Narrow Defeat to Network Rail

The Midweek XI came a close 2nd in their Midweek League fixture due to poor performances with both bat and ball and a touch of bad luck.
Willoughby won the toss and elected to bat on the plastic which proved to be extremely bouncy! In a bit of an experiment big hitters Ben Hollis & Richard Foxon opened the innings and the plan worked to some extent, mainly due to some very wayward bowling from Network Rail; Ben Hollis holing out for 7 with the score on 42 followed by Ash Rayner with the score on 60 after just 6 overs! Ash dented the edge of his brand new bat to add insult to injury! This began a Willoughby collapse with 6 wickets falling in quick succession and barely troubling the scorer, 4 from the bowling of John Alesbrook who finished with very respectable figures of 4 overs 1 maiden 4 wickets for just 13 runs in an impressive display of seam bowling. It wasn't until Nick Crane, batting at no. 8 got to the crease that Willoughby managed to stem the flow and Nick dug in for a hard fought 15 and Willoughby limped over the 100 mark to finish 103/8 from their 20 overs. Richard Foxon finished with the 2nd top score of 29 behind 36 extras! A disappointing and below par score after such a promising start.

Despite the low score Network Rail's former player, Ben Hollis, assured us that they only had 2 proper cricketers in their team and should be no trouble for our bowling attack. Or maybe 3 or 4? Or was it 5 or 6 at most? Or 7 or 8! :) Richard Foxon and Ashley Rayner opened the Willoughby attack with Rich eventually trapping the Network Rail opener LBW with the score on 38 and bowling their no. 3 two balls later. Simon Nicholls replaced Ash Rayner for a 3 over spell but was unable to make any inroads despite getting the batsmen to pop the ball up several times. The ball rarely went to hand and when it did 2 half-chances were dropped. It fell to Nick Crane to bowl the other opener for 15, picking up 2 wickets from his 4 overs for just 11 runs. However the score was ticking over and neither John Gregson or Ben Hollis were able to stop the runs despite picking up a wicket each. With Network Rail requiring 3 runs from the last 2 overs Simon Nicholls came back on for a last roll of the dice, bringing the field in to stop the singles. Despite picking up 2 wickets for just 2 runs the scores were tied with 1 over to go and the Network Rail no. 8 dispatched Ash Rayner back over his head for 4 first ball of the last over to secure their win.

We underestimated the Network Rail team and struggled to adapt to a bouncy artificial pitch.
Overall a disappointing display with the bat. Our middle order needs to learn to dig in and block the good balls when necessary. Only Nick Crane managed to do it today. Another 20 runs would have secured victory.
25 extras was also the top score for Network Rail and we were punished hard by the 2 runs per wide rule. Our bowlers need to cut out the wides and concentrate on good line and length. More accuracy wins tight games.

Plenty of room for improvement and we look forward to next week's fixture when we return to Fenley Field to play the OL's.