So after last week's win, the first team were looking to build some momentum going into the second half of the season after a winless nine games. Thurgarton, it must be said, is not the easiest ground on which to rediscover former glories. Due to a combination of factors, ranging from an oak tree in the middle of the pitch to the prolific Colin Cliff, it's a difficult ground on which to win games.

Ian Beard won the toss and elected to bowl first, hoping to put them under pressure. Whatever plans we had for Cliff went out of the window, thanks to Ian Black breaking his toe. Ian Black and Sam Robinson, like last week, bowled well without ever looking dangerous, on what was a low, but extremely placid pitch. It wasn't until James Mitchell lofted a Robinson slower ball to mid-on that we made the first breakthrough. Pete Forster bowled one of his better spells in recent times and in tandem with second-change Steve Kennewell, we kept a lid on the scoring without ever looking like bowling them out. The dangerous Ed Mordaunt was dismissed cheaply and Thurgarton's young wicketkeeper batted well, though I'll repeat a criticism from last week and suggest that better urgency might have taken Thurgarton to 200, always likely to be too good a total for a struggling team.

As is always liable to happen, some lusty hitting and indifferent bowling and fielding took the home team to 176-6, a total far from insurmountable on a fast outfield and against a bowling attack short of full strength.

James O'Leary played some coruscating drives alongside some more elegant shots before the opposition's plan of deliveries down the legside (well, seemingly) frustrated him and he miscued an innocuous delivery to mid-on. Al Hales came and went, but all was looking good at around the halfway stage, with Newark 103-3 off 25, needing only 3.70 an over with plenty of batting left in the shed.

However, Ian Black, after looking excellent for his 48, chipped Thurgarton's young off-spinner to midwicket and we stalled completely. Robert Matchett batted nicely without rotating the strike and Steve Kennewell was given out caught behind, leaving us facing a climbing, if still quite surmountable, runrate and buoying the home side. Matchett eventally got bogged down and was stumped, leaving an asking rate of a run-a-ball. Scoring continued to be difficult for the newer batsmen, with the wicket getting slower and lower.

After Pete Forster was caught, 32 were needed off four overs, with John Gomersall and Sam Robinson at the crease. Thankfully, ones and twos started to come more easily with the reintroduction of the opening bowlers, but when Gomersall was bowled aiming an almighty hoick, 19 were needed off 13 balls.

When I got on strike, I aimed a big drive and missed. With the requirement now 16 off 10, I aimed a big mow and saw the ball fly up in the air. Two balls brought two dropped catches and four runs before I got Sam back on strike... All of which left us needing 10 off the last over.

44.1: a floaty ball on off-stump was crunched by Robinson straight back past the bowler, bouncing up the slope and into the sightscreen. The cheers from the boundary became more audible, as the four had brought it down to 6 off 5. Not a gimme, but surely ours to lose...

44.2: a better delivery was still squirted by Robinson through square-leg and frantic running from O'Leary at the non-striker's end brought it down to 4 off 4. "Sam, a run-a-ball mate, nothing funny". The clapping continued from the sidelines and despite everything, we're looking good!

The last ball of the match was a length ball on middle and I can assure all readers that Sam, although he'll probably play better and more substantial innings, will never strike a ball as cleanly as that again. Clearing his front leg, he smeared it over mid-wicket for a huge six and the two men in the middle were running and cheering like never before.

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So, what to make of it all? Pretty much the same as last week. After the euphoria of it all, winning in such fashion, a more sombre analyis reveals that from overs 25-35, we scored only 22 in ten overs, partly due to good bowling, but mainly due to poor batting and good field placings. A game we should have won more comfortably was made extremely difficult.

Hickling and Willoughby now mean that there is a quintet of teams evenly matched on points, forming a mini-league of five we must look to come top of. Fiskerton and Bramcote both won, so it is tight down there. However, what other teams do is meaningless if we don't win our games, however much we follow their results. With seven games remaining, a minimum requirement of four wins is still outstanding. Two out of two needs to become three against a Southwell II side next week.

By

Alex O'Leary - 11/07/2010 via the Chairman