesty came back on and picked up a couple before Kash finished the game off with an LBW to give us victory by 18 runs.
A hard fought battle but an excellent victory against a good side will give us confidence moving onto next week vs Halesowen. The most pleasing thing is people are stepping up when required and helping us to victory.
2nd XI
With several players out including MOM from week 1 and new dad Luke French along with Aqib Rashid, Perm Kalair, Haider and Jem Stack promoted to the 1’s we traveled to new arrivals to the league Sentinel who are based in Shrewsbury. Having lost the toss the opposition decided to bat and posted a score of 216 for 8 off their 45 overs, with D Bullock top scoring with 74 before being smartly run out by Vikai Dass.
Our fielding let us down which included 7 dropped catches. Pick of the bowling for the second week running was Jinda Cheema with figures of 3 for 25 off 9 overs but sadly pulled his groin and calf during the spell making him doubtful for next week. Jinda’s spell was orderly backed up by Zak Shah’s 3 for 42 off 8 and Ryan Flannery’s 0 for 6 off 2 when the opposition were looking to try and bat us out of the game.
Our innings started poorly losing 2 wickets in the first over and being 30 for 4 and against the ropes. Connor Bowdler and Sunny Shah then put on 103 for the sixth wicket before Connor was bowled for 78 after a really good knock. Several overs later Sunny was bowled for 32 and skipper David Perrin playing a irresponsible shot bowled for 13. Having also lost the wickets of Phil Brown and Zak Shah in relatively quick succession, Jinda Cheema had to come in to bat with a runner Vikai Dass needing 42 to avoid defeat with only 1 wicket to fall. Kathryn Whyle showing the steel of a wiley old campaigner and Jinda ‘hop a long’ Cheema saw us through some tense and nervous movements to bring us home with 3 balls to spare and see us record our second win on the bounce. Kathryn’s 29 not out and Jinda’s 16 not for this win has extended the gray hairs on our heads. Knowing we have a lot of work still to do we are pleased with the 20 points.
3rd XI
After a great win last week we was hoping to keep up the momentum. After winning the toss and electing to bowl that momentum was with us. Krishan took 3 wickets in his first 7 overs and Scott took 1 in his 10 over spell. At 20 overs we had restricted them to 60 for 4,
As the game went on catches were dropped, the odd overthrow and sloppiness in the field eventually allowed them to get up to 225-9.nWhich we all believed was 80-100 too many after the start we had. Krishan eventually finishing with figures of 5-49 off 14 overs.
Fordhouses’ turn to bat. A great start out us 57-0 off 10 overs. 2 wickets in 1 over pegged us back. As usual at Fordhouses we like to make things harder for ourselves! Charlotte out bowled 21. Raj out hitting what would of been a wide ball to their keeper. H.Dhinsay leaves one on middle stump suddenly 64-3 still needing a lot of runs. Bellamy and Matty steadied the ship putting on around 40 together.
We come to the last 15 overs needing 50 to win with 4 wickets in hand. Eventually we are 199-9 with Bellamy still at the crease and Jake cousins going into bat. We reach 210, 15 to win.
Jakes eyes light up as one is on his legs as he tries to hit the big runs, he’s caught at square leg. Game over – Fordhouses lose by 15 runs.
Hats off to Michael Bellamy great innings just all gutted we couldn’t stay in for him to hit the winning runs.
4th XI
After losing the toss we were put in the field. We made a good start by getting 2 early wickets. Beacon had a couple of good partnerships to get them to 204-6 off their 50 overs. Ben Clifton taking 2-27. Andy Powell 2-51. Harry Milligan 1-40 and Liam Powell 1-20.
After making a good start to our run chase – Chris Hubball (26) and Steven Capewell (33) – we then got reduced to 97-5. Then an unbroken 108 run stand between Ben Clifton (56) and Derek Clifton (61) saw us home for our 3rd win in a row.
Great start to the season!