Rob Pearce's a hole in Vale promotion hopes!

After Skipper Michael Richards lost his 7th toss out of 8 Vale surprisingly chose to bat even with rain forecast all afternoon and our poor effort with the bat the previous week.
Immaculate line and length from Kristian Rogers from ball 1 (as he has done all season) caused an early retirement of the opening batsman after a blow through the grill of the helmet from a sharp bouncer. Rogers finished with top figures of 2 for 17 off 10. Mo Khan opening from the opposite end put a slightly wayward opening spell behind him to come back with figures of 3 for 38 off 7 overs. Michael Richards steady as ever in replacing Khan early on had figures of 2 for 27 off 10 with 4 maidens. Mohit Bharagava although claiming no wickets also bowled well as per usual, as did recent Blackwood recruit Joey (Marbs) Roberts, picking up 2 for 38 off 10 straight overs. A mention also to in form wicketkeeper David Tibbs who pouched 3 Catches. A half hour shower of rain at the 45 over mark took us off the field at which point we got stuck in to an early tea. The rain stopped for us to retake the field (rather full) and a combination of this, the wet ball and the slippery underfoot conditions caused us to concede a further 40 odd runs in the last 5 overs meaning a total of 202 was achieved by Vale.

With the pitch still greasy on top Raheem fell for 0 bringing Tibbs to the crease. A few wise words from Kristian Rogers umpiring saw Tibbs change a slight technique issue striking 3 quality boundaries and looking like the top batsman we all know. Strange was his dismissal though as his back foot slid out of the damp crease from a simple forward defence.
Rob Pearce at the other end though was looking superb, putting plenty of good and more importantly bad balls away with ease, something we usually struggle to do. No one could stay in with Rob though meaning at one point we were struggling at 115 for 6. Sensible batting from Kristian Rogers though at number 8 alongside Rob meant we were edging ever closer to the victory target but with that possibility off further showers approaching. Rob finally fell for a superb maiden Century amassing 102 runs, leaving skipper Richards to knock off the remaining 15 or so runs with his usual forceful batting.

Congratulations to Rob Pearce, the first hundred in the first team since David Tibbs 100 not out at Ponthir in 2011, just a shame Alan (curly) Pearce his father was'nt there to see it,but he should be proud all the same!