Bray beat local rivals in near darkness as good form continues

Posted on September 15, 2009

Close fought game ends in Karachi style darkness

As the season nears an end close rivals William Simmons were entertained at Rye Gardens as the Sunday XI made it 2 wins in two with some good performances in all areas.

Bray lost the toss, and were put in on a fairly decent looking pitch for this time of the year, (jumpers and triple layers were visible as the day wore on.) Bray made a solid start with openers Ollie Wilson and James Flecknall putting on 59 for the first wicket before Wilson was out for 18. This continued with captain Peacock and Flecknall carrying on the onslaught, a huge total looked very likely, until Peacock was out for 33, the pair putting on 92 in 10 overs. James carried on whacking the ball to all parts until he was out for a very classy and dominant 97. With a useful 19 from Jason Mcdermid, 31 n.o from Manny Barker and 14 from Joe Roff, Bray closed on a very respectable 231-9.

In reply Simmons struggled against opening bowlers Roff and Mike Smith with the latter keeping his lines tight whilst bowling with good pace. Bray took wickets fairly regularly with only Deverell (32) and Gear (30) hitting a few lusty blows as well as opposition skipper Ashcroft (71) down the order. The Ashcroft wicket was a big coup for the lads as he took liking to some of the bowlers, with Joe Roff possibly claiming catch of the season off the bowling of E. Barker as he ran round from the boundary before sliding as he took an amazing catch in the fading light. Just a quick mention to Ollie Wilson who fielded absolutely awfully and looked like Barm at extra cover instead of his usual athletic self. like Skipper Peacock gave many of his side a go with the ball with debutant youngster Jonathan Harris chipping in with 2 overs for just 10 runs. Simmons ended up batting in near blackness and closing the innings 13 runs short on 218-9.

Roff finished up with figures of 8-0-42-2, Mike Smith 8-0-37-1, Manny Barker 5.2-0-30-2, Ian Jones 4-0-18-1, Jake 5-0-28-1, Harv 4-0-28-1, Little Jonathan 2-0-10-0, and Jimbo adding a bit of squeeze at the end with 3-0-12-0. Bring on next week as Bray look to field a strong side once more and hope to close out the season with a couple of wins which is more than our young side (with the help of a few 'oldies') deserve.

-- World class skipper

Scorecard

• Result: Eaton Bray CC - Friendly XI Won by 11 runs
• Date: Sun 13th Sep 2009 @ 13:30
• Ground: The Rye Gardens
• Type: Friendly
• Scoring: Standard
• Toss: Friendly XI won the toss and decided to bat
• Highlights: J Flecknell 97

Source: Eaton Bray Cricket Club