Shenley Hammered by Rampant 2s

The 2s picked up another vital 30 points this weekend in their push for promotion.

Shenley Village - it has to be said - despite a recent run of good form including beating one of our title challengers last week were ravaged by injuries and holiday season and were not the force they were when we won by 6 runs earlier this season. Sensing a fragile batting unit Tom Flint chose to field at the toss, Hugh Donnelly was back with us again from the 1s this week and was as steady as ever beating the outside edge throughout his spell (1-16), but it was Tristan Barton-Allen who was causing the most problems, attacking the stumps he skittled the oppo captain with his first ball and then dismissed numbers 3 and 4, incredibly bowling 3 wicket maidens in a row!

He collected his 4th wicket in the 5th and despite pushing for his 5fer with lots of close catchers the Shenley middle order saw him off leaving him with the fantastic figures of 4-9. Another jug avoidance for young Tristan who is become a really valuable member of the team and is no longer just in the side because his mum makes us all brownies each week! Hugh picked up a deserved wicket in the last over of his spell and then it was time for our two left-armers to bowl in tandem.

Finian Gibson and Ellis Heath bowled quick and aggressively, Ellis in particular had the number 5 on the back foot. Sensing the sizeable crowd might not get to see Mr Pete Tatakis have a rare bowl the skipper brought Fin off after his 1 wicket for 5 off 2 and Pete and vice-captain Ben Hammond bowled a tidy couple of overs while Ellis cleaned up the tail collecting figures of 3-9. A top class bowling performance backed up by the fielders left us only needing 52 to win.

A quick turnaround between innings, play resumed at 2:30pm with Milton D'Costa and Euan Ferguson opening the batting. Euan, looking visibly tired, battered and bruised after spending the build up to the match paintballing, played like a man in a rush to get back home to bed, 2 crushing blows through the covers and one glance to fine leg we were already a quarter of the way to our target. Euan got sucked in by the loose bowling and when one pitched on his toes it crept under his bat and sent him back to the pavilion for a well made 22 from 15. Milton (17) was not going to be giving his red ink away and he guided us home hitting the winning runs off the last ball of the 6th over with Sameer Patel (5no) just avoiding a TFC on his return to the 2s. Our boys got to enjoy the wonderful tea in the clubhouse with a bottle of beer thanks to a great day with the ball which made light work for the batsmen.

Man of the Match: Tristan Barton-Allen

Words by Tom Flint