Willoughby 2nds Vs St Crispin & Ryelands

The 2nds travelled to Harpole CC for a fixture against 4th place St Crispin & Ryelands. The 2nds suffered a poor loss which turned out to be one of those days where nothing seemed to come off during the day.

After losing the toss the opening pair of Matt Cartridge (14) toed a long hop to Mid On and Dave Alcock (15) was left distraught as what can only be described as a grubber of a delivery to be bowled. This years Mr reliable Martin Nichols (1) struggled on the uneven surface which left Ambrose Deery (21) and debutant Matt Sutton (45) to rebuild the innings. Things were looking splendid at 77 for 3 off 20 overs but young Deery fell ill and after coming back in in the latter stages unfortunately couldn't continue playing. Willoughby lost wickets at crucial times with Matt Goss (12) and Yash Sanghani (11) contributing and after a fine diving catch on the boundary to dismiss Matt Sutton Willoughby were all out for an under par 153.

The 2nd innings didn't get much better with luck as after 2 early wickets Yash pulled up and the team were down to 9 able fielders as Ambrose departed early ill. A partnership of 64 for the 3rd wicket had St Crispin in sight with the hacking and slashing ability of Hakes (37) had the team frustrated. After bowling changes Matt Sutton (1-14) eventually dismissed Hakes and Matt Cartridge, Carter (37). The next batsmen had similar luck, chopping, edging and popping the ball up into gaps on their way into the 100's with frustration on the field of play. Rees Moor again bowled a find spell of 1-30 and on another day could and should have had 4 or 5 wickets in the bag. Similar could have been said for Matt Cartridge (1-18). St Crispin eventually were seen home in the 37th over by Tarry (25*) and Smith (42*)

It was one of those games where everything seems to be against the team, but St Crispin were comfortable in the end and pulled off an unlikely victory.