The dreadful weather of recent weeks has taken its toll on the Tows square. The match pitch was expected to be slow and a challenge for batsmen. So Priors decision to bat on winning the toss either indicated a strong line up or the opposite. It didn’t take long to find out which.

Andy Cater’s first delivery was chipped back to him by Zach George for a simple return catch and next ball Shushrut Nasodka was bowled. The batsmen negotiated the second over from youngster Kyle Dupont successfully but in the third Cater bowled Connor George for a duck. When Dupont had Rob Dakin caught by Tom Sheppard with the first ball of the next over Priors had slumped to 4 for 4.

Up next was Wayne Davis who attacked and hit Dupont for three big sixes but Dupont responded well in his next over and had Dave Hamlin neatly caught by Ronan Hunt.

Davis was looking in no trouble and capable of sparking a revival however in attempting to cut a wide delivery from Cater he was unlucky to get a bottom edge on to his stumps and was bowled for 19.

The remaining batsmen offered little resistance. Under 13 Jack Wright bowled Ash Watts in his first over, Dupont trapped Alan Evans LBW and Dean Stuchbury was bowled by Ronan Hunt.

A heavy shower caused play to be suspended for 10 minutes but when the game resumed Wright bowled Dan Lloyd with his first delivery. Priors had been dismissed for 34 in 12.1 overs.

All the Tows bowlers finished with impressive figures – Cater 4/5, Dupont 3/24, Wright 2/0 and Hunt 1/4. They were helped significantly by the return of Sam Kelly behind the stumps, his ability standing up putting additional pressure on batsmen.

Small targets can result in a loss of focus and so it proved as Tows made heavy weather of their reply. An altered batting order saw Tom Sheppard open with youngster Matthew Woods. Sheppard began with an elegant drive off Ash Watts and Woods played Wayne Davis confidently.

However in the third over Sheppard surprisingly aimed a big shot at Watts and lofted a simple catch to mid off – it was dropped. In sympathy next ball he hit an even wilder swipe to the same fielder and was caught. Four balls later Woods was bowled by Watts as he played across a straight delivery. Tows were 4 for 2.

Michael Alcock was joined by skipper Rob Jones and they set about restoring order in their separate ways. Alcock decided to attack and hit Davis to the leg side much to the bowler’s aggravation. He then attempted a similar tactic against Watts but mistimed a pull and was bowled for 11.

Jones had been batting calmly and was content to advance the score without taking risks. All this changed however when he called Jack Wright for a sharp single and the youngster, failing to make his ground, was run out.

Sanity was eventually restored with the welcome return of Adam Kelly. He joined Jones and they took Tows to the target without any more alarms.

Tows hope to maintain their recent good run next Saturday when Hanslope are welcomed to Greens Norton Road.

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