BCCC v Church Stretton CC
BCCC 97 Church Stretton 98-7 Lost by three wickets
BCCC v Corvedale CC
BCCC Corvedale 180-9 Won
Unusually, in fact for the first time in 35 years, the sun shone and team members were heard asking for sunscreen in Shropshire.
Under Graeme's nostalgic leadership we shared the honours, losing to Church Stretton, narrowly, for the first time for some years. But we beat Corvedale, usually the stronger team of the two.
At Church Stretton we were inserted on a tricky wicket and we struggled to get to 97 all out. Only Andrew emerged with much credit, though Joe swung the bat a little.
When we bowled their openers made hay for a while, but then we began to take wickets and in the end they struggled to win by only 3 wickets. Leon bowled a penetrative spell, and Andrew attacked effectively.
We rationalised the defeat as strategically useful in that CS might otherwise have become disheartened after a long series of losses.
On Monday we batted first in a 40 over game. Graeme and Keith made batting look easy, though Keith was dropped a couple of times before going for a good fifty. Then followed a traditional middle order collapse while Graeme held up one end. Joe scored a very quick fire 36, and Graeme accelerated to 104 before getting out in the last over.
Their openers began promisingly, and they were up to the asking rate after 10 overs having lost two. But they became bogged down against Henry and George's aged ancestors, who bowled 16 overs between them for a mere 40 runs and a couple of wickets. From then on the result was not in doubt, though they survived until the end at 180 (or so) for 9. In an unusual feature, Joe decided to revive the old Australian practice of bowling eight ball overs throughout his spell.
A beautiful weekend all round.
Under Graeme's nostalgic leadership we shared the honours, losing to Church Stretton, narrowly, for the first time for some years. But we beat Corvedale, usually the stronger team of the two.
At Church Stretton we were inserted on a tricky wicket and we struggled to get to 97 all out. Only Andrew emerged with much credit, though Joe swung the bat a little.
When we bowled their openers made hay for a while, but then we began to take wickets and in the end they struggled to win by only 3 wickets. Leon bowled a penetrative spell, and Andrew attacked effectively.
We rationalised the defeat as strategically useful in that CS might otherwise have become disheartened after a long series of losses.
On Monday we batted first in a 40 over game. Graeme and Keith made batting look easy, though Keith was dropped a couple of times before going for a good fifty. Then followed a traditional middle order collapse while Graeme held up one end. Joe scored a very quick fire 36, and Graeme accelerated to 104 before getting out in the last over.
Their openers began promisingly, and they were up to the asking rate after 10 overs having lost two. But they became bogged down against Henry and George's aged ancestors, who bowled 16 overs between them for a mere 40 runs and a couple of wickets. From then on the result was not in doubt, though they survived until the end at 180 (or so) for 9. In an unusual feature, Joe decided to revive the old Australian practice of bowling eight ball overs throughout his spell.
A beautiful weekend all round.
