Willoughby 1st XI V Charlton 1st XI

Another fine saturday at the green welcoming Charlton CC to the green. Ben Hollis lost the toss and is asked to bowl first.

Conditions were set perfectly for our opening bowlers, Sean Thornton bowling away swing from the pavilion end and Ashley Rayner bowling from the far end. Sean supplying the goods early in the fifth over with a great catch by Dave Alcock in covers. Rayner was causing them all sorts of problems but was unlucky not to pick up a wicket throughout spell of bowling which included 3 maidens on the bounce finishing on 0-41 off 11. Richard Foxon and Dave Alcock replaced the opening pair both bowling a good line and length and kept the scoreboard tight. Foxon was replaced by skipper Hollis after drinks who got the breakthrough in his second over with a delightful ball swinging away catching the edge of the bat and a superb diving catch to first slip which Rayner took the chance. Double wicket maiden in Hollis third over with a excellent catch by young Callum hanks and the other trapping the batsmen LBW. No one still had managed to get the key wicket of Knight who was well set and was ticking the runs over a decent pace finishing on 94 not out. Hanks made his first team bowling appearance debut getting a wicket and finishing on 1-28 off 4. Martin Nichols bowling at the end finishing 0-22 off 3. Dave Alcock 1-27off 8. Charlton 256-6 .

Captain Hollis made a slight change to the batting order with the opening pair of Hassan Nawaz and Ian Andrews. We needed to score fast from ball 1 and not loose wickets early. Nawaz being the hitter and Andrews ticking the runs over nicely we made it to 17 overs before a wicket fell 64-1. Andrews departing on 19 after being bowled. Rayner joined Nawaz in the middle and kept things moving quickly scoring 36 before being triggered LBW. Nawaz also out for a fine knock for 49. Richard Foxon must be a bowlers worst nightmare stood in the crease at the other end, doing what he had to do with some serious big shots taking apart all bowlers scoring a well deserved 60. Stuart Hall sticking around and scoring a good 15. We finished on 215-8.

Another great day of cricket and we are improving every game. Just need to bowl a tighter line and be a bit more sharper in the field and not give away silly runs. A lot of positives once again. Massive well done to Callum Hanks who took a catch and got a wicket in his first team debut.