BSCC beaten by ONE run vs Hertford, mainly due to giving away 66 extras!

BSCC won toss and decided to bowl, mainly in order to work out if the pitch was any good. It ended up only slightly better than the Hodds pitch last week!

BSCC bowled well with as Monty (2o-4r), Cam (3o-8r-1w) and Daniel L (3o-7r-2w) gave away only 25 runs and picked up 2 wickets off the first 6 overs. However, the glut of wides started thereafter, 44 in total, which was very poor! With the 10 x no balls and 11 x byes, we ended up with 66 extras, which is probably unheard of! I must say, Caleb kept very well and the 11 byes, were mostly the wider deliveries on the leg side. Hertford thanked us and ended with 120 runs, even though their highest individual score was only 15 runs.

BSCC needed to bat well and also knew how the pitch played. The message was to score off full or short length deliveries, unless they are wide of the stumps, whilst blocking the straight ones off good length. With the keeper back, you can also bat well outside of your crease to make a good length into a full toss/full length. This plan worked well for Dan L (26 ret) and Ed S (25ret), even though we lost Cam (0) and Ed C(1) early. I was very impressed the way Felix (13), Monty (8), Dan B (6) and Caleb (13) batted in the middle overs, keeping the required run rate to about 7 throughout. Unfortunatley, they put their best bowler on for the 19th over, which only went for 5 runs, leaving 14 off the last over, with Padraig and Caleb in. The last over was just chaos - few wides, a suicidal runout and some good shots took us to 119, but unfortunately ONE run too short. BTW, Hertford gave away only 21 runs in extras!

This was a good lesson for all the boys that every run matters. There were some misfields, a few over-throws, some singles turned down and any of these could've been the difference between winning or losing.

Anyway, our next match is against Hodds THIS Friday and we need a strong performance (mainly bowling!) on a good home wicket.