After our sensational start to the season, results have recently taken a turn for the worse, so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we went to Tendring Park to face a formidable side for our first 20:20 of the year.
Having lost the toss, Bures were asked to bowl and for quite a while managed to keep things fairly well under control, with all the bowlers being steady and reasonably accurate. Max M, as ever, bowled well and was rewarded with a wicket, and Joe Smith showed his usual consistency with a wicket first ball. Then came a rather strange period of the game, with Jack C, our makeshift wicketkeeper, getting 2 stumpings off the Chairman, while the batsmen simply seemed to forget they needed to stay in their crease.
However, despite having held them to only 6 an over for the first half, the quality batsmen continued to come, aided by a somewhat wayward over from Luke going for an undisclosed amount (although probably the most expensive over this season – so far!). Suffice to say, when the opening bat for Hadleigh comes in at number 9, you know they have a strong side. Ultimately, we managed to restrict them to 155, which all things considered was very creditable.
And on to the batting. Mr T and Hugh Stanton started slowly but soon got into their stride, and things looked reasonably hopeful for a while. However, like their batting, Tendring Park didn’t really have any weak links, and whilst Hugh and Jack batted courageously for 36 and 39 respectively, we were always behind the rate, and despite some strong hitting by Paul H and Adam K (22 n.o.) later on, we couldn’t quite reach the target set, falling 16 runs short in the end. There should also be a special mention for Toby H, who not only had the foresight to bring his kit and stand in valiantly as 12th man at the last minute, but he also scored 2 very fine runs (and also brilliantly got a run out – his Dad!) So, despite another loss, we were able to retire to the pub with heads held high, after a thoroughly enjoyable encounter.