With England's remarkable run-chase fresh in everyone's minds, HX travelled to the usual Campbell Park pudding to take on Scottish Widows and try to channel the spirit of Sunday. Captain Euan won the toss and inserted the opposition on a pitch that looked, to be generous, tricky to bat on (I'd certainly like to have seen Jos Buttler try and hit a run-a-ball 60 on it). His bowlers repaid his faith, with Ben R, Pradeep, Keith and Pete all picking up 2-fors, and Sandeep bowling exceptionally well for his 1-10. Matt Oddy and Andy Quinn caught everything that came their way, and Euan Hunter and Ken kept scoring opportunities to a minimum with their watchful fielding.
However, some ferocious running dragged Widows up to 94,
which always looked like a slightly above-par total. Once HX had been
reduced to 22-4 at the start of the ninth over, it suddenly looked quite a lot
over par, and as if Widows had set a fiendish target with all the care of New
Zealand. A patient stand of 52 between Ben (contributing 24), Quinny (10)
and Extras (18) dragged HX to 74 at the start of the 16th over, whereupon two
quick wickets fell, Matt Oddy particularly unlucky to be run out first ball by
his batting partner. Fortunately, a bit of late hitting by Ben (finishing
on 44*), coupled with whirlwind running by Sandeep ensured HX got home in the
penultimate over, and made it through to the Parks Trophy Final!
Speaking of which, the final should be on Wednesday 27th of
July. Clear your schedules now and let me know if you're going to be
available. It would be great to see as many Crossers there as possible,
so even if you can't play but can come and watch, please do pop along, and
hopefully we can make it a proper whole-club victory.
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