AVCC v All Cannings
Another hot day saw us take on the mighty All Cannings yesterday. Our beloved leader had deserted us to play for some other outfit, I gather they won rather easily but any allegations Simon had shirked off to bolster his averages should wait for the official enquiry.
The stand-in skipper did manage to win the toss and after considering for a nano-second whether to field in 30 degree heat, opted to bat instead. The All Cannings skipper suggested reducing the match to 35 overs due to the heat, and I tried not to show too much relief while reluctantly agreeing. We started the match in good spirits, inspired by hearing that England had sneaked home against Australia by a mere 15 runs.
AVCC put on a pretty good show, starting strongly with an 80 run opening partnership between Dan Thornburn (top scorer with 55) and Tim Gent. Further contributions from Angus Harley (33 in his first innings for us), Mike Parr, Greg Caswell and Peter Williams saw us set a challenging target of 193.
Sadly, not challenging enough. The All Cannings openers put on 129 without offering a single chance that I can remember, despite some solid bowling. Jon Wolverston bowled a great opening spell for only 21 runs off 4 overs and deserved more luck. Warwick Hall's spell was erratic but included some great deliveries and the batsmen actually only scored 8 runs off him, although Warwick will concede they weren't quite sure where the ball was going next. Graham Newland, Peter Williams, Greg Caswell and Rory Plank bowled manfully, with Peter picking up our solitary wicket before All Cannings won with a few overs to spare. We're not saying exactly how many.
We had an enjoyable game of cricket accompanied by an outstanding Tea from Nikki Vesey.