Battisford vs Brockley (Sponsored by New Life TV)

Promotion candidates, Battisford, knew that victory was crucial if they harboured ambitions of pipping Brettenham to second place in the league. Ten man Brockley started brightly, with Sykes (4-15) tormenting the Battisford top order. Meekings (2-26) chipped in with two wickets, as Sykes pulled off a superb one handed catch to reduced Brettenham to 97-9. Brockley were then guilty of taking their foot off the gas. Some bold strokeplay from the Brettenham tail enders, Lancaster (28no) and Fairfull (20), saw the score accelerate to 130, before the innings came to a close in the 35th over.

In reply, all three of our recognised batsmen (McCaffrey, Webb and Meekings) fell victim to Fairfull (3-7) who bowled with exceptional accuracy. After 10 overs, Brockley found themselves 18-3, and things were looking grim. I. Reed and D. Sykes met one another at the crease in unfamiliar circumstances - being far more accustomed to scraping the winning runs or (more recently) batting for bonus points. Slowly, and I really do mean slowly, the first team tail enders started to rebuild the innings, taking the score to 38-3 from 20 overs. This left us needing 93 from 20 overs and it was agreed upon that we should probably try and up the run rate a little. Suddenly, and surprisingly, the runs started to flow and Brockley were back in the game. Reed reached his 50 in the 32nd over, but was caught at fine leg soon after, with the score on 98. Needing a shade over 4 runs an over, Sykes (22) was out the very next over. The new batsmen found runs hard to come by, as Battisford pressed well. Brockley faded with the light, finishing on 110-5 from their 40 overs. All in all, a good game to end a very enjoyable season.

Posted on 11 Sep 2011 by Isaac | click here for a free £25 bet on the cricket

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