Mallards took to the field first in a game that was significant for two reasons, first it was Ankush’s captaincy debut, but more impressively this was Stig’s 200th match for the club. He joins an elite group of grizzled old buggers without a properly functioning knee between them.
Davipart got off to a fast start, despite an early breakthrough by P Bell, bringing the 50 up in the 6th over. Opening bat, Murray found (and cleared) the boundary regularly. His retirement brought about a slackening in the pace as the change bowlers; Cox removed Rawley for 5 but it was T Edge who really applied the pressure, claiming three wickets from his spell.
Davipart had been cunning with their batting order however and numbers 8 and 9, Vasa and Sandu ramped up the scoring rate in the late overs, and drove the final score to 155/6 after their 18 overs.
Mallards’ chase started at pace with Ankush continuing a fine run of form and retiring once again. However a couple of cheap wickets at the other end kept the pressure on the batting side. The 50 came up after just five overs. Cox was able to keep the score moving, also reaching retirement, however with nobody else able to hit double figures the chase ultimately came up short.
So a loss it was, but the golden weather that we’ve been enjoying so far this year continued and made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
-DC