After A dry week at the hospital the weather gods thought they would provide us with some drama and a bit of Friday night / saturday morning rain just in time for the start of the league season!
But with an excellent wicket prepaired by Troake junior (as always) the excellent drying conditions meant that the game could get under way at 1.20pm. A common trend of last year was the skipper losing the toss, and this run continued with an under strength (according to there skipper Fussell) Machen, inserting Whitchurch on a slightly damp surface!
Matthew Perrett (54) and Alex Webb (29) put on a solid opening 86 partnership, just the start we needed in any conditions, let alone damp, but with both getting bowled in quick succession (not ideal) and an extremely rare duck from skipper David Tibbs (which can happen early season!), plus a poor shot from last years second team captain Richard Hopcraft, Heath were reduced to 92/4.
Dave Jones (49) (steady as ever) , and the usual quickfire Michael Richards (29) put on 50 before Donk was caught at extra cover. Debutant Carwyn Jones (using his skippers gear) then decided to copy him by getting caught behind the wicket for a Duck..(should have collected tea money). Next, another debutant Daham Perrera and his work colleague Dave Jones put on an excellent 60 odd partnership, with the superb running between the wickets and Dave opening his shoulders being the key, further double figure scores by Kristian Rogers (21no) and Mohit Bhargarva (15no) pushed the Heath total to a marvelous 256 (maximum batting points achieved). All in all a top team batting effort described as one of the best seen in the 1st 11 for a while by the skipper, it shows that when regular run scorers fail there are numerous batsman down as low as 10 to chip in to achieve a good total.
Machens batting started off with a flurry of boundaries but once the 2 openers and there skipper fell to Perrera ( 3 for 28), Rogers (2 for 26) and Richards (1 for 38) the high Heath total never looked within there reach(especially after a few shrewd bowling changes from skipper David Tibbs,where on at least 2 separate occasions bowlers took a wicket in there first over!!!) a steady 5 overs from Michael Ley (0 for 7 from 5) too tired after those 5 mind, plus Mohit Bhargarva Chipping in with (3 for 19 off 5) and a run out, Machen were finally bowled out for 122, a full 134 runs behind the mighty Heath!
Maximum 20 points gained and top of the league, well done guys !!