Willoughby VS Irthlingborough

After a mammoth chase last weekend Willoughby arrive at Irthlingborough with no fear atall. Irthlingborough were rolled last weekend for 56 and surprisingly elected to bat first. Skipper Hollis was happy as he was going to bowl first on a green uneven well used track.

Mark Fell (0-41) and Callum Hanks opened the attack and were in the grove from the off. Irthlingborough reached 46 before loosing their first wicket with a good catch in the covers by Dan Farrow and then lost another another wicket leaving them 57-2. Stuart Bonthuys (26-1) and Dan Farrow (32-3) were brought into the attack and produced a good spell of bowling and kept things tight in the middle overs. Parker (48) and Trott(73*)steadied the ship for Irthlingborough and put on a solid 60 run partnership before Parker was dismissed by Scott Cluley (18-1) 117-3. Archie McMillian ( 19-0) had a 5 over spell causing all sorts of issues for the batsmen but unfortunately didn't get his name in the book. Farrow and Hanks were brought back into the attack while Irthlingborough tried to increase the run rate towards the end of their innings. Hanks struggled to get the ball swinging again but finished his 10 over spell (45-1), Farrow managed to get 2 wickets in 2 balls and Irthlingborough ended their innings on 190-6.

Hassan Nawaz and Callum Hanks opened the batting and got things off to a flyer, Nawaz dispatching balls to the boundary with ease and reaching his half century inside 9 overs, Hanks played a important role supporting Nawaz knocking the ball around and picking up some runs himself. Nawaz played one to many aggressive shots and was caught for a well made 75 off 45 balls including 17 4's and left Willoughby 114-1 off 12 overs. Ashley Rayner (23*) joined Hanks in the middle and kept the strike rotating scoring runs without and trouble. Hanks made 46 before also being caught in the deep. Kurusala added a good quick 20 before a fine low catch in the deep. Hollis added 10 before being triggered and was given out LBW. Young Ambrose Smith Deery scored the winning runs in style with a reverse scoop which went for 4. Willoughby finished on 190-4 off 27.5 overs.

Another win some sloppy fielding but plenty of positives going into the big game next weekend against Mears Ashby who are second in the league one place above Willoughby. Who ever wins goes second and is in the driving seat for promotion. That's 8 wins out of 8 for Willoughby's first X1 lets keep focussed and stay strong as a team.

Big thankyou to James Andrews who umpired and to some of the second team who travelled the distance to come and give us some support.