SUNDAY, 30 JULY vs CLAVERHAM COUGARS at CLAVERHAM
Blagdon 262-5, Claverham Cougars 271-2 - Lost by 9 runs


On a sunny day we visited Claverham for the second week in a row hoping to avoid the disaster that struck us the previous week when we lost by 141 runs.

We started well by winning the toss and electing to field first. Our bowling and fielding has done well this year but this week proved an exception. They scored 19 runs off the bat and we gave 52 in wides and no-balls. How does that happen at the end of the season?

Our batting started well with Peter Strong playing some delughtful strokes but Freddie got out to a nasty ball which turned and our first pair ended on 208. Luckily we had only 9 players and they let Will Poweel bat twice. He was on fire and smashed the ball all over the place. Also Harry Coppock had pulled a muscle and needed a runner. That proved amusing as he forgot that he was injured and ran a couple. It reminded me of the Pakistanis a few years ago. Charles Day was his runner as Will dashed off his runs and he was exhausted by the time he batted with Harry S. We were still in with a chance with the final pair of Jack and Will as they stroked the ball around beautifully. Unfortunately, they got carried away and with 4 balls to go went for a risky second run. Still, it was an exciting finish and the crowd were going wild. It also showed what we could do with some positive attitude. We scored 48 off the bat and it was only our poor bowling which determined the match.