DEFEAT FOR THE 4s AT DATCHWORTH

We arrived at Datchworth in confident mood after consecutive wins and on a windy but sunny day were put in to bowl first optimistic that we could make it a hat trick of wins.

Jack Phillips opened the bowling with debutant Vipal Golpal and did well but were punished when they strayed off line. Vipal got his first wicket for the club and we picked up a second with a fantastic run out by Richard Grice but we were still leaking runs at a quick rate. Tim Ellis and Richard Grice came into the attack and slowed the rate considerable and Ellis was rewarded when you drew an edge well held by Shaun Harris. More wickets fell with Scott de le Fuente and Andy Silvey claiming 2 each but the boundaries kept flowing and Datchworth ended up on 263-7.

We went into bat knowing we could play positively and started well with Sanj Thanghia and Shaun Harris knocking the ball into the gaps but disaster struck when Harris injured his thigh and had to retire and Sanj was caught so all eyes were on our youthful 3 and 4 Dylan Grice and Lewis Taylor and they both put the bad ball away and kept the score ticking over until Dylan was out for a solid 27. Andy Silvey was next into bat and was soon out to a very good direct hit for a run out and Jack Phillips was out soon after unluckily playing on for 10. Richard Grice was next man in and played very well accelerating the scoring and in the meantime Lewis Taylor had made his way to his maiden 50 including a towering straight six. Going into the last 10 overs we needed 80 and were in the game but unfortunately wickets fell at regular intervals as we went for it and finished 50 runs short.

A disappointing loss but lots of positives to take with a good batting performance and our highest score for over 3 years with good individual performances from Lewis Taylor with 71 and Richard Grice with 34.