Bashley (Rydal) IV 197-4, Suttoners 143-6

Having won the toss, stand in skipper Swampy had no hesitation in opting to bat first, to allow time for his hangover to subside. Following the toss, a motivational team talk ensued, which consisted of everybody being told what number they were batting.

In true Bashley fashion, a father & son combination were making their debuts, in the shape of Paul & Louis Prichard. Paul was asked to open the batting with Luke Stubbington & together they added 80 for the first wicket before Stubby nicked one to the keeper for a patient 12. By this time Prichard had effortlessly passed 50, pouncing on anything loose & was looking set for a huge score until unexpectedly miss timing one & was caught at mid-on for an eye-catching 91.

Jack Harris & Darren Britton (12) looked to capitalise on this solid platform & had added 46 before Britton took the aggressive option & somehow managed to drag a moon ball into his own stumps. This brought Prichard junior to the wicket & Louis looked comfortable until a mix up resulted in his unfortunate run out.

Will Taylor (6*) joined Harris for the last 4 overs & although boundaries were hard to come by, they ran well to add 25 valuable runs. The second half of the innings was held together by Harris, who got to a well deserved fifty, ending on 61*, showing maturity to ensure he batted through to the end.

Although 197 looked an above par score, Bashley’s bowling resources looked a bit thin, going in with 5 bowlers, including the captain for whom an 8 over spell is the equivalent of one of Francis Benali’s iron man challenges. However, a tea time chat revealed that Paul Prichard had played a bit of cricket when he was younger & he had turned his arm over once or twice in the nets. This gave the skipper a few more options, the main one being that he didn’t have to bowl too many overs himself.

Bashley’s team effort in the field meant that Suttoners never really threatened to get close to their target, with some particularly tidy bowling from the youngsters, Kris Laurent 8-3-23-1, Tom Hayward-Cox 8-0-25-1 & Louis Prichard 8-1-33-1. Added to this was the experience of Paul Prichard who returned figures of 8-2-9-3, including a stunning return catch.

A great way to start the season, a good win & a game played in the right spirit, with the team making the captain’s job a whole lot easier than he’d dare to imagine.