Bluntisham, away, Business House League, lost by 26 runs
Bluntisham 124-5 off 15 8-ball overs
Phoenix 98 all out off 13.6 8-ball overs
Well, that could have gone better…
Or worse, given what happened the last time we went to Bluntisham. Ralph went and booked a camping holiday in the Lake District to avoid going back there.
Still, our long-awaited Business House League debut turned into quite the disappointment as we were well beaten, by a very good side. Surely Division 3 can’t all be like this?
Again it was a case of hasty changes as Nusrat and Niall had to pull out – and Faz and George both got lost in the Fens amid rumours of tomato puree blocking the roadways.
The hosts took advantage of the nine men who made it on time by opting to bat but an excellent opening spell by Graham F made sure they would not get off to a flier again.
Jeff, borrowing pads originally bought for a 10-year-old, pulled off a superb catch behind the stumps for our debut breakthrough as an opener chased a wide one off the Fixtures Secretary.
Tim then came on for a top-quality spell that saw Graham F and Damon take catches to hand him two deserved wickets.
Faz arrived in time for a lively spell and Venki and George picked up a wicket apiece as the Blunty bats swung willow at the end.
Their score of 124 was decent – but thankfully 50 short of the last time we bowled against them.
Could we knock that off? The answer quickly formulated itself into a resounding no as Aidan, Jeff and then Graham B found it tough to get the scoreboard moving quickly enough.
Val hit a few but only Graham F – his first four scoring strokes all boundaries – prospered and his departure saw the tail sag rather than wag as we failed to hit three figures.
Ah well, we get another go next week – and it won’t be at Bluntisham…
Bluntisham
M Dighton b Venki 35
B Austin c Wilson b J West 12
G Richardson c Fairbank b Harrison 6
T Yewbrary c Rainsford v Harrison 15
J Bowland c Venki b Rolls 10
S Merry not out 19
J Richardson not out 11
Extras 16
Total: 124-5
J West 3-0-24-1
G Fairbank 3-0-11-0
T Harrison 3-0-15-2
F Lee 2-0-17-0
Venki 2-0-16-1
G Rolls 2-0-35-1
Phoenix
A Swain lbw b Jessop 4
J Wilson c? b Jessop 4
G Briscoe b Powell 8
V Biswas b S Dighton 11
G Fairbank b Merry 25
D Rainsford b J Richardson 7
Venki b S Dighton 1
G Rolls c? b Merry 4
T Harrison not out 2
F Lee c? b Merry 0
J West b Merry 0
Extras: 32
Total: 98 all out