SHENLEY CHURCH END
CRICKET CLUB

Captain Stuart Hardwick was in fighting mood to negotiate the better of a team who always seem to pull out a performance when on Shenley turf, and after winning the toss he elected to bat, despite the track looking fairly soft but really quite flat and firm under foot.

A relatively slow start saw Andy Peacock and Homer Evans open, however the former was bowled by a perfect yorker from Sam Morris. Colin Wayman then collected yet another golden duck when he was bowled by a full inswinging delivery. Anton De Beer almost fell on the hat-trick ball, playing a shot just shy of mid-wicket's dive.

De Beer then smashed 24 run from the 12th over - losing two balls - to motor Shenley on, he then fell LBW to Dave Morrish's straight ball and the home team were back on the ropes, struggling to 99 off 30 overs.

Nick Rogers and Stuart Burke fell before Evans marked his half century. The shrewd opener has been in consistent form over the past couple of months, and added a couple more before being bowled, to a stunned audience and batsmen - who missed the bail fall off!

But then a typical Richard Fletcher/Hardwick partnership ensued, captain and vice motoring the score on from the 130's to just short of 200 from merely 8 overs, while Teagle added his 2 pence worth by claiming full bonus points in passing 200 and hitting a grand 6 from the final ball to set Biddenham a tough 209 target.

Looking to defend their good lead, SCECC were ecstatic to bowl dangerman Morrish for a duck on just the 3rd ball, a beautiful yorker by Jay Fletcher undoing his defences. However Richard Fone and Stuart Shinkin moved the innings onto 66-1 from just a third of their over allocation.

Early pressure wasn't forthcoming, and a number of short balls served were being dealt with by the visiting batsmen. It wasn't until first change pair Graham Teagle and Anton De Beer settled into their stride did they start making inroads into the wickets.

Within a few more overs, Biddenham were reduced to 7 down for 88 runs, Teagle bowling some top quality spin but De Beer was taking the plaudits, removing the stumps from many of his victim with unplayable balls. He finished on 6-19, while Teagle's 3-28 was marred by a terrible dropped catch by Homer, which allowed De Beer to claim the sixth wicket and the lead in the Saturday Divisional stats.

MATCH FACTS:
Strip used: | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Pitch Condition: Slightly soft, flat, drying out
Catches dropped: 3 (Suzy, Jay, Homer)

Team: Andy Peacock, Homer Evans, Colin Wayman, Anton DeBeer, Stuart Burke, Nick Rogers (wk), Richard Fletcher, Stuart Hardwick (c), Graham Teagle, Jay Fletcher, Jon Pennells.