Boys clinch quarter-final place at Welwyn

Despite our best efforts, we managed to escape Welwyn with a victory on a gloomy Monday evening. For once, we lost the toss and our hosts elected to bat, although we would have bowled on an overcast evening on a damp wicket.

Alex Portas and Joe Hoult opened the bowling and both suffered somewhat at the hands of Welwyn's unorthodox openers, who rode their luck but also enjoyed the loose deliveries on offer. Sam Gardner replaced Hoult but we continued to bowl too wide and short on a slow pitch that rewarded line and length. At 44-0 from 6 overs I feared that on a small ground with a lightning fast outfield we would be chasing 150.

Fortunately, a superb piece of fielding by Alex Portas saw Reed, Welwyn's opener, run out when he failed to ground his bat, and when Alec Chappell hit the top of Reynolds' off stump with a pretty unplayable ball, the brakes were on. Matt Pike bowled four tidy overs of spin, bowling Woolley for 0, and it quickly became apparent that Welwyn had very little batting depth.

We continued to bowl poorly, with almost every bowler contributing multiple extras to the score, and it was a relief when Alec had Hall well caught by Alex for an ugly but effective 32.

104-4 was a strange score, with 18 wides and 13 boundaries but very little good batting.

What Welwyn lacked in batting they more than made up with when they started bowling. Reynolds' immaculate first over spawned only a leg bye, while Bruton started by bowling Joe Stanborough and Elliot Needham for ducks. Unlike our attack, the Welwyn boys stuck to their disciplines and gave away very few cheap runs. When Coby Miles departed second ball for 2, we were 13-3, but thankfully Alex Portas and Adam Bassingthwaighte batted with common sense and patience to steady the ship, against a background of incessant dim witted chirping from some of the Welwyn fielders. (We were also uncharacteristically verbose in the field tonight, which I didn't enjoy either.)

Alex fell LBW for 24 to what appeared to be quite a leggy delivery but Alec continued where he left off and Adam accumulated runs with his customary calmness. Still, we managed to make things slightly closer than necessary as Adam clipped a ball off his legs straight to the fielder at backward square leg who had just been stationed there to depart for 34, while Alec decided to throw his wicket away with only 10 required.

Ben Warman and Matt Pike ended the game with a flurry of boundaries and we won by 4 wickets with over three overs to spare. The boys all know they will have to bowl much better against quarter final opposition if we're to make it to finals day, but deserve congratulations for topping our group against a number of decent clubs. Our wins against Hitchin and Broxbourne, in particular, were impressive, and we have a chance of going further if we play to our potential.