1s start 2016 in the best possible fashion

The 1s got off to the perfect start to the season away at Burnham 2s on what has historically been an extremely difficult wicket to bat second on, which is exactly the task that faced Beaconsfield as Burnham won the toss and elected to bat on an extremely warm opening weekend of the season.

Despite the lack of overcast or humid conditions, opening bowlers Connor Thomas and David Heavyside found some movement in the air, and were unlucky to not pick up one or two early wickets, with Burnham opener Adnan Javed dropped at second slip by Sam Musk off the bowling of Thomas early on. From there, Burnham proceeded to make good use of the fairly flat wicket and quick outfield, racing to 69-0 by the first drinks break at 17 overs.

However, after drinks the match began to turn, with Nilesh Odedra and Jason Harrison both applying the screw with the ball, aided by some very sharp and alert fielding from the rest of the side. The result was that by the 40 over mark, Burnham had collapsed to 120-5, and although the hosts lower order strived to increase the run rate, they also lost further wickets to end on 185-9 off their 52 overs. Jason Harrison returning the best figures of 4-41 from his 12 overs, whilst Nilesh bowled an incredible 18 overs unchanged for 2-53, with James Rendell also picking up 2-15.

With the heat starting to subside, Jason and Ross Richardson headed out to open the batting, and got off to a quick start, before Ross was pinned LBW by one that kept low off the pitch with the score at 29. In came Nilesh, who played a calm and patient innings to help guide the team towards the 100 mark. During this time, Jason fell LBW, but was replaced at the wicket by captain Chris Thomas, who quickly settled in and started to play his array of strokes.

Although Nilesh also fell with the score at 94, Chris and David Heavyside accelerated the run rate, with the former passing his 50 before holing out to long off with 42 needed off 12 overs. However, there was no need to panic as the game was finished just four overs later, with Heavyside playing some cracking strokes to finish on 48* and guide the team to a 6 wicket win with eight overs to spare.

After a disappointing 2015 season, this was the best possible start for the 1s, who will surely be looking to target the Division 2b title and a return to Division 1 at the first attempt.

Man of the Match: Jason Harrison – A superb performance with the ball, restricting the Burnham run-rate whilst also taking wickets at regular intervals, followed by a composed 31 with the bat which set the platform for victory.