A damp wicket with little bounce doing batting proved Shenley's undoing in a comprehensive defeat by Soulbury CC, who took full advantage of their accurate bowling to send their visitors to a 6 wicket defeat.
With Soulbury's wicket just recovering for the huge amounts of water the heavens had deluged, Shenley were sent out to bat first, and quickly made a decent start. However Andy Peacock's 21 and Richard Fletcher's 11 proved the main innings up the top of the order.
The middle order of Stuart Burke, Shaun Fox, Mike Camwell and Stuart Hardwick could not keep their wicket's intact as spinner K Sear took 3-21, leaving Graham Teagle to hit a solid 22 before also falling, giving batsmen no option but to take their time over each innings.
More wickets fell at the death, and frustrations showed when Jay Fletcher's beautifully executed shot over the top stopped dead before the boundary on it's first bounce. Shenley's succumbed soon after for a measly 85 from 34 overs.
Captain Fletcher starred with the ball on Soulbury's reply, notching 3-13 from 8 overs, though the home side had time to construct an innings. K Sear hit 26, N Mead 14 and J Stopp 13 to edge them closer to a win, marred by dropped catches by Andy Peacock and Simon Sidwell.
Debutant Stuart Moore, along with youngsters Mike Camwell and Anthony Brace fielding excellently to restrict easy runs, by they hit the winning total of 86 off just 28 overs, with the pitch drying out significantly to create extra bounce.
Team: Richard Fletcher (c/wk), Andy Peacock, Stuart Burke, Shaun Fox, Mike Camwell, Stuart Hardwick, Graham Teagle, Stuart Moore, Simon Sidwell, Anthony Brace, Jay Fletcher.
Catches dropped: 3 (Andy 2, Sid)