The eagle eyed will have noticed that despite playing, Sam was not captain for this fixture. This followed an unfortunate incident involving a nail and his foot, forcing him to consider replacing the absent President as Scorer and asking Mike Eadon to step-up as Captain. However, once at the ground the smell of the grass and the look of the crease meant Sam was unable to resist the urge to take to the field. The only question was how Mike would respond to his captaincy responsibilities under Sam’s gaze….?

The home team won the toss and put Napton into bat.
Tachbrook’s opening bowlers got an early breakthrough with Chris playing down the wrong line when there were just 3 runs on the board. Mike Eadon then joined Mike Nyren at the crease and the two of them settled down to scoring a steady rate of runs against some tight bowling, before Mike N was bowled in the 19th over with Napton’s score at 66. After a brief cameo by Callum, Stuart joined Mike for the best part of 20 overs. Their time together was marked by some excellent running between the wickets punctuated with a smattering of fours. Indeed, Mike brought up his ‘50’ with three successive shots to the boundary. However, Stuart is not as young as he once was (as he often reminds us!) and Mike’s call for a sharp single left Stuart with a bit more to do than was possible and the resulting slide/tumble/crash saw him retire hurt on 28.

The much anticipated arrival of Ross Ritchie to the Club showed him to be another good asset and he partnered Mike who went on to score his century. This is a great achievement for Mike and testament to the continued improvement in his already formidable cricketing skills. Clearly he also sensed the significance of the landmark achieved and was out without further scoring. It is also noted that the injured and displaced Sam then came to the crease and clattered 14 off the last over!

Napton completed their allocated 40 overs on 184-6.
Mike Eadon 100 runs 12 boundaries inc 1 six
Stuart Alsop 28 runs 0 boundaries - retired hurt
Mike Nyren 20 runs 3 boundaries

After an excellent tea Napton took to the field. A steady flow of wickets saw off Tachbrook’s opening batters. Some tight and aggressive bowling from Chris did the early damage, with Ross and Mike E taking excellent catches (the latter under strict shouted instruction from Chris!). Mike E then took the ball and in two spells had two chances of hat-tricks, each of his four victims succumbing to ducks! In all Napton used 7 bowlers with no one going for more than 4 runs per over. One Tachbrook batter remained up to the task and scored 41 but he ultimately ran out of partners with their score at 84.

Chris Gooderham 8 overs 3-20
Mike Eadon 4 overs 4-16
C Tuck 5 overs 1-23
R Pelter 5 overs 0-12

So how did Mike Eadon respond to his responsibilities? Not too bad, not too bad at all!