2s Lose Second on the Bounce

West Herts were our opponents as we hoped to get back to winning ways after a disappointing week at Little Berko, we came out on top in a close game earlier in the season and since then the Watford based side have surged up the table - only losing once since. It was a much changed side from the team we defeated back in May and we won the toss and decided to have a bat on the hottest week on record. Milton D'Costa was called up from the 3s after posting some big scores this year replaced the unavailable Euan Ferguson.

Milton took his opportunity with both hands, attacking the opposition seamers on his way to 52 at better than a run a ball, unfortunately he was caught by a great catch at square leg which put an end to his entertaining innings. Rohan Patel played nicely at the other end before he was dismissed for 16. Then came the collapse, a decent spinner had us in knots, 3 wickets in an over which should have included a hat-trick if not for the keeper putting a chance down. This had us staring down the barrel at 70-5 having been 55-0 a few overs earlier.

Captain and vice captain Tom Flint and Ben Hammond set about trying to rebuild and although he rode his luck early on thanks to some questionable fielding in the slips Ben Hammond played a superb knock making a fine 51, Tom made 27 before he was bowled trying to send the ball to cow corner. With some help from the lower order Ben pushed us to 183 and although below par we thought we had a defendable total.

Unfortunately for the first time this year we didn't bowl as well as we could, conditions were tough for the boys and we didn't give them enough runs to build pressure on a great day for batting. Few chances were created against a fine West herts top 4, only 2 wickets were taken, one each for Eddie Cox and Tommy Spratling as they made light work knocking off the runs after 32 overs.

Man of the Match: Milton D'Costa

Words by Tom Flint