OECC 137-9 (40) Bexley Park 138-5 (38)

There were positives to take out of a disappointing afternoon. A great debut from a very assured Jack Brooks, excellent bowling from Noah and Reyhan (yes, Reyhan, bowling), but this was a game that should have been won, probably by a distance.
Batting first was fine, though the sticky pitch was unfriendly for the first 10 or so overs, and despite the loss of Keeran for 10, Irv and Jonny took our score up to 72 before the loss of our 2nd wicket in the 19th over. Irv went on to score a gritty 51, not without flourish and style, but the going wasn’t easy. He went in the 24th to a very smart catch and Reyhan followed soon after for 16, including a mighty slog swept six. Alex steadied the ship well and with Hammer managed to take us to 110 for 4 after 33. As the time arrived to press the accelerator, Hammer immediately holed out to long on, bringing debutant Jack to the crease. He and Alex worked the ball around effectively before Jack went for 7, and nobody else managed to really accelerate, with Bushy out off the final ball of the innings for 24. We were, let’s face it, at least 20 runs short of a decent total, bereft as we found ourselves of anyone able to capitalise on a solid 25 over base.
However, after a strong performance in the field against Simba last week, hope sprung eternal. With very sparse bowling resources at his disposal, Irv would have to be creative and canny in his use of bowlers. Opening up with Reyhan was a masterstroke. With the right height and pace for the sticky pitch, Reyhan finished with figures of 1 for 14 off his 9 overs. Bowling in tandem with Noah, whose first, outstanding spell of 2 for 10 off 5, these guys got us right back into the game. 30 for 3 off `17 cannot have been the start that Bexley Park had envisaged and as we took drinks early 35 for 3 off 19 meant they needed to go at 4 an over on a pitch that prevented driving.
Sadly, once Reyhan and Noah were done, we struggled to find other bowlers who could send down enough dots, or prevent a boundary every couple of overs – the tightness we needed had slackened, in all but one case. Jack’s fielding was an example to is all – a very busy sweeper, he fumbled nothing and was the clear standout amongst the rest of us.
Glimmers of hope came with batting mistakes, 40 for 4 became 76 for 5, but that was to be the end of the wicket taking and sensible batting from Bexley Park’s sixth wicket pair saw them home with 12 balls to spare.
For a club whose ambitions of promotion rest on strong late season availability, we have to find a way to immediately turn these early season results around. Stronger performance and greater availabilities from anyone in the club will help to ensure that we put out our strongest 1s and 2s teams each week. Next 1st xi fixture in 2 weeks, in the meantime the 2s take on another promoted team (Holmesdale 3s) next Saturday at the Meadow
MOM was Noah, DOD a joint award to Jonny and Keeran, Tata Total Idiot award to Bushy while Superstriker of the day went to Irv.
Here’s the scorecards: https://oldelthamians.play-cricket.com/website/results/5099305