It seems like half a season has gone since our first match against the Met Office, so it was nice to get back to league action.

Witheridge batted first and were held to a slow start by Ben (2 overs, 1 maiden, 1 for 1) and Tom. They gradually moved through the gears but some tight bowling by Nick and Aaron pegged them back and only one of them managed to get to 30. John W was also in the wickets but things were nicely poised with two overs to go and the Witheridge retired batsman coming back out to face Mike. Old Golden arm go the better of him, Nick taking a good catch on the boundary (his second of the night) to leave them 107 all out from 18.1 overs.

In our reply Mike fell early but Ben and Aaron kept the scoring going well. After Ben retired Tom, Dave C and Nick all scored freely and kept us above the asking rate. Despite the fact that Jem was only able to walk singles he and Charles saw Cheriton over the line with 3 and a bit overs to spare. 

The Annual fixture against the CXOB went down to the last over, but Cheriton kept their nerve to run out winners by a handful of runs. 

Many of that handful were scored by Maurice Blight before he tweaked a hamstring going for a quick single. The latest news is that his leg is sore, but not as bad as feared. At 80 perhaps he should have known better, but a team man to the end he put his body on the line for the Club. We hope he recovers quickly and suffers no long-term effects.

Biggles also deserves an honourable mention for falling on his sword not once but twice to record a King Pair and so earn himself the Joint Man of the Match award with Maurice.

We came second to a B&P side bolstered by a few players thanks to Witheridge calling off their match.

One that got away, well perhaps not, but 7 dropped catches did not help the cause. We had them 8 down by the end, if we had held on to a few things could have been different.

Aaron was the pick of the bowlers, but all of them chipped in. Flash batted and almost carried his bat, Will Carr struck some lusty blows and Jeremy was starting to look good when he missed a straight one. On another day... well, who knows, but we have to start holding catches!

Only one innings was possible at Hayne on a rather dampafternoon Kelseymen  No 5 Callum Mitchell enjoyed himself striking 10 6sand 7 4s in an unbeaten 104. The Cheriton bowlers did their best , Bates andGuscott taking a brace each with Bates also taking two good catches, but alltoo often (it was either 9 or 10 times) the ball fell between fielders. Poorfield placing by the Captain was the general opinion.

Rain set in at tea to prevent any further play, so we will never know if Foan,Gordon, Blight and Co were going to get anywhere near  the 202 they neededto win..... All this only meant we got back to the Half Moon just in time tosee Stokes disappear for 4 consecutive 6s to lose the T20 final.

A big thank you to Kelseymen for coming down and to Will and Steve Birley for their contribution and support both on and off the field.

Let's hope that next week is a little drier under-foot.

CS

The total of 153 was a good one (though we missed Mike's target of 100 off the 1st 10 overs and a further 150 from the 2nd 10) with all the batsmen playing positively and with little regard for their wickets. Paul's two catches dismissed the Erratics' two most dangerous batsmen and from then on it was a matter of preventing the boundaries and a late flurry of wickets as the visitors sought to get on top of the ever climbing run rate.

Oh, and well done to Keith for the stumping, a very slick piece of work!