Course chase down Crescent's 224

We stuck with the recent plan at Course to field first and set a target. Dmitri was unlucky to get one that bounced on him a little finding his leading edge in the second over.
It was great to welcome new legs to the team in the form of Nick H and this paid dividends as Nick (28) and Joe (90) put on a hundred partnership. Joe played especially well, respecting the good deliveries and punishing anything loose. Joe chalky up his Crescent top score but unfortunately fell just short of a deserved first Crescent hundred.
Terry and Liam fell in quick succession without scoring; this brought Matt (66) who was skippering for the day to the crease. Matt hit two sixes to take him back to the top of the Crescent six hitting league. We were able to score quickly in the last 45 minutes finishing on a respectable 224, which was great effort and a descent total for Course to chase.
Simon (2-55) and Mike (1-45) opening the bowling both having a long 12 overs spell. Simon took his first wickets of the tour and deserved more. For Simons’ second wicket Michael took a stunning catch at deep midwicket to remove the always dangerous Dannatt.
At the 20 over stage the score stood at 86-2 with Course needing a further 140 to win as light persistent rain began. Opting to stay out Michael (1-49) and Joe (0-46) both bowled good spell and were backed up brilliantly in the field, Rob in particular deserves a mention and thanks to Matt W for helping out. Course however continued to score at around the required rate as their number 5 started to find his feet, 2 weeks ago he scored 225 not out in a league game!
The breakthrough was almost made as Terry attempted a spectacular diving catch at deep square, the watching spectators were in disbelief at how far he got off the ground. It was a shame Rick didn’t have his camera on hand to capture the moment.
Despite our best efforts Course batted well and picked off the occasional bad ball, and reached the target with around 2 overs to go.
It was a great effort by everyone both to set a competitive score and then to give everything in the field especially given most of us were playing our third game of the tour.

Crescent XI – Gatford, Morgan, Hollands, Geary, Garoghan, Lawson, Pomfrett, Brown, Lang, Wood S, Wood M.