Cowley won the toss and elected to bat first on a good wicket at Stroud cricket club, on a muggy summers evening.
We didn't get off to the best of starts as Nick was cleaned up first ball of the innings, playing all around a straight delivery. Barney joined Keith and the pair struggled to find fluency as the overs ticked by. Barney reached 25 (with 4 fours) and retired to add another not out to his impressive batting record for Cowley this season. Dave Holt and Keith continued to get bogged down despite their best efforts to keep the scoring moving along. Dave was caught behind for 6 in the 15th over to bring Ed to the crease. 62 for 1 became 71 for 3 as Keith finally chipped one back to the bowler to depart for 13. The Wades came and went (again), Jonny caught behind for 1 and Phil managing to bag a pair by playing on. Cowley were 83 for 5 with 10 balls remaining. Ed and Tony smashed 33 from these deliveries to drag us up to 116 after our 20 overs, Ed finishing on 17 not out (1 four and 1 six), and Tony 23 not out (from 7 balls - 1 four and 3 maximums from the final 3 balls).
Dave Holt was rewarded for a couple of tight overs as Tony plucked the ball one handed above his head at midwicket to dismiss one opener in the 3rd over. Phil bowled a very nice spell for no reward and the posties kept up the pressure as no's 2 and 3 both retired on reaching 25. Our next wicket was a momentous one as Adrian held on to a nick behind from Eric - giving him his 100th wicket for Cowley. That was the highlight of the innings for Cowley as the posties continued to find the boundary with ease and romped home with 4 overs to spare for an 8 wicket victory.
Cowley continue their habit of coming second but thanks to Tony for some entertaining batting at the end of the innings and hats off to Eric - 100 wickets for the club, what an achievement.