Ruthless Hitchin complete the double

When we visited Hitchin earlier in the season I was impressed by their organisation and discipline but felt they were not as talented as some of the other sides we play. On a pleasant evening at Stortford, they disproved that, and showed why they are heading our strong group.

Hitchin won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Bell and Smith started cautiously against some good bowling from Will Price and Sam Gardner, but were quick to latch on to the bad ball and ran well between the wickets. Sam made the breakthrough when he caught a steepling chance off his own bowling, dismissing Bell for 16. At the other end, Smith belied his stature to play some lovely strokes and retired for a well made 30.

Charlie Finch came on to bowl a lovely spell of left-arm inswing, and trapped Perry LBW for 1 despite forgetting to appeal (fortunately wicket keeper Adam Bassingthwaighte wasn't so shy and retiring). However, runs flowed at the other end and despite our best efforts the visitors added 75 runs in the last 10 overs. Charlie Finch finished with 4-21 and was not at all flattered by those figures - it was easily the best spell he has bowled for the club and testament to the effort he has put in over the last couple of years. Chalie Peace, Ben Warman and Stephen Walsh also took wickets, with Charlie's 1-7 from two overs a good effort at the business end of the innings.

I felt that on a very good batting track and with a lightning outfield we had a chance of chasing down the Hitchin total, but opening bowler Mark Rudd is tall and sharp and we had to survive his opening spell. Unfortunately this didn't happen. Skipper Bradley Moon struck his first ball - a leg stump full toss - sweetly into mid on's hands, and Adam Bassingthwaighte followed to an excellent catch behind the wicket. Rudd bowled a beautiful line and his opening partner Philipson benefited as the boys tried to score from the other end. Will Price and Coby Miles fell to ill-advised cross bat shots; Will after a hard fought 23 ball knock that brought him only a single. Meanwhile Ben Warman was yorked first ball and we found ourselves 30-5.

Niall Trimble played our best innings, a perky 14 containing some nice offside glides, but the rest of the team disappeared with a whimper and we finished on 63 all out. Our final wicket saw Charlie Finch run out at the non-striker's end after the bowler spilled a tough caught and bowled; symptomatic of our luck throughout the game. However, that can't disguise the fact that we were second best from first ball to last and Hitchin were worthy winners.

Our batting remains brittle with too many of the boys struggling to find the balance between strokeless survival and all out attack. The more experience we get in the middle against good bowling, the sooner this will come. At the same time, our bowlers would do well to emulate Hitchin's boys who bowled consistent lengths as well as lines, restricting run scoring opportunities and putting batsmen under pressure.

Despite the outcome, I was impressed with Adam Bassingthwaighte's keeping (including a superb stumping), some good bowling from the two Charlies, and Niall's innings, which saw him scoring almost a run a ball while his teammates were shotless.