Staffield 1st XI v Edenhall 1st XI

On Saturday we made the short trip to take on our old foe Staffield. The picturesque ground was in perfect condition and after winning the toss we elected to bat first. The innings didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing a wicket in the first over, but what followed was a joy to watch. Darren Collin (155) and Jonny Kidd (67) put on 130 in a second wicket partnership that laid the platform for what was to come. Both batsmen played superbly, running through their repertoire of shots, and took full advantage of a couple of reprieves from dropped catches. After Kidd departed, Collin moved through the gears and went on to complete his first hundred for the club. In the latter stages of the innings, he was ably supported by Tom Langridge (22), Rob Bland (21) and Callum McDonald (11), as we posted 288/7. The Old Showfield is notoriously a high scoring ground, but a dominant batting display certainly justified the skipper’s decision at the toss.

After a delicious tea we took to the field looking for early wickets, fully aware that Staffield would be full of attacking intent. After some early lusty blows, the opening partnership was broken when Bland had Peter Armstong (9) well caught in the deep by Kidd. Noah Hoyle bowled well upfront, troubling the batsmen on numerous occasions, and Xander Vasey punished the bad ball to keep them in the hunt. A change of bowling did the trick when Kidd removed Vasey (49) with his first ball, superbly caught in the deep by Stefan Carp. After that, we managed to take wickets at regular intervals, which were shared out amongst the attack. Tom Wentworth (1-34) bowled a commendable 10 overs on the bounce and Lucy Hetherington took the final wicket to fall, as we bowled them out for 147. This was a solid team performance and a great way to bounce back after the disappointment of last week.

A special mention must go to our 2 scorers for the day, Ben Hoyle and Jamie Armstrong, who did little else but did a splendid job of the book.