Boys come up short against strong opposition

When Joe Burslem was bowled in the 27th over of our opening Peter Coe Cup match, we were left 37 runs short of Old Parkonians' total of 161-4. But things might have been very different.

After inserting the opposition we needed an early wicket, and got one thanks to Adam Crowther's excellent sharp catch to dismiss Sahil Handa from Harry Griffin's bowling. At the other end, skipper Alec Chappell bowled a tight, pacy spell, and when he caught and bowled Karuna for a single, we were on top. However, at the other end Paresh Kalley survived a caught behind chance when in single figures, and as he grew in confidence Parkonians' run rate accelerated. Despite good bowling from Adam Crowther and Bradley Moon, our visitors reached 68 in the 14th over, and it took the introduction of Coby Miles' left-arm seamers to make the breakthrough as he bowled Eshun Kalley for 28.

Paresh Kalley was finally run out for 53 thanks to Joe Stanborough's good work in the deep, and a late flurry of boundaries saw Old Parks reach 161-4; a decent total but by no means out of our reach on a good track.

The same pair that had opened the batting for our guests opened the bowling too, and Sahil Handa gained revenge for his dismissal to an excellent catch when he dived to take an even better one from Alec's stinging cover drive. After Kalley dismissed Brad, Handa then delivered a hostile spell of fast bowling which Joe Hawkins and Adam Bassingthwaighte played with no little skill and courage. But when Hawkins received an unplayable ball that hit the top of his off stump, we found ourselves 29-3 with three key batsmen back in the pavilion.

Adam fought bravely on and received strong support from Coby, who made a fluent 16. But when Adam fell to a good catch to be dismissed for 14, the middle order followed in quick succession and it was left to Joe Burslem, with a hard-hit 39, to add a little respectability and briefly threaten to nick the game.

Ultimately we were undone by an excellent spell of bowling backed up by good fielding. As the boys encounter better opponents, they will learn that games can turn on one or two incidents, and Old Parks won the critical battles at the top of the order in both innings.