HSMCC v Oakwood Hill

Holmbury St Mary 404 for 2, Oakwood Hill 133.

I'm not sure where to start with the match report from yesterday's game at Oakwood Hill, so as Dylan Thomas wrote in Under Milk Wood; "To begin at the beginning ....."

Geoff lost the toss and the home team put us in, a decision that looked poor after just 10 overs with the score on 95 for no wicket and then even worse at the drinks break after 20 overs, with the score at 192 for no wicket. When Bradley Cooper was finally out for 152, he and Kyle Wilson (114) had put on a club record 258 for the first wicket. If Oakwood Hill thought it was going to get any easier with the openers gone, they soon realised it wasn't, as Jonny Russell (45no) and Mat Evans (80no) took the score to 404-2 after 40 overs, another record.

When the opposition batted, they were only interested in securing some batting points but even here it wasn't their day as Mat Evans followed his batting with 5 wickets for 19 runs as they were bowled out for just 133, giving Holmbury victory by an astonishing 271 runs, a third record in a single afternoon.

Another 30 points sees us maintain our 19 point lead over Nutfield at the top of the table, although the gap to third placed-East Horsley is now 51 points.

Of course there's no point in getting carried away, we are just under half way through the season and the next game is arguably our biggest challenge to date, as we play Nutfield at home. Also unbeaten, their record is impressive and we will need to put out our strongest possible team to challenge them.