We welcomed Leckford to the home of cricket yesterday evening in beautiful weather and an immaculate looking outfield. The skipper (in his pink shorts because he forgot his trousers) lost the toss and the oppo decided to bat. Horne, Archie Graham, Humph Hughes, Charlie Russell and an old face, Callum Fitzpatrick were our fearsome bowling attack. Some good and bad fielding meant we dropped 3, took 3 catches and had 2 runouts. But Leckford were putting on quite a total until Callum and Charlie bowled tightly (the former 4 overs for 16 runs) and we managed to keep them to 145, which could have been a lot more. Marcus Hanbury shelled a high chance on the boundary but then an over later took a cracker. Charlie held an outstanding caught and bowled which takes catch of the match. Sadly, the pink shorted skipper had to limp off with a groin strain after some seriously (not) athletic fielding.

The ACC innings got off to a steady start with an opening partnership of Ed Coley and a new club member James Glynne-Percy. The former retiring on 30 and the latter, 16, which isn’t bad since he hadn’t picked up a cricket bat for 15 years. The Great Vinchenso sadly came and went without scoring and we were looking miles behind the rate with only 52 off the first 10 overs. Then in came the triumvirate of Russell, Hughes Jnr & Graham Jnr who planted it to all corners, giving us half a chance. With 8 required off the last over, it looked possible with Archie in good touch but sadly, with the help of Horne dropping his bat, we fell 2 short. Leckford are always a strong team, and we look forward to our return match in a couple of weeks. So, our skipper is still looking for his first win in charge – bring on the might Avon Valley this Sunday (groin permitting!).

Man of the Match – Charlie Russell
Catch of the match – Charlie Russell
Top Batsman – Ed Coley
Top Bowler – Callum Fitzpatrick