No wins from the first 2 games was not the start Rawdon’s newly formed 6 a side cricket team were looking for and they arrived at Headingley indoor school on Tuesday night determined to put this right.

Skipper Jake Hodges decided to freshen up the side, bringing some necessary variety in to the bowling attack to improve his wicket taking options (which to this point had been exclusively run outs). In to the side came debutants Joe Smith, and fresh from having his action cleared by the ICC at Loughborough last week, Henry “he’s throwing it” Scanlan, replacing GP and Ducky. The rest of the side remaining unchanged, Hodges, Unit, Nicko and Dyer

I didn’t pay attention at the toss, but I am going to say Hodges won it and made the bold decision to bat on what had proved at times a difficult deck the previous week according to Unit (he had claimed the home of Yorkshire CCC state of the art indoor facility “wasn’t quite coming on to the bat”)…however Hodges was confident that it looked a belter and off we went.

Taking it a little more seriously this week from the “whoever puts their pads on the fastest” method of selecting the order the previous week, skipper Hodges and Harry Nicholson made their way out to the wicket. With his own team talk ringing in his ears of “make sure to hit the gaps”, and “don’t just try to hit the back wall” Hodges instead decided to tee off and drill every ball he faced. After some early success, one flat footed waft too many was to prove his undoing as he holed out at mid-off.

New boy Scanlan joined Nicholson at the crease and they set about building a productive stand as the score raced past 40 within 4 overs. However 3 quick wickets had LICS (a contention for the worst named team I have ever played against) well on top as both settled batsmen went (it won’t shock you to learn Scanlan was run out), and Unit quickly followed suit. With Rawdon 60 for 4 with 4 overs left some rebuilding was needed.

Luckily Joe Smith batted with calm authority, finding gaps and running hard, and with Dyer using his usual technique of working any ball possible to mid-wicket Rawdon built up a decent score of 103 for 5 off their 10 overs.

In reply the opposition struggled to get going. Miserly opening overs from Hodges and Nicholson backed up by some keen fielding kept them in check. Smith and Scalan continued to up the pressure (Henry putting a few shouts of “no ball”, and “he’s not allowed to throw it umpire” to the back of his mind) as LICS were now in big trouble at 28 from 4 overs.

They cracked, and the wickets then began to tumble. “Mystery Spinner” Dyer (to clear it up I have been bowling very slow "seam up" each week not leg spin) made the break through with a cleverly disguised full toss providing a simple return catch.

LICS then lost wickets at regular intervals. Nicholson with a direct hit run out and a clean bowled. Smith a debut wicket, and Dyer another shin high full toss and great grab by smith. With 40 needed from the last over the game was finished, and a run out from the final ball sealed the comprehensive win. Onwards and upwards!

Player Ratings

Jake Hodges – showed early aggression with the bat to get the board moving, and was unlucky to go wicketless with the ball

Harry Nicholson – batted well, needs to put the reverse sweep back in the bag. Bowled with real pace at times, and HIT THE STUMPS FOR A RUN OUT!!!!

Henry Scalan – Solid debut, struggled at times to find the boundary net but got going towards the end. Bowling was stead away, and left arm angle added good variety. Didn’t seem comfortable being so close to the bat when fielding

Mark “Unit” Stringer – Didn’t fall through a fire door...

Paddy Dyer – went his closest this season to going through a cricket / football game incident free…ruined it by threatening to “mankad” an opposition player with victory already sealed

Joe Smith – helped provide Rawdon with a competitive first innings total and bowled with excellent control. Great catch as well in the field