In overcast conditions Bashley 3rds made the short trip to play local rivals Cadnam at their lovely New Forest ground. On winning the toss Bashley asked Cadnam to bat first on what looked a very green wicket after the recent heavy rain. This decision was soon vindicated as the Cadnam openers found scoring difficult against the Bashley opening bowlers David Morris and Jason Eede. As Cadnam tried to accelerate the scoring the wickets started to fall. Morris (3 for 21) and Eede (1 for 21) bowled well to make early inroads into the Cadnam innings. The Cadnam batsmen continued to try to hit their way out of trouble but only Pete Biddlecombe and George Taylor with a partnership of 30 provided any real resistance. Sammy Laurent (1 for 17) on his return from university bowled well and earned his wicket with an athletic caught and bowled. Jack Ransom (2 for 19) and Sam Scott (2 for 15) soon cleaned up the Cadnam tail as they were all out for 99 after just 32 overs. The Bashley fielding was impressive with 8 catches and a run out by Tom Harris to back up the bowling.

After tea Bashley started their reply positively with 16 runs in the first 4 overs but the early introduction of the Cadnam spinners soon put a brake on the scoring. Reddy Venugopal (10 overs 1 for 14) and Paul Jewer ( 10 overs 1 for 16) in tandem reduced the runs to a trickle. Graham Pardey 11 and Lawrence Drake 19 both batted patiently to take Bashley to 38 for 2 at the halfway stage of the innings. Harry Anstey also batted very patiently until he was stumped for 20 as Bashley inched towards their victory target. Harrison Glew (37 not out) then upped the run rate in his excellent innings to see Bashley past their victory target for a six wicket win and with seven overs to spare.

Another excellent all round team performance by Bashley leaves them comfortably in mid table after last season’s promotion.