1st XI Abberley 182 for 5 dec, Cheltenham 158 for 9 - Draw
A glorious day for cricket and a splendid effort from the Abberley 1st XI in almost beating a talented Cheltenham side. Put into bat Abberley raced away thanks to a number of extras, a fast outfield and some good running. Despite losing the openers early on, Max and Francis played sensibly, waiting for the bad ball and not forcing the issue. Max played a sublime ,controlled innings, out off the final ball for a terrific 93. Francis only scored 24 but he supported his skipper well and Arthur came in with a nice cameo at the end. Abberley declared on 182-5 after 32 overs of this 65 over game, the highest score here for a number of years.
Patience was the virtue in the field and wickets fell sporadically as Cheltenham enjoyed the benign Abberley pitch. At 101-2 Cheltenham looked on course for the target but 3 wickets from Big Jack in his second spell swung the game our way. Nevertheless, there was little evidence of a Cheltenham tail and they continued to put the bad ball to the boundary. Arthur nicked a wicket before Jack returned to bag one more clean bowled and it was 158-9. Matt bowled a tense last over with the no.11 playing and missing but Cheltenham hung on for a draw.
This was a game out of the top drawer. 340 runs and a performance from Abberley to make me proud. Max missed out on a century but on this evidence will score plenty more in the future. Top stuff !
The sun shone, the wicket was true and the outfield was quick. There were runs to be had and Cheltenham plundered our attack to amass a large total.
Some of our bowling was good but we were inconsistent. Nevertheless Wyndham H P took 4 for 24 and Hugo S bowled well for his 2 wickets. Our fielding was usually safe but our hands were not when the ball was in the air.
Having not made a total over a hundred yet this season, our batters were understandably cautious. We needed a solid opening partnership. William B and William P gave us a whirlwind start running almost every ball and punishing the bad delivery. We were 14 for 0 off two overs! They rode their luck on a couple of occasions but if you put the fielders under pressure they too can make mistakes. Fergus B. played well for his 14 runs and James A. struck the ball well and also scored 14. There were other productive partnerships but with 20 overs to go we were still 100 runs behind and so the win was beyond us. The tail end stuck it out, played a few shots and kept the score ticking along. Cheltenham didn't bowl straight enough and probably declared too late. However this was a confidence boosting game for the 2nd XI: breaking a hundred and better running between the wickets.
