Macknade 1st XI Vs Offham 1st XI

 Macknade 1st XI Won by 7 wickets

Offham arrived at the ground to see the covers being rolled off by the Macknade players, only to see the wicket looking more like the outfield than a cricket pitch. Early morning drizzle had subsided, the outfield was looking dry, and the only thing left to do was to win the toss.

Offham did win the toss and elected to have a bat first. An opening spell from Phil Rowcroft was a bit wayward, and Tom Gittings and Andy Cox tucked in with relish. He was soon whipped out of the attack, the 50 coming up in the 11^th over without loss. Young Chris Streatfeild bowled well from the other end, but he was taken off after his allotted spell of 7 overs, and this saw two spinners brought on. Offham continued on nicely, before Andy Cox (39) tried to dab one down through the slips to a slower slower ball, only for it to roll off his gloves into the keepers mitts. 89/1 after 23 overs. The very next over, Tom Gittings was sent packing by the opposition umpire, adjudged caught bat pad at slip. 95/2. This saw Ben Gittings and Jason Waitt at the crease, and these took the score past 100 and beyond, Jason Waitt playing some nice hockey shots through to the mid wicket boundary. Waitt fell for 14 with the score on 124 after 33 overs, Offham were still optimistic of posting a fairly large total.

Regular wickets fell from here on in, only Tony Rajaratnum (38) managing to make a solid contribution. 197 for 9 off the 50 overs was a good effort on a track that looked a tad green, but in the end played fairly true. During tea, the Offham lads felt confident the total was defendable and 20 points were on offer providing an early break through was achieved.

Offham took to the field determined to get that early break through but Andy Cox, Offham’s form bowler, could not provide an early one, and it soon became evident that the wicket suited the slower bowlers, as had been proved earlier by the opposition. Graham Razey and Mervyn Brooker twirled away but Macknade’s openers, who had made 119 runs between them all season, made steady progress towards the target.

The partnership was finally broken when 155 was on the board, the introduction of Ben Gittings forced Andrew Machin to edge behind for 48. The very next ball, a low full toss was taken by Tom Gittings, and Offham felt they could still get something out of this. B.Gittings struck in his next over as well, and with the score on 167 for 3, a collapse could have changed the game.

However, Gareth Abbot (115*) completed a fine, chance less century and Macknade knocked off the remaining runs with 7 overs to spare. Offham shouldn’t be too disheartened by this, as no catches were dropped, nor were any chances offered. Offham will go into next week against Old Wilsonians still confident a win will be achieved.