On what turned out to be a lovely evening after a week of rain it was great to watch this match unfold. BCC capt for the day Rian won the toss and chose to bat first, hoping I am sure to make the most of the evening sun. Aryan and Joe opened the batting against a very good Ballinger team. I would hazard a guess that nearly all / all of their team play county cricket and the bowling proved to be a challenge. Accurate, swinging and with some pace. It would be fair to say that the openers set the tone for our innings. Aryan run out looking for a 2nd run that wasnt on, and Joe being bowled after a spirited innings of 6. We had 4 run outs in all, at times it looked like the rules had changed to "tip and run" which gives us something to work on in training. We were also bowled 5 times, indicating as well that it is OK to block those pesky straight ones! 
Charlie gave the innings some acceleration, with an aggressive 17, Lui was in for a while as well and ran pretty well with Charlie. Jack and Tom got a couple of straight ones that they couldnt keep out, David as well. Mohit stuck around for a while, but the runs were elusive. Jamie ran hard as usual and was not out on 4 as Max become the last run out, albeit in the 19th over.

So - a total of 64 to defend, but some great things to work on in practice. Clear calling, blocking straight ones, (watching) and then whacking the others!

As with our last match I thought our bowling was pretty good, and the energy in the field was excellent, with Mohit, Max, Lui and Rian all contributing to a good level of positivity! I was especially impressed with the volume of shouting for "walking in" which they may have well been shouting "standing still" as no one moved a muscle as the bowlers ran in! (something else to work on in training!)

Special mention to Aryan, first ever go at wicket keeping and only 1 bye went through, he stopped pretty much everything - really well done.

We rang the changes with our bowlers, Charlie was especially unlucky not to get a wicket I thought, but we couldnt get the break through that we needed. Mohit, Max, Charlie, Jamie, Joe and Rian all had a go, but their openers batted well, especially the one who retired on 31 incl 5 fours. 

They reached our target with a 4 through mid wicket, in the 13th over.

Everyone left with smile on their face, and with something they can work on to improve for the next time.