The men of Napton assembled at Ashorne Cricket club on a sunny May afternoon. Or at least, most of them did. The author of this report missed the first over the match having spent the morning canoeing on the River Avon. Ashorne is a very scenic ground, indeed perhaps the most visually appealing of all the grounds we play at. Nestled in a bucolic setting on the edge of the village, the ground slopes down towards a stream which runs in front of the pavilion. The wicket is also one of the most bizarre that we play on, with its undulating surface making for some variable bounce. I believe that we lost the toss and were put into bat, although I missed this aspect of the game. Nyren once again opened, but was joined by Ed SHillitoe. Shillitoe played some truly magnificent shots, his clean hitting style is exhilarating to watch and the ball really does some to rocket off his bat to the boundary. Alas, his bold game plan resulted in a very unusual dismissal as he charged down the wicket to swipe at a beamer, only to miss it and end up stumped. This started a full on collapse for Napton as 30-0 became 56-5. The opening bowlers for Ashorne were most effective, gaining appreciable swing and bowling in good areas. Sam Sensecall having earlier survived a very adjacent leg before appeal, led the rebuild. His intelligent and cautious play saw off the last overs of opening bowlers before cashing in against the change bowlers. At the other end Stuart Alsop was as technically immaculate as ever and the two combined to add 63 runs before Sensecall was bowled by a sharply turning delivery. Alsop kept the innings going and, with varied support from the other end, he was largely responsible for carrying Napton to 165.

Napton 165-9 off 40 overs
S. Alsop 46*
S. Sensecall 27
E. Shillitoe 23

There next came the most controversial element of the day. There was no tea. Napton players were required to provide their own victuals. A most disappointing occurrence from Ashorne, who outwardly appear to be a thriving and successful club. And so to the defence of our score. The men of Napton must have realised they were a little short with their total, but the bowling was tight. Max Nyren, Mike Eadon and Stuart Alsop combined to produce a most economical start and after 11 overs Ashorne were 38-1. Nyren accounted for the first wicket thanks to a superb reaction catch by Alsop in the slips. Although the bowling was good, we were unlucky and the pitch also seemed to have flattened out. The Ashorne batsmen moved onto the attack. Sensecall did account for one of them, Alsop providing another great diving catch, but by now the score had moved on to 96-2. The Ashorne number 3 batsmen was really into his stride by now, with one of Ed Shillitoe’s overs being mauled especially badly. Shillitoe did get his revenge though, as he caught the batsmen in the deep off one of James Cooke’s dibbly-dobbilies. Shillitoe managed to account for another of the batsmen lbw, but Ashorne breezed past Napton’s total with 6 overs to spare.

Ashorne
168-5 off 40 overs.
Sensecall 2-17
Max Nyren 1-20
Cooke 1-17

Shillitoe 1-22 Napton’s failure to get enough runs on the board can mainly be put down to the curious pitch, with the variable bounce and pace being tough for our batsmen to handle. Next week will be our first home game of the season with all the players eagerly looking forward to having a tea again.