Southwell 1st XI v Thrumpton 1st XI

After picking up full points from the first two game of the season for the first time in recent history, Southwell were flying high. Thrumpton had a difficult first game against Radcliffe and then were postponed having been hit for 230 against BATS but had proved to be tricky visitors before. Having won the toss Thrumpton took the sensible decision to bat first on what looked like a cracking wicket to bat on (shout out the the excellent Tim Wilson and others for their work so far on the square).

Not many words needed to be said as Southwell took the field and Alex Rainbow picked up the new ball in replacement for the rested Max Collins. Consistent, probing bowling then followed for the next 16 overs as both Thrumpton batsmen were starved of bad balls to put away and energetic fielding restricted any quick singles. Dan Sprawson continued his excellent form from Bottesford to pick up the two openers in this spell and Rainbow sent the aggressive looking Jack Towers back leaving Thrumpton 22/3 from 14 overs.

A solid partnership for Thrumpton then formed as both captain Joe Richardson and Josh Scully took their chances to push the run rate close to three an over. The Southwell captain's comments on the lack of dropped catches before the game was ill advised as Southwell spilled three chances in these early overs, one which proved to be costly. Dave Rimmer was brought on to find some turn away from the left handed Richardson and maintained a tight line with Steve Wright seeing chances fall just short, just over or just wide of fielders. Despite this strong Thrumpton partnership (Richardson 63, Scully 71*), Southwell picked up wickets towards the end of the innings leaving a final score of 192/8 from the 48 allotted overs, Sprawson once again picking up 4 wickets. Admittedly this should have been much lower if catches had been taken and field settings more thought through but it was an innings that Southwell felt they could chase.

Tim Green lead Southwell out with Charlie Ogrizovic hoping to provide the solid platform as done last week. Ogrizovic unfortunately lost his bails to a good Sampson delivery in the second over and so this was not to be. Rainbow and Miller both provided good support to Green before drinks to push the Southwell score on but neither could reach 20. Having hit a solid 42 opening up for the 2's last week Hemstock walked to the middle in good form after Green brought up his 50 but then holed out at point soon after. Hemstock snicked off for 1 leaving Southwell in a slightly precarious position, now 4 down and still 80 runs to get.

Fryer and Miller started to build a partnership before Miller was excellently caught off his own bowling by Richardson and the Southwell innings began to stutter. Luckily Southwell have a strong lower order and both Collins and Rimmer provided support for Fryer to help edge the score closer to a hard fought win. Sprawson ended up joining Fryer in the middle to see off the last 20 runs as Wright could be found nervously pacing again as Southwell finished on 193/8 from 45.2 overs and Fryer unbeaten on 42.

As captain I could not be prouder of the performance as heads did not drop in the field or when under pressure in the middle. This result really does show the excellent team spirit and true determination to succeed that is present in this squad. The win leaves Southwell on 60 points after three games and still joint top of the league with Kirby Portland. Bring on next week!!