Captain Robert Gurney’s strategy of always batting first nearly paid dividends again last night at Fakenham. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to thwart the WNCC Warriors but not before a fight.
WNCC started poorly with two runouts and a disaster which left us 23 for 3. Fortunately the arrival of the vetrans (STW and Baldrick) steadied things and somehow we mustered 116 all out with 3 balls remaining.
Bradenham were strong but Otto Esse’s off spin backed up by Walpole, Lomax, and Shed Sheridan kept them under the cosh and at 80 for 5 with 5 overs left we felt quite optimistic. Entering the last over (Baldrick’s broad shoulders taking all the pressure) they needed 10 to tie (and therefore win having lost fewer wickets). At 8 off 4 things looked even better but a clubbed 4 through midwicket changed everything and streaky singles left them just 2 short off the last ball. This they accomplished with a skyed lob over cover to win by fewer wickets.
A little sad but we’ve seen the new generation perform wonderfully and there’s plenty of hope for the future
