Egerton

Match Report

The Stragglers were welcomed to Egerton by the most glorious weather, the miserable damp and cold of Amsterdam a distant memory. Egerton elected to bat on a good looking wicket, still damp underneath after the storms of earlier in the week. Louis Glyn Williams (2 for 14) continued as he had left off in 2017, knocked over an opener, who failed to play at a straight one, and then induced an edge, which flew neatly to strike the chest of Matt at slip. With plenty of time remaining the batsmen dug in, defended carefully, and smacked the bad balls hard to the boundary; the hundred came up in the eighteenth over. However, the Chairman’s lack of pace was telling, with a frustrated batsman beginning to flail at every ball, wearing out the inside edge, and then missing a straight one. Another wicket neatly caught behind, and then the inevitable “drinks break” victim, as Angus Ward held on to one hit low and hard to long-off. 100 for 2 had become 109 for 6; a big total now seemed unlikely. Will Fenwick tied down one end, as the 7th wicket pair made something of a recovery, taking the score on to 146. When the end came it was swift; Seb Leggett (2 for 30), named MBP for his relentless line and length, but despairing of ever taking a wicket, finally broke through with two in an over; Ben Simpson induced and edge, and the returning Chairman (4 for 21) wrapped it up, with the final four wickets falling for just 2 runs – 148 all out.

Straggler batting has been somewhat wobbly in 2018, with top order collapses a regular feature. While not on the scale of the drama in Amsterdam, Straggler batsmen were back in the hutch with alarming regularity, three choosing to use their pads as the last line of defence, and Matt taking on a rather good throw to run himself out – 39 for 4. Jasper (77*), however, dug deep, aided initially by debutant James Baker, and then more substantially by Louis (26), who likes scoring runs at Egerton, hitting two monster sixes. Jasper struck the winning boundary from the first ball of the 28th over, victory by 4 wickets.