Amesbury (158/6) beat Highfield (133/8) by 25 runs
With a later start time and a 20 over format agreed, the boys were keen to get going after a day full of exams. Amesbury won the toss and chose to bat first, a tactic that has brought us some success this term. We started very well with Gus and Tom putting on 71 runs for the first wicket partnership, and Tom producing another fine batting display to make another 50. An excellent spell of bowling created a mini wobble in the Amesbury line up as we lost 3 wickets in one over, and another 3 shortly after to take us from 71/0 to 85/6. This meant Frank and Ed had the task of rebuilding the innings and trying to provide us with a meaningful total to defend. They batted very well and proceeded to distribute the ball to all parts of the boundary, scoring 73 runs off just 36 balls and providing us with a very commanding total of 158.
At the break we discussed the need to bowl a consistently good area and build the pressure early on. This is exactly what we did, with Kristian dismissing one of their key batsman in the second over, after a composed catch by Fin. Highfield managed to then build a couple of partnerships when we let our standards slip and bowled a few wayward deliveries coupled with some dropped catches. We did manage to take a crucial wicket in the 11th over when Ed held on to a good catch to give Henry a deserved wicket (he had 3 catches dropped off his bowling in the previous over). Ollie and Henry then turned the screw and took regular wickets whilst restricting the run rate very well, leaving Seb the job of finishing off the innings with a cushion of 34 runs off the last over, which he did comfortably.
Strong starts and finishes to both the batting and bowling innings, but must improve the middle period of both if we are to play to our full potential. Nonetheless, great performance with lots of individuals contributing, well done.
Mr Rouse
