2's get first win in a nail biter!!

Craig lost the toss (more tossing practice during the winter please) and the A's were asked to bat, after last weeks poor showing with the bat the skipper decided to change things around, the new opening pair was Craig himself and Barry Lineker (the youth policy is going well) with Lineker Junior not arriving until 12:30 it was vital that the big shots were put in the locker until he arrived, unfortunately Craig didn't get his own memo and was out early on for 2, Sadiq was next and was out pretty quickly, Lineker Junior was still nowhere to be seen, in came Charlie Nash and he and Lineker Senior put the block on, enabling Lineker Junior to arrive and change, they put on 68 before Lineker Senior was out caught behind for 45, in came Lineker Junior, but it wasn't worth the wait he went LBW for 5. Enter last minute recruit Phil Wise, he and Nashy smashed the balls to all parts with the former using all his hockey skills, Nashy was next out for a well earned 53, putting on 81 for the 5th wicket partnership. The A's then had a little wobble losing a couple of quick wickets, Wisey went for an important 40 and it was now down to Jack 'PT' Southwell and 'Harry' Krishna Bhogadi to get us over the 200 mark, they batted sensibly running the quick singles before making the big shots (PT I don't ever want to see an attempt at a 'ramp' shot again!!) they got us to 212-7 off our 50 overs, PT finished 19no and 'Harry' 6no.
After a great tea by Sue, we went out to try to take early wickets, knowing that Nashy had to leave early, Ali and Ollie opened up, Ollie took the first two wickets with a couple of balls that lifted and moved, Ali bowled without much luck, Lineker Senior came on and slowed the run rate, setting a trap for the left-hander to sky one to cow corner where Lineker Junior did the rest, Rob 'Lizzie' Maguire came on and bowled well taking a couple of wickets, at the 25 over stage Stoke were still well behind the run rate so we knew they had to push on, Lineker Junior replaced Senior and bowled really well with his left arm spin (what the hell has he been bowling his medium pace for over the years!!!) taking two wickets and bowling the closing overs from the park end.
With things getting tense it was time for Ali to come back, he took two wickets including the Stoke skipper who ended with a very patient 66, Lineker Junior finished the game off by bowling the Stoke no 11 in the 50th over.

It was a great win and very difficult to defend with one less fielder after Nashy left, but everyone stood up to the plate, its great to win but there's still quite a lot of improvement required, we need to cut down on our wides when bowling, we are giving away far too many runs, we also need to value our wickets when batting, be selfish!! I know its early days so there's plenty of time to rectify this, we understand with the availability throughout the club we are not going to be pushing for promotion and with team performances like this is don't think we will be looking below us like previous seasons, lets hope so anyway!
Cheers to Ray for Scoring, Sue for the Tea's and to everyone that came along to cheers us on.