A Tough Start to the Season

Our 2019 season started with what we knew would be a very difficult game, away against a Chenies side with whom we had previously had some hard fought games, and had since strengthened their side even further!
The boys looked fantastic in their coloured strips, and were full of confidence going into the game. Josh won the toss and elected to bat, assuming quite rightly that the early-May gloom would only get worse.
James and Armaan were first in, and got us off to a solid start - James showing some great defensive technique against some accurate bowling, and although Armaan was unfortunate to get out, we at least made a positive start in the runs column after the first four overs.
Next in came Kaian and Zac. Kaian, who was our big hitter last year, looked to up the run rate, but played all around 2 straight ones while trying to emulate Chris Gayle! Zac also faced some tremendous bowling which meant that we had lost 2 more wickets by the time this pair's innings came to a close, and we were now well down on our starting score...
Finn came in next and hit our first boundary of the season, and Lewis protected his wicket at the other end, meaning that by the end of the 12th over we were back to par score.
Our final pair of Josh and Curran then entered the fray, looking to push us on to a defendable total, which they did; despite the loss of one wicket, they scored 23 off the bat, giving us a final score of 226. This definitely looked very light - our loss of 8 wickets and the -48 runs that entailed had put us in deep trouble.
Despite the odds, the bowlers got off to a flyer, with James clean bowling the Chenies opener, and some good work in the field leading to a run out. After the first 4, Chenies were looking shaky with only 11 runs added.
The next pair of Chenies batters were kept quiet also, with only 8 runs coming off the bat. Unfortunately, a few wides cost us dearly, and Chenies were already level with our score with half their allotted overs still to come.
The next batsmen were very strong, and came out attacking. Despite some tidy bowing from the much improved Armaan, (who took his first wicket of the season) and the extras kept to a minimum, Chenies had soon built a hefty lead.
The miracle 8 wickets we needed were never likely to come, but Josh and Curran bowled some amazing stuff with just one wide and 9 runs conceded between them. This restricted Chenies to a score of 276, giving them a win by 50 runs.
Some real positives to take away - everyone's bowling particularly was much improved from last year - but also a fair few points to work on during training... especially not trying to launch balls on middle stump across the line and out of the ground! A tough start, but hopefully with the first game out of the way, something to build upon for the rest of the season.