Southwell 1st XI v Gotham1st XI

Southwell arrived early at Gotham with confusion as to when the new 12:30 start times began and so fit in an extra half hour of warm up/milling around before the toss was finally won again by Fryer. It was a toss to lose as Gotham is a well know postage stamp of a ground but the wicket had large green patches that looked, to the skipper's eye, to possibly offer a lot to the Southwell bowlers. Fryer chose to bowl first with the hope of skittling Gotham early and heading home having done the double over a strong Gotham side.

McCarthy and Rainbow opened the Southwell bowling and found good shape early on but, disappointingly, not the movement off the pitch that was predicted. Despite this, McCarthy made the breakthrough as one popped up off a length and the leading edge gave an easy caught and bowled chance that was eagerly grabbed. McCarthy continued to beat the outside edge of Robinson but, despite keeping it tight, neither he nor Rainbow could find the second Gotham wicket. Andrew was brought on and in his second over got one to nip away from the left handed Robinson who was stumped by the grateful Fryer. Steve Wright was brought on for McCarthy but Howorth and North worked the ball around well, playing it late and building a strong partnership.

Numerous fielding changes and discussions of tactics were had but neither Rimmer or Wright could keep Howorth from ticking the score along and, even when Wright dismissed North and Burton, the Gotham number 3 built in confidence. A flurry of 4's and 6's with some below par Southwell fielding in the last 10 overs saw Howorth bring up his 100 and Gotham up to 230/5, the largest innings against Southwell all season. Should have batted first...

Despite the demoralizing end to the Gotham innings, Southwell knew they had the potential to chase down the target and so Green and Fryer began the innings. Howorth had made scoring look easy but Fryer struggled to keep the scoreboard moving and was caught and bowled for 8 with the score on 36 after 13 overs. Rainbow and Green ran very well together and made good use of the third-man boundary, much to the annoyance of Blatherwick who, with Southwell building on 95/1, gave Rainbow an unnecessary send off which set the tone for the rest of the innings.

Miller supported Green well as he reached his 4th 50 of the season but both fell in quick succession as the run rate continued to rise and the chance of an important win looked to move out of reach. McCarthy strode to the wicket and immediately hit two 4's in a row and looked in excellent form. One on drive timed so well it managed to rupture Hemstock's Achilles in the process as he went for the run, Gotham finally deciding that it wouldn't be in the spirit of the game to run out a man writhing in pain half way down the wicket. We wish you all the best with your recovery Jim, a solid 1 not out.

As Foster was caught and McCarthy was adjudged to fall bat before wicket for what had the potential to be a game changing 24 from 14 balls, the Southwell lower order looked to consolidate, not wanting to lose. Rimmer, Behl and Andrew blocked well as did Wright as Southwell gave in to the 2 extra points for a losing draw.

As skipper I find it difficult to hold back my disappointment for this result as performances have been so good all season, only to falter at the most important of games. This, however, should not shadow the excellent performances, commitment and effort that everyone who has played for the 1's this season has put in. Promotion is still a possibility but no longer in our hands as we look to Kirkby to lose each of their remaining game so as to close the 32 point gap between us.