After last week’s terrific victory away at league leaders Sherfield, the 3s travelled again, this time to Donnington for the first game in the second round of fixtures. We had a close run game on the opening day of the season, after Rory’s 5-fer restricted Donnington to 140-odd, before a nervous chase was completed with Alfie and Hope at the crease - we were expecting another close game, as all were impressed by the Don’s bowling and fielding efforts in the reverse fixture.

We welcomed back Hope and Matty Hall into the side, and also saw James Blackwell and Nick Johnson come into the 3s for the first time this season. Overcast skies and the threat of rain greeted the 3s as we arrived at the ground, with surprisingly the whole team finding the venue in good time (save for Matty Hall who cruised in mid team talk). There was again much debate as to what to do with the toss, with a very dry pitch contrasted with cloudy skies and a potential DLS-impacted game. The skipper won a toss that he did not want to win (7 out of 10 now…), and elected to bat first, trying to build off last week’s strong performance.

1st Innings:

Nick and Lizo opened up for the 3s - the first time we’d had a repeat opening partnership this season which Is quite remarkable, but not surprising considering the sheer number of changes to each team this season. Donnington kept it tight from the off and had a very clear plan - a 7-2 offside field saw plenty of catchers in the game, complimented by 3 sweepers at long-off, deep cover and a wide third man, and the ball was hidden outside off-stump. To their credit, they bowled immaculately to that field and gave nothing away.

When bowling from the car park end, the bowlers were extracting a lot of variable bounce, which was proving tough to deal with, especially with the catchers both Infront and behind the wicket. Lizo hit a lovely late cut to score the first boundary of the day, but in the 3rd over Nick (2) was first to go, attempting his famed cut shot but the ball leaped off a length and took the top edge and was easily caught at gully. Hope walked out to the middle after being told to ‘watch the one that pops up’ - Hope’s (0) first ball barely got above her ankles as she was trapped LBW - desperately unlucky.

At 6-2 after 2.4 overs, Lizo and Safi were reunited after a number of weeks of not batting together. Opening bowler S Keeble was keeping things incredible tight was was utilising that variable bounce to great effect, but at the other end, another cut shot from Lizo saw his second boundary and Safi got off the mark slapping a ball to deep cover for two. The ball was still nipping around and scoring was difficult, with Safi just getting his bat on one that kept low to direct it to the short legside boundary, before using his feet to hit the opening bowler down the ground. A few tight overs followed before the skipper tried to use his feet again to S Keeble, but this time the ball was slightly wider and swung away, leaving Safi (15) stranded and stumped, and the 3s 29-3 (10.1 overs).

Dave quickly got off the mark, punishing a rare ball on the pads to the legside boundary, whilst Lizo stood firm at the other end, as both batters had to weather the storm of some incredibly tight bowling, as light rain started to fall. Keeble continued to bowl superbly and almost got Lizo as an inside edge was a whisper away from leg stump but ran away to the fence. Dave had looked set nicely, finding his second boundary before he also fell foul the variable bounce - after the oppo skipper brought himself back on, his first ball leapt off a length and flew past Dave’s gloves. The next ball landed on pretty much the same spot but scooted low and hit middle stump - absolutely nothing Dave (10) could do with that. James can play some great shots and was encouraged to play his natural game in an attempt to reverse the pressure, but unfortunately James’ (0) knock only lasted a few deliveries as he was caught at mid-off, leaving the 3s in real trouble at 46-5 after 17.2 overs.

Gisele was in at 7, as the 3s had a long way to go to get near a respectable score, as we took drinks at 54-5. A maiden followed drinks as Gisele and Lizo knew the plan was to take the game deep - a lovely cover drive and slightly less lovely outside edge from Lizo got the scoreboard moving, as both batters ran well to try to assert some pressure back onto the oppo. Gisele and Lizo respected the good ball (which there were plenty of), and started to rotate the strike well as the rain started to fall heavier. The rain turned sideways and the skipper (who was umpiring) took the players from the field for 15 mins to let the shower pass, as the 3s had moved to 89-5 with 12 overs to go. In that phase of play Lizo had tried a huge slog sweep and almost got bowled, before being told by the skipper to stick around to ensure we could accelerate at the end. Also in this period, Lizo had brought up an incredible milestone, 11,000 runs for the club, with a sumptuous on-drive for four. His teammates applauded from the pavilion but Lizo was none-the-wiser, as he was locked in on the task at hand.

As the players retook the field, a big finish was required to get the 3s to a competitive total - Gisele played a powerful cover drive for four, bisecting the gap between short extra cover and the cover sweeper, before repeating the dose twice more, just two overs later as the charge was on. The oppo rang the changes as they tried to break this excellent partnership, as both batters had absorbed pressure before kicking on, as the frustration started to show in the field. Gisele smacked another boundary wide of long on as she looked in superb touch, as Lizo was more than happy to drop and run to give her the strike. Lizo brought up his 50 in the 35th over, with a slightly dubious ‘non-leg-bye’ call from the skipper, as the ball flew to the fine leg boundary - his 3rd of the season, and probably his best, considering the situation we were in at drinks.

As we reached the final few overs, the bowling remained tight, but good running helped tick the scoring along, before Lizo (57 off 101 balls, 7x 4s) was out caught off a top edge (133-6 after 36.1 overs). Gisele didn’t let that faze her, as she crunched two more boundaries to bring up her 50, as the oppo just didn’t know where to bowl to her - brilliant to see Gisele batting so well on a Saturday - such a shame that she’s only got one more weekend left! Another cover drive was followed up by one from Alfie who brought his usual enthusiastic running to the crease, which seems to really irritate every oppo! Two more brilliant boundaries from Gisele saw the score race to 163, before she was also caught off a top edge for a magnificent 66 (off 69 balls, 9x 4s). Rory hit his first ball for 4, before Alfie (7) ran past one, and Matty (1*) and Rory (5*) took us to a respectable 171-8.

A superb spread was put on for tea, as Donnington kindly returned the favour from the first game. Whilst we thought we were a little under par with the bat, the brilliant Lizo-Gisele partnership had certainly got us up to something we could bowl at.

2nd Innings:

Nick J and Matty H took the new rock, as we sought early breakthroughs, whilst also trying to defend the boundaries. Knowing oppo stalwart I Dadd would want to get them off to a flyer, Rory and Gisele on the cover boundaries were kept very busy early on. The pitch seemed to have calmed down a touch since earlier in the day, but the odd ball did keep low or pop, particularly during Matty’s overs, as he reminisced of his magical spell from 2021 on the same ground. Nick J was getting some nice shape but I Dadd was aggressive and found the fence with some powerful off drives.

Matty got the break through with a lovely swinging delivery that took the edge and was pouched by Alfie behind the sticks (20-1 from 5.1 overs). That brought to the crease the Donnington No.3, Abhishek Gawande - little did we know what was to follow. His 3rd ball saw him get off the mark with a boundary, before he hit 5x 4s off Nick’s (0-36) next over, with a couple of streaky edges, and a couple of powerful strikes, as suddenly the oppo were flying. Rory was brought into the attack early to try to break the game open, having had such success earlier in the season - he almost got the No.3 out 3 times in his first over, as an outside edge flew past gully for 4, and inside edge narrowly missed the stumps and also found the fence, before almost chopping on again. Desperately unlucky for Rory after a superb first over.

Just a few balls later, Matty Hall (2-35) took his second as he trapped the other opener in front LBW, which brought the oppo skipper to the crease, who duly smashed his first ball for four, with the oppo racing along at 66-2 off 10 overs. The next six overs actually saw Matty and Rory both bowl nicely, with most deliveries being well respected by the batters, however Abhishek ruthlessly punished anything remotely over-pitched, dispatching both bowlers for a 6 each over long on. Abhi also offered an incredibly tough caught and bowled chance to Rory that almost took his hand off, whilst also teasing James Blackwell at cow corner with a 6 that only just cleared him, with that bringing him his 50 off just 28 balls.

Donnington were 105-2 after 16 overs, as they looked to be well on course for the victory, but the 3s knew that if they could break this partnership, they could fight back into the game with 66 runs still needed. Abhishek unfortunately had other ideas - at this point he was 65* off 36 balls - his next 11 balls yielded an incredible 36 runs to bring up his 100, as he produced some of the cleanest striking I’ve seen at this level. It did not matter where any of our bowlers bowled to him, he just hit the ball wherever he liked, with a couple of glorious sixes over long off and square leg to bring up his ton. Rory (0-56), Gisele and Nick (0-25) all bore the brunt of this onslaught as we stood and admired a phenomenal innings.

As the oppo raced towards the finish line, Gisele (1-20) got the no.3 out as he slapped a delivery straight to the skipper at midwicket, finally falling for 122 off 54 balls. The oppo skipper hit the winning runs in just the 21st over, as Donnington cruised to a 7 wicket win.

Wrap Up

One to take our medicine - the no.3 put on a phenomenal display of hitting and we didn’t have an answer to him. On a relatively small ground it was difficult to defend - credit to Donnington, they bowled exceptionally well to their field and kept things tight through. Lizo and Gisele batted superbly to save us from 49-5 at drinks and post a respectable score. Matty Hall also bowled a cracking spell, and could have had more on another day - alas it wasn’t
enough as Donnington deservedly won and got revenge on our opening day win. The day was maybe summed up as Alf got into a shower that wasn’t working, but then after managing to get it started, realised he didn’t have a towel….

POTM: Gisele Ishimwe - 66 off 69 balls (9x 4s) & 1-20. A superb knock that led fight back with the bat, delighted to see Gisele performing in Senior cricket, quality cricketer, and we will miss her!

Donnington were lovely hosts and are a great bunch - lovely spread for tea and they had put some drinks on for us after the game. Good luck to them for the rest of the season.

Next Saturday we are back home (finally) after 3 weeks away - we host Ashford Hill, who after we beat them well in the reverse fixture, have gone on a good run. Should be a cracker in the heat!