Drayton v Shipdham 9th May 2009

Drayton 243-6 Shipdham 164 A strong all round team performance led Drayton to their first win of the season and also maximum points. All the top seven batsman made double figures, whilst all five bowlers used took wickets. Drayton were asked to bat on a good looking pitch with a lightning fast outfield. Early progress was steady, however following a lull at the midway stage of the innings - the tempo was increased. Leading contributors were Andy Hawes (33), Paul Eggett (42), James Kay (69) and Michael Mario-Ghae (36). Kay and Mario-Ghae added 80 in 8 frenetic overs towards the end of the innings which gave Drayton a crucial psychological edge. Towards the end of the innings, there was even the time for veteran Saul Simpson to winkle out 2 leg byes.

When Shipdham replied, Drayton knew they had to bowl well to move towards victory. Mario-Ghae and Gary Foreman both bowled solid opening spells - Foreman removing visiting captain Kevin Stagles with a jaffa, and then Michael Breame took a wicket in his opening over. Shipdham never seemed in contention for victory and wickets were winkled out as Drayton sought bonus points. The re-introduction of Foreman and Rob Raven to the bowling attack brought a flurry of wickets - with both picking up three wickets. Shipdham were bowled out with 2 balls of the game remaining. Drayton's fielding was again solid with Ravi Dave and Raven particularly impressive.