Sidley 3rd XI v. Tunbridge Wells Borderers (August 12th)

Sidley 184
Tunbridge Wells Borderers 187-5

After the impressive win last week, we came back to earth with a bump. On a wet, windy, dark afternoon, the opposition won the toss and put us in. Andy (17) and Kevin (8) gave us a promising start, with Craig adding a brisk 23. Mike (30) and Ross (38) went on to set up a platform for what looked like being a total well in excess of 200, but wickets fell at the wrong times, and although Tony added a valuable 19, we were eventually left scrambling to reach 184, which looked like being a reasonable challenge for the home side.

We made some early breakthroughs, but one of the opposition's younger batsmen played a very controlled innings of 53 to steady things up, and with some hard hitting in fast-fading light from experienced batsmen lower down the order, the game quickly escaped our grasp. Craig again bowled very tidily, with good movement off the pitch, to take 3-26 off 10 overs, Jamie took 2-62 off 10, and Andy worked hard without much luck in his 16 overs.

Unfortunately, after last week's performance when every catch was held, this time several chances were dropped at key stages of the game - although weather conditions were certainly quite different.

One disappointing aspect of the match was that we gave away 29 extras - mainly for wides. Bowlers take note!