Crabtree CC 80/7 (20 overs)
SJFCC 81/5 (12 overs)
Top performers:
D Boxer 30 runs
I Hazon 24 runs
T Hargreaves 3 wickets
Tom won his first game as midweek captain!
Crabtree won the toss and chose to bat on a warm and muggy evening in Harpenden’s Rothamstead Park. Tom opened with himself, clearly feeling back to fitness and bowled with excellent pace to take 3 early wickets. Hoskins Jnr opened from the other end, bowling just as well but with absolutely no luck. Crabtree were struggling to come to terms with the bowling and exaggerated bounce but were given no let-up as Sasi and Walmsley came on to replace the openers. Taking 1 wicket each, they continued to apply pressure and keep the scoring slow. The Crabtree batsmen started to hit out, taking advantage of a few dropped catches and lucky slices. But Boxer and Hazon bowled 4 overs between them for 11 runs, closing out the Crabtree innings for 81 runs.
Captain Tom continued his master leadership by asking Hazon to open the batting with King. Flashing his blade hither and yon like a drunk Inigo Montoya, Hazon participated in the first 5 partnerships as King, Boughton, Herbert and Lindsell were scalped for a combined 2 runs (surprisingly, both scored by Bungle), before Boxer came in to swash some buckle. Hazon hit a couple of shots borne of a commentator’s dream – a flat-batted, front-foot pull-drive for four, reminiscent of Kevin Pietersen’s more bizarre techniques, and a perfectly straight drive to the boundary. Boxer smacked two big sixes in a commanding innings, before Hazon was bowled and Boxer retired. This left the Hoskinses to take Fishers to victory in style, which they duly did. A big and comfortable win in the end.
Some other things happened during the game, I’m sure anyone will tell you about them if you ask.
Stats corner this time concerns strike rates – the 4 scoring batsmen (sorry Bungle, your 2 doesn’t count) compiled at rates of 114.3, 142.9, 155.6 and 175.0 in turn, highlighting the acceleration in Fishers’ scoring through the innings
