Willoughby 2nds vs Geddington 4ths

The warm late April sunshine greeted the 2nds as they travelled to Geddington for their first game of the 2022 season. With no more than 26 players unavailable for a variety reasons only 9 men travelled away with most of the 2nd team propping up the 1sts with their fixture at home.

The skipper lost the first toss of the new season and were asked to field on a new pitch which was but 18 months old. Nevertheless, Fergus Deery and Ryan Lines bowled with accuracy and guile to create chances throughout their opening spells. With the pitch providing extra bounce the Geddington batters fought but found it difficult and found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 29 for 5 off 16 overs. It was compounded by an injury to the No.4 Groom and an illness to No.10 Knight who looked like they would have provided a sterner test for the bowers. With a change in the bowling Matt Sutton and John Gregson soon found their groove and after some lusty blows from Knight Geddington were dismissed for 43. Fergus Deery 3-10, Lines 2-16, Sutton 3-8 and Gregson 1-3.

After a brief interval pace on the bowling seemed like it was the order of the day as Wardle found extra bounce on the pitch and found himself with 3 wickets in the first 6 overs with James & Ian Andrews as well as a unfortunate duck for Harry Lacey on debut. The experience of Martin Nichols 14* and Matt Sutton 12* saw the visitors to victory within 9 overs. 44 for 3 off 9 overs.