Hardingham v Drayton 25th July 2009

Hardingham 304-3 Drayton 182-8

With opening bowler Michael Mario-Ghae delayed in leaving the oil rigs, Drayton needed to win the toss and bat to give themselves a real chance of beating high flying Hardingham. Unfortunately the toss was lost and those Drayton players who were present were consigned to a long afternoon in the field. To their credit some of the ground fielding was excellent and provided manful support to the weakened bowling attack.

By the time Mario-Ghae arrived it was too late for him to bowl, and Hardingham w2ere able to rack up 304-3 - Fowle scoring 112 and Duckham and Barney Goodrum hitting half centuries. Having conceded two boundaries in his second over, Phil Soanes only conceded one more in his remaining 10 overs as he found an impressive rhythm - whilst wicketkeeper Howard Davies was outstanding in conceding no byes in the large total.

Opening the bowling for Hardingham was former Alliance Premier opening bowler Jason Goodrum, who made it difficult for the Drayton openers to get off to the kind of flying start they needed. Still, another half century opening partnership was reached and the score had progressed to 95 before Andy Hawes top edged a slog sweep off Watts and fell for 42. Michael Mario-Ghae, promoted up the order, gloved a catch attempting his first forceful shot and James Kay mistimed a drive to reduce Drayton to 114-3. Philip Wright, with support from Gary Smith, took the score to 162 before Wright fell - caught at mid off for 76.

With the sun setting fast behind the bowlers end at one end of the ground, sighting the ball became a challenge for the batsmen, as Watts looping leg spin and Howes' slower ball both exploited the rare sight of sunlight. Following a flurry of wickets any hope of reaching 200 was lost, and time was left only for Phil Soanes to play out the final over without losing his wicket - which he achieved successfully (whilst not being able to resist one slog to cow corner!).