The Sun Shines on Outwood

The 2s made the perfect start to the season on a glorious sunny afternoon at Outwood when debutant Marcus Malley clean-bowled the Cudham opener with the first ball of the match. Cudham struggled to make progress against tight Outwood bowling and would have been in deep trouble had a number of catches been taken. Lucas Evans in particular suffered in this regard and could have had 2 or 3 more wickets to add to the one against his name on the score-sheet. The Outwood bowlers kept things tight throughout the Cudham innings and but for a hard hitting 60 from Graham Mills the visitors would have struggled to reach 3 figures. Wickets were shared evenly amongst the 7 bowlers used with Marcus Malley and John Hall grabbing two apiece.

The Outwood innings started in less dramatic fashion than their opponent's and Paul Jackson and James Malley looked assured against tight early Cudham bowling. After Paul fell for 9, steady progress was maintained with excellent contributions from Paul Howard (22) and the young Sam Flatt (31) who continues to improve with every game. James provided the anchor to the innings around which every else pivoted, carrying his bat for a valuable unbeaten 17. Victory was sealed with an exciting 46-run partnership with son Marcus who hit 27 in 29 balls including two towering sixes into the woods.

A good start to the season and hopefully a launch pad for even better performances to come. Our unconventional fixture schedule sees us play Cudham again next week at Crockham Hill so we must be ready for a fight-back from the home side.