Willoughby 2nds Vs Carrib Utd CC

A cold and breezy day greeted Willoughby at The Green with the eagerly anticipated fixture between 1st and 2nd in the table. It was Carrib who came out on top in a close game.

Skipper Ryan Perry asked Carrib to bat with the aim of taking early wickets with the opening partnership of Rees Moor (2-52) and Archie McMillian (3-52). After an early breakthrough they were fortunate not a go further behind, plenty of catches not going to hand, edges and Chinese cuts. Carrib negotiated their way to 75 for 1 before the dangerman Ali departed for 50, the 1st ball after drinks. Fergus Deery (1-for 29) and Dave Alcock (2 for 30) Bowled an economical 20 overs combined, at 114 for 4 off 32 overs Carrib with wickets in hand threw the bat with Raja 41* anchoring the innings. Wickets tumbled at the other end after some heavy hitting from the middle order, Carrib finishing 175 for 9 off 40 overs. Willoughby giving up too many quick singles was costly.

The Willoughby run machine were missing two of their top batters this week and with a broken finger for Ian Andrews and a pulled hamstring for Badj Raham things were though going. Sultan 3 for 16 off 9 overs, steaming in from the pavilion end accounted for the top 3 of Andrews, Martin Nichols and Dave Alcock early on. Ambrose Deery (40) looked to prefer the attacking style with Matt Goss and tucked into the bowling changes and at 103 for 5 off 26 overs the game was back in the balance. Partnerships progressed with James Andrews (15) and Archie McMillian (19) and at 140 for 8 off 34 overs things were getting tense. It finally came down to the final 2 overs with 18 required. Unfortunately Fergus Deery was caught at long on the score on 160.

A tense but frustrating defeat as on another day it would have been a different outcome with injuries to our batters and sloppy close fielding cost the team.