Streethouse returned to league commitments at home against a Nostell side that will be looking to build on their mid table finish in 2011. A late change to the published team saw Richard Wild making his season debut at the expense of Steve Bourne.
With conditions damp and overcast, perfect for bowling, Streethouse elected to field first after winning the toss. Wild and Scott Bland opened the bowling looking to create early pressure. Wild was his usual miserly self but it was Bland who struck first, bowling Nick Oram attempting a pull shot but only succeeding in dragging the ball onto his stumps. Wild was soon rewarded for his tight bowling picking up Matthew Rowett caught behind and after a slight disagreement with the decision he made his way back to the dressing room.
The call was made to go to spin early and with Jonathan Hughes suffering from a back injury picked up fielding the ball, captain Richard Vigars turned to spin twins Michael Bates and Alwyn Dyke. Both bowlers built pressure with accurate bowling and Dyke was the first to be rewarded picking up Richard Hardman caught at mid-wicket, this was soon followed by the wicket of much-vaunted all-rounder Lee Hurst caught and bowled with Dyke seemingly being the most surprised man on the field to be presented with a simple return catch.
Bates was finally rewarded for his good work by taking the wicket of James Rowett again caught at mid-wicket. As the Nostell innings began to stagnate with 5 wickets down, captain Steve Reynolds joined opener Jason Garrick at the crease, both players looked to consolidate the innings, slowly picking up singles in an attempt to post a reasonable score. Dyke again struck to remove Garrick for 27 and Reynolds patience finally lapsed to be caught and bowled by Bates for 19. This left Tim Oram as Nostell's remaining hope of posting a competitive total. Oram appeared to struggle early on attempting some big shots but eventually settled in and looked comfortable against the Streethouse attack which had become resigned to throwing the ball up as slowly as possible in an attempt to get Nostell to the magical 140 figure. This total was finally achieved and shortly after Oram fell for a well made 51 caught at slip off Vigars in his first spell of the season. Dyke returned to the attack to finish off the Nostell innings and end up with impressive figures of 4 for 38 and ably supported by Bates picking up 3 for 25. Nostell closing on 150 all out.
Due to Hughes being injured and Bourne not playing, the Streethouse reply opened with keeper-batsman Paul Langley and Martin Rhodes. The pair soon showed this was no downgrade from the usual opening pair, surviving the new ball while ticking the scoreboard along nicely. After the shine had been taken off the new ball the pair looked to accelerate with Langley in particular going after the change bowling with sweeps and delicate cut shots. Rhodes eventually fell caught at long on for 39. Langley continued on his way after being joined by Mark Robinson who fell bowled by Lee Hurst for a brisk 18. With only a few runs left to get Alwyn Dyke also fell caught behind for 7. The game was fittingly ended by Langley who scored an impressive unbeaten 74 to seal maximum points for Streethouse.

Performance of the match: Paul Langley's unbeaten 74 guided Streethouse to the total with no major alarms

Game changing moment: Bates and Dyke strangling the Nostell middle order for runs and picking up timely wickets

Points scored: Streethouse 10 Nostell 2

Written by M.Bates