After back to back wins against 2nd and 3rd placed Whitchurch and Oakley, the 3s travelled to run away league leaders Ashford Hill who had lost only once all season, dispatching most teams with ease each week. It was a young 3s side that travelled, with only 7 players under the age of 22! Within that crop of youngsters, Oli Butler made his 3rd XI debut, whilst Charlie Williams made his return to league cricket after making a big impact this time last year in the 3s promotion push.

The skipper's terrible toss trend continued, as he lost yet another toss in the heat, as Ashford Hill elected to bat on what looked like a good wicket. As normal with Ashford Hill, there are two trees inside the boundary, and on the same side of the pitch, there is an incredibly short midwicket boundary as an adjacent field sharply protrudes into the playing area.

1st Innings

A combination of Gisele and Oz opened up for the 3s and kept things incredibly tight early on, challenging both the inside and outside edges of both opening batters who proved to be very patient against what was an excellent opening spell from the pair. G had a very good shout for LBW against the opener Cockcroft turned down but continued to join the dots as our oppo reached 26/0 from their first 11 overs.

Neither opening batter offered a chance during this opening burst but were keen to get in behind the good deliveries and make the most of anything loose - G and Oz were so on the money that there were only 3 boundaries in that first 11 overs. Charlie Williams joined the attack replacing Oz, and took a few balls to find his feet on his return to cricket. In the next over, the opener Cockcroft started showing the first signs of opening up, lofting a cracking drive over mid-off for a one bounce 4. His opening partner followed suit in upping the ante in the last over before drinks, hitting 3 consecutive boundaries off G, with one narrowly avoiding long on.

Ashford Hill reached 52/0 from 15 overs, and were looking to kick on post drinks after a watchful start - G (0-34) finished up another excellent opening spell, and was unfortunate to be wicketless. Another boundary followed from Masters, before he was bowled by a searing yorker from Charlie W, to finally break the stubborn opening partnership (64/1 from 17.4 overs). The young 3s side had fielded superbly to this point, with Harry C and Oli B standing out in particular at short cover and gully, whilst everyone else backed their bowlers to keep things tight.

That first wicket brought Ashford Hill's gun bat and the (soon to be) league's leading run scorer, G Good, to the middle. Jacko looked to follow up his POTM performance (and 5-fer) from last week as he replaced G up the hill. The in-out field set showed that the 3s sensed an opportunity to get the gun bat out early, with a couple of play and misses against the pace of Charlie encouraging the skipper to move Lizo back to slip for a couple of overs. It was however in the 22nd over (with the score at 78/1) where the game started to shift towards the host. Charlie bowled a full length delivery on off stump and G Good dispatched the ball way over long off for 6 with a minimum of fuss. It was one of those shots that make you take notice.

What followed was quite a remarkable display of clean, chanceless hitting, particularly in the V, but also pouncing on anything short to hit square of the wicket. Josh's first over went for 22, as G Good kicked into gear, with expert placement and some serious power - Josh was not alone in facing this hitting, as Jack, Oli B and then a returning Oscar were all on the receiving end of this punishment in the following overs, with the boundaries simply not being big enough. Adjustments to plans continued as the occasional string of dot balls were followed by multiple boundaries, with the hedge line down the hill feeling the brunt of the hitting, with at least 3 balls lost in that area. G Cockcroft had started to free his arms too and joined in the fun, taking a liking to Oli's (0-43) offspin, narrowly avoiding Harry and the skipper at cow corner and deep square respectively.

Did we bowl perfectly during this period? It's fair to say no, but both batters were ruthless, and were putting even the good balls to the fence. A brutal spell of 10 overs either side of the second drinks break saw 132 runs piled onto the total, as G Good raced into the 90s. The carnage started to subside in the 34th over, as plan execution improved with Oz finally creating the first chance against this partnership - G Good on 93 hit the ball high into the sky with the skipper right on the edge of the 30 yard circle & tiny midwicket boundary. Whilst Safi stopped the ball going for 6, unfortunately the tough chance was shelled, as the team all feared how many more the no.1 might get before the innings was through.

Thankfully, after that tight over from Oscar, and another from Charlie, we finally made the breakthrough - with the 4th ball of the 36th over flying over long off for 6, G Good brought up a superb ton of just 67 balls, before Jacko fired one through, catching the edge which was well taken by Freddie behind the sticks who was having an excellent game with the gloves amongst the carnage. The team applauded G Good off for a remarkable 101 off 68 balls, but knew that the oppo had free license to swing hard for the remaining 9 overs (238/2 from 35.5 overs).

The improved spell from the 3s continued, as Charlie (1-43) found some excellent rhythm as he finished his spell, whilst Oz (0-52) was incredibly unlucky to not get a wicket himself and bowled far better than his figures suggested. With an 8 over spell until the 41 over mark only conceding 3 boundaries, the 3s had managed to regain a little control of the scoring as opener G Cockcroft edged towards the 90s. No.4 A Gough found the middle though and took a liking to the returning Josh, before succumbing to an excellent caught and bowled in the same over (283/3 from 41.5 overs). Jacko got his second bowling the no.5 who tried to hit the ball back to Radley, before Josh (2-69) got his second after a steepling catch from Andy C at long on (289/5 from 43.1 overs).

A couple more boundaries saw Ashford Hill pass the 300 mark, but Jacko bowled a tight final over that prevented G Cockcroft from reaching his ton, as he finished 96*, with the score totalling 306/5 from 45 overs. It was an innings that could be broken down into 3 sections for the 3s, with a pretty good first 20 overs, a brutal middle 15, before a solid last 10 overs - unfortunately that middle 15 had taken the league leaders beyond the magic 300. Sometimes you do have to applaud some serious hitting.

2nd Innings

After the team got stuck into the lovely teas provided by Ashford Hill, it was time for Andy C and Lizo to open up again, after their successful opening partnerships over the past couple of weeks. Ashford Hill were known to be the best bowling side in the league and it quickly showed as both opening bowlers had it on a string. The skipper took the first umpiring stint as he saw M Williamson have metronomic control of his seam bowling, challenging both edges of the bat from ball one. The bowler then found the outside edge of Andy's bat in the first over but thankfully gully shelled the chance.

An early life for Andy, but the bowling was unrelenting - seam movement, late swing and unerring accuracy, made scoring incredibly difficult early doors. Certainly up there with the best spells of opening bowling the 3s had faced all year. From the other end, Andy slashed hard at another that burst through the hands of gully again to get the scoreboard moving, before playing a trademark cut shot to find our first boundary in the 4th over. Lizo got up a running two with a brace of boundaries through the offside, one a touch streaky over the slips, the other beautifully guided with soft hands in the gap.

M Williamson continued to bowl impeccably, bowling a 5th maiden in his opening spell of 6 overs, beating the bat on numerous occasions of both batters - one which left the 3s skipper purring that Andy could do very little about as it nipped away off the surface and somehow didn't take the outside edge. Andy had managed to find the fence a couple more times off the other opening bowler, before another couple of gifts came Andy's way. Knocking the ball into the legside for an easy single, the eager oppo fielder sprinted in and gave away an easy overthrow when Lizo was comfortably back in his crease, before Andy did similar the next over and an even wilder throw flew away for 4 buzzers. They all count!

Aside from some sloppy fielding, the bowling remained incredibly tight and both Andy and Lizo had done very well to tick over until drinks with the score at 46/0. At the same stage, Ashford Hill were 52/0 so we were level pegging at this point, however we knew we needed a significant acceleration to give ourselves a chance in the game. The message to kick on post drinks was heard loud and clear as both opening bats found boundaries straight after drinks, bringing up the 50 partnership, before Lizo (20) gave catching practice to gully. Lizo must have wondered what Andy did to ensure gully was so forgiving a few overs prior - unfortunately not for Lizo on this occasion (55/1 from 16.1 overs).

Oli Butler joined Andy in the middle making his 3rd XI debut and was quickly into his stride. On his second ball he absolutely leathered a full delivery straight back down the ground at about head height that the bowler and then the umpire (his skipper), diving for cover. Genuinely nearly took my head off - village umpires need one of those protective guards! That flew away for 4, as Oli signalled his intent - he followed it up with an equally nice on drive the following over, as the runs started to flow.

In the 21st over, Andy found 4 boundaries himself, mainly through the offside, including a gorgeous late uppercut over the slips, and a signature square drive. It was the last of those 4 boundaries that brought up Andy's 50, another classy innings (not without a little luck early doors) opening up for the 3s. With the pressure starting to be reversed, a couple of loose deliveries appeared, with Andy and Oli duly punishing them to the fence, as belief started to spread amongst the 3s.

The skipper's mammoth umpiring stint came to an end after 22 overs, before Oli played two more glorious shots for 4, lifting the ball over the infield both straight and over wide midwicket, bringing up another 50 partnership. Unfortunately Oli (22) couldn't convert his start as he guided a short delivery straight to gully (busy day for him!) who gleefully held onto the catch (108/2 from 22.6 overs). Frustratingly Ashford Hill went bang-bang, as the introduction of spin did for Andy, who could only slice the ball to slip who held onto the ball on the second attempt, as he fell for 60 (off 77 balls, 12x 4s), with the 3s now 112/3 from 24 overs, and two new batters at the crease.

With the required run rate at 8.8 per over with 21 overs to go, and both set batters back in the hutch, it was going to be a tall order for the 3s to win the game from here. However, both Harry and Josh were sent out to play positively for the 6 overs until drinks to then see where we were at. Harry quickly found two boundaries of his own, with a tidy flick off his legs and a lovely drive, before Josh got off the mark in trademark style clipping off his pads for 2. Ashford Hill's intensity in the field certainly picked up after those two wickets and they started to build pressure from both ends with two new bowlers keeping a lid on the scoring, despite positive intent from both batters.

Josh did manage to get a trio of boundaries in the 29th over, all through the legside, before dispatching the last ball before drinks to the fence too. Those good overs were mixed in with a couple of tight overs, meaning that by drinks the run rate had risen further to just over 10 an over from the final 15. Knowing that we batted deep, it was last chance for the 3s to have a real crack at chasing down this total, so the batting order was adjusted slightly and Harry and Josh were sent back out to crack on.

Harry was looking in good touch and played two glorious shots in the few balls after drinks, including a KP 'flamingo-style' flick over midwicket that was a metre short of going for 6. Frustratingly, just as the partnership was motoring, we lost another wicket, as a mix up in the middle saw Harry (22) run out trying to come back for 2 (156/4 from 31 overs). Jacko was in next and hit his first two balls to the legside fence, but the bowlers fought back and proceeded to give very little away in the following few overs.

The game was effectively done in the 35th over where Jacko (12) was caught at square leg after advancing down the wicket to the seamer, before Josh (24) was bowled by a beauty that swung late. This left the 3s 177/6 with 10 overs to go, knowing that every batting point from this point would be valuable, thus 225 became the new minimum target. Freddie Cowling and Charlie Williams had been promoted up the order to have a swing and try to put a dent into the new target, and Freddie swung with great effect, with 3 consecutive boundaries in the 37th over, including a pull shot that went like a tracer bullet.

Charlie (4) was stumped trying to get on with it, before Freddie (20) was bowled after an unlucky deflection off his pad, bringing the skipper and Gisele to the middle at the unusual positions of 9 & 10 (201/8 from 39 overs). 24 more runs were needed to maximise batting points, and after some careful strike rotation, G thrashed 5 boundaries in 3 overs, in conjunction with a couple from the skipper, to take the team past the crucial 225 mark. G's cut shot was particularly pleasing on the eye as the oppo chased the two final wickets for their own maximum points.

They did in fact achieve that as G (25) was bowled by a cracking yorker, in the penultimate over, before Oz (0) was bowled by a peach that nipped away with just two balls to go. The 3s were bowled out for 238, losing the game by 68 runs.

Wrap Up

A defeat, but one where we have to give credit to our opposition. They were ruthless with the bat, and led by G Good, posted a 300+ total that was always going to be tough to chase. We stuck at it in the field, and particularly after a tough middle period, came back well at the end to pick up some wickets and limit the scoring. We can also admire the opposition bowlers, who never really let us into the chase - each time we got into a promising position, they snuffed the danger out with some tight bowling and/or a timely wicket. We just couldn't get those big partnerships that were needed to chase down a big total. That was not without trying, as most batters got a start, looked good, but fell as we tried to kick on. Ashford Hill worthy winners on the day.

POTM: Andy Clouting - 60 off 77 balls (12x 4s). Another classy innings from Andy up top, and a very solid performance in the field, saving numerous boundaries and taking a good catch. It's a shame we couldn't find a partner to go big with him. Andy proceeded to tell me after the game that he was done for the season - not what the skipper wants to hear, but I understand Devon is a nice place to go at this time of year.

Maximising our batting points proved valuable, as we narrowly outscored our relegation rivals Old Basing and St Mary's Bourne, who also both lost. With the season reaching its climax, we have 3 crucial games to go. Next week's game at Long Sutton, hosting relegation rivals St Marys Bourne, will go a long way to deciding our season. We remain outside the relegation zone, so our fate is in our own hands, but we will likely need to win 1, probably two of our remaining matches to be absolutely sure of safety. We are in control of our own destiny and must continue to focus on that - 3 to go, let's make it happen.