Match Report - Potter St and Church Langley

We arrived at the Harlow ground in good spirits under the sun, looking forward to a chance for us all to blow out the cobwebs many of us were harbouring! Upon inspection, the track looked excellent, flat, rock hard and with a bit of green synonymous with an April wicket. Hats off to the guys who look after the pitch.
After a brief chat with the opposing skipper, we set about the toss. The 2’s decided to bat first and try and aim for a good total. We opened up with Graeme Unwin and Jon Little who started steadily, with the fast bowlers giving away some early byes with some thanks to their wicket keeper (who was changed in the fourth over I think). The two openers looked really comfortably in the face of some very good bowling, calling runs and communicating very well and they put away the bad balls. Jon in particular played a few terrific shots and continues to demonstrate his improvement with the bat.
Graeme’s departure saw Beth Langston come in but sadly depart not long after thanks to a cracking delivery from the young fast bowler of Potter Street. Adam Price was next in at 4, and he moved the run rate on a bit with some very flamboyant shots including sweeps, paddles and pulls. Jon, fell shortly after, bringing stand in skipper Si Morgan in to bat. Si and Adam moved the run rate on with some sharp running between the wickets.
Pricey then played a baffling shot, trying to ‘Dilshan’ a delivery that was wide of off stump and playing on. A real shame as he was going well! Morgan was joined by Dayan and together they looked to be positive, Morgan looking more and more aggressive, (at times too much so as he was also made to look silly by the opposition’s mystery guest bowler) and the score moved on. Some good shots through the offside from Chalmly were a highlight of his innings before getting bowled by a tricky delivery. Morgan moved onto his 50 with excellent assistance from Nick Cave who was rolling back the years with a stellar display of footwork and timing. With only a few overs remaining, the two set about really attacking the bowling; Morgan eventually stopped watching the ball and was bowled for 60. Si Green lasted a few deliveries before being bowled, again looking to be positive, and Timmy Andrews was also bowled by a very fast delivery. Nick Cave continued his good knock and finished not out. 172 on the board from our 40 overs and we were pleased.
After a good tea, we set about defending the total by opening with Nathan from one end and Beth from the other. Nathan took time to find his line and length but did produce some good stuff. Beth was superb. Her consistent line and length coupled with good pace continued to have the opening batsmen troubled. Sadly no wickets fell in the first ten overs and Chalmly and Morgan came on to bowl. Dayan picked up two wickets but one of the openers remained and was really punishing anything loose. Unwin and Perret took over, Unwin taking a wicket and looking great with his bowling whilst Perret was taking a little more time to find his rythym. With the opposition opener passing fifty and looking increasingly aggressive, Beth was brought back into the attack with Jon Little at the other end. Jon producing a wicket with his first ball! Beth was excellent again, bringin great control and the threat of a wicket. As the Potter Street opener passed 100, the game had been taken away from us and Potter Street knocked off the runs from just 23 overs, a great innings from their batsman.
All in all, not a bad start! Despite the result, there were many positives and equally there are lessons we can learn prior to the season. We were slow to score at times and some of us were not as accurate with the ball as we can be. Onwards and upwards, bring on next week!

Simon Morgan
2's VC