Stortford blown away at Broxbourne

After a glorious few days of sunny weather, Thursday evening's game at Broxbourne started in the conditions which we always seem to experience when we visit that club; cold and blustery. Broxbourne batted first and, in a strong wind, Alec Chappell and Sam Gardner took the new ball on a bouncy track. Chappell was his usual economical self but couldn't make the breakthrough and it was a relief when Sam bowled Broxbourne skipper Hanley for 4 with the score on 31.

Unfortunately Will Bowman dropped Harrison Winter off Alec's bowling which proved to be costly, as Winter went on to retire at 32 and the rest of Stortford's bowlers sprayed the ball all over the place in the chilly conditions. 46 wides later, Broxbourne had amassed 153-2 from their 20 overs, Will Price's sharp run out the only other wicket. It's difficult to be too critical as the conditions were nasty, but Broxbourne's young team bowled much straighter and 63 extras is far too many. If it hadn't been for Joe Hawkins' agility behind the stumps it might have been even worse.

I took the opportunity to try a new opening partnership, with Stephen Walsh and Niall Trimble going in first. Stephen was slightly unlucky to get a thigh high full toss which bowled him, but Joe Hawkins played his best innings for the club so far at number three, unleashing a number of lovely shots including a glorious on drive for four. Unfortunately his departure brought a rush of wickets as Niall, Will and Chris Millns all departed cheaply. By this stage the run rate was up to over 10 an over and although Alec came in and struck some boundaries we were never in the game. The highlight of the latter half of the innings was Joel Ellis's 16 not out, characterised by some lovely square drives.

At the start of the match, Broxbourne's coach had been worried that his depleted team (featuring a number of U12s and U11s) would struggle, but it was our side that looked like novices. Some of the boys need to translate their undoubted ability into runs and wickets, as we tend to struggle if our best two or three players fail to deliver.

I will be looking for an improvement over the next few games.