Youth to the fore as 3s finally chase a target, and do it in style

Everyone, with no exceptions, said 'stick 'em in' on seeing the emerald green deck under a cloudy overcast sky. A fifty all out pitch, we said.
Well they were fifty for one and looking good, in fact 79 for one, before our three spinners started to make inroads, with the fifth wicket falling at 124. Yes, we had three spinners on the greenest deck all season - that's just the way it goes - and at five down Monsieur Monsur entered the fray, and soon began blasting the ball to all parts. When Steve, in his second spell, stopped bowling half volleys the scoring rate dropped dramatically, but it took Josh's pace, with the wind behind him, to despatch most of the tail (SL one-for) as 10 and 11 blocked out the last couple of overs to leave Baldock at 187-9. Yes it was 30-40 too many, as skipper Ahsan lamented, but still something of a recovery. Nikeal, with his flight and loop, got the most turn, and while Arun 'Rambo' was unlucky not to take more than one wicket he did add a superb run-out with a direct hit from fine leg. The shoulder's better, then!

Slingy Monsur accounted for the top 3 in contrasting styles, Abhi bowled, Ahsan leg before with a low full toss, Thiru caught at gully, but ever-reliable Rishab was driving and flicking his way to a score, and Ayrton played solidly to arrest the decline before the two began to accelerate the scoring rate. Lots of shouts for catches behind were turned down, and lots of wides and high no-balls helped our cause, but in no way should any credit be denied to The Chancellor and Senna who built the score up inexorably. Eklavya (29) took over from Rishi (40) and upped the rate even more, driving Ayrton on through lots of 2s and 3s as the young fella tired a bit. Great to see Roger Luck and Mike Webb who added their support, Mike's optimism and mental arithmetic making it apparent that this chase was very much on ... and it was ... though the slowest bowler in history accounted for X and Rambo (we all hate those moon balls!) Josh came in and played his cameo to perfection, sprinting the 2s and clouting it to cow corner irrepressibly. However it was only appropriate that the honour of closing out the win fell to Ayrton, as on 41 he smote 2 x 4 to mid-wicket and then stroked a single through the wilting cover field to bring up his own 50 and more importantly a fantastic 3-Oh for the 3s in their first successful chase of the season!

If it wasn't for those pesky cancellations!