Naive/Complacent Performance From 2s?

Having won the toss and stuck Falkland in, Zeeshan and Smudger did a good job early doors removing three of the top 4 for under 50. Andy Killey then came on for his first game in 2 years, replacing Zeeshan, and soon had their batsman jumping out of the way and trudging back to the pavilion. After 22 overs Falkland were 89 for 8. Unfortunatly we took our foot off the pedal and a further 36 runs were conceded before Andy K took 2 in 3 balls to finish off Falklannd's innings on 125 in the 29th over. Considering the position we were in and the disbelief of Falkland's followers that the no.10 survived more than 1 ball (he ended on 25 not out!), this was at least 20 runs too many!

No matter, 126 to win for a team that to date was full of runs and confidence should not have been a difficult ask. Disappointingly we lost our first wicket in the first over to a run out and were 2 down after 4 for only 8. No matter, we had been here before i.e. last game of last season vs Falkland, and produced the win. A 36 run partnership followed between PVB and Skip to take us to 44. We then lost 5 wickets for 9 runs as A.Melville re-lived his success against us last year by repeating the feat, coming on as their fifth bowler and ending with figures of 9 overs 5 for 24.

We never recovered, ending on 95 all out. It was only due to the tail, led by Brian Fraser, that we managed to pick up 2 batting points, which, believe it or not, means that we are still at least 2nd in Division 5 after this weekend's round of games. Roll of honour/shame as follows:

Zeeshan 6 overs 1 for 20.
Smudger 9 overs 2 for 36.
Andy Killey 8.5 overs 6 for 37.
Gerry 4 overs 1 for 18
JB 1 over 0 for 6.
Three catches taken (Zeeshan, JB and most surprisingly Norrie!) and none dropped.

PVB 5
Nipun 0
JB 4
Skip 24
Andy Q 0
Norrie 5
Brian F 19
Andy K 2
Smudger 4
Zeeshan 7
Gerry 10 not out

Next week Smellies away on the artificial. They have won their last 2 so it won't be easy, but I am certain that we have the players and the attitude to be able to bounce back from this weekend's disappointment.