Barry won the toss and elected to field. After the team huddle and inspirational team talk by Bazza, Noman and Zain opened the bowling but struggled to find a good line and length.

Benfleet were going like a train at around 90 for 0 and then with a stroke of luck the heavens opened and play was interrupted. During the interval Cologne entertained us all by demonstrating his superior teaching skills trying to explain the rules of the Tour de France and why you deliberately don’t pick your best/fastest cyclists in order to win the race.

Confused? So were we...

Anyway the clearing of the rain brought a change of fortune for the Green with Mohammad bowling an excellent spell of spin bowling and claiming two wickets just after the break to get the ball rolling.

Cossey, Assad and Sahir backed it up with great bowling spells and despite dropping four catches Benfleet were bowled out for 215.

After tea H and Barry opened the batting and after an aggressive opening partnership of 96 Barry decided to give mid-off a bit of catching practice. With the game setup for a win and the Green in a good position the Green do what they do best and had a collapse.

H got a shooter which broke his stumps, Amish dollied up a full toss to cover and Joe Hawkes missed a straight one in quick succession.

With the Green teetering on the edge, in came Jack Cossey and Sahir who steadied the ship and with superb batting got the Green to within 25 runs. Then Jack on the cusp of another 50, holed out to long off.

In walked Cologne who had been having kittens waiting to bat and muttering he was going to knock the runs of with “tip and run”. A tragic run out was on the cards but thankfully that didn’t occur and Sahir and Cologne saw the Greens home with overs to spare.

Champagne moment:
There were a few….Barry diving full length and almost taking the catch of the season at mid-off on a muddy outfield which ruined his pristine white trousers (that’s commitment!).

Cologne hitting a 6 for the winning runs but the winner has to be Butterfingers Zain who much to everyone’s surprise finally held on to a catch at Gully! May it be the first of many!

Man of the Match:
Toss up between Cossey and Sahir. Probably go for Cossey for the four wickets and 40 odd runs. Blatant jug avoidance!

All in all a good win for the 2s but as the old saying goes “catches win matches” and if we keep dropping them like we did the 2s may still struggle.

In other news this week....
WGCC 1XI suffered a major collapse in their chase of 170 against Benfleet 1XI and were all out for 127 putting a major dent in promotion hopes for the season.

WGCC 3XI demolished local rivals Hainault and Clayhall CC by bowling them out for 94, with M.Bhatt picking up a career best 8 wickets for 22 in his spell. Remarkable performance with the Green holding their position at the top of the league.