March Report from Leigh Cricket Club

After a week of weather fit for the old testament it was a relief to wake up on Sunday morning, 26 August, to sunshine.  In fact we had a day of brilliant summer weather and a nailbiter of a game. Imposing intense psychic pressure on the coin I managed to win the toss and elected to bowl on a wicket that still retained much of the moisture from the week's rain.

From the outset Ashtead struggled to get going in the face of some solid Leigh bowling.  Bowling combination of the day, Foxy and Kingo, turned the screw with great effect and by the drinks interval Ashtead were on the ropes.  Kingo ended up with an excellent 5-for, including an incredible diving catch by Steve "Jeff Dujon" Clarke, a world class slip catch from Abel and an acrobatic effort from Mark Holman.  These were, however, rare moments of brilliance in the field where, had we held our catches, Ashtead would never even have reached the 80 runs they eventually amassed.  Kingo deservedly applauded in for his efforts and special mention must also go to Matt Phillips who took two wickets in his maiden over for the club, one off his first ball and the next caught by his brother at gully.  Good too to see the return of Mark Holman who bowled as if he'd never been away.

Faced with such a lowly total it was almost inevitable that we would make things as difficult as possible.  No one really came to terms with batting (13 was the second top score of the day!) except that man Kingo who calmly knocked up 37 not out to steer Leigh home.   In the end a good victory by 4 wickets, but for a few overs your reporter thought he was going to be telling a very different story.

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