It was very hot when the teams lined up and looked like being that way for the rest of the day. With some late changes to the team, we won the toss and promptly elected to bat in ideal conditions. lt was pleasant watching from the cool shade of the pavilion, hoping it would be cooler later in the day when we had to field.
A solid opening stand of 44 was followed by other useful partnerships. Opener Gary Thomson pushed things along with a good 55. Peter Fulton came in first drop and compiled partnerships of 46 with Gary, 43 with Bruce lrvine and 89 with Phi! Harris. He was both the backbone and the highlight, compiling an excellent 94 before succumbing to a combination of heat and an old injury which slowed him down in the closing stages. There was a brief flurry at the finish with Phi! Harris posting a valuable 49 and we seemed reasonably placed at 254 for 6 after our 50 overs. Hawkswood bowled steadily with Mark Rountree picking up three wickets.
Probably the less said about our bowling the better. Unfortunately a strong nor'wester developed and it was a hard slog upwind. Bruce lrvine and Phil Harris toiled manfully into this “breeze” with limited success and Lyn Sparks bowled some useful overs downwind despite being at the wrong end. He didn’t complain. Others also contributed but we were unable to make inroads.
Hawkswood amassed 255 for 2 in just 38.2 overs. Robbie Deans, who scored a century in his first outing for the season, Tom Burrows (40) and Mike Satterthwaite (87 not out) ensured the easy victory for Hawkswood.
Despite the conditions there were some good fielding efforts. The younger brigade of Ben Dormer, Stu Stevens, Simon McFedries and James Ussher tried their best to stem the flow bur to no avail. They were so far away most of the time it was difficult getting messages to them!
Our record against Hawkswood has not been good (they have held the ttophy for some time) and in accordance with tradition the captain was publicly fired at the after match function, as were the match selectors for the day.