Whilst the day dawned bright and without the
threatened light showers that was about as good
as it got for an Offham team looking to build
upon an excellent result the previous week.
Having been afflicted by nuptials in the Brooker
household the team was already a little weakened
and could do without more misguided actions.
Unfortunately Phil Blakeburn failed to recognise
that the essential duty of all top sportsmen
prior to combat is to relax in front of Sky
Sports but instead plunged his hand into a bowl
of washing water. The net result - laceration of
the digitus minimus, and an audience with Dr
Kildare at Maidstone General rather than the
opening batsmen of Bexleyheath.
With
only 10 men skipper Neil Willis decided to try
to repeat the trick of the previous week, and
having won the toss decided to post a total.
Things began well this week as Mark Collier
opened his account for the season. With fellow
opener Gary Evans he posted more than thirty
runs before losing his leg stump to the change
bowler. Evans fell soon after, but Nathan
Faulkes and Willis took to the bowling with
relish and pushed the score towards 80 before
the drinks interval. Unfortunately it was at
this point the Offham advance began to grind to
a halt. Willis was dispatched to the pavilion by
a LBW decision from the home umpire, and Faulkes
fell the following over skying a long hop into
the hands of a grateful fielder at midwicket.
From this point onwards the batting side
struggled to impose themselves again and despite
gamely taking the innings past the 42nd Over
could not post a target more challenging than
103.
Offham
emerged from tea in hope rather than
anticipation of a victory, but almost
immediately were given a glimpse of what might
be as Dan Blakeburn sent back the opening
batsman with only a single posted on the board.
To be fair to the opener he would have needed a
spade rather than a bat to stop a delivery that
pitched middle, shot along the ground without
any vertical inclination and collided with the
central stump at soil level. It was at this
moment of elation Offham also rued the presence
of their leading wicket taker on the boundary,
bandage swathed around Digitus V. From this
point on Offham had neither luck nor success
against a determined Bexleyheath line up. Nigel
Stoodley propelled the ball with increasing
velocity and troubled both batsmen, who both
decided the opposite end was a preferable venue
for their talents. Phil Carpenter continued his
miserly form from the previous week and Nathan Brooker made the ball deviate significantly, but
all to no avail. Unfortunately both batsmen
managed to ride their luck, and whilst Offham
did not eschew any opportunity neither did any
clear cut chance come their way. At the
conclusion of the day they were left regretting
not only their failure to build more substantial
partnerships during their innings, but also the
fragile nature of glassware in the Blakeburn
residence.