It was a beautiful hot day at Frenchay Cricket Club and the outfield and wicket looked good. My intention was to win the toss and bat first but unfortunately I lost and we were asked to bowl. When I passed on the news it was clear everyone was disappointed.

Peter Rooney and Adam Burroughs opened the bowling and things did not go well. After 13 Overs Easton Cowboys had smashed 88 runs and there was the look of frustration and disbelief on everyone’s faces. I as the captain was somewhat to blame for this because I continued to bowl Rooney and Burroughs for their full allotted Overs, even though their bowling was clearly not doing the trick. Let it be known that I have now taken into account the advice of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “when plan A fails, have a plan B!”. After the dismal start, Butchy bowled brilliantly to peg back the opposition and only went for 10 runs off 8 Overs. Rohit Sharma and Tom Coles, despite being expensive in the extras column managed to pick up 4 wickets between them which deserves some credit. A special mention though goes to Alex Fudge who was chucked in at the deep end and bowled accurately to get 1 wicket at the death. So there it was with a poor start and moderate improvement towards the end Easton Cowboys managed to acquire a very competitive 217 runs.

The mood at tea time was quite quiet and it was clear that Easton Cowboys had the psychological advantage of having runs on the board. Despite being mentally and physically drained I felt there was still an underlying sense of determination in our team. Surrounded by the darkness of defeat there was a glimmer of light.

The run chase did not get off to a good start with Roger getting a good ball to send him on his way without troubling the scorers. Cameron Hastie and Adam Burroughs then put on a partnership of 80 runs to steady the ship. After Burroughs got caught for a competent 16 runs, Tom Coles came in to face some accurate bowling and did well. In the meantime Cameron continued to play some classy strokes through the covers to bring up his fifty. There was then an increasing rate of runs as Coles started to see the ball well and smashed a number of sixes straight down the ground. Cameron then got out for a brilliant 91 and Rohit proceeded to add to the boundary total scoring a quick 18 before being run out. Another run out followed as I tried to push for two to get Coles on strike. Coles unfortunately then proceeded to get out for a magic 56 runs.

With a quick succession of wickets, the pressure was on and we needed 26 runs from 3 Overs. Harry Church backed up well to get Butchy on strike who then performed phenomenally. He smashed 19 runs off just 8 balls, hitting a six to bring us to victory!
At the point of the winning runs everyone in our team (including the parents) was jumping up and down cheering with elation. Even the people behind the bar came out to see the entertainment. This was an excellent nail biting game of cricket played in good spirit by both sides who appreciated the rollercoaster of emotions.

A great batting performance lads but I’m sure we can improve on the 69 extras in subsequent weeks! But well done for all your contributions, whether it was sitting on the boundary giving support or hitting lots of runs.

James Hemming