2nds record first win

The 2nds recorded a first league win of the season thanks to a dominant display by their bowlers. The Fordcombe village hall is under reconstruction and so the match was played at the scenic Stonewall Park ground in glorious warm sunshine - another first for the season. The country house overlooking the ground is perhaps not quite as impressive as Knowle, but picturesque nonetheless.

Max's fine form with the coin continued and Outwood elected to bowl first. Matt Talbot bowled impressively at somewhere near his old pace before damaging a toe. Lucas was on the money at the other end while the skipper entered the fray first-change with 4 maidens in his first 5 overs. There were no free hits on offer and Fordcombe struggled to 23 for 0 after 12 overs on a slow but decent pitch. With more bowlers at his disposal than he could use, Max was able to keep a firm grip on the run rate throughout. Marcus bowled a miserly spell on a flying visit back from university, and Keith and Jonny bowled well too, backed up by lively fielding which produced two runouts from direct hits. Only 5 wickets were taken in the allotted 40 overs but Fordcombe were made to work extremely hard to reach their total of 119.

Outwood's reply started steadily against more accurate bowling but always remained ahead of the required run rate. Mike and James put on 75 before James was first out for 33 in the 22nd over. So far so good. Marcus hit some lusty blows in his knock but a familiar Outwood wobble ensued when he departed. Some accurate spin bowling by Thomas (3 for 23) revealed a few shortcomings in batting technique and at 107 for 6 with 6 overs to go the result was still in some doubt. Keith and Max all but brought us home before Max was bowled and it was left to young Jonathan Wylie to hit the winning run with a steer down to third man and 10 balls remaining.

Always good to get a first win under the belt. The bowling is looking impressive although still some work to do with the batting.