Our pacy start too much for unbeaten Broxbourne

Three days after a heavy thunderstorm had washed out our B team game against Ware, we arrived at Cricketfield Lane to find a firm surface with more than a hint of green.

Skipper Alec Chappell won what proved to be a useful toss and handed the new ball to the rapid Jake Morris and the accurate Will Price. Both generated significant swing, and with the ball also seaming off a surface that offered pace and bounce, Broxbourne had to bat watchfully. Will struck first, a thin edge being neatly taken by Joe Hawkins behind the stumps, while Jake beat the bat with regularity. With runs hard to come by against our defensive field, the pressure on the Broxbourne batsmen increased with every over, and Adam Crowther was the main beneficiary, bowling the number 3, having the number 4 caught brilliantly by keeper Hawkins, and flicking the outside of Harrison Winter's leg stump only for the bails to remain in place.

Winter was the only Broxbourne batsman in the entire innings to play a shot in anger, but on 17 he was the architect of his own downfall. Sam Gardner dropped his well hit, lofted off drive from Alec's bowling, but redeemed himself by running out Winter as he attempted a crazy single on the misfield.

Alec then bowled a very quick spell that was too much for the numbers 5 and 6, both of whom received balls that seamed back to hit their off stump. Sam came on and grabbed a deserved wicket before Jake Morris ran out the number 9 as Broxbourne belatedly tried to add to their meagre total.

Although we once again bowled a fair number of wides, in mitigation the pink ball was swinging prodigiously and there were problems with the footholds at one end. We could have probably seen our opponents off for about 50 had all our catches been taken but nevertheless with 81 to win we were clear favourites. My only gripe was our test match paced over rate...14 overs in an hour!

Our innings started with a mix up as Matt Pike and Joe Burslem got their wires crossed and Matt was unfortunately run out for 0, but our visitors lacked bowlers with anything like our pace, and their talented young spinners didn't have enough runs to play with to put pressure on our batsmen. Joe Burslem and Alec progressed serenely towards the total and we won with just under 5 overs to spare, Joe being caught trying to hit the winning run over mid off.

All in all, a much easier game than we had anticipated. Broxbourne are always a tough side to beat and we simply bowled too well for them on the night. Had we batted first, I think it would have been a much closer game as the lively pitch definitely got easier as the ball got older. A good toss, and game, to win.