I must start this report by offering some words of thanks to both Cookie and our groundsman Jim at Limpsfield. At lunchtime on Friday this fixture was effectively called off when the pitch at Centymca was declared unfit to stage the match. Due to several calls by our erstwhile ‘Director of Cricket’ and the co-operation of Jim, a pitch was prepared at short notice, in spite of unfavourable weather conditions, at our home ground in Limpsfield. I hope that all members will join me in thanking them both, in going beyond the call of duty to ensure that the fixture went ahead.

After waking on the Sunday morning to find that the weather had improved sufficiently to allow play to go ahead, Beechwood were then dealt a couple of further blows that nearly resulted in us being reduced to 9 men. Firstly Scott Garnett reported in sick, and then Stuart Boss discovered that he had forgotten to pack something in his bag – his kit! Luckily other members of the squad managed to cobble together enough equipment for the Beechwood veteran to take his place in the team. Then Neil Williams, who had come along to cheer on Shooters Hill, agreed to don the whites for Beechwood in order to bring us up to a full quota.

The pitch was understandably soft and damp, so after winning the toss I decided that we would have a bowl as the conditions were bound to favour the 3 spinners that we had selected for this fixture. Hill made an early breakthrough, having the Shooters Hill skipper Boyce dismissed by a catch by Robinson at point. In an attempt to overcome a pitch where it was difficult to get the ball away, Gleeson and Leech looked to take a number of sharp singles. Despite this, the Beechwood fielders were unable to take advantage of the potential run out opportunities that this presented.

The leg spin partnership then struck 3 times to reduce Shooters to 66-4, Savory claiming a caught behind victim and Cooksley moving quickly to claim 2 caught and bowled victims upon seeing that Dean was originally under both catches. Solid batting throughout the order and little luck here and then was ensuring that Shooters Hill continued to build a total. At this stage Stuart was continuing to have a bad day as first Rixon hit his first career 6 from his bowling, and then he deflected a catchable opportunity up into his chin forcing him to leave the field to undertake running repairs. However, upon his return he claimed 2 wickets in an over as he and Brad mopped up the tail for just 5 runs to close the innings at 155 all out.

In response Beechwood opened up with Dean and guest, Neil Williams, but both players found it difficult to score due to good opening spell from Bowden and George. Kelly was dismissed by a good delivery from George that just took the edge. Warner and Salmon were soon dismissed without troubling the scorer attempting to drive the respective opening bowlers. This left Beechwood in the highly precarious position of 4-3. Williams & Hill then undertook a recovery job by taking time to assess the pitch and then working out ways in which to score runs. Bradley in particular seemed to be in good touch striking two memorable 6’s back past the bowler.

At drinks it seemed as though Beechwood were back in the match, having taken the score on to 55-3. However immediately after the break, Hill was lured down the track by Cunningham and was bowled for 32. Worse was to follow, as in the very next over Williams was caught in the covers for 17. The rest of the Beechwood order then subsided fairly meekly as no other batsmen made it to double figures, and they were dismissed for 77 in just 30 overs.

Team: Boss, Cooksley, Hill, Kelly, Makin (w), Robinson, Salmon, Savory, Warner, Williams N, Woodward (c)