No Walkover for Hedgehogs

DCC 112/6 (20 overs) AE Hedgehogs 145/8 (19.4 overs)
Rishi Mehta 32* T Johnson 33*
O Hobson 30* J Chapple 31*

D Harris 2/14 3 overs J Chapple 2/5 3 overs
L Hughes 2/21 3 overs S Woolf 2/10 3 overs

A much rearranged fixture saw us finally play AECC's strong Hedgehogs side on another hot evening at our place. Bothe sides were short of a few of their stronger players but nevertheless our lads were ready for a tough encounter against some talented boys.

We won the toss and put AE in to bat first. A quick strike from Dillon saw their number 1 batsman walk back after a nice catch by Aiden. Dillon also got Rocky Flintoff lbw and we were looking ok at 22/2. AE then put a good partnership together and runs started coming quickly for them as they made the most of some short bowling - every bad ball finding the boundary. After the inevitable AE retirements, our bowlers sharpened up and the last 5 wickets went for only 24 runs - good work from Jan, Hughsey and Rishi staying focussed on the job. We took three catches but also dropped three - fielding ranged from sharp to sloppy - more work needed in that vital department.

Rahul and Zac walked out for the tough chase of 145 - still doable though, no way were we resigned to defeat. Freddy Webb opened the AE attack and his pace and swing saw Zac and Hughsey off quickly - definitely the toughest bowling those two will have faced - we were 8/2. Joe Chapple is a great player with bat and ball and with him joining Freddy thing weren't getting any easier. Rahul worked hard for his 18 before spooning a slower one back to Chapple. Rishi stepped up and added 32 off 35 but the required run rate was only going in one direction. Oliver looked a little nervous when he walked out and every swing and a miss was a heart-stopper - but then the misses became hits and big hits at that. An extraordinary innings saw him retire on 30 off 26 balls, 24 runs off boundaries including 2 6's to the short rope. Great stuff. Aiden added a useful 10 but by then we were facing an impossible total and in the end we were 34 short of the win.

We were by no means steam-rollered by AE. Their bowling was much better than ours but we persevered and got wickets that they would have thought should have stayed until retirement. Some of our batsmen need to be more patient - swinging across the line to a quick straight seamer has a fairly predictable outcome! But great experience all round and another good team performance.