Marsh firsts bowed out of the Airey cup with a battling display in a low-scoring rain affected encounter with Division 1 outfit Horley. As the rain came on the morning of the game, the hallowed turf was covered early enough in order to get the game on, albeit a little later than normal, with the toss crucial in such circumstances.
Marsh were inserted on a good wicket in perfect bowling conditions, in which the visitors took full advantage, as Marsh lost both Joe and Jules without troubling the scorers. Horleys opening attack used the conditions appropriately and they caught well, ripping through Marsh’s top order with only a couple on the board! Stu, Sat and Carl steadied the ship a little, but batsmen came and went as Marsh were tumbled out for 76. Despite the low-score, Marsh were lively and aggressive both in the field as Wayne and Stanners really made life difficult for Horleys openers, as the aroma of Mrs V’s samosas wafted across the field. Wayne took the first wicket early as Marsh sensed they could put some pressure on the visitors before the tea break.
Mrs Vadivale served up a splendid tea. Goes without saying that the samosas were as wonderful as ever, but the chicken tikka rolls were an added bonus, of which I was particularly partial! The cry for more of the same was issued as Marsh looked to make the game interesting, with Stanley and Wayne picking up where they left off. Marsh failed to follow the visitors lead as they spilled four or five catching chances to really blow the game apart, as the rain came down hard resulting in a lengthy rain break.
As the effects of the samosas began to take hold of the slip corden, so did Horleys hold over the game as they began to score with a little more regularity as the winning line approached. Stevie T bowled a nice little spell taking a wicket with a leg-side stumping, as cries of “Lewey, Lewey” were heard from the fielders. Horley reached the target for the loss of three for a deserved victory overall.
Despite the defeat, there are a lot of positives to take from this game, although we perhaps need to cope better when batting in adverse conditions. With a little more killer instinct at certain times, this game could have gone to the wire, despite such a low score on the board. It just goes to show there are such narrow margins in games and we can compete with anybody, regardless of their division. If we play hard every week, we won’t be far off where we want to be, if we get the scores on the board we are capable of.
As the month of May has passed, it’s now time to get the season going and convert our good work to league points. Division 2 is wide open and everybody can beat everybody it seems, so its time to get a good little run together and get ourselves well positioned!
We travel to Oxford Caribbean on Saturday, so get yourselves up for it lads as competition for places is starting to hot-up!
Stu
