1sts V Barby

Fillongley 1sts travelled the good distance to table topping Barby hoping to put last weeks disappointment against Weoley Hill behind them. With the inclement weather around conditions the toss was going to be crucial, Chris duly obliged and lost it. Barby did not hesitate in inserting Fillongley. Chris and Rich opened up and seemed untroubled with the pace of Sinclair and after 10 overs were well set on 40 for 0.Then Barby reverted to spin from both ends which caused all sorts of havoc. 40 -0 soon became 51-5 all down to spin. Harry and Pro added 33 before a well set Harry could not quite hit it hard enough and was caught on the boundary. Pro smashed a long hop down mid-wickets throat and Azza soon followed smashing one onto his pads to be adjudged LBW!! Things seems to be heading in the wrong direction and an early finish looked ever possible. This was not on Bren and Bings mind however, the pair batted excellent and produced a record partnership of 81. They both looked in great touch and full of confidence taking the score onto 179 before Andy was caught going for runs in the final over. Well batted Binga. Junior and Bren saw the final over out with Fillongley finishing on a decent score of 185 and in with a chance. It was great to see the lower order batting so well and proves how good we can be. Bren rightly took all the congratulations as he showed his class and and what an asset he is to the team.Well done.

After another good tea, a slightly confident Fillongley took to the field hoping to cause an upset. And this was on the cards as the ever reliable Junior had Barby rocking at 18-3. This unfortunately was as good as it got. Junior finished his spell injured and the other bowlers tried hard and didn't give in but just could not break the partnership of Gleghorn and Edom. The pair batted well and seemed to have the rub of the green with ball dropping between fielders and also Fillongley dropping several catches. Barby got over the line in the 35th over, which seems like a resounding win but didn't tell the whole story. Confidence and team spirit certainly won the day and on another day we could have broke the partnership early. The injury list seems to be growing ever bigger which is a worry and Fillongley will have to pull together as a club to get through this tricky period.
Thanks again to G Moore for scoring.