Despite some rain during the week and in the morning, the 2s travelled down the M3 to Colden Common, where luckily the rain had avoided. We welcomed Rob back from duty along with James Hampson to replace the promoted Charlie Russell and Phil Thomas, while Rowan Duckworth made his league debut in place of Dave Riches. The pitch certainly looked better than the previous year, but with humidity high the skipper won his second toss and chose to bowl.

Rowan opened up alongside Ollie Turner (1-42), with both batters struggling to get anything away. Rowan in particular was getting impressive swing, but it was Ollie who made the first breakthrough in trademark fashion – skidding one through the defences. Ducky soon got his reward too, and Becky got her first quickly after. Rowan bowled through to finish with ridiculous stats of 9-3-8-1, while Becky chipped away picking up her second and creating more chances, finishing her day with 2-29. Spin arrived from both ends, with Will Kettle (1-35) and Rob Herrick (1-37) going well until Rob uncharacteristically forgetting how to let go of the ball. Liam Matthews (2-41) came on and picked up a wicket first ball, cupping his ears to his teammates after receiving a bit of chat beforehand! At this point, Colden were 104-7 and as a result the O’s may have gotten complacent. Some dropped catches and big hitting from the no.9 ended up with Colden finishing 197-8, with their skipper finishing 87*.

We realised we had let them go a little at the then, but also knew that 198 was perfectly chaseable. Hampson (3) and Scott Collins (39) opened up, but Hampson fell quickly bring Max G in at 3. Scott and Max built steadily, showing improved running than the week prior (but still by no-means perfect!). The Colden bowling was solid if not spectacular, but the pair put on 110 between them before Scott departed. The skipper arrived at 4, and proceeded to hit a full-toss straight to deep mid-wicket – but fortunately some choice words from the batsman must have convinced him to palm it for 4 instead. The rate picked up from there, courtesy of some lovely shots from Max and some swiping from the captain. The skipper fell for 20 and having been joined by Will, Max neared his century, clearly running low on energy. With the team needing 2 and Max on 96, he went for the boundary and was sadly felled, bringing a match-winning knock to an end. The remaining runs were duly knocked off, and the 2s claimed a comfortable win.

A great win, a game which we were in control of the vast majority. Some areas to continue to work on, but very promising signs. 2/2, a week off this weekend, before a trip to Compton & Chandlers Ford – hopefully we won’t need our wet weather gear this year!